Running Vacation

Panorama of one of the many ridges. This sums up the views nicely.

 

Many people probably wouldn't choose to associate those two words together. Running oftentimes is looked at as punishment, or something that is a simply a means to and end not necessarily a means unto itself. You run because you want to get in shape. You run because you stole something. You run because there is a zombie chasing you. You don't run just for fun right? And you certainly don't take a vacation simply to run around the Mountain's in Juneau, Alaska. Well I did this, along with a few other like minded individuals and it was awesome.

This situation warrants some running

 
We were reminded by the host, one of Ultrarunnings current top athletes Geoff Roes, that we would need to keep an open mind about what we considered trail running. The mountains around Juneau are incredibly steep, and oftentimes we were left moving up terrain that simply wasn't runnable for all but the most superhuman of athletes. This was perfectly fine to me. When the terrain gets to steep, you hike fast. Trail running is less about running every step and more about moving as quickly as you can over the terrain that you've chosen.

Runnable?

 And wow did we move slow in parts. Hiking straight up snowfields does not lend itself to 12 minute miles, or 15 minutes miles....or 25 minute miles for that matter. Kick stepping up a mountain is awesome. Every step matters. Foot placement is key. You are focused on not slipping and more importantly...you get to run down the steep terrain after reaching the top.

Steep Ascent

We spent 5 days running around the mountains of Juneau enjoying the varied terrain. From the steep, rugged "Hawthorne Trail" to the flat and fast Herbert Glacier. On the final day we played around Perserverance and Mount Juno, each taking a slightly different approach to hammering out our last run of the vacation. Some took it easy, others blazed ahead and enjoyed a standing glissade down Granite Basin...which ended in several hilarious face plants. Others still pushed on up to Juneau Ridge and had a pretty epic adventure in the white-out above tree line. When we weren't running we were chatting with our fellow campers and our hosts, Corle' LaForce and Geoff Roes. We stayed in a picturesque cabin and were fed tasty meals.

Running up was fun...running down was awesome.

In the end though, the camp was about what most camps are about. Enjoying time with people that you probably wouldn't have met otherwise. I'm continually surprised by how grounded everybody seems to be in the trail running community. The elite athletes are elite in that they are fast, but they are not elite in the sense that they won't mix it up with mere mortals. I've never gotten a sense that any elite trail runner (Ultra or Shorter Distance) has bought into any of their celebrity. In the end we are all runners but more importantly it seems we all seem to be genuinely good, happy individuals who share a common interest and a love for the outdoors. Apologies for the sappy nature of this entry for those few of you that may be reading this. I just want to hammer home the fact that this was a pretty special event and I look forward to attending it again next year.

For those of you that may be interested, the website for the running camps is http://www.akultracamp.blogspot.com/ . There is one more session coming up in early August of this year. If you are looking to be outdoors for 4-5 hours a day running around the surrounding areas of Juno, and like being fed tasty meals I would highly recommend signing up for the camp!

For those of you that read this and you are still on the fence about running I would suggest trying to Trail Running. It's more like hiking....only better because you get to cover more ground and don't have to carry as much gear. It may also boost your ego....passing hikers is fun.

Marmot Hole

Bottom of Icy Gulch

Lost?

Herbert Glacier

Tracks out to one of the peaks

Running up the board walks to Muir Cabin

Geoff Showing us his Playground

Juneau Mountain Trail

50 miles of the Familiar, 12 miles of unknown

I was tired at mile 6. Six miles into a 62 mile (Later reports would peg it at around 64-65 miles) race my legs felt heavy, my heart beat hard and my mind was already trying to figure out how I was going to push through the low points that were undoubtedly on the way. 

The above paragraph may sound eerily familiar for several folks who I shared the trails with at the Miwok 100k this past Saturday. For those that may be reading this that don’t happen to run, or perhaps run more sane distances on less ridiculous terrain you may be surprised to find that people who run these races do feel tired fairly early on in these types of events. Last Saturday was a bit of an extreme in that normally I don’t feel that blown so early in a long event, but ultrarunning for me is less about trying to figure out how to prevent pain and fatigue and more about how to manage once it inevitably sets in. The gruesome details were requested by one of my running buddies, of which I feel I’m compelled to oblige. So get ready for a read…this is probably going to be my longest blog entry yet.  Before getting to the play by play however I’ll provide a little back story to the event that was about to give me a 350 pound virtual gut check. 

Back in December I ran a 50 miler in the Marin Headlands put on by the North Face that attracted a fairly large gathering of the less than sane, which included some of the top talent throughout the known universe. My previous exposure to the headlands had been mainly in some nice views from Fort Mason, Chrissy Field or the occasional jaunt across the Golden Gate Bridge. This seems crazy now in retrospect given the fact that I’ve probably been in San Francisco on average 8-10 times a year for the past decade. Yes I have some fairly legitimate excuses, the BART doesn’t run there, public transport would take forever, I never rent a car, but in the end it really all boils down to me being too lazy. This will be rectified in the future. (Along with my last visit to Yosemite being 8 years ago….talk about a travesty) In any event, I was astounded by the views on the 50 mile course and told myself that I needed to experience more of them. I also knew that if I was going to bump up to the 100 mile distance that conquering (Surviving) a 100K would give me a psychological edge that would be sorely needed in order to develop the mental callouses I feel I need to suffer through any longer endeavors. What does a mental callous look like? Maybe a cross between a kidney bean and a pachyderm….or cauliflower. A doctor may view it on an MRI and interpret it as brain damage.

So I signed up for the Miwok, given that it fit into my race calendar and also gave me a chance to enjoy the headlands again. The lottery came and went and I was selected. A new course was created in response to some trail closures, which added 2-4 thousand feet of elevation gain along with perhaps a few extra miles. What is an extra 5k when you have already ran 100 you ask? Pure distilled pain….washed down with a cup of sadness, all packed into a punch of awesome. Mix all of the above with some race day temps around 80 degrees (Perhaps approaching or exceeding 90 within the gullies) and a second half that was pretty much completely exposed without a drop of shade and you have a recipe for an epic day. 

This elevation profile resembles an Anime characters hair. Spiky.

I arrived in San Francisco on Friday morning, having awakened at 4 am to catch my flight meant that I arrived quite early and had an entire day to work from a Starbucks before a contingent of runners arrived that I would be staying with in Stinson Beach, the location of the start and finish of the race. My stomach was revolting from the Naked Juice and the Soy Latte’s and I was getting nervous that I was perhaps going to attempt to run a race again with Flu-Like symptoms. (Good old DNF at Orcas) Thankfully a vegetarian wrap packed with black beans and rice from World Wraps calmed my ailing gut and put me in a place where I didn’t feel like I was going to refund everything I had consumed over the past day. Refunding is a horrible way to prepare for a race…I should know…I’ve tried it before. 

After working at the ‘bucks, having consumed a liter or so of soy milk spiced with caffeine I made my way over to Stinson Beach, where I met the rest of a Seattle contingent that was running the and we all unpacked at our place of residence for the weekend, which happened to be a bed and breakfast owned and operated by somebody who should be featured on the show hoarders. The rooms were fine, and the fact that we were a stone’s throw away from the start and the finish made just about anything tolerable, but we all had to do a bit of a double take each time we walked through the “Courtyard” to our rooms. Seriously…there were people staying in a tent on the rooftop of one of the establishments, that had a TV and god knows what else hooked up in it. Somebody funnier than I could base an entire routine around an overnight stay at this place, I on the other hand will only spend a paragraph as I realize now this is getting excessively long and I haven’t even really gotten to any of those “Gory Details” yet. 

Race morning we awoke at around 4 AM, grabbed our drop bags, put on our running gear, I personally took a Vaseline bath in an attempt to decrease any chance of chaffing and walked across the street to the starting area. I immediately lost the rest of my group in the sea of ultrarunning crazy that had coalesced at the state park. I chatted with a few folks, picked up my number, lined up with at the start and before I realized what was going on we were off like a shot out of a red rider bee-bee gun into the cool Marin morning. The supermoon’s slightly smaller brother was setting as we made our way up the first time, dumping more and more orange on the pacific ocean as we watched with a certain wariness…that thing was cool with a soft glow, a burning globe that us Seattleites don’t see very often was set to make what would be referred to by one (me) as a butt blistering appearance.

The climbs in Miwok are brutal steep but I figured I needed to set the tone for the race and really take a bite out of that first one. I did my fun run 400 steps, walk 50 all the way up the 16-20% grade and then settled into the fun rolling cambered section along the coastal trail. We ran through some meadows, some forested areas; there was blessed shade that at the moment wasn’t even really required because quite frankly it hadn’t gotten that hot yet. I surprisingly ran into a Portland runner, Steve that I seem to see at all of my events. We decided to run together down to the first turnaround, chatting away the miles and commenting about how easy the leader, Dave Mackey looked motoring up a hill that we had yet to fully descend. (He was probably already 3-4 miles ahead of us at this point and we weren’t even a quarter of the way through the race) At the turnaround, and all the aid stations for that matter, I kept my spirits up, joked around with the volunteers, thanked everybody who had come out and then put my head down and kept going. I lost track of Steve at the turnaround thanks to a call from Nature and wouldn’t see him again until after mile 50. How’s that for crazy?

Terrible...terrible Stomach knot

So the second hill came and went and I was still feeling pretty good. Up to this point I had done a pretty good job keeping myself hydrated, fed and electrolyzed. (Not a word but whatever) I was pretty much eating a gel every 30 minutes, taking an S!Cap every hour and was drinking water almost exclusively…at least until the Bolinas ridge aid station at mile 20. I made a pretty huge mistake here that seemed pretty innocuous at the time…and ended up paying for it for the next few hours. I ended up filling up one of my bottles with Gu Brew when I probably should’ve stuck with water but worse I decided to eat a Hummus wrap when I had never eaten one during a race before. There was plenty of other stuff there that I had eaten without incident before, but for some reason that hummus wrap looked like a little slice of garbanzo bean heaven wrapped in a tasty tortilla. Yes…it tasted good…and then it proceeded to turn my stomach into what would best be described as Gordian knot. 

So it was that we traversed the same basic route back to Stinson beach. As stated above, I was already tired at this point but enjoyed taking in the awesome views from the Coastal trail. The camber wreaked havoc on my hip flexors but hey, running is supposed to hurt. The descent was awesome. We basically hauled down the Matt Davis trail through the woods to the Stinson Fire Department aid station at mile 26.2. I came in under 5 hours, which meant in spite of my stomach and energy issues I was still on pace to come in around 12 hours. Sadly this pace would not last because up next…

We climbed up to Cardiac via the Dipsea trail. Yeah….that trail. The one with lots of steps. At least it is in the trees though. At this point my run 90% walk 10% hill routine was shot. I think I ran very few uphill’s from this point to the end of the race. That’s pretty normal though when you are being tasked with running up hills with a 15-20% grade. I was hot at this point…but not overheating so the climb wasn’t too bad. I managed to pass a few runners, hauled down the fire road back into the trees  and then took Redwood creek to the Muir Beach aid station. I had almost completely lost my stomach at this point so I attempted to force myself to throw up. Oddly enough I was unsuccessful so I slowed down a bit heading through the hot sections and actually managed to get things relatively under control by the time I hit the aid station. A fellow Seattle runner noted that I looked pretty pale at this point…though I figured that was most likely a remnant of the extremely low patch I was just now getting out of. There were loads of people here both volunteers and spectators that managed to buoy my spirits even though I was starting to fall into a deep, dark, pain ridden cave. I wanted to quit here…but decided I could at least keep going to mile 38.8 at Tennessee Valley. 

The climb out of Muir beach is just…brutal. It’s not the most difficult climb on the course but it is completely exposed and relentless. The lack of tree’s during the latter half of the course means that you can see FOREVER. Unfortunately this means that when you get to the top of a hill…you see runners going up to the top of another hill…and another hill beyond that. I was in full on death march mode now, though admittedly the death march was still around 15-18 minute pace up a giant hill. Not too bad really. I upped my salt intake at this point to an S!Cap every 40 minutes and fell into a routine where I would shoot myself in the face with water every 10-15 minutes. I was losing control of my heart rate on the ascents and as such was just incapable of breaking out into a run until on the flats or the down hills. 

This routine repeated itself for the better part of the next 20 miles. Tennessee valley provided a bit of a shot in the arm…and a sponge in some ice water which did wonders for my heart rate. The nice volunteers also filled my bottles with ice water…of which half ended up in my face and on my head as I climbed out of Tennessee valley (Another walk fest) until the trail flattened out and descended down to the Rodeo Valley aid station. The volunteers had set up all sorts of inspiring signs leading into the aid. Pretty much all of us who rolled into the station requested the same thing…lots of Ice water on our heads…and lots of ice water in our hydration systems. As a bonus one of the folks gave me a Popsicle…which resulted in many “oooh’s” and “aaah’s” from the runners as we ate our cold sweet treats. 

I didn’t linger long though…doing so can lead to disaster. You start thinking about how nice it would be to sit down, your legs start seizing up, your resolve wanes and the prospect of running another 20+ miles just seems ludicrous. Well ludicrous it may be…but I made my decision, set my warp drive to ludicrous speed and made my way down to Rodeo Beach! 

"It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere."

Rodeo Beach was nice…but fairly ridiculous. You actually end up having to run on about a quarter mile on sand…which just comes across like a kick in the groin that late in a race. I was running but was moving slower than my SLOWEST UPHILL WALK. I wanted to shout out in frustration but instead managed a hearty laugh. The absurdity of the situation, having traveled 45 miles by foot only to be done in by a quarter mile section of sand was just what I needed to snap out of another low and prepare myself for ANOTHER CLIMB ON THE COASTAL TRAIL!

More salt…more calories, less stomach issues surprisingly enough as we climbed out of another valley and headed back to…another freaking valley. That’s right…we were climbing up and over more hills to get to another valley which would then result in another climb…to another beach…which leads to another climb! Three climbs to the finish…no problem. I settled into another routine…eyes forward, climb, douse with water, take salt pills, move forward, eat gel, move forward, rinse and repeat. The stairs at the top of the Coastal Climb were particularly fun. I greeted them with another healthy bout of laughter. 

I ran through Tennessee Valley in about 10 hours and 30 minutes. Not a bad time for a 100K but not really on track for a sub 12 hour finish. I recalibrated and figured sub 13 was out as well. By this point it was probably around 80 degrees and the lack of shade for the last 5 hours was causing some serious hurt. I muscled on through though; ditching my now powerless GPS watch in favor of my working track watch ate what seemed like my weight in potato chips (But was probably one 2-3) and then headed out on the road towards the Muir Beach aid station. I stuck with my mantra…just get to the next aid station. 

More climbing up the Coastal trail followed with spectacular views of the pacific. At this point I was pretty comfortable with my pain, had no trouble hiking hard up the hills and seemed to have somewhat recovered from some of my low points in the previous 50 miles. I was taking an S!Cap every 30 minutes now and had pretty much gotten back to the point where my stomach could handle whatever sugar I threw at it. I ended up catching up to Adam, one of the members of the Seattle contingent, who was having some pretty bad energy issues on the climb out of the valley. We chatted for a bit before I decided I needed to take advantage of the energy I had and made a push to the top of the 2^nd to last climb. Glenn Tachiyama greeted me near the top, snapping of some great pictures and sending me good vibes as I made my way down to the Muir Beach aid station one last time. It was great seeing him out there…familiar faces always help boost energy levels. 

Muir Beach was awesome yet again. The volunteers did a great job prepping me for the climb up Cardiac, filling my bottles yet again with ice water, dumping cold water on my head, giving me access to whatever food they had. Ultrarunning is just a fantastic sport. Pretty much everybody is out there just trying to help everybody else out and that essence was captured beautifully in all of the aid station volunteers. 

Running out of Muir Beach I ran into Adam again who still seemed to be having some energy issues. I was fairly certain that he would make it at this point though so I gave him some words of encouragement and managed to catch up to Steve about a quarter mile up the dirt road. He and I traded some words of encouragement, walked for a minute or so and then broke into a trot. The end was in sight and I was going to try to push the pace as much as possible while the going was flat. At some point I ended up passing some folks, then stopped for a short walking break, then dropped Steve, then passed some runners again…and so it went all the way to the cardiac climb…where everything almost fell apart halfway up the hill.

And by fall apart I mean the pass out kind. I had eaten a gel about halfway between Muir Beach and the climb…approximately 15 minutes prior to hitting the first steep section. I put my head down, motored on and kept to the shade whenever possible. Much of the water in my hand helds ended up on my head as I was in serious danger of overheating. I ate some more salt pills and thought things were going well until a fit of light headedness threatened to knock me down (and perhaps out). In my state of stupor I was having a difficult time determining what I could do to fix my rapidly deteriorating state. I didn’t quite feel like eating but knew that a big part of this was a lack of calories. Thankfully I had some honey stinger chomps in one of my pockets as I don’t think could’ve handled another gel. I proceeded to tear into them, eating the whole bag in about 5 minutes and felt better almost immediately. I decided not to push it though, so I kept my snail’s pace up to the top of Cardiac. With all the ascents completed I immediately felt as urge of energy and broke into something akin to a run which almost immediately resulted in some familiar crampy twinges in my lower extremities. I hammered another salt pill (My 3^rd or 4^th in an hour) and tested out the descent. My legs felt fine so I decided to bomb it as hard as I could. Oddly enough I felt fantastic, speeding along, cruising down the Dipsea trail 60+ miles into an epic run. Writing that now seems ridiculous…ridiculously awesome. I turned a corner and ran into some course marshals and hooted and hollered my way to the home stretch. People cheered, I smiled and yelled and before I knew it I was across the line in 13:39:55. One of the race organizers put a finisher medal around my neck and I moved into the party area, chatting with another fellow runner Greg with whom I traded many a conversation with while we yo yo’d back and forth during the race. 

I feel like I lost a fight to this guy and 300 of his best friends

So in summary…the race was awesome, painful, enlightening, challenging and all around epic. The volunteers were awesome, the fellow runners were great and those last 12 (or 14) miles of unknown made for one heck of a day. Marin is awesome…go experience it. Run it…hike it….ride it…do something there because the views alone are worth all of the effort it takes to reach the peaks of the many…many…many climbs. Two days later I feel like I was run over by a pack of Tasmanian devils…and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

What is a Chuckanut?

A season that started off with a whimper ended up delivering in a pretty big way over the past few weekends. Chuckanut 50K, Gorge Waterfalls 50K, and then a pretty fun 21 miler in Cougar last weekend have me feeling pretty confident heading into my last 4 weeks of training before my first big test of the season...the Miwok 100k. Before we get to that though... /sarcasm I'll offer some exciting commentary on my two 50K efforts last month. /sarcasm

Chuckanut 50K

Smiling my way up Chinscraper.
Photo by Win Van Pelt

What is a Chuckanut anyway? Kudo's to anybody who can figure this out without an internet search.  I personally had to look it up, which as you may have guessed sent me to a wikipedia page that I just assumed was accurate. I'm not going to tell you what it means though. Think of it as a Scavenger hunt that you can figure out and finish in about 3 seconds. In any event, there is a Drive named Chuckanut Drive and there is a mountain named Chuckanut mountain. Thankfully the 50K took place on the later rather than the former. I did one 50K on the road and I don't care to ever experience that again. (Though I'm stupid enough to where I'll probably end up doing it tomorrow just to spite myself)

Rocking the manpris

In any event, Chuckanut attracted a super fast crowd, which can probably be attributed to the tireless efforts of the race directory, and ultrarunner elite, Krissy Moehl. (Pronounced Male...so apparently I've been mispronouncing it for...awhile) I knew my ultrasignup percentage was shot when I saw the front runners take off like a bunch of greyhounds chasing after fake jack rabbits. Max King was on his way to finishing the 31.5-32 mile race in a blistering 3:30 when he decided that he needed more mileage and took a wrong turn. The dude is too fast...I hear he can outrun Emu's. In any event...he ended up finishing in 4:30 after running an extra 4+ miles. Adam Campbell, a super fast guy from Victoria BC ended up out sprinting the crazy field on the Interurban trail and took top male honors while Ellie Greenwood destroyed all the women (And most of the Men) and won the female division handily.

I was pretty stoked with my own performance, but as stated above you wouldn't notice any improvement based on my time vs. that of the elites. Sure I keep getting faster....but the elites seem to keep getting faster by a larger percentage. I didn't think that was possible. I figured I was untalented enough to where I would be able to make huge improvements where as the fast dudes would make these tiny incremental ones..apparently that's not the case. In any event, I finished 31.6 miles with around 5K feet of elevation gain in 5:20. I was aiming for sub 5 hour but with the rain and snow making for some slick conditions I was slowed down a bit too much on the awesome chuckanut ridge trail and had to settle for my slower but still completely satisfactory time.

Gorge Waterfalls 50K

What a week the race director had leading up to this race. Trail work issues, snow issues, a flat tire and a bunch of other challenges had to be overcome just to get the registered entrants on the course. Big hats off to James Varner for pulling off a great race in spite of all the issues. After four course changes in a week we ended up running an out and back that allowed us to pass by all 1 million waterfalls twice in about 29 total miles. (For a total of 2 million waterfall viewings in a little less than 50K) That is a waterfall sighting every inch traveled. I really like waterfalls...but after a few thousand they all start to look the same. 

One Hundred Billion Waterfalls!

Okay so maybe there weren't 2 million waterfall sightings...probably closer to 20-30, which is still impressive. The gorge is one of the most...gorgeous places in the country and I'd highly recommend taking a trip out there if you get a chance. Sadly I don't have any pictures as I was too busy trying to run at a marginally fast pace. Max King, the dude that took a wrong turn at Chuckanut, redeemed himself putting in a stellar 3:19, crushing the field in the process. (And it was another pretty stacked field on the men's side) The women's field was a little bit less competitive but there were still some fast women, one of which was Jenn Shelton, of Born to Run fame. I ended up seeing her at the mile 14 aid station after she had already made the turnaround and was coming back.

So I wanted to break 5 hours in one of these races and it turns out I did just that at Gorge with a 4:50 time. This deserves an asterisk though as the course itself was a little short on distance. (But not short on elevation...there was 6K+ vertical feet of climbing in those 29 miles) What's even crazier though is that I didn't even taper for this race or Chuckanut for that matter. The week prior I ended up with 63 total miles and the week of Gorge I ended up with 71. Both of those are pretty respectable weekly totals for me and I'm a little confused on what all this means. Perhaps it just means that 50K isn't that far for me anymore, or maybe it means that tapering is unnecessary. I hope it's both...I like running far and subsequently hate not running so this would be a big revelation for me.

To Miwok and Beyond

Man this season is flying. Maybe that has something to do with scheduling two races in 8 days. Though that was fun I doubt I will be doing it again anytime soon. Logistically it is kind of a pain and even though the races are pretty cheap they cost still adds up. I have access to some pretty awesome trails close to Seattle so it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense for me to pay somebody for a fun run every weekend when I can just head out with a few friends and take a leisurely 20-30 mile stroll through the local wilderness. After taking 4 days off following Gorge due to some muscle soreness (Who knew running up and over mountains was hard?) and a slight shin issue I jumped back into the deep end with a fun filled 21 mile trek around Cougar last Saturday with Danny Currit. We decided to go up and down as much as possible, which lead to a bit of pain towards the end of the run. I also thought it would be good to eat some dirt early on in the run, it turns out it doesn't taste very good and has a tendency to hurt ones knees if fell upon with any decent amount of force.

One last long run until I start to take it a bit easier leading in to Miwok. I have no idea what I'll be able to do there but figure if I pace myself well, keep the calories steady and stay hydrated I should be able to break 12 hours. Ideally I'd like to come in under 11 but that would probably take some sort of miracle. After that...well more training.

Oh and wasn't I supposed to brew some beer at some point? If these guys read this blog they'd be pretty upset...

Where is the beer eh?

More Finish Less Fail

Orcas came and went with very little fanfare on my part. No PR, no joy, and no finish.A little over 24 hours before the start of the race I came down with a stomach bug that had me unburdening myself of all the fluids and calories that I had painstakingly placed into my system over the previous few days. Not the greatest way to prepare for a training run, let alone the first race of the year. In any event, we got to Orcas, I attempted to start, got 10 miles in and pulled the plug at the first aid station.  DNF's are tough to choke down even when you know there is very little you could've done about it. I wasn't too happy about the result but got to spend some time with my wife and our dog at a cabin on Orcas, which is never a bad thing.

Pippa putting up with a photo op

My two buddies Josh and Danny knocked the race out of the park. Big congrats to them as they both put in a lot of time prepping for the event. Danny came in 20th in a pretty stacked field. Josh and I are waiting for him to get sponsored so we can beg for some free stuff. Josh ended up finishing his first Ultra with a good time and in good spirits and as such has decided to throw his name in the hat for the White River 50 miler. Another person converted to ultrarunning awesomeness?

The bitterness over Orcas didn't really last very long. Looking at my race calendar I realized the following:

1) Wow I have more races I get to run
2) Holy crap that 100k is less than 2 months away.
3) Cripes the 100 miler just got a month closer too!

Panic momentarily set in as I tried to wrap my brain around the enormity of these two endeavors. Best case scenario I will run 11 hours in the 100K. Though I suppose "move" would be a more appropriate word to use over "run". The 100 miler will likely take me 24 hours OR MORE to complete. The panic quickly gave way to excitement...though admittedly at times it is difficult to explain why. I like being out on the trail. I like talking to other runners. I like the challenge. I like the isolation. There isn't much about running that I don't like anymore. Though just thinking about that amount of running gives me enough reason to pause and consider whether or not I am a little off my rocker.

Spring (or winter?) in the foothills

Enough rambling. Onwards and upwards! Training began anew after the early season debacle and I hammered out an awesome 4 week block that included a 75 mile peak week. For comparative purposes, last year it took me until September to hit that kind of weekly mileage, which was done more slowly and with less vertical gain. My goal is to put together a killer back to back run next weekend when I take part in the Chuckanut 50K. I'll hopefully hammer out a sub 5 hour time in the race and will then spend a few hours the following day hobbling around Seattle...eeking out anywhere from 10-15 additional miles. The following weekend I'll partake in another 50K down in Cascade Locks, OR. It should be a pretty spectacular month. In April I'll put together back to back 12-15 hour weeks to start off the month followed by a taper period leading to the Miwok. (First Focus race of the season)

Finally, since I use this blog more for my own benefit more than others (Though I do appreciate you few readers) I feel like I should list some of the cool/surprising things that happened over the past few weeks of training.

• I ran out on the San Francisco bay trail and heard a bunch of gun shots. Right around the time in which I was getting ready to call the police on my phone I saw a sign with arrows directing me to a gun club. (Which was smack dab in the middle of a PARK) Thank god my hands were a little frozen and it was taking me so long to type in my phone password...
• Postholing up on Rattlesnake mountain with Doug, Marc, Joram and Jay. There is something about struggling along at 1-2 MPH that is incredibly satisfying...
• Eating a ridiculous amount of fruits and vegetables. Nutrition is going to play a huge role in getting me up to the mileage required to run in these longer races. I'm buying organic when I can and adopting a new "eat lots of raw, green or brightly colored vegetables and fruits" rule.
• Sharing the trails with all my training buddies. Doug, Joram, Marc, Danny, Josh and the members of the Seattle Mountain Running group. 
• Running in the rain in the morning, watching it snow in the afternoon, and then heading out for a run in the sun in the same day. Only in the Pac NW. 

Three days to Chuckanut...I should probably be resting more but I'm having too much fun on the trails...and the pavement. I'm 0-1 for the season...here is to hoping that I finish the rest of my races.

Racing Again...at least until the world ends

There isn't much of a break in trial running. As far as I can tell there isn't really an on season or an off season. Certainly there are months where races are more numerous, most notably in the summer months when a lot of the high country opens up due to snow melt. A runner can however find a race at just about any time of year. This isn't really much of a dilemma for those of us that like running...but it can definitely take a toll on the body. I'm fairly confident that I will be taking a pretty solid 6 weeks off at the end of this next season. (So..not until the December 2012, January 2013 timeframe...assuming the Mayans weren't on to something anyway)

Speaking of time off, following the North Face 50 in December I took about 4 days completely off from running. This was a bit difficult for me as a fair bit of my mental well being is now dependent on my ability to lace up a pair of shoes and pound away on the dirt or pavement on a near daily basis. The following two weeks were pretty light, running just enough to prevent myself from going crazy while taking it easy enough to allow my body to recuperate after a fairly full year of running. I believe the final tally last year put me at around 2,200 miles with upwards of 220,000 feet of elevation gain. Not bad for a wannabe athlete. Barring injury I will most likely increase that number by about 1,000 miles (or more) this year. It should be a blast.

As far as this year goes, January has been a fun month so far. I've spent about 80% of my time on the trails, up from the 55% I spent on the dirt last year. I'm hoping to keep this going through the entire season. Not only is trail running more interesting...but it also seems to be a bit easier on the joints. I've also been able to ramp up from about 40 miles a week (the arbitrary amount I decided to start off with) to 70 mile weeks without any issues physically. For reference last season I topped out with a 78 mile week. My hope is to ramp up to a couple of 90-100 mile weeks at some point prior to the 100 mile race I have planned for August. Suffice it to say my training is going great and I'm looking forward to keeping the ball rolling for the next 10 months.

After a solid month of training I'm ready to race. The Orcas Island 50K is this Saturday. I raced it last year and though I felt pretty good with my performance, given the fact that I was and really still am pretty new to Ultras, I'm confident that I should be able to greatly improve on my time from last year. Orcas is a beast of a 50K, much more difficult than many of the others floating around. It probably clocks it a mile or two longer than the advertised 31 miles and has well over 7,000 feet of elevation gain. (Probably more like 8K) I'll be giving the New Balance MT110's their first go in a race on Saturday. Awesome shoe...we shall see if they can turn this wannabe runner into something that resembles a real runner. In any event...Orcas Island, the rematch this Saturday the 4th in Olga, Washington. It should be a blast. Lets get ready to rumble.

Hopefully the next post will be funnier...this one just seems like it's full of numbers. I guess it makes sense though...what did you expect from an engineer? I'll leave you with a goofy picture of my dog.

10 Glorious Hours

I'm not quite sure most people would use those three words together to describe a run. After looking at it a few times I'm starting to think I understand why my wife and several other people think I'm a little crazy. (But not nearly as crazy as many other ultrarunners) This past Saturday I started and finished The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile race in the Marin Headlands. It was fantastic. It was Awesome. I ran about as well as I could've over the course and ended up finishing in the top half of the field. (Probably just in the top half though...) At no moment did I experience a real low point. I managed to stay pretty well hydrated, kept up on my food intake and also on my electrolytes. Given that this was my second 50 miler ever I was actually completely shocked that this occurred. I was expecting to be a cramped mess throughout the race...but the cramps never came. Sure there was pain...but it was a welcome pain. It was manageable. Suffice it to say this was probably the most fun I've had on a run...ever. I look forward to replicating this many times over in the decades ahead. (Yes Decades...I plan to be running when I'm in my 80's)

I won't delve too much into the play by play. Instead I'll just provide a few stats on the race...provide a list of some highlights and then wrap it up for the year.

Course Statistics
Where: Marin Headlands
Max Elevation: 1800 Feet
Minimum Elevation: 0 Feet
Total Elevation Gain: 10,059 Feet
Total Mileage: 51.2 Miles
My Finishing Time: 10:15:35
My Average Pace:  12:01 min/mile
Winning Time: 6:19:00
Winning Pace:  7:24

Still smiling...40+ miles in

You are not reading that wrong...Mike Wolfe ran this freaking thing in 6 hours and 19 minutes, absolutely crushing the course and just about every other elite running it. He and Dakota Jones (A 21 year old phenom) battled it out all the way to the last climb where Wolfe finally pulled away for good. These guys are incredible. I'm not intentionally trying to belittle myself here but what they do makes my accomplishment of just finishing pale in comparison. The elites prove that running 50 miles is not as crazy as people would think. If a pro athlete can go out and run a marathon in 2:03 then an average Joe ought to be able to run one in 3:00 given dedication, will and training. That's how I look at these now....with more training I should be able to run 50 miles in under 9 hours. One of next year's goal has been set...now lets see if I can follow through on it.

Race Highlights:

• Seeing a train of runners headlamps snaking up the initial ascent at 5:00 AM.
• Sunrise over the golden gate and San Francisco. I wish I had a camera on me but I doubt I would've been able to capture how awesome this was.
• Sharing the coastal trail (and all the trails for that matter) with 300 other like minded individuals.
• Making it to the top of the first big climb and thinking "Wait is that it?" Honestly...for some reason I expected that first big climb to be a killer...I pretty much just waltzed up it. (Slowly)
• Bombing down the Dipsea Trail...then stuffing my face full of food and powerhiking/running back up it.
• Passing all the hikers while I was bombing downhill to Muir Woods. I was 34 miles into a race and felt fantastic. 
• Absolutely nailing my race day nutrition. I basically ate solid food at each aid station, sticking mainly with PBJ, Oranges, Bananas and a few cookies while supplementing with a gel or two in between stations. I also took an electrolyte tablet every hour and 20 minutes. The chicken broth I drank at a couple stations probably helped too. 
• Finishing up with an average pace of 7:50 over the last 3 miles.

Hopefully I'll be running this again in May

I liked this race so much that I threw my name in the hat for the Miwok 100K (62 miles) in May. Not sure if I'll get in but if I do it should be another fantastic run out in the headlands. If not than I'm sure I'll find something else to run. Next year's season is looking like it'll be pretty spectacular. It starts pretty soon too...first race is February 4th so I don't really get a whole lot of downtime here. That's fine though...I'm already itching to get out on the trails.

First I should brew a batch of beer though...I still haven't gotten around to writing that first beer entry...

Here are a few pictures we took the monday after the Race. I wanted to show Brandi the headlands so we drove out and retraced some of the race. 

Heading out to Muir beach, thankfully this sand was not part of the race

Me recreating the race atmosphere for Brandi

Somehow I figured out how to levitate

Looking down the coast...rad views

Playing around with the panorama mode

I was still hungry so I decided to eat a jelly fish



Recovery Beer



TNF Endurance Challenge - Imminent Awesomeness...and Pain

It did not take me long to sign up for my second 50 mile race. Shortly after the White River 50M in late July I decided that I wanted to take on a second 50 mile race before the end of the year. Having already signed up for the Portland Marathon and the Defiance 50K in October a late November or December race was pretty much a requirement. It turns out there aren't a whole lot of 50 mile races in the Pacific Northwest in the fall and winter due to our weather degenerating into complete garbage. Thankfully work decided to send me to San Francisco the week after Thanksgiving which put me in prime position to run The North Face Endurance Challenge in the Marin Headlands this coming Saturday, December 3rd.

This course is going to be a bit of a beast. No incredibly long climbs like in white river (Which only has two...both around 4K feet of gain) but the course is pretty much always going either up or down a hill. With upwards of 11,000 feet of total gain this will be the most I've ever taken on in a single day. I'm optimistic though as these hills are more in line with what I'm used to training on, 1-3 miles of uphill followed by 1-3 miles of downhill. That coupled with my vast experience at this distance (one whole race) should equate to me shattering my 50M PR....or perhaps shattering my will to endure...or maybe a knee. I'm sure something will get shattered on Saturday...the most likely being my stomach.

As far as competition goes I don't really compete with people at these events. I'm slow...a perennial mid-packer that doesn't have the time or the stomach to up my game enough to compete with the top half of the field. I have aspirations to move up into the top 20% someday, and in the 50K and Marthon distances I'm pretty much there...but for 50 mile events December 3rd will probably not be that day. I haven't nailed a race of this distance yet and am still in the process of figuring out how to prevent nausea, cramping, dehydration and all of the other issues that pop up in Ultra races. I think I've finally figured out 50K races...but these are significantly shorter than 50 milers.

As for those that will be competing, there are a TON of elites running this race. The winning time will most likely be sub 7 hours, which roughly equates to an 8 minute per mile pace for 50 miles with a bunch of climbing in it. I'll be lucky if I can pull 12 minute miles over the course of the event. I'm looking forward to seeing Geoff Roes, Mike Wardian, Dakota Jones, Ricky Gates and a whole smorgasbord of Ultra Elites at the starting line...for about 5 seconds...then they will pull away and I probably won't see them for the rest of the race.

My training leading up to this thing has been pretty solid. I put in some solid weeks in August and September in preparation for my Portland Marathon/Defiance 50K races which occured on succesive weekends. I topped out with a 77 mile week and strung togther a 4 week period where I topped out at 258 miles with 24,000 feet of elevation gain. Not a crazy amount but it was a really solid month with a decent amount of climbing. Ideally I would've like to have strung together 4-5 70+ mile weeks...but alas 2 seemed to be my limit this year. The two October races served as some good long distance race/training efforts. I could probably spend a few thousand words analyzing my recent training but suffice it to say it was less than ideal, but far exceeded what I would I would've considered the minimum to run this event. My stomach hasn't been "trained" nearly as much as it should...but that is more an issue with my style of training. I do not eat or drink much during my training runs much to the dismay of most of my running buddies. The plus side of this is that I'm fairly used to bonking now and have progressed past the panic that usually occurs when your heart rate and breathing skyrocket. The minus of course is that consuming even a small amount of calories on the run can result in some pretty significant nausea. I managed to tame that beast during my 50K in october...but I have no idea how things will pan out by adding an addition 19.2 miles. I guess I'll just need to eat more oreos....

Crane Kicking PR's

Ah October...leaves turning colors, rain falling, and colder weather all mix into a super combination of PR crushing awesomeness. (At least in the Pacific Northwest)  I knew that I would probably be able to put together a good race at the Portland Marathon, likely coming in well under my previous PR of 3:51 but I hadn't really anticipated running quite possibly my best race ever 6 days later at the Defiance 50K. Suffice it to say I avoided the leg sweep and crane kicked both races in the face. Thank you Mr. Miyagi and Joe Esposito for teaching me that I could be the best...AROUND! (My house that is...at running...long distances)

Portland Marathon - October 9th - 3:31:18 PR by 20 minutes
Defiance 50K - October 15th - 5:03:20 PR by 18 minutes


Fear does not exist in my Dojo



I have to admit Portland was actually a bit of a let down for me. I was looking to improve my time by around a minute per mile, with hopes of sneaking in under the 3:25 mark. Problems with pacing and calories however resulted in a dramatic deceleration at around mile 23. I'm willing to bet that part of this was due to the spots drink of choice (ultima) being electrolyte only. I ended up eating a handful of gummy bears during the race so I guess I probably ate 100 calories over the course of 26.2 miles. Not ideal by any means. Pacing is also a big weakness for me. I, like many other runners, tend to get caught up in the atmosphere at the beginning of a race and go out way to fast. I thought I could stave off any serious leg pain and cardiac drift until the last mile but alas, it wasn't meant to be and my hopes at breaking 3:30 were dashed against the cold hard steel of portlands many bridges.

Fast forward 6 days and I was toeing the line at the Defiance 50K, the sophomore season for Tacomas only Ultramarathon. (Not sure if they can claim that anymore) The race directors are a fantastic group of fellow runners that know how to put on a great event. The course is essentially three 10+ mile laps through Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. The remarkable thing about this race is that they were able to come up with a 10 mile lap that doesn't actually intersect itself at any point. Oh and they also managed to squeeze a new hill into it this year, the aptly named "Achilles Hill". This probably added a couple minutes per lap but was a pretty fun little addition.

The two main issues I had at Portland were nowhere to be found during the 50K trail race. In a first, I actually may have managed a negative split. (Or at least a near even split) I ran laps of 1:39:23, 1:43:53, and 1:40:03. Couple that with a welcome absence of leg cramps, a completely solid stomach and a spectacularly even heart rate throughout and I can honestly say that it was the best race I've run. Perhaps not in terms of time improvement but definitely in terms of how it felt. Less than 24 hours later I felt almost fully recovered and even managed a nice 8.5 mile run. That being said...I still felt pretty exhausted throughout the week and as such ended up taking it pretty easy following the race. I'll be kicking it up a notch now though over the next 4 weeks as a prepare for the North Face Endurance Challenge. 50M set to be run in Marin on December 3rd.

So what lessons have I learned over this past week?

1) Apparently I can race marathon+ distance events twice in a week. Who knew?
2) I won't be repeating this too often. Races cost money. Training however is almost free.
3) Even pacing or negative splits are now possible. I just need to be more honest about my fitness.
4) It is possible to avoid cramps in long races! I think I'll do that from now on.
5) My wife is awesome for letting me do this stuff.
6) Even though my dog will never be a runner...she is still rad.
7) Just in case my cats see this too I should give them a shout out. They are still my favorite animals. 

Okay the last two had nothing to do with racing and I already knew my wife was awesome. Actually I already knew 5-7 but decided to put them in here any way as a shout out to the peeps that I essentially share my life with. And my pets are rad. I doubt I will have any pictures from the races to fill out this blog so I will include some of them instead. 




Pippa, the newest addition. Don't let her cuteness fool you, she pees on stuff.



But she likes Gears of War 3...which is pretty cool




A fun picture of teo enjoying the sun..which will remain hidden for the next 6 months

  

Ash. Named after the Evil Dead Protagonist.
Both are dumb in endearing ways.  



Brandi enjoying the sun...amongst near record setting snow

The Enchantments

This past weekend Doug and I decided to (Finally) pull the trigger on our plan to run through the Enchantments. I use the term run loosely as there are several parts of the trail that I would deem unrunnable, at least given my current fitness. There are probably quite a few elite trail runners out there that could run most of the trail...with the exception of some portions of Aasgard Pass and perhaps a steep sloped granite slab or two. I was still feeling some residual affects from my White River 50 Mile run on July 30th but decided this would be a great return to long mountain excursions.

For those of you unfamiliar with the enchantments area it's located just outside of Leavenworth and consists of a couple of alpine basins, a bunch of lakes and tarns, and the Stuart mountain range. You can get a bit more information on the area at wikipedia or on the WTA website. I highly recommend visiting the area, either on a long day hike, a fast through hike or run or ideally spending a few days in the back country taking in the sites at a more leisurely pace.

Doug and I decided that we would park cars at both the Snow Lakes and Stuart Lakes trail heads and travel from Stuart to Snow in one day long push. This route involves about 20 miles of hiking, slogging, scrambling and running, 6000 feet of elevation gain (Of which 2200 are done during a 1.0 mile ascent up Aasgard pass) and a near uncountable amount of incredible vistas. The pictures do not do it justice....this place is amazing. It honestly looks like something that was ripped right out of a movie. There were a few instances in which I had almost convinced myself that I was looking at a mountain range or a lake that had been computer generated...



Awesome



Colchuck lake with Aasgard in the Background

In any event, the run started at Stuart lake and meandered up the mountainside. We passed many a hiker on our way to Colchuck lake and managed to stop and take a few pictures of the surrounding area. We were already in awe at what we were seeing and I have to admit I was/am a bit annoyed at myself for not getting up into this area previously during my 32 year stint in Seattle. Still...better late than never I supposed. After getting to Colchuck lake we got a little lost...winding around the wrong side of a smaller sister lake, boulder hopping and bushwacking our way to the base of aasgard pass. Aasgard was aptly named...I wouldn't have been surprised if we had found Odin waiting for us at the top. (Sadly we didn't) To classify Aasgard as a beast is to short change it a bit...it's completely doable and is actually a fun little scramble, but it would also be difficult to classify it as a normal hike. Suffice it to say that if you go this route you will be climbing some rocks, crossing some streams (And perhaps a waterfall or two) and will most likely get lost due to the fact that the trail is nigh nonexistent in parts.

Wildflowers on the pass

The boulder field leading up to Aasgard



Ascension



Our friend looking out across the Central Cascades



After getting up over the summit we ran into some mountain goats, hikers and were greeted by some tremendous views of the upper basin. The area was still snowed in so we ended up running on some interesting surfaces. The way through the basins is actually marked by a series of cairns (Rock piles) due mainly to the fact that you are traveling over granite for a vast majority of the trek. We got lost many times, climbed to the top of several little rock outcroppings which opened up amazing views and had some fun "Skiing" down some snowy sections of the trail. The upper eventually gave way to the lower basin which in turn provided much greener surroundings.




Looking out over the basin


The snow in the lower basin was almost completely melted out though still stubbornly persisted in places. Thankfully the trails were almost entirely clear so we really only had to contend with the fun granite slabs from the lower basin to snow lakes. (Some sections had re bar hammered into the rock in an effort to give hikers a bit more traction on the steeper sections)


Sometimes it was more slab than trail


I was feeling pretty good at snow lakes (Still 6.5-7 miles from the trail head) so decided to give my downhill legs a workout and told Doug I'd meet him at the bottom. I was surprised at how well I handled descent. The trails are a bit rockier and technical than those around the Rainier I90 areas but I managed to get down with a minimal amount of bruises. (No painful falls thankfully) Near the bottom the trail becomes pretty exposed to the sun and almost immediately transitions from cool forest to a hot furnace. There was a nice aqua duct at the bottom of the descent near the Snow Lakes trail head that I took advantage of by dunking my head in the cool, briskly moving alpine water. After cooling off for a bit I made my way to the end of the trail, found a bit of shade and waited for Doug and our ride back to the Stuart Lake trail head.



Just another bit of spectacular trail...

Aasgard or fed it to mountain goat...those things are heavy...cameras that is.

You can find more pictures of the run here.