For the past four months I've been focused on one goal...finishing my first 50 mile race. By finishing I hope I don't mean limping or crawling in, I want to finish on my feet, uninjured with a decent time for a first time 50 mile runner. I thought it would be fun to offer up a summary of the past 4 months of training along with some thoughts on how things have gone, what I will likely change in my next round of training, and which training runs were my favorite of the bunch.
First some notes on the math, I'm going to be offering weekly and monthly totals. Adding up the weekly mileage won't really equate easily to the monthly totals because of the way in which the weeks fall month to month. I personally just think it's interesting to see weekly vs. monthly. Weekly is much more helpful in determining overall training volume but the monthly numbers are nice ego boosters.
April Training
Week of April 4th - 30.05
Week off April 11th - 38.47
Week of April 18th - 35.54
Week of April 25th - 17.42
April Total - 127.48 Miles
Elevation Gain - 11,0059 Feet
April was a tough month. I was coming back from an extended vacation in South America that lasted the entire month of March. As such I was basically attempting to ramp up my training volume from zero. I ended up with an injury shortly after an excursion up on the Tiger Mountain trail which caused the drastic drop off seen in the week of April 25th. More core training was necessary. Sadly...I wouldn't really learn that lesson until early June.
May Training
Week of May 2nd - 41.19
Week off May 9th - 47.46
Week of May 16th - 44.48
Week of May 23rd - 55.27
Week of May 30th - 48.07
May Total - 200.09 Miles
Elevation Total - 15,779 Feet
May was pretty awesome. I finally started to feel pretty decent week to week and noticed some remarkable pep in my legs when climbing. My favorite training run had to have been the memorial day weekend 30+ mile run around the Mt. Rainier area. In fact I felt it was so awesome that I wrote a blog entry on it earlier in the year.
June Training
Week of June 6th - 61.05
Week of June 13th - 44.91
Week of June 20th - 65.05
Week of June 27th - 50.79
June Total - 232.03 miles
Elevation Total - 21,953 Feet
June was another really solid month. I spent a bit more time in the rainier area, familiarizing myself with the white river route while taking in some pretty spectacular vistas. Snow continued to be a problem at the higher elevations but we have such extensive trail systems out here in the Pacific Northwest that it was still pretty easy to link together long runs without topping out on the buried ridge lines. I didn't really have a single training session that I would call my favorite this month, though the June 30th jaunt up to the Ranger Creek Cabin (and a little beyond) was pretty spectacular. Unfortunately I bonked pretty hard and had to cut the run short.
July Training
Week of July 4th - 70.27
Week of July 11th - 20.23
Week of July 18th - 32.0
July Total (So Far) - 152.5 Miles
Elevation Total - 12,500 Feet
July has been interesting so far. My training called for a pretty nice even taper but the chest cold that I came down with after my 70 mile week forced me to reduce my training volume a lot more than I would've liked. I had anticipated the week of the 11th coming in around the 45 mile mark with the week of the 18th being around 30-35. I'm pretty confident though despite my forced reduction and am feeling great heading into the final week before my race.
Another 63 miles forthcoming this week, 13 from some training and another 50 from a single race coming this Saturday, July 30th. That will push me over 200 miles for the third month in a row. Am I ready? I certainly think so. I probably should've done a bit better job ramping my mileage up to my max of 70 but I got there and didn't completely destroy myself doing it. As can be seen from the weekly totals I had a difficult time increasing week over week and ended up ping ponging a fair bit between low and high mileage weeks. Still...I was able to ramp up to 70 miles without my joints failing so I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to move up into that volume again in preparation for my October races.
The race this Saturday will be awesome. If I bonk, it will still be rad, if I nail it and can move consistently through to the end then that will be even better. Regardless...it will be a fantastic day on the trails. Hopefully I'll see some familiar faces out there but if not I always have the Mountain.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Oops...we ran an Ultra
So what happens when you take two runners, both known for being stubborn explorers with a knack for getting lost, put them in the Rainier area on a long weekend and ask them to run 20 miles? You get a 31 mile excursion. Unintended of course. Before recapping the run in it's entirety I would first like to point out some lessons learned from this little trip.
1) Following somebodies footsteps on a snow covered portion of an unfamiliar trail is a good way to get lost in the woods.
2) Pack more gels then you think you need if your route isn't set in stone. Gels help keep up your blood sugar, which in turn prevents you from turning into an exhausted zombie.
3) Phone batteries drain fast when your in an area with a weak cell signal. I probably would've realized this sooner if I had fully appreciated lesson two listed above.
4) Don't ever let Doug or I lead you on a run unless you want to go further than originally planned.
5) Don't be intimidated by bad weather...just get out there and go for a run...or a hike...or anything.
Woefully unprepared for 8+ hours in the woods we set off with good intentions, a nice 4-5 hour, 20 mile run around the white river area of Mount Rainier. The weather was pretty decent (For Seattle) and neither of us had any afternoon plans. We should have known what we were in for when we got lost within 2 miles of the start. Our attempt to locate the Sun Top trail was ultimately successful, however we ended up adding an unexciting loop through a campground during our search. We knew full well that we wouldn't really be able to get to Sun Top this time of year but decided that it would be fun to see how far up we could get before running into impassable snow. (Note...what we thought was impassable in the beginning of the run was in sharp contrast to what we felt was impassable during the latter stages of our adventure)
Before long we were running through mountain streams, post holing in snow drifts and enjoying the many views afforded by the trail while making our way up the ridge line. At about 3700 feet we decided the snow on the trail was only going to get worse and made our way back down to the buck creek area. We managed to find our way back to the parking lot without getting lost in another campground though we did run into a fun couple that were out Geo caching and stopped to chat with them for a bit. They showed us some crazy pictures of the snow up at paradise.
After making a quick stop at aid station 1 (my car) we made our way out onto the Skookum flats trail.
Both Doug and I had mountain biked this trail several times in the past and were pretty stoked to see how quickly we could run it. Excellent conditions and a nice 8 mile warm up set the stage for a pretty quick jaunt down the rolling single-track. Approximately a mile in we ran into a WTA trail work party. Big thanks to those guys as it turns out they have their work cut out for them. About 2/3 of the way into the trail we ran into a ridiculous amount of dead fall. Not normal dead-fall...these were giant old growth trees that blanketed a fairly large portion of the trail. Doug and I ended up doing a fair bit of tree climbing, which though fun, drastically increased the amount of time it took for us to get to the end of the trail.
It was decision time after reaching the end of the skookum flats. Would we hit highway 410, with it's miserable pavement and slight uphill? Head to snoquera falls? Hit the white river trail and run through camp Sheppard? Or perhaps we would try to link the palisades trail up with the white river trail despite the fact that it would be most certainly buried in snow? Doug and are pretty notorious in our own minds for picking what could be described by some as the stupidest path so unsurprisingly we chose to run up above the snow line, follow a bunch of footprints that may or may not have been on the actual trail and eventually turned around about 3 hours after we had run out of gels and Doug had run out of water.
Note that at sun top we barely got over 3700 feet but we ended up topping out at over 5000 on this portion of the run. And yes...we ran into what we should have
Here are a few more pictures of the run. Wish I would've brought a better camera. Phone camera's are just awful for these types of pictures. Oh and here is a link to the garmin if anybody is interested:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88617512
1) Following somebodies footsteps on a snow covered portion of an unfamiliar trail is a good way to get lost in the woods.
2) Pack more gels then you think you need if your route isn't set in stone. Gels help keep up your blood sugar, which in turn prevents you from turning into an exhausted zombie.
3) Phone batteries drain fast when your in an area with a weak cell signal. I probably would've realized this sooner if I had fully appreciated lesson two listed above.
4) Don't ever let Doug or I lead you on a run unless you want to go further than originally planned.
5) Don't be intimidated by bad weather...just get out there and go for a run...or a hike...or anything.
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| Snow can be fun |
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| Stream crossings are more fun |
After making a quick stop at aid station 1 (my car) we made our way out onto the Skookum flats trail.
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| Aid station number 1 was a big hit |
Both Doug and I had mountain biked this trail several times in the past and were pretty stoked to see how quickly we could run it. Excellent conditions and a nice 8 mile warm up set the stage for a pretty quick jaunt down the rolling single-track. Approximately a mile in we ran into a WTA trail work party. Big thanks to those guys as it turns out they have their work cut out for them. About 2/3 of the way into the trail we ran into a ridiculous amount of dead fall. Not normal dead-fall...these were giant old growth trees that blanketed a fairly large portion of the trail. Doug and I ended up doing a fair bit of tree climbing, which though fun, drastically increased the amount of time it took for us to get to the end of the trail.It was decision time after reaching the end of the skookum flats. Would we hit highway 410, with it's miserable pavement and slight uphill? Head to snoquera falls? Hit the white river trail and run through camp Sheppard? Or perhaps we would try to link the palisades trail up with the white river trail despite the fact that it would be most certainly buried in snow? Doug and are pretty notorious in our own minds for picking what could be described by some as the stupidest path so unsurprisingly we chose to run up above the snow line, follow a bunch of footprints that may or may not have been on the actual trail and eventually turned around about 3 hours after we had run out of gels and Doug had run out of water.
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| There is a bridge under there somewhere |
Here are a few more pictures of the run. Wish I would've brought a better camera. Phone camera's are just awful for these types of pictures. Oh and here is a link to the garmin if anybody is interested:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88617512
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| Skookum falls from 410 |
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| Snoquera Falls from the Palisades trail |
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| Doug heading up the staircase |
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| One of the many views of the valley from the trail. Looking forward to running this on a clear day. |
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The fine line between being a wuss and being injured
Most people who run deal with a manageable amount of pain...probably on a daily basis. Running is not supposed to be easy. If you push yourself then you may get faster, but running that mile or 10 miles, or 50 miles at pace always takes a bit out of you. In my case I went on a vacation in March...and didn't run at all. On return I figured I probably hadn't lost all that much fitness since my wife and I had been fairly active during our trip and decided to dive right in. My first "long" run was a paltry 12 miles...with almost 4,000 feet of elevation gain. A slight twinge in the back and a somewhat sore ankle (STUPID LEFT ANKLE) were the only casualties for the trip so I figured I'd step the mileage up again the following week. I ended up going on a 14 mile road/trail adventure over in Boston (There for Abel and Sara's awesome wedding) and unfortunately re aggravated my left ankle during a slight slip up in an outdoor area that Bostonians call the fels. No worries...I was able to run the following two days and felt pretty decent. I figured I was on pace to get myself into decent enough shape to suffer my way through the 34 miler that I had signed up for on April 30th. (I know it was originally going to be 50...suffice it to say I'm an idiot and didn't realize a month of zero running would be highly detrimental to my training) All of this just set me up for a week of pain...and my first big running failure. A DNF would've been preferable to the DNS that I now have for the Capitol Peak 55K.
I almost always try to push through the little aches and pains that pop up from every day life. Perhaps you sleep awkwardly the night before a run and have some nagging pain in your back before your jog, or maybe a late night flight causes your leg muscles to stiffen up. All of these things make it that much more difficult to buckle down, put on your gear and head out the door. Once out though these nagging issues usually fall by the wayside and one can relish in the run. Unfortunately I hadn't counted on back spasms and ankle issues.
This past week was really a double dose of pain for me. My ankle still hadn't fully healed but I knew that I could push through it providing I didn't completely wreck it during my training. The prospect of running 34 miles on a tender ankle also wasn't my idea of intelligent running. I knew that I would have to protect the ankle but also wanted to get some speed work and climbing in so I could be as prepared as possible for my "race". Two speed work sessions during the week had me optimistic as I was running fairly fast and wasn't worn out from the training. On the weekend though I could tell that I was done and wouldn't be racing on April 30th within the first 3 minutes of what I intended to be my long run. I pulled up almost immediately after setting foot on the trail with back spasms. I've never had back spasms before. They are extremely unpleasant and I really hope to never suffer from them again. (Unlikely) Being my idiot self I simply stopped for a few minutes until they went away, adjusted my running form a bit and continued on my run. As any runner can attest to though, changing ones running form can have fairly disastrous consequences when expending any decent amount of effort. I felt like I had zero pep in my legs on every uphill, I had to walk more of the sections than usual and I was paranoid on the downhill as I now had a weak back and a shoddy ankle to coddle. By mile 10 I was almost completely wiped out and as such when my running buddy Doug presented us with an alternative route that would shave a few miles off of our proposed run I figuratively leaped at the opportunity, hobbled off and finished the abbreviated training session much worse for wear.
At this point I knew I was done. No April 30th race for me. I figured I would train through the week, perhaps log 35-40 miles and would continue to build on this through May and June and knock one out of the park at White River on July 30th. This is still my plan...but this past week was terrible. Instead of 35-40 I ran 17 miles...my lowest weekly total since my December break. (Not counting my 0 mile total in March) I've since found out that my back issue was actually tied to a tight glute and hamstring. Some stretching seems to be helping there so I don't anticipate any long term issues. The ankle is feeling better as well. I figure I need to stay away from any severe climbing for a few weeks, get some fitness back and then ease into the mountains. My plans right now are to tackle a 50K in mid-June, take a road trip to Western States 100 a couple weeks later for some much needed inspiration and then spend a fair bit of my free time on the weekends up in the Mount Rainier area familiarizing myself with the terrain. If all goes well I'm hoping to build to a sub 10 hour finish in my first 50 miler. A guy can dream right?
I almost always try to push through the little aches and pains that pop up from every day life. Perhaps you sleep awkwardly the night before a run and have some nagging pain in your back before your jog, or maybe a late night flight causes your leg muscles to stiffen up. All of these things make it that much more difficult to buckle down, put on your gear and head out the door. Once out though these nagging issues usually fall by the wayside and one can relish in the run. Unfortunately I hadn't counted on back spasms and ankle issues.
This past week was really a double dose of pain for me. My ankle still hadn't fully healed but I knew that I could push through it providing I didn't completely wreck it during my training. The prospect of running 34 miles on a tender ankle also wasn't my idea of intelligent running. I knew that I would have to protect the ankle but also wanted to get some speed work and climbing in so I could be as prepared as possible for my "race". Two speed work sessions during the week had me optimistic as I was running fairly fast and wasn't worn out from the training. On the weekend though I could tell that I was done and wouldn't be racing on April 30th within the first 3 minutes of what I intended to be my long run. I pulled up almost immediately after setting foot on the trail with back spasms. I've never had back spasms before. They are extremely unpleasant and I really hope to never suffer from them again. (Unlikely) Being my idiot self I simply stopped for a few minutes until they went away, adjusted my running form a bit and continued on my run. As any runner can attest to though, changing ones running form can have fairly disastrous consequences when expending any decent amount of effort. I felt like I had zero pep in my legs on every uphill, I had to walk more of the sections than usual and I was paranoid on the downhill as I now had a weak back and a shoddy ankle to coddle. By mile 10 I was almost completely wiped out and as such when my running buddy Doug presented us with an alternative route that would shave a few miles off of our proposed run I figuratively leaped at the opportunity, hobbled off and finished the abbreviated training session much worse for wear.
At this point I knew I was done. No April 30th race for me. I figured I would train through the week, perhaps log 35-40 miles and would continue to build on this through May and June and knock one out of the park at White River on July 30th. This is still my plan...but this past week was terrible. Instead of 35-40 I ran 17 miles...my lowest weekly total since my December break. (Not counting my 0 mile total in March) I've since found out that my back issue was actually tied to a tight glute and hamstring. Some stretching seems to be helping there so I don't anticipate any long term issues. The ankle is feeling better as well. I figure I need to stay away from any severe climbing for a few weeks, get some fitness back and then ease into the mountains. My plans right now are to tackle a 50K in mid-June, take a road trip to Western States 100 a couple weeks later for some much needed inspiration and then spend a fair bit of my free time on the weekends up in the Mount Rainier area familiarizing myself with the terrain. If all goes well I'm hoping to build to a sub 10 hour finish in my first 50 miler. A guy can dream right?
Friday, March 4, 2011
The last run until the next run...and beer stuff too.
Well the Orcas Island 50K came, I raced it, and got my butt kicked and my face stomped in. Rather than taking a week or so to recover I decided that I was fit enough to hit the ground running. This was a big mistake. I didn't officially take a rest day until the Thursday AFTER the race. Each day I ran I noticed a slight twinge in my knee, along with something that felt like the precursor to PF as well as the residual affects of my ankle rolling adventures both prior to and during the Orcas Island race. I'm a big proponent of active recovery but I think I took it a bit too far in this case. I ended up shortening my long run the weekend after Orcas from my originally planned 20 miles to 11 and then took a bit more time off the following week, shortening some middle distance runs and cutting one out entirely. My long run the following saturday consisted of an abbreviated 16 miles as I proceeded to roll my weak ankle (Again) and had to limp off tiger mountain. Once I got back to the car, slightly broken but not completely beaten, I vowed that I would return to conquer the spirited beast when my ankle was up to the challenge. Last weekend was the first long run I had where I actually felt halfway decent and was able to hit my target of 20+ miles. (I actually ended up doing 22 with around 1800 feet of elevation gain) Unfortunately this in no way prepares me for the potential suck-fest I'm going to have April 30th. I've signed up for a 50 miler and may end up bumping myself down to the 55K. (A paltry 34 miles....HA!) The near monthlong break I'll be taking in March while my wife and I are on vacation isn't going to help the fitness level either. (Though we will be hiking 26 miles at altitude...so maybe I'll be okay) On that thought I'm pretty sure the cheeseburgers I've eaten over the past few weeks haven't assisted in my training...or recovery for that matter. They were very tasty though.
In any event...the race definitely hurt...but the past month of training has probably been the most difficult month of running I've pushed through in quite some time. Not just physically but mentally as well. The weather has been less than stellar so I've been somewhat lacking in motivation. Once I get out the door I'm fine...it's just taking that first step out into the cold rain that usually has me retreating indoors to drink another steaming cup of coffee.
On the beermaking front I'm still working my way through my last batch. Turns out I can't muscle down 48 bottles of beer quite as quickly as when I was in college. (Even then I was pretty slow) I'm a little over a case into this batch and it's probably been over two months since I last brewed. I'm hoping that I can get a quick batch in after we get back from vacation in April. At that point I will christen this blog with it's first real brewing entry. I'll post fun pictures of my destroyed kitchen, portraits of me hating on the sanitation process, and maybe even post an hour and a half video showing me stirring the wort. Should be exciting times. If you are real lucky I'll make it rain...rain hops that is.
So yesterday was the last run until my next run...which probably won't occur until April. If I'm lucky I might be able to pull off the ultrarunner shuffle for short sections of the Inca trail but I'm pretty sure my lungs would burst if I tried a full on run at altitude up thousands of feet of elevation.
In any event...the race definitely hurt...but the past month of training has probably been the most difficult month of running I've pushed through in quite some time. Not just physically but mentally as well. The weather has been less than stellar so I've been somewhat lacking in motivation. Once I get out the door I'm fine...it's just taking that first step out into the cold rain that usually has me retreating indoors to drink another steaming cup of coffee.
On the beermaking front I'm still working my way through my last batch. Turns out I can't muscle down 48 bottles of beer quite as quickly as when I was in college. (Even then I was pretty slow) I'm a little over a case into this batch and it's probably been over two months since I last brewed. I'm hoping that I can get a quick batch in after we get back from vacation in April. At that point I will christen this blog with it's first real brewing entry. I'll post fun pictures of my destroyed kitchen, portraits of me hating on the sanitation process, and maybe even post an hour and a half video showing me stirring the wort. Should be exciting times. If you are real lucky I'll make it rain...rain hops that is.
So yesterday was the last run until my next run...which probably won't occur until April. If I'm lucky I might be able to pull off the ultrarunner shuffle for short sections of the Inca trail but I'm pretty sure my lungs would burst if I tried a full on run at altitude up thousands of feet of elevation.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Orcas Island...of Pain
This past weekend I partook in the Orcas Island 50K out in the San Juan's. I had been looking forward to this race since forgetting to sign up for it back in September thus locking myself out of registration. Fortunately for me and a few others James, the directory of Rainshadow Running, kept a few spots open for individuals who volunteered to participate in a trail work party the week prior to the run. As such one week prior to the race I found myself mucking it around on some trails, wielding a MacLeod, cutting a pretty sweet new trail through Moran state park with fellow trail runners while being directed by Ranger Rich. Fast forward one week from there and I found myself toeing the line with about 200 other runners, a few of which were still feeling the residual affects of said trail work party. Runners may have a metric ton of endurance packed into their muscles but most of us lack any significant amount of upper body strength. The trail work party convinced me that I need to work my core and upper body a bit more than...well...zero. I just really wish I had realized this before running this race. Lesson learned I guess.
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| Runner Arms = T-Rex Arms |
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| No Thank You |
With my arms still feeling the after affects of a whopping 5 hours of amateur MacLeoding I decided to start off slow and steady with Danny, a fellow trail work buddy and new running friend. The single track was soft, the weather was holding (Rain in the forecast but it hadn't yet made an appearance) and my legs felt ready. Shortly into the run the trail starts a steady series of climbs. Danny took this opportunity to get past a majority of the pack so we wished each other luck and settled into our respective paces. I was shocked to find myself running with a veteran finisher of many "real" ultramarathons. I had never met this guy before but Glen had finished several 100 milers and as such I decided to follow his pace up most of the climb to Pickett. Glen warned me after a few miles that we would be passing through an area that reminded him of the movie deliverance. This actually made me a little nervous as I signed up for a 50K not some horrible life changing experience. (Thought some could argue that the 50K itself is pretty terrible) The "Shacks" turned out to be a yurt, a house with a tarp for a roof, and a wood fired hot tub. The wood fired hot tub was also occupied by the resident of the tarp house. I think I may have unconsciously increased my pace here...
Our first real climb consisted of approximately 1200 feet of gain in about 3 miles. Nothing too incredibly crazy (8% Average Grade) though the course profile for this race has been shown to have low balled the elevation gain. Unfortunately this first climb turned out to be the easiest one of the bunch by a long shot.
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| There can be only one |
Towards the top of Picket we ran through a section that actually looked familiar. This turned out to be the section of a trail that we had rerouted around a huge pond that had flooded a 100 yard section of the course. The lack of the rain this past week made the work almost entirely unnecessary as the "pond" had receded and was little more than a large puddle. At least I got to wield the MacLeod solo.
Following this we turned up a pretty steep climb to top out and then descended two miles along a forest service road passing streams, little waterfalls and a few hikers. Thankfully after a mile or so of slightly boring road running we turned back onto a nice piece of single track, passed more mountain streams, a few ponds and then dropped down into the first aid station back at camp moran. I ran into Danny as he was on his way out and noticed he had ditched his jacket and was now running in a short sleeve with some gloves. We said hi and good luck as we passed and I decided that ditching the jacket would be an excellent idea. The volunteers were lively and extremely helpful. They made a point of asking each runner what they needed in our hydration systems, filled everything up while we stuffed our faces with cookies and made sure we were all feeling okay. After an abbreviated stop I took off back across the grass field, gave words of encouragement to all the runners that were making their way down to the aid station and proceeded to enjoy the next couple miles of fairly flat, soft running. This was not to last...
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| The easier section of the climb |
After what seemed like an eternity I finally reached the top, tentatively increased my pace to a jog on the short flat and then cut loose on the downhill. This turned out to be a huge mistake. Metering out your effort is one of the most important aspects of ultrarunning. You cannot outrun your stomach, quads, lungs or any other piece of necessary gear during the race. In this case I'm not sure what I pushed too hard but my body crashed out out about halfway down the hill. I went from a 6.5-7 minute per mile pace to about 8.5-9.0 minute per mile on technically easy single track. I really wish I would've held onto the faster pace but I just haven't trained my hill legs enough to maintain my earlier pace. After this we came down to mountain lake and ran the length of it.
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| Where is the lake? |
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| To Constitution and beyond! |
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| The face of an Ultrarunner? |
The aid station offered a large variety of food though I didn't really feel like eating. That being said I decided to muscle down a small piece of PBJ, some chips, a pretzel, some mountain dew and an orange slice and then shot down the trail like a rocket without any jet fuel. My quads were blown, the trail though not particularly exposed to switch back repeatedly and offered many opportunities to trip and roll a hundred feet or so down a nice steep hill so I took it super easy and just tried to keep a pace that I felt I could maintain over the next 8-10 miles. Eventually I came to a flat section and started running with a few fellow racers. I settled in behind a tutu girl and a tall dude that looked like he was getting ready to hibernate in his pain cave. We ended up dropping the guy who was struggling and then followed the pace set by the tutu girl who I would end up finishing with. Lisa was super fun to run with, seemed to have words of encouragement for everybody we passed or passed us, and kept me going over the last 1.5 hours of the course despite me wanting to curl up and sleep on several of the moss covered boulders. We chatted a bit which helped pass the time, almost turned our ankles on several occasions and all around had a fantastic time running the gradual uphill and the descent back down to cascade lake. (At one point I tripped, caught myself, watched my left calf cramp and then ease up all within the space of about a half of a second. A severe cramp would've ended my day...) At this point we ran into a volunteer that said we were "almost" there. It turns out "almost" is a pretty subjective term.
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| The finish line...about an hour after |
Reinvigorated Lisa upped the pace and we ran pretty solid until we hit a section that turned us away from camp and looped us around a few other lakes for at least 2-3 miles. This was extremely demoralizing as the "almost there" didn't quite mean the same thing as we were hoping. Our pace slowed a bit and since neither of us knew exactly how far away from the finish we were we didn't really know how much effort we could meter out. After looping around for what seemed like an eternity we came back on a familiar section of trail and were informed that we had about 600 meters to go. We pushed as hard as we could and were told we had 29 seconds to finish under 7 hours by a volunteer with about 100-150 meters to go. Lisa really pushed the pace here since I didn't really understand what the volunteer meant by 29 seconds and I hadn't really looked at the finish clock. I started to settle back behind her but she told me I needed to push the pace and finish along with her. Sprinting down the final section we both ended up coming in under the 7 hour mark with huge smiles on our faces. It was funny because afterwards she thanked me for pushing the pace, keeping her motivated and helping her over the past 8 miles and I pretty much said the same thing to her. Never underestimate the power of running with a like minded individual. For much of the middle part of the race I was running solo, which while fun can become a bit taxing when you reach a low point. A fellow runner can really help you get through the rough spots and I'm extremely grateful she was there to help me at the end of the race.
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| At the finish |
In conclusion...this is the first Ultra I've run that actually felt significantly more difficult than a marathon. I'm pretty sure that is a bit of an understatement...
31 Miles, 8000 feet of elevation gain, Shower, Hot Tub, Dinner at Allium...Great Day. Onward to recovery...and Longer Races.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Capitol Peak 17 Miler
Well the first semi-organized "Fun Run"/Race has come and gone and I'm fairly certain my legs were expecting a little less vertical and a lot less pace than what I threw their way yesterday. Not that I really care...I decided to thrash them again today and will do so again tomorrow until they fall in line and decide to quit being pansies.
The fun run was located out in Capitol Forest. For those of you unfamiliar with the area it's a little bit south of Olympia and consists of a collection of hiker, horse and ORV trails. If you are out there and listen closely the sweet, calming sounds of a gun club can be found over the annoying traditional wilderness fair. (Babbling brooks, winds, birds...that sort of thing) The area is actually quite nice for trail running as everything is pretty well marked and the area itself is smorgasbord of mileage for those people that live in Tacoma or further south. Unfortunately that means for your truly the day started at 5:00 AM. The drive from Seattle is about an hour and a half a full 45 minutes longer than it takes me to get up into the I90 corridor for my training runs so I probably won't be making myself out to Capitol forest much before my next race there on April 30th.
In any event, woke up, took a slight detour in the Tacoma area to pick up Doug and then head out to the Margaret McKinney campground and found to our surprise that a few hundred people had shown up for the run. We managed to find parking, got geared up (Which didn't consist of much..)grabbed our entrance fees (5 bucks and a roll of toilet paper) and then checked in. No race numbers at these "Fat Ass" events so following the registration we just milled around with other runners and listened to the sounds of hundreds of Garmin Watches booting up in preparation for the next 17 or 34 miles. (Doug and I ran the 17 miler)
The race itself is put on by capitol peak ultras who are also responsible for a couple other races in the Capitol forest area. They did a fantastic job with the event giving us runners enough guidance to get us through the run without getting lost or feeling idiotic but also keeping it low key enough to where it really just felt like a fun run despite the fact that there were water aid stations, a finish line clock, and well marked trails. Super nice volunteers and friendly runners rounded out the day to create a great atmosphere. Oh and what would it be without the infamous Capitol Forest mud of which there was plenty.
In any event, the 17 mile run itself was an out an back with 2500 feet of total elevation gain. It stuck mainly tot he waddle loop and green line trails. The beginning started easy enough...not a whole lot of mud and just an easy pace. Trail runs are interesting in that you are locked into other peoples paces for a vast majority of the first few miles. After about 3 miles everything started to spread out and the mud made its first appearance in spectacular fashion. Most runners seemed to be trying to avoid the nastiness but Doug decided that we should embrace it and hit every puddle on the mountain. This strategy really paid off as we didn't do nearly as much dodging as many of the other racers. That being said we also didn't make too many friends during those early miles as I'm sure we splashed a ton of folks who were trying in vain to stay clean and dry. One instance saw me whooping as we sprinted strait into a giant 15 foot puddle being fed by a temporary creek that happened to be running down the rest of the trail. I splashed through, yelled "On your left" to some ladies that were trying to dodge all the water and proceeded to pass them as they screamed "Don't splash me!". Ah...great stuff.
The rest of the first half was pretty standard. We maintained a pretty fair pace up the 1000+ foot climb and then sped up a bit on the descent. We lost a bit of time at the turnaround as I had to fill up my bottle and empty my near bursting bladder. (Damn you breakfast tea!) I felt pretty good at the turnaround so I decided without consulting Doug that we would actually race the second 8.5 miles. I set a pretty ridiculous pace (for me) up the incline and we almost immediately started picking people off. This just served to fuel my inner speedster and I increased the pace further. We ended up picking up a few additional folks and turned our two person racing machine into a four man freight train. (Freigt train was actually what one of our additions used to describe it.) Once we got to the top we cranked it up to 11 on the descent, splashing our way past several other runners while trying our hardest not to barf.
I seriously started questioning whether or not I would be able to maintain the pace we set (I say we but I'm pretty much to blame here since I was in front) when I took a swig of fizzy Nuun and had a serious bit of nausea almost overwhelm my anti-vommit measures. I immediately backed off the pace and let our two newfound friends pass. (I think Doug was having a similar bout of stomach nastiness so he ended up staying with me) In any event...I tried to pick off a few other people but just couldn't convince my legs to go any faster. The last half a mile came and went without too much difficulty. We were cheered into the finish area by a few crows, a frog and a couple of kids giving us as much cowbell as their tiny arms could muster. Big thanks to everything that cheered us on as this always seems to give me a nice shot of adrenaline during any type of race.
After crossing the finish line we wrote down our official time (Mine was 2:56:00 I believe) and reconvened with the other two members of our freight train. I was told almost immediately that if I hadn't set that pace that none of them would've run that fast. I mostly felt good about this but a tiny part of me asked the following question...
"You mean I didn't need to run that fast?"
I immediately squashed this girly man thought, doubled over with my hands on my knees and grinned through the near constant micro-cramps that were shooting up my thighs.
We ended up hanging out at the finish line for 10 or 15 minutes congratulating our fellow runners. The director of Evergreen Trail Runs came in and told me that I had set a pretty ridiculous pace on the second half. I thanked him, chatted for a bit, had the same girly man thought I mentioned above, and for the first time felt that I might actually be okay at this running thing. The rest of our time was spent cleaning up (we were pretty filthy after splashing through a hundred or so mud puddles) and partaking in the finish line bonfire and potluck. I crammed my face full of some food, dropped off some homemade guacamole then started the long drive back to Seattle. Pretty awesome day. Big thanks again to Capitol Peak Ultras for putting on the event and Doug for coming out and doing the race with me. (And putting up with the pace that almost made us both barf)
The fun run was located out in Capitol Forest. For those of you unfamiliar with the area it's a little bit south of Olympia and consists of a collection of hiker, horse and ORV trails. If you are out there and listen closely the sweet, calming sounds of a gun club can be found over the annoying traditional wilderness fair. (Babbling brooks, winds, birds...that sort of thing) The area is actually quite nice for trail running as everything is pretty well marked and the area itself is smorgasbord of mileage for those people that live in Tacoma or further south. Unfortunately that means for your truly the day started at 5:00 AM. The drive from Seattle is about an hour and a half a full 45 minutes longer than it takes me to get up into the I90 corridor for my training runs so I probably won't be making myself out to Capitol forest much before my next race there on April 30th.
In any event, woke up, took a slight detour in the Tacoma area to pick up Doug and then head out to the Margaret McKinney campground and found to our surprise that a few hundred people had shown up for the run. We managed to find parking, got geared up (Which didn't consist of much..)grabbed our entrance fees (5 bucks and a roll of toilet paper) and then checked in. No race numbers at these "Fat Ass" events so following the registration we just milled around with other runners and listened to the sounds of hundreds of Garmin Watches booting up in preparation for the next 17 or 34 miles. (Doug and I ran the 17 miler)
The race itself is put on by capitol peak ultras who are also responsible for a couple other races in the Capitol forest area. They did a fantastic job with the event giving us runners enough guidance to get us through the run without getting lost or feeling idiotic but also keeping it low key enough to where it really just felt like a fun run despite the fact that there were water aid stations, a finish line clock, and well marked trails. Super nice volunteers and friendly runners rounded out the day to create a great atmosphere. Oh and what would it be without the infamous Capitol Forest mud of which there was plenty.
In any event, the 17 mile run itself was an out an back with 2500 feet of total elevation gain. It stuck mainly tot he waddle loop and green line trails. The beginning started easy enough...not a whole lot of mud and just an easy pace. Trail runs are interesting in that you are locked into other peoples paces for a vast majority of the first few miles. After about 3 miles everything started to spread out and the mud made its first appearance in spectacular fashion. Most runners seemed to be trying to avoid the nastiness but Doug decided that we should embrace it and hit every puddle on the mountain. This strategy really paid off as we didn't do nearly as much dodging as many of the other racers. That being said we also didn't make too many friends during those early miles as I'm sure we splashed a ton of folks who were trying in vain to stay clean and dry. One instance saw me whooping as we sprinted strait into a giant 15 foot puddle being fed by a temporary creek that happened to be running down the rest of the trail. I splashed through, yelled "On your left" to some ladies that were trying to dodge all the water and proceeded to pass them as they screamed "Don't splash me!". Ah...great stuff.
The rest of the first half was pretty standard. We maintained a pretty fair pace up the 1000+ foot climb and then sped up a bit on the descent. We lost a bit of time at the turnaround as I had to fill up my bottle and empty my near bursting bladder. (Damn you breakfast tea!) I felt pretty good at the turnaround so I decided without consulting Doug that we would actually race the second 8.5 miles. I set a pretty ridiculous pace (for me) up the incline and we almost immediately started picking people off. This just served to fuel my inner speedster and I increased the pace further. We ended up picking up a few additional folks and turned our two person racing machine into a four man freight train. (Freigt train was actually what one of our additions used to describe it.) Once we got to the top we cranked it up to 11 on the descent, splashing our way past several other runners while trying our hardest not to barf.
I seriously started questioning whether or not I would be able to maintain the pace we set (I say we but I'm pretty much to blame here since I was in front) when I took a swig of fizzy Nuun and had a serious bit of nausea almost overwhelm my anti-vommit measures. I immediately backed off the pace and let our two newfound friends pass. (I think Doug was having a similar bout of stomach nastiness so he ended up staying with me) In any event...I tried to pick off a few other people but just couldn't convince my legs to go any faster. The last half a mile came and went without too much difficulty. We were cheered into the finish area by a few crows, a frog and a couple of kids giving us as much cowbell as their tiny arms could muster. Big thanks to everything that cheered us on as this always seems to give me a nice shot of adrenaline during any type of race.
After crossing the finish line we wrote down our official time (Mine was 2:56:00 I believe) and reconvened with the other two members of our freight train. I was told almost immediately that if I hadn't set that pace that none of them would've run that fast. I mostly felt good about this but a tiny part of me asked the following question...
"You mean I didn't need to run that fast?"
I immediately squashed this girly man thought, doubled over with my hands on my knees and grinned through the near constant micro-cramps that were shooting up my thighs.
We ended up hanging out at the finish line for 10 or 15 minutes congratulating our fellow runners. The director of Evergreen Trail Runs came in and told me that I had set a pretty ridiculous pace on the second half. I thanked him, chatted for a bit, had the same girly man thought I mentioned above, and for the first time felt that I might actually be okay at this running thing. The rest of our time was spent cleaning up (we were pretty filthy after splashing through a hundred or so mud puddles) and partaking in the finish line bonfire and potluck. I crammed my face full of some food, dropped off some homemade guacamole then started the long drive back to Seattle. Pretty awesome day. Big thanks again to Capitol Peak Ultras for putting on the event and Doug for coming out and doing the race with me. (And putting up with the pace that almost made us both barf)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
2011 Race Plans
The 2010 season was a real eye opener for me. I was introduced to trail and ultra running and took to it almost immediately. The idea of cruising through some soft single-track being accompanied by a peaceful, natural soundtrack sounded so fantastic and simple that I couldn't believe I hadn't really given it a shot before. I bought some Brooks Cascadia 5's, found some local trails and shot up them like a three legged tortoise. Sure I was slow...but I felt free when I was on those trails. It's a place where problems like overpopulation, car pollution and work problems are minimized. Needless to say I was hooked. I signed up for a trail half marathon with over 2000 feet of vertical gain and loved every minute of it. Yes it hurt and yes....yes...I was slow. REAL SLOW. But it was the most fun I had at a race up to that point.
I then read Born to Run, subscribed to a fair number of ultra-marathoner blogs for daily inspiration, checked Scott Jurek's twitter on regular intervals and found that I had found new ways to stay motivated. I dropped 30 pounds, shaved over an hour off my Marathon PR, 13 minutes off my half marathon PR and signed up and finished two ultra marathons. (Of the 50K variety)
The point of all this is that my focus has changed. For the past few years I had primarily been focused on the marathon distance. This year I'm going further. I may not even run a traditional marathon. I'm not exactly sure yet. What I do know is that I'm going to focus on the White River 50 Miler in July. I do have races scheduled before then but that will be my focus for the year. I may also try out a 100K in september but my plans to run the Where's Waldo in August have been scrapped. In any event...that's a brief explanation on my thought process this year. My race plan is as follows:
February 5th - Orcas Island 50K
April 30th - Capitol Peak 50 Miler
May 15th - Capital City Half Marathon
July 30th - White River 50 Miler
September - TBD
October 15h - Defiance 50K
So there you have it. No marathon on there though I wouldn't completely rule it out. I need to find a cheap one though because all of these entry fees add up to a fairly significant amount. Running is a deceptively expensive sport...especially as your weekly mileage creeps up to the levels required to run Ultramarathons.
I then read Born to Run, subscribed to a fair number of ultra-marathoner blogs for daily inspiration, checked Scott Jurek's twitter on regular intervals and found that I had found new ways to stay motivated. I dropped 30 pounds, shaved over an hour off my Marathon PR, 13 minutes off my half marathon PR and signed up and finished two ultra marathons. (Of the 50K variety)
The point of all this is that my focus has changed. For the past few years I had primarily been focused on the marathon distance. This year I'm going further. I may not even run a traditional marathon. I'm not exactly sure yet. What I do know is that I'm going to focus on the White River 50 Miler in July. I do have races scheduled before then but that will be my focus for the year. I may also try out a 100K in september but my plans to run the Where's Waldo in August have been scrapped. In any event...that's a brief explanation on my thought process this year. My race plan is as follows:
February 5th - Orcas Island 50K
April 30th - Capitol Peak 50 Miler
May 15th - Capital City Half Marathon
July 30th - White River 50 Miler
September - TBD
October 15h - Defiance 50K
So there you have it. No marathon on there though I wouldn't completely rule it out. I need to find a cheap one though because all of these entry fees add up to a fairly significant amount. Running is a deceptively expensive sport...especially as your weekly mileage creeps up to the levels required to run Ultramarathons.
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