Running Endlessly Through Time

Burning River 100

2009-08-04T20:52:00.003-04:00

After 8 weeks recovery from the OD 100 I laced up the Asics 2140's for another 100 attempt. My mileage the last 8 weeks was between 0 and 47 miles per week with my long run being a few 10 milers and one 12 miler with Anne on the C&O towpath.

So how long does good training stay in your legs?? hmmm. Since the Build up for the MMT 100 I have done no speed, no hills, and no runs over 12 miles other than the 65 miles at MMT May 18th and the 100 at OD the first week of June. That is probably pushing it. I guess it was enough though, as the BR 100 I ran august 1st ended up being one of my best 100 runs ever!

I had zero stomach issues and nothing but smiles and good times for 94 miles. The last 7 (it was 101 miles) sucked a bit. I was ready to be done and very tired, but hey that is a LONG way. I ended up running 22:33 on what I would consider a pretty tough course. Harder than RR, UM, VT, AT and about the same as OD but slower due to the muddy footing and more trail miles.

BR 100 has it all, and reminded me of MANY of my favorite races. Such as:

1- the amazingly cool tour thru rock formations in the "ledges" section (mile 70-ish) was like Laurel highlands

2- the miles of curvy, rolling hills, and real nice single track was like BRR 50

3- The amazing big grassy hill at 75 was like those around the KT aid station at hardrock...just without the altitude

4- the farm houses and horse farms and quaint towns and crappy footing through a farm field reminded me of the VT 100.

All in all it was a first class race from the pre-race dinner and brief to the course, course marking, aid stations, volunteers, and RD. Two thumbs up!!!!

Back to old school

2009-08-04T20:42:00.003-04:00

Okay so I took 2 months off from the blog. A couple of good runs in there since MMT.

3 weeks after the MMT disappointment I went back to the Shenandoah's for some redemption at the original Old Dominion 100. Wow what a race. lots of dirt roads in the beautiful valley, just enough hilly rocky trails to make you feel it, but not too much to make you hate life. and presto! a nice 5th place finish in 21:20

This was a return to old school running for me.......

1. Drove out the Day before after working a full day
2. Missed pre-run dinner and briefing- ate subway for dinner
3. slept in my car
4- Had no crew
5-Had no pacer
6- did not put out any drop bags
7- carried 3000cals worth of gels,blocks,sharkies with me
8-carried 2 battles and used my Nathan vest
9-nibbled off all the aid tables, but not too much
10-had mild stomach trouble in the heat of the day- backed off the pace and pushed hard again when it passed.
11- bonked a bit after crushing the big hill (miles 75-83- in 2nd best split)
12- finished my 17th 100 in one of my best times.

Redemption!

MMT 2009

2009-05-17T21:16:00.004-04:00

First off major props to Karl and Amy for some amazing runs at MMT! Karl proving yet again when it comes to 100's he is the man. As for me what can I say:

2003, 2006, 2009 = MMT 100 DNF!

Yikes 3 strikes and I am out! I shoulda stopped in 2002 after my 3rd finish in 3 years at this tough race. Despite training mainly on roads and bike paths the last several months I wanted to run well at my VHTRC's premiere event. I gave it a good go, but the course (and weather) ate me for lunch so to speak.

Super Pacer and crew Bryon Powell had it right when he said "know thyself". For me in the 2000-2002 years I was a rock-hopping trail runner. I went hiking a lot and when given the chance I always chose a long slow trail run on death rocks over a quick road jaunt. "we are what we repeatedly do"....... In those days the trails of MMT were not that bad. They were what I ran on all the time. These days all my running is on roads, bike paths, and the C&O canal towpath....not the proper place to develop the muscles and specific strength needed for Masanutten. By 30 miles on Saturday I figured that out. Dead quads, shaking gluts and cramping calves were my undoing. And full disclosure the idea of walking all night in the cold pouring rain was something I could no longer stomach. I have walked in my far share of 100's (including the 2000 MMT 100 (injured - 15 hrs for last 35miles), and most recently my 46:45 Hardrock... but I am not a fan.

Since the first 24 miles of MMT is almost an even split of road and trail my legs felt pretty darn good. I started conservatively running thru the first crew access point (8.7 miles) feeling happy with 90 minutes of smooth running in the books. I was taking in 200 + cals and plenty of water each hour. (powergel, clif shot blocks, and sharkies)

Climbing up Habron gap my lack of "climber" legs really was showing and despite continuing to move up through the field and passing folks I just couldn't get over how bad my legs felt on all the climbs. The flats and descent were great and I was moving well there. As the day wore on and I rolled into Camp roos it really started to get hot. Leaving Camp Roos at noon and climbing into a burned out section of the forest (canopy-less) was a bit much and my stomach stopped draining. Energy and salt intake slacked and the pace slowed. By the time I had gotten along the ridge line that is Kerns mtn I had to stop and sit a few times just to have the strength to keep moving.

Then I hit the road and wa able to run sub 8:00 miles down to the visitor center. Once there the heavens opened up and huge rain and thunder soaked us all. Climbing up bird knob my calves and hamstrings were cramping and I began tossing down the salt tabs in an effort to get some balance back with my electrolytes. I passed the 52 miles point in 10:43 and had to sit on a rock for 6 minutes to let everything settle enough to continue. Good buddy Joe Clapper came upon me and together we made our way down to 211east.

A shoe and shirt change there did wonders for my comfort level but within 10 minutes the second huge down poor was upon me and my spirits hit the lowest low yet. These things are supposed to be fun! This is not! I struggled on and again ran okay on the downhill and road section heading into gap 2. There I let my crew know I wanted to drop but was convinced to "go one more" and made it to the next aid station with Bryon pacing me. I still felt like I had given all I wanted to give on this day and took off my number at the 15 hour mark. :-(

I have been at this game for a long time now and have many 100 dnf's to my name (16/28 finish rate) but honestly this one hurts the least 2 days post run. (mentally....physically I am sore as hell and could barely do my job today)

BUT! my app for the OD 100 goes in tomorrow. dirt road racing here I come!!!!!!!!!!

Tapering Down, & A Look at the MMT Field

2009-05-07T10:13:00.007-04:00

Last week was a strong one with 61 miles and a few solid runs. I continued my pattern of bigger runs followed by days off. What can I say I am an obsessed person who is lazy.....seriously contradictory I know. A few key runs lately:

26 miles- 4:22- trail
10 mile trail loop course record with 5:41 uphill mile on dirt
11 miles- asphalt bike path with a 5:28 mile with commuter pack on
12 miles on dirt in BIG rain through mud in 1:25 feeling good

Starting to really rest now. I want to be sharp next Saturday........ lots of competition in this years race. It will be hard to tune in to me and turn out all the others.

a short list of some top contenders:
Former Champs: Karl Meltzer, Todd Walker
Former Runner ups: Keith Knipling, Joe Clapper, Myself

Super stars:
Bradley Mongold - my pick to win- faster at 50k than all in the field and strong enough to run 4 back to back to back to back 75 mile days....report here....he also hunts Kodiak bears with a bow n arrow.

Glen Redpath - finished top 3 in 6 races already THIS year! maybe raced out?
Joe Kulak - GS and last great race fastest ever...can never count out
Adam Casseday - super strong in 2008
Mike Mason- Wasatch cheetah buckler

Lesser known folks who will factor up front:
Jeremy Ramsey- 2008 Hellgate 100k champ and Horton Tough Guy
Ryan Henry- puts in 107 mile training weekends, finished the 142 mile DOUBLE MMT ring
Mario Raymond- Top 10 guy previously
Nathan Echols- always runs well
Chris Reed- ready
Steve Burton- Super tough guy with good speed
CJ Blagg- Top ten man with Georgetown track speed
Gary Harrington- NH mtn runner/hiker stud

Over 50 studs who will run faster than 25hrs:
Jeff Wilbur
Joe Clapper
Mike Broderick
Tom Corris
Marlin Yoder

Womens Race:
Amy Amy Amy!!!! Girl is amazing.. Amy Sproston - runs 22-23 hours this year

A Day Well Spent

2009-04-28T16:16:00.003-04:00

I took a day of vacation today! In 2009 I have worked everyday. No holidays off, no inauguration day off, no snow/ice days-when no patients showed up anyway-and 80% of the staff "couldn't make it in", no nothing off. But today was a great play day! I pretended I was a pro athlete. I awoke leisurely, walked my dog, ate a healthy breakfast, watched some TV, got around my gear, then headed out for a 26 miler on the trails. Upon finishing I got a nice sandwich, a big gulp soda from 7/11, had a shower, took a nap, and now am blogging. What a great life this would be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This run was my last big training effort for the MMT 100, which is now a mere 18 days away. I got in some rock hopping along the potomac heritage trail. I ran in the heat and humidity (and horrible pollen) and then got on the C&O tow path for some miles with nothing in the tank. During the entire 4:22 of running I only ingested one 200cal sleeve of clifshot blocks. Hungry "bonk" runs are great for training the old body (I did turn 35 on Sunday) how to mobilize and burn fat. I am getting very efficient as I was not really suffering that badly and was able to run 8:45 pace the last 14 miles despite taking 60sec walk breaks every mile.

I am excited, and let visions of rocking the night section of MMT play in my head the last few miles today.

Hills, Heat, Humidity, Horrible Pollen = MMT

2009-04-26T20:13:00.003-04:00

The 4 H's were in effect this weekend. Wow!

This weekend I went out and got in some good MMT training and actually did a hill repeat workout for the first time in a long while. I managed to run 12 x 2-4 minute long hills here in Arlington. It ended up being over an hour of constant up then down then up then down running on a concrete sidewalk. Not rock hopping for sure but actually physiologically really good. Not to mention that it was 85+ degrees.

The whole workout had me thinking back to 2001 when I would routinely run the 1.4 mile blacktop loop on O-hill on the UVA grounds. My best workout ever was a 10x loop workout done in April the week of BRR 50 and the Monday that the Barkley was finishing up. Read below for a flashback...............to April 2001.............

Capability

With the continued Barkley updates a fever began to bubble inside me and I knew there was only one thing I could do to stop the trembling and that was to go for a run. After spending 2 miserable hours on Sunday jumping streams and freezing in cold rain I cut my run short and
felt like a punk. Good thing I did not go down to Barkley, I am not ready for that.... So as redemption or Self punishment, or maybe as a way of proving me to myself? I planned a killer workout for a Monday evening run.
I headed onto campus and settled in to a nice warm up 2 miles to the base of Observatory hill. This is no "big hell" but it is an impressive climb with a nice downhill. In total a 1.4 mile blacktop loop. I started my watch and sprinted off climbing strong, trying not to over run early as the climb takes 6:00 and gets me to my max HR before I begin the 4min. downhill to complete the loop.

I crested my first hill in 5:38 a new PR... wow, I am fit, but way to excited..."get control Loomis".. I say to myself and begin the eccentric quad busting downhill part of the loop. I reach the bottom completing loop number one in 9:31. The fastest I have ever run. I continue on with out stopping, attacking hill number 2 with my thoughts on David Horton and Blake Wood approaching the finish in TN as I run. Wow, what great runners! 58 hours of continuous movement on THAT terrain. Unbelievable. I crest the hill in 5:44 and continue around, loop 2 done in 9:37, Loop three goes well and I am amazed at my consistency: 9:40. On loop four I begin to feel the effects of the lactate build up and my stride shortens. It is a huge effort to maintain this pace. But press on I do. I study the cars parked along the road, watch a mountain biker fly by on a trail
next to my road loop.

I begin to blank out, to turn off the pain, to move without effort. Detachment they call it. "The Zone".. feels like floating. Loop 4 done in 9:36, loop 5 in 9:35, on loop 6 I am no longer a human being running. I am a machine. My legs and arms propel and pump without my telling them
too. My mind is in ultra-tolerate mode. The pain will end soon, just continue, I tell it. The noise from my panting breath is almost a surprise and every now and then I come back to grips with how hard I am actually running. Wow, this is a great workout! Wait, what David and
Blake are doing is great, this... this is kiddie stuff. I run harder.

Loop 6 done in 9:34, I tell myself you can quit now, you have never done a workout this good before, anything more will cross the line between training you will recover from and overdoing. I continue on without a hitch; loop 7 in 9:33. I feel a blister forming on the downhill from all the continuous sliding forward with each pounding footplant. Bad socks. I block this out too and think about the chafe I am experiencing. Huge white salt line mounds are now forming on my
shoulders, and my face feels gritty. I can taste the salt on my lips.

I am over an hour in to the workout now and feel a bit hungry. My throat is soooooooooooooo dry: my tongue a cotton wad. Loop 8 passes and I reach that point where David has talked about where you KNOW you WILL finish, just not sure how long it will take....the way he felt in
'98 barkley before getting lost... I think of them now, they must be close to touching the gate.
I begin Loop 9 and feel my bad calf getting tighter and tighter on the steep climb, my hamstrings no longer allow me to stride out at all. I must continue though.... I am so close. The 9th down hill hurts worse than the up as my quads are shredding apart. One more, I think, as I look at the 9:38 split.

Charging into the last loop I sight a mountain biker ahead. She is on my hill! on my ROAD! I become possessive and really sprint off after her. I have passed the half marathon split in 1:28..not bad since it has 3,000 or so feet of climb. Somehow I find it in me to go just a
bit faster and 10 feet from the top I catch and pass her. A small victory sure, but hey life is all about SMALL victories. It is all down hill from here now and I pound on down for the last time. Loop #10 complete in 9:23............... my fastest ever.

14 miles of hill repeats.. I am done.

During the cool down jog home I have to stop and walk. I am wrecked. Hmmm have they finished yet??? I can't wait any longer and as soon as I get home I call Steve's cell phone and actually get him there at Frozen head. They just finished! he says. Wow, I am close to tears as
David says "It was hard..Real hard" when I congratulate him. Why do we do the things we do????
Does Pain=peace, does stressing oneself to your limit allow you to "find yourself"? Are we really more HUMAN when reduced to a weak, shaking, staggering and starving heap?????

I contemplate all this as I lay on the floor trying for 4 full minutes to take off my shoes. I have no idea. I Just know that on days like this I am happy to be alive and I to understand what
that truly means. I think the realization of what we are actually capable of is all that really matters.

Bull Run Run #5

2009-04-19T16:33:00.005-04:00

Sun- 10.5 miles- route record 1:25- one strong mile= 5:51
Mon- 10.5 miles- easy
Tues- off
Wed- 7 miles easy on treadmill
Thurs 4 miles AM, 11 miles PM, 4 mile walk evening
Fri- off
Sat- 50 miles- 7:34 (8th/314 @ BRR 50)

While I have done a lot of races over the years the only race I have ever completed five times is the VHTRC's signature event the Bull Run run 50 mile. And this happened yesterday underneath a beautiful blue sky with temps climbing all the way to 80. This course is beautiful, close in, superiorly well managed and is the absolute perfect fit for my skills as a trail runner with road runner speed tendencies.

This was to be a biggy race for me in my build up to the MMT 100. However, I did not want to taper as I still need some big mile weeks heading into MMT. I also wanted to take some self induced pressure off by going into the event a bit tired. Then if for some reason I did not run well...its because I was tired and not because I suck:-) ....So with a strong week under my belt I toed the line with 300+ others Sat. morning feeling pretty good but not super peppy.

As always the first 5 minute loop at BRR is really fast as all the guns take off to sort themselves out before the single track trail narrows the field down. I tried to get out strong without breathing heavy and managed to hit the trail around 17th or so. I quickly settled in and began to do some walking on some of the early steep climbs while those around me continued to press. Soon a few more folks passed me including first women Amy Sproston and VHTRC legend Derrick Carr. Derrick is a great guy and super consistent runner and when he sarcastically asked "is this a 50k?" I knew the two of us were on the same wavelength. I settled in with him and we would run together for the next 3 hours.

Compared to the runners around me I tend to run at a faster pace, but stop to walk for longer breaks and more frequently. This was true with Derrick and superstar senior Mike Campbell (who managed to run an insane 8:06 at age 59!) We all leap frogged back and forth as I took my walk breaks, had two off trail pit stops, but then would bomb all the downhills at 6:00 min pace in an effort to beat up my quads and would catch back up.

The miles rolled by and after falling to as low as 23rd place we began to work our way up through the field. After the first 16.6 miles of out and back we arrived at the start/ finish aid station at 2:24. Memory of last years too fast early start and sketchy math told me this was likely a really good pace. I felt very comfortable and my stomach (despite the pit stops) was feeling fine. I was eating shot blocks and sharkies every 20-40 minutes and drinking just water with salt tabs on the hour. All was going well and we rolled thru the next ten miles at 9:00 mile pace despite the challenging terrain of rolling hills.

My brand new Asics 2130 trail shoes felt fine, but needed a tightening up of the laces around 20 miles as I felt like my toes were sliding forward in the shoes too much. This did the trick and I had no foot issues the rest of the day.

After reaching the amazingly decorated wolf-run aid station (26.1 miles-3:49) I knew I was going to be able to have a sub-8hr run if I could stay smart and not fall apart. Temps were hot and I began drinking a cup of something at each aid station in addition to filling my bottle. Leaving this aid station I really felt great and began to press a bit more as we continued to pass some runners who were now beginning to fade in the heat and from the overly quick early pace. Around 28 miles I left Mike and Derrick for good and began to chase after Amy and good buddy Keith Knipling.

Approaching the infamous do loop I felt strong but hot. The super folks at the aid station told me I was mere 10-15 minutes behind and this news further fueled my fire to "chase em all down". I had reached the start of the do loop under the 5 hour mark and continued to think that something in the 7:30-8:00 range was definitely possible. The do loop is ugly though and all the leaves and poorly laid out trails are confusing and frustrating. Being toward the front of the field this year no trodden path thru the leaves was evident making the route finding more difficult. I could not wait to leave the loop knowing I only had a short bit with better footing yet to go.

Once back at the aid station having see no one in the loop I was excited to hear I at least made up time on those in front, but a bit bummed to learn I still had nearly 15 miles to go. It had to be less than that!?! I shoved off feeling strong and running with purpose. some of the next miles clicked off at 8:30 pace. At Fountainhead I learned I was now only 2 minutes back and was encouraged by the "you look great" comments. I continued to press and hoped that by wolf run I would catch someone in front of me. No luck.... but once there the volunteers told me that someone just left. So as fast as I could I again gave strong chase having now covered 40 miles in 5:59.

5 minutes later I began to see folks in front of me. I got one, then another, then a third. Then after passing super photographer Aaron S and crossing yet another stream I finally caught Keith. We chatted a bit and I pressed on with his knowledge that Amy was "just ahead". Two minutes later I caught a glimpse of her. She was brightly dressed in pink as part of the WUS-pink mafia team. Two more minutes and we were running together.

Having really red-lined a bit the last 4-5 miles I had to tone it down and settled in with Amy thinking that I would recoup for a while then continue to press on for more places but the pace she was setting was damn fast! She was destroying the BRR course and in its 17 year history no other women besides the legend Anne Lundblad would run the course as fast as Amy.

We stayed together for the next few miles with me again walking more of the ups-- falling behind--- only to pound quickly the downs and catch back up. The heat of the day was beginning to really suck and I kept getting twinges of cramps in my calves and anterior tibialis's. I swallowed my last salt tab, ate my last shot block, and hoped for the best. At the last aid station (6:40) we had 5. something miles to go and I knew we could break 7:40. Rough and slow footing trail remained along the river but Amy's desire to set a PR on this course was strong and together we toughed it out finally reaching the last big climb. A strong hike to the top and run on in brought us home in 8th place overall in 7:34. A mere 2 minutes of the CR for her and just 11 minutes off my best on the course from 2001.

At the finish I had no appetite, felt ridiculously hot and thirsty, and had my pec muscle cramp as I gave a celebratory fist pump. Ugh! What a day! All in all I could not ask for a better tune up race and feel pretty confident now heading in to MMT. In 2001 and 2002 I managed top 8 finishes at BRR and followed these with top 5 finishes at MMT. These days MMT is more competitive but I do think a sub 24hr race there is within reach.

Now the question of what to do next weekend for my last big beat down training effort remains.

Pounding it out for 40

2009-04-11T10:26:00.003-04:00

Well after a poor week with tons of work on the house but only two run days (15 miles each day) I got myself out on the Potomac heritage trail and the C& O canal for a strong 40 miler in 6:25. The last 28 miles were all under 9:00 miles. I did a 60sec walk break at each mile marker but managed to run steady 8:50's pace. That was very encouraging. During the 40 miles I took in 1100 calories and never felt hungry or bonky at all. A good sign of efficiency.

I did get in a strong 15 miler cut down run with the last 7 miles in 7:50, 7:40, 7:30, 7:12, 7:02 6:52, 6:39. Problem with the fast stuff is it kills my calves for two days following.

Hoping for a consistent week this coming week with a biggy on Saturday the 18th. Bull Run Run 50. Goal is a sub 8:00 finish, and a strong showing by my Wahooligans team.

National Marathon

2009-03-29T13:44:00.003-04:00

Okay this post is week late but I've been busy...

Last weekend Anne and I toed the line in front of the Wash DC Armory for the National Marathon. We would tour parts of DC I had never been to and enjoy beautiful clear skies and little wind all morning with 34-45 deg temps. The result? A whopping 9 minute PR for Anne and nearly equal 1/2 splits. SUPER!

We began a marathon build up in January switching Anne from 3 days a week of running to 4 and jumped right in with a 13 miler January 1st. Most of last falls Richmond marathon base was still in her legs so we built quickly with long runs coming every 2 weeks. Runs of 15, 18, 20 , 20, and 22 followed with each consisting of a 30sec walk break at each mile marker with an average pace per mile around 10:00. For race day after reading Galloway's suggestion of a 60 sec walk break I decided to compromise and do 45 second breaks on race day. No pre -determined mile pace was set up and we just ran home she felt. This resulted in us running in the 9:30's with the 45s walk break included. The miles ticked by and her freshness remained. She hit a gel at miles 5, 9, 13, 17, and 20 which allowed her to keep from bonking out. Reaching the half around 2:05 gave me confidence that the sub 4:21 and 4:15 goals were a definite possibility and maybe even 4:10. With a couple pit stops and some tough hill miles in the 2nd half we ended up running a slightly positive split but managed to run the last 10k in under 60min and the last 2 miles at sub 9:25 pace.

Officially we finished strong in 4:12:04 which was fast enough to make my own legs hurt.

The house projects have really geared up and my "one focus at a time-obsessive personality" let those take priority over my running. So I only logged 49 miles last week and a mere 35 this week. :-(

For some reason I always fall in to a 3-4 run days a week pattern and end up averaging like 12 miles per run. Not sure why. I did manage a 4 mile AM ---busy work day--- then 16 miler PM run home on Friday which really wiped me out.

Now with March nearly over it is time to get in shape! Higher mileage, more frequent runs, hill work, and some speedier days to come I swear! Next race Bull Run 50 April 18th.

at least the house is looking better :-)

Elizabeth Furnace 50k

2009-03-15T09:17:00.003-04:00

Sunday-off- Painting
Monday- 4 miles
Tuesday- off- painting
Wednesday- 12 mile tempo- 1:26 miles 8-11 in 19:17
Thursday- 2 miles (blah speed KILLS!)
Friday- 4 miles
Saturday- 31miles- 6:32

This week the long run beat downs continued with some specific hilly-rocky- crazy running on the Massanutten mtn trails themselves at the EFA 50k. Unlike last weekend the day stated off cool and cloudy with temps in the 30's and the forecast for rain. Luckily it held off for 5 and a half hours and then only drizzled. Not until the last 10 minutes of the run did I really feel like I was getting wet.

The goal all spring has been to continue to get stronger and keep in touch with the ugly footing of trails without getting too sore, tired, or injured. So far I have managed that, but I have had to back off the mileage during the week. This week was true to that form plus the daylight savings time switch was of no help. I hate getting up in the AM at 4:50 to make it off on my morning 4 mile run commute into work...and when my body feels like it is really 3:50......it just did not happen Monday-Thursday.

Yesterday on the run my hamstrings felt last weekends 50k, but the quads were strong and felt fresh. I think they are finally over the Reverse Ring run of 3 weeks ago. Once Mike Bur had said the "go!" command I went to the front with Sean Andrish, Brian Schmidt and Will Weidman running the orange blaze trail from signal knob parking strongly. Soon I was by myself with Sean, Brian and Will off the front and the rest of the pack stretching out behind. I settled in and soon found myself running with CJ Blagg and Joe Clapper. We would end up staying together most all of the day. All of us are prepping for another go at MMT 100 with dream goals of cracking the 24hr barrier there. Conversation was great and the pace just right. I still fall behind while walking the climbs but am gaining fitness and have no trouble on the flats or downs and am beginning to be able to run some of the ups.

To stay with these guys I had too after a pit stop and missing a turn 23 miles in. I needed to catch up to them climbing up Sherman gap. ugh! Hills are tough! After making our way up Sherman, sure-footing the ridge line and beginning the fun descent we had John and Jack come up and sprint on by with 2 miles to go. None of us felt like giving chase so we didn't and ended up placing 4,5, and 6th in 6:32. Last time I ran this course it took me 8:30! Nice run.

The next phase of training will focus on contueing to gain some speed and fitness. I need to increase the weekly mileage back to the 70 mpw range and really need to make sure I start doing hill repeats at least once weekly. To break 24hrs at MMT you have to run some of the climbs. Plain and simple.

Next weekend Anne and I will be touring the street of DC in the National Marathon

Seneca-Greenway Trail 50k

2009-03-07T21:29:00.004-04:00

What a beautiful DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a 5 inch snowfall and 16 degree temps Monday and Tuesday, this weekend ends with a 73 degree sunny day of play on great trails in Maryland.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday- off feel crappy and tired
Wednesday- 4 miles am, 11 miles pm
Thursday- off- legs feel day, have head cold- enjoyed the rest by painting in house
Friday- 4 miles AM, 4 miles PM
Saturday- 50k (17th-5:19) ++miles???? seemed a bit long

55 miles for the week on 3 days- 5 runs

After much debate yesterday and even 15 more minutes this morning when my alarm went off at 5am I decided to take advantage of the super weather and head a few miles north to run Ed Schultz's Seneca Greenway trail marathon and 50k. With temps in the high 50's when I woke I knew it was going to be a warm one. After a bus ride from the finish to the start and good conversation with some fellow runners I began my race at 8am running with VHTRC friend Stuart Kern. We settled in to a pretty strong run allowing us to still be able to chat, but at a fast enough pace to gap some of the 200+ other starters (marathon and 50k start together). The minutes rolled by with my legs feeling pretty good. I stopped to walk on a decent rolling hill and then stopped for a pee break only to see my friend Alyssa Godesky striding up from behind. Having only been passed by two other women I figured Alyssa (who is fresh of 3rd placings at JFK 50 and Holiday lake 50k) should be a favorite for the win. I settled in to a steady run with her and realized that the first hour had now passed and the 9:00 miles we were running felt great. This was just what I needed...fast enough to let me keep my own selected stride, but slow enough to keep from crushing my already tired legs. Today was to be all about enjoying the great course, good company, and fabulous weather.

The marathoners and 50kers split up at a lake.....we would go right and make a counterclockwise loop around the lake, while the marathoners would skip the lake trail and continue on to the left. The aid station personnel were superb all day and the folks here told us we had already completed 15 miles (2:15) and that Alyssa was in 2nd place for the 50k women. The first place girl was in sight just ahead and we would stride off confidently in pursuit. I tried to keep the fluids and salt going in as the temps were now easily in the high 60's. A far cry from the weather we have had recently. As the 3 hour mark rolled by we had closed on the lead gal and managed to get 19 miles in. My legs felt great and I enjoyed each and every downhill. The climbs still are kicking my butt, but I felt more and more comfortable as the day rolled on.

As we began to catch many marathoners a bit of weaving around was in order and soon enough one of the folks we went on by was the women's leader of the 50k. Alyssa held tough and the hilliest stretch of the course was upon us. The occasional cool breezes we had felt earlier in the day were long gone but the 2nd to last aid station seemed to be forever away. Finally at the 4:17 point we arrived at the chocolate lovers aid station. No one was really sure how far the finish was from here (~7 miles) but I hoped it was short. At least the trail was generally downhill to the last aid station. One last big hill and we were almost there. Before I knew it I could see the long line of cars at the finish and our day was done. Alyssa won and we were 16 + 17 overall.

A hot pulled pork sandwich was our reward for a long day. mmmm mmmm

Thanks to Ed and all the volunteers for a great day and a great race! Next up... the EFA 50k

Week 8

2009-03-01T09:32:00.003-04:00

37 miles - on 3 runs

Sunday- Wednesday- off... quads SORE, legs dead
Thursday- 11 miles PM- wow, quads still SORE!
Friday- 4 miles
Saturday- 22 miles with Anne in her last prep run for the National Marathon

A recovery week, with legs feeling okay early on until I ran on them Thursday. Wow that hurt. I had to stop and walk frequently. I did manage to make it through the long run Saturday touring the mt Vernon trail with Anne.

I hope to get the mileage back up for Week 9.

Miles January- 273, February- 263

The Reverse Ring 71 Miler

2009-02-22T14:26:00.004-04:00

A sound week resting up for Saturday

Sunday- off
Monday 4 miles AM, 11 Miles PM (strong pace)
Tuesday- 11 miles
Wednesday- off (feeling sickish- 1/2 of co-workers out sick)
Thursday- 4 miles
Friday- off
Saturday- 71 miles on MMT ring 19:23- 2nd place

Saturday started out with a 4am wake up and 2 hour drive out to the mountains (I took wrong turn and did an extra bit. doah!) But, I arrived with plenty of time to get my backpack ready and mingle with the other 20 starters. Start time of 7:07am allowed for full light and a perfect stillness made the 17 degree temp feel comfortable. We began slowly with Keith Knipling taking off the front at a good clip while the rest of us chatted it up making our way up the first rocky climb. This days run would have some of the worst footing in all of ultrarunning. These are the Massanutten mountains....the rocks are everywhere!

I settled in and decided to focus on me and run it as the training effort it needed to be and soon found myself chatting with Mike Bailey and then Joe Clapper and Tom Corris. My camelback hose froze up once we had made it over signal knob and descended into the valley where it was noticably colder. I tucked it inside my shirt and soon enough it had unfroze. With a mild effort I began to feel the aches and strains the rough footing and trails give you. Since I run exclusively on roads (bikepaths) these days and hit the trails every other weekend on average I am not as strong in the lateral muscles as I should be. Both plantar fascias got tweaked, both achilles were sore pre-run, of course I rolled both ankles...generally I began to wonder why it was I wanted to run the MMT 100 again at all. Then I looked around and found the peace the mountains of fort valley give me and I settled in to a better less tense gait pattern and started feeling good. As I rolled through the Powell's mountain section having taken aid for the first time at 14 miles (woodstock tower road) I was sitting in 6th place and the competitor in me began to rise a bit. Why am I so far back? How can I be moderately pushing and be behind these guys? My head still thinks I am in the 2001 era body and that all those in front of me should not be there.

Soon enough the tough course began to take its toll. Some folks were dropped off the pace, some dropped out with minor injuries or stopped due to the pure realization that 71 miles on these trails would in NO WAY be fun. By whatever reason, when I starting the climb up short mountain I felt great and had now moved into 3rd. I chased Mike this entire section running a 1:49 split which is as good as I can remember ever doing that section. It is actually about what I was able to do in the 2001 MMT 100 (all be it the opposite direction). I saw Mike leave the aid station at moreland gap as I pulled into it just a bit ahead of my projected pre-race pace. I had covered about 31 miles in less than 7 hours and really felt good. Better actually than I did just 2-3 hours ito the run.

I fueled up with a "whoopie pie"- some kind of frosting filled cookie that really hit the spot- one that I had never seen before, but will look for in the future. I downed some mtn dew, ate a few chips, grabbed my headlamp (just in case) and continued on as I had been all day. I was drinking water from my camelback and nibbling on skittles and sharkies. I have figured out that I run best with little in my stomach but need to do a constant infusion. The day was going well with partly cloudy skies and temps now around 40. Ascending Jawbone gap I pushed strongly, then eased off on the section of MMT I hate the most. Kerns mtn. Talk about sucky footing! You can never find a rhythm on that trail. I can't wait for this year version of MMT as we will at least get to run on crisman hollow road for a few miles following this dreadful section. Not in the RING though. We simply crossed the road and headed down the degraded and super steep trail section known as waterfall mtn. It drops 1500 feet in a mile and has no switchbacks. Sucks on the knees. Man did they feel it. About a mile out from the aid station at crisman hollow road (hiked in by Michele Harmon- thanks!) I came up on Mike who was now walking and said he had slipped on a log and tweaked his back. I tried a little Physical therapy on him on the trail but did not seem to make him feel any better. So he continued walking on out and would then walk the road back to camp roosevelt to drop out.

At Crisman hollow road aid station I gladly partook of a PB & J sandwich while early starter Gary Knipling also fueled up. Having started at 3:13 AM with superstar 75 year old Ed Demoney. Gary had made it 37 miles of his planned 46 mile day. I left the aid station with him and enjoyed Gary's conversation as we ran together for 5 minutes. What a great guy and fellow grand Slam finisher. Chugging down waterfall the reality of how far I had to go was sinking in and I had some oh gosh thoughts. I attempted the MMT reverse ring before in 2006 only to drop at 46 miles and then went on to the MMT 100 and dropped there at 76 miles. So finishing today had special meaning even if any real training benefit had probably already been surpassed by the 10 hours I had been out running.

Climbing up the mountain away from one of the many stream crossings I got really inspired and started pushing hard. Once I crested the top I really let it go and was ripping down the poorly kept trail catching briers and downed branches all the way. I easily was running some sub 8:00 mile pace miles and put out for over a solid hour an effort that I use only once a week on my commute run home. The 11 mile trek on these days takes around 1:20 so I knew I was probably over-doing but it felt great to be able to press this hard on technical trail 10 hours into an event. This feeling of total control with each foot plant and being able to press as hard as I want in an ultra has really been absent for 5-6 years. Amazing what actually training will do for you huh? Miles 39-46 were some of the best I have run in a long long time.

With this good effort I managed to arrive at Camp roosevelt aid station before sunset. I just happed to do it 1:50 behind Keith Knipling! I was still well ahead of the existing reverse ring course record pace and had hopes of running something around 17 hours. As I ate some chicken noodle soup (really drank the broth, more mtn dew, and ate part of another whoopie pie) My stomach did not feel great so I declined the turkey and cheese wraps they had to offer. I filled my camelback bladder and got my lights out as the darkness was now full on. With a heavy backpack and the odd twilight time lighting it was hard moving well leaving mile 46 and I ended up walking the entire climb up to Kennedy peak taking about an hour to do so. So much for trying to break 17 hours.

Thus began the long long stretch on the eastern ridge line alone with my ipod tunes and one of the best canopies of stars I have ever seen. I decided to back it off completely and shuffle run only when it was safe. Deep piles of leaves covered the deadly rocks in many places and the trail seemed to go on forever. Occasional trail intersections with Habron gap and the Indian grave trail gave some break up to the monotony but to be honest it was a pretty miserable walk. I was very hungry and kept taking gels and eating skittles but never felt like I had enough. My hormone pulses told my my bed time had come and gone, but still I was on the ridge line. Every now and then I was smacked around by huge gusts of wind, but at least it was not that cold. Perhaps in the high 20's.

At 16:05 into the event I finally made the turn to head off the ridge and descend toward veach gap! Man o man did that feel good. I started running again and was super excited to see the tent (which contained bags of food and drink) left at the trail intersection in the valley floor. I stopped for a refuel with some mtn due, a backpack reorganization ( the straps were killing my shoulders) and grabbed 4 cookies for the long long walk back up to the next hill top. I supposedly had just 8 miles to go but it would take me a full 3 hours to cover this remaining ground.

I felt okay and moved as well as I could but my light (which is 7 years old) was dimming out and really is not up to today's brighter standards. (Anyone have some suggestions for something better?) The trail was muddy, wet and of course rocky and footing continued to suck. My mind said enough...... this is not longer fun, but the trail just continued on ever upward. While my flat and downhill running has really returned to form. I climb like molasses. I mean I really suck. I don't have the fitness to run the hills like I used to and I have absolutely zero power to walk strong uphill. These will be my two main focuses in the remaining weeks before the MMT 100 as I am determined to run well there once again.

After about a million years I reached what I thought was the top of the hill only to dip and roll and climb again about 7 more times. I have only been on this section maybe once or twice in my life (the opposite direction to boot) and nothing looked familiar. The trail is not maintained as well as most in this area and I kept having to search to make sure I was going the right way. Mentally I had no picture that I would be ascending to shawl gap and then follow the main trail down to Elizabeth's furnace.....it just didn't make sense.... and I struggled at the intersection of 4 trails on top there in the dark with my dim light for a long time. I even dug out new batteries replaced them and continued down only to lose the trail and get stuck back-tracking uphill on some interpretive nature trail. Once I finally hit Elizabeth's furnace I was determined to follow orange and not the MMT course route. I kept stopping and backtracking only to realize it was the correct route. Then I couldn't believe I needed to cross rte 678 to get to the parking lot and finish. What a mental fog I was in. Needless to say the 18 and 19 hour barriers remained in tact and at the 19:23 mark I finally reached Quatro's car, tapped on his window to wake him up, and officially finished the MMT Reverse Ring. I Join only a few others who have done the ring in both directions and gained the title "Master of the Ring" ahhh...... finally!

After a couple hour fit-full nap in the back of the car I drove on home happy to have fulfilled my goal and to feel overall pretty good physically. I'll be ridiculously sore tomorrow but it was well worth it. At least I don't have any blisters. (injinji socks and pearl izume road shoes) Last time I did the ring my feet were a mess for 2 weeks.

Thanks to the VHTRC and for all the volunteers. What a great event.

Week 6

2009-02-14T22:21:00.003-04:00

Sunday- 10- miles on Potomac heritage trail
Monday- off
Tuesday- 4 miles
Wednesday- 4 miles AM
11 Miles PM- with 3xmile 6:25, 5:56, 5:41
Thursday- 5 miles
Friday- 4 miles
Saturday- 20 miles with Anne

Some good trail and my first speed workout of the year after last weeks tempo run. Things are coming around. I took it real easy this week baby-ing my Achilles after the Sunday trail run in the mud really flared them up.

Long runs for the year of 18, 20, 20, 21, 26, 40 with a REAL biggy coming next week when I attempt the Massanutten Reverse Ring 71 miler. wish me luck

Week 5

2009-02-09T19:22:00.002-04:00

Solid...not super, but solid 65 miles

Sunday- off
Monday- 4 miles Am, 11 milesPM
Tuesday- off
Wednesday- 4 miles Am, 11 miles PM- tempo last 8 miles sub 7:00
Thursday- 11 miles
Friday- 4 Miles
Saturday- 20 miles- 3:21 with Anne

Reverse Ring 71 miler is now just 2 weeks off

week 4

2009-02-01T10:12:00.005-04:00

Crappy weather for most of the week. DC area is not prepared for snow/ice like upstate NY. For sure! Wednesday I actually ran in and out to work wearing my yak tracks. I was the only employee to get to work on time. In fact I beat everyone else in by 2 hours. I actually ran right down the street in the yak tracks in a few places. Sidewalks are still glare ice even now in shady areas where the sun can't reach. Saturday I went to Charlottesville for a run with fellow VHTRC ultrarunners around the Rivanna ring trail. My garmin read 20.7 miles for the loop (data here) Although I planned a double loop, but the legs felt trashed and I called it a day after the first 4 hour loop.

January turned into a decent month with 273 miles.

This week was pretty weak due to the weather: (correction I am WEAK)
sun, Tues, Thursday- off

Monday- 4 miles am, 11 miles pm
Wednesday- 4 miles am, 4 miles pm
Friday- 4 am, 4 pm
saturday- 20.7 miles

Lets hope for a better week next.

week 3

2009-01-24T13:50:00.004-04:00

Time to get serious....I guess. Massanutten is really not that far off now. I have started to focus more and although not 100% focused in terms of trying to train to be able to race top ten. I have begun to bring SOME intensity back into the routine. This week was a bit wild with a 22 mile day midweek due to the inauguration metro/road craziness. I avoided it all by getting up at 4:30am eating breakfast then running the 11 miles into work. Worked a full day (7am-4pm) and then ran home another 11. Damn cold that day too. I have no idea how 2 million endured that wind chill. BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I have put in 5 days a week or running the last 4 weeks and am feeling good.

Sunday- 25 miles- 6:32-MMT course Garmin data here
Mon- off
Tuesday- 11 miles am, 11 miles pm
Wed- off
Thursday- 11 miles with 2 x 6:30
Friday- 4 miles
Saturday- 18 miles with Anne

80 total on 6 runs / 5 days

Week 2

2009-01-19T18:58:00.003-04:00

Sun- 5miles on TM walking 9% grade
Mon- 4miles AM, 11 miles pm
Tues- 4miles on TM walking 9% grade
Wed- 4miles AM, 11 Miles PM
Thurs & Friday- off
Sat- 15 miles easy w/ Anne

45 miles run 9 miles walk- pretty cheesy week, but good stuff. I am recovering and ready for a big week 3.

sun- 25 miles on MMT 100 course in 6:35 with my buddy Sophie. Tuesday looks to be a fun 11 mile AM 11 mile pm commute run due to the city being shut down. Should be fun.

GEER 100K

2009-01-15T18:49:00.006-04:00

40% loss in your 401k got you down??? Here is a great pick me up. Russell and Frannie of the Charlottesville Running Co fame will be allowing the first 100 entrants into the 2009 GEER 100k to pay only 1/2 of the normal race entre fee. Thats right....you heard me. Pay only half price to enter a SUPERB race and get all the same treatment, shwag, ect....just pay 60 some dollars less. Entre opens Feb 2nd.

Here's to hoping the race has better temperatures than today does! burrrrrrrrrrrr

The first week is history

2009-01-11T09:14:00.002-04:00

Sunday 40 miles - 9:14 at Boyer's Furnace FA
Mon & Tues- off
wed- 3 miles walking 8% grade
Thurs- 4 am, 11 pm
Friday 4 am 4 pm
Sat- 8 miles with Anne

Time continues to roll on by with one solid 74 mile week in the books for 2009. My first long run in several weeks went very well for me with no issues or aches. Even my healing left ankle held up fine. However, some others did not fair quite so well. Check out the VHTRC page for the low-down here. This is the event I put on each year for the VHTRC. It started in 2006 when I wanted to run in the mountains with friends while home from my deployment and has grown into an annual event. This year I toned back the formality of it and actually ran the thing myself. Basically all I do is mark the course and set out aid ahead of time and then guide a group of like minded individuals around fort valley. Most are trying to train up for the MMT 100 of some similar event. It has been a lot of fun and the bon fire at the finish really puts a nice cap on a long day.

2008 in numbers

2009-01-03T10:07:00.003-04:00

366 days in a fine leap/Olympic/ Election year

211 Days my lazy self got out for some miles either running or walking

18 days I got out twice in one day

229 workouts- 217 Runs - 35 walks

2425 total miles for the year
2390 Miles running
35 miles walking

6.6 miles per day
11.5 miles per day my lazy self got OUT for something

11.01 miles per run in 2008

2.92 miles per walk in 2008

History:

1988-1163
1989-1592
1990-1749
1991-1761
1992-1857
1993-1317
1994-2121
1995-2207
1996-2056
1997-2233
1998-2803
1999-2067
2000-2787
2001-2986
2002-2551
2003-1681
2004-1753
2005-1901
2006-2490
2007-2772
2008-2425

My life time miles is now over 45,000

2008 a fine year

2009-01-01T18:04:00.003-04:00

Well that's it for 2008! Another year rolls on by. Don't they go fast. 2008 saw me graduate with a graduate certificate in prosthetics from Northwestern Univ and begin a slightly different career path in prosthetics only to return to physical therapy when the economy started tanking.

The shift back to PT has been a good one and I am very pleased with my outpatient PT work in Vienna where I have seen patients from age 7 up to 89. I have helped folks heal and rehab everything from toes to brain injuries. Perhaps the best part about the job is that it has a shower in the facility and is located less then one mile access from the W & OD trail.

My commute has evolved into a good routine of the following:
1.2 mile run to the metro, 15 minute ride to vienna station, 3 mile run to work in the morning
and I either repeat this in the afternoon, or if feeling tough I run the entire 10.75 miles home.
so I get in at least 8 and some days 15 miles. My aim as the MMT 100 approaches is to increase the number of times I run the long way home to 4 per week. It'll save me money as well!

weekends I plan on running the local Potomac heritage trail to get some quality rock running time in. and 1-2 times a month I will make the trek out to the MMT course for some actual miles on THOSE rocks. My planned long runs look like this:

Jan 4- Boyers Furnace 40 miler- encircling the fort valley with a bunch of friends
Jan 17-18- at least 26 tough miles on the MMT course
Feb 7th- 26 or 52 miles of the Wild Oak Trail
Feb 21- 71 miles -I want to actually complete the reverse ring this year to join the elite group of Masters of the ring.
March 14- EFA 50k on MMT trails
March 28th- Bel Monte 50k or 50 mile
April 11- chocolate Bunny 50k- on MMT course (a night run)

with this line up and the increased weekly mileage I should be rounding into good form by May.

As for the blog...I plan to return to regular weekly posts to update my training mileage. And yes. the more I run the more I tend to blog!

2008 wrapped up for me as my 7th best year of running in terms of mileage (2425 miles total) but most prolific with 20 races, of which one was a road marathon, 14 were ultras, and one of those was my first ROAD ultra. Here's to a great 2009!

Running with the Family

2008-11-27T18:46:00.005-04:00

The last two Saturdays I have been spending some quality time with family. On the 15th Anne and I ran the Richmond marathon together in 70+ degree heat and humidity. On the 22nd my brother Tim and I ran the JFK 50 miler together in temps ranging from 15-35 degrees with a stiff wind blowing. Both were tough!!!

Looking back at the last 15 months since returning from Egypt and leaving the Army I have raced a bit excessively...even for a the fringe population of ultrarunners I hang out with. All told I have done 2 official marathons and 18 ultras. Although I keep saying I am about to cut back...train more and become more fit and competitive racing selectively and trying REALLY hard. I doubt it will happen. Mentally it is pretty hard for me to have a big goal and solely work towards it only to have something beyond my control like sickness or weather ruin my chances of pulling it off. I have gone the other way and end up going to multiple events running with a "hey I'll have fun with this one" attitude and generally just enjoying myself. I have come to grips at long last with finish placings and race times well off what I have done previously.

Goals for 2009 at this point include a possible run at MMT 100 again and maybe a 24hr run.
Or MAYBE a through run of the towpath and its entire 184.5 miles.

Recovery Week

2008-11-09T20:51:00.002-04:00

2 runs 15 miles
Thurs- 6 miles easy
Sat- 9 miles w/ 3200m-6:29-12:42

I took it easy this week resting up for the up coming beat downs. I want to be feeling really good as I will be running the Richmond Marathon with Anne Saturday and then the JFK 50 miler with my brother Tm on the 22nd. Its good to be fresh.

My quads had some soreness Sunday and Monday on the stairs and I could tell I had worked a bit harder than I have in a while. So I fell into the pattern I often go into. Big runs....big recovery.

Since I ran Hardrock in July I have only run 58 times for 584 miles. Or 10 miles per run. October was even more extreme with 17 runs with an average of 13.4 miles per run. I don't get out often but when I do I make it count.

This should change soon as I will be starting a new job with a commute I hope to do M-F of 10 miles. I plan on driving or biking into work M/W/F and running home, then Running in and driving/riding home on T/Th. The consistency should be great.

Wish me luck

Change

2008-11-05T09:25:00.001-04:00

Quote of the day:"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer ... It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."- President-elect Barack Obama.

MMTR 50

2008-11-02T10:31:00.002-04:00

38th- 9:31:57

WOW! What a fine day. Best weather and prettiest foliage in all of the over 70 ultras I have run in. I had a great time running on the beautiful course this year starting conservatively and working my way up through the field. One bad patch between 24 and 31 miles and then ran well moving strongly regaining those that passed me and then some. I even managed the last 3++ miles (4?) from the last aid station in under 30 minutes. Man it felt good to finish that strongly after having such a tough go in the last ten miles of the Andiamo 45 last month.

More importantly I probably had one of the best races in terms of stomach/fuel/electrolyte management I've had in years. I used water only in my hand held bottle, but drank some coke at the aid stations and used 12 packs of gels and ate some pringles, M&M's, and fig newtons along the way. All of which are favorites of mine. I did have 2 pit stops (mile 22,28), but did not experience the un-draining stomach/bloating problems that have plagued me so often.

Trying to be Solid

2008-10-29T20:14:00.004-04:00

Oct 23- 18 miles blacktop bike path
Oct 26- 18 miles blacktop roads
Oct 27- 12 miles on C&O towpath
Oct 29- 13 miles trail, bikepath, road, sidewalk you name it

Today's run was a new loop exploring the amazing area I now live in. I started from my townhouse and ran hilly roads to a trail that connects into the Potomac heritage trail, that connected to the Chain bridge, then ran the C&O towpath to the Capital crescent bikepath, to the bike/pedestrian path and sidewalks linking me to the Memorial bridge. I crossed the GW parkway then ran the mt Vernon trail north to Roosevelt island and then got on the Potomac Heritage trail again and ran it to a connector trail before finishing my run up Quincy blvd. a sweat loop. I got to go (closely)by the Lincoln monument, Georgetwon, Kennedy center, Watergate bldg, Arlington National Cemetery. What a nice tour.

Next up...MMTR 50 er.....53 miler is coming up Saturday!

Urban Assault Ultra

2008-10-24T08:45:00.005-04:00

Okay this is my next dream. Now that I am living in Arlington I am surrounded by an amazing network of within the city trails. Some dirt, some gravel/crushed stone, some paved bike path. My biggest impression is that they are everywhere!

Some fo the trails I have explored completely in the last month include:

W&OD- paved- rails to trails- 45miles

Potomaac Heritage Trail- dirt- rocky nasty-18 miles

Capital Crescent Trail- paved-13 miles

Mt Vernon Trail- paved-18 miles

4 mile- run Trail -paved-7.5 miles

Custis Trail- paved- 4 miles

Bluemont Connector- paved- 2 miles

The above culminated with yesterdays cool run. Here from Garmin. Its called the Arlington triangle loop and it took me 2:39 to cover these 18 miles. I did get a little lost where the trails don't quite connect, but they are currently pooring concrete and bulldozing to make them do so as I type.

Previously I have run a series of connecting trails linking rock creek park to battery kimbal and grover archibald allowing me to run dirt from walter Reed's 16th street entrance all the way to fletchers boathouse and the C&O Canal. As well as running the bike path system thru rock creek- which is 20 miles long

Other area trails include the grandaddy of them all the C&O canal towpath = 184 miles

A great resource is linked here

My plan is to one day lay out a route that allows a completely urban trail ultra of 50+ miles. With all the above choices it shouldn't be to hard! It looks like you could start/finish at Fletchers boathouse and do a figure 8 loop into rock creek park connectinginto the crescent trail run south to the C& O then into the Arlington triangle loop and it'd be close to 50. hmmmmmmm

I'm Not Dead

2008-10-06T18:21:00.004-04:00

Really, I'm not it has just been a REALLY long time since I had Internet and felt like posting.

Life: Things are going well! Anne and I are now in the new townhouse and living large in Arlington. We both are working and the cat and dog continue to attack one another to stay amused.

Joey- the cat is not thrilled about the city life and having to stay inside, but he does now have 4 levels to run around on and perhaps more importantly....find hiding places.

Oskar- the dog is happy about everything as a general rule. He now enjoys city block walks and having to have his master pick up his (Oskar's) poop..... Who is really the master anyway?

In my running life I must admit I don't do well with change and living in strange places and having odd schedules and traveling a ton and having a million new duties that I always seem to deem more important than running. Thus my last 4 weeks since leaving Richmond have been all in the 24-38 mile range. Wow sucko!

Anne's running has been going well and we have successfully done long ones of 15, 18, and 20 miles in this time span. She is averaging 30 miles a week now... You go Anne!

A return to normalcy?? Well sort of. I managed 4 runs last week ( an 8 and a 20 with Anne) and a 10 on the C&O towpath.....which I think is my favorite place to run ever. And a whopping 45 miler. The later being the VHTRC's Andiamo run which covers the entire W&OD bike path trail from Purcelville into Shirlington. This was loads of fun for the first 34 miles. Then the last 11 took over 3 hours and resulted in my first bouts of running induced vomiting in over 20 years of running. Pretty amazing GI tract killing pain honestly. Lasted well into the night keeping me up and out of bed from 1-3AM even.

If all ultras were like the first 30 (50k split in 4:58 running easy with 60sec walk breaks at all mile markers) I'd run ultras every few days. If all ultras were like the last 10 miles. I'd never run one again.

Catching up

2008-08-23T15:31:00.003-04:00

Wow, been a while since I posted. Been busy prepping for the move and watching the Olympics. a couple solid weeks (56, and 52 miles the last two on 5 runs per week each). Still not as motivated as I should be.....I really need a scheduled day and lifestyle. This should improve soon as I start my new job on Monday! Too bad I can't move into my new house until Sept 16th.

So some highlights of the last few weeks:

8/6, 8/11, 8/18 I did the same workout. One of my favorite quickies. I run to a track and do a 2 mile run where I run the straight a ways hard and jog the curves. this amounts to a 16x100m surging run. this is much like the 30 sec hard 30 sec easy workout many folks do. I always end running the second mile faster as each successive 100m strider feels smoother and faster. On the 6th I ran 13:50 for the 2 miles, then 13:37 on the 11th and 13:02 on the 18th with what felt like the same effort.

On the other end of the spectrum I got out to Shenandoah NP for four serious climbing/descending and trail running on the AT and other technical trails. I had great company in Sophie and Jeff Wilbur of charlottesville. I ran an 18 mile loop on 8/7 and 8/9 that has over 4,000ft of climb and on 8/15 and 8/17 I ran a tough 21 miler with over 5k of climb. All these runs took between 4:05 and 5:02 to run. For me this is the perfect length of time to be out on my feet pounding and still be able to recover well. In the summer with an early start I will go through 100 ounces of fluid and take in around 800 calories on such a run. This puts me on the verge of being hungry and helps increase my bodies fat mobilization abilities.

Today Anne and I headed to Ashland, VA for the Patrick Henry 1/2 marathon and managed to complete our goal by covering the distance on tired legs at goal marathon pace: 1:59

Fun stuff, highlighted by attending a pre-race talk given by Maureen Ackerly about the US Oly trails marathon in April. This amazing runner is a 39 y.o. mother of 2 who happens to be a partner in a big law firm. Talk about juggling life responsibilities and still manage to PR in the marathon! Amazing.

Trails are Awesome

2008-08-10T19:48:00.003-04:00

After 3 resting weeks following Hardrock I was able to get in a good one this week:

61 miles on 6 runs including two(2) four hour runs on trails. Man were they fun! On both Thursday and Saturday I had great company while trotting the trails above the Charolottesville reservoir. We ran the moormans river road loop traveling up to, then 8 miles on the Appalachian trail in Shenandoah NP and back down. Thursday Jeff and I even got to see two bear cups. This is a loop I used to run nearly weekly when I was getting my masters at UVA.

GPS tracks of our runs. Saturday's run with Sophie shows the actual route while Thursdays run the garmin unit lost reception under the heavy canopy and overcast skies. (Here)

Today Anne and I continued to build her long run for this Novembers Richmond marathon by doing a fun 13 miles on the course.

After 12 hours of running in the last 4 days I am feeling incredibly good

Trying to make it Ours

2008-08-05T14:18:00.003-04:00

Ahhhhhh Arlington! Good stuff. Moving back to NOVA. Start work Aug 25th. Close Sept 15th. Can't wait for either!

Feeling The Need

2008-07-30T16:32:00.004-04:00

For Speed....or the best I can manage these days: MotionBased stats here

8 miles with: 4x200, 4x400, 3x1000, 400, 4x200, 400......ugh..in 95 degree sun at 2pm

Easy warm up...didn't take long in the heat and my favorite time to run...AFTERNOON!
4 x 200 on 40 sec rest- 41, 41, 37, 38 Felt really good, not trying to press, just turn them over
4 x 400 on 90 sec rest- 91, 86, 88, 84 Pace was all over as I was trying to find the best mix between relaxed and pressing the 2nd half to hold the pace. Not to mention I have not run anything this quick since February. By the 3rd and 4th my heartrate was really getting up there and staying up above 120 a bit long following the repeat.

so I took 5 minutes rest then did 3 x 1000m aiming to hit 4:00 or a guess at my 10 mile-1/2 marathon pace. But onc eI got into them I ran faster and was probably closer to VO2max pace than Lactate threshold. Using equal recoveries I managed to hit 4:01, 3:54, 3:46. It felt good and I was running very smoothly. After the faster repeats to start off with, it was hard to run above 90 sec 400 pace on these repeats.

After the 3rd one I felt hot and tired. So I decided to do some more shorter reps and work on my recruitment of the fast twitch fibers that I let lie dormant so much of the time. I will probably be wicked sore tomorrow.

Last bit went 400-84, 4x200-39, 37, 37, 36, then one last 400 to try and break 80 and a nice result of 76. That chased the heartrate up to 175bpm. Probably within a few ticks of my max honestly.

All in all it was a good workout and I am glad I went and got it in. Tomorrow I am off to DC to do a bunch of things related to my new job and my new townhouse! Trying to finalize things on a new place. Super exciting.

Time to Throw Down

2008-07-28T12:08:00.003-04:00

Week 2 post Hardrock
3 runs = 29 miles 1 easy, 1 speed, 1 moderate

Now, feeling recovered and well motivated it is time to start throwing it down. I hope to put in more miles in the month of August than I have ever done in one month. My current record is 380 miles from June of 1998 (last 11 years monthly mileage seen here) Getting in a 400 mile month would be nice.

For motivation I am using the following:
Mark
Sean
AJW
Barbara

and good VHTRC buddy Sophie

On the personal side, no luck finding a house yet!!!! :-(

Back into it

2008-07-23T13:19:00.005-04:00

After a week off to travel, recover, rest, and house search I am now back in to training. Motivation is low like it always is after a big event, but I do have some fun things on the horizon.

Anne and I powered through an 11 miler on the C& O Canal towpath in DC Sunday. My left ankle (anterior tibialis muscle/tendon) was stiff aching and giving me "itis" problems but that seems to have resolved. This was Anne's first LONG run in the build up for her fall marathon. Fun stuff to be a part of!

Today I went out for a longish run, got mis-oriented and wound up in a part of my neighborhood I have yet to run. So I made my way to the local highschool track and did an impromptu workout. Since I am such a wuss and can't stick to a regular track/hard workout routine when I end up at the track I like to make the most of it. after illusions of grandeur and a 5xmile workout I managed two before the legs and mind said......"Hey wait buddy...we are still not 100%"

So here it is:
25 min warm up
2 x mile 6:20, 6:07 on 3:30 recov
15 min cool down

Not to whine about what was but for reference:
7/7/2000- Hardrock- 36:16
7/16/2000- 7 miler with last mile 5:26
7/24/2000- 3 x mile 5:28, 5:22, 5:20
7/26/2000- 8,000m time trial on track by self- 28:53

ugh! I can't wait until I move to DC and get some training partners

what worked

2008-07-18T09:48:00.006-04:00

I wanted to write a bit to let folks know what worked for me......and what didn't

FEET: Hardrock is an extremely wet race with stream crossings and marshlands the entire course. My feet were wet from the river crossing at 2 miles straight thru for 46 hours until the river crossing at 99 miles.

AJW tip to wet your feet before long runs was an excellent one! The two weeks prior to the race I ran with wet feet 5-6 times- spraying them down with a hose (filling my shoes really) then re-wet in a local river 30 minutes in to the runs. I also did 2-3 hour yard work sessions where I wet my feet every 45min. This constant time spent in wet socks/shoes allowed my foot skin to toughen and all the looser/weak callus stuff to peel off prior to race day and thus in the race itself I had ZERO problems. I had one tiny blister on the side of my big toe that I did not feel, drained after, and it was sealed and healed in 24hrs. No other issues at all!!!

Shoes:- I wore my Asics 2110's road shoes that have 800+ miles on them and are a year old. They drained well, gripped decently, were light weight, comfortable, supportive but not restrictive and are lower to the ground than my Montrails. However, they have higher side walls around the ankle and this caused my most severe post race problem......I have swollen ankle bones on the outside (lateral malleolus) bilaterally and the right one was rug burned into a bloody area. Runing straight is no problem, but side hill action caused the side of the shoes to push into my ankle bones. Ouch.

socks: I changed socks 4 times for no good reason other than it FELT GOOD! I used white "jockey" socks that fit my feet well. They are all ruined with stains now but hey.

fluids: I drank plan water 100% of the time and filed my bottles from the streams and with snow probably 60% of the time. I'll let you know if I develop giardia. I also took in up to 12 cups of coke along the way (drunk at aid stations)

Electrolytes: I used maybe 8 or so NUUN tablets and one S! cap, then had GI trouble and for the last 26 hours of the race only ate salty food from the tables. Salt pills are overrated. I eat an extremely low salt diet, and was well heat acclimated prior to the race so my sweat has little salt in it. I wish I had not used the NUUN tabs at all. Pretzels is all you need.

Calories: I took in 2400cals of Cliff shot blocks, 4000+cals of pure granulated sugar (that I carried in a bottle then added water too to make a gel like slurry). I will use maltodextrin in the future as sugar worked great but has a taste to it, that I did get sick off, while maltodextrin is tasteless. I ate a strawberry milkshake (real deal ice cream from an ice cream shop), 1/2 a turkey sandwich, 1/2 a turkey sandwich with cheese grilled, 2 cups of pasta, 6 pop sickles, maybe 12 cups of coke, one zip lock bag of peanuts, M&M's, and one zip lock bag full of pretzels. during the 46:45. Pre-race breakfast was a liter of gatorade and 2 banana Power bars. I'm not sure how many calories this all is but it was ALOT! yet I was still hungry and bonky a few times. The caloric expenditure scaling 40% grade mtns at 14,000ft must be higher than 100 calories per mile.

I also recently read that Krissy Moehl took in 600cals per hour at last years hardrock....this is double the 300cals an hour max the stomach is supposed to be able to process.(according to my masters degree in exercise physiology learnings) Interesting.! Probably why she kicked ass. I watched Karl Meltzer pack his drop bags for the 2005 hardrock were he spent 18 minutes in aid stations total time. He had 60 gels. for 6000cals. And ate nothing else. Trying to run at altitude asks a lot of the old cardio system so much of the bodies blood is diverted away from the viscera (stomach/intestines) and shunted to the working muscles. this makes digestion of anything complex very difficult. This is why I chose to stick closely to simple sugar and away from harder to digest foods. During exercise at a high % max output (like I had at Hardrock) the common phenomonen of "take in sugar---recieve huge insulin spike----resulting in lowered blood sugar and BONK" is attenuated. Huge spikes in insulin output are not seen, so one does not bonk as hard after pure sugar intake as one would say when sitting on a couch. No, I am not as dumb as I may seem.

Due to efficiency of the body being able to utilize stored fat when running at x min/mile pace rather than burning glucose or glycogen, the better shape you are in, the less calories you need to take in. I am not in that kind of shape obviously! so I likily needed more calories taken in during the event than fitter/faster folks.

all in all it was a great experiement and I am glad to be back in better shape. It has been a slow climb out of the 2003-2006 duldrums, but I am getting there.

grindstone 100 in Oct and JFK 50 in Nov on the horizon

worth a 1000 words

2008-07-17T14:09:00.005-04:00

awesome phtos here by Olga and HERE by Steve

Awesome Awesome Awesome

2008-07-17T10:43:00.011-04:00

Hardrock 100 - 92nd- 46:45. SUPER HAPPY! I am a true hardrocker now having finished the course in both CCW and CW directions. Yep thats nearly 47 straight hours of movement. No nap, only stopped for 20-30 minutes at a few aid stations. Thats a LONG time to be out, and surprisingly it was not that bad. I was not overly tired/sleepy at all.

Silverton is a very special place and it felt like a big reunion to see so many falks who I have run with, been teamates with, and enjoyed their company at races before. Many folks welcomed me back to the race where I had a disappointing DNF in 2005 when I came in fresh off a stress fracture. As well as the race I really began to seriously make a name for myself in ultrarunning by my 36:18 in 2000.

2008 had been a great year for me in terms of life, happiness, and steady consistant running. After 4 poor years of haphazard running and injury, I now had 24 consistent months of training behind me and felt not only fit, but confident in my ability to finish and enjoy ultras again. I had run 10 good ones in 2008 alone. My year began with two 50k's in Jan, followed by two 40 milers in Feb, and 50 milers in March, April, and May with a 100k coming just 34 days before the Hardrock start in June. Due to my schooling and travel that 63 miler was my last run greater than 10 miles, but I knew it would be enough.

Since the race is difficult to get into (lottery) and alternates directions. And since this years run would be going the direction I had not run yet but wanted to......and our lives were still pretty uncomplicated...... I knew if I got in this year I had to go. I was 22nd on the waitlist initially and slowly moved up. When I moved to 9th on the list I bought plane tickets. One week later Dale Garland the RD called me to say I was in. Yes!

In 2000 I prepared by doing multiple snowshoe races in the winter followed by countless hill repeats and training in massachusetts and New Hampshire with superstar Sue Johnston and pal Steve Pero. I then finished 19th in my first 100 at the MMT 100 in May and managed to do a 39 miler in June along with repeats of 3,000ft climb "the Priest" in the Shenandoahs after moving to VA. I was working at UPS and in the best shape of my life. It wasn't easy, but despite arriving in Silverton on Monday of race week I ran well.

In 2008 I spent all of May and June running the flat bike path in Chicago and going to school. I managed the Ice Age 50 and KM 100k, but did no other long runs and no hills other than 2 stairs sessions were I climbed 1500ft. I was READY ! ha! Not!

Much of ultrarunning is confidence and a sense of knowing what you are going to think/decide before you get there. In previous 100 miler attempts (I think this was 27 or 28 for me) I have only dropped in those races where I was unsure if I could make it while standing on the start line. For this years Hardrock, I expected to finish. Not fast, but finish. I hoped for a 38hr run beating the 2nd sun set, but was not up to that task and figured that out on the first 2 climbs.

Anne and I started our quest on Wednesday morning (July 9th) flying from Richmond out to Denver. There around 10Am we picked up the rental car after a 47 minute wait in line (ugh) then began driving west on I-70. Beautiful mountains a=everywhere and we took our time crossing the state. by evening we were both feeling tired, dehydrated and had headaches, so we got a motel in Montrose, Co.

Thursday morning we made the drive south to Silverton passing thru the amazing Ouray and into the heart of the beautiful San Juan Mountians arriving into race headquarters about 30 minutes before check in closed. I had my vitals taken and medical bracelet put on. READY TO ROLL!

Splits:
Aid Station / Distance/ Time/ Minutes in Aid (#)
KT- 11.5- 3:46 (3)
Chapmans-18.9-6:36 (10)
Telluride- 27.8-10:18(13)
Krogers- 32.8-13:27(6)
Gvernors- 36.0-14:32(6)
Ouray- 43.9-16:35(16)
Engineer- 51.5-21:33(10)
Grouse- 58.4-24:09(31)
Sherman- 71.8-31:04(23)
Pole Creek80.9-35:35(7)
Maggie- 85.2-37:31(9)
Cun'gham-91.3-39:12(21)
Finish- 46:45 (2:35 in aid stations)

My race started out at dawn on friday with 139 other crazies. I ran with a camera and snapped pics as I went trying to always maintain a moderate effort level, never breathing too hard. Which at an average elevation of over 11,000ft is not easy. Headaches came all the first day each time I ascended over 12k, but by the 2nd day were not an issue. The lack of 02 just kept me from running anything with an up slope and kept me climbing slowly. Often I was like those guys you see on TV on Everest....walking a few paces then pausing to breath, repeat.

Hardrock is no joke and the one word description Rob Youngren stated to discribe it is right on the money: DANGEROUS. Why someone has not fallen to their death their I don't know. Right off the bat I was reminded of why I held this race up as special. After crossing a river via rope at mile 2 we began the first climb up into Putnam Basin. I had fallen in with a group of folks who I knew to run around 40+ hr in previous Hardrocks. Fellow VHTRC folks Mike Dobies and Billy Losey began pulling away and 68 and 72 year old superstars Hans Deiter Weisshaar and John DeWalt were behind me. I was okay and moving well. I reached the first aid station after a long long time (3:46) and realized this was going to take just about forever to cover all 100 miles. Much unlike The Amazing 23 year old Kyle Skaggs would go on to run exactly twice as fast as me finishing in 23:23!! this destroys the old course record, and will never be touched by anyone other than Kyle.

On the 2nd big climb I had a good time with 2002 Grand Slam classmate Roger Ackerman cresting the top only to be greated by a real life mountain goat! Faced with the euphoria of summiting this huge climb, seeing the memorial to the late Joel Zucker, greeting the mtn goat, then facing the fear of the rediculous desent down the scree feild was nearly too much for me. Then good buddy Steve Pero comes running up behind me bounding from one sliding landing to the next on the 40% grade descent. I was pretty much overcome in a moment my eyes filled with tears and I had all I could do to remain upright. This is what I came to Hardrock for. This is what I live for.

I got myself together picked up the pace running hard on the downhill toward Chapman Aid station and caught Steve and Super RD Joe Prusaitis. We moved thru a beautiful Aspen groove and then landed in the aid station for some much needed fuel and fluids. Now with the noon sun high in the sky it was hot. damn hot. luckily a few po sickles and refill of my bottles had me moving all be it slowly up the huge climb to Oscars pass. This took forever!!! And I seriously doubted weather I was in over my head. I had already made one big mistake. I did not leave a drop bag at Chapmans as I thought I would make it to 27 mile Telluride quick enough. Not so now I had no Clif shot blocks, and no bottle filled with sugar. I was OUT of energy and fading near the top. Luckily Billy Simpson climbing well on his surgically repair ankle shared a gel with me. I made the summit and began eating some snow as Joe topped out. Luckily the run down the other side was only 4,000 feet and would only take us a couple hours!!!!

For fuel I had set out 5 drop bags that contained clean socks, warm clothes, lights, and equally divided: 12 packs of shot blocks (2400cals, and one 4lbs bag of sugar = 6818cals) I ended up eating all the shot blocks and about 4500 cals of the sugar. Plus stuff off the tables at the aid stations. And yet often I was pretty hungry! My heartrate on the climbs stayed above 150...sometimes literally for hours. It would be awesome to know exactly how much work was actually done, and calories burned. By the way the race is retardedly long. like at least 8-12 miles longer than 100. Gauruntee it.

Once I hooked up with Steve we stayed together into Telluride running well but keeping eachother from going too hard. Steve has had lots of trouble red lining at Hardrock and losing his stomach. But not in 2008! We got into Telluride feeling great and after a big eating stop I began the 4,400ft climb up to Virginia's pass. It would take us 3 hours and 9 minutes to do this 5 miles, but man the glissading snow slides off the mountain were well worth it! With 1/3rd of the race done in less 14 hours we hoped for continued good luck. Another 5,000ft decending brought us into Ouray and the darkness. With the first days running done I still felt pretty good but that was about to change.

In Ouray, Anne met me with warmer clothes, better lights and a milk shake and cup of pasta. After filling up and heading out of there I began what would be multiple hours worth of GI trouble. In many ultras I have gone into preiods of uncrolled diarhea. It could be from being dehydrated (which I am sure I was) or a reaction to salt tablets (S caps previously or NUUN tabs now) that contain sodium bicarbinate= a known GI tract irritant to some, or something else. Whatever it is from. It sucks. 6 pit stops over the next 8 miles (and 5,000ft climb) made me miserable. So much walking and not feeling like taking anything in did not help me feel too peppy.

Steve and Joe moved on ahead and I slowly climbed in the dark. Once I got above 12,000 feet again it was freezing cold walking across snow fields and melting 33 deg water filled marshes. Each stream crossing stung with pain. When things go bad in a race, EVERYTHING seems to go bad. The engineer stations was out. out of food, out of purified water, out. it sucked. I had been looking forward to it for literally hours, then nothing. I continued to fill my water bottle with mtn run off and out of streams so that was not an issue, but I really coulda used some calories, or coke or anything.
After finally begining the descent to Grouse gulch I seemed to be over the diarhea, but man was I moving slow. I really had no energy to run and walked the long downhill road just waiting for sun rise. Scott B and Liz Walker came up behind me as the sunrise allowed us to turn off our lights. 24 hours in and I now faced the biggest mountain of the course: 14,048ft Handies peak.

In Grouse aid station I took my time. unloaded some heavy things from my pack (yaktracks I had not used yet, lights, jackets. But I had to keep warm clothes and rain gear and one hand held light because it was now clear that I would not make it to the 91 mile aid station where I put my 2nd set of lights before dark. ugh.

With the sun up and some scrambled eggs and a tortilla in my gut along with 4 cups of coke I began to climb in the 2nd days sunlight feeling okay. I caught a few folks back who had passed me up and managed to climb strong up into the snow fields. Here I stopped to put on sun screan as the 13,000 sun is rediculously intense. (I didn't get enough on for Friday and am now peeling on my neck and forehead!) Near the summit I hooked up with Paul Gross and his pace Ryan. We would stay together on and off much of the next 20 hours.

Once off the steep downhill I began having stomach trouble. I took a tylenol on the lcimb just prior to summititng thinking the pain releif would allow my quads to handle the big descent. but the uncoated pill on my empty stomach tore up the lining making me nausueous. I spent the next few hours sipping nothing but water hoping against hope it would turn around. Once we reached the dirt road the sun was blazing and I smartly dipped my shirt in some snow melt water and redonned it. Ever so slowly we made it to the aid station 72 miles in 31 hours. Not exactly fast!

I knew here that I would either be able to handle some coke and a bit of food and I'd continue strongly or I'd throw up and it might truly be over. 2 tums and 2 glasses of coke later I was nibbling some cake frosting and walking out of the aid station feeling ready to climb another 4,000ft mtn.

I climbed well and felt strong again taking in pretzles and two shot blocks in an alternating pattern every 15 minutes. Soon I was above the tree line once more and roaming in some of the most "out there" parts of the Hardrock course. Pole Creek loomed. This is an aid station packed in many miles by saintly aid station volunteers. Amazing stuff this race. Once here I once again knew I would finish and began running much more on the flats and small downs despite being above 12,000ft. I had no headache and was doing well catching some folks in front of me. The climbs and grassy hills prior to maggie guch were a challenge and I wondered if I would ever get away from the mud. Soon I was making the big decent to the aid station knowing I only had 15 more miles to go.

I ate pasta, turkey and peanuts at the aid station and walked out all fitred up ready for the steepest climb of the course up Big Boy Ridge. Despite my stomach feeling good I nearly threw up 15 feet out of the aid station. I pitched the remaining turkey in my hand and laughed it off. With Scott and Liz chasing me we made the huge ascent in no time and began our race against the dark. Lights came out on green mtn and our search for course markers became hugely frustrating. I lost those two and really could not see any markers with my 2002 LED light. It simply didn't throw light far enough. so I waited for those behind me to catch up. It was Paul and Ryan and together we found our way over around and finally down to the last aid station.

Anne had gotten a ride to the aid station and was happy to great me just before midnight. a strong 21 minutes here putting on warmer clothes, getting a 2nd light and taking care of some chafing issues was all I needed to get the energy up for the final 3,000 ft climb. I was a tiny bit worried about the final cut off but Paul assured me we had it in the bag as he had done 46:15 in 2006 and we were on that pace now. I relaxed some once we crested the final pitch and began walking the steep and rocky final mountain. My left ankle had some severe tendonitis in it now from rubbing on my trusty Asic gel 2120's I had had on the last 40 hours. Running felt awful an dI knew I didn't need to so I walked it on down down down. 4 miles on a crappy jeep road with fist sized stones beat me up before the final muddy stream crossing trail into town.

I hooked up with Richard and we managed to negotiate our way into town despite no course markings. I guess I had had enough as this really pissed me off. I didn't even muster a run to the official Hardrock marking the finish line. merely walked up and kissed the damn thing. Pissy as I was. Soon I was inside sipping a smoothie (thanks Andrea!!) and feeling much better.

I went to the hotel for a shower and a 90minute nap and was incredibly rejuvinated afterwords. At the awards ceremony I was as happy as I ever remember being. What a run. nearly 47 hours of movement. WOW.

See you in 10 years Silverton....maybe!

Hardrock Looms

2008-07-06T09:03:00.004-04:00

An easy at home in VA:

Keys were a 10 miler with a mile- 6:36, 800- 3:06, 400-77 at the end for fun
a couple of hilly 8 mile runs
and three 2-4 hour total body work sessions clearing the back lot (raking, bending, cutting,ect)

At least once each day and for all of my runs this week I wet my feet (shoes/socks) with the hose and then worked / ran. I even re-wet by stopping by the river to step in it. The results have been great. I no longer am even bothered by getting my feet wet and the skin on my feet is in great shape.

I feel pretty fit going in to the race although am a bit heavy (for me) and will be starting the run with a 34 day span since my last LONG run (63 miles at Kettle Moraine) It would have been better to get in one more 20 days out, but studies at Northwestern got in the way of that.

I did managed to run down 17 flights of stairs daily during that month however and the great year of long runs to date I think will leave me more than ready.

The big question will be how I am able to handle the altitude as I am not landing in Colorado until 44 hours before the race starts. When I ran Hardrock in 2000 I arrived 5 days prior, and when I did Leadville I arrived 16 hours prior to those races. In both runs I had headaches when I was over 12,500ft. Leadville I got incredible dehydrated and lost 6lbs by 60 miles (from 130lbs). It was pretty miserable. In the hardrock race I had to walk EVERY uphill grade slope and was unable to eat and move at the same time. It is hard to suck air and chew/swallow at the same time. But, it did force me to take the time to sit & relax in the aid stations...eat all I wanted, then leave. Many aid stations I had to walk for a while out of as I was too full to run. I spent 2 hours and 18 minutes in aid stations during the entire 102 miles.

This year I plan to bring straight out of the bag sugar along in my pack to add to my water bottle along the route in order to keep calories flowing in and reduce the amount of REAL food I have to try and take in. mmmmmmmmmmmmm sugar! This is something that worked very well for me at CCC 100, RR 100, and AT 100, that I kind of forgot about.

DONE!

2008-06-27T19:31:00.002-04:00

I'm DONE! Prosthetics program complete and time to go back home to Virginia.

2nd great news.... I'M IN HARDROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually got a call from the RD the day Western States was cancelled......which felt odd to be so happy when so many were so sad.

Another strong week of running while juggling final exams:

Sunday- off
Monday- 7 AM, 7 PM
Tuesday- 7 AM, 7 PM
Wed- 7 AM
Thurs- 7 AM, 7 PM
Friday- 7 AM
Fly out tomorrow wicked early in the morning

Chicago has been great but I am really eager to be home with Anne

Moving on UP!!!!!!!

2008-06-24T21:06:00.001-04:00

Guess who is number one on the Hardrock waitlist????????????

yep..

Read all about it here

Time to step up the stair workouts!!!!

Week 7

2008-06-21T21:40:00.002-05:00

Solid week: 63 miles- 9 runs, 1 tempo, 1 stair workout

Sunday- off
Monday- 7- easy
Tuesday- 7 AM, 7 PM - into head wind 44:02!!!!
Wednesday- 7AM, 7PM- sore calves
Thursday- 7 easy -
Friday- 7 easy following 6 sets x 18 floors stairs
Saturday- 7AM, 7 PM

Feeling okay, a bit overwhelmed.....settling in for a stretch of 5 tests in 4 days....Lab final, oral exam, practical exam, written lower extremity tests, written final exam..

Evaluate and RATE ME!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 6

2008-06-15T18:47:00.003-05:00

Easy recovery week: 4 runs- 28 miles, 3 days off (Last week I got in 86miles)

got back into it on Tuesday with a commute run 7 miler that necessitated a couple walk breaks. Legs not overly sore, but still feeling the 100k slightly. The rest of the week felt pretty good, but nothing special

Saturday- 7 miles easy following my first REAL stairs workout:
6 trips DOWN 19 stories, 5 trips UP. each floor has 20 steps to it

On three of the up trips I took the steps 2 at a time and went real slow trying not to spring off the lower leg calf, but relying on the glutes/hamstrings of the leg stepping up to pull me up. After a couple trips of this it felt like I had been doing a bunch of lunges. I expected to be very sore today, but not much. that is exciting.

Since I have been doing one solid trip down 18 flights running M-f for 5 weeks now, the quads are in pretty strong shape. I plan on doing multiple sets every couple of days the remaining two weeks I am in Chicago.

Additionally I hope to run doubles (in and out from school the 7 miles) M-F these last two weeks. I gotta do something as I'll be flying into Colorado less than 48hrs before the Friday morning start of Hardrock. I am now number 7 on the waitlist!!

Kettle Moraine 100................K

2008-06-08T15:08:00.003-05:00

Sat- 100K- 14:00:16

A great course, great aid, awesome volunteers, super course marking, beautiful country, but

Worst conditions in my 75 ultra starts:

90 with 90% humidity
miles of open sun exposed running
torrential sideways rain, lightning and wind with tornadoes in the area
mud
bugs

I had great legs and no body issues other than massive dehydration that caused diarrhea from hours 4-8. Seven pit stops total left me reeling and led to me getting behind in caloric intake. I took time out at the 31 mile aid station (first out and back turn around). Probably spent 20 minutes using the bathroom, eating, drinking, getting salt, trying to cool off. slowly got things back in order and was running well again by the time the rains came 10 hours into the race.

at 10:50 into the race I sought shelter in an outhouse as the sideways rain and huge winds made running impossible. An interesting 15-20 minutes as I and two others who also sought shelter in there waited for things to calm down. Peeking out the door, the rain looked like a snow white-out. Since the county was under tornado warnings I thought the race might be called. But after reaching the next manned aid station all seemed to be a go. Rain continued on and off as I approached the 100K finish at 8pm. With darkness approaching and the thought of cold crazy rain helped me decide I had had enough fun for the day. I left the mosquitos to drain someone else dry!

a great training run for Hardrock......14 hours of movement, dealing with stomach issues, and wet pruned feet.

Now time to study....3 weeks of school remaining

"I'm Mr Brightside"

2008-06-02T18:31:00.004-05:00

WOW! Commute route 43:29!!!!!!!!!!

Normally the route home takes me 52-57 minutes. Music makes a difference though. When I was rocking out to Mr. Brightside (the Killers) I looked up and realized I was already passing the statue that normally takes 24 minutes to get to and my watch only read 19. Music for me really decreases the RPE as we say in the exercise physiology/cardiac rehab world ( the rate of perceived exertion) It just doesn't feel as hard. But it'd be dangerous for me to run with music all the time as I'd over train....it be like running in college with competitive teammates racing everyday! Such a waste of all that effort. Besides, I still make fun of runners with headphones dangling.

Random thoughts on today's run from my head:

-Man that lake is pretty..turquoise like the Caribbean
- hey there is almost no wind today
- wow, it must be nearly 80 degrees (+20 from what all of May was here..cold)
-Look at all these people
- mmm bikinis
- a string bikini on her is not indicated...nor appropriate
- that dude is jacked
- Volleyball looks cool, but always hurts my forearms
- I probably suck
-I am getting better at this prosthetics thing though
- but, I did manage to cut up my thumb with a screw driver today
- and mixed up my foam wrong yesterday
- and had to re-do today
- suppose it is all just good practice, I am here to learn
- I did rock that anatomy exam last Friday though
- Dr. Ada Kelly of baylor Univ would be proud of me
- The one question I got wrong I had written down correctly at first
- then changed...I should never change my answers
- That homeless guy has shorts on today, good for him
- That dog seems to like the water
- Holy crap that girl has the best body I have ever seen!
- better than Divinci could sculpt
- better than a model
- wait Models don't have good bodies, just skinny
- thery are supposed to show off the clothes..muscles draw attention away
- why is my libido so high when I am away from my wife?
- The year in Egypt was like this too
- except no good bodies there at all to look at
-rollerblading looks fun
- I'd commute on rollerblades if I had some
- I am running faster than this bike rider.....he must suck
- No one is passing me today...running
- Madonna is cool
-so is Tool
- I run well with a goal
-I'm going to break my course record, for sure
-Beck is awesome
-Look at all those kids playing soccer
- soccer is way bigger today than 20 years ago when I was a kid
- or was that 25 years ago
-I graduate highschool 15 years ago this month..I'm old
-Haile G is my age and still breaking world records
- Ed Whitlock was running 3:00 marathons at age 73
-Why don't I train faster?
- I suppose this is good Hardrock training
- pancake flat, but with my breathing and heartrate a COOKING
- I'm number 15 on the waitlist, should I buy a plane ticket?
-I should write this all down in my blog
- ugh this is getting uncomfortable
- almost there now
- hey I need to get some milk
-cereal this morning with water on it sucked
- nice, catching the walk sign at the light
- sweat 43:29...solidly 4 minutes faster then ever
- how far is that again?
- 6.8? 6.6, 6.5?
-I'm getting there

Week 4 Down

2008-05-31T17:33:00.002-05:00

Sun- 8 miles with Anne
Mon- 8 miles- 63
Tues- 7-56min
Wed-7- 55min
Thurs 7- 53min
Fri- off mentally spent after 3 big tests this week
Sat- double 7miles in 55 min, 7 miles 59min (bonk)

a fine week of 51 miles....seems like I did more as tired as I am. Finished off the month of May with 207 miles of running on 23runs in 22 days.

I am now 1/2 way through the program here in Chicago and really getting ready to be done and back home with Anne. It has been intense and challenging, but fun at the same time. Prosthetics is an amazing field.

Next week at this time I will hopefully be making my way through KM 100. Lets hope the weather is like today's in Chicago! 80 and clear, beautiful! Best day in the Month I have been here. I literally saw 500 or so people out on the lakeshore path running, walking, biking, rollerbladding. Huge packs of runners in training groups getting geared up for a fall marathon I guess. It was fun to pass 4 different pace groups this morning. They had started at 6:30.....ugh that's early for a Saturday!

I honestly don't think I'd join a group that meets that early.

Week Three

2008-05-27T19:28:00.003-05:00

week 3 was pretty mild!!!!!!!

4 runs of 7 miles each, 3 days off.

Tuesday, however, I set the record on my commuter route making the 6.8 mile trek in a speedy 47:34. That was fast enough to make me a bit sore/achy the next day.

I took Friday and Sat off and flew back home to Richmond to spend the long weekend at home. Nice to be home for a bit, but a pain to travel.

After arriving at the Richmond Airport at 2PM (CST) I managed to get to my place in Chicago at 12:56AM. ugh...suck! What is the odds of a flight delay these days?? 75%?

Anyway I had a nice 8 mile run with Anne on Sunday and got reacquainted with rolling hills on my standard 8 mile loop Monday. Ugh!

Today Chicago proved once again to be aptly named. 50mph winds along the lakeshore (headwinds going home... of course) The blowing sand actually hurt my bare legs. Pretty impressive to see the lake crashing breakers up onto the bike path. I had sand in my shoes from the wind, and kept having to close my mouth and eyes to keep it out.

I'm really not sure why anyone would want to live here.

Remebering those who have served

2008-05-19T19:34:00.007-05:00

Now that I am really in the throws of learning to craft prosthetics I have been remembering a lot of the guys I was fortunate to get to know while I worked as a physical therapist.

Google is a wonderful tool....and some searches pulled up very good reads on:
raising awareness, on NPR, In the news, and in a nice video news report on the project " Segs for VETS"... a group who donated segway machines to many veteran amputees from the war: here

Week two in Chi Town

2008-05-17T22:01:00.003-05:00

Week two - 35miles

sun + Mon- off
Tues- 7 -62min (walked some)
Wed-7- 55min
Thurs-7- 56min
Friday- 7- 53min
Sat- 7 miles walk 1:49 with pack on

A solid week considering I did 50 last Saturday. The legs came around well. both Achilles noticeable....I need to stretch! i'm missing my home made calf slant board stretcher....which is at home in VA.

Chicago is treating me well...it is cold and windy compared to VA though. Pollen is out with blossoming red buds and other trees. Funny since VA had this 6 weeks back. school is very busy but good. Its fun and I am glad I am doing this.

MMT 100 is going on right now and I am missing it. I have got so I don't like the technical trails as well, but I still miss my MMT. Hard to believe it was 7 years ago I was rocking that course. Time flies. Looks like Keith Knipling is really giving it a good run. I hope he can pull it out. It was not that long ago he was finishing next to last place in this race! Hats off to Amy Sproston who is also kicking butt.

Since I am here, in shape, healthy, and have no tests the week following the race I think I am going to go run Kettle Moraine. On the motivation front....I was super impressed by Scott Dunlaps strong 2:47 big PR last week. A few months of speed training (tempo runs and repeat 800's) really helped him improve. I need to get on that train!

Ice Age 50 Mile

2008-05-11T11:15:00.010-05:00

big week for me: 90 miles
Sun- 14
Mon-5
Tue-7
Wed-7
Thur-7
Fri-off- drove up to race after work with my brother, Tim
sat- 50 miles- 8:25 (18th)

Ice Age 50 Mile (Resuts) ------ garmin report here

The Ice age 50 Mile was in its 27th year this year and had good trail conditions and great running weather (p. sunny temps 35 at the start warming to 63). the field had 200+ runners and started at 6am.

The race has an interesting lay out with a really runnable and smooth slightly rolling jeep trail width path for a 9 mile loop back to the start/finish. The course then heads on out for an out and back to the south (21.7 mile mark) and then goes out for an out and back to the north with the turn around at 40 miles all on nice single track trail.

I started the race at a good clip settling in at training pace clicking off 8:00 miles with Ann Heaslett reminiscing about 2001/2002 when she was competing for national 50k titles at the HUFF race and crushing me at RR 100 where she ran 15:57!! I was hovering around 150bpm and made myself slow down and let her go on off in pursuit of Kim Holak (last years womens winner) who had gotten out to an early lead. I was able to hold 150bpm for 3 hours (22miles) at BRR 50 last month but completely depleted the glycogen stores and could not climb back out of the deficit and ended up with a less than stellar 9:14......so I wanted to hold more of a 140bpm HR in this race and slowed my pace to that level despite not breathing heavy or really working THAT hard.

Proof that holding a lower HR initially leads to less of a drop late in the race... above..compare to BRR 50 here

I settled in with some guys new to ultras, a couple of triathlon guys, and a pilot from Chicago. The miles ticked by and before I knew it I was at the first turn around point (21.7 miles). The first guy to come by on the out and back was none other than legend Kevin Setnes who looked strong passing by with about 25minute lead on me. Women's leader was Kim Holak. I was hitting 22 miles today at 3:25...a full minute per mile slower than I went out at BRR, but I felt a million times better and actually pushed a bit at this point moving up in the field slightly from the 25th or so I was in at the 21mile turn around.

I was eating more off the tables (1/4 putter butter and jelly sandwiches, M&M's, glasses of coke) and was drinking NUUN water from my bottle. (Coke flavored NUUN tabs rock by the way) I was carrying 8 carb boom gels with me, but left my Cliff shot blocks home in Virginia. Since a gel pack is only 100cals and shotblock packs are 200. I knew I needed to eat more off the tables than I have been doing in the 8 previous ultras I have completed in 2008. My stomach was feeling great and draining well so I continued to down cups of coke at each aid station, (which were very frequent), sip my NUUN water, and hit a gel every time I felt a tiny bit bonky. Around 30 miles I came upon Kevin who was walking and looked to be in pain. Hopefully he is okay.

During the 4th hour I felt the poorest I would feel, but really was not that bad off...just a little behind in energy and thus the walking had increased. I had an off trail pit stop and then did some running with Boston native Chris H who was running with the broken finger he suffered in the infamous "Don't run boston 50K" in the Blue hills. I ran that race in 2001 and wow! what a tough one. This course had about 2% of the rocks and footing difficulty that that one did. I'm thankful for it too. I like running and despite having had good runs on tough technical courses, I am leaning more and more toward the fast nice footing courses.

I hit 31 miles in under 5 hours and continued to move up in the filed. I made it out to the 40 mile turn around in 6:40. Doing some calculations I knew that if I continued to do the 11 minute miles I was averaging over the last 10-12 I would be really pressed to break 8:30. The next 3 miles to the 43.5 mile aid station were still slow and I really didn't think I had it in me, but a mile or so later I was passed by a hard charging guy from Michigan who had 13 previous Ice Age finishes under his belt. He picked me up and we pushed hard together. We ran most everything until reaching the final aid station a mere 2.4 miles from the finish at the 8:02 mark. We knew sub 8:30 was in the bag and he relaxed while I moved on wanting to be done with this fine run. a few more turns on the pine needle covered trails and the finish line appeared. I squeaked into the top 20 and finished in 8:25. Surprisingly this race even had age group awards and I got a 2nd in mine. In 70+ ultras I have run in this was the first time that has happened! Ha. kinda silly since most of the top folks are still considerable older than me. And two of the most amazing older runners in the country proved that. Roy Pirrung beat me by 5 or so minutes at the rip age of 59! And even more impressive at age 66!!!!!!!!!!! Tom Bunk finished a mere 10 minutes behind me in 8:35. That is amazing.

All in all the great footing trail and amazing sections under pine trees will be what I remember most. this is a good one and I am glad I was able to run it. In terms of difficulty I would say it falls in between JFK and BRR. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped make it a great run for me.

The running log shows that the first 8 races at the 50 mile distance I ran were all faster than this one, but only one of the last 5 I have run has been. Lets hope a new trend is being set!

Chicago!!!

2008-05-04T17:44:00.003-05:00

Saturday- travel off
Sunday- 13.5- along lakeshore

wow, amazing city skyline and views from the lakefront/lakeshore bike/running path! I am surprised at the lakes great blue/turquoise color. PRETTY! a great sunny day here today temps in the 60's. Light breeze off the lake as I ran. I toured the path from the condo I am renting a room in down to the RIC where I'll be going to class and back. FLAT! gonna take some getting used to the concrete/blacktop flatness. But, there is a dirt path alongside of much of the bikepath. Today I saw all of the following on my run:
runners, bikers, tandom bike riders, bikers pulling kids in trailers, joggers pushing strollers, rollerbladers, roller bladers pushing strollers, dogs being walked, run, played with in the water, catching frisbees, folks playing softball, baseball, Frisbee, soccer, golf, tennis, and juggling. WOW active place. It is going to be nice.

If I choose to commute the route is 6.6 miles one way. I am 2 blocks from the north entrance to Lincoln park...and the RIC is on Superior street down by the Drake hotel and the Navy Pier for those who know Chicago.

I had some Thick (chicago deepdish) pizza following the run. MMMMMMMMMMmmmm gonna like living here for 8 weeks me thinks. as I was showering I was thinking about all the places I have lived for at least 35 days. In chronological order:

Cambpell, NY
Jonesboro, AR
Alfred, NY
Hendersonville, NC
Ithaca, NY
Columbia, SC
Natick, MA
San Antonio, TX
Framingham, MA
Clarksville, TN
Charlottesville, VA
Takoma, WA
Arlington, VA
BF, Egypt
Richmond, VA
Chicago, IL

And if you want to be really specific... I have had 17 different mailing addresses in the last 15 years since I graduated from highschool. This does not include 5 separate 30-70 day stays in different locations (such as the 60 days I'll be in chicago now...but still LIVE and get mail in Richmond) Can anyone top that??

I'm Back!

2008-05-01T09:04:00.004-05:00

Okay a long blogging break, but I just didn't feel like it. and really was not running much. I actually took a zero WEEK following BRR 50. Didn't feel like running (mentally- physically I was 100% two days later) so I didn't run. I have spent many many hours "cross training" Meaning I have been clearing a yard via cutting saplings & dead trees with a hand saw, raking, shoveling, leveling ground, digging up roots and rocks, dragging piles dirt/pine needles/wet leaves/mulch around on a tarp, weeding, cutting down vines, pulling up root systems, ect ect ect. ugh pretty tiring total boy work considering I never do anything half-assed, or in a non-obsessive way. Yard looks great and is now twice the size.

Anyway I did manage to run the Rivana Trail in Charlottesville yesterday solo without making any wrong turns. It was good run and was the first good weather day in a long while. It took 3:31 and is an unknown distance. The garmin had it at 17.5 on the watch, but it was tracking low as a measured mile on blacktop read on the watch as 0.9 miles. The motionbased upload put it at 18.7. previous uploads have had it as high as 22 miles! who knows...it was a solid run though.

April ended up being the smallest monthly total mileage in a long while for me.
Jan- 208- 17 runs
Feb- 227.5- 14 runs
March-201- 17 runs
April- 169.5- 16 runs
That 806 miles for the year to date, meaning I am averaging an impressive 12.6miles per run.

For reference in 2001 I put in 2827 miles of running averaging 12.2 miles per run. Doubtful I will keep up this pace though as my intent for the next few months is to run shorter, faster, and more frequently in an attempt to get into Pr marathon shape. I want to run a quick road marathon in September.

I am looking at a few events on the eastern coast during that month and might hit Rochester, NY, Erie, Pa, or Akron, Oh for the potential race. I want to get it in before Oct 3rd's Grindstone 100 miler. I have already paid to enter this new and sure to be epic race. I don't have high expectations there, but want to be able to go and take part with the goal of a finish even if my legs are not specifically training for a trail mountain race.

I fly out to Chicago in 48hours and look forward to completing my training in prosthetics at Northwestern Univ and the Rehab Institute of Chicago. I aim to run a lot of doubles and road runs in the 5-7 mile range while there. I will also be taking part in the Ice Age 50 miler in 9 days as my brother Tim will be flying into town to go run the great Ice age races with me. The two of us have run marathons or ultras together in TX, NM, NC, and VA since he paced me the last 20 miles of the 2002 Western states 100. amazing how time has flown by!

Going forth I hope to give weekly updates on how my stay in Chicago is going and how my plan for a PR marathon is developing.

Bull Run Run 50 Mile

2008-04-13T19:46:00.006-05:00

How far did you run daddy???????????????

50 Miles- 9:14, 37th place (Garmin 305 stats here) (Results) A good day to be out and moving!

Spring is definitely here in Virginia now and like in many years past the first really warm and humid day Saturday fell on BRR 50 day. Yikes....you'd think a year in the desert heat would have helped me but noooooooo it felt hot out there to me.

My day started off at 3am when I rolled out of bed, grabbed my stuff and jumped in my trusty Nissan Sentra to make the 2 hour drive to the very familiar BRR50. This would be the 4th time I completed this run...more than any other race I have entered.

Since this was the 8th ultra of 2008 for me I have a pretty good routine down now. I drink two 210 calorie "weight loss shakes" from costco (they are cheap and full of good stuff..a knock off slimfast) and if I have 3+ hours until the run I might eat a powerbar as well. So 640 calories for a breakfast and then on the starting line I put down a pack of cliff shot blocks for another 200cals. I drink plain water or NUUN dissolved in water during the run and try to take in a 200 calorie pack every 45-60minutes. Bull Run was no different except that at the start line I was not standing shaking in a long sleeve shirt (or two and with pants) like I have been in the previous 7. I was in shorts and a singlet and I was completely comfortable...even warm.

I had wanted to push it in this one a bit more with the hopes of running near what I had in 2002 (7:56) but knew the shape I showed in 2001 was not really likely. The 11:40 I ran with my dad in 2003 would surely be doable though!

I started off at a conversational pace on the very first parking lot loop and settled in with the front pack that included Anne Lundblad and Justine Morrison. When the single track began I let them go and really started watching my heartrate monitor keeping it around 150bpm. From previous race sI know if I run at a pace that elicits a HR higher than 150 I will end up bonking and hurting. 150 is 82% of my marxHR.

I had some good conversation with Leo Lutz who I ran some early miles of JFK last Nov with and then settled in behind "Last Great Race & Grand Slam" record holder Joe Kulak. He lead me to the first aid station 1:05 into the run where I realized I was in the top 10 overall. I got excited and let it go a bit. I felt strong and good and was delighted that the super muddy section to the turn around where Anstr always is was not that sloppy. The temperature however was sweltering and the singlet I was wearing was already soaked through and had begun to chafe and bounce.

After the turn around I settled in with Jeff Brower and really enjoyed the constant ups and downs off good runable footing that makes the BRR special. We returned to the start/finish at 2:26. This felt great and I was confident I could hold this sub 9:00/mile pace a good while longer. Soon other runners were coming back to me off the front and I was able to pass Justine just prior to crossing the soccer fields. I had put down 200 cal shotblock packs at 60min, 1:45, and 2:40 but was beginning to tire. During the really hilly section after the 21mile aid station I realized I was gonna be slowing down and the fun running I was doing with Jeff and Justine was soon to end. At the 3 hour mark with 22 or so miles in the first quick rain shower hit and with it went my hamstrings. Hello Mr. Bonk! Done. Done done..like dinner.....DOAH!

Plan B. Enjoy the great event and finish. The next couple aid stations I sat down and hit the salt and coke hard. (21 minutes of down time says the garmin) The trail heading toward the infamous do loop was not my favorite as I didn't feel great and it being a newer lesser used trail that I was unfamiliar with made it downright suck. But, by the time I got to the do loop I was feeling a bit better. I gladly brought an umbrella out to Sean Andrish who was sitting gaurd at the T intersection and began some running with Leo again. I still had no strength to run any uphills and quickly let him go when nature called me off trail.

Once I had left the do loop and started the slog back most of the 20+ runners that would pass me were already gone so I actually ran alone for 2+ hours. Always amazes me that in a field of 350 runners you can end up being alone for so long.

One of the highlights of Bull Run is the aid stations and volunteers. This year was no different and a big thanks to John Dodds and Robi S, Bunny, and Aaron. (Who took awesome photos here)

With about 6 miles to go I was caught by Denis who woke me up and as you can see by looking at the below HR chart got me running again. I finished with a smile feeling like I had put out a really good effort on a tough day.

Road Racing with My Buddy

2008-04-07T18:45:00.003-05:00

Last week 4 runs- 38 miles
Sunday- off
Monday- 6 easy treadmill

The last two Saturdays I have participated in the areas big road races. My wife and I completed the Charlottesville 10 Miler and Richmonds Ukrops Monument avenue 10K. The former had 2,000+ finishers and this weekends had over 24,000!!!! I believe it may even have been the biggest race I have ever participated in.

Both races were very well done and showcased their cities greatest streets and sights. The huge crowd in the 10k was incredibly well organized at the start with a multiple wave start via seeded corrals. This allowed the super elites competing in the USATF national championships (won by Abdi Abdiraham) to start unimpeded at 8:30, my D corral to start at 8:44 and so on back to walkers going off nearly an hour later. A pretty neat system indeed. I both of our races we managed to beat the majority of the folks AND enjoy ourselves.

The Charlottesville race had cool but clear weather which brought out a good number of fans while this Saturday's race was in the midst of the 8 straight days of rain we have endured. So the cheering sections were down from what I hear is common, but the hearty souls that were out there made it fun.

Pinning a number on for a road race always brings me back to my first ones....some 23 years (and 560-some races) ago when I was a little runt of an 11 year old. Many kids were out running in each race and I can only hope they will end up loving and competing in running races as much as I have over the years.

I also have a small pang of .....hhmmmmmmm you should get some speed workouts going and get competitive again..... playing in my ear.

Next up Bull Run Run 50 Miler!!!! nothing but easy 6 mile runs this week to come in rested and ready.

Rivanna Running Again

2008-04-01T15:50:00.003-05:00

Last week- 13 miles total...ugh tired, and rested / cross trained

Saturday- Charlottesville 10 miler- with Anne
Sunday & Monday- off
Tuesday- 20 miles- 3:27

I Had a great day today running the Rivanna Ring trail correctly today with Jeff Wilbur and a trailrunning visitor from Oregon. We had a good time and enjoyed great weather (60's P cl) despite fore casted rain. With the help of Charlottesville legend Jeff Wilbur I did not get lost this time in my third attempt at true ring run. And since we ran from his house. the actual loop only took us 3:19 to run. (stats here at motionbased)

We averaged 10:20 per mile...which is decent on this surprisingly tough trail. My hamstrings and calves are very tired. It was the perfect last long training run before the Bull Run Run 50 miler.

I have now finished the 20 week on-line post grad program in prosthetics from Northwestern and am looking forward to going to Chicago for the in residence part of the program May 5- June 27. I'm going to miss some great Virginia Ultras...but hope to get in some local running there like the Ice age 50 with my brother Tim and maybe Kettle Moraine.

In the ultra world congrats to flyin Brian Robinson for his CR finish at the Barkley 100. Very impressive. For me it is now time to get some short runs in and rest up for BRR.

Bel Monte 50 Mile

2008-03-23T20:08:00.004-05:00

woooooo hooooooooooooo longest run of 2008! Saturday was the first running of the Bel Monte 50 miler in Sherando Lake VA. In previous years a 25k and 50K were run on the amazing trails that surround the lake and climb up to the blue ridge parkway. I had originally signed up for the 50k but decided that hay the 50 mile is new, I should just toughen up and run the big one. So I did.

Wow, what a tough 50 miler! I have competed in many 50 milers since my first in 1999, but none of them took longer than this one did. I managed to break 10 hours by a few seconds....and I ran hard. Ultra stud VHTRC clubmate and Charlottesville Running Co teammate Mike Mason won the race in 8:58. H0racio chased him all day and finished 2nd. Results here

I started the day in the dark trying to pick my steps through the first few stream crossings following the light of those around me who wore headlamps. The temps were a bit chilly (40's) but the sun would soon rise and raise the temps into the high 50's. When in the sun my long sleeve shirt was too much, but along the highest ridge lines in the late afternoon I was glad I had it on as a cold wind was blowing. Luckily the rain showers that were fore casted never came and it really was ideal all day.

Since I wanted to place pretty well I started out at a good clip while keeping my breathing in check. Since the 25k and 50k started with the 50 milers many of the fast folks were long gone before I knew it. I settled in with a good group and eagerly watched the miles tick by on my Garmin. ( stats here! )We had the first big climb of the race right off the bat. It also happened to be the best trail (least technical) which was a bummer as I really would have liked this incredible trail in the last 6 miles when I was whipped and whining for some good footing.

Before too long I fell into step with Dave Peterman and Brennon Wysong. The miles ticked by as I blabbed on about my bad memories from Western States and our previous runs at the incredible Massanutten mtn 100. At the 13 mile aid station VHTRC legends Robin Kane and Joe clapper ran on by us and would continue to stay together all day. They had started a bit more conservatively than I did but they spent the rest of the day 6-10 minutes a head of me.

After a few road miles I moved on alone and stayed alone for all but a few minutes for the next 7 hours. With the long out and backs it was never too lonely though and I had a great time encouraging the other runners. Nutrition-wise I continued to stick to cliff shot blocks as my primary fuel. I ate one twinky, drank a fair amount of coke, and added NUUN tablets to my water bottle at each fill up. Aid stations were well stocked and plentiful and as expected the course marking was outstanding.

As the miles ticked by I continued to move up in the field. I passed some runners and moved up by default as others dropped out. As I started up the last big climb I was holding on to 5th place and all I could think was...please let this go quickly... But, 5+miles at 16 minutes per mile really did not go too quickly. I got to the top out of water and hurting but with out being caught. I thought I had it in the bag until as I started to leave the station I took one final look back and saw the Dave pulling in. Doah! I gotta work now! The last 7 was downhill and ridge line running and easily was the most technical of the the entire race. Ugh! so many rocks! Signal knob has nothing on Tory ridge. Ever so slowly the miles ticked by and when I was almost down I came up on Joe. He was moving slowly and was suffering once again from the vision problems that plaque him. When oxygen flow to his eyes is lessened they cloud over and he slowly looses his vision. This makes trail running all but impossible.

Joe is a great guy and good friend so I was happy to escort him on in to the finish. I just lead and he stepped where I put my feet. The clock continued to tick and I figured for sure we were going to miss the 10 hour barrier but with a bit of a push on the final blacktop piece we managed to get across the line just in time.

All in all it was the best effort I have put out since the 3:01 marathon I ran at Marine Corps last October. The feet, ankles, and knees were aching pretty good on the drive home, but the leg muscles felt surprisingly good due to some hot lasagna at the finish. A very nice treat!

Do you need inspiration?

2008-03-21T08:26:00.004-05:00

Monday- off
Tuesday- 21miles- 3:39 trails
Wed- off
Thursday- 7 miles on TM

Inspiration??? Look no further: Sarah Reinertsen (her Blog), Amputee Triathlete (her page)

She is the first above knee amputee to complete Kona's Ironman triathlon. And recently has been shown on the TV show The Amazing Race and in a Lincoln car commercial. Very amazing person...an amputee since age 7. Her picture from the cover of Triathlete magazine is framed and on the wall in the clinic where I work helping amputee's learn how to walk using prosthetic legs.

Slacking

2008-03-19T16:34:00.005-05:00

Last week: 36 miles on 5 runs in 4 days.

All runs short. (5-10 miles) I completed my first double of 2008 last Tuesday by running 5miles in the am with Anne, and 7 miles around the riverbank loop here in town in the afternoon after work. It felt really good. But the next day I was tired/bonky. I gotta eat better.

This weekend I did not get anything long or fast in (a shock huh?!) and I have now gone 5 straight weeks with out a speed workout!!! Not sure why that happens. I really have good intentions. I'm just lazy and enjoy running without pushing the effort too much I guess.

Yesterday was a good run as I did 21 miles around the Charlottesville Rivanna trail and only got lost a little bit by 5th street (looking for a trail extension) and then a bit more by Avon street (looking for the actual trail (its unmarked there!)

The loop with getting lost time took me 3:39 compared to 2 weeks ago when it took 3:55. I suppose the third time will be the charm and I won't get lost at all!

I'm getting excited for this weekends Bel Monte 50k/50mile. Time to do some LONG running. I am stepping up to the 50 mile. Should be fun....lets hope for good weather so I can enjoy the beautiful course.

Catawba Run Around

2008-03-10T19:05:00.003-05:00

36 miles- 9:53 (9:11 moving time)

The Dragons Tooth

Tinker Cliffs

Joe Clapper scaling the Dragons tooth in 40mph wind gusts and flurries

A great run in less than ideal weather on Saturday in catawba, VA. I got to run around the town on the Appalachian trail and the OLD Appalachian trail before it was rerouted. Very cool run. GPS map and data here!!!

I have been really busy lately so more to write later and pictures of Catawba too.

For now a Mileage update:

January- 210 miles
February- 236 miles

in the first 60 days of 2008 I ran 31 times for an average run of 14 miles per run

Long runs for 2008 are: 22, 31, 31, 34, 36, 38, 41

Charlottesville's Rivanna Trail

2008-03-01T08:49:00.004-05:00

Friday- 22.56 miles- Rivanna ring trail

I was spontaneous Friday and hopped in the car to head up to my favorite town Charlottesville, VA for some running on the Rivanna trail. This 20 mile loop trail encircles the town and the University of Virginia. It is great singletrack trail that goes through city parks, on private land and on a few streets to connect sections. This trail has been in the works for several years and when I lived there in 2000-2002 it looked vastly different than today.

Huge numbers of new houses, condos and townhouses have been built within sight line of the trail and a few sections have been finished or moved since I last ran there...and even one section that was open is now closed to use. Overall the trail is in great shape and well maintained and well marked. However, some unfinished parts and areas where permission to use is not official....no markings exist. yikes!

Thus, I started off with some good maps and tips from Frannie at the CRC. This fared me well initially and then 5-6 miles in to the run none other than Jeff Wilbur runs up behind me. He was out on his daily run and happened to be in the same section of trail. We would run together for the next 4-5 miles just like years past. It was great.

After Jeff turned back to go back home to complete his out and back, I manged to find my way through some tricky stretches and really was doing well until 16.5 miles into the loop. Then I missed something...or it obviously wasn't marked well enough. Somehow I dumped into Quary park and could not find the trail. I ended up just running toward downtown with the idea of road running back to my car. I thought better of it after a mile and managed to backtrack a bit, forge the river, and re-find the trail.

I ended up running 22.5 miles (3:55 total time) but 3:32 of actual moving time or 9:25 per mile Stats and maps here. Not bad for unfamiliar trail. Now that I know the route I'd like to go back and have a go at 3 hours for the supposed true 20 mile loop.

Overall the nearly 4 hours with one bottle and one gel was a great training adventure!!

Chasing Annette

2008-02-29T07:50:00.004-05:00

Sunday & Monday- off
Tuesday- 13 miles easy treadmill
Wednesday- 6 miles road
Thursday- off

Okay just for curiosity sake I looked up what I thought I remembered. And it turns out it did happen. The amazing Annette Bednosky ran the February triple that I just completed this month in the year 2005. The same year that she went on to win the Western States 100 miler in an amazing 18:39. What is this February triple you ask? Uwharrie 40 mile, Holiday Lake 50k, and Mt Mitchell Challenge 40 in the same month.

How did I stack up:
Annette: Uwharrie 40- 6:59, HL50K- 4:51, MMC- 5:50
Me: Uwharrie 40- 7:38, HL50k- 5:07, MMC- 6:23

Later that spring she went on to run what will be my next two scheduled events:
Bel Monte 50k- 4:59
Bull Run Run 50mile- 7:40

In her amazing year she set course records at the two 40's and BRR 50.

It will be interesting to see how I can stack up. Annette you rock!

Mount Mitchell Challenge

2008-02-24T09:45:00.014-05:00

Descent into the clouds at the Mt Mitchell Challenge. This is VHTRC teammate Bryon Powell who I managed to finish with in 6:23. Results here

Running up the first 3 mile road climb out of the town of Black Mountain, NC

Heading up the early single track trail... runners in both the Challenge and the Marathon ran together

Heading up to the Blue Ridge parkway on a rocky jeep trail

Miles 14 and 26 at the aid station along the blue ridge parkway. Amazing views of the mountains and their fleeting cloud cover.

A view of the alpine woods approaching the summit. The trail is actually pictured...Can you see it? We hit the summit 3:45 in to the race.

Me at mile 22 with cloudy and fogged in Mt Mitchell in the back ground left. Photo by Brad Smythe

Happy at the beautiful finish line. I manged to soundly break 6:30 thanks to Goat Powell catching me 3 miles out from the finish and making me run 7:00 pace miles to close......what gives man? I don't breath hard in ultras!

VHTRC folks enjoying the beauty of Black Mountain at the finish: Loomis, Goat Powell, Gretchen Powell, and BTB C-ville Running Company teammate Mike Mason

Course Profile: 38 miles (21 miles climbing up to 6,684ft, then 17 mile descent)

Amazing Race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mt Mitchell 40 is one of the coolest races I have ever done when taken as a whole:

1. Course location: Awesome highest mountain in the east coast

2. Course terrain: great mix of road, Jeep trail, runnable single track, super steep technical trail

3. Distance: advertised at 40 miles the 38 was more than enough. I love 50k-50mil distances!

4. Beauty: the views from the town of Black Mountain, along the ascent and descent and from the summit are unbelievable

5. Aid / support: the town was out cheering us on, the race had 9!! aid stations some of which were packed in and had campsites and fires going

6. Weather: Always iffy, but we lucked out temps 40-60 and no rain, hardly any ice at the summit, crazy gusting winds and cloud/fog made it interesting

7. Companionship on the trail: lots of good folks out there and 6 miles with (including a finish)buddy Bryon

8. Effort expended: Perfect...Hard but enjoyable. I took a lot of photos, had conversations and really enjoyed it, but was competitive with myself and others too. I had three really good pressing stretches: miles 14-20, 22-31, and 35-38

9. How I felt (GI issues, legs, lungs, mentality)- NO ISSUES! Great day. One pit stop, 1400 calories of clif shot blocks ingested; along with water and coke at the aid stations. Legs were strong and held up to the descent fine, altitude was noticeable miles 15-26 when we were above 5200ft. But it was not too much. Mentally I am happy to be fit enough to be running NEAR the front of the pack once again. 22nd of 122

All things considered it was the best ultra I have experienced in 6 years.

Holiday Lake 50K

2008-02-17T11:36:00.002-05:00

Firday- off
Saturday- 34 miles- 5:07

Great fun yesterday on the trails around Holiday Lake State Park! I went to (and finished) the infamous Horton creme puff ultra the HL 50K for the first time finally solidifying that I am an ultrarunner.....It seems HL50k is most folks in Virginia's first ultra. Yet it took me 10 years and 70 ultras to get there.

The weather was perfect 40's all day with a clear sky little wind and trails that were not too muddy. a few stream crossings and slight grade hills keep the double 17 mile loop interesting. And the double track trail/road for most of the run allows two folks to run abreast and chat....which is what I did all day long with VHTRC bud Ryan Henry. We were together from the first rays of sunrise until we cross the finishing tape. Fun! Great conversation and company was had with many others as well. We finished just shy of the top 50 in the race showing that ultras are indeed getting more popular and competitive. A 5 hour finish here in previous years was normally place top 25.

I ran steady with very few walk breaks and managed to hold 9:02 pace for the run. Splits for first and 2nd half fell off (2:24/2:43) with a long pit stop in the bushes accounting for some of that. The course was opposite of Uwharrie two weeks ago in that it did nothing to my quads but worked the hamstrings due to all the steady running. No technical trail sections and no real hills really spared the legs so walking around this morning after is completely fine.

This was an impromptu race for me, but with entries not closed, my Saturday unplanned, and the start line a mere 90minutes from my door I could not pass this one up. And for all those who hate this run (like mountian specialist Keith Knipling- who stated "Give me two loops of T.W.O.T. over this anyday" at the finish) there are just as many roadrunner types who really enjoy it. Like me yesterday.

Now off to Mt Mitchell!

Heartrates anyone???

2008-02-15T10:06:00.004-05:00

After playing with a heartrate monitor for one of the first times I am begining to gather some data on myself. I am begining to wonder what others are getting for their own HR values.

1) I have run 3 trail ultras of 31-41 miles in length the last few weeks and seem to average a HR of 136-138bpm with a steady moderate effort the whole race but HR fell over the 5-7 hours from 140's to 120's.

2) with easy runs of 45min-1:45 around my neighborhood I have an ave HR of 128-138bpm depending on how easy I go. For me 130bpm is around 8:45 pace per mile

3) in a hilly 10k trail race I have readings of 159bpm ave and shooting in to the 170's on the up hills 145-150's on the downhills. This was pretty much a max effort for 46minutes.

4) And in track work of 1000m and mile repeats with full recoveries I tend to average 153-161bpm for the repeat. With values in the last 100m of the repeat of 164-170. These repeats were close to 6:00 mile pace or my current VO2 max pace according to Jack Daniels calculator using my recent 3:01 marathon. (That was a total all out, well paced effort).

Sprinting up a hill I have got my HR up to 183 (I had said 192 but looking at the data graph from Uwharrie that one point had to be an error...it jumped from 178 to 191and then back into the 170's immediately) spriniting the first hill in the CRC trail 10k I hit 183. I will do a test soon to more accurately find my current max HR. I remember now my max HR being lower than predicted when I was doing lab testing in 1997 to 2002 (old values were 181-190 for my max then...and a few years have passed). I am 33 years old, but understand the 220-age formula has a 12bpm standard deviation! So is notoriously off for the majority.

So what I want to do next week is a 2 mile time trial to find out my current true VO2 max fitness and what my HR is during this run.

What kind of values do you get???
Book values below:
Vo2max- % of max HR=95-98
Lactate threshold- % of max HR 80-92
Recovery easy run -% of max Hr should be less than 75%

And why does the check spelling feature no longer work on my blog???

Solid Week

2008-02-15T07:15:00.004-05:00

Sunday- yoga
Monday- 15 miles - 2:12
Tuesday- weight work
wednesday- 12 Miles (10 run 2 walk)
Thursday 6 miles (5x1000m)

Some nice solid work this week. I'm still keeping with the day on day off schedule with my runs being on the longish side. Monday was pure steady, wednesday I did 10 miles running then walked 2 at 12% grade with a 25lbs weight vest on (Hardrock looms!)

Yesterday was a great weather day 45 degrees perfectly still with blue skies and a warm sun. I went to the track and put in a classsic repeat workout: 5 x 1000m with equal recovery time. This one went well with laps of: 3:44, 3:42, 3:41, 3:41, 3:38. I tried to run very steady with a tiny bit of increased effort as the workout progressed. HR averages: 153, 155, 155, 156, 157

You can see the warm up, strider, 400m in 93sec, then 5x 1000m reps, and cool down here. cool!

It just felt good to be on the track and pushing. This is the 4th week in a row with a solid fast workout for me. Habit?? I hope so.

Foxhaven Farms Trail 10k

2008-02-09T15:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday- 1 w up 5.7-46:31, 4miles c dn

A great day today in my favorite town (charlottesville, VA). The weather was great for the Charlottesville Running Clubs 2nd race in the Great Eastern Trail Run Series and canine races for the SPCA.

It was super fun to see 20 some dogs and owners takle a tough trail 4 miler in C-ville today and then hit the trails for my shortest race in a long time. The runs were held out on riverroad and on the private lands and trails of foxhaven farms. and WOW were they hilly!!!

Not one but TWO climbs kicked my butt today and sent my HR into the 180's. Fun stuff. I managed to average 159bpm for the entire 46 minutes of racing showing that yes...I NEED to push myself a bit harder. Stats here.

Chart of my HR and elevation changes in the race. HILLY!

It was so much fun to just let it rip and not worry about dying or bonking. Short races are great. I need to do much more of these. I even felt good on a 4 mile cool down with race winner and reigning USATF trail marathon champion Aaron Saft.

speed?? not really

2008-02-09T14:49:00.001-05:00

Friday- 4 miles

I went over to the track to gtet the legs moving and ran 8x100 striders doing a 6:45 mile in 100 on/100off fashion then did some 200's in 36.6(slightly uncomfortable), and 39(comfortable) then a 3:03- 800m in total control. Just a little bit to get me moving for saturdays race.

speed is my friend speed is my friend....must remember.....

I checked out a bunch of folks blogs today and was super inspired by Mark Godale. He is 1999's ultrarunner of the year and has run amazingly from 2:30's marathons, 100 mile trail victories, strong showings internationally (Comrades, 7:08 world 100k, and a 30hr -153mile spartathlon), as well as having set an american record 162.4miles in the 24hr road event. Mark has slowed over the years but appears to be really trying to get back to the top. Check out his recent training! Damn I need to get off my duff!

Hills Hurt!

2008-02-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

Tuesday-walked 5 miles
Wed- off
Thursday- 6 miles easy pace

I watched the great documentary Supersize Me while walking on my treadmill Tuesday... I figured I had to be moving to watch the film. amazing documentary...a must see if you have not already. UGH! 25lbs and wrecked liver enzxymes levels, cholesterol, and BP readings in a mere 21 days of McDonalds!! crazy. America is in trouble when people think it is okay to drink four (yes 4) full 2 liter bottles of soda a day!

I thought my one glass of diet coke a day was bad....still going to kick that habit. I don't like caffiene headaches when I don't get my coke in every 24hrs. Having an addiction like that is pretty rediculous.

Sooooooo downhills hurt! my left quad still has some lingering deep soreness going on. Probably because I never run long downhills anymore. I need to add this training back in if I plan on running well in my upcoming ultras:
2/23- Mt Mitchell 40
3/8- group 34 miler in VA
3/23- Bel Monte 50k
4/12- Bull Run 50
5/10- Ice Age 50
6/7- Kettle Moraine 100k

The Hardrock Lottery was held last weekend.... I was not super lucky, but may still have a shot getting in to the field. (I'm #22 on the waitlist) I really wanted to run in 08 as this year they run the course in the clockwise direction which I have never done. (I ran 36:18 in 2000- ccw) and DNF'd after 60 miles in 05-ccw). So I guess I will have a lot of waiting and seeing.

I'm looking forward to May and June in Chicago as now I have a place to live and will be running a commute back and forth to the Rehab Institute of Chicago along the lakeshore bike path 6-7 miles each way.

Next up is a 10k trail race in charlottesville along some of my old stomping grounds from when I got my masters at UVA in 2000-2002. The CRC does a great job with these events and I am looking forward to racing against some other trail lovers.

Uwharrie 40

2008-02-03T20:34:00.000-05:00

Friday- off
Saturday- 41- 7:38
Sunday- off recovery

Wow, what a race! Uwharrie is a tough run...great singletrack, no huge climbs, but constant undulating hills with decently technical terrain that never lets you open up and click off some quick or easy miles. I underestimated the course and figured I was fit enough to run a sub 7 hour run here, but was not even close on the second 20 after hitting the half way turn around in 3:31. I never completely bonked and had no stomach issues yet again ( 9 packs of 200 calorie shot blocks with water, coke, and NUUN was all I ingested), but I did not have the skills to run any faster.

I opened up pushing pretty good on the first climb then settled in with the heartrate hitting 145-150 for the first 5 miles then stayed steady with an ave HR of 141bpm at 20 miles. I only managed an ave of 132 on the second 20 for a total average of 136bpm for the race. Stats here.

I was really fortunate to hook up with CJ Blagg of Arlington and VHTRC fame at mile 9 and managed to run with him the entire rest of the run. We were perfectly matched and helped one another enjoy the truly amazing weather day (clear and still with temps of 32-60).

VHTRC folks were everywhere with Sean Andrish running the 6th fastest time ever (6:05) for the win and several others in placing top 10. On the womens side VHTRC represented well with new friend and C-ville Running Club teammate Alyssa Godesky running 8:00 and Sophie pounding out a strong 8:08 for 6th and 7th.

All in all it was a great day and a great event. I am glad I am finally able to say I have run the famous Uwharrie trail. Now on to Mt Mitchell!

More Speed Please

2008-01-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

Tuesday- 5.7 miles-speed work
warm up
3200- 12:49 Ave HR 154bpm, HR 104- 60sec post run
6 min walk recov.
1600m- 5:48 ave HR 158bpm, HR 112-60 sec post run
cool down

Felt good today to push a little bit. I do need the speed work. Funny how pushing to get under 6:00 mile is a true challenge these days. but, progress is being made... two weeks ago I ran 5:54 mile with an Ave HR of 161. Lets hope it continues.

Other good news today. Vasque has picked up the Charlottesville Running Company running team for sponsorship. yippee!

Keep That average up!!

2008-01-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

Thursday- 17 miles- 2:27
Friday- 5 miles 41min last mile 6:20
Sat & Sun- off traveling
Monday- 13 miles- 2:00

I am doing a good job of keeping the average mileage per run up in 2008. About 13 miles per run so far. This is similar to 2001 when I averaged around 4 days of running per week but managed to put in 2,975 miles for the year. (My biggest year ever) Lots of time off for recovery (and life) but I'm making the runs I do get in count.

A few good ones on the treadmill lately... 17 watching Pirates of the Caribbean- worlds end, and 13 today watching an oldy... Jurassic Park. Oooohhhh cloning is futuristic!

Getting pumped for 40 at Uwharrie Saturday

Up Tempo

2008-01-22T18:57:00.000-05:00

Tuesday- 7.9 miles- 54:18

A very nice one today pushing the pace. The legs felt great and I let em rip a bit on this 40deg spritzing rain day. I didn't plan to go long or hard, but once I got going I dropped the pace down below 7:00 and just went. It actually was pretty cool to see numbers on the Garmin in the 6:00 and under range! Menokin is a hilly loop, so running 6:52 pace here is quite good.

A congrats go out to my brother Tim and sister-n-law Sharon on their completing the Carlsbad marathon this past weekend. Sharon finished her first road marathon, and Tim ran a strong 3:23 despite backing off the pace after 20 miles to save himself for our run at the UWharrie 40 miler in 2 weeks. The last time we ran in the same race he finished the Umstead 100 miler (2006), while I stopped short and took a 6th in the 50 mile.

I'm looking forward to sharing the trails once again.

Swinging Bridge 50k

2008-01-21T16:14:00.000-05:00

Friday -5miles w/ Anne
Saturday- 50K- 5:26 (9th)
Sunday & Monday- off

A good weekend here with a fun run at the Swinging Bridge 50k in Bear Creek st park, Cumberland, VA. Not sure why the event had the name it did...I don't remember crossing any bridges at all....but we did cross about 10 stream! Lots of blow down trees to climb over or crawl under as well! Literally 100+ on the bi-directional out and back course. Thus,the winning time of 4:23 was super impressive to me.

I had a fun day running the first 9 miles with Bethany Patterson and Derrick Carr of the VHTRC fame. We had lots of conversation before the first turn around point when Derrick began to pick up the pace. I gave chase and lasted a good 4 miles before backing the pace down and letting my HR drop below 150 again. I managed to run several miles near Dan Lehman the RD for WV's amazing Highlands Sky race (which I will unfortunately miss again this year due to being in Chicago!) Who told me about a new 50 miler being added to the mid-atlantic ultra calendar.....a Night run in August with a 9pm start time. Should be fun!

With about 1.5 miles to go before the 35k finish, where I would begin the second out and back section, I was caught again by Bethany. We ran in together where she took the First female placing in that race. I ran on alone for the final 10 miles holding a steady pace, but had to put in several walk breaks as the hills got bigger and my legs more fatigued.

Having my Garmin 305 was once again a nice treat to know how far sections were and how much I had left. This race clocked in at 31.3miles with an ave HR of 137bpm (stats here). I was able to finish up with a couple strong 8:00 pace miles coming home in 9th place.

Recovery has gone great as I seem to be getting over these long ones quicker and quicker. On to Uwharrie 40 in 2 weeks!

Best thing about this weekend was finishing 40 minutes before the snow/freezing rain began falling. Lets hope my luck continues.

Am I A Wuss?

2008-01-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

Tuesday- off
Wednesday 12 miles- 1:45 treadmill

So I have got in the habit of using my treadmill (pacemaster gold elite) while watching movies while running...especially on cold/poor weather days. I placed the TV on a cart that is easily wheeled between the exercise bike (Anne uses it..I hate it) and in front of the treadmill. We have a netflix subscription and always have 2 movies to view. Pretty good service and convenient. So lately I have been logging some good runs while chipping away at a big list of movies I have wanted to see, but have never gotten to. For me Action movies are best.

Yesterdays run was no different. I watched the Italian Job while strolling through 12 miles in the 1:45 of the movie. I start with a 1-4 minute walk, then bump up to 9:00 mile pace and then after one mile gradually bump the speed up to whatever I feel like. I honestly believe the treadmill is fast but have yet to get around and calibrating it (as Paul Dewitt describes here). So while I cruised many miles yesterday at 8:30 pace it feels quicker than when I run 8:30 outside on the roads. Due to added stress on my Achilles that I don't feel I need, I never run with the grade more than 0.0% for the entire run. I'll bump up the grade 1-2-3% every now and then for fun. And if I feel like walking I'll bring the speed down to 3.3 and the grade up to 10-15%. If I get into Hardrock I'll do a lot more of that kind of training!!!

A ceiling and a rotating fan help keep me comfortable inside my 69 degree house....despite the sleet and 34 degree rain that is falling outside currently. I know I'm a wuss.

Back on the Track in 08

2008-01-14T19:15:00.000-05:00

Monday- 5.7 miles, speedwork 3 x mile

I went to the track today to do some running in the breezy conditions. I felt great and used a bigger recovery time between mile reps ike I talked about doing last year. 3 x mile reps with 5 minutes recovery was nice. 6:08, 6:00, 5:54 with the splits on the last one being 87, 90, 90, 87. Heartrate was returning to 105bpm 60-70 seconds post run with Ave HR during the repeats 157, 158, 161 (topped out at 170bpm)....not sure what my current max HR is but I'm guessing 185-190.

If I could get myself to do this every week or two I would be back ripping it up in the front of the ultrapack once again.

So Freaking Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-13T17:20:00.001-05:00

WOW Technology is Freaking Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

Check out my latest runs with my new Garmin 305 using Motionbased program:

Here.

Look at the Red Eye 50K data here.

Cool!!!!!

I ran the 8 mile Menokin loop with Anne today. Fun fun stuff.

New Year Same Thing

2008-01-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

Week Two 2008- 49.3 miles

Monday- 12.6- roads- 1:47
Thursday- 15- treadmill
Saturday- 14- trails- 2:08

A decent week getting in some longish ones and feeling good on all surfaces. Managed 9:00 miles on rolling short hills on the riverbank trails today. I felt a bit bonky on the treadmill Thursday and needed some shot blocks to keep the pace up, but today on the trails no lulls at all and only 50 cals of Gatorade taken one hour in.

I'm getting excited for some miles on some new trails at the coming up races: Swinging Bridge 50k, U (unspellable) 40, and mt Mitchell 40 all in the next 6 weeks.

Dangerous Roads??

2008-01-07T07:50:00.000-05:00

First week of 2008- 47 miles

Friday- 11 miles on TM w/ bonking walk breaks

Sat- off

Sun- 6 miles- with Anne

Great photos of dangerous roads:

Almost as fun as this one of Hardrock 100 fame: Camp bird road

I entered the lottery........................

2008 Begins!

2008-01-02T17:29:00.000-05:00

Wow! okay lots of stuff happening lately...quick run down below:

1. I got released from the Montrail sponsored running team in November after running in their jersey and shoes since October 2001.

2. I did very little running since Hellgate 100k. last three weeks were: 19, 39, 33 miles

3. I traveled to Wilbraham, MA for Christmas and some runs in the cold and snow. I got a Garmin 305 since I was such a good boy in 2007!!! yippie! its pretty awesome.

4. I managed to finish out December with a weak 193 miles which capped off a decent year for me (fifth highest mileage total year for me in last 20 years)

5. Closed out 2007 with 2775 miles.....the 3k mileage mark still eludes...

6. My Boyers Furnace Fat Ass 40 miler was again a success. (Results) I traveled to the Massanuttens and Ft. Valley for course marking and aid planting on the 29th and started off a field of 43 runners on the 30th at 7am. 20 of which managed to run 40+ miles! This is up from 11 of 37 last year. The weather held out until 7pm when a cold cold rain began falling hard on the last 3 finishers. The addition of a bon fire and pizza at the finish was a big hit with all participants and the skinny-I-get-cold-easily- RD!!! I think the most fun I had in the whole RD experience is shopping for the aid station food.... mmmmmmmmm sooo much yummy stuff I like to eat! a great report by super star Ft Valley resident Carter W here!

7. I started 2008 off with a good mileage total by going to my clubs Red Eye Fat Ass 50K in prince william forest (triangle, VA) yesterday running the 31.7 miles in 5:14. I ran with Jeff Holdaway (9-time Wasatch finisher) the entire way and tied for 3rd with him behind Robin Kane (4:43) and Mr. Amazing Howard Nippert (4:38)- who is recovering nicely from sports hernia surgery.

8. I have been picked up for sponsorship by the Charlottesville Running Company and BTTB racing for 2008! Russell and Francesca put on the great GEER 100k I ran last Sept., the Charlottesville marathon (roads and hilly!) which I ran in April 2006, as well as, the Bel Monte 50k/50mile which I am really looking forward to running in March. They have also introduced a canine running race series for 2008. Very Cool.

Very excited for another year of ultrarunning! Happy New Year All!

Holiday Time

2007-12-18T19:57:00.000-05:00

Friday- 11 miles
Sat- off
Sunday- 12 miles- 1:36
Monday- off
Tuesday- 15 Miles on treadmill

It is getting to be holiday time once again! I have been a bit busier of late with my volunteering at the prosthetics shop, work in the PT rehab clinic, and on line classes from Northwestern all seeming to have picked up. Since I am trying to stay fresh following Hellgate I have been taking more days off than normal. However, doing a day on day off schedule has worked very well for me in the past. In 2001 I averaged 4 run days per week and had my absolute best year (I was simultaneously in sub 16:30- 5k and 16:30 100 mile shape.) Something I have not seen since. In Egypt I was doing a repeating 3 day cycle of beat down run, easy day, moderate day, repeat that also worked pretty well.

Nothing wrong with taking more recovery. .... But, my main aim over the next couple months is to get in as many 80 minute plus runs as possible. And unfortunately I seem to need more recovery in there than I used to.

On the off days I have begun doing a bit of sit ups, pull ups, type work and hope to begin more specific pilates and yoga stuff. (we have tons of videos to follow I just need to get off my duff)

anyway, here's to the holiday season and all the cookies, cakes, pies, and calories it may bring to you.

Virginia Ultra Plans

2007-12-12T12:01:00.007-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about my up coming race plans and wishes for next year and beyond. What I want to do is complete all of the ultras in the state of Virginia, and most all in the mid-atlantic. Since the calendar is continually growing it is a good tough goal. The following is the schedule as far as I can see and includes what I have done so far: By month; Race, previous placing

January:
VHTRC-SLUG Red Eye FA 50k- (3rd, 4th )
Swinging Bridge 50k (9th)

February:
T.W.O.T- (finished one loop- want 4 someday)
Holiday Lake 50K++ (51st)
Reverse Ring 71 miler (2nd)

March:
Catawba Run Around - (6th, 10th)
Fairfax County 50K (?)
Elizabeth Furnace FA 50K (3rd)
Bel Monte 50mile (4th)
Chocolate Bunny 50k (?)

April:
Bull Run Run 50 (4th, 8th, 37th, 204th)
Promise Land 50k (16th)
24hr Adventure Trail Run (?)

May:
MMT 100 (2nd, 5th, 19th)

June:
Old Dominion 100 (?)

July:
Catherine's Furnace 50K (10th, 10th, 45th)

August:
*Anything here?????

September:
Odyssey 40- (2nd)
GEER 100k (13th)
MMT Ring 71- (4th)

October:
Iron Mountain 50 Mile- (?)
Potomac Heritage 50K (15th)
Andiamo 45 -(5th)
Grindstone 100 Mile- (2009)
New River Trail 50K (?)

November:
MMTR 50- (7th, 39th,80th)

December:
Hellgate 100k- (35th)
Magnus Gluteus Maximus 50K- (1st, 14th)
Boyers Furnace 40 (1st)

So basically I have a few more (of 28 total) Virginia ultras to complete. With hopes of checking a few more off in 2009.

Some Other East Coast Classics I want to do/ Have done:

North Carolina:
Uwharrie 40 (21st)
Mt Mitchell 40 (22nd)
Umstead 50 (6th)

Maryland:
JFK 50 mile (5th, 65th, 185th)
Catoctin 50K (6th, 29th)
Greenway Trail 50K (12th)
HAT 50K -(?)

West Virginia:
Capon Valley 50K (?)
Rattlesnake 50K (?)
Big Schloss 50K (swept in 04, run in 09?)
Highland Sky 40 (?)
Cheat mt Moonlight 50 mile (2009?)

Wow, I've got to get busy! But, I very much look forward to going to and experiencing new races. Here's to a good ultra season

Hellgate 66 miler

2007-12-10T16:43:00.000-05:00

Wow 79 degrees today: Dec 10th (what the Hell!)

Well Friday night at 12:01 am I began my quest to complete David Horton's longest/hardest/and youngest ultra race held in the southwestern Virginia mountains. This race: hellgate 100K is (like the other Horton races) long and rolls in at 66 miles (measured by 4 different GPS's units). the fact that it is located where it is and is 66 miles makes it hard enough but add in the being awake all day factor, starting in the dark, and the likelihood of cold, snow, ice and you get an epic event....just like the good Dr. Horton likes.

I did not mind all of the above...what I didn't like was the incredible amount of leaves down IN the trail covering all the loose and jagged rocks that make the blue ridge mountains the old decaying giants they are. The late fall and recent leaf drop with out much wind or rain recently created pockets of leaves 2 foot deep and rendered many sections of trail 1-3 miles in length completely unrunnable at any kind of normal stride. I like running and really was thrown off and slowed by this.

The 2nd thing that makes this race a tough one for me is my current state of having no hip flexor or hip extensor power. There are Many long climbs on the course where you ascend straight on forest service roads for one thousand to 2000 ft and without any hill climbing in Egypt and hardly any since I came back my legs just are not ready for the steady walking grind. Women, children, dogs and those in their 60's simply walked away from me on all these climbs. It got to be comical as I would have to take shuffling running steps to catch back up to those I was moving with until they walked away again. And whenever I stopped for a bathroom pit stop, or to get something out of my shoe I could never catch back up.

Luckily there were some downhills on the course and here I was able to run like I wanted and my quads (all hardend up from the 21, 26, 40, 62, 25, 26, and 50 mile long runs I have done the last 14 weeks) held up like champs and allowed me to go as fast as I wanted. Even today 48hrs post finish I easily handled some running in the back yard with Oskar.

The best thing about Hellgate was all the time I got to spend with VHTRC mates and training partners beginning with a few miles on the first climb with legends of ultrarunning Scott Mills and Derrick Carr, then Bethany Patterson and Ryan Henry miles 10-20. At mile 27 I began to run with Sophie Speidel and finished it out the last 3 miles with Kerry Owens. But, from Mile 2 on to mile 60 I ran with slightly ahead of or just behind my training partner of 2000-2001 Jeff Wilbur. Without all of y'alls company I would not have had the good time I did. THANKS!

My race started out HOT! as the temp was much warmer than I anticipated and I was insanely overdressed. This necessitated a stop about 1.5 miles into the first climb to strip off two Patagonia capilene T- shirts, my hat, gloves, and re-don but unzip my sporthill windshielding long sleeve. The patagonia running pants I had on were also not necessary but ended up staying on for all 66 miles.

After this first break I settled in at a fun pace where I could chat it up with Jeff Wilbur and stayed just off the front group and slightly ahead of the womens top 2-6 placers. This pace had me slipping back slightly during the race when I had some bonk points but surging again strongly after 42 miles.

Due to ice conditions the BR parkway was closed causing the mile 22 aid staion and drop back place to be moved and drop bags going only to mile 42. This pretty much sucked as I had planned to adjust my clothing, shoes (as I was getting a blister) and pick up needed cliff shot blocks as they have been the main thing that has been working well for me in ultras of late. but, what are you gonna do???? I ran on... ate the shot blocks I had at a sparing pace and bonked..... until mile 27 where I put down an amazingly tasting scrambled egg wrapped in a tortilla. After another long climb that digested well and I had some great running energy....until the next bonk. Such is the ultra game.

At mile 42 I picked up my drop back took several minutes to make several adjustments and rallied to run the next section very well enjoying perhaps the most BEAUTIFUL SECTION of trail running in all of the 55 ultras I have now completed! Incredible section with great trail and sweeping vistas as far as you could see. I will never forget those 7 miles.

So will I go back???? Everyone always asks this after the tough ones... everyone answers no immediately then relents later. but, honestly no I doubt it. There are other races I want to do. Consider this box checked.

NEXT!

Great Blogs Reads

2007-12-04T08:01:00.000-05:00

9 miles- 1:13 roads easy

Lots of great reads in the blog world of late as We$tern $tate$ 100 had its lottery (with many top ultrastuds being left out) and discussion on the need to modify the lottery seen on Andy Jones Wilkins, Wynn Davis, Anton Krupicka, and Bryon Powell's blogs.

Massanutten opens entry today, I bet it is full within 48hours.

Perhaps the best read is an interview with the legend Barney Klecker on Chad Austin's site. Wow this guys is amazing.

As for me I am starting to get excited about the Hellgate 100k.

You thought Ultrarunning was Crazy

2007-12-02T14:24:00.000-05:00

http://boortz.com/more/video/flying_suit.html

WOW!!!

Interval rest revisited

2007-12-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

9 miles- 1:24 exploring new trails

Okay so I read some from Ohio coach Tinman last night. He is citing some research and promoting an idea that makes some good sense to me. Rest periods post intervals at a high level pace such as VO2max pace or 3k-5k race pace. He is suggesting these should have a long recovery and not the typical American system thinking of shorter rest equals a faster athlete. This might be true for repeats at supra-vo2max effort that are short in distance. (200m reps) and true for long reps at a lactate threshold pace. (cruise interval miles at 1/2 marathon pace with 30-60sec rest). But for the standard 3xmile workout at 3k-5k race pace. Its likily better to take 75-100% of the time of the interval for a rest period.

This is something I have rarely ever done. 3xmile in 5:00-5:40 on 2 min rest is something I have probably done 80 times. Yet, the times when I ran repeats like that or 2x 2mile or 2mile rest one mile...with big recoveries I raced my best times ever. I think going forward I will try adding some extra rest between v02max intervals.

Finally got 25,000

2007-11-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Friday- 5miles- easy TM

Well with November's 227miles I have now finally topped the 25,000 mile mark in the millennium mile challenge. As far as lifetime miles I am at 40,000 now and will get in my 5th year over 2500 miles in 2007.

For me the last 18 months have been consistent and I am finally starting to get fit again. Looking back 2002-2006 was pretty poor with a 36 month stretch in there with almost no months over the 200 mile mark. ugh!

Run like a Dog or a 6 Year Old!

2007-11-29T20:53:00.000-05:00

FAST and for the pure joy of it!

After taking some down days and babying my knee I was ridiculously fired up and feeling great today. So I went off to the track to stay on the flat and just did what felt good. I had no plan and just let it rip a bit. I ended up striving for 5k worth of intervals and managed that without any trouble and felt great the entire workout without even a hint of pain in my knee! yippie! More importantly it was the most fun I have had on a run in months. I wore the shoes I used for speed workouts while in Egypt and put on the Ipod shuffle for some inspiration. Both helped set the mood.

1 mile warm up
200-42, 400-83, 600-2:07, 800-2:48
400-86, 600-2:03, 800-2:45
400-77, 4x200-38,38,40,38
1 mile cool down

all on 200m recovery jog/walk and at an effort that was hard but totally in control. It felt surprisingly smooth. Perhaps some fitness is coming after all.

Fleeting Invincibility

2007-11-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

Saturday- 19 miles 4 hours- trails in Shenandoah
Sunday -11 miles w/ Anne
Monday- off
Tuesday- 5 miles
Wednesday- walked 6 miles on TM

For the first time since last October I have had some pain in my left knee tibia tubercle/patella tendon. This is a problem area for me and has taken me out for two 6 month periods previously so the slightest twinges cause me to have serious fear. The steady pounding on the towpath in the cold last week was probably a generator as my knees HATE the cold. But, additionally I have not been super vigilant about stretching my quad like I should.

In any event I took some days off, and am taking it easy. Hoping it fades as quickly as it did last fall (3 days)

Since it has really been 13 straight strong pain free months I honestly am feeling blessed. As a runner something is always looming it seems. The incredible strength and fitness running gives you....Call it a fleeting invincibility....as it won't last too long.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T12:44:00.000-05:00

Sunday & Monday off
Tuesday- walked 3 miles
Wednesday- 4 miles w/ 6x striders
Thursday- 6 miles easy roads

I wanted to wish all a happy thanksgiving. It feels good to be in the USA again for this one as my memories of being in the Sinai desert last year are very strong today. Richmond is beautiful right now with the leaves flying off the trees in this 75 degree breeze. Very nice to crunch them and try to catch some on the run this morning. I could smell baking turkeys all through my neighborhood even at 8am.

Enjoy all, and spend some time thinking about what you are truly thankful for today. An email from a former patient brought it home to me yesterday. My health! I wish you continued patience and success Matthew.

JFK- 7:50

2007-11-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

Saturday- JFK 50miles- 7:50

Well the day started off nice and crisp with frost all over and never seemed to warm up much. I felt tight and anxious as I jogged to the starting line in boonsboro, MD yesterday. I chatted with some folks in my VHTRC club and then ran on up to the line with Ultra studs and Montrail teammates Ian Torrence and Mark Godale. My thoughts went back to 2001 when I last raced this event and was on a totally different level. I hoped I would run close to what I did that day and knew I was in 6:45-7:10 shape based on my recent workouts and races.

A pretty well accepted conversion is to take your marathon time, double it, then add an hour to get a 50 mile time. Having run 3:01 three weeks ago, having had experience on this course, and knowing that a 7:00 time will place top 20 in this 1200 runner field I confidently started the race off in the front pack.

After the first two road miles passed in 15:08 I found myself in the top 20 with all the expected contenders ahead or next to me including fellow blogger Greg Crowther, MMTR 1st & 2nd placers (Eric Grossman), USA 50 mile road champ (Mark Lundblad), course record holder and legend Eric Clifton who at age 49 can still really move, and Montrail teammate Sean Meissner. And just besides me talking about trying to see if he could run top three and earn an entry into next June's Western States 100 via the Montrail Ultracup was none-other-than Mike Wardian. This guy is full of surprises and fresh of a 2:24:16 win in the OBX marathon (Nov 11th) here he was a "speedy road specialist" taking his time getting in to the racing apparently unconcerned with what Godale and the others were doing off the front. I thought hhmmmm he is probably going to win this thing. My previous thought to seeing this behavior was that he'd rip off the front.... lead for 30 miles and fade/drop out. Nope! Mike went on to run 5:50 which is the 2nd fastest time in the races 40+ year history! Wow!

Feeling great 9 miles in

After getting to the trail head I relaxed, kept my breathing in check and began to real off the rolling rocky miles of the AT with Leo Lutz with occasional passes back and forth with Clifton, Sean, and the western states course record holder Mike Morton who has just been getting back into the running this last year.

Although I had a plan of eating cliff shots and blocks every 30 minutes this didn't happen and hindsight says this played a role in the total muscular give out I started going through at mile 23.
At Weaverton Sean, Leo and I

I came off the AT with Eric, Sean and Leo and managed to set foot on the towpath at the 2:12 mark feeling ready to roll. This was 12 minutes of my split from the 2001 race, but certainly good enough to get me the sub 7:00 I wanted. I began eating up the miles with Eric running splits in the 7:30-7:45 range. This was exactly what I had planned to do, but, around the 3 hour mark my left hip-flexor pretty much went out and this pace was no longer possible. With a slow degrade by mile 26 I had been passed by a number of individuals including women's race winner Anne Lundblad. I was then forced into a run 5 minutes walk one minute pattern. I tried to stretch it out as much as I could and mess with my stride so I was not flexing as much, but it still sucked.

At 38 Miles, nutrition was very important. Note my Pup Oskar

I maintained this pattern doing 10-12 minute miles from mile 27-40. UGH!!! Not what I wanted and mentally I had to battle a lot with the desire to just give in an drop out where my crew awaited me at mile 38. I started focusing only on getting to the next aid station and that helped. By mile 38 ( 5:56 into the race) I was starting to feel better (as I had been really forcing the calories) and decided to press on. Soon enough I could see the damn and knew the towpath would end soon. Striding over the "9 miles to go" sign I was now able to run steady for more than 5 minutes at a stretch and refocused on breaking the 8 hour barrier. If I did 10 minute miles I would finsih in 8:00:28. I thought I could do it. Leaving the towpath at 6:35 into the race I realized my 26.3 towpath marathon split was a 4:23. Wow that is a full 68 minutes slower than the last time I raced here! WOW.

I put my head down and began to cover most of the remaining miles at under 9:00 pace with stops for aid and walking some of the bigger hills adding in. The miles rolled by and with my Wife and Dad cheering me on at the 4 miles to go point I knew I had it. Only on the road section did I reverse the trend of being passed and actually begin to reel in some other runners. As I approached the finish I was happy to have gotten myself back in the game, but a bit disappointed my body let me down. With all the training you just want it all to be super and feel great the whole time, but that happens very infrequently.
Happy at the Finish!!!

Others say I have too high of expectations for myself and that at 33 my glory days may be passed but I am certain this is not so. I just need to realize I can't recover like I used to and should have known that the MCM effort I put out 3 weeks ago was going to affect me more. I trained very hard in the time between that race and this one and should not have. My hip flexor and hamstring were bothering me almost every day.

It has been an odd pattern since 1999-2001 when I was racing well. I still go to as many races but I put out a higher effort level now than I did then in the majority of the races when you look at percentage of maximum capacity. In those peek years I did not race all out in 80% of the races I ran in. I was just in good enough shape that I could take it relatively easy and still place well. I often would just relax and run with the lead women rather than battling for the win. Since that time with fitness declines due to work/life/injuries/deployments/ect. I have wanted to be racing up front so badly that when I do enter a race I tend to put out a much higher effort level in each and every one. This obviously makes it harder to come back and race hard again. If I had run MCM at a reduced effort I am sure JFK would have gone better. I need to pick and choose better and realize I can't give a full bore race effort in such a shortened time span.

So I will continue to run ultra races and marathons frequently as I enjoy them, but will cut down on the ones I really go after it in. Next up for enjoyment- Hell gate 100k.

The story of the day though, was definately my puppy Oskar and his entertaining of all the crews

Time to Toughen Up

2007-11-16T10:46:00.000-05:00

Thursday- off
Friday- walked easy

Time to toughen up indeed....Read this article. I hope to have as much determination and inner drive tomorrow at JFK 50 mile. Just not as bad of luck! Ugh... a tibial stress Fx that goes to far!

I can tell I am fit and ready to race as I am all anxious/nervous/fidgety and am wanting to do WELL. Many times in ultras I go to the line for the atmosphere, the camaraderie, the coolness of a course/geographical area, or to complete the distance. I am as competitive as the next person, but sometimes I don't mind and just roll along in an event as if it was just a training adventure despite having a number pinned on. But, when I feel like this, I know I will be starting off near the front of the pack and attempting to push my limits. Let's hope it goes well. This is my kind of course and the weather should be good.

Check out the incredible field- handicapped here. My dark horse for the win is an old Montrail teammate and a guy I ran JUCO XC against in 1994: Scott Wolfe

Fall is Here

2007-11-14T17:01:00.000-05:00

Sunday- 10.5 miles 1:21
Monday- off (1st day off in 13 days)
Tuesday- 6 miles- 52min easy roads
Wednesday- 5 miles -1 up, 3miles-19:55, 1 dn

A beautiful fall day today with temps up to 73, clear skies, and a gentle breeze blowing many leaves down. I spent 2 1/2 hours raking some of them (and a million lbs of pine needles) up from my yard today. Lots of core work and hamstring action bending over to pick stuff up. Not the smartest thing but I am 3 days out from the race so considered it training and stretching.

I managed to get a small tempo run in after the raking with a nice cut down 6:45-6:37-6:33 while circling the local high school track. Some coach had his team out doing jumping drills and Indian sprints. fun to watch. I suspect it was the basketball team doing some conditioning work. Looked like they needed more of it!

A couple easy days and race time as part of team Montrail with Bryon Powell and Sean Meissner. should be fun!

Wow Impressive Racing!

2007-11-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

My wife is a stud!

We raced the NTELOS 8k in downtown Richmond this morning in a stellar 39:32. (7:57 pace). Anne has not raced very much in her life and was able to drop 4 minutes off her last race at this distance (2005). Pretty quick performance considering she runs 3 days/week for a total of 15miles/week ave.

Splits were 8:22, 8:02, 7:59, 7:52, 7:15. The last 0.97 miles was net downhill, but we spanked it. This was a fast enough pace to let me feel my right hamstring that has been a little angry at me the last few days due to the increased steady miles.

The fact that we live and train in a real hilly area is helping both our fitness's.

Thursday- 6 miles easy w/ walk break-59min
Friday- 11 miles hills- 1:26
Saturday 5 miles- 39:32 w/ Anne

Time to rest a bit for next weeks JFK 50 miles.

Tempo Time...Must Do More Of These

2007-11-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

Wednesday-8 miles- 10K tempo -40:51

A great run tonight as the sun set in cool temps. Why I don't run more tempo runs I don't know. The are so beneficial and are not hard, and don't even make you dead sore the next day.

anyway, I went off my 3:01:30 marathon using Jack Daniel's tables and tried to run steady at 6:32 per mile pace (or the pace I could run 10-13 miles at). I went to the high school and began circling the football team's practice.

6:34, 6:35, 6:31, 6:33, 6:35, 6:32 then kicked it in in 82 sec on the last lap for fun as the darkness crept in and the last of the footballers had left. I ran with my Ipod for one of the first times in 4 months. It felt good. almost impossible not to run fast when listening to Tool's 46 and 2.

Wow almost the same as June 25ths workout But, it is not the 37:45 I ran two weeks before JFK in 2001. doah!

Back in Class

2007-11-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

Monday- 8 miles trail 1:11 easy
Tuesday- 12 miles hilly roads 1:36

Well my prosthetics program through Northwestern University has begun and I once again back in class! I have always loved learning and although I have been enrolled in my fair number of colleges (8 at last count) this program is a bit different. It is on-line for 20 weeks with video and teleconference sessions, on-line classes (think U-tube) and many many group projects, discussion boards, tests and quiz's along the way. The program has students from Ecuador, Australia, Alaska, Maine, Florida, TX, Calif, ect ect. Technology is great isn't it.!

Once I finish this portion I will go to Chicago for 8 weeks during May and June and look forward to getting my hands into the "hands-on" portion of the blended learning program.

Additionally I am observing/working at a prosthetics/orthotics shop here in Richmond spending half days learning all I can from the great practitioners at Powell's.

US Olympic Marathon trials

2007-11-04T13:02:00.000-05:00

Friday- 9.5 miles 1:14- hilly roads
Saturday- 8.5miles- 1:05- hilly roads
Sunday 10.25miles 1:35- with Anne

The big news of the weekend comes out of NYC where the Us Olympic marathon trials took place yesterday and the NYC marathon was run today. I watched the trials live on the Internet and was blown away by the incredible performances on the hilly course. I was super excited to see three of my favorite elite guys make the team, and to see the incredible negative splits they were able to lay down. ( Ryan Hall put in a 14:28 -5k on hills after running 20 miles!!!) USA distance running future is shinning brightly and I believe at least one of our guys will medal next summer in the games.

The tragic collapse and death of superstar Ryan Shay is sad and shocking. Mortality sucks. Although an autopsy is being done today it appears that a genetically enlarged heart was the culprit (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). This Hank Gathers type of condition is thankfully rare, but it is still amazing to me that a 28 year old running phenomenon who has been putting in intense training and racing (including 5 USA national titles at distances from 10k-marathon) for the last 12+ years would fall to this condition now. Why didn't it happen sooner?

It is eye opening and scary. Life is precious, fleeting, and short. We must live it fully each and everyday because you never ever know.

Congrats to ultrarunner coached (Howard Nippert) Mike Cox on his PR 2:20 a mere month after qualifying for the trials race in the notoriously hot Chicago marathon. To Brian Sell- a guy who ran at about the same level as I did in high school and only marginally well in college- for running solid consistent splits and working in to the 3rd position by mile 22. I guess 6,000 training miles per year for the last 5 straight year is beneficial!!! And finally congrats to Paula Radcliffe on her stellar 2:23 NYC marathon win after having a baby. Amazing

I am really inspired of late and can't wait to lace em up for the JFK 50 in 2 weeks. I am not in 6:24 shape but feel confident I can break 7 hours and would like to place top 10 in this 1200 runner field once again.

Turn them Over!

2007-11-01T19:49:00.000-05:00

Monday & Tuesday- off, did yoga
Wednesday- 6 miles- easy no watch
Thursday 5 miles 1 up and 1 dn, turnover work in middle
10 x 30sec with 90steps per 30sec
4 x 200m- 40, 37, 39, 38, 400m-81

Wow that felt good! The legs are coming around now. Only calf soreness and extreme tightness on Monday and Tuesday. I did some yoga and tried to work it out. The quads were fantastic for post-marathon....very happy.

I was messing around a bit today having re-read and remembered that there really is something to be said for leg turnover. Jack Daniels has done some studies and found that both elite men and women runners strike the ground at an average rate of 180 steps per minute while racing and while even jogging. (90 hits with the right and 90 with left) While slower people tend to have slower cadences. by counting mine over the last week I have 160-165 steps per minute at 9:00, 8:00, and even at 6:40 pace peer mile. I am not sure if I always have had this cadence or if 9 years of running ultras has slowed me down to this. Anyway....everything is trainable...so I am planning on doing some turnover drills on a semi-regular basis.

Tonight I went to the track and ran 10 bouts of 30 seconds where I tried to have "fast feet" and strike the ground quickly.....with this focused effort my stride rate was right on 180 per minute. I rested 30 second and did it again. Then I ran some 200's with this same focus and boy, they seemed easy. Interesting huh?

3:01:30- Not bad!

2007-10-29T05:20:00.000-05:00

Fri + Sat - off
Sunday-26.2 Miles- 3:01:30- 197th of 22,000

What a great day 50-60 sunny with a stiff cold gusty wind. I must say I hoped I would be able to break 3 hours and I went out with that intent, but it was not to be. I tried to hold that line where I was pressing but not breathing hard for as long as I could. I ran sub 7 minute miles through 20+ miles then slowed gradually despite fighting hard. A little after 22 miles my ventilatory threshold broke and I began breathing really hard, and the hands started to tingle. Too bad the last bit was into the wind and uphill! Well at least that last mile... ugh sucked.

Splits were pretty steady at 34 minutes for miles 1-5, 5-10 (1:08), 10-15 (1:42), and 15-20 (2:16), then slowed to 36minutes for miles 20-25 (2:52)- then the last 1.2 was a tough 9:13.

My half split of 1:29....or about what I raced for 1/2 marathon in Feb.

Lots of ultrarunners around: Alabama Montrail teammate ran 2:55, and VHTRC Friend Keith Knipling ran a PR 3:10. Hats off to VHTRC stud and 17th place finisher Aaron S with his 2:34!! that spanks me by a minute per mile!

A big thanks to my wife and buddy Bryon Powell for great support all weekend

Reality? How Fast Can I Run

2007-10-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

Tuesday- off tired legs!
Wednesday- 10.25miles- 1:19- hilly roads
Thursday- 11miles- 1:30- treadmill easy

Well as my opportunity to run a regulation road marathon draws closer I have begun to really wonder what I can do. It looks like the weather will be good, and the course although with a couple hills is more than fair.

Once again the gap between the athlete I once was (and still think I am) and my present shape is glaring at me. Since coming back from Egypt I really have not done the tempo or track workouts and have lost touch with what kind of shape I am in. The marathon distance itself should not be bad as I have done 4 long runs of 5-14 hours in the last 2 months, but all of these were on trails. I did put in a solid 25 miler on the roads 2 weeks ago but the 3:28 it took to run that did not include multiple stops for aid and to wait for the training group.

On Wednesday's run I ran a 6:49 mile on the only measured and flat stretch of the run with an effort I would judge to be something I could hold for 90+ minutes, but man you never know. Looking back I have rarely run a serious road marathon without a dramatic slowdown in the last 10k. The few I managed to run consistently in were negative split efforts. Lets hope I can pull off one of those on Sunday.

So for inspiration and a little bit of the "why the hell am I not faster" factor....check out Amy. This is the type of person I hope to start working with again in the next two weeks when I begin doing Physical therapy (again) and prosthetic (for the first time) work.

So what will I run??? My PR is the 2:54 I ran in 1997 in my debut at the distance (with 1:18 and 2:02 splits for 1/2 and 20 miles en route). My latest marathons were in April of 2006 when I ran 3:34 at the Charlottesville marathon one week after a 9 hour 50 miler and then ran 3:28 at Frederick. two weeks later. These were followed up by a year long deployment where I ran 3,000 miles around a one mile square base in the Sinai desert. So it should be interesting to see where I am now.

I ran a 1:28 half marathon in the beginning of the year which would indicate the capability of a 3:05 marathon according to Jack Daniel's physiological fitness calculator. Then in May I ran an 11:21 2 mile time trial which would equate to a 2:54. June 25th I ran a 10K tempo run on the track in Arlington in 40:49 and August 23rd I ran a 5k tempo in 19:45 which both give you a 3:08, Finally In September I ran a 4 mile cut down run in 26:08 which would indicate a 3:11. So I would guess I would be anywhere between 2:50 and 3:15 shape!

I probably can't break 3 hours which honestly ticks me off!

Puke Eater

2007-10-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

Sunday- 8.5 miles with Anne
Monday- 6.5 miles- 1:24 ( ran 5 miles, then walked 40minutes)
Tuesday- likely day off

Okay after running 9 days in a row and putting in 22 hours of running the last 13 it caught up to me yesterday. DEAD hamstrings, dead legs, super tired. I aborted my intended 12 miler and walked back to the car. This is okay though, just need to rest a bit. I used to train like this a lot. Throw down the miles and workouts until I felt like crap.... then took a day off and got back into it. It seems to work pretty well, though I know if I ever scheduled my runs and workouts to a planned program I probably fair better. Whatever, I can't seem to stick to one.

Anyway- an eventful last two days as my poor kitty has been sick and my stupid puppy thinks that stopping what he is doing and running full bore to the sound of the retching cat in order to attempt to eat up the puke is ABSOLUTELY THE THING to do! I don't think so...gross!