Andy Henshaw's Ultra-blog

Build-up

2012-01-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

Something has finally clicked and I feel ready to start building up the mileage once again!

It's easy to forget how much it sucks building mileage after a few months off... The last few weeks have been a struggle to get into a routine and to build mileage without feeling fatigued. But after the third week of build-up, I have finally hit a rhythm and am now able to plan my 13 week training cycle for Worlds (which is in Italy, awesome).

The plan for Worlds is to basically do what I did last year: several weeks at or around 110 miles, with some progressive run workouts designed to be at or just under goal pace for the 100k, then ramp up the mileage to around 150 with a few 4+ hour efforts in the mountains. All of this should lead to being in excellent shape for the race, and hopefully another team gold for USA! More details to come once the workouts start.

As for other life developments, I have recently accepted a job at Brooks Sports and will be starting early February. I will now be living in Seattle, so if you read this and have any suggestions on running groups to link up with or favorite runs in the area please comment with the details.

I have also changed around my race schedule for the year, and will be adding more local races. Rainier to Ruston is one I'm considering, and White River may be an annual event now.

Ideas on Minimalist Shoes

2012-01-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

After working for over a year in a running shoe store, I think I've gained a solid stance on how I feel about minimalism and the shoes that have been created for this purpose.

First and foremost, I am a firm believer that whatever works for you, works for you... It's that simple. If you have had success with your shoe of choice, whether it's the Brooks Beast or the Mizuno Wave Universe, then that's great and I hope it continues to do so. That being said, I have had quite a bit of experience with answering questions about minimalist shoes (and maximalist shoes for that matter) and think I can offer a bit of insight to people looking to find the right shoe.

I think the minimalism fad popped up so quickly because people were fed up with buying shoes that were heavy and really didn't seem to offer any help in the way of injury prevention or even to reduce muscle fatigue. The only difference a lot of people noticed was that they were wearing a brick on their foot. The idea of wearing something light on their foot was exciting because it offered a faster, more free feeling. Combined with a well-known book adding "legitimacy" to the movement, the idea kind of blew out of proportion. People swung from one extreme to the other without even considering the middle ground as a possibility.

Another element that led to a large upswing in marketing of minimalist shoes was the mainstream specialty running brands and running shoe stores starting to make and sell these shoes. A lot of people thought this was due to the running shoe brands finally admitting that they were selling people expensive, injury causing running shoes, and conforming to the simple and "right" way to make shoes. On the contrary, I would like to think it is because corporations and running store owners alike are smart and wanted to make money off of a current fad like any other fashion brand would do (and its exactly the reason you see all minimalist shoes come in like 40 different color waves for one shoe).

But its not really the hype or the misinformation that bothers me most about the minimalist movement. It's the most important feature in the shoe's construction that throws me off...

STABILITY- I agree with Geoff Roes' blog post about needing more cushioning for longer distances, but I also think the body can adapt over time to get used to higher impact... if that's what you want to do for some reason. On the other hand, if a shoe is inherently unstable for a person's mechanical movement, it can be quite dangerous (kinda like running in a pair of Shape-Ups).

For some reason, stability has become a 4-letter word. Stability can be achieved in more ways than just adding a dense posting to the medial side of a shoe. More often than not just increasing the width of a shoe increases the stability. Think of it in terms of a snow shoe vs. an ice skate. A snow shoe is much more stable since it has such a wide base. But the fact that most minimalist shoes are designed in the shape of a foot....

....really bothers me. They are so heavily drafted under the arch of the foot that they offer absolutely no support to the foot or ankle (i.e. ice skate effect). This not only allows the collapse of the arch and ankle, but in most cases it actually exaggerates it, almost like the shoe is purposefully designed to throw you off balance. I have seen a large number of people with neutral mechanics running in these shoes and they almost always overpronate. Don't get me wrong, I have this problem with a lot of regular running shoes too, but I have only seen two or three "minimalist" shoes that has a decently wide base for the foot to land.

The marketing concept of a more "natural" foot strike has bothers me as well. The idea that changing your preferred foot strike is the "natural" thing to do is completely absurd. A lot of research on the topic of gait analysis has shown that any change in your gait will cause you to be less efficient. People who forefoot strike and try to change their gait to a heel strike will become less efficient and vice versa. And the concept that any one prescribed method of running will work for everyone in the world is complete BS. A natural foot strike should be one that feels natural to you. Whether its heel, forefoot or midfoot, it should feel comfortable and unforced.

With regards to all the reports of people being injured from overbuilt shoes..... Chances are, there are a few things at work here. The most common thing I've seen in the running store is a person in a shoe that is completely wrong for them (they bought it because it was $25 at BIG5 or at Nordstrom because it looked cool, something like that). They are also increasing their mileage for a race like a marathon. The combination of wearing the wrong shoe and increasing their mileage by 300% leads to their body responding in a negative way. Simple as that.

My advice for people who are having problems with their current pair of shoes or training:

-Bring your current pair of running shoes into a running specialty store. More often than not, any one of the employees here will be able to help you find the right shoe. Whether its having you run on a treadmill or down a hallway and back, they will be able to see which shoe looks best as you're running in it. Keep in mind that you want something to match your foot shape without having to wrench down the laces. If you have a narrow foot, see if they have any narrow versions in stock. For men this will be a B width, women will have a 2A width. Wide widths are usually available too, 2E or 4E for men, D or 2E for women. Make sure the shoe feels comfortable as your running in it. No amount of support will benefit you if you can't wear the shoe. Lastly, make sure the store has a good return policy so you can try the shoes out for a bit. It's often a prerequisite to be a runner if you work in a running shoe store so chances are they'd be able to offer advice on training.

-If you're training for something or just getting started, a lot of people have aches and pains associated with entry into a sport. It's really easy to blame the shoe, but more often than not its just the body saying you're loading too much too soon. Keep a mileage log and make sure you're not bumping up your mileage too quickly. If you do 10 miles the first week, then bump to 15 and feel horrible, keep in mind you've just increased your mileage by 50%. It's nice to keep things in perspective.

In the end, I think anything that gets you out the door and running is awesome. If thats a new pair of shoes that you've never tried before, GREAT! Just keep in mind that if you're going to try something drastically different, do so cautiously. If you find something that works for you, stick with it. If not, figure out what isn't working. Trial and error will help you find your way into the right shoes.

I always feel like I haven't explained my stance well enough, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to comment.

Advice

2012-01-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

I had a friend email me recently to ask a few questions about marathon training and I thought it'd be a good opportunity to put a few of my opinions on running out there. most of these are general guidelines on how to stay healthy and avoid injury when bumping up the mileage. Anyway, here ya go!

There are too many factors in a person's day to really single anything out, but there are basic elements I tell people to focus on when they are training for a long distance race like a marathon.

EAT WELL - i see too many people going for the "beach body" and skimping on calories because they think training for the marathon is gonna help them lose weight. this is a large cause of injury. on the other hand, don't cram in crappy, calorie dense foods just because you're hungry. Try to eat calorie dense foods with nutritional benefits like almonds, cashews, peanut butter, hummus, etc. vegetables and vitamins are very important too. protein should probably be the last thing on a person's mind when training for the marathon. the average american eats probably 2-3 times daily what they actually need even if they are training for something like this.

STAY HYDRATED - very important. i'd keep a bottle with you at all times and refill at fountains.

MULTIVITAMIN - if there are any inconsistencies in your diet, or you want to take something during the winter months with lots of vitamin c and d, i'd recommend SportMulti. its what i use now and its awesome. then again, if you already have one that you like just stick with that.

SLEEP - invaluable

STRESS - while its a natural occurrence in any persons day, make sure you remember to take it easy on the runs during stressful days. you're likely to be a lot more exhausted and depleted.

PROGRESSIVE RUNS - so here is an interesting topic. the idea of a progressive run is very simple... you start out slow, let your body warm up, and then you can lower the pace to basically anything you want. I started using this idea for every single run this year and it works really well. most people (like myself before trying this) start out trying to maintain a pace the entire way. If you don't give your body time to warm up, you'll feel fatigued later in the run. next time you're out, try starting out running easy to the point of being annoying. do that for ten minutes and then work your way down to a comfortable pace. these runs are also valuable for "speed work". i hate using that term because it implies interval training most of the time. with progressive run training, you get much more long-distance benefit. you're teaching your body to handle faster paces without the starting and stopping. it takes much less time to recover from progressive runs than interval training.

another problem is that people are running all of their miles too fast. if youre trying to hit a target pace for a marathon, that doesn't mean you need to spend 90% of your time running at that pace. its a quick path to injury.

RUN ON SOFTER SURFACES - if your body is a constant muscle ache, you might want to try getting onto a dirt road or trail of some sort. the roads are between 30-50 times harder than even the hardest packed dirt road. also some single-track trail with strengthen your stabilizer muscles while giving you a change of scenery. strengthening stabilizer muscles makes a huge difference late in races.

AVOID MINIMAL SHOES - this is way too big a topic to explain in a few short sentences, but i feel minimal shoes are absolutely the worst things you can put on your foot whether you're running 100 yards or 100 miles.... but especially if you're running 100 miles. if you're going to race in a racing flat, maybe get in a few runs with the flat to make sure its comfortable. it shouldn't be a "full-time mileage" shoe though.

I'll write more on minimal shoes in my next post............

JFK Race Report

2011-11-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Heading into JFK I had mentioned the sneaking suspicion that it would be easy for someone to break the existing course record.... As it turns out, it was probably two guys trying very hard, but making it look easy! Congrats to both David Riddle and Mike Wardian for their accomplishment. David has very quickly shown that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

As for me, the race was the last of the year and I was interested to see how my body was holding up. Going into the race I hadn't done much intense running and was trying to balance healing with sustaining an acceptable weekly mileage total to maintain fitness. This tactic didn't turn out to be the best!

At the start of the race I let the front pack go almost immediately. I could tell these guys were ready to demolish each other on the trails and I wanted to run at my own desired pace for the technical section. At the start of the trail I felt great and began settling into my usual quick steps, pretending the trail was just a long obstacle course. It was really nice to be back in the northeast and to see the difference in landscape.

Slowly I began reeling people in and made it to about 6th place with a mile to go on the AT section. This is where I began to hit a bulk of the early starters. While dodging between two men I caught a rock with my left foot and lunged forward, slamming my right knee into a large, pointed rock. My initial reaction was more frustration than pain. After about 25 steps I began hobbling and felt my knee locking up. So I began an awkward looking sort of shimmy down the trail as a few of the elite guys passed by.

At the break between the AT and the C&O canal, I ran past my dad and he told me to stop for a second to assess the damage. I had a bloody welt the diameter of a quarter on my knee, and a massive desire to puke. I think this was the point where a lot of people had seen me stall and thought I would drop. After a few minutes of encouragement from bystanders I decided to see how I'd feel in a mile and slowly began hobbling toward the towpath.

Once I got on the path I felt a large rush of adrenaline and was able to get into a pretty solid rhythm. At this point I was probably running 6 minute miles and felt pretty good. I soon caught up to USA teammate Matt Woods and we began running together for the next 7 or so miles until the adrenaline left and I was forced to ease off the pace. Watching him surge forward, I felt a bit disheartened at not being able to join the fun at the front of the pack.

Normally I would have been extremely frustrated at the turn of events. However, I was happy to be taking part in the race and had resolved to finish regardless of time or place. The fatigue I was feeling made it difficult to sustain a pace, but whenever it became too much I simply walked and waited to catch my breath... taking in plenty of scenery as I walked along.

At one of the aid stations I hung out with my crew for an extra minute and enjoyed a Yuengling beer. It was fun to take a step back from the usual competitiveness and just enjoy the atmosphere for once, not to mention a beer I haven't enjoyed in a few years.

Towards the end of the tow-path I found Matt Woods hanging out at an aid station. When I asked him what happened he said he had blown up. I told him to join me and we began clicking off the final miles of the race in a slow but steady fashion. I think we were both relieved to only have 8.2 miles to go.

Finally at the last aid station I felt the itch to finish and thought I could finish strong. I left Matt and picked up the pace. My finishing time was somewhere around 6:23, not terrible but not anything to throw onto my list of top performances. I think I can do better, and this race is one on which I'd like to devote an entire training cycle.

Things I learned: 1) Although the trail section is short, it is a vital part of the race. I need to dedicate a bit more time to running extremely technical trails before running this race again. 2) Even though I didn't have a great race, I had a great weekend with friends and family, and actually got to spend more time with them while making the race fun. 3) David Riddle is a badass!

Now that the season is over I am planning to take a month off of any sort of physical exertion aside from hiking and the metabolism-boosting Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving Day. I'm also going to use my time and energy trying to get my hands into a few more volunteering opportunities as well as ranting on the blog about races, fads, funny stories, etc.

Updates

2011-11-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

Running, as of late, has been a struggle. It's not an injury or sickness, I am just content with hitting 50 miles a week and feel that anything more would be a detriment to arriving at JFK perfectly healthy.

The last few months have been interesting. After World's I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. And although I was disappointed with the fact that I could have gone in the low 6:30's or high 6:20's that day (cramping issues), I am still extremely satisfied with my time as well as my placing in the first international race I've ever done. I am also ecstatic to be on the first USA team to win a gold medal in the 100K event. But after the glow of such a huge event, one that I trained a whole year for, I'm finding it difficult to get motivated.

There is also the question of health. After world's I felt extremely depleted. The same issue happened after the Point Defiance 50K. Although I feel healthy on nearly every run, I still feel that the hard efforts take a little something extra out of me. In summation, I'm glad JFK will be a last effort! It's time for a little R&R and I'd like to spend a few weeks working on a beer gut! Before that happens, some serious racing needs to be done.

JFK is a race I've always wanted to do. And this year, I think the field of elite runners are going to push the finishing times down to a course record. With 90% of Team USA toeing the line as well as a few other really fast guys, I think this is a year it could be done. Of course, someone has probably said that every year since 1996. The fact that a time could stand for that long means it is solid for sure. But I also have this nagging notion that it can be easily done. Without giving too much of my strategy away, I think going through the first 15.5 miles in under 2 hours is doable without a superhuman effort, and from there you should have enough in the tank to hit 6:40's the rest of the way. Granted I haven't seen the course and I've heard the first section is extremely technical. But after that I've heard the terrain is quite pleasant. Combined with a large pack of equally talented runners, it should be an interesting day. Enough talking about it for now, I guess we'll see!

Another interest that has grabbed my attention lately has been a local group called Dock Street Runners. It is a group started to give the homeless an outlet for exercise. With a large amount of free time and no outlet, it is easy to see why an overwhelming majority of the homeless are either drug/alcohol abusers or obese. This group with combat some of those issue. One guy has already lost 50 lbs in 8 months! Wenche (phonetically spelled Van-Kuh) Wahl is the leader of this group and she has 54 committed members running with her every wednesday at 10AM. After speaking with her I learned that she is in need of new/slightly worn shoes, tech running shirts, shorts, etc..... anything we need as runners. At the moment I am trying to find ways in which to procure some of these items, one way being to place a donation bin at my running store. Please let me know if you have any other ideas. If you'd like to contact Wenche directly or make a donation, here is her contact info and website.

wenche@dockstrunwalk.org

(253) 229-1654

http://dockstwalkrun.org/

3rd Place at Worlds!!!!!

2011-09-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

That's right! My first event on an international level and I finished 3rd!

I haven't had a chance to write since I went back to work the next day after arriving back in the States. I'll have a very detailed write-up of the events in Winschoten soon.

For now, I'd like to say that I'm extremely happy about my race and being able to contribute as part of the first American team to win a Gold medal in the 100k World Championships.

I'd also like to say that Meghan Arbogast is a beast!!!!!!!! She now holds a world record at the event.

And lastly but not leastly, Montrail athletes did some serious work this weekend! Way to go guys

The Long, Slow Taper & two shoe reviews

2011-08-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

World's is just about 1 month away! It's crazy to look back at the last 17 weeks since 100k Nationals and see the myriad changes that have occurred: fatigue, strength, sickness, various races that have either worried me or exactly the opposite. It's all gone by so quickly, yet so much has happened. Here is a look at the progression of mileage and some races I've done to prepare for the biggest race of my life....

Week 1: 18 miles

Week 2: 40

Week 3: 32

Week 4: 55 (Lost Lake 50k, 1st place)

Week 5: 62 (Capital City Marathon, 11th place)

Week 6: 52.5

Week 7: 77.5

Week 8: 101.5

Week 9: 92

Week 10: 81

Week 11: 98

Week 12: 110

Week 13: 103 (Four on the 4th four miler, 3rd place 19:54)

Week 14: 133 (3 X 8K @ 28:30 pace)

Week 15: 114

Week 16: 94 (White River 50 Mile, 4th place 7:15)

Week 17: 90

The increase in mileage was slow, but I think this was the best possible course of action I could have taken. Although I've raced far less this year than last, I think that has really paid huge dividends in health and recovery. At the end of last year I was so fatigued every day that I could barely run 3-4 miles without stopping to walk or double over. I had been overtraining and lacking in important recovery areas such as sleep, nutrition, and hydration. This year has been far different and I am 100% on track to meet and possibly even exceed my goals for worlds. That being said, I'd like to reveal a bit about what I had in mind.

Since the 100k National Championship I have had an idea that I could potentially put down a very serious time at Worlds. The course has everything a person is looking for in order to run a fast time. From what I'm told, this is one of the few places where the 100k world event is taken very seriously, and the event is done extremely well. The course is also extremely fast and below sea level. The last American Record was broken here (6:30:11) and I intend to make an attempt to better that record. Its a bold statement, but one must have goals in order to reach their full potential. I think the competition in this race will help me achieve this goal, since there are quite a few guys out there that have already run much faster this year. I can only hope that the weather will be kind, and I can avoid completely wasting myself in the first half of the race.

There are still a few workouts I need to do before the race and I will update very soon on my progress towards the World 100K.

In other news, I have received two pairs of shoes from Montrail as well as some pretty gnarly gear from Mountain Hardwear to test for the Spring 2012 line.

Montrail Badwater - This is by far the best shoe I have placed on my foot from Montrail. I think the company is headed in a much better direction with the Spring 2012 line! So to give a full review I'll split the shoe into 3 parts: the upper, midsole, and outsole.

Upper - The upper material wraps the foot extremely well. Montrail has taken great care in cleaning up the stitching on the upper and has instead used mostly welded overlays to create structure in the upper. This means it has a nice, smooth feeling on the inside of the shoe and less irritation where stitching can sometimes create hotspots. Although a bit rigid at first, the upper material gives after about 20 miles and to a certain extent creates a custom fit for the person's foot. Combined with a subtle appearance I was pretty happy about the aesthetics and comfort of this shoe's upper.

Midsole - The midsole of this shoe is fairly simple. Since it is a hybrid road/trail shoe (thus the name "badwater") they have added certain elements to make the ride a bit smoother than a normal trail shoe. The foam is a bit softer than the average trail shoe, which makes it extremely comfortable from the moment you slide your foot it. However, they have used a unique styling of the midsole to create something that transitions smoothly but still performs well when moving laterally. It is extremely difficult to get the best of both worlds, but with Montrail's geometric design on the midsole, they have gotten about as close as one could get to creating a true road/trail hybrid.

Outsole - The outsole of the Badwater is about the only area where I would make complaints, and that is only because I am a true shoe nerd. The medial side of the shoe is beautifully done, and the micro-lug design is another feat of engineering that make this shoe responsive on the roads, and rugged on the trails. The one complaint I have for the shoe is that the heel area is not decoupled enough and the lateral side of the heel actually built about 1 to 2 millimeters higher than the medial side. This is something that is common in most shoe companies (to name a few, Adidas, New Balance, Saucony) and it doesn't necessarily hinder the shoe too much it just creates a bit stiffer ride. If the rubber outsole could be decoupled just a bit more on the lateral side I think this shoe could be mechanically sound for just about anyone who placed in on their foot.

Montrail Rogue Fly - All I have for this one is an iPhone photograph!

For those of you who have seen or worn the Rogue Racer, this is the exact same tooling (outsole and midsole) as the Rogue Racer. The only thing that has changed on the shoe is the upper. In my opinion it is a much better fit and it actually feels like a competitive shoe. Coming in at a scant 7.5 ounces, it knocked off about 1.3 ounces just in the upper material! I think this shoe is going to be able to rival any other minimal trail racing flat out there once again due to the 3-point microlug system that allows for smooth transition on the road (felt great at the 100K) but also for great grip on rugged terrain (felt even better at White River). This is, without a doubt, going to be my shoe for the World 100K!!!

its been forever

2011-07-25T22:32:00.001-07:00

its been quite a while since ive posted anything on here. i'd have to say for the most part its because i really haven't been doing anything exciting. mostly just running, working, eating, running, and sleeping. to give you an idea of my day ill map it out for you.

7:30 am - wake up, eat, drink coffee

8:00 am - get dressed and get out of the door to run between 6 and 10 miles

9:00 am - get home, run inside and shower, pack lunch

9:30 am - drive to work

10 am- 7 pm - work

7:30 pm - get home, put on running clothes and run between 6 and 10 miles

8:30-9:30 pm - cook dinner, shower, etc

10- 10:30 pm - decompress, sleep

I've found a pretty good system and I've been getting in some really good mileage, but there's not a lot of time to be inspired to write.... Sorry!

Anyway over the last few weeks I've really gotten back into great shape. The last 5 weeks have been: 103, 110, 133, 141, and 124. During one 8 day stretch from friday to friday, i racked up 187 miles. that is by far a record for me and now I am beginning the long and slow taper toward the World Championship 100k in September.

This weekend I will be racing the White River 50 miler. I'm excited to see how the two climbs go, and to see how I feel after pounding my legs for 50 trail miles.

Also, recently I've received a few new pairs of Montrail shoes to test out for the Springs 2012 season. One is called the Badwater, a hybrid shoe made for both road and trail. The other shoe is called the Rogue Fly. For those of you who liked the Rogue Racer, get ready for a massive improvement in fit! I'll be giving a detailed report of both shoes soon.

For now, I'm off to sleep, and ready to start another "above-mentioned" day.

Regaining form

2011-04-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 weeks now since I race and only now am I feeling healthy and ready to start building up my mileage again. The first week was a combination of working toward walking correctly again and trying to consume a healthy amount of calories. The muscle soreness and fatigue are something I am quite familiar with, but the aversion to food was something that has never happened to me before. After about 5 days this passed and I was left craving red meat and fresh vegetables (my guess is iron deficiency). So, I obliged. It certainly isn't a chore eating a large steak with an even larger salad.

The second week was spent trying to regain my running form. There were a few things impeding this process. Firstly, my legs were still very rigid and stiff from the race. Secondly, I simply felt like I was working at 80-90% running at 7:30 pace. Not only was this very frustrating but also left me with a lot of concerns. Ever since I burned myself out last year I've been extremely cautious not to overtrain. For races you can't really hold anything back, and I thought maybe I had blown a fuse. However, at the end of the second week I made my way out to a favorite trail of mine (Tiger Mtn.)with a few work friends and ran close to 14 miles. The uphills were difficult but the rest of the time I felt very comfortable.

This week has been more of a transition back into training mode. I haven't been able to wake up early under my own willpower so far, but I have been logging some solid miles in the evenings. Its nice to have the sun stay in the sky until around 9 o'clock. Score one for living in the North! This weeks total should be around 50 miles, and then I'll just be doing maintenance runs until Lost Lake 50K.

This race won't be a massive effort on my part. I am doing this race to gauge how physically ready my body is to start seriously training again. But I do have the course record on my mind. The hill climb should be treacherous but the views will be worth it! If you'd like to view race photos please click the link below.

http://www.skagitrunners.org/lostlake.shtml

Mad City 100K

2011-04-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

So I've had plenty of time to digest the events of this weekend....

About 4 days prior to the race I was intensely worried that I was going to perform terribly at this race. I had a pretty amazing weekend the week before watching my good friend Brooks Williams compete at the Brew to Brew 44 mile race from Kansas City to Lawrence. Brooks was running this race because it is sponsored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Brooks is affected by this illness and wanted to show his support by running the race. Not only did he win, but he demolished the competition by over 40 minutes.... Often times this happens in ultras. The longer the distance, the more of a gap there will be between finishers. But to win by 40 minutes is just amazing and I was speechless as he crossed the finish line.

After the weekend I was feeling slightly fatigued. Crewing is a tough sport in its own right. To be honest, I find it a good bit more exhausting than running the race. And day after day I woke up feeling a bit tired... not my usual feeling the week of the race. Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive having my parents, girlfriend and friend/#1 crew member Shelley travel all the way to Madison to watch me fail miserably. Great thoughts before a race.

The day before I took a red-eye from Seattle to Minneapolis, then on to Madison, sleeping every chance I could. Once I got the hotel, I slept more. Then I ran for 20 minutes just to shake out the legs and get the blood flowing. I took a healthy dose of Emergen-C just to make sure I kept my antioxidant levels elevated, then ate a pasta dinner. Sleep that night was restless but I got in a full 8 hours.

Apart from my mother telling the entire crew that the race started at 6 am, there weren't really any hold-ups, and now that I think about it I am glad we got there early. I had some time to just relax and mentally prepare for the day. About 10 minutes before the race started, I stripped down and began to wait by the start line.

When the gun went off, I was expecting at least one person to dart out to a 5 minute first mile, the way most races do. Interestingly enough, everyone went out way slower than I had imagined. The first loop we pulled through in a modest 42 minutes, a bit slower than the pace I'd wanted to run for the first 50k. After lap one I pulled ahead of the pack a bit and caught the lone front-runner. After some brief chatter I learned that this was THE Zach Gingerich. In my mind he was the person I was going to need to beat in this race. But even though his list of accomplishments is certainly intimidating, he is a really nice guy. For the next lap he told me about the night he had spent staring at the ceiling as a high school party was in full swing in the hotel room next door. And even though he says sleeping is overrated the night before a race, I can't think that it helped him too much.

After lap two, Zach slowed a bit to grab some stuff from his fiancee and I gradually gained a gap on him. From that point on I was alone, and spent a large part of the time just focusing on my tangents to not only increase the lead, but to spend the least amount of energy on wasted footsteps.

Other than tangents and occasional random thoughts, the rest of the race was putting one foot in front of the other, focusing on form, length of stride, etc. Here is a list of the splits for the race....

1st Loop - 10 Km	6.214	42:11.0	6:47.3
2nd Loop - 20 Km	12.427	1:21:41.7	6:34.4	6.21	39:30.7	6:21.6
3rd Loop - 30 Km	18.641	2:00:00.2	6:26.3	6.21	38:18.6	6:09.9
4th Loop - 40 Km	24.855	2:38:08.6	6:21.8	6.21	38:08.4	6:08.3
5th Loop - 50 Km	31.069	3:16:02.9	6:18.6	6.21	37:54.3	6:06.0
6th Loop - 60 Km	37.282	3:54:46.7	6:17.8	6.21	38:43.8	6:14.0
7th Loop - 70 Km	43.496	4:34:32.2	6:18.7	6.21	39:45.5	6:23.9
8th Loop - 80 Km	49.710	5:17:14.8	6:22.9	6.21	42:42.6	6:52.4
9th Loop - 90 Km	55.923	6:02:31.1	6:28.9	6.21	45:16.3	7:17.2
10th Loop - 100 Km	62.137	6:47:34.0	6:33.5	6.21	45:02.9	7:15

As the race progressed, the lactic acid build-up and overall fatigue became a bit too much to maintain a solid rhythm, and the hills were primarily the area where I began to be more cautious. Rather than going into oxygen debt, I decided to lay off the pace a bit and just run comfortably up the hill. This paid huge dividends in the later laps! By the last 2 laps though, it was the downhills that were wrenching my quads and hamstrings. Each step felt like I might have an entire body cramp.

As the last lap came around, I learned that my original theory that the CR was 6:46:00 was way off, and all I had to do was run consistently for the next 6 miles and I'd have it for sure. So I dropped my bottle and gave it my all. I took one more gel at the 1.5 mile aid station and began to press harder. With a mile to go I let my legs relax and dropped my shoulders, and let the adrenaline surge as I knew I'd only have to run for another 7 to 8 minutes. Half mile to go, I saw my dad waiting on the corner of the final stretch. I smiled so hard my face cramped up, and just started laughing. The last 200 meters was exhilarating. Crossing the finish line, I felt an extreme weight lift off of my shoulders. I had been wanting to join the world team for USA for about 2 years. It was nice to know I'd be representing my country internationally!

On a side note, during the worst race of my life (WESTERN STATES), I came by a woman who was having an equally bad day. After a while of chatting while laboring up the hill to our eventual drop-out point at mile 55, I learned she was Devon Crosby-Helms. We talked for almost an hour about other races, why we were feeling terrible that day, how much it sucked walking up a hill since we both knew we were just going to drop anyway.... When I saw her cross the finish line on Saturday, she looked so strong. I approached her at her car and we hugged. Apparently both of us were feeling much better since then. Congrats to her and her 14 minute CR!!!!!!!!! What an amazing athlete!

I'd also like to give a shout out to Nick Clark and Ryan Burch for their impressive finishes at American River. I know they are both mountain specialists and those times are pretty gnarly for the course not being their preferred style. Congrats to you both as well!

Finally!

2011-04-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'll be writing more in a bit, I just wanted to write that I've finally achieved what I'd set out to do last year!

1st Place at the Mad City 100k National Championships, earning a spot on Team USA. I'm so excited to be traveling to the Netherlands this fall!

Montrail's New Website

2011-03-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

As of today Montrail has switched to a new format on their website. Now you can order Montrail shoes directly from the website!!! If you'd like to visit the website please visit www.montrail.com and enjoy!

Shoe and Gear Review

2011-02-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

Since my last post I have received a few pieces of gear that I am pleased to say have met or exceeded my expectations!

Montrail Badrock OutDry-

I had received an email a few weeks back that I was being sent a pair of the Badrocks to test out. Included in this shoe is an OutDry laminate that works infinitely better than Gore-tex for a few reasons.

First, OutDry is a laminate that is bound to the mesh, whereas Gore-tex is an independent bootie. This eliminates the possibility of water and debris buildup between in the mesh and the bootie of the shoe, which will keep the shoe truer to its original weight. Secondly, OutDry is able to "breathe" without a heat and moisture gradient, which Gore-tex ultimately needs to perform. Thus, the OutDry keeps the interior of the shoe at a more agreeable temperature.

What I really liked about this shoe was the seamlessness of the OutDry technology as its built into the shoe. In Gore-tex shoes I was always aware of the extra layer. While wearing the Badrock on several 20+ mile runs I never once felt any hint of added fabric or rigidity in the shoe on account of the waterproof laminate. As for performance, I'd say this is a true trail runner's shoe. I wore it on the roads up to my usual trails several times and I felt it was completely unresponsive and clunky. But once I got on the dirt roads and single track the shoe completely transformed under my feet. It became responsive, grippy, fluid, everything I want in a shoe. I also wore it yesterday while running in the snow and mud and I was actually aiming for puddles by the end. I've gotta say, this is the first waterproof shoe I've ever liked, and it will be a "go to" for any future muddy or snowy runs.

Montrail Rogue Racer-The Rogue Racer is a shoe I've been excited about ever since I approached the Montrail tent at Western States last June. Its light and fast, but also has a lot of added elements that I could never get with my usual road flats or even some of the trail flats I'd tried. I really like the 3 micro-lug system they have placed on the outsole. This system allows for fantastic traction on the trails, but also allows for a much more fluid motion on roads. I have used these shoes quite a few times on trails, but also for a 25 mile progressive run last wednesday on paved bike trails. I can say now, with complete confidence, that I will be able to race in this shoe (unmodified) at the Mad City 100k. This is definitely going to be a favorite of mine for the season.

Mountain Hardwear Geist Jacket-
This 6 oz slice of heaven was delivered along with my team uniform pieces. Since then I have not missed a single chance to wear it. It is completely windproof with small pockets of mesh for venting in all the right places. I also has 3 pockets for storage, which is very uncommon in such a light jacket (usually i've seen a lot of sacrifices in storage to save weight). Whether its 45 and sunny or 18 and blowing snow (on the progressive run that happened within 10 minutes), the Geist Jacket has kept me warm, dry and comfortable. And since its so light I am able to tuck it into my waist band when its not needed.

So that's all for the reviews for now.... Training has been going well. I took a few down weeks after the marathon to make sure I didn't put myself into an early deficit like last year. I want to make sure this year that I am fully recovered before starting training for the next race. But this week I have already logged 101 miles since Monday. I'm hoping to hold on to this streak for a few more weeks to gain some much needed strength for the 100k in April. I certainly have the aerobic capacity in place, but I can tell every 20 mile day I add on is bringing back that familiar ache and fatigue of early last season. Now I just have to wait until that starts feeling normal :)

TEAM MONTRAIL

2011-02-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

As of 4 hours ago I thought this week couldn't get any better.... I was wrong. I am now an official Montrail Athlete for 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats to the others who have been added, I went ahead and copied and pasted their info from the website:

Megan Lund: This Aspen, Colorado native is a 2-time Olympic marathon trials qualifier and 2-time USA Mountain Running team member. She’s the winner of the 2010 Sierre Zinal Mountain Race in Switzerland. Megan looks to run many high-profile mountain races in Europe this summer, along with the Pikes Peak Ascent and USATF Trail Half Marathon Championship.

Amy Sproston: Amy lives in Portland, Oregon and is a 2-time Massanutten 100 winner, winner of the 2010 JFK 50 and the 2010 Pine to Palm 100. Her focus for the first half of 2011 will be Western States 100.

Ryan Burch: Ryan is a native of Colorado and is a force in the mountains. 2010 highlights include wins at the Antelope Island 50, Leadville Marathon and Grand Mesa 100. This year, look for Ryan to compete near the front at Western States 100 and Leadville 100.

I am elated to be chosen as an athlete for this great brand! For more details on the Montrail team and products click on the montrail logo on the right hand side of the page.

In-Depth Review of Miami

2011-01-31T01:46:00.000-08:00

As I stated in previous posts, this race was meant to be a test: a test to see where I was aerobically, a test to see how much pain I could endure, and also a test to see if my opinions hadn't changed about road racing. And if you're looking for the abbreviated version here it is. I think I'm in pretty good shape to do well at the mad city 100k as long as I put in some longer runs, I didn't push as hard as I could have during the race but the difference in time would have been insignificant, and no.... not so much a fan of road races still. For those looking for a more detailed explanation, please read on.

The last time I've actually had a marathon timed was at the split of the 2010 American River 50 Mile in Sacramento, CA. My time was 2:46:?? and I was elated to find that I had cut 6 minutes off of my previous PR (which was during another ultra). However, at the end of that race I had a nagging feeling that if I could run such a time with a hefty amount of fuel left in the tank, I might be able to put a solid time down on a paved surface.

Things came together when I was planning this year's schedule with a focus on making the 100k world team. I had made that a goal last year, only to come up short by 6 minutes. This year I wanted to be prepared to go the distance and reserve myself a spot for international racing. And as I began to formulate my schedule to build up for the big race in April, my coach suggested I try a marathon for time to see how fit I was. Eventually we set our sights on the Miami Marathon. There would be some good competition and it was a warm area in January, nuff said.

So, getting back to the actual race. I woke up at 4:45 to my watch alarm and slowly began my usual routine: forcing down some sort of "food" with a large portion of water or sports drink. This is always a difficult routine regardless of how nervous I am. I just can't seem to eat in the morning. Then, on to the race bib preparation. Next up, shoes and socks. Lastly, listening to some music that would be delightfully stuck in my head for the race (Ratatat has a great selection of music if you're interested). And then we were out the door.

I often wonder what a person might think if they were to wake up in their hotel room and look out their window at 5 am. It really is quite a spectacle seeing 21000 pedestrians congregate in a central location. I wonder if the noise woke anyone up?

Anyway, with about 30 minutes until the race started, I began wading my way (mother in tow) through masses of befuddled strangers; people wondering how to find their designated section, where to find a stick of body glide, talking race strategy, etc. Finally, after forcing my way through the crowd I made it to the front and began my warmup. A short 5 minute jog with a couple leg lifts was all I could manage. Any more than that and my heart would have exploded out of my chest. I was really nervous.

Making my way back to the crowd, I tried to pry myself into a good position to start at least somewhat close to the elites. However, it seems everyone has the same idea at these races and I soon found myself stuck behind a man that, at first glance, appeared to be wearing a sweater. Upon further inspection, I realized he was just extremely hairy, and thus spent the remainder of the time in the tent avoiding bumping into him.

When the gun went off everyone shot forward. Immediately I saw the front pack surge forward. My coach had advised me to start the first mile slow and then pick it up from there. This served a dual purpose as I would be able to make my own race once the urge to run up front left me, and also to warm up a bit since it takes me quite a long time to do. At the first mile I clocked in at 6:13. Yikes. Way off pace but I felt really good. I began to slowly pick up the pace, and in the process, picked off several people along the way. This was fun!

Going through downtown Miami was a bit strange, mostly due to the smell. I notice this in a lot of big cities, but there was an overwhelming smell of old cigars and trash and it really threw my stomach off balance. Another oddity was their bridges. It was very difficult to run a consistent pace since your mechanics are thrown off by the metal grating. Back to the race.....

Every 30 seconds or so I was able to pass someone and keep them behind me. This became the norm for the race. At around mile 8 I passed the three leading women and continued my journey to find the front-running men. At mile 10.5 I was able to see my mom and the rest of the cheer station. It was really exciting getting through that section. I felt renewed after leaving that area and put in a good surge to catch the next person. Another thing I noticed, every person I passed during the entire race was entirely gassed. It took absolutely no effort to pass them. At the full/half marathon course split, I was informed I was 21st place. Not too shabby, but I thought I could do better.

Slowly but surely I picked off 20, 19, 18, all the way down to 11. About every mile or so I would get these gut-wreching side stitches that would leave me short of breath. But it seemed that every time that happened I would see another runner ahead. Somehow that took the focus off of my stitch and I was able to hunt them down. Finally, around the 20 mile mark, I began to feel sharp. Tired, but sharp. I'm not sure if it was the realization that I would only be running another 35 minutes or some other physiological miracle, but I was able to put in a surge that lasted the rest of the race. In the last 10k I picked off 6 more people. I passed the last guy with 1.2 miles to go and put 3 minutes on him by the finish. Crossing the finish line was surreal. I was genuinely happy at my performance. About 10 steps after the finish line I began throwing up white foam, and this continued in spurts for the next half hour. In my mind I like to think it was just weakness leaving the body, because it hurt like hell.

So there it is, my first race of the season. I think this race is going to be a good indicator of how I perform in the 100k in April. I still like trails better, of course. And I still like running until my legs give out, rather than my lungs.

Hopefully this is a foreshadowing of what the season will bring. For now I've got 2 solid months of training to get in before the race, and one very important pacing job. My good friend Brooks Williams will be running the Brew to Brew 43.2 mile race from Kansas City to Lawrence on April 3rd, 2011. For all of you who would like to know more about Brooks or the race, you can visit his blog (a link is located on the sidebar under "blogs of interest").

Miami Results

2011-01-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

Finished in a time of 2:26:37 and took 5th place overall. Had a good race but I'm glad its behind me, more details to come.

Miami Marathon

2011-01-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

I've realized lately that it is very difficult to write or even be creative when it feels like I'm doing the same thing every day. I'm not big on finding the little differences in the day to day events that surround my life... specifically running. I believe that is why I try (and succeed) most times to throw in a new route or to explore a trail I haven't run yet. But lately it seems that my desire for new adventures has taken a backseat to calculated and well-managed training for my race this weekend.

The marathon has been a race I have looked over for the last 3 years as "insignificant" or "boring". In a lot of ways, I still see it as such. Most marathons are on roads, they are almost always crowded, they don't offer the scenery that most ultramarathons do, and they offer little in the way of changing terrain. But in these last few months I have really started to appreciate just what it takes to run one of these races to the extent of your ability.

Ultramarathons have been a safe haven for me mostly because I can avoid completely losing my breath (Leadville excluded) and also can be quite lax with my regulation of pace.... I can always count on catching the next surge of energy. I mean, if you have all day to run, there are going to be highs and lows no matter what you do. The marathon, however, is an elusive monster since it involves toeing the line of complete anaerobic meltdown for what I hope to be two hours and twenty-five minutes.

Three weeks ago I had one last test to see if I could manage this pace with a 30 kilometer progression. For those of you who have never done a progression (I hadn't until 3 weeks ago), the name implies the gradual nature of increasing effort and lowering pace throughout the run. During this run we chose a paved bike trail that travels 15k out, and 15k back.

We began with the pace at around 7 to 7:30 miles, then "progressed" each mile until we reached the 15k mark at just below 6 minute/mile pace. At this point we took a gel and began to hammer the pace until we reached my goal of 5:30. Shockingly, I felt great. We were cruising along for the next 4 miles at this pace and I decided to pick it up a bit. 5:23, 5:21, 5:18... I felt like a machine. Then the last 2 miles came about. 5:14, I felt like I was going to die. I had side stitches, my stride was breaking down, I couldn't breathe correctly, I was in the throws of anaerobic shock. My training partner Dan, a superb marathon runner, kept trying to tell me to breathe easier, focus on my stride, all the of the usual things one might try to say to deflect attention away from the pain. And in some ways it worked, but that last mile was excruciating. We crossed the last mile marker in 5:11. I dry heaved my way back to the car. The pace for the last 15k was 5:23. I couldn't help but smile as I drifted in and out of sleep.

And so this workout, combined with about 3 months of consistent yet redundant training has led me to the starting line of the Miami Marathon. Needless to say, this isn't my ultimate goal for the season. In reality it's a tester to see what I can run for the Mad City 100k in April. But I have a feeling if this race goes well, there won't be much stopping me from a good race in Madison.

One thing is certain. After this weekend, I'll be running a lot more unknown trails and consequently writing more....

Nov 29- Dec 5

2010-12-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

This week went pretty well.

Nov 29-Dec 5

M- 75 min, 10 miles
40 min, 6 miles (16)
T- AM 17 min warm-up

10 mile progressive run (56:10)

15 min cool down

PM Run 30 min, 4 miles (18)
W- 80 min, 10 miles
29 min, 4 miles (14)
T- 70 min, 10 miles
42 min, 6 miles (16)
F - 41 min, 6 miles

S- 20 minute warm-up

Workout 2 X 3200m (10:44, 10:40),

1 X 3000m (9:38), 5 min recovery run

20 min cool down (11)

S- 152 min, 19+ miles

Total: 100 miles

These are the weeks where I'm really glad that I keep records of my mileage and times. I used to be very opposed to this because it mostly just meant more work. The other reason was that I would worry too much about constant improvement. However, there are a lot of benefits to keeping track of where you are in your fitness, especially when you are doing the same loops and out-and-backs and track workouts. It gives you a reference point to see how far you've come and how quickly you've gotten there. And where most observations in running can be seen qualitatively (muscle definition, fatigue, level of effort, etc.), it is nice to put down numbers to add some clarity to the ritual.

For example, today I am doing 6 miles in the AM and 6 in the PM. I noticed on my morning run that even though I felt pretty fatigued from the 20 hilly miles I did yesterday, I was still averaging around 6:50 miles. This came as a surprise since I felt so tired, but numbers don't lie.

As for the track workouts, I'm still chipping away at my times. It's not so much that I'm getting a lot faster, I think I'm just gaining more control over my form at high speeds, as well as dealing with the discomfort of lactic acid build-up.

There is still a large part of me that wants to go for a 40 mile jog in the mountains on Saturday's. But for now the big race on my schedule is Mad City 100K, which consists of ten loops of a flat 10k course in Madison, WI.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

I wanted to wait on a few solid weeks of training before writing again. Here is what has been going on the last few weeks for marathon training. There was one day I took off opportunistically in order to reset the schedule to a Monday-Sunday week rather than Sunday-Saturday.

November 7- November 13

S- 64 min, 9 miles

M- 61 min, 8-9 miles

T- 20 min, 2.5 miles

W- 75 min, 9 miles

Workout 10 min (2K) warmup, 3 X 2000m (6:38, 6:31, 6:23), 9 min (2K) cooldown

5 X 800m (2:43, 2:40, 2:39, 2:38, 2:35), 400m slow jog cooldown

T- 55 min, 7.5 miles

F- Workout warmup 20 min, 3 miles at 5:13 pace, 3 miles at 5:33 pace, cooldown 20 min

S- 90 min, 12 miles

Total Miles: 70

NOV 4- 0 miles

November 15- November 21

M- 89 min, 12.5 miles

40 min, 5 miles

T- AM Run 30 min, 4 miles

PM 30 min "portuguese warmup", workout fartlek 40 min @ 1 min on 1 min off

W- 32 min, 4.5 miles

45 min, 7 miles

T- 78 min, 11 miles

F- Run 20 min, 2 miles

Workout 20 min warmup, 3 X 1600 (5:04, 5:03, 4:57), 3 miles at MP (5:35, 5:25, 5:20), 20 min cooldown

S- 50 min, 6 miles

S- 104 min, 16 miles @ 6:30 pace

Total Miles: 94

These track workouts are really sending me into that fatigue I feel after a few 25 mile days in a row. Its all a very different kind of pain while its happening, but once you get home and lay on the couch.... TIRED IS TIRED! I'm finding it really exciting to see how far I can push myself, and even though the track is somewhat monotonous, the miles fly by really easily.

The biggest change to my schedule from earlier in the year is the long run. Although its a little bit shorter, its way faster than I'm used to running for long periods of time. Last Sunday before I flew to Florida, I partook in a grueling 16 mile run at 6:30 pace, of which the last 4 miles were right under 6 min/mile. At peak condition I wouldn't normally find this too taxing, but I'm nowhere near that point right now :) After that I boarded the plane, luckily receiving an exit row seat for the 5 1/2 hour flight.

This week has been a little weird. All of the running on pavement has been bothering my calves a bit and I took off a day in order to let them heal a bit.

As for this morning, I entered a 4 mile race to get a feel for exactly where my aerobic threshold is. I finished the race 2nd overall in a time of 21:04. The last half mile I let off the gas a bit and probably could have finished under 21 but I'm not really upset about the race since its the first race under a marathon that I've done since sophomore year of college.

Now I'm off to stuff as much food into my stomach as my body will allow, then go for a swim in the Gulf!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A few weeks gone by

2010-11-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

These last few weeks have been pretty interesting. I have recently recruited a coach to help me with my first "true" marathon. Since I started running seriously, I have mostly been interested in ultramarathons. However, there has always been a nagging sensation to put a really solid effort into the marathon. And after a few weeks of attempting to put a schedule together I finally enlisted the help of a local high school coach, Matt Ellis. So far I am very excited to try these workouts and to feel fast again. Last week we did 6 X 1000m at 3:10 pace and worked our way down to 3:00 pace by the end.

Its funny how radically different track workouts are compared to the usual long-distance runs I'm used to. Where there is usually a dull, aching sensation in my legs, it is now replaced by a fire in my lungs and a lethargy in my limbs that can only come from complete oxygen debt and a build-up of lactic acid. Where I usually take small but confident steps, I now take awkward, loping strides to maximize the distance I can travel. For these two exercises being in the same sport, I'm not sure they could be any more different.

Another activity I've tried in the last week is acupuncture. While I've heard a lot about its healing effects and its ability to relieve stress, I've never actually met anyone who has had it done. Last thursday I traveled with my roommate to join in on a session and found it to be amazing. Although I didn't feel the relaxing side of it (moreso, it feels like the needle is burning your skin), I did feel infinitely better the next day. My muscles felt in tune with each other, and I felt energized and in sync. I'd definitely recommend this treatment to anyone suffering from constantly achey or tight muscles (in my case they were both).

Lastly, I just signed on to become a Coach in Training for the Team in Training group based in Tacoma, WA. If you don't know what Team In Training is, it is an organization that works under the Leukemia and Lymphoma society to raise funds for research. Groups of individuals sign up to run a marathon and raise money for the Society while training. Check out the link here if you are interested! Other options include triathlons, century bike rides and hiking adventures.

Racing and Writing Again

2010-10-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest. I actually avoided writing on this blog for several months because it reminded me of how much I wasn't running. It's difficult to transition from running 130 miles a week to absolutely zero physical activity. What caused this? Well, in a word... arrogance. Yep, after rifling through dictionaries and thesauruses, that is still the word that best depicts my attitude towards running and my body this season.

I began the season by moving out to Colorado Springs in the dead of winter. It was tough getting out the door everyday when beginning the season in sub-zero temperatures. But as the year progressed I was up to my desired goal of 110-120 miles per week. More importantly, I was having a lot of fun. My first run resulted in a CR even after slipping and sliding all over the course (which actually resembled a mud trough). I then placed 2nd at both the Salida Marathon and American River. It was at this point, I think, that my attitude toward running changed.

I've been told by many people that in order to run with the best runners, you must first consider yourself to be their equal. This saying holds a lot of merit if you are racing. In training it can be dangerous. After American River, I was running 130 miles per week regardless of lack of sleep, illness, how many hours a day I spent on my feet at work, etc. It was 130 mpw no matter what. I was convinced that the more miles I ran, the better I would do in races. After all, I was running Western States and was eager to finish well. But after running at the Collegiate Peaks 50 miler, I began feeling a little more sluggish in day to day activities. I slept more, ate less, I didn't have that natural fire burning inside to go run in the mountains everyday.

As this feeling began to grow I began ignoring the important things outside of running such as yoga, stretching, relaxing, etc. The main focus became hitting the mileage number I had alloted for the week. And after a few weeks of this routine, I was toeing the line at the Blue Canyon 100k. I still think I raced well there, but the effect that race had on my body was crazy. It was the anvil that broke the camel's back. Three weeks later, I ran at Western States. DNF. At Vermont, I ran the first 50 miles well, but the last half was atrocious. I actually had to hold my pacer's hand to avoid collapsing. At Leadville, I promised to pace for 50 miles and could only run 36.5. My runner actually ran faster when I wasn't pacing him. With that, I was done with any and all racing plans for the year.

It's easy to see what went wrong. Too much of a good thing can be bad. As the season progressed, I became too worried about numbers and figures and forgot why I loved the sport so much. Getting out of the door to run became a chore rather than something to I enjoyed. And as with anything you are passionate about, it's easy to become frustrated with something you enjoy when you're not performing to the best of your ability.

After a month of solid rest and relaxation, I started running again. Moving to a new area (Washington) was definitely a good move. I have new trails to explore, as well as two amazing friends to run with every day. I also think the move to low altitude was good for my body. So far, I've kept all of my runs under two hours, and I'm listening to my body rather than fighting with it.

I also ran my first race since Vermont on Saturday. It was the Point Defiance 50k, and I'd only been running for 20 consecutive days since taking time off. Anyway, I went into the race thinking I'd just shoot for a sub 4 hour. When the gun went off, I tried to keep myself from bolting forward with the front pack. But the excitement of running a race was too much, and I began to pursue the leaders after the first mile. Pretty soon a new friend of mine caught up (Mike Lynes) and we led the race together for 26 miles. In the end, he fell back to help some runners who were lost and left me to finish the race alone in a time of 3:40:12. I can't say I felt great the entire race. In fact, I felt pretty awful for over half of it. But I can say now that I haven't lost the strength and stamina that I gained this season. Combined with a renewed sense of respect and devotion to the sport, I think this base phase will translate into an even more successful season next year.

A story my father wrote....

2010-07-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is an email my dad sent to the family after spending a weekend at our cabin in Vermont. Enjoy!

So, I went for a run...

Or a lumbering trot, stopping to walk every several yards because,

since the knee surgery and weight gain, "that's how I roll." I was

feeling good, as it didn't take me long to get warmed up, and I was

running more than walking, It was going to be a good day.

I remembered that there had been two Rottweillers on the route to

Landgrove road, so I mentally prepared myself to freeze, have the

owner come out and release me. But today there were no dogs, just me

and the trail. How could this get better?

After the first mile, I managed to pick up two deer flies. They

pestered me buzzing and diving, but there were only two, manageable I

thought. Like a typical Vermonter, I have learned to use my hat as a

weapon, at least to keep a few deer flies at bay.

I'm not sure what happened next, as the two deer flies were joined by

several bees. I could tell because the sound was different. I turned

around and saw an entire armada of bees coming at me. So, deer flies

were fine, but I soon found myself sprinting faster than I thought

possible. And, every time I looked back, there seemed to be more

insects, now in a variety of sizes, pursuing me. I really don't know

how I managed to provoke the swarm, I don't remember even seeing a bee

before the altercation and subsequent chase. They must have been

Africanized, because these bees were crazy, relentless, possessed.

So now I'm running as fast as I can, and I've taken my hat off to swat

and run, something between a cartwheel and pirouette. It must have

looked interesting, as an elderly couple in a passing car almost

slowed to a stop, rubbernecking, the woman's nose pressed against the

window to see the show. I was running and thrashing with the hat,

leaping, running and thrashing, until I just ran out of gas. The bees

chased me several hundred yards. They were pissed and in attack mode.

My heart was racing, and the thought occurred to me that, given my

ample size and lack of conditioning, I might be risking a heart attack

if I kept going.

So, I thought, keep running and risk cardiac arrest, or stop and

fight, and risk multiple bee stings. No good options. Shit. I stopped

running, grasped my hat, and said to myself, "come on bitch, let's do

it." The bees were all around me, dive bombing and trying to land, but

I was spinning and thrashing, and pumping my legs, like on Flashdance.

No part of my body was still, or assailable as long as I kept moving.

I managed to kill two bees, and for some reason, I thought the rest

would get the message and retreat. This did not happen.

The fight continued for what seemed two or three minutes, and finally

I killed the last attacker. I counted twelve bees around my feet, and

four deer flies, who had joined the assault when they thought the bees

had the upper hand. I was out of breath, exhausted, but victorious. No

stings, my pride intact.

I did, however, take a different way home.

Vermont 100 and other thoughts

2010-07-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Well, this last weekend was rough but I'm glad I stuck with it and finished. I'm still not sure what problems are occurring with my transition to 100 milers this year, but I am sure I need to go back to the drawing board after this one.

The problems for this race started on the Thursday before the race actually began. I raced from work to catch my 4:56 PM flight to Chicago, where I'd connect to Albany shortly after landing. Of course, with my usual luck I was delayed and missed my connection into my final destination. Unfortunately the only flights they had going to Albany were either booked full or arrived too late for me to make the pre-race meeting. Needless to say, Friday was extremely stressful and offered little opportunity to relax or even sleep.

I arrived at my house around 10:30 PM, ate a massive plate of spaghetti and tried to catch about 4 hours of shut-eye before driving to the race meeting. There I met with Julia Hutchinson, the race director, and got all of my vitals taken before beginning the race. I'd like to say here that Julia and the entire Vermont crew were very accommodating and understanding during this whole event. They are a solid group of people and I'd recommend this race to anyone who's looking for a laid-back but well-aided 100 miler.

To my surprise, even after jogging over to the tent to take my vitals, my blood pressure was 115/85 with a pulse of 50. I love going down to sea level. I also took a personal assessment and found that despite all of the crap I'd been through the last two days, I actually felt pretty good. I was ready to start this race. I gave my mom and sister a hug and walked over to the starting line.

The gun went off and the usual group of suspects launched forward. Among them, Neal Gorman (with an impressive finish at Western States), Michael Arnstein, Kami Semick, AJW, etc. My plan was to just stay with them until it got light, as Andy knows this course better than most. And this plan worked pretty well. Once the light started to peer over the mountains, I decided to let myself go and see how I felt through the halfway point.

Once I had opened about a 50 meter lead on 2nd place, and a 200m lead on the chase pack, I heard rustling leaves and breaking sticks to my right. Looking over, I saw a 300-400 pound black bear eating raspberries in a ditch alongside the road. Oddly enough, I wasn't too worried. I simply started to walk and clap and say "Hey Bear!" and then announced to everyone else that there was a bear right next to the road. Noone else saw it. By the time I looked back to where the bear had been, it was sprinting into the foliage.... an odd start to the race.

Just after this encounter I began to feel a brilliant burst of energy that kept me running up the hills and loping down them. I made it to the marathon mark in about 3:38 and took another assessment of where I stood in terms of pace. I realized that I might be going a bit faster than I should and decided to back off a bit. Meanwhile, cruising through the aid station, I forgot to take S! caps and didn't have any in my pouch to ingest. Thus began the gradual deterioration of my body.

Right around mile 40 I was still feeling good but was starting to have some fatigue issues similar to the ones I was having at Western States. I attributed this to a low point in the race (everybody has them, right?) and just tried to keep one foot in front of the other. Just after this, AJW caught up with me and we exchanged a few pleasantries. He pushed a bit past me and I managed to hang on through camp 10 bear in just under 7 hours. He jogged up the mountain, and I realized I had lost several pounds since my weigh in that morning. I decided to sit in the shade and chug some water and gatorade before heading out. I also tried to eat a bit of melon and watermelon. This just made my stomach turn over completely and I had to lay down to prevent myself from puking. In total, I spent 33 minutes in camp 10 bear aid station. Not only that, but I didn't get rid of the nausea. I walked up the hill and began jogging as quickly as I could without puking. This nausea continued pretty much all day, no matter how many S! caps I took, no matter what kind of food or drink I ingested.

The aid station at mile 60 is preceded by a large (for Vermont standards) hill. Even though this would be something I could sprint earlier in the season, it was a definite walker for me. At the top I felt so exhausted and nauseated that I dragged one of the rubbermaid containers from underneath the table and just sat down for a good 20 minutes. At this moment I realized that today would just be about finishing. I'd already failed to finish one race this season, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself DNFing two consecutive races. So I stood up and began trotting down the hill into Margaritaville. Here, I sat down for another 20 minutes and just about fell asleep (something I've never been able to do). Looking back, I should've at least had a margarita .

It was 8 grueling, nauseating miles to where I'd find my pacer. This race was pretty special because I had my high school cross country coach pacing me for the entire 30 miles. We'd both found ultra-running independently, so it was nice to finally talk to her about it in person.

When I got to the aid station, I sat once more and tried to binge on fluids such as gatorade, water, ginger ale. Once again, nothing settled my stomach. So after about 20 minutes of sitting, I sat up once more and began to make a dent in the remaining 30 miles.

Riva, my pacer, was pacing for her first time. But she was amazing. She wasn't demanding, but rather motivating. She was also great at reminding me to eat and drink, even though I sometimes refused.

We made it to mile 77 fairly well. At the aid station I sat once more and drank some broth, applesauce, and 2 gels. This settled my stomach better than anything else had. Broth is definitely something I will stick to in future races. And with that we jumped back up and began the next 11 mile stretch. After walking a few short hills, we settled into an astounding pace of 7 minute miles. It was great to feel "fast" again and this brightened my mood a bit as well. It looked like things were beginning to turn around for me when I started feeling an odd sensation in my left quad. The only way I could describe it is to imagine the shooting pain following every nerve that coursed through my leg. Not pleasant. This also continued until about 6 miles left.

At the 88 mile aid station I choked down some water, salt tabs, and a little bit of food (what exactly, I can't recall) and we set out into the last 12 mile section shortly before dark. I was pretty happy for the sun to go down. I knew that this race would be different than the other 100 milers I had done simply because I had a really good headlamp. This monstrosity from Black Diamond is not recommended for runners because it is so heavy, but I'll risk a slight neck cramp for the ability to see 300 yards ahead of me! Anyway, the next 6 miles went by without anything too exciting happening, other than the complete inability to run up hills. I kind of expected that though and wasn't too upset about it. But right as we were entering the last half mile before the aid station I was overcome with such feelings of exhaustion I actually held my pacer's hand to guide me. Its funny looking back on it now, but I was very upset about it at the time. We walked it in and there I laid down for another 20 minutes. Frustrating.

After ingesting several cups of broth and water, I sat back up and waddled a quarter mile before settling into my fastest pace of the day. The remaining 6 miles were hell but I was just trying to get them done as quickly as possible. At the finish I gave my pacer a hug, as well as my parents and sister. Then I ate a burnt grilled cheese and soaked my feet in the kiddie pool before passing out in the car on the way home.

As of right now, I'm just relaxing and taking a few weeks off of running, even moving for that matter. I either work or sit on the couch. It's nice having extra free time right now, but at the same time I find myself slipping on a pair of racing flats just to walk around the house. I'm full of energy, and the hardest part of this break is just making sure I've taken enough time to recuperate and heal. If all goes well I'd like to maybe run a 50 miler in October. Other than that, I think the real fun will be learning to explore the mountains again, rather than making every day a "routine". I hope that time will come soon!

It may be time for a little break

2010-06-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Western States did not go well.

I think this past weeks events have been a clear sign that I need to take a short break and heal. I have been pushing myself pretty hard since december, and although I felt great leading up to Western States, once the gun went off I didn't feel a single spark of energy coursing through my body. No matter what I ate (caffeine or not, sugar or protein or fat) I still felt like each step could potentially be my last before I collapsed. This lack of energy also made me extremely clumsy in the snow and rocky terrain. The combination resulted in me falling down and rolling my ankle several times over the 55 miles I did complete. At the Michigan Bluff aid station, I finally decided to call it a day. I feel I still could have pushed on and made it to the finish in sub 24 hours.... but felt it was a better idea to save the ankle and see if I could recover before Vermont next month. I'm hoping I'll be rested enough to have a good finish there. After that, it would be nice to take a break from 100 milers for a while.

In the end I'm still happy with the week because I spent a lot of quality time catching up with my family and friends. It was truly a treat to be in their company. I just hope next time I can deliver a solid performance.

Pre Race Appraisal

2010-06-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

There are several things that annoy me about tapering for races. It's a natural thing to do for any big race, but it is a very frustrating process to say the least.

I have been in Squaw Valley for the past week and have been tapering for the last two. The first week involves the ultra low energy and never ending appetite. I don't mind the food issue, eating is something that makes me very happy. But no matter how many times I encounter that fatigue infested, sleeping 11 hours a day, dragging myself through 6 mile recovery runs, kind of week, it always worries me and makes me dread the race coming up.

Then you get to the second week, which is the most toughest in my opinion. Its filled with ample energy that makes you bold and eager to test your speed. You sleep less, eat less, and exercise less. This, to me, separates the body from the mind which have been working in sync for the last few months. It seems unnatural to drop down to running only 30 to 45 minutes a day because I'm used to running for 4 hours.

In the end, though, I've learned to appreciate these weeks because they leave you eager to race and keep your mind from exploding with jitters and pre-race anxiety.

Altogether I feel strong and ready for a good race.

Best wishes to all the runners tomorrow. I'm excited to see how the Pearl Izumi guys do (Nick Lewis, Nick Clark, Ian Torrence, Josh Brimhall, etc.), and I really love their sponsor's rogue deal that has sweetened the race for a lot of the top runners. Apparently $2000 is being given to anyone who breaks the CR regardless of course. Good luck guys! And of course, I wish I could be a spectator to see the showdown at the front of the pack. Good luck to those guys, they know who they are.

Blue Canyon Trail Race - Western States Heat Training

2010-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

If anyone has seen the race results for this race, you already know it was brutal. For those of you who haven't, here is an in-depth explanation of why only 5 people finished the 100km and 3 for the 50 miler.

I flew into Burbank airport on friday night at 8:06 and was picked up by my long time friend Jon. As we drove up to Santa Barbara I explained that the race would be hot, with forecasts in the low 90s.

I got into Santa Barbara at around 10:15 and met up with Robert Gilcrest (race director) and began organizing the aid station supplies into the truck. We then proceeded to drop these containers at each of the aid stations in the backwoods of Santa Ynes and the Los Padres National Forest. At this time, the temperature was in the low 60s and there was quite a bit of wind, enough to where I put on a jacket. This was soon to change.

We successfully stocked all of the aid stations and made it back just in time for me to change clothes and get some food in my stomach before the race started. Yes, thats right, I was going to run this 100km race with 18000 feet of elevation gain on zero hours of sleep. Eh, a lot worse has happened before some of my races, and to be honest I felt pretty spry considering the amount of lifting and carrying I'd just done.

As we started the race, the temps were still cool but after a few minutes of running my body adjusted. I realized almost right away that my headlamp was, as in all my races, not powerful enough, and I ended up trailing a man with a searchlight on his noggin for about half of the first climb. After that I began to pull away from the group and I was alone for the next 11.5 hours.

I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful this race was. After the initial climb you are treated to a 4 mile downhill that hugs the steep mountainsides as you pound your way down. Around one of the corners I got a bit of video of the sunrise and even stopped to get a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Its these moments that make me glad I do what I do. Running on trails has offered me so many opportunities to reflect on how beautiful nature is and how lucky I am to be able to enjoy it.

Right after the 4 mile downhill you are then corralled into a section of steep downhill single track. This area is one of my favorite sections of the race due to its rolling nature and exposed trail. It was still moderately cool so the exposure allows you to take in the surroundings and also to see how the competition is stacking up. I looked to my side at the trail I'd just run and saw Maria Petzold about 200 meters back. Seeing as how this was the first 8 miles of the race I didn't really think much of it and settled back into my rhythm.

Last year I read an article about this race called "Boom!" In the article the writer, Zach Landman, used the word, Boom, to describe the manner in which you are subjected to massive uphills and downhills without any warning. Even this year I felt that way.

Right after this short section of rolling and rugged singletrack the trail juts upward and climbs for a few miles before hitting another jeep road. Once there you make your way down the jeep road to the dam. It was on this section of jeep road that the sun really started beating down on us. The temperature, once in the low 60s, became a sweltering, scorching unknown. I had no way of knowing what exactly I was dealing with out in the canyons. As I went through an unmanned aid station after the dam, I packed my water bottle with ice and grabbed a handful to rub on my carotids to keep the temperature. Seeing no gels, I took an assessment of where I was fuel-wise and found that I had 4 gels to last me about 2 hours. Not bad, but I'd be hurting if it took any longer.

The sun just kept getting hotter and hotter. I've never really experienced anything like that before, even living in Texas. I finally deduced that the rocks were now absorbing the heat from the sun and reflecting it back up toward me. This meant it was only gonna get worse as the sun got higher in the sky. On this next extremely rugged and rolling section of uphill, I ran out of water. Luckily the aid station was only about 10 minutes away. I reminded myself once I checked in to drink an extra bottle of water before leaving. Also, I found out that there were no gels. I now had 6.2 very hot and hilly miles to survive on just S! caps and water. Great.

This section is basically the same as the last, with a steep singletrack section that leads to a jeep road that goes downhill to an aid station. This turned out to be one of the harder sections for me since I had no fuel. As I made my way up the last few steps to the road, I felt my head begin to swim and my legs begin to buckle. I think now that it was both a combination of dehydration and lack of carbs. At this station I inhaled a bag of goldfish, two gels, some jelly beans, a full 20 oz ice cold lemon lime gatorade, and then proceeded to fill my bottles and stock my pack. I was only going to be running two miles to the 100km turnaround, but I wanted to be sure I'd be able to gain back some ground on what I'd done to myself earlier. Also, this race has a way of making 4 miles take forever.

I reached the turnaround without many problems and began to count the minutes between me and my closest competitor. Surprisingly only 8 minutes behind was Maria Petzold. As I passed I said "Good job" halfheartedly and only got a cold stare back. I'm still not sure if she was trying to intimidate me or she was just very focused, but I got the feeling like the day could end with her as the victor.

Reaching the aid station again, I wolfed down another pack of goldfish, another 20 oz gatorade, and a full bottle of water. After I stocked my packs and bottles I shot up the mountain, eager to gain a little breathing room between me my pursuer. I think I worked quite well because as I made it to the next aid station and met my friend Brooks, I asked him to yell when she came by him. As I ran over the mountain I never heard anything. This gave me a little bit of confidence to start running my own race again. I even stopped to douse myself with murky, lukewarm stream water. Its crazy how that sounded so enticing in the moment.

Basically I just maintained the same strategy for the rest of the race. At every aid station I would pack my shirt with ice, chug a gatorade or whatever else was available, and eat as many gels as my pack would hold between the stations. This worked especially well on the last large climb (6 miles and 2000 feet of gain). I think this is where I began to eat away at my course record from last year. In the 2009 race, it took me approximately an hour and a half to do this climb. This year it took me only an hour. I think I also gained quite a bit of a lead on the competition as well.

The next 7 miles were the only thing between me and the finish line, considering the last 2.5 miles after that are all downhill and runnable. The only problem was the fact that every single hill and canyon look the same when you're that far into a race. You are literally unable to distinguish where you are and as the hours seem to take forever its impossible not to get discouraged. I remember at one point thinking that I was on the last hill only to see the aid station tent about 2 miles away... then proceeding to scream "F*%#" as loud as I could in frustration.

As I rolled through the finish line I thought that at any moment I'd snap out of one of the many hallucinations I had that day and I'd be right back at the top of the mountain. Luckily enough this was real and I was greeted with ice packs and cold towels and most importantly, a beer. After speaking with one of the volunteers I found out that the Start/Finish area was marked at 95 degrees and the 100km turnaround on top of the mountain was 103 in the shade. I can only imagine what the exposed areas of the canyons were.

Final tally: 5 people finished the 100km. I finished 53 minutes ahead of my times last year, and Maria was 31 minutes behind me. Of the 18 others that DNFed the 100km, 15 dropped to the 50 mile. Of the combined 25 people that ran the 50 mile, 3 finished. 2 people were air-lifted out of the race. And my friend and future WS pacer won his first ultra by being the toughest SOB in the 50 mile category. Congrats Man!!!

I'd also like to congratulate and give my support to Maria Petzold, who is a phenomenal runner and someone I think will make a great impact in the sport very soon.

With this race out of the way, there is nothing between me and a great race at Western States now. I feel that this race was key in my preparation for the upcoming race and now I can look toward it confidently.

Upcoming Race

2010-06-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Sorry I've been off the blog for a bit. Good news though, I'll have a race report to post by Monday. Today I'll be flying to Santa Barbara to take part in the second annual Blue Canyon Trail Race (100km for me). Brooks Williams of Colorado Springs will also be joining me hoping to win the 50 miler, thus winning his first ultra. Its gonna be a hot day, with forecasts of sun and temps of 91 degrees. Also, this course will offer around 18,000 feet of elevation gain in the 100km race, and just over 14,000 feet for the 50 miler. For anyone who reads this blog, I strongly suggest attending this race next year. The aid stations are very well supplied, the course is challenging and beautiful, and the Race Director is one of the nicest people I've met. Check out the website and see if you're up for the challenge.

www.blacksmithendurance.com/bluecanyon/index.htm

Anyway, the plan right now is to go under 11 hours. Brooks' goal is to go sub 9, and with the starting times being a few hours apart, we plan to "pace" (more like race) each other to the finish line.

2000 Miles

2010-05-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, this week (Friday, to be exact) I reached the 2000 mile mark. This is a huge milestone in my training, considering I put just about 3000 miles on my legs over the entirety of last season. At this pace I'll hit 5000 by the end of the year, something that has been a secret goal of mine since the season began. Since American River, I've been trying to keep the miles per week consistently higher and more technical. Here is what I've been up to....

April 12-April 18

M-AM 4 miles, 35 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 4 miles, 29 min (Sante Fe Trail)

T- 6 miles, 48 min (Sante Fe Trail)

W-AM 6 miles, 43 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe Trail)

T-AM 6 miles, 40 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 6 miles, 42 min(Sante Fe Trail)

F- 12 miles, 97 min (Garden of the Gods)

S- CRUD ~12.5 miles, ~110 min (Rampart to Waldo Canyon)

PM 6 miles, 45 min (Sante Fe Trail)

S-12 miles, 100 min (Barr Trail up to 9K from Memorial)

TOTAL: 80.5 miles, 10 hours 31 min, 7:50 min/mile

April 19-April 25

M-AM 10 miles, 76 min (Garden of the Gods)

PM 6 miles, 44 min (Sante Fe Trail)

T-AM 16-17 miles, 128 min (Garden of the Gods)

W-AM 6 miles, 43 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 4 miles, 26 min (Sante Fe Trail)

T-AM 18 miles, 158 min (BARR)

F-AM ~16-17 miles, 132 min (BARR)

S- CRUD 14 miles, 129 min (10" snow @ palmer)

PM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe Trail)

S- 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 6 miles, 43 min (Sante Fe Trail)

TOTAL: ~110 miles, 14 hrs 23 min, 7:51 min/mile

April 26- May 2nd

M-AM 18 miles, 147 min (Door, GoG, Rampart)

PM 6 miles, 41 min (Sante Fe)

T-AM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe)

PM 14 miles, 102 min (GoG to the SCAR)

W-AM 6 miles, 41 min (Sante Fe)

PM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe)

T-AM 6 miles, 44 min (Sante Fe)

PM 6 miles, 44 min (Sante Fe)

F- 6 miles, 45 min (Sante Fe)

C2 Yoga, 60 min

S- COLLEGIATE PEAKS, 6:52:05 CR

S- 6 miles, 47 min (Sante Fe Trail)

TOTAL: 130 miles

May 3-May 9

M-AM 10 miles, 78 min (GoG)

PM 6 miles, 47 min (Sante Fe)

T-AM 10 miles, 78 min (Sante Fe)

PM 6 miles, 40 min (Sante Fe)

W-AM 15 miles, 123 min (GoG)

PM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe)

T-AM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe)

PM 8 miles, 75 min (SCAR)

F-AM 17 miles, 154 min (713 trail)

PM 4 miles, 27 min (Sante Fe)

S- 22 miles, 214 min (Rampart, Waldo, Long's Ranch, BARR)

S- 19 miles, 166 min (GoG, SCAR)

TOTAL: 129 miles

May 10- May 16

M- 6 miles, 46 min (sick)

T- 6 miles, 41 min (sick)

W-AM 6 miles, 41 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 6 miles, 40 min (Sante Fe Trail)

T-AM 10 miles, 66 min (Sante Fe Trail)

PM 6 miles, 41 min(Sante Fe Trail)

F- AM 15 miles, 117 min (High Drive, I hit the 2000 mile mark right as it began to snow at 8200 feet, a miserably cold run actually)

PM 6 miles, 40 min (Intemann)

S- CRUD 18 miles, 183 min (Trail 313)

PM 6 miles, 42 min (Sante Fe Trail)

S- 15 miles, 117 min (GoG)

TOTAL: 100 miles

These last few weeks have been amazing for quite a few reasons.

I've been fortunate enough to have locked down another solid pacer for Western States. This new friend, Brooks Williams, also has quite a gift for finding new trails that offer not only massive vertical gain but a great deal of scenery too. Together we discovered a way to run from Woodland Park to Colorado Springs in about the same time it would take to drive.

I've hit an average of 106 miles per week since January 1st, with recovery and build-up weeks added in. I know that this average will only get higher as the season progresses, and this realization has bumped me up a few notches in the mental game.

And lastly, I broke the course record at the Collegiate Peaks 50 miler while training through the race (6:52:05). This is a sure sign that my fitness has reached a level it has never been before. Below is a picture of Ryan Burch and I at the finish line. Ryan finished with an impressive 3:05. I'm excited to see what he does at Jemez. Hopefully I can make my way out there to be a spectator.

I still have a lot of miles left before the season is over, and quite a few races mixed in there. Next up is the Blue Canyon 100k. This race is 3 weeks out from Western States, and will be a great test to see if my legs can handle the climbs and descents. The 100k has 18k of elevation gain on a 66 mile out-and-back course. My hope is that its also hot so I can get a little bit of acclimation.... seeing as how its snowed here two days ago.

I've noticed quite a few people are posting their favorite tunes on their blogs, so I'd like to follow suit and give you one of my favorite songs to listen to (in the rare event that I run with an Ipod).

Ratatat- Seventeen Years

American River, and unexpected goals

2010-04-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry its taken me so long to write this. There really isn't a reason for the procrastination, im just lazy.

This race was number one on my list in order of importance. As I've stated in previous posts, I really wanted to hit a target time of 5:50 to qualify for the selection pool of the 100k world team.

The day before the race I got a chance to see the starting line, as I was staying at the Comfort Inn approximately one mile from the start. I also jogged/walked about 4 miles around the area to get my legs moving after the car ride from San Francisco.

The next morning, I walked with my parents over to the start and stripped off my sweatshirt and jacket. As I've been told (and have read on many blogs), this race usually starts out pretty fact. I'm not sure if its the excitement or simply peoples' preference to go all out on the paved, flat section. Something about this race makes people shoot out of the starting gate like their ass is on fire. I had been told to run my own race, and that is what I attempted to do for the first few miles. Until mile 4 or 5, I was hitting what I thought to be around 6:40 pace. As I began to converse with two runners next to me, I learned their goal time was sub-7 hours. This worried me a bit and I gradually increased the pace until my stride was as long as it could be without being labored.

Just as we passed through the first aid station, I met up with Mark Gilligan (founder of Ultrasignup.com) and began to talk with him about nothing in particular. I also missed my parents. It turns out they were having trouble not only finding the aid stations, but getting into the parks that charge $10 every time you enter, regardless of how long you stay. The day was cool and cloudy though, and I didn't need any more gels this early in the race.

After a few more miles I finally caught up with what I thought to be the lead pack. I found out moments later that this was a chase pack, with ranks 2-8 chasing the leader Michael Buchanan. He was 4 minutes ahead at the half marathon. Mark, being the helpful person he is, gave us constant updates on his whereabouts. As I had predicted, he had just gone out too fast and the pack was gaining ground with every step.

At around mile 20, there was an unexpected uphill and then back to flat ground. After this section, Geoff Roes had to make a pit-stop, and shortly after that there was about a half mile section of single track. It was at this point that I made a surge, or I guess just kept the same pace. Everyone else seemed to slow down a lot (which Anton Krupicka also mentioned about his 2008 race) on the single track section. The pack also spread out quite a bit, and I ended up gaining about a 200 meter lead on Mike Wolfe and Max King. I kept this lead until the marathon mark, where I also passed Michael Buchanan, passing the marathon mark in a new PR of 2:46:??. Coming through the aid station I felt awesome. Maybe it was just the excitement of taking the lead or the 2X caffeinated gel I took moments earlier. Most likely it was a mixture of the two.

At this point you venture off of the road to rolling single track. After less than a mile, it was obvious I had the wrong idea of what rolling single track meant. I had imagined soft, rolling hills and pristine trails that you often see in California and the Pacific Northwest. This was a little bit more technical, and also had steeper hills than I had expected. Not that it really mattered, but as I began to bound up the steep, short and rocky uphills, I started to feel little twitches in my hamstrings. This was a feeling I've had only once before and I knew that some serious pain was on its way. Just as I had predicted, on one of the steeper hills I tried to hop over a large rock and my hamstring instantly tightened up to the point where I had to stop and stretch it out. I then walked for about 30 seconds and tried to run down the hill. This didn't work so well and I was forced again to stretch it out. This is the point where Max King ran by and I simultaneously saw my sub-5:50 goal disintegrate. First to third in a distance of 2 miles. After about 5 minutes of jog/hobble/walking I made it to the next aid station and gulped down a gel and 3 S! caps. I new it would only be 20 minutes or so for them to start working, but I had already lost my mental charge from losing two spots.

Here is where I will divert from the race report a bit, and mention something I had learned just before this race. My mom had mentioned reading the blogs of Tim Parr and Duncan Callahan, and saw their strategy of staying positive even when things look their worst. This can be done in plenty of ways. Mine was to just remember why I had come to this race in the first place, all of the miles I had put in, and just to keep my mind focused on the fact that I really love what I'm doing at the moment regardless of how much pain I'm feeling. To put it succinctly, "Laugh the pain away."

This strategy worked until I could feel the effects of the S! caps, and soon after I was back at 7ish minute pace. After a few more miles, I could hear the cheers from an aid station, and I realized that I was only 30-45 seconds away from an unknown runner ahead of me. As I made my way through the station, I switched water bottles with my parents, and then set out to catch the mystery runner holding spot #2. Mere seconds after the hill next to the aid station, I saw Max walking up the remainder of the hill and this was the point where I knew I had a solid chance for 2nd place. Geoff was long gone in my mind (and in actuality), but if I could piece together 8 more miles, I was a shoe-in for Western States. This wasn't my original goal, but it became a driving force in these final miles.

I was still intent upon finishing under 5:50, but as the next corner became an immeasurable distance to the next aid station (the sign said 2.8 miles, but i think it was more like 4), I realized that goal was gone once again. As the negative thoughts began creeping into my head, I decided to run the race as if Max were nipping at my heels (he very well could have been, in this race its impossible to see more than 100 meters behind you in most places). This helped my pace, but also caused me to look back about 50 times while climbing up the final 3 miles. Once the road leveled off I saw Mark again and he started yelling. I traded shirts with him so I could finally get a picture in an Ultrasingup jersey at the finish line. Crossing the line, all of the pain and emotion seems to melt away. You're left with the notion of accomplishment and sheer joy.

Anyway, I think the race went really well despite missing my goal time by 6 minutes. I still feel there are 6+ minutes out there somewhere on the course, but I'm not losing any sleep over my performance. Not to say I could have hung on to Geoff for the whole race either. He is a very strong runner and I'm certain he would have done whatever it took to win the race.

I've been given an opportunity now to run one of the most prestigious and competitive 100 milers in the world, and I think that qualifies as a pretty good consolation prize.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Big Miles Before American River

2010-03-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the last two weeks of running lined up together:

MARCH 15- MARCH 21

M- AM 72 min, 10 miles

T- AM 63 min, 9 miles

W- AM 91 min, 14 miles @ 6:30 pace

PM 41 min, 6 miles

T- 140 min, 18 miles

F- AM 43 min, 6 miles

PM 43 min, 6 miles

S- 115 min, 15 miles

S- 75 min, 11 miles

TOTAL: 95 miles, 11 hrs 23 min, 7:11 min/mile

MARCH 22- MARCH 28

M- AM 66 min, 10 miles

PM 42 min, 6 miles

T- WORKOUT, AM 8 miles @ 6:40, 8 miles @ 6:30

PM 8 miles @ 6:40, 8 miles @ 6:30

Actual: AM 8 miles (50:38), 8 miles (49:37)

+ 2 mile warmup and 2 mile cooldown (28:12)

PM 8 miles (50:28), 8 miles (50:01)

+ 2 mile warmup and 2 mile cooldown (29:36)

Total speed workout miles: 32

Avg min/mile during workout: 6:16.75

Total miles run: 40

Avg min/mile total: 6:28.09

W- AM 46 min, 6 miles

PM 44 min, 6 miles

T- AM 89 min, 12 miles

PM 42 min, 6 miles

F- AM 96 min, 14 miles

PM 42 min, 6 miles

S- CRUD, 168 min, 17 miles

C2 Yoga, 75 min

PM 40 min, 6 miles

S- AM 139 min, 16 miles

PM 48 min, 6 miles

TOTAL: 151, 18 hrs 42 min, 7:25 min/mile

So, I've been off of the blog for a brief stint. Mostly, I had nothing to write about. The week after Salida was a bit boring with mainly recovery miles. This week was quite a bit different. Originally, I had intended for the weeks to be somewhat similar mileage-wise (somewhere around 130). But two days after Salida I felt some muscle soreness that told me I might want to back off a little before proceeding to the serious training. So, after a full week of recovery I was ready to start my last week of high mileage before American River.

This week was not only going to be high mileage, but also quite experimental. I had been given advice from several people on how to train for this race. Some said long tempos would do the trick. Others said high, consistent mileage is the key. I also heard a few people tell me that quality is the biggest factor. What I ended up with was a mixture of all three.

On Monday I decided to get in a solid 16 with my roommate to start off the week well. There isn't too much to add to that, other than I felt great from the lower mileage week.

Tuesday was a mixture of craziness. It was my day off of work and I had chosen to do my big workout for that reason. Seeing that it was warm and sunny outside, I changed my plans a bit to avoid driving to the start of my workout and ended up running 2 miles to warm up.

Once I got to mile marker 31.5 on the Sante Fe Trail, I took off my jacket and knotted it into the handhold on my water bottle, setting it next to the marker. I had originally wanted to do

the first of four 8-mile repeats at 6:40 min/mile. The first mile was on pace, but felt way too comfortable. I began to lengthen my stride and without much more effort found myself hitting the 2 mile mark at 12:50. Even though this was much too fast, I still felt great and decided to keep up the effort for the rest of the way, hitting 8 miles in 50:38. At this point I caught my breath and took a gel and a swig of water. The next round was a bit faster (49:37) and by the end I was desperate for a drink of water. Reaching down to my jacket for my water bottle, I noticed it was no longer there. Someone had actually taken the time to unknot my jacket from the water bottle, and just steal the water bottle. Cost of jacket: ~ $100. Cost of water bottle: ~ $22. This will rack my brain for weeks, months, maybe even years. So, after the second 8-mile jaunt I ran home 2 miles, empty handed, and took an ice bath and a nap to prepare myself

for the next workout.

Running back out to the start, I met my friend Harsha at the mile marker. He was going to run one of the 8 mile time trials with me and it felt great to have some company. So we set out at a comfortable pace. However, by the second mile the pace had increased significantly and Harsha's left hamstring was starting to bunch up. I learned shortly after this that he had already run for 2.5 hours that day. He told me to go on, and I made my way to the 4 mile turnaround point. Coming back, I saw Harsha again and he joined me for the last 3 miles or so to the finish. On the way we met Larry on his bike, and he paced me the entire way back to a time of 50:28. Setting out north for the last 8 mile split, it began to rain and I tried to stay as close to Larry as I could to avoid the cold rain. At this point I could feel my body start to become indifferent to the discomfort I was feeling. I felt the same at 7 minute pace as I did at 6. As I noticed this, I began to push harder and harder.

By the time we made it to the 4 mile mark, the rain had increased and it was getting windier by the second. Harsha met us there and I took a quick sip of gatorade before heading back alone. As I entered the final mile the rain turned into ice pellets and I hammered a 6 flat mile to get to my rain jacket as soon as possible. I crossed the line in 50:01. After quickly putting on my jacket and retrieving my water bottle (this one didn't get stolen) I ran home very awkwardly, being pelted by freezing raindrops the entire time. Being in my apartment for only about 10 minutes, I heard my neighbor exclaim, "HOLY SH*T!!!". I ran outside, and to my amazement saw a winter wonderland. About 2 inches of snow had fallen in that short amount of time. All I could do was laugh. What an interesting day....

The rest of the week went by very well. I had a few longish runs on my own and one with CRUD in another blustery, frigid outing. And to cap off the week, I finished a 16 miler with a new friend named Peter Maksimow. He is new to the Inov-8 team, and will definitely be a threat this year at Mt. Washington. Check out his profile here.

Altogether, I think this week went very well. I managed to rack up a personal record for the amount of miles run, as well as getting in a very solid workout in preparation for American River. The key points for success were: I had 4 runs that were 1:29:00 or higher, a 40 mile workout, ran 151 miles and scheduled in 7 recovery runs. If I can manage to recover well this week I believe I will be a very dangerous competitor in this race.

Salida

2010-03-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a really fun day. I got to race against a few really great runners, as well as see a bunch of friends I've made over the last couple of months. Anyway, here is my report:

The day started off by loading myself into the van of runner friend Harry Harcrow. He and his wife were kind enough to let me tag along on this adventure, and I was more than happy to ride with someone who'd been to the course before. On the way I got a detailed course description and some wonderful views of the Collegiate peaks.

Once we arrived, I rushed to slip on my trusty Mizuno Wave Ronins and make my way to sign up for the race. I was still unsure at this point whether or not I would be able to sign up still, since it was 8:40 already and I'd heard there were limited spots left. But, the day before I'd told myself I'd just run the course anyway and treat it as a training run. As I made my way over to the Race Day Registration booth, I saw a few other people lined up and knew that I'd made it.

Harry and I jogged our way over to the starting line, where we ran into a few other CRUD members. We all exchanged "hello's" and toed the line for the start. I glanced over to my right and saw everybody I'd mentioned in my last posting huddled into one group.

As we began the race, Tim Parr immediately shot out into the lead, and from that point it was a race for second place. Don't get me wrong, I made an attempt to keep up, but gave up the fight about 5 miles into the 8 mile uphill. Doing so sent me into a pretty deep oxygen debt and forced me to even walk up some of the steeper parts to catch my breath. I also decided to drop my handheld bottle at the 3 mile aid station, which happened to have all but one of my gels stored in it. BAD MOVE.

With about a mile to go before the top Nick Clark and Dan Vega caught up, and on the next big hill passed me without effort. At that point, I didn't really care about the rest of the race, I just wanted the hill to be over, and I wanted something to eat! After the 8 miles of uphill, we then reached the cusp and began a very arduous descent to the turn around. I was struggling to keep up with Nick and Dan but found it impossible to sustain my knee drive with so much mud sticking to the bottom of my shoes. I eventually found that running in their footsteps made it a lot easier. I still didn't gain any ground though, these are two guys that do very well on downhills. Anyway, as we neared the turn around point I saw Tim coming back the opposite way without so much as a bead of sweat on his forehead. This actually made me laugh out loud as I thought about my own internal struggle just to keep one foot in front of the other. I just hoped that the other two guys in front of me didn't look the same way.

At the turn around point I figured I was about 200 meters away from Nick and Dan. This lead increased as I gulped down 3 glasses of gatorade/water and ate a gel. But, for the amount of time I wasted, I gained back plenty of energy and decided to see if I could catch the pack. I probably gained about 100 meters back but slowed down as the climbs became steeper toward the top, and their lead grew as they crested the hill and began to bomb down the other side. Once again, I found that running in their footsteps was the easiest route, and actually gained a bit of ground on them on the less steep downhill grade back down to the turn-off point. But, having no gels or water bottle, I had to stop and quickly gulp down some gels and water before making my way up the snow-covered jeep trail.

After about 2-3 miles of attempting to gain ground on Nick and Dan, I'd made my way back to within 100 meters. At this point I decided to make a surge on the uphills and just let my legs coast on the downs. This worked really well and I eventually regained my position with the pack. Shortly after, I cut my way between Nick and Dan, and a few minutes after that began to hear Dan's breath behind me get fainter and fainter.

Nick was still powering up the hills and cruising down. It was really a struggle to keep up with him, but I felt that I needed to at least give it a try for 2nd place. I would try to surge up a hill, and he would immediately cover it on the downhill. I would then try to surge on a downhill and he would surge to avoid me passing him.... a VERY strong competitor. Talking with Nick afterward, it appears we both had the same thought during this exchange, which was "when is this dude gonna break!"

This continued until the steep and technical downhills where he maintained the lead the whole time. I was really impressed with how agile he was after the 20+ miles of mud and posthole snow we'd run through. It was at this point where I had already begun to think of ways to describe how I'd lost to Nick in my blog :) But, just as we were nearing the final stages of the technical downhill, I looked back and saw Ryan Burch about 300 meters behind. This sent me into a wave of panic and I began to high-tail it all the way back up to Nick. I said, "Burch is 300 meters behind us". I think he heard something like "Burch is 3rd blah blah". Regardless, we both began a mile plus sprint downhill before the road section. This is where I made a final surge and somehow got away from Nick. I must have looked back about 20 times in the half mile to the finish because I was so spent. I don't think I could've covered one more move on his part.

So, as I crossed the finish line the RD called out 3:18:15. I was a little bit disappointed with my choices at the beginning of the race, but eventually found out that Tim Parr was only 5 minutes ahead (he was most definitely taking it easy). Overall, I think this was a really good chance to see what kind of guts I had to fight for a position. Also it was well worth it to get some downhill speed and a chance to compete against some superb athletes.

This is probably going to be an early season race I attend for years to come.

Pre Race Jitters

2010-03-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a look at the last two weeks of mileage heading up to Salida:

MARCH 1- MARCH 7

M- AM 65 min, 10 miles, (hot yoga)

PM 40 min, 6 miles

T- AM 78 min, 12 miles, (C2 yoga)

PM 28 min, 4 miles

W- AM 66 min, 10 miles

PM 40 min, 6 miles

T- AM 71 min, 10 miles (C2 yoga)

PM 40 min, 6 miles

F- AM 67 min, 10 miles

PM 41 min, 6 miles

S- AM 189 min, 21 miles 4,665 ft of gain

PM 46 min, 6 miles

S- AM 36 min, 4 barefoot

PM 13 min, ~2 miles

TOTAL: 113 miles, 13 hrs 40 min, 7:15 min/mile

MARCH 8- MARCH 14

M- AM 105 min, 15 miles

PM 43 min, 6 miles

T- AM 49 min, 7 miles

PM 42 min, 6 miles

W- AM 112 min, 15 miles

PM 40 min, 6 miles

T- AM 40 min, 6 miles

PM 40 min, 6 miles

F- 85 min, 12 miles

S- Salida Marathon, TIME:

S- SOLO, __ min, 6 miles + 2 barefoot

TOTAL: 113 miles,

I didn't realize how much competition would be in this race when I decided to enter a few weeks ago. Actually, I haven't even entered yet, my plan was just to show up. That should be a sign of how seriously I was taking this event.

I'm not worried about this news, though. On the contrary, I'm quite excited. This is going to be a perfect test to see how hard I can push myself before American River.

Some of the competitors (that I know of) are: Timmy Parr, Ryan Burch, Nick Pedatella, and Nick Clark. Each of them has their own impressive record, and will likely be pushing for the number 1 spot to add to the list.

Similar to my outlook toward signing up for this race, I also have a lack of plan. The only thing I have in mind is that fact that I probably need to push the pace early on in order to even remotely have a chance at staving off Parr and his impressive speed (Olympics Trials marathoner, 31-flat road 10k), since the last 7 miles or so is all downhill. Yikes. Nick Clark and Ryan Burch also seem to have impressive sub-50 miler speed, with Burch running a 3:11 last year, and Nick having a few early CR's this year.

Needless to say, this will be an exciting race to take part in, as well as being a great tune up for my main goal this year.

Mizuno Breath Thermo

2010-03-04T20:16:00.001-08:00

I have been wear-testing this new line of gear from Mizuno this entire winter and have been very impressed with the results.

Since the middle of December, I have worn both the Breath Thermo upper and tights in many different conditions and have never had a bad thing to say about them. Simply put, this is the best cold weather gear I have ever owned.

Tights: While many other brands of tights consist of a thin layer of spandex and a pocket for your key, Mizuno tights are lined with the company's patented Breath Thermo layer. This not only keeps you warmer, but also gives the tights a soft feel that never chafes. One might think that with an extra layer added into the tights that they might bind or restrict movement when lengthening stride. I have never experienced such a problem, having worn these while doing tempo runs on flat roads and extended hill climbs up steep mountain trails. I can honestly say that I've run close to 600 miles in these tight since December, and have been comfortable and content for every single one of them. Great tights!

Fleece 1/2 Zip: This is a garment I have worn for about 60 days consecutively, whether I am running or relaxing, inside or outside. This piece of gear, more so than the tights, responds to the surrounding environment. Okay not literally, but its loose fit allows for more thermoregulation. It heats your body with the thermo technology, but is loose enough to allow air flow. On colder days (especially when its windy) you can combine this with a with a jacket layer and you'll stay toasty warm. Once again, this is a product I've used in varied conditions and the only place I've found it uncomfortable is in temperatures above 50 degrees (when its not needed).

Overall, I am ecstatic to have found such a great set of winter gear to run in. In my opinion, nothing that can compare to the Breath Thermo technology when it comes to battling the cold.

Now, I'm off to find a pair of Breath Thermo gloves!

Good Week

2010-02-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

I've finally gotten back on track with the mileage this week.

Last week was somewhat of a disaster, considering I was attempting to recover from a 50K and battling some sort of stomach virus/food poisoning at the same time. It seemed that every time I would try to pick up my normal routine of ~16 miles a day, my body would fight back and I would spend another day being completely exhausted. So, the weekly total was 72 hard-fought miles.

This week was a very different story. Here is a log of my miles:

FEB 22- FEB 28

M- AM 69 min, 10 miles

PM 45 min, 6.5 miles

T- AM 111 min, 14 miles

PM 43.5 min, 6.5 miles

W- AM 66 min, 10 miles

PM 66 min, 10 miles

T- AM 40 min, 6 miles

PM 41 min, 6 miles

F- 67 min, 10 miles

S- AM 95 min, 12 miles

PM 70 min, 10 miles

S- SOLO, __ min, 14 miles (still to come)

TOTAL: 115

Although I haven't quite finished out the week, I only need 14 more miles to complete my goal of 115 miles. My body once again feels whole, and every run this week left me feeling stronger and more confident than the last.

Today was the best run yet. For the last 6 weeks or so, I've been waking up every Saturday at 6:30 a.m, eager to go for a run. This is because of the group I've been running with, C.R.U.D. Although I don't get to run with C.R.U.D as much as I used to with the Trail Nerds, I still feel the same cohesiveness and friendliness from everyone who is in the group. Good folks! So this morning, I was running a bit late, but soon caught up to an unusually small group of Crudders crossing the train tracks to make their way up to the Falcon Trail. I was glad to see Rick, Paul, Tara, and John (whom I'd met only last week) all with smiles on their faces. We hit the trail and instantly there were 5 inches of fresh snow under every footfall. This made running a bit sketchy at times, but very easy on the legs. And I think the thing I remember most was how quickly the twelve miles went by, and how bummed I was that the run was over. I can't really recall the last time I felt that way. Luckily, the day wasn't over, as Tara and John invited Paul and I to attend a yoga class. I'll omit the details, but will say that it kicked my ass and I can't wait to go back.

Overall, this week was awesome. I'm back on track with mileage and I wake up every day excited to get stronger and faster. 2 weeks until Salida Marathon!

Random Tip

2010-02-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

So, it occurred to me today that I should probably post this random tip to people who run on muddy trails or to anyone who is planning for a muddy race coming up. I've found that the best way to get mud (especially the clay mud that doesn't come out in the washer) out of your clothing and off of your shoes is to go to a do-it-yourself warwash and use the power washer. It's relatively cheap, and you can avoid destroying your bathroom trying to soak your shoes in the tub. Just a thought.......

Born to Run

2010-02-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

If anyone hasn't read this book yet, I would definitely recommend it. Born to Run is full of useful advice, great stories, and plenty of mystery and excitement to keep the pages turning. And although I'm somewhat skeptical of the "100% barefoot running" message that this book portrays, it has a lot of underlying messages that mean a lot to me. The largest one is the notion of group running.

Throughout the book, the author repeatedly focuses on the fact that the Tarahumara wear nothing but sandals, and that they still win races without modern running shoe technology. What he fails to highlight is the cohesive structure of the Tarahumara running packs when they race and train. In every race they run, they run together as long as possible. So, they are effectively being each other's pacer for nearly the entire race. They also push one another to go faster, and pull the more sluggish ones along.

I can't even begin to describe how much group running has effected my training this year except to say that I am already close to being in better shape than I was before Leadville last year. Most of this is due to having a training partner and motivator for a roommate, and a plethora of runner's who match or exceed my fitness to run with.

If you are skeptical about the benefits of having a training partner, simply look at all of the great athletes in the world. Nearly all of them live and train with a running community. In a group you are able to strengthen your weakest elements while strengthening someone else at the same time. As my friend Dallas says, "Iron sharpens iron."

There is also a social side to running in groups that makes it easier to get out the door. It is so much less troublesome to go for that 20 mile run in the snow when you know someone will be there to join in the misery. For example, last Saturday I was on my usual long run with team CRUD. I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep and was still recovering from a 50k the week before, and some kind of food poisoning that left me couch-ridden for 2 days. Needless to say, I was not in a great state of fitness. After a 7 mile climb to the Palmer trialhead, I was gassed and ready to quit. Just then, a pack of CRUDders passed me. After seeing what condition I was in, two of them grabbed my water bottles and carried them, and one simply talked me out of my bad mood for the remaining ten miles. By the end of the run I felt great.

I would suggest that anyone who is training for a race in the near future find a training buddy. It really helps!

By the way, if anyone would like to check out the interview I did for Endurance Planet, just go to the website below. Endurance Planet is a website dedicated to covering sports such as ultra-marathoning, ironman triathlons, and various other races that fall inside the endurance sport demographic.

http://www.enduranceplanet.com/the-endurance-planet-hour-3

A Day in the Mud

2010-02-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

What a great weekend! Here is a review of the race from my perspective....

I've noticed that waking up for races is a lot like waking up before school when you were a kid, or before a big day at work. As usual, Saturday was no different. I woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm went off and just stared at it until it beeped. I stretched my legs a few times and got out from under the covers. I could feel the cold outside just by looking out the window, and tried not to let the chills influence my wardrobe decisions for the day. I put on my mizuno shorts, bio gear long sleeve, a trail nerds jersey, and then 10 more layers to make sure I'd stay warm.

Once again, I had the usual nauseous stomach that refuses to take in food without a fight. So, anticipating this, I had brought two very high calorie energy bars to get in a lot of nutrition without having to eat a lot. One was a PROBAR, which I saved for last since it is actually quite delicious and has about 400 calories per bar. I would not recommend this for an everyday snack, but if you need a lot of healthy calories, this is the thing to eat. Anyway, after ingesting almost 800 calories in five minutes, I took my multivitamins and chugged about 6 glasses of water, then headed out to the course.

I was a bit worried as I peeled off my outer layers because it was already starting to get warmer, and I know this course is notorious for being filled with muck that can reach up to a foot deep. Visions of the summer course started rifling through my head of losing my shoes 6 times (yes, 6 times). So, once I got my shoes screwed, I made sure to tie everything really tight.

200 people approached the start line, and with the sound of the horn we were off. My legs felt really fresh from the easy week of mileage I'd been doing, along with the opportunity to breathe in wonderful, low-altitude air.

The plan for the first and second loops was to try to keep my splits as close to 1:20:00 as possible. Caleb Chatfield had advised me not to keep the same pace the entire way, but to keep the same effort. This meant running the flats at around 7:30 pace, the downhills at around 6:45 to 7:00 minutes per mile, and then just run up the uphills without getting too fatigued. This plan worked pretty perfectly for the entire first loop. The uphills were free of muck, and the entire course was in pretty solid condition. As I rounded the turn to go through the main aid station, I hit a 1:19:56. The happiness of hitting that split so closely actually gave me a boost of energy. I thought, "Let's see how lap two feels!"

Well, lap two started well..... I can't really say much more than that. The course had just seen about 475 pairs of shoes running straight down the center of a semi-frozen sludge pit. Turning off from the road onto the trail, I saw a completely different trail than I'd seen 83 minutes earlier. It was now a five foot wide muddy, rocky bog. I attempted to run on the side of the trail, but as I noticed further down the trail, quite a few people had already gotten that idea. There was nowhere to go but straight up the middle. The worst part of lap two was the major climbs. With every two-foot step, you sink back six inches. It was impossible not to get fatigued. By the time I got to the five mile point, I was in oxygen debt and actually glad to run a half mile uphill on pavement. At this aid station I also saw Derek, my impromptu pacer extraordinaire. Derek had paced me at leadville with 15 minutes notice, and as I passed him I asked him if maybe he would do it again. Of course, being the awesome guy he is, he said yes. And as I rounded the turn through the main aid station a second time, he was there waiting in his running gear. My split was 1:20:58, with much more effort being put into this lap.

On lap 3, the course was in the worst condition I'd ever seen. There wasn't a single place you could step without slipping, unless you ran into the woods (trading the slippage for low branches and thorns). Imagine dancing on marbles while trying to run quickly. It was exhausting! The most frightening parts were the muddy downhills with signs saying SLOW DOWN! I just kept thinking, "But what if I can't?"

There were a few times when I completely banana-peeled, meaning both of my legs went over my head, and other times when I simply didn't have the strength to balance myself. So, giving into gravity, I would merely fall in the best way I could. I made it through most of the muck and finally climbed up the hill to the shelter 10 aid station. Kristi Mayo reminded me that I only had 2.5 miles to go. I looked at my watch and saw that I had exactly 22 minutes. If the final 2.5 miles of the course looked anything like the previous 7.5, it was gonna be close. I kicked in what little energy I had left to climb up the remaining hills. Just as I was closing in on a 1/4 mile left, I saw Brad Bishop standing in a clearing. He began to scream down to the finish line and tell everyone to cheer. The end of a race always gets my blood pumping. No matter how tired I am or how badly I'm hurting, my body always finds a way to cruise in the last part of a race. This race was no different. Once I saw Brad, I began to sprint down to the finish line. The last time rounding the aid station, I saw that even the field had become a mud pit. And seeing as how I was already covered in mud from head to toe, it only seemed appropriate to slide head first into the finish line. Here is the link below....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oODXrMQ_CYQ

Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel nearly as awful as I thought I would. I laid on the ground and laughed as Bad Ben put the medal around my neck. Then Shelley, Sophia, Birnbaum, and Danielle all came over and we took a group picture. My final time was 4:15:12, still four minutes under the course record.

As I took the medal out of my bag I noticed a big clump of mud on it. I laughed, and hung it up as-is on the wall. It will serve as a reminder that not everything is going to be completely perfect in a race. There will always be something that isn't planned for. The only thing you can do is grit your teeth and face it head-on. Most of the time you end up having more fun anyway.

Thank you to everyone that volunteered at the race. Bad Ben, you always impress me with your talent to put on a perfect race in imperfect conditions. Shelley, you are a saint, and a damn fine crew mate. Derek, I can't thank you enough for pacing me for the 3rd loop, I just hope someday I'll be able to return the favor. And to everyone I met out on the trail, STAY MUDDY. I hope to see you all again next year!

Final Countdown

2010-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

I will admit, there is always a little bit of pressure to perform well in your first race for the season. Last season ended fairly well with a few good performances in national level races. This year, however, is important in a different way. It is laced with expectations to follow through and improve upon last year's rookie season. So, although the first race of the year is not the most important, it is crucial in finding out where you stand in your levels of fitness as well as where you stand among competition.

Last week was my biggest week of milage this year, totaling 120 miles with a day off. I have to say I felt really strong during the entire week, and although I felt a day off was necessary, I was able to hit a back to back the two days afterward to make up for lost time. Here was the last weeks total....

WEEK 5: JAN 25- JAN 31

M- AM 65 min, 10 miles

PM 95 min, 13 miles

T- 164 min, 22.5 miles

W-AM 56 min, 8 miles

PM 65 min, 10 miles

T- AM 40 min, 6 miles

PM 41 min, 6 miles

F- day off

S- 202 min, team CRUD 23 miles

S- 147 min, 21.5 miles

TOTAL: 120 MILES, 14 hrs 35 min, 7:12 min/mile

This week has been great in a lot of ways too. I have just moved into my new apartment, and now it is possible to run from my place to Garden of the Gods in 30 minutes using mostly trails. Now most of my miles include a variety of bike trails, jeep trails, and singletrack, which is the perfect mix when training for trail races. Also, there is quite a bit of elevation gain on the way to Garden of the Gods, with quite a bit of loss on the way back. This allows for my legs to get a healthy dose of hilly miles, along with a chance to stretch my legs out and lengthen my stride for some fast miles on the way back.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how the elevation, along with the hilly terrain of Colorado Springs have helped me get into shape this season. I'm anxiously awaiting the moment to prove myself in a race setting, especially against my "ghost" of last year.

3 Weeks Out

2010-01-23T16:47:00.000-08:00

WEEK 3: JAN 11- JAN 17

M- AM 75 min, 11 miles

PM 65 min, 10 miles

T- AM 95 min, 13 miles

PM 46 min, 7 miles

W- AM 70 min, 10 miles

PM 59 min, 6 miles + 2+ barefoot miles

T- AM 48 min, 7 miles

PM 46 min, 7 miles

F- AM 43 min, 6 miles

PM 46 min, ~ 6 miles

S- 154 min, 21-22 miles

S- 40 minutes, 4+ miles

TOTAL: 110+ MILES, 13 hrs 7 min, 7:09 min/mile

WEEK 4: JAN 18- JAN 24

M- AM 66 min, 10 miles

PM 41 min, 6 miles

T- AM 67 min, 10 miles

PM 40 min,6 miles

W- AM 62 min, 8 miles

PM 40 min, 6 miles

T- AM 44 min, 6 miles

PM 40 min, 6 miles

F- 160 min 1.5 mile warmup, 10 miles @ 6:10 pace, 1 mile cool down, INCLINE MILE (41 minutes of super intense stair climbing), 4 mile run down barr trail, total 17.5 miles

S- long run with team CRUD, 182 min, 20-ish miles

S- 2 miles (barefoot)

TOTAL: 97.5 MILES, 12 hrs 22 min, 7:36 min/mile

These last two weeks of training have been great! I have hit my goals for weekly milage for 2 weeks straight, and now only have 3 more cycles to go before race day.

Week 3 was crucial to see if I would be able to make the jump into 100+ mile weeks without any strain on my body. It turns out, everything went according to plan... mostly. I started out the week bagging some big miles with my roommate. This left me with some room to take recovery days to get ready for my workout on Saturday. I ended up running with team CRUD, based out of Colorado Springs. They were doing a half marathon time trial, and needing some speed training, I decided to follow suit. I turned out to be a very fun day. I got to meet a lot of nice people, and ended up hitting around 6:30 miles very easily.

The second week was meant to test how my body responded to a slight drop in milage. Basically, if I was in decent shape, my body would be able to recover. If not, I would continue to feel fatigued and I would then modify my 120 mile week to something a bit more manageable. It turns out I didn't really get to test that, since I fell ill on Monday with some sort of respiratory affliction that is still haunting me. However, I did get a good week of milage in, along with 2 solid back to back workouts. On Friday, I did a ten mile workout at 6:10 pace along the Sante Fe trail. Then afterwards, I attempted the incline for the first time. With ten hard miles on my legs already, 2000 vertical feet in one mile destroyed my legs. But I got myself good and tired for the long run the next day. Below is a picture of Gold Camp road, which we ran uphill for about 10 miles, then turned around and headed back to the cars. Overall, we ran just over 3 hours. I decided to celebrate my two week triumph with a Gatorade, 2 chocolate milks, and two Jimmy John's sandwiches, all finished within a half hour.

Upping the milage

2010-01-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Getting back into intense training this year has been much easier than expected. I've found that my body has been responding very well to upping the milage every week, and this week I've finally started my seven week plan to train for the Run Toto Run 50k in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

Although most people from around the country think a race in Kansas won't be challenging or beautiful, this race is both. Set in the Wyandotte County State Park, it boasts over 5000 feet of elevation gain and some pretty serious technical trails. There's also plenty of wildlife to be seen throughout the course. I've heard rumors of a mountain lion somewhere inside the park as well.

So, the seven week plan is....

Week 1: 85 miles

Week 2: 100

Week 3: 110

Week 4: 100

Week 5: 120

Week 6: 85

Week 7: 50 easy

Since, I live on the east side of Colorado Springs, I haven't really been able to explore many of the mountain trails located on the west side. Moreso, I've been running either around my neighborhood or along a flat dirt trail that leads south to Fountain. Running through the neighborhood has offered its share of scares, as dogs around here always seem to be very aggressive. One dog in particular, a purebred husky, attempts to leap over its wall (about 7 feet) and nearly succeeds every time. The only upside to this is a serious "fight or flight" adrenaline boost that sends me into sub-6 minute miles. I'll make sure not to run by on my recovery days.

Starting again....

2009-12-07T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I've just returned from my travels overseas, which ended up being about 3 months instead of the 1 month I had originally planned. Needless to say, I am exhausted. But I am also ready to start another season of training and racing. I can feel it already that this year is going to be difficult, but in a fun way.

After Leadville, I spent almost a month recuperating from the I.T. band injury I aggravated during the race. Then, just as the pain started to subside, I nearly broke my ankle in Chamonix, France. That also took a while to heal. So, the injuries combined with the constant travel have made it extremely difficult to train the way I want to.

But, now that I'm back in the USA, I can fully focus my attention on getting stronger and faster. It will definitely help that I am now living with a potential 2:15 marathoner, Tommy Neal.

For now, I'm in New York City visiting my parents, and dodging a barrage of people on my daily runs through central park. And even though this drives me crazy, its almost helpful to be here to fully appreciate the place I will be training this year, Colorado Springs.

So here are some pics from my travels.... and more posts will be coming soon (and on a more regular basis, I promise).

Leadville 100

2009-09-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been almost a month since the race! I'll try to do the best I can to recall every detail.

I woke up on race day with the usual haze one feels when they've gotten 4 hours of restless sleep. After a full season of racing I was now used to this, and grabbed the package of smores pop-tarts I had laid out the night before. At this hour of the morning nothing tastes good and I tried my best to cram as much of my "breakfast" into my mouth before the nerves and nausea set in. After I donned my usual uniform of Mizuno shorts and a Kansas City Trail Nerds cut-off shirt, I drowsily laced up my brand new pair of popsicle orange Mizuno Wave Ronins. It's funny that, at 23 years of age, a new pair of shoes still makes me feel faster. It's all I can do to resist the urge to grab the first person I see and say "Hey, watch how fast I can run." But I have other things on my mind this morning... mostly finding my friends, family and pacers that will be helping me during the race.

Finding my mother and brother was easy enough. They had stayed at the Delaware hotel, mere blocks from the starting line. The real challenge would be finding my friends Dallas, Asher, and Mark. They had spent the last 17 hours driving my belongings in a trailer to Colorado Springs (my new residence), then driving through the night on zero hours of sleep to be at Leadville in time for my race. I guide them into town via cellphone, and see three tired, red-eyed travelers half-heartedly smile as I greet them. Dallas dropped Mark and Asher off to get some rest, and then joined my family to eat a real breakfast. We all needed it.

Breakfast talk was slow and strained through our respective stupors. However, it was a good chance to catch up with these people I hadn't seen in over a month. We also had a great opportunity to get some details straightened out with the race. After a few plates of fruit, muffins, and 5 glasses of OJ, we all made our way to the starting line.

I have heard from many people that there is no reason to warm up before a 100 mile race. Still, somehow I just don't feel right if i don't get at least a 5 minute jog in before I stretch. So, I set out at a slow cantor and begin to scope out the competition. Everywhere, I see nervous looks and brightly colored gaiters. Not that they have anything to do with one another, it's just what I notice. After the 5 minutes or so of jogging I headed back to the starting line and strip down to my uniform. I made sure to stretch the large muscle groups in my legs, and also a sore I.T. band that I had been nursing back to health the week prior. It felt great, and it renewed my confidence in being able to run this large distance.

5 MINUTES!!!!! The race director is screaming into the microphone as my family and I are attempting some last-minute conversation. Nothing really important is being said, they are just attempting to settle my nerves which are plainly visible to people who know me so well. I try to tell them I'm fine, but really I'm a wreck. This is going to be the biggest race I've ever run, with some very solid competition.... and it's only my second race at this distance.

2 MINUTES!!!!! I've pushed my way to the front of the pack and am trying to ignore everyone around me talking about time splits and nutrition. I feel the same way when I'm about to take a test and everyone around me is reviewing their notes out loud. It's a bit frustrating. But... I understand that most of the people here are just nervous and trying to keep their minds off of the immensity of their task. I'm trying to keep my mind busy by looking for Greg Burger, a friend and teammate who was looking to receive a finisher's buckle today. Even though Greg and I had spent the entire week camping and training, I still wanted to offer a few more words of encouragement. I knew, though, that it would be virtually impossible to find him in a pack of 500+ people.

1 MINUTE!!!!! Anton appears out of nowhere and steps to the front of the pack. I have the sneaking suspicion he ran here. Stuart, part of the Great Plains Running Company team, grabs my shoulder and wishes me luck. Shelley and Derick scream at me from the other side of the street, and I attempt to smile as my stomach is dropping to my ankles.

Ten, nine, eight, seven..... you get the idea. We start. Almost immediately, a front pack begins to form and we separate from the much larger group behind us. In this pack of 9 or 10 people, I only recognize 4. There's Tim Parr, Anton Krupicka, Andy Jones-Wilkins and last year's winner Duncan Callahan. There's one guy with a CamelBak who has a very labored stride. Somehow, even in the first mile of a 100 mile race, I know he won't last. The other guys look strong and efficient and I wonder what kind of unexpected competition will be here today. We get through the first mile of pavement, and then switch to the dirt road. It was at this point I lost my maglite handheld and opted not to waste time picking it up. Left with only my headlamp, I surged forward to stay in the collective light of the pack. This made it much easier to see all of the bumps and dips in the road, and also allowed me to take my first gel of the day. I wanted to make sure I stayed on top of nutrition and hydration early on.

The pack stayed together in a tight group until the first hill. From there, we straightened out and formed a line. We would more or less stay in this order until the climb to Sugarloaf Pass.

About 3 miles into the Turquoise Lake trail, Anton is leading the pack and decides to make a pit-stop. In the darkness everyone is depending on the lead guy to find the trail, and as a result 7 people wreck into each other as Anton stops, turns around, and explains that the trail is up the hill. He would like to shit in solitude. All of us have a good laugh and continue on the trail to Mayqueen campground.

Once at Mayqueen, I frantically look for a familiar face to transfer water bottles and GU packs. Not a single face I recogni.... wait is that SHELLEY?!! I desperately look to her for help but she has no gear to resupply me. She and Derick cheer me on through the aid station, and immediately I begin screaming "DALLAS! BLAKE! CHERYL! DALLAS!" All of these yelps went unanswered, and I decided since it was still cool I could make it another ten miles on one bottle of water an a gel. Our time going through Mayqueen was 1:45. I overheard Anton explaining that this pace was faster than his 16:14 finish two years ago. This worried me a bit and I decided to hold back a bit. After a few minutes I was alone.

The road to Sugarloaf Pass offers some of the best views of the surrounding landscape. I can't help but smile as I turn around and take in the sunrise over Turquoise Lake. Far off, you can see the lights of Leadville, and the headlamps of hundreds of fellow travellers in a single-file line around the lake. My smile fades away as I turn around and see the beginning of the large ascent to Sugarloaf Pass. This is the first of six major climbs in the race. I dramatically slowed my pace to about 9-9.5 minute miles and began the long climb to the top. Once at the top, I descended the 4 or 5 small downhills, and this is where my knee pain slowly crept in. I knew at this point that it would be a long day. I tried my best to "switchback" my way down the last large hill, and from there I just kept my eyes on the CamelBak guy until reaching Fish Hatchery aid station.

I find my brother and Dallas waiting for me at the entrance with two open gels and two new bottles of water packed full of GU and HammerGel. Normally (and I don't think I'm alone here) gels are simply a means of quickly taking in electrolytes and carbohydrates on the run. By this time, having missed an opportunity to refuel at Mayqueen, I am starving and I don't hesitate to greedily take both gels at the same. Yuck, tropical and chocolate. What a combination. Either way, it goes down easily and I chug two cups of powerade before I head out. In the daylight, I can see all of the familiar faces I had missed at the previous aid station. There was Dallas, Mark, Asher, Blake, mom. I stopped and gave my mom a kiss on the cheek and assured her I was feeling fine. Never underestimate the weariness of a mother during one of these races.

I raced out of Fish Hatchery trying to catch CamelBak guy still. I did have time to pose for Shelley and Derick, who were taking pictures right next to the road. I headed out to the road with a smile on my face, and began hunting for what I thought to be third place. After running through the early morning sun, I started to feel the blood rushing back to my frozen fingers. This section of the race is fairly uneventful for most people, seeing as how it is a flat section of paved road. It was the same for me. Nothing really to speak of aside from gaining a few paces on CamelBak guy. I chased him all the way until the turn off of Halfmoon Creek road, and this is where I made my move. I flew past him in order to assert myself and avoid a pace- pushing episode. Shortly after I looked back and realized he had stopped shortly after. That was the last I saw of CamelBak guy.

While in third place I slowed down dramatically. The pain in my knee was getting worse and I was forced to walk most of the flats since I couldn't really lift my leg that high anyway. It made more sense to me to just walk quickly and save my strength for the downhills and the climb up to Hope Pass. About 15 minutes into the 2nd large climb I looked back and saw Duncan Callahan steadily making up ground between us. I smiled and said hello and stepped aside so he could run by. Another 15 minutes, I start making my way down the hill to Twin Lakes. Behind me, I hear a yell and look back to Nick Lewis pointing me in the right direction. He would later apologize for not yelling sooner, but to be honest he saved me at least an hour of cursing, yelling, and extra running on a hurt knee. The last downhill was painful, and right as I was about to crest the last descent, I see Mark and Asher yelling at me. I scream, "IBUPROFEN!" and they make their way down the hill hassle the medical tent for some pills. I took these with a few gels, and chugged a bottle of water. My crew said I was looking a little ragged. The truth is, I was feeling great physically (not my knee, of course), I was just insanely pissed off that my knee was giving me that much trouble with 60.5 miles left in the race. There was no time to feel sorry for myself. Dallas and Blake gave me a slap on the butt and I hobbled my way to the beginning of Hope Pass. This was about the only time in history I would be looking forward to a 3000' climb after 40 miles of running.

After about 20 minutes of hobbling/walking, I crossed the creek that feeds into Twin Lakes. It felt amazing combined with the heat of the sun. It also took some of the pain off of my knee, and once out I felt I could stumble long enough to make it to the beginning of the ascent. I did, and once I hit the first bit of gain, I began a fast-walk all the way to Hope Pass. I lost a lot of time looking back to see if anyone was gaining on me. Every time I looked back I'd see a white hat or a blue jersey. All of the sightings were my imagination, but I couldn't help feeling that I was losing so much ground due to my walking. At last, I might to the Hope Pass aid station and refilled my bottles. At this point, most people would relish in the fact that they are going to have a huge downhill to saunter down. I on the other hand, had really enjoyed not feeling my knee for 2 hours, and was wishing for anything but 3000' feet of elevation loss. I took one last look over my shoulder, and saw no one. This was comforting, and eased the tension growing in my stomach again... or is that hunger? Who cares... I took another gel and began the arduous descent to Winfield aid station.

The last 2 miles before Winfield were probably the toughest miles in the entire race. I was alone, tired, out of gels, and nearly out of water. This stretch of road seems to last forever, and it didn't help that the first group of cars were now flying by and kicking up dust. I could feel the grittiness in my teeth. I could feel my temperature rise from the dust drying out my skin. I was miserable. Behind me I heard footsteps and I look back to see a runner closing in. I see him pass me and I congratulate him, saying he looks strong. He looks back and laughs, "Naw dude I'm just out here crewing." I sigh with relief. Shortly after I see my brother jogging down to find me. "Dude, this dust sucks ass!" He was basically reading my mind word for word. He ran ahead to tell my crew I was near, not before convincing me to jog in the last half mile to avoid letting them know I was in such a bad state. Once again, never underestimate the weariness of a mother during one of these races.

Ah, the halfway point. Only 50 miles to go. My stomach was churning. I was only 4 pounds under my starting weight, which is much better than my first 100 miler. It brightened my mood a bit, and I celebrated with a few ibuprofen and a cup of bland ramen noodles. Dallas thought it might be a good idea to take a short break. I gladly sat and let he and Mark rub my legs with IcyHot. The smell made me nauseous, but the rush of cold on my legs was a relief. I sat for a few more minutes until I heard cheers from the crowd and realized another runner was on his way in.

I jumped up and began assembling my supplies for the next leg. I had assumed at this point I was going to go another 27 miles before I would have a pacer. Dallas, Mark, and Asher are all track and field athletes. Dallas and Mark run the 800m at the National level, and Asher does the same for the 1500. I had no intention of burdening them to spread the next 50 miles between them. Running that much at this point in their training would damage them and leave them in recovery for too long. Just as I was stumbling out of the aid station, Shelley yells for me to wait. Derick was going to be pacing me! What a badass. I couldn't believe someone I've only known for less than a day was willing to climb over a mountain with me. And he was also wearing a pair of popsicle orange Ronins. Needless to say, I was glad to have his company, and it put a little pep in my hobble on the way back to the trailhead. It was great being able to vent my frustrations to someone, and also to talk about other things aside from being frustrated. We talked quite a bit (when we could) about triathlons, ultra races, how awesome Shelley is, etc. Another runner, Nick Pedatella, passed me. I didn't care. When we needed to rest, we rested. When we needed to eat, we ate. We both encouraged the many runners coming down. I saw Paul smiling as he passed. Greg looked to be on the right pace, though he looked to be in lower spirits. Before we knew it we were at the top of Hope Pass and I had Derick turn around and take in the view. As I've said before in my blog, this is one of the most beautiful and powerful places I've ever seen. Tired though I am, I cannot help standing a few moments longer to appreciate a view that many people never have an opportunity to see. From here its a rough few miles to Twin Lakes. We refuel at Hope Pass aid station and I ingest two gels to make sure I will have enough fuel to get to the next one. All of a sudden, a perfect storm of caffeine, ibuprofen, and sugar hits me and I feel great for the first time in 30 miles. I looked over to Derick and said "F*** it! Let's go!" We increase our strides and begin storming down the hill. My guess is we were clipping along at sub 6 minute pace for a good stretch, and didn't go much over seven minute pace until we reached the flat. It was at this point Derick told me to go ahead, and also the point where I began a battle with Nick Pedatella for placing. I passed by he and his pacer and took a brief respite in the cold stream before heading into Twin Lakes.

As I made my way across the fields before the aid station, my brother once again goaded me into running in the remaining distance. And, like before, I did. My crew met me with cheers and the tube of IcyHot. I yelled at them again, "IBUPROFEN!" and told my brother to run ahead so he could get me a new pair of shoes.... the ones I had on didn't feel right. I took them off and inspected the bottoms. As I had thought, there was something wrong. I had basically ripped off the entire tread of one of them, and the other one was missing the patented G3 grip. I tried to wolf down a banana, two gels and a few cups of powerade as my brother and Dallas are wrestling my feet into the new socks and shoes. People are talking about the loud orange shoes being placed on my feet and my mom and Shelley proudly tell the crowd in unison, "They are Mizuno Wave Ronins!" I can't help but laugh at this and think how proud Sophia would be to see my crew repping for her company. Blake follows me up the hill and informs me that I wouldn't have a pacer for this leg. He gave me a big pep talk and, surprisingly, got me really pumped to get the next section done. But, as he sauntered back down the hill, I already missed his presence. The next 10 miles were going to be lonely.

After blasting up the hill, I once again hit the flats I had walked on the way out. The way back was more of the same, with many attempts to spot someone clipping at my heels. Shortly after the next aid station, I got my wish. Nick was back on my heels and I spent the remaining miles walking and sprinting to avoid him overtaking me. Over the last hill I spotted my brother and felt a rush of adrenaline at seeing him. I was glad to have him in my sights again, and just as he had done at every station today, he convinced me to run in.

More IcyHot, more ibuprofen, more gel, more water, the whole routine was starting to make me nauseous. I choked down the gel and begged for more ibuprofen, but there was none to be had. My mom refused to hand it over. So in its stead, I took another gel and slowly rose from the chair. Mark was waiting for me and we very slowly made our way to Halfmoon Creek road. This is the point where my body just gave up on me. I found it impossible to move my legs faster than a walk. I was tired, nauseous, dehydrated and completely mentally drained. It only occurs to me now that Mark was the perfect person to have pacing me at this point. He didn't yell at me or attempt to prod me along like most people would in this situation. We simply talked and walked the entire way. Even though we were making terrible time and losing a lot of ground on Nick (who was now about a mile ahead), it gave me a while to recollect myself and rehydrate/refuel for the next leg of the race, Sugarloaf Pass. I slowly walked into Fish Hatchery aid station and, after walking through the garage, sat down with my crew and attempted to regain some energy. Dallas handed me a Clif bar. The sight of it made me gag violently. I try some soup, which is the one thing I have been able to stomach after 70 miles of running. It may have gone down smoothly had it not been ice cold. Next up, a handful of vitamins. Those came back up after getting stuck on the back of my throat. It turns out the only thing I'm able to stomach after eating nothing but gel all day is..... MORE GEL!!! The irony makes me laugh and Asher, my new pacer, drags me out of the aid station. Just as we leave, the next runner comes in. Dallas screams "TWO MINUTES BEHIND!!!!"

Asher and I very slowly get through the paved section. My knee can't take the even terrain combined with the hardness of the asphalt. But once we get to the hilly section over Sugarloaf Pass, things start to pick up. Well, the pace stays about the same, its just on more rugged terrain and I know I'm doing well. When we get to the top of the first hill I look back while catching my breath. I see the runner and his pacer at the bottom and wonder if Dallas was just lying to me or if we had gained a lot of ground in the last mile. Either way it gave me a little bit of a rush, and I used this to bomb down the next few sections of rolling hills.

For what seemed like forever, Asher and I traversed the large climbs and sprinted down the descents. After losing count of the hills we had climbed, I simply resorted to cursing everyone and everything. Once again, Asher seemed to be the perfect person to have at this point. She offered to carry my water bottles, which made the climbs way easier. She also added constructive criticisms that I almost always tried to correct. Right as the sun was going down, we began the descent down to Mayqueen campground. Under the trees the sun no longer offered its warmth or light. After about 20 minutes of jogging/avoiding rocks, we were forced to a walk and began squinting to see the pink flags guiding the trail. How could we have forgotten headlamps. It was a mistake that was gonna cost us precious minutes. Luckily, we didn't have that far to go. All of a sudden, we see a large beam of light dancing in the air, and then a familiar voice. SHELLEY!!!! Shelley had borrowed a policeman's gigantic maglite and was now searching for us in the woods. She escorted us out of the woods and onto the road. At this point my entire crew, even Derick's dog, was jogging next to me. It was at this point I knew I was going to hold off the person behind me, and catch Nick no matter how far ahead he was. Dallas was going to pace me the last 13.5 miles, and together we were going to fly through the last leg. I left just as the other runners were making they're way in.

"We're going after Nick." I'm not sure if Dallas had read my mind or if he had his own plans that happened to be exactly the same. It didn't matter though. I knew Dallas would see me through to the end. He had paced me at my first 100 miler, and now knew exactly what had to be done. Out of the 7 miles of Turquoise Lake trail, I would say we walked less than 300 yards. Every hill we went up, Dallas would scream encouragement. Every hill we went down, more of the same. I can't remember a moment in this stretch where there was silence. This helped out a lot because I wasn't allowed to fall into a pattern for too long.

Every twenty minutes Dallas would yell from behind, "Gu coming up, is chocolate okay?" After three or four of these, I realized that he only had chocolate, but it was nice of him to ask. Just then, headlamps ahead. It was Nick! We were gaining ground fast, and seeing this only made us run faster. Meanwhile Dallas is screaming "You gotta break his heart! Fly past him!" I started laughing. Normally you don't scream your plans into your opponents' ears. No matter though, they merely smiled, we exchanged encouragements and then fell back into the routine of Dallas telling me what to do. This was great! Now we just had to avoid getting lost.

We got lost. If anyone reading this has every gotten lost during a race, especially the end, they will understand how completely draining it is. Not only are you exhausted by the thought of running extra miles, but also losing ground to opponents and trying to find the trail again. Dallas runs ahead and find a group of campers next to a fire. One of them volunteers to help us and begins running down trail with us. Just then, Nick and his pacer meet us and we all exchange confused looks. As a group, we all made our way back to the correct trail. Just then Dallas yells again "You've gotta break his heart.... a second time!" We set off in a hurried pace to lose Nick.

As we left the trail to cross the street, I felt my foot getting moist and warm right on the heel. After contemplating this sensation for the entire steep downhill to the dirt road, I realized it was a massive blister. I must not have felt it the entire time due to the other aches and pains I was feeling. No matter. How bad could it get, right? Wrong. After about a mile, the moist and warm feeling turned into a stinging sensation. Dallas and I decided to walk to see if the pain went away. But now there was a new threat. Headlamps were closing in behind us. I decided that the pain of losing a spot in the race would be worse than what I was feeling in my foot... for now, at least.

Dallas and I picked up the pace and made our way to the last 2.5 mile section before the final paved mile. It was way steeper than I thought, and we were forced to walk on the bigger hills. On one of these hills the entire back of my foot ripped open. It felt like someone had lit my heel on fire. To make things worse, the headlamps were bouncing behind us again. This was by far the most frustrating race experience I've every had. Being trapped between a failing body and an adamant mind. With such a short distance to go, Dallas was not going to allow us to lose any more positions. After what seemed like forever, we saw a street light in front of us. We had made it, without losing any ground to the racers behind us. I knew that once me made it to the road, I would feel the usual rush of adrenaline and cruise in the last mile. At this point, no one was going to catch me. Just as I expected, the rush of energy hit me. I no longer felt my legs, feet, anything. I was floating. Dallas kept up with me until the last quarter mile and then stepped off to let me enjoy my finish. Blake and Mark came to meet me with a short distance to go. Shelley and Sophia were screaming, and my mom was there to greet me at the finish line with a big hug.

4th place at Leadville. It would have been impossible for me to stop smiling at this moment.

I would like to thank everyone who crewed for me, for pacing, for offering encouragement, everything. You have helped create a memory that I won't forget as long as I live.

For now I'm off to Europe and hopefully finding a lot of awesome places to run and get back into shape!

2009-08-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this post was supposed to be up a few days ago. Such is a life without a constant source of internet.

This morning, I awoke to nothing but pure silence... and this view

I woke up a bit later than usual this morning because I had been watching the meteor shower the night before. No worries though, there wasn't much on my plate today, other than putting in an easy 13-15 miles on the turquoise lake trail. But let me regress a bit....

Yesterday was a BIG day in terms of training. It was the final long run, and was the real test of my endurance and ability to deal with the rigors of exercise at altitude.

I was a bit worried about how sore I would be considering the 6 hour effort I had put in the day before. At dawn I scrambled to turn off my alarm, which was at its loudest setting, and rolled around a bit to see what damage I had sustained. Surprisingly, no soreness! Somehow I knew that wouldn't last.

The Leadville 100 miler has two large climbs that provide the majority of elevation gain. Having already done Hope Pass, I wanted to give Sugarloaf a go to see just how ready I was for this race.

I parked my car at the Mayqueen camping area and looked at the last of my clean running gear. Luckily, I had saved my favorite pair of Mizuno shorts for a day like today. Along with the short shorts, I chose to wear a pair of Wave Musha's

that Sophia had kindly given me to try out. Since I wasn't doing too much technical trail, I knew they would be light enough to help me up the steep hills, but cushioned enough for going down. Potable water is something I've had a hard time locating on my long runs here, so before leaving I chugged two full bottles of water to make sure I stayed hydrated.

I started at a moderate pace, not knowing what to expect of the climb. I ran over the bridge and onto the main road up to the trailhead. This section of trail is surprisingly fast and I'm not sure why. It could be my love of hilly single track or that this section reminds me more of an obstacle course. Something about it is very fun.

Without a moments notice I'm out of the woods and onto Hagerman Pass rd, and also doubled over in oxygen debt. After a few seconds recovery and stopping to take a picture, I regain my 8 minute pace and begin a steady climb to the power lines. It was at this point that I took my first gel (one of five I brought with me). After another half hour or so of climb, I began to follow the power lines through a series of smaller hills, then made my way down the very steep back side of the pass. I exchanged a few pleasantries with mountain bikers who were toiling their way back up. I didn't dare laugh, since I knew I would be attempting the same feat only minutes later.

As I made my way to the paved road to turn around, I allowed a jeep to pull in ahead of me thinking it would be a good pacer for the steep climb.... WRONG. Instead, his gigantic tires spat up monstrous clouds of dust, and so began my adventure in the desert sandstorm. I eventually decided to stretch for a few minutes and let the dust clear. During the short break I also took my second gel.

Along most of the Leadville course, the way back is much steeper but much shorter than the way out. And although I tried my best to run the entire length of the hill, the amount of exertion required quickly put me into oxygen debt and I was forced to walk the remaining large and steep hills. This was a bit disheartening at first, but soon I realized that I was able to run the more gradual ones. Finally, the last hill came and my legs were able to stride out. I used my remaining strength to clock some fast miles on the 5-ish mile downhill to my car. I can tell this stretch of road is where I'll make my move.

So, as I awoke this morning to Mt. Elbert, I had a good stretch and could feel the miles that have accumulated over the last three days. I believe this is a good thing, since I have probably shocked my body into building some extra capillaries and red blood cells. Anyway, the next 9 days are going to be completely devoted to resting up and preparing my mental game.

2009-08-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hope Pass is, by far, the most intense 21 mile run I have ever done. But the scenery and the knowledge gained by running this section was well worth the stiff legs and a few scrapes and bruises...

The day started out like most others, with various birds notifying me that it was 5:30 AM. Usually I would be able to ignore these miniature alarm clocks, but today one of them decided to make the top of my tent a stage. I made several attempts to scare the bird away by shaking the tent, all to no avail.

So, hopping out of my sleeping bag, I quickly put on shorts and shoes, and went to my car to find the large package of blueberry muffins I had bought the day before. After three of those and a few bottles of water, I made the drive from halfmoon campground to twin lakes, where I would start my journey.

I was a bit worried about how I would perform due to the harsh nature of the terrain. Over 21 miles, the elevation gain totals approximately 5800 feet. But since I wasn't feeling sore, and I had plenty of fuel for the day, I didn't foresee any big problems occurring.

I started out from the parking lot across from the tiny town of Twin Lakes. With my makeshift course map, generously provided by Anton Krupicka, I felt pretty confident in being able to navigate this section with ease. I was wrong. Within 20 minutes, I was lost in a creek bed looking for the next section of trail. After another 20 minutes, I found that the trail was hidden by some brush, but was more or less directly in front of me the entire time. Sometimes things are so simple they become extremely difficult.

Once through the plains surrounding Twin Lakes, you begin a fairly steep climb that does not wane until Hope Pass at 12,600. The view at this point is spectacular since you basically get two gorgeous views, both being framed by the peaks to your right and left. Here is a URL of the view of Leadville from Hope Pass. I would have put it on the blog but it wouldn't upload for some reason. From this point, if you look back you can see basically everything you have just run.

http://runtrails.net/2006/images/hope_2.jpg

As Anton had warned me the day before, this was the point where your legs take a real beating. He was right. In the span of about 4 miles, you descend 3000 vertical feet of elevation. At the end of the descent I noticed I was pretty low on water. Thankfully, the town of Winfield was only 2.5 miles away. Upon arrival I knew I was in trouble. Winfield, unbeknownst to me, was a mining town that once held a population of 1500. Unfortunately, the town did not prosper much after the gold rush in the early 1900's. This left me with a choice of either dehydrating myself further, or taking a chance with the stream and giardia. Luckily a kind woman noticed my plight and waved me over to take the rest of her bottle of treated water. After a few minutes of talking and learning about the town's history, I was off to Twin Lakes. I had one last look at probably the most beautiful scenery I've seen while out here, and then made my way down the hill to find my car.

Quality over quantity

2009-08-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Since the failed attempt at Mt. Massive, I have tried to rethink my outlook on preparing for this race. Having to turn back on my first attempt at a climb seriously jarred my resolve and my mental preparation. However, later that day I was contacted by a long time friend, Matt Owings, and decided to pay him a visit to clear my head of all the stress I have been feeling.

The trip was just what I needed. Early in the morning, I ran a section of the Leadville 100 course (about 90 minutes or so), and departed Leadville with pure anticipation of what the weekend might bring. About 1.5 hrs into the drive, you begin a steep and steady climb to independence pass, which tops out at around 12,950 ft. The views from the rest area are some of the most picturesque sights I have ever seen, not to mention its at the top of my list for ones you can drive to. However, I would recommend parking your car and observing, rather than trying to navigate the winding roads (without guardrails).

After a brief stop to take in the view, I headed down route 82 to meet my friends in Aspen for dinner at the Hickory House, and then on to Snowmass for a free concert.

The next day, I made an attempt to climb Mt. Sopris

Mt. Sopris, as I have been told, has the highest vertical gain from base to peak in the state of Colorado. Another plus is the fact that it peaks at just under 13k, a perfect combination for someone trying to acclimate to altitude. After climbing for around an hour and a half, you begin to rise above treeline. At this point, you are able to see the surrounding towns of Basalt, Carbondale, and even Aspen if you know where to look. Capitol peak and Snowmass peak are easily visible as well, and they dominate the southern landscape. With lunch, snacks, and numerous photo-ops, my friend and I covered both peaks in just under 8 hours. This accomplishment immediately renewed my confidence and left me with a desire to push myself even harder.

The next day was spent in pure relaxation, tubing down the Roaring Fork River. My float of choice was a queen-sized air mattress. This proved to be quite useful since the river's temperature was not much above 50 degrees. And the scenery was, once again, amazing... bald eagle's perching on treetops, Mt. Sopris looming over the landscape, and the red hills that rise up from either side of the river were enough to keep a smile on my face for the entire day....

This weekend allowed me to step back and truly appreciate what I am doing out here.

Lawrence to Leadville

2009-08-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

So, leaving Lawrence was pretty much like starting any other road trip I have made in the past... a little hung over, and a little unsure of what might happen during the adventure.

Fortunately, nothing too crazy happened from Kansas to Colorado. Driving through Hayes reminded me of last year's road trip to Utah that resulted in my friend and I driving 35 mph through some of the worst hail and rain I have ever seen. Then, once out of the blinding precipitation, we looked to our left and saw an F-4 tornado that would cross I-70 only fifteen minutes later.

The trip took me 7.5 hours, and every minute of it was spent in complete appreciation for western kansas. It's not so much the large expanses of flat land that really excite me. It is the constant, slow gain in altitude that seems to sneak up on you. Suddenly, you are wondering why you can't catch your breath. And then, the real treat. Large peaks start to rise out of the haze, and you realize you have reached the Rocky Mountains!

After a night spent in Denver, I made my way out to Leadville, where I plan to spend a majority of my time acclimating to the altitude and weather. The first place I went was a store called Sawatch Backcountry to buy some gels and protein bars for the next day. Then I made my way out to Turquoise Lake to camp for the night.

Once I found my campsite, I decided to jog down to the potable water faucet. Even though it was only about a 100 yard jog, I was seriously out of breath. I filled the bottles, and made my way back to the car to put on some running shorts and go for a 90 minute jog, or should I say a walk with some jogging.

After seeing the Turquoise Lake trail, I am pretty sure this is going to be my favorite part of the course. The views of Leadville, Mt. Massive and the lake itself are amazing. Along with that, the terrain is smooth singletrack with few hills. After 90 minutes of exertion, I sat down at the mouth of a stream and spent about 15 minutes relaxing in the ice-cold water. What a great day! That night, I went to sleep around 8:30 in order to get enough rest for tomorrow's task,

climbing Mt. Massive.

To anyone who has not seen it, Mt. Massive is very appropriately named. It dominates the landscape, even while sitting next to the tallest mountain in Colorado, Mt. Elbert. I shot out of my sleeping bag at 5:30, giddy for what the day was going to bring. Leaving the campsite by 6:00 would leave me plenty of time to get to the trail head and start my hike before the clouds rolled in mid-afternoon.

Once you hit the trail head you immediately start to climb a steep grade for close to 40 minutes. Then, the as the trail levels out, you are able to catch your breath and enjoy the scenery. However, the views are nothing compared to what you see above tree line.

The views became increasingly beautiful and more breathtaking the further I climbed. However, the oxygen becomes thinner and my water depleted more quickly. About a half mile from the summit, I had to turn back. The lack of water combined with the feeling of my heart pounding in my forehead made me think it was the best idea. Somewhat defeated, I made my way down below tree line. Maybe climbing the 2nd highest peak on my 2nd full day in Colorado was a bit overzealous.

Moving out

2009-07-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

So today is the last day I am able to call Lawrence, KS my home. All of my things are safely packed away in a garage, and now all I possess are:

5 pairs of running shoes

8 pairs of running shorts

6 technical t-shirts

1 tent

1 sleeping bag

1 bottle of S! caps

5 water bottles

1 Trail Nerds sweatshirt

other various articles of clothing and food

I will be heading to Colorado on Sunday, and hopefully hitting the trails (14ers and the leadville 100 course) by monday.

I would like to thank all of the Trail Nerds for their friendship, support, and for being such a great team. Ben and Sophia, I will never be able to thank you enough for helping me this year. I'm really looking forward to see you out there!

Bye for now

Beginning to blog

2009-07-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

My name is Andy Henshaw and I'm an ultramarathoner currently living in Lawrence, KS. I've recently placed 6th at the White River 50 mile National Championships, and have created this blog not only to give advice on running, but also to receive feedback from other athletes.

At this point, I am continuing my training to get ready for the Leadville 100 miler, the Marine Corps Marathon, and the inaugural Ozark Trail 100 miler.