skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Posted on 9:24 AM
"Go and getter' done!"That was what one aid station volunteer said to encourage me on with about 6.5 miles left to go....... So I did, and became an Ultra Marthoner. Done and done!!.jpg)
This is a very quick update on the results from Saturday's race at Sunmart, in Huntsville State Park, TX. I've got a ton of work to get to today (including 75 E-mails in my inbox), so unfortunately I'll have to save the good stuff for a future post in the next few days. The bottom-line is that I finished the 50-mile race in 9:38:11! Saturday's weather was just brutal: A record tying high of 82 degrees with 88% humidity at the start. As the race went on I realized that a 9-hour time wasn't in the cards for me and I refocused on finishing sub-10. However, time isn't the primary objective when it comes to ultra trail races (as Ned Breslin reminded me at the start of my 4th lap), and I'm just incredibly pumped with the journey, that I finished it, and am not too worse for wear. (Although I am struggling a bit to get comfortable at my desk this morning.)The rest of the Runner's Edge of the Rockies members also did exceptionally well; Ned Breslin, Cathy Maslowski-Yerges, and Danielle Malberg ran the 50km, and Dave Longcope did the 50M. Danielle and Dave finished 2nd in their respective age groups for their race which is icing on the cake! And on Sunday just a few hours up the interstate in Dallas at the White Rock Marathon, Marc Middlekauff ran a personal best of 3:07 in just his second marathon to qualify for Boston!Check back soon for more details, pictures, etc.... It was an amazing race, with lots of great stories. (As only something like running 50 miles can create.)Cheers!
Posted on 1:39 AM
It's finally here -In a few short hours I fly out for Houston, TX (and the big-hunkin' Sam Houston statue) with Cathy Maslowski, Danielle Malberg, Ned Breslin, Elise Harrington and Dave Longcope to finally run the Sunmart Ultra Marathon! Cathy, Danielle and Ned will do the 50km while Elise, Dave and I take on the 50-miler. I'll try to make this entry shorter (too late!) as my need for sleep and rest trumps the blog. I've been absolutely cranking all week trying to get everything ready for the group training run, follow up on coaching E-mails, and trying to stay on very long "to do list". But here I am at Midnight blogging when I should be asleep...(Like Randall Caley after the KC Marathon.)
(Or here's another bald, sexy guy - Me last year at Christmas. Free tip: Never fall asleep with your wife and kid brother on hand to mess with you!)
The Definition of IronyDictionary.com provides one definition of "irony" as "an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected." Or, a good example might be if I was out doing my final 3M taper run this evening and did something really idiotic and took a fall. Well, you got it.... While hosting a fun-run in Littleton at Boulder Running Company's holiday party, I went ass-over-tea-kettle. Champ had just pulled over to do the do, and after disposing of the goods and then picking up the pace, I got caught up in her leash and went down. It wasn't terrible and I was able to roll more than skid, but I still ended up bruising up my hip and knee a bit. Let's hope that's some sort of good omen and at the very least isn't a factor Saturday morning.Sunmart - The CourseWithout having seen it personally, I can only go by what I have read and heard. Here it is in a nutshell: Flat, soft, and apparently (hopefully) very well shaded. The majority of the race course is soft-surface on single-track trail and 4X4 road, but not crusher-fines like a lot of trails in the Denver area, and instead more soft/grassy/sandy. Probably most similar to the Barr Lake Trail that I ran last month. It's a loop course, with the 50km runners doing a 10km out-back followed by 2 laps. The 50-milers run four 12.5-mile laps, so mentally that brings several strategies into play on how to break up the mileage. Personally, I'm going to try to treat each lap as an independent 12.5-mile training run and hope that I will won't have to reduce it to something like, "just get to that next damn tree. OK, now get to THAT next damn tree...." If I'm hurtin', then I'm sure that's what will happen!
Aid StationsThankfully, there are plenty of aid stations at Sunmart, which is probably a contributing factor to why it is considered the most popular ultra for first-timers at 50km and 50M distances. They'll provide everything a regular marathon would, and then some: Gatorade, water, energy gels, pretzels, fruit, chips, candy, mini-PB&J sandwiches, boiled potato wedges, cookies... Thankfully I've trained my stomach to digest on the fly, so I can sample the fare. No wonder ultra marathoning is becoming more popular. You can eat like crap, and still not gain a pound!Chicago RevisitedAs all of you know, the Chicago Marathon was pretty much a furnace and the race organizers finally had to cancel it halfway through because it was so hot. Well, Sunmart could be similar with a projected temperature of 80 degrees and humidity of 80%. This factor has provided me much more anxiety than I was hoping for, because I traditionally struggle in hot/humid conditions. So to combat this I'll be popping eCaps like candy; targeting 1 cap every 20 minutes for the first two laps so I can be sure to stay ahead of my body's sweat rate. And if the weather gets too hot/muggy, that will definitely impact my pacing strategy and goal time. Which brings me to my next point.......Pacing Strategy & Goal TimeBoy, I think all of you who voted on my finishing time poll may have a bit too much faith in my ability for my first ultra! Overwhelmingly the majority of voters think I'm going to finish sub-9. I think that MIGHT be doable under ideal conditions, but Saturday's weather may force me to totally rethink and adjust my pace. Obviously with this being my first ultra marathon, the primary "A-Goal" is to finish and hopefully strong at that. Time-wise, I was thinking sub-10 hours and if everything was really clicking to aim for sub-9. If the weather is cool enough (and not too swamp-esque), I'll pace out conservatively at 10:00's for the first 3-5 miles and then gradually pick it up to 9:45's for the rest of the first lap, targeting 2:10 or so for the first 12.5-mile lap. From there, I'll try to settle into my "one speed" of 9:30's, which I know I can generally hold even while really fatigued. I will also be taking walk-breaks through the aid stations too which will help me digest solid food faster and keep my heart-rate lower. In theory that should help me stay stronger.... Again, weather permitting! Oh, and if you want to see what the winner did last year, READ THIS. And oh-by-the-way, this year Sunmart just happens to be the World Trail Championships, so the talent level is that much higher... Which means that many more times I'll get lapped.The Play ListMany of you know that I'm a big proponent of running headphone-free. I don't have time to get into all of the reasons for why MP3 players and running just don't mix, however I finally broke down a few weeks ago and purchased my first iPod Nano. I haven't listened to music during marathon training since 2002 (when some crack head broke into my studio apartment and stole my Sony CD-Walkman), but I figure that there is a very distinct possibility that I could be in an altered state (similar to the crack head), and will need some tunes to keep me going. So here's what's on tap for Sunmart (in no particular order): Dieselboy, Cirrus, Bad Boy Bill, Fatboy Slim (Julie's fav!), The Chemical Brothers, Paul Oakenfold, The Prodigy, Orange 9mm, Linkin Park, Leftfield, Paul Oakenfold, The Crystal Method, Beastie Boys, The Urge, BT, Republica, New Order, Goldie, Aphrodite, 311 and Jamiroquai. JAM ON!And last but definitely not least I need to mention all of the support from everyone reading this blog! I've been swamped with E-mails from Runner's Edge of the Rockies members and friends wishing me luck, so I feel like I'll have all of you there with me as I bang out 50 miles. So thank you!! I will try to post an update with the results ASAP, once I get back to Denver....IT'S GAME TIME!!
Posted on 11:52 PM
"The Cow" in the Stapleton Town Center has become a staple in my running lingo the last month... "Taking Champ to see the cow", "a quick four up to the cow and back", "need to visit the cow", "double-looped the cow", and various other phrases define many of my routes around Stapleton. I have become a bit neurotic about it, actually. Normally I'm not the type to be knocking on wood, holding my breath while driving past a cemetery (Julie's favorite), believing the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, or various other classic superstitions, but I do tend to find myself doing the same ritual when things start going well in sports. (While playing competitive soccer and golf, primarily.) So after one of my better runs about a month ago where I really felt like everything was clicking, I reminded myself that the next time I ran past the cow, I needed to rub it's brow again. Thus, starting a little superstitious habit that I have since to break!
So tonight I had the opportunity to pay homage to the cow one last time before Sunmart. I had done a very easy and relaxing 4M recovery run with J.D. Praeger and Champ yesterday afternoon and had my last "quality" workout scheduled for tonight. The goal was 5M total with a pattern of 2 warmup, 2 goal-pace, and 1 cooldown. So I joined Jim Mayo a few blocks away at his house and away we headed up to visit the cow. 20 minutes later by the time we had passed the cow and picked it up the pace, we were doing sub-8 minute pace. I'm not sure if that exactly defines "goal pace" since truth-be-told I think my "ideal" goal pace for the majority of Sunmart is going to be somewhere between 9:30's and 9:50's per mile, but it sure felt really good to pick it up and push it a bit. And sometimes it's just picking it up to work out the kinks of tapering that is the primary outcome of this type of run. And, the effort felt really easy and relaxed too... So hopefully this is a good indicator that I'm peaking at just the right time! (Or was it just that I rubbed the cow's nose???)
Tomorrow is an off-day before one final 3M recovery run on Thursday, which is perfect because I can get everything prepared for Saturday's group training run (even though I won't be there), and then lead a fun-run at Boulder Running Company in Littleton on Thursday evening for their holiday party. John, Brock, Carolyn and the rest of the team at BRC are great friends and supporters of Runner's Edge of the Rockies, so it will be a good way to wrap up my taper. Outside of that, I just need to stay rested, stretch, hydrate and eat well, and start preparing myself mentally for Saturday's race......
Bathroom Surgery
So speaking of preparing, there was one nasty little bit in particular that I forgot to mention in the previous post when I was playing catch-up. A few days after my final long run of 21M I made the decision to excise part of a toenail. After playing soccer for the majority of my life, the nail of the big toe on my right foot has become chronically ingrown on one side, requiring me to perform "bathroom surgery" every few months. (A doctor did try to permanently cut/cauterize it once but obviously failed to provide the desired result!) I had debated on the timing of this since I didn't want to run the race with an inflamed and painful toe, but also knew I needed a few extra days of healing. I'll spare everyone the gory details (and no pictures; sorry!) but suffice to say that it's become something I'm used to and after a few quick minutes I successfully cut out the entire right 25% of the nail, cuticle and all. And after a week of healing it feels normal again, so at least that will be one less thing to have to think about on Saturday...
A Different Kind of Marathon
I also took some time today to go visit our friend Mark Iwan in the hospital again. He seems to be doing better, was a bit more responsive today and the nurses said that he spent 4 hours and 20 minutes today breathing on his own with limited help from the respirator. Yesterday he went for over 7 hours on his own! If anyone can handle the pain it's Mark, and I told him to treat this just like marathon training and to keep working hard so that he can get off of the respirator for good. Mark will definitely be in my thoughts on Saturday...
Fast Tucson
I was really pumped to hear that several Runner's Edge members tore it up at the Tucson Marathon on Sunday. The weather was perfect and Tucson has a reputation for being a pretty fast course. Vince DiCroce, his sister-in-law Sarah DiCroce, Mike Kennedy, and Steve Renda all knocked quite a bit of time off of their PR's. (And Sarah qualified for Boston!) And while not a PR, Chris Wozniak ended up running his fastest marathon in 10 years. I'm hoping that this good running mojo and karma carries over to Saturday!
Training Plan
If you've been following along, by now you've realized that I've removed the training plan and my recorded mileage from the bottom of the blog. Unfortunately when I went to update my mileage the formatting got screwed up somehow (I'm blaming blogger.com!), and would only show up too small or big to be legible. I'll try to fix this tomorrow or at least put my mileage in an individual post itself...
Good night!
Posted on 11:30 AM
Yeah, OK... I've been a terrible blogger for the past week. Mostly, I've just been a TIRED PUPPY. Evenings are when I normally make time to blog and this past week has just been tough to balance and I've found myself wanting to get ZZZ's earlier and earlier. It's a combination from being busy, a few long days, and obviously the heavy mileage over the past several weeks. And as Mike Kennedy has said to me multiple times, "as if you have so much time to begin with....."Tired Puppy: Is Apollo stretching, asleep... Or both?
So here is the previous week in review!Thanksgiving - 27MThanksgiving morning was COLD, but I got in my longest training run since the KC Marathon (where I did 28M total). I started my run at Wash Park at 5:50am and banged out 15M before meeting up with Jim Lynch at his house. It was 7 more back to the park and we arrived with some extra time on our hands due to Jim's not-so-spot-on-math-skills; you'd think after 71 marathons he would have his pace down! :-) So with some extra time we decided to work in one more mile prior to the start of the Turkey Trot. Julie brought Apollo & Champ with her to cheer, and since the Turkey Trot really is more of a fun-run with costumes, strollers and plenty of doggers, Champ got to run her first "official" race as we chilled with the mid-pack and cruised the 4M race to round out my 27M workout.Gettin' ready for the Turkey Trot!
Look Mom, my first PR!
I felt very strong throughout the morning with the only issue being a small bit of IT Band pain; most likely from having to weave so much through the crowded race. Dinner was fantastic as Julie and I went to Whole Foods to pick up some select items from their pre-cooked cases. We figured since she was preggers and with me having just gone long that spending hours on our feet with food prep wasn't the most appealing option. A bit of football, lots of sleeping, and then we went out to see the movie August Rush which I definitely recommend - I incorrectly thought it was a chick-flick (since Julie picked it out and I didn't know anything about it), but turned out really enjoying it as I love good music and a motivating story.After the Turkey Trot, a Green Bay Packers victory, and Thanksgiving kibble, it's nap time!
Black Friday - 21MBlack Friday was one of those good/bad kind of days... It started off with a bit of nervousness due to the weather, along with the fact that I was aiming for 20M for my own training. Going into any of our Runner's Edge of the Rockies Saturday morning training runs during the winter, my anxiety level goes up along with the likelihood of snow/sleet/rain. After last year's "winter of hell" where we literally got snowed on every single Friday/Saturday, I always find myself doing some sort of Sun Dance in hopes that we'll have good running conditions. There was the slim chance that we would have to move our trail run in Evergreen to the streets, but thankfully the weather held off enough. (GOOD) So that just left my own training. I wasn't sure how well I would do after the 27M yesterday, let alone on a trail with some good incline sections.So I drove up to Evergreen in the early afternoon to get my run in while also marking the trail. The temperature was in the teens, but the trail conditions were excellent at Elk Meadow Open Space. (GOOD) Unfortunately my IT Band was still pretty tight and right out of the gate it let me know it was there. (BAD) Since I began training for Sunmart, this was the worst it had felt and I started to wonder if I was going to be able to finish the run, (let alone get the course set up for the next morning). Several times in the first 3 miles I had to stop for a minute to thoroughly stretch. But about 30 minutes into the run it started to loosen up and the pain decreased a bit. (GOOD) Since there was an inch of snow up in Evergreen and the trail was mostly clear, I was able to run the route and just carry orange athletic-field spray paint with me to mark the snow. Unfortunately about 3.5 miles into the route, the paint can fell out of my jacket pocket as I was running up an incline. (BAD)By the time I realized it a half-mile later and turned back, the can had been picked up by a hiking family that I had just passed... (VERY BAD) We'll call them The Idiot Hilljacks. Jr. Hilljack (probably 10-12 years old) had proceeded to paint the trail like he was doing graffiti (and in fact later admitted to me that he had "tagged" the trail), and dad & grandpa Hilljack just jerked me around when I chased them down (multiple times), to ask them where they had left the paint can. I literally was given three different answers as to it's location, didn't believe any of them (correctly), and finally asked them why they couldn't just be nice and help me out since it was the day after Thanksgiving. With the conversation turning less than friendly and the Dad starting to get confrontational (BAD), I ran off before finding out if the Hilljacks were packing a gun. (SMART)I finally ran my way back to where I had dropped the paint can in hopes that God would somehow grant me divine vision to actually find the thing. It had a bright orange top... How hard could it be, right? (I had already spent 15 minutes trying to locate it previous to chasing them down for the last time.) And before even getting back to the spot where Jr. had tagged everything I noticed an odd mound of snow about 10 feet off the trail. I kicked into it and sure enough... The Hilljacks had buried the thing! Well, victory went to the good guys, I gave them a silent victory salute (HA-HA!) and I was able to finish setting the remainder of the route. What was ironic is that I bumped into several very nice people along the trail during the rest of my run, (one who even ran with us the next morning!), and it just left me scratching my head at the lack of kindness some people show and the degradation of our youth. I would have been beaten to within an inch of my short life had I ever acted that way when I was a kid. Obviously these guys weren't Rhodes Scholars, and in the words of the honorable Judge Smails from Caddyshack... "Well, the world needs ditch diggers too!"OK, so back to my own run. With the route marked and ready to go for the the next morning, I still had my own miles left to log. But after all of the back/forth due to the Hilljacks, time had flown by and the sun was setting. I hammered it back down the trail, also realizing that I was losing daylight quickly. (BAD) With almost 14M logged when I got back to the car and no daylight, I realized I couldn't run more miles up in Evergreen. The temps were dropping rapidly and no way I wanted to risk bumping into a mountain lion. (BAD)So I quickly drove home with the intention of getting in 4 more miles. But when I got home my running mojo was on empty (BAD) and I really wanted nothing more than to eat dinner. Julie was awesome though and told me that I would be so disappointed with myself if I didn't at least get 18M in for the day since I had been training hard, and all but pushed me out the door with Champ. I started to feel better (GOOD) and after a 2.5M loop I swapped out Champ for Apollo and knocked out another 1.5M. But after dropping Apollo off, I told Julie I was going to run 2 more miles and went back out again for another loop... At this point, I was feeling so good and in the middle of an amazing runner's high that I decided to up it to 3.5M, and clipped it off at 8-min. per mile. (GOOD) I finished exceptionally strong for having just run 48M in two days (and 80M in six days), and that was such a mental bonus that I will probably rely on it during any tough miles I experience at Sunmart...Saturday Group Trail RunAnd to top it off, the group run in Evergreen was tremendous! Our recommended nutritionist Nancy Pudwill came out to do a quick training tip on how to balance "holiday food", the weather was fantastic (sunny/warm), no more Hilljacks messed with us, and everyone really had a great workout. Following the workout I took the dogs out to an off-leash dog area just to the south of Elk Meadow Open Space and Stage Coach Blvd. Champ and Apollo absolutely loved it, and we hiked around for a couple of miles. (OK, I hiked and they ran everywhere!) That probably wasn't ideal for my training as my calves were pretty beat from the previous two days and the hiking exacerbated the soreness/inflammation a bit. But with two weeks left until Sunmart and my heavy training "in the bank" so to speak... I had time to recover!The 3:40 Runner's Edge pace group cruises through beautiful Elk Meadow.
Another bonus about Saturday was that I swung by Runner's Roost to pick up a new pair of tights - John Shults, the owner of the Denver & Aurora Roost stores commented on my "holy tights" when he saw me at the Turkey Trot and said I needed to get in to pick up a new pair. He was raving about these new tights called Skins, and said that the training benefit they provide is outstanding. They are SNUG, but not uncomfortable and apparently seven Denver Nuggets wear them under their shorts, and a lot of elite runners/cyclists are going to them as well. (And while I haven't logged enough miles in them yet to notice a huge difference, I may have to break them out at Sunmart if the weather is less than ideal.)Fried Chicken Wings-Err... LEGS!After no running on Saturday/Sunday, I banged out a smooth 7M on Monday morning with Michelle Wolcott. That run felt really fast for my first run after the previous week and we ran 8-9 minute pace the entire run. It felt great with no IT Band pain, but the calves were still a bit sore. So it was in to Karen Kalbach for a massage which turned out to be 10% massage and 90% pure hell. Karen is amazing for sports massage, but my calves were so inflammed and sore that she could barely get much done. Again, probably my fault for hiking around with the doggers on Saturday and as my stride breaks down on longer runs I do have the tendency to supinate and run on my toes even more... But hopefully with a lot of stretching, ice, hydration and maybe one more massage this week with Karen, they'll be feeling good by race day!Prayers For a FriendOn Tuesday evening Julie and I went to go visit Mark Iwan, a good friend of ours who is currently in the hospital. Mark has been very ill for the past 2+ years and the doctors are still not completely sure of the exact cause. He was initially diagnosed with a brain tumor, then it was thought it was spinal meningitis or even encephalitis. I don't know all of the details but effectively his bodily systems have been getting progressively worse, which resulted in pneumonia and he's now on a trach-respirator. The good news is that Mark is at Kindred Hospital in Denver where he is being weaned from the respirator and getting transfusions but long-term a diagnosis is still needed. What's been very sad and humbling for Julie and me is that Mark is one of the brightest people around (Julie used to work with him), and he also was incredibly gifted as an athlete: He played football for Case-Western University in Cleveland, ran on the track team (4:04 miler), and also became a very accomplished marathoner (2:30). The three of us used to run every morning before work, and hopefully there will be more running in Mark's future... Please keep him in your thoughts prayers - Thanks!Irish Snug RunOn Thursday, Holly Robinson from the group invited me to come out and do the "Snug Run" that night. Quite a few of our Runner's Edge members do the Snug Run in Denver every week including David Gillikin who actually handles some of the logistics/organization. It was a very laid-back, fun 3M run which was perfect for my taper run that evening. I took Champ with me (since dogs are allowed) and met up with members Holly, Courtney Szubielak & Mike Kennedy at the Irish Snug. Following the run we partook in the free pasta dinner provided to all of the runners, and yes, I admit that I did have a pint! It was a good time, Mike's final taper run prior to the Tucson Marathon on Sunday, and then on my way home I stopped over at Kindred hospital to visit with Mark for a bit."Find My Phone!"On Friday evening while doing my 8M training run during set-up the Saturday morning group training run from Runner's Roost-Lakewood, I reinforced the belief that "David is losing his mind" when my cell phone dropped out of my pocket. (About a month ago my wallet fell out of my pocket while at Einstein Bros, the paint can in Evergreen was number two, so the cell-phone completed the trifecta.) I think I was putting a turnaround marker down on the route when the cell phone decided to jump out of my running jacket to spend a cold night alongside the Bear Creek Trail. Of course it was after sunset, dark, cold, and all I had was my headlamp. So at next morning's run, I told everyone to look for it but it was actually another runner who was out earlier than our group who saw the flashing voicemail indicator and picked it up and eventually brought it to me at Runner's Roost. So after my experience with the Idiot Hilljacks the week before, I was very encouraged with how nice this runner was to bring it back to me. Of course, he also told me he is an FBI agent so obviously the yin balanced out last-week's yang. (His name has been witheld or he'll be forced to kill me.)The big bonus about doing Saturday's group run from Roost-Lakewood, is that I had the chance to pick the brain of the owners Sonya Estes and her husband Chris Alderman. Sonya did the 50km at Sunmart last year and Chris did the 50M and had several choice recommendations, the first being to plan on cold/humid conditions in the morning. Next Saturday's forecast at Sunmart called for rain (which could have meant several muddy sections), but later that afternoon Dave Longcope texted me an updated forecast that it was looking like upper 70's for the high temp. CRAP.... Traditionally I don't do well in hot/humid conditions. Julie then said, "yeah but it won't get that warm until the afternoon". Of course, I then reminded her that I will probably be running all day long!Doggers Visit Santa
So would you believe me if I said that we were out running errands on Sunday and just happened to bump into a Santa photo-op for the doggers or is it more believable if I said we actually planned our errands around it? Yeah, I thought so... OK, guilty as charged - Julie wanted to take Champ & Apollo to visit Santa Claus at PetSmart. We're pathetic!Dear Santa, we want lots of pets, walks, bones... Oh, and a few bunnies to chase. Cool?.jpg)
It's All MentalAt this point, it's all mental. Literally. I know I've put in the mileage necessary required for my first ultra marathon and now it's all about getting good sleep, stretching, staying relaxed, eating well, staying hydrated, and not letting the brain get in the way of what my body can do... So with that, I'm going to get back to the 60+ E-mails in my inbox and get ready for what will hopefully be a fun, light week of training.Oh... And I promise I'll blog in the next three days leading up to my flight to Houston on Friday morning, as there is lots to cover regarding the course, my strategy, etc.Have a great week!
.jpg)
.jpg)
