Runner's Edge of the Rockies Blog

Giving Thanks

Posted on 8:32 PM comments (1)

Pete Schmidt and fellow Runner's Edge members show their Thanksgiving spirit at last year's Mile High Turkey Trot in Denver!

I know it's cliche to repeat it, but the Thanksgiving holiday truly is a time for reflection and to give thanks for everything - I'm thankful for my health, thankful for my beautiful wife Julie and our soon to be son, thankful for Champ and Apollo (of course!), thankful for my family and friends, thankful for Runner's Edge of the Rockies and all of the wonderful people who make up the group and allow me to follow my passion for coaching, and thankful that we can live in a country that affords us the opportunity to pursue our goals, dreams and happiness! Tonight as I ran a very short 4M recovery run (Junk Miles!) in prep for the next two days of long mileage, I thought about how fortunate I am. I told myself that no matter how bad life seems to get, that I should always be thankful of God's blessings. (Probably even moreso whenever a car cuts me off during a run, warranting the bird!) :-)

Tomorrow morning kicks off my final two long training runs prior to tapering... The goal is 26 miles tomorrow morning and then 20 more on Friday. Tomorrow I will have some much needed support for the final 11 miles as I will hook up with Jim Lynch at mile 15 prior to the Denver Turkey Trot at Washington Park for my final 4, where most of the group will also be running. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous about doing these big workouts back-to-back; but my body has responded very well to the two previous sets, and I just need to focus on relaxing, staying properly hydrated/fueled, having fun, and putting one foot in front of the other...

Have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow!!

Roxborough, Running With the Stars, and Eating Like a Horse

Posted on 11:58 PM comments (4)

OK - Lots to get caught up on! While I haven't been blogging, I at least have been RUNNING. The weekend was a busy but good one, and as with the previous weekend I opted to skip any running on Saturday and focus efforts on the the group run. We had about 125+ members out on Saturday, which is a pretty big number for our Winter Training Session. One unique thing about Runner's Edge of the Rockies is that we run year-round unlike most of the training groups in Denver, but we still have to compete with skiing and the colder weather. Let's just hope mother nature doesn't have a major say in the rest of this session, like last year's brutal winter! (And as I type this, the temperature is dropping steadily - Time to bust out the running tights!)

Sunday was absolutely beautiful (60+ degrees), and since Karen Kalbach couldn't run with the group on Saturday she asked me if I needed company for my miles on Sunday. Of course I did! So I loaded up the doggers, picked up Karen and we headed down to Roxborough State Park. We were thinking about running Sharptail Ridge, but that trail crosses into prime hunting land and was closed off to runners on Sunday. But it was OK because for all of the various trails I've run close to Denver I had never run Roxborough and was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the grumpy park ranger said that no dogs are allowed inside Roxborough which was complete news to me, so Karen and I parked at the Fire Station back around the corner and decided to run the 2 miles up to the nature center at the center of the park.

It turned out to be a great move, as it added necessary mileage to our workout without having to do too much ascending. And while I like trails and ran the Pikes Peak Marathon in 2004, I'm not exactly seeking out hills at this point since Sunmart is very flat. But, we still did our share of climbing as the road up to the nature center climbed approx. 370 feet, and then we hit the trails. They were absolutely gorgeous and the views of the sandstone rock faces and wildlife (plenty of deer and hawks), kept our mind off of the exertion required for the run. 12 miles later we were back at the car; a perfect workout for such a great day.

Monday's mileage was pretty uneventful as I connected with Mike Kennedy for a run in Lowry. Mike is tapering now for the Tucson Marathon so I had to tack on a few extra to get my 7. The miles went by quickly as they usually do with Mike; one because we always go too fast when we run together and two because we rap about sports pretty much non-stop. He's the Sports Information Director for the University of Denver, and used to work for the Colorado Rockies. (And if you need any tickets to DU sports like hocky or hoops, let Mike know!)

Mike also joined me for my run this evening and we did 4 together and then I went back out again for another 5 (1 with Apollo & 4 with Champ) to finish with 9 total. One interesting piece of the run was when we saw a coyote cruising the streets of Stapleton, just two blocks east of Quebec! There have been a few coyote sightings lately and my next door neighbors have speculated that one killed their house cat who didn't come home last week. But after seeing it, I'm definitely very cognizant of my surroundings... Especially with the doggers. I don't think a coyote would want to take on Champ at 65 lbs. but Apollo is still probably little enough to create an interest.

A couple of quick things:

TRACKING MILEAGE
If you want to see how my training is going in comparison to the training schedule I originally built, I've added a log below of my actual mileage. You'll be able to see the two missed workouts from last week, but the weekly mileage total is a bit misleading though since I've had to move all of my long runs to Sun/Mon. (So technically the totals should be shifted a bit.) It's going to look really off this week if I get in all of my miles and crack 70!

TIGHT FIT
At the recommendation of Vince & Chris DiCroce who run in our group, I'm trying out a few quick-lacing systems. These are great for triathletes who need to get in/out of their running shoes quickly during transition zones, and there's always the chance I may want to change shoes at some point during Sunmart. (Because hey - 50M in one pair of shoes may not be comfortable!) So I'm doing a bit of experimenting... I've got Yankz on my trail runners and Easy Laces on my road shoes. Without question I can get in/out of my running shoes like slippers now however the jury is still out if I will actually use them in the race. At times both options feel too tight or loose and the last thing I want is unnecessary blistering!

DWTS
OK, so Julie is a huge fan of Dancing With the Stars... Who isn't, right? But as Mike and I were getting in our run tonight, Julie's top choice for this season -- Jennie Garth of 90210 -- was eliminated. And I have to agree that her dancing wasn't deserving of an elimination. (Good Lord, I can't believe I'm actually blogging about this!)

EAT, EAT, EAT!
I feel like I'm back in high school and college where I could go to a certain Mexican fast-food chain that rhymes with "Baco Tell" and literally put away 8-10 items in one sitting. As I continue to increase my mileage, my appetite is also making a big comeback to keep up with my increased caloric burn. And the good news is that I've had no "booting" (puking) on any of my training runs, even when eating solid food before or during the workouts. Tonight I put down a bowl of Ramen noodles prior to heading out the door with Mike, (a whopping $0.20 investment!), and on previous runs I've had trail mix, energy bars, cookies and even a pretty sizable Sambazon Acai smoothie. (The Acai is just PACKED with energy and antioxidants - Perfect for ultra marathon training!)

Dog Poop

Posted on 10:34 PM No Comments

That pretty much sums up the last few days of my training... DOG POOP! After rocking out the 23 & 18 mile runs on Sun/Mon and then following up with a 5M recovery run on Tuesday, I pretty much blanked it on Wed and Thurs. Not ideal, especially with Sunmart just three short weeks away... I hadn't missed a scheduled run since I commited to this ultra. (Maybe moved a run or two, but no missed miles.) Big downer.

One of the toughest times I have with balancing my schedule, is during the first part of any of our three primary training sessions for Runner's Edge of the Rockies. Getting everyone logged into the roster and then set up with their training schedules takes a large amount of time, in addition to prepping for the weekly Saturday run. When I'm not training, I can usually stay up into the wee hours of the morning getting everything done. However, running 50-60+ miles a week is certainly draining, and I've been crashing earlier each night. Good for the body to let me know what it needs, but the E-mails, voice-mails and registrations from members don't stop coming in... So I had to put the group first this week, and my training took a back seat. That, and Julie and I are also trying to blast through the to-do ERR... "honey do" list prior to Jr's arrival, so it was juggle city this week with lots of projects, errands, etc.

The upside of this is that it was during a "down" week where I don't have tons of long mileage. One training trick that I've found out is that if you do have a hectic schedule and have to miss runs, you're much better off to do it during a recovery or down week. Up weeks are critically important to get in 95-100% of your miles, especially when training for a first race at a given distance. But during a down week your body is either maintaining or recovering so missing a run or two won't set you back nearly as much. It's not ideal, and there are definitely no shortcuts in distance running... But let's just call it a compromise.

But on a positive note, I had the opportunity to catch up with an old running friend named Chris De John that I haven't spoken with in quite some time. Chris currently lives in Arkansas with his wife Ali and their two children. (Ali designs fantastic greeting cards and you can buy some online!) He's a very accomplished distance runner having run a 3:01 for the Marathon, and completed several ultra marathons including the Leadville 100. Chris did Leadville in 2003, finishing it in just his first attempt! I had the pleasure of pacing him during that race and actually gleaned quite a bit from that experience that I'm now drawing on for my own training. There were LOTS of stories from that race... Of course the best was sometime around 1:00AM on the slopes of Mt. Elbert and Chris and I asked another runner how things are going and the guy replied, "great until my pacer got me lost a while back and added 2 (bleeping) miles to this damn race." (Doh!)

Chris and I spent a while on the phone discussing various strategies for ultra marathons that are all equally important: Pacing, hydration, nutrition, mental games, etc. Chris gave my training a good vote of confidence despite the two missed days this week, and actually said that those days off may be a blessing in disguise after two weekends of back-to-back long runs. He said that the mental challenge is toughest of all and at some point I may really lose the ability to stay positive. But I just read something this week on ESPN.com that I will remember when the miles get tough. This story about Claire Markwardt is simply amazing as she shattered her leg a mere 45 feet from the finish line in a HS cross country meet and had the toughness to finish the race. WOW.

So tonight I pushed back from the PC despite still having lots of work left, and committed myself to 9 miles to get back on track. I did two of my favorite 4M loops around Stapleton, taking Champ with me for the second one. Then of course added a very slow cool-down mile with Apollo... I think it's really going to be fun when they both can run together!

The next week though is absolutely crunch time and I need to nail all of my workouts. If you've been following along with this blog and comparing my workouts to the schedule (at the bottom) that I initially built, you'll see that I'm off track slightly since I can't run long on Saturday's after getting up at 3:00AM to set up & coach the group run. So with everything shifted out a day, that's created some challenges. For my last two long runs, I will most likely wake up early on Thanksgiving morning and target 24-26M, hopefully including the Turkey Trot here in Denver to break things up mentally. It will be fun to cruise that race with some members in the group and not have to worry about racing it hard through all of the walkers/strollers that for some idiotic reason enjoy lining up in the first five rows of 10,000 people. It reminds me of that game Red Rover... "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Davey right over!" And then you blast past some Mom with a stroller and dog, as she's getting yelled at by everyone around her. Ahhh... Fun stuff! Then on Friday I will most likely head up to Barr Lake for another 18+ miler, and my last "long" run of the training period before tapering down to the race on December 8th.

And with that, it's bed time for this guy... Four hours of sleep before getting up at oh-dark-thirty to go set up the route for the group. Happy running!

Flip-Flop

Posted on 6:55 AM No Comments

By now if you've been reading this you've seen that I haven't been able to exactly stay on schedule. Inconsistency is obviously normal with any training program when "life happens", but whenever possible it's best to stay consistent. My challenge has been with the weekends, and in particular fitting in my two back-to-back long runs while also balancing a long Saturday of setting up and coaching our Runner's Edge of the Rockies group workouts. Midweek hasn't been easy either as I'm behind on E-mail responses to members...

True, I have been able to get in all of the miles and for a race of this distance, building a high weekly volume of mileage is key. However some of my miles have come on scheduled off days or I've done 2-a-days, and a training schedule isn't always the time spent running and includes the all-important requisite recovery activities. (Off days, stretching, massage, and SLEEP.) Unfortunately I've had to run on off days in order to keep my mileage on track, but that's left me pretty tired. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying: "how would you NOT be tired while training for your first ultra marathon?" And I do think that running 41 miles in just 2 days has taken it's toll, along doing back-to-back weekends of 31+ miles.

So between that and looking out ahead in the final 3.5 weeks of my training, I think I'm going to move a few of my workouts and flip-flop some days to balance things out a bit more. It's not what I would like to do, but is necessary since running on Saturday just isn't an option. In particular, I'm going to try and do my last two back-to-back long runs on Thanksgiving. (Can you say Turkey Trot +21?) Because if I held to my current Sun/Mon long run pattern that would shorten my taper from 11 days to 10 and I'm thinking a 14-15 day taper would be better. Less is more sometimes, and as I always tell our members... It's better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained. I need to heed my own advice!

So on that note, we'll see if I even get in a run today - I was going to shoot for 9-10 miles, but I am pretty tired and also have a ton of work to get done. I did get in a 5-mile recovery run last night (first 4 with Champ and then a VERY slow final mile with Apollo), and felt OK considering it was right after the back-to-back 23M & 18M runs. And true, this is a down week so one missed run probably won't kill me (and may even help). I guess we'll just have to play it by ear and see how I feel this afternoon...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Posted on 11:30 PM No Comments

Thursday's 6M training run...... Good.

Friday's off day and prep for Saturday's group training run...... Good.

Coming to the realization that there's no possible way that I can run long on Saturday in between the first group run and the party on Saturday night, and bumping my schedule by one day to go long on Sunday/Monday...... Not ideal, but necessary.

Saturday morning's first group workout of the 2007 Winter Training Session...... Great!

Getting up at 3:00AM to set up the training run..... Fine.

Standing on my feet for the next 12 hours...... Not so much.

Picking up the route at 1:00PM to find out four of our arrow signs have been stolen or thrown away...... Infuriating.

Not getting my typical Saturday afternoon "recovery nap"...... Crabby.

Our "end of the session" party at the Irish Snug for the Summer/Fall Session...... Outstanding!

Being on my feet for the entire night, and not properly carbo-loading for Sunday morning...... VERY bad.

Running the first half of Sunday's 23M training run at Cherry Creek State Park much faster than expected....... Dumb.

My attitude midway through Sunday's 23M training run...... Ugly.

Slamming a large Red Bull and gutting it out to finish all 23M...... Not suggested, but good.

Being apprehensive all morning about the 18M run today...... Nervous.

Recovering to run an unexpectedly terrific 18M today along the Coal Creek Trail...... Good.

Hitting my goal of completing 40+ miles in 2 days...... Great!

The result of the unfortunately necessary ice baths following each run...... Good.

The actual 12-15 minutes spent sitting in said ice baths...... VERY, VERY ugly!

(Even the doggers love the ice bath... Just don't forget your cap to stay warm!)

TRAINING RECAP
The details of yesterday and today? Here they are... Members of the group Karen Kalbach & Mike Kennedy couldn't run with the group on Saturday but offered to do their miles with me on Sunday. Karen was targeting 10-12 miles to maintain her base for Boston 2008, with Mike needing 16 in prep for Tucson on December 2nd. We headed into Cherry Creek State Park to hit a variety of trails, and even did some bushwhacking when Karen found an animal trail that left us all with some nice scratches/welts from the unforgiving underbrush. While the company was fantastic, the pacing was not. At one point Karen asked me if the pace was too fast, and I said, "not if I wasn't going 22+ today" so we immediately backed it down. 30 seconds later Mike looks down at his Garmin and proclaims, "there we go again; right back to 8:20/mile." I knew we were cruising, but didn't realize that we were going that fast. That would prove to be costly later.

It was also VERY warm (what's up with 70 degrees on November 11th?? Global warming in full effect), and I was losing electrolytes quickly. I went through 6 eCaps on the run, plenty of fluids and that still wasn't enough. So after Mike & Karen were done at 13M (Mike smartly stopped his run early with calf soreness), I was left to go solo for the remaining 9M. That moment was pretty low for me and I can tell you that I was not excited about gutting it out because of how bad I was feeling. I got a Clif Bar and some Gatorade down, and made the decision to hit a convenience store to buy an energy drink. I would NOT normally advise this for regular marathon training, however I knew I needed it and since I'm also experimenting with what I can/can't consume during my long runs... The Red Bull didn't sit well with me for the next five minutes as I resumed my running but my stomach thankfully digested it and I felt the results. The next hour of my run was much better as I ran eastward along the Cherry Creek Dam Road and looped back south into the park. I extended the out/back run a little longer so I could find water to top off my hand-held bottle and thankfully found a campground spigot. (Praise God for that as it was ice cold and absolutely refreshing!) The view from up on top of the road was pretty amazing, and I did soak it all up as best as I could to take my mind off of how tired I was. I also had a few songs in my head the entire time... Hall & Oats, "I can't go for that" during the first half of the run followed by 311's "1-2-3". 311 I can understand as they are one of my favorite bands, but I'm still wondering how in the flip an R&B song from 1981 that I didn't even like weaseled it's way into my head... Let's hope that doesn't happen on race day!

So with the 23M run completed, it was apparent that my biggest error was not properly carb-loading the night before. Since I'm burning many more calories, I can't lose focus on my diet. So last night was pasta and then my early lunch today was pasta/bread prior to the 18M in the afternoon. I was definitely a bit anxious about going 18M today after what was a definite struggle yesterday and thankfully Dr. Michelle Wolcott was able to join me for the first 14M. Michelle is a member of our group and also heads up the University of Colorado's Sports Medicine Center. Not only is she one of the best orthopedic sports surgeons in the state, but also a very accomplished distance runner. (And today was her birthday too!) The company was good, the pacing was good, my legs felt good, and we banged out 14M pretty easy. Michelle called it a day back at the car and I let Champ out of the 4Runner to run the last 4M with me.

From a training perspective, the one thing that has been a big surprise to me is the way my body has rebounded after my first long run in each of the last two weekends. Last weekend it was a poor 16.5M run followed by a terrific 15M run the next day. Today was no different as I rebounded from a brutal 23M yesterday to have a fantastic 18M. I'm hoping that this will also be the way that I race, and my body will find a great zone in the second half of Sunmart. I'm also learning that for these longer miles, I will have to find the speed that is most comfortable to me early on and leave it there for as long as possible. To quote Vin Deisel's line from The Chronicles of Riddick... "One Speed."

The bottom-line is that there are lessons to be learned from every training experience, whether you are running your first local 5km, your first half, your first marathon, or your first 50M ultra marathon. Every week I remind the members of Runner's Edge of the Rockies that they are guaranteed to experience tough times during their training, and to expect at least one (hopefully only one!) "crap run" in preparation for their races, and the key is to block out the bad days and remember that they will always be surpassed by the good ones. For me, the last several days have been a roller coaster of ups & downs, good & bad, yin & yang... And I've had to repeatedly remind myself that this is all normal as I put my body through the necessary training to prepare it for what will hopefully be a very successful 50-miles on December 8th.

THE LAST TWO CENTS
One of our members Michelle Baxter recently ran the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland (no relation to the race), and despite having to deal with a rowdy wedding party keeping her up all night before the race, she still had an outstanding performance and set a new PR! Check out some of the great pictures from her trip, HERE. (I wonder if they serve haggis at the finish? Mmmmm!)

And, for those of you who met and ran with Shiri Leventhal during the Blue Planet Run, Shiri is soon to move to India for a short-term work project. You can keep up with Shiri and her always fun & adventurous life as she travels the globe via her blog.

Quick Six

Posted on 8:10 PM No Comments

Today I had six semi-long (fairly slow/relaxed) miles on the schedule - However I certainly didn't run them that way. The thing I struggle with the most -- and I know this is common for other busy people -- is that when my head is racing with things to get done, typically I also race on my run. And truth-be-told, I also tossed around the idea of bumping the workout to tomorrow since tomorrow is an off day. I was going to meet up with Karen Kalbach, (Runner's Edge of the Rockies member and awesome Massage Therapist), but I couldn't spare the drive time with all of the prep-work for Saturday. But instead of bagging the run, I realized I needed to get my training in, needed a break away from the computer, and of course there was Champ all but begging me to take her outside. It was wrestle-mania all day long, with Apollo playing the role of taunting instigator.

(Please take me for a run and get me away from my little brother NOW!)

So I quickly leashed Champ up before she kicked Apollo's butt (again), and committed myself to the run by getting out the front door. But with Saturday and the first group run of our 2007 Winter Training Session fast approaching and everything on my mind, I turned what should have been a slow relaxing run into an up-tempo quick six. Most of the time when I do this, I go out hard and then will realize my error several miles into the run (because my mind is on my "to-do-list" and not on my pace), resulting in a poor workout. This is especially bad when I need to run at a recovery effort but instead hammer it and just end up more fatigued.

But for whatever reason this run didn't go that way and I cruised sub 8's for the entire run without much effort. No ITB pain, no plantar faciitis pain, no residual soreness from the previous workouts of the week. In fact by mile 4 Champ was lagging just a bit and I realized I was probably going too fast. She's still only 11 months old and while she runs every time Julie and I take her for a walk (sprinting to fetch tennis balls, chasing Apollo, and diving into every lake, pond, stream or puddle she can find), that distance/tempo was probably at her limit and I'm trying to be very cognizant not to run her too hard yet. (No worries though... She can sleep all day tomorrow as I have an off day!) After dropping Champ back off at the house I went back out for my final two miles, but again my intentions of running slowly were gone by the end of the block and I was back up-tempo for the remainder of the run.

A couple of key thoughts on this that will be interesting to think about for the upcoming weeks: If my speed really starts to pick up, that's a good sign that my body is getting comfortable with the increased mileage. Admittedly, I was slightly undertrained going into the KC Marathon three weeks ago, and knew going in "I wasn't going to be setting any world records", (to quote our 50-state member Jim Lynch). There are two primary schools of though when it comes to distance running: Quantity vs. Quality. Quantity, being the theory that more mileage is better. The legendary Arthur Lydiard is the king of "big mileage" coaching, advocating 120+ mile weeks for even his sprinters and mid distance runners, and I had the opportunity to see him speak in Boulder just one week before he died. On the other end of the spectrum is low mileage weeks, with all runs being of high quality and no "junk mileage" recovery runs. Most marathon training schedules on this extreme will have three runs per week, with either speed/hills for workout #1 early in the week, tempo (goal pace) for #2 a few days later, and then a long endurance run for #3 on the weekend. What I strongly advocate for the members I coach in our training program is a nice blend of the two extremes. Because you can't up the intensity of your quality workouts without the support of a larger weekly base.

So I'm betting that my increase in mileage and consistency is contributing to my increased pace... However, the other key thing I'll want to watch is how this plays out in my back-to-back long run workouts. Rule #1 for ultramarathon training is to go very slow on your long-runs so that you increase the time on your feet, resulting in more stamina/endurance. So that means I will have to stay focused and really watch my pace to keep it slow during some of these monster 40+ mile weekends I have coming up...

Tomorrow is an off/rest day for me. However, it will be "off" for running only as I'll be working hard on final preparations for Saturday's group run!

QUICK RANT
Why can't drivers and runners coexist? Tonight during my run I seriously lost count of the number of drivers who rolled through stop-signs and paid no heed to me or Champ. (And I was lit up like a Christmas tree too; headlamp, reflective vest, and flashing red safety magnet.) Apparently the extra 5-10 seconds it would take for drivers to come to a complete stop and wait for runners to pass is too much. (Not to mention most of the streets in my neighborhood are only 25 mph!) And on the flip side, runners don't do enough to protect themselves, as I counted six other runners on my route and NONE were wearing lights or reflective gear. (And two of them had headphones on on too, which I won't even start ranting and raving about tonight.) And these days there are so many ways to wear reflective gear... So if you're a nighttime runner, be seen!

(Karen Kalbach sporting lots of Reflective gear during the Blue Planet Run. Note: Always run on the left side of the road facing traffic. During BPR, we had support vehicles allowing us to run on the right side of the road.)

B-BOY KIND OF DAY
So what do I listen to during the day when I'm answering coaching E-mails, building route maps, and building training schedules? It depends... Typically electronica. But today was definitely a Beastie Boys kind of day and I rolled through all of their CD's twice. And on a slightly connected note, one of my best friends and huge B-Boy fan Kyle Archer just purchased a new house - Congrats Kyle!! (Click HERE to hear a sample of his rapping skills.)

"I'm the king of Boggle, there is none higher,
I get eleven points off the word 'quagmire'!"
(Beastie Boys)

Not Exactly How I Planned It

Posted on 10:58 AM No Comments

Well, that didn't take long before I missed a scheduled run. Yesterday was just crazy-busy (today is too), so I had to bag yesterday's scheduled 8M run. I was able to get it in this morning though, but also have another 4M tonight. Normally I wouldn't recommend a half or full marathoner take this approach since you can't "make up" mileage and typically will do more harm than good, but in my case since I need to build time on my feet to prepare for what could be 9+ hours of running, doing a 2-a-day workout might actually work in my favor.

This morning's workout was OK, as I've just been really tired the past few days with how busy we've been. The weather was beautiful and I did have Champ to keep me company for the first 4M, but when you're tired and have a gazillion things running through your head (for me it's my "to do list"), then the miles can be less than enjoyable. So to break it up during the second half, I threw in about 20 minutes of various plyometrics. (Members in our Speedwork sessions are all too familiar with these drills!) Not only did it make the run go faster but also added valuable training.

So why am I so busy, you ask? In addition to answering E-mails and phone calls from both current and prospective members, and preparing for the start of our Winter Training Session on Saturday, I also had to visit several of our sponsor running stores around Denver. Also, Julie and I are on a crash-course of trying to get the house for the arrival of "Little Baby M", as we have been calling him. Part of that involved doing some demo to our bedroom closet so we could install some new shelving. Up until yesterday, our small closet lacked the hanging/shelf space for both of us and all of my running gear was in what will soon be the baby's room. So I got to play a little Bob Villa with some demo & painting. Thankfully I was assisted by Mike Fields, a fantastic home improvement handyman that Julie somehow found through a friend. Mike was here to put up some shelving/molding, and also set up the closet system while I was out hitting the running stores.

Before...... & after!

(New shelf in baby's room.)

And today is going to be just as crazy, so I'd better get moving... Also, several of you have asked that I post my training schedule for the Sunmart 50M up on this blog, and now you can find it and follow along as I attempt to do all of my workouts. (Runner's Edge of the Rockies members will be familiar with the layout and terminology of each day/workout.)

And speaking of workout, here's someone that could use a workout or 200. While I dig KU (Rock Chalk Jayhawk!) and have to give their football team some serious props for being ranked #4 in the BCS poll, their head coach Mark Mangino is not exactly the poster-child of fitness. As good friend and member Mike Kennedy puts it, "Mangino rocks the muumuu."

"Junk Miles"

Posted on 11:38 PM No Comments

Today the schedule I built for Sunmart called for 3 recovery miles so I just ran 30 minutes this evening slow & easy with Champ. "Junk mileage" is what I typically call this type of workout when I'm coaching members of Runner's Edge of the Rockies, because they really don't offer that much value to overall marathon training other than to work out the kinks and any lactic acid that's built up in the legs from previous long runs. In fact sometimes non-impact cross-training (cycling, swimming, elliptical, walking, etc.) can provide the same result with less pounding. However, for my first ultra I figure I need to spend as much time on my feet as possible.

So I forced myself to go extra slow which was fine because I was a tad stiff from the weekend, but by the end of the run was feeling pretty fluid. The next time I will see this low of mileage on my schedule is two days prior to Sunmart on the final run of my taper, but I'm sure there will be many days in the next month where I will wish I had more. One slightly disturbing thought entered my head on the way back in from my 3 mile loop. "David, if you run that same loop 16.6 more times, you'll have your 50 miles." (Rrrriiiigggghhhht.....)

By the way, here's a pic of Julie and the dogs on Halloween along with the pumpkin I carved. OK, I have to admit that I used one of those templates/kits you buy at the grocery store, but still thought it turned out pretty good for my first attempt in nearly 20 years.

I Wear my Sunglasses at Night

Posted on 11:26 PM comments (3)

Daylight savings hit and getting that extra hour of sleep this morning was a bonus! However switching up the clocks always throws me off a bit and Julie commented that she was also feeling the same. Well, that and being seven months pregnant... Julie told me a few months ago (when she was still fighting bouts of nausea), that she couldn't understand all of those women who loved being pregnant. "Show me where those women are, because I'm definitely not one of them." :-)

My run yesterday had left me a bit more sore than I would have liked, so I was a little apprehensive for this afternoon's run that was targeted for 15 miles. The upside is that friend and fellow marathoner Kyle Hanson, was looking to get in some miles. While we've been friends for several years we've never been able to run together so today's run was going to be a bonus of catching up and finally logging some miles together. Kyle works for a family business called Two Medicine, which is focused on providing workplace preventive health care plans, so our careers certainly have a lot in common and we had a lot to talk about during the run. Since Kyle had Sunday projects to get to and I really wasn't in the mood to run solo, we got a late start. Julie thought we were nuts for starting our run so close to dusk, (come to find out Kyle's wife Sonnet thought the same), but there we were headed up to Barr Lake for some evening miles at 3:30PM.

Interestingly enough and for one reason or another, I had never run Barr Lake prior to today. Neither had Kyle, so it brought in that great sense of adventure I always get when checking out a new route. Barr Lake has always been on my list of potential places to host one of our Saturday morning training workouts for Runner's Edge of the Rockies, so there was the added bonus of doing a little scouting work for the group.

I prepped Kyle that I would probably be running a slower after the 16.5 miles I had run yesterday but he explained his running hadn't been consistent of late so that was OK for him. We finally got started at about 4:00PM, and with the trail around Barr Lake being 8.8 miles long, I knew we would be pushing daylight and threw on my headlamp just to be safe. The soft surface of the trail around Barr Lake was exactly what the doctor ordered, and the run went very well. There is barely any elevation change to the route as it winds around the large lake so it was easy to turn on the cruise control and just let the miles tick by while we talked. The sunset was gorgeous, and at one point we spotted two large male deer running along the edge of the lake right below us. But we weren't moving quickly enough (only about 9:00 per mile), so with less than 2 miles left to complete our first loop I had to switch on the headlamp.

Just like yesterday, I stuck with the same eating/hydration plan but went with one less gel and upped the amount of trail mix at the halfway point of the run. And also like yesterday I had no problems with my stomach; if anything I probably could have eaten more. If I can continue to keep getting solid foods down during my training in the next month, that will be a big positive for me going into Sunmart.

Kyle and I headed back out to get in the remainder of our miles and this time we did an hour-long out/back to get to 15 miles total and afterwards we both felt fantastic. Whether it was the ice bath yesterday, spending more time on my stretching, the soft/flat terrain of today's beautiful trail run, or a combination of all three... I'm hoping that this provides good momentum and vibes for the upcoming week!

The only "minor" nag was that my right Illiotibial Band was letting me know it existed again, and I did have to stop a couple of times to stretch it out. However, considering that I just ran the KC Marathon two weeks ago and logged 31.5 miles in the last two days, I shouldn't complain. (If there's any complaining to do, I'll reserve it for the Denver Broncos who got THUMPED today by the Detroit Lions - The team is banged up, Cutler got hurt, and I'm already chalking this year up to rebuilding.)

Tomorrow I'll be catching up on E-mails, building training schedules for our upcoming 2007 Winter Training Session that starts on Saturday, touching base with members who ran NYC and other races over the weekend, and giving my body a chance to recover a bit. I've scheduled myself for an easy 3 mile recovery run, so that means Champ will get to come along with me. :-)

Have a great week!

U.S. Men's Olympic Trials, Ryan Shay, & my Ultra Training Starts in Earnest

Posted on 9:19 PM No Comments

For anyone who set their alarm clocks early to get up and watch the live web cast of the U.S. Men's Olympic Trials in NYC, it was a real treat. I have to admit though that I didn't see the first half of the race since I was sleeping in. Since this is an "off week" in between training sessions for Runner's Edge of the Rockies, I wasn't getting up at "oh-dark-thirty" to go set up a training run... (As most members in the group know, I'm typically waking up somewhere between 2:00 & 3:00AM every Saturday.) So the plan was to sleep in today. But unfortunately with Champ & Apollo starting up their morning "wag until you wake" routine, I didn't make it past 6:30AM. But even then, that's still a big difference for me on Saturdays...

The trials themselves were tremendous, with Ryan Hall dusting the field to take top honors followed by Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell to round out our Olympic marathon squad. I was bummed that favorites Meb Keflezighi & Alan Culpepper didn't make the team (Alan dropped out halfway), especially with how solid of a year they both have had. But at the same time I'm very encouraged by how strong U.S. distance running has become, and Ryan, Dathan & Brian should represent us well in Beijing next August!

On a tragically sad note however, elite runner Ryan Shay collapsed at 5.5 miles and died. It's never easy to hear about someone dying during a marathon, especially when it's an elite athlete with a superior fitness level. According to Shay's father, it could likely be due to an enlarged heart but an autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. Naysayers of the marathon will point fingers at distance running itself every time someone dies during a race, however at only 5.5 miles the pack hadn't even picked up the pace to full throttle yet so it probably wasn't due to the exertion. No matter what though, Shay died doing what he loved while trying to compete for the opportunity to represent his country... My prayers go out to his new wife of only 5 months and the rest of the Shay family.

TODAY'S TRAINING UPDATE
The last several days have been pretty busy so I'm trying to pack everything in as best as I can. I have to admit that since the Kansas City Marathon two weekends ago I've really limited my mileage to allow for recovery. However, I had great runs on both Thursday (4 miles) & Friday (3 miles) and was very encouraged with the results. Maybe it was because I took Champ with me both times and she loves to run fast, but my pace was definitely much quicker than I would have expected so soon after a marathon. I really didn't have any residual muscle soreness this week - Maybe that's a factor of running slower at KC, taking more time for recovery the past two weeks, etc... Whatever the reason, I was very encouraged for today's long run where my training for Sunmart definitely started in earnest. However, the run wasn't all the peaches n' cream I was hoping it would be...

J.D. Praeger, Bob Kendrick and Jim Mayo all live within a half-mile of me here in Stapleton, so we decided to meet up at 2:00PM for a run. J.D. and Jim were coming off of the crazy-hot Chicago Marathon and Bob just ran Denver. Mike Kennedy also joined us since he needed to get in 12 miles for his Tucson Marathon training, after having just run KC as well. My plan was to aim for 16 miles; possibly 18 if I felt outstanding. I'm leaving a bit of wiggle room with my training since I know that as the long runs increase during November, I'm going to have plenty of runs where I'm feeling like garbage, so anytime I feel good I want to make the most of it. While I don't typically recommend that approach for members in our group training for a full or half marathon, the ultra marathon is a different story and I want to be in tune with the feedback my body is providing me. My biggest concern is that I'll push it too hard and sustain an overuse injury which could knock me out of doing Sunmart completely.

J.D., Bob & Jim all were targeting 7, and when Jim called saying he couldn't make the 2:00PM time, Mike and I were happy knowing we would have company on the second half of the run. The first 7 miles felt pretty easy/relaxed and by the time Mike and I said goodbye to J.D. & Bob we were ready for the second half. I scarfed down a couple hand fulls of trail-mix and to my surprise had zero complaint from my stomach even as we ran. That will be a huge factor for me in the next month; training my stomach to take solid foods while I'm running. You pretty much either succeed or fail in that category. And if I fail... Well, let's just say that hopefully whatever I eat will taste the same coming back up!

We ran down the street to Jim's house for the second half of the run, and what was supposed to be 5 miles. Jim miscalculated on the route, (Mike and I weren't thinking or carrying GPS), so the second half ended up being closer to 6.5. Oops! Personally I didn't mind because that just meant one less mile I had to run solo once Mike & Jim were done. Jim's pace was also a bit quicker so by about mile 10 both Mike and I were struggling a bit. Muscularly I felt fine but the bottom of my feet were getting sore fast. We were running mostly on street whereas Sunmart is all trail, however I still wasn't happy about this at all. After we wrapped up that loop back at my house, Mike & Jim were done but I still had 3 more to go... Perfect distance for Champ! Thank goodness I took her because she really is a strong runner and helped spur me on. (Plus, there's the added bonus of wearing her out. And as The Dog Whisperer says, "a tired dog is a happy dog!")

Post-workout was an immediate recovery drink and then straight to a 12-minute ice bath. While normally I don't use ice baths for anything less than an 18-20 mile run, I'm going to try and do them after every Saturday & Sunday long workout since I can't afford to have tired/inflamed muscles, especially with fewer recovery/off days. (I'll let you all know how that works out.) I also spent a good 20-30 minutes stretching since my iliotibial band let me know it was there. Typically for me I don't feel that during the run, but at least now I know I have to be REALLY proactive on my pre & post-run stretching. I thought this was somewhat ironic since I did a TV segment on 9News on just that issue! I'm also susceptible to plantar faciitis so I definitely have some things to pay attention to...

So all-in-all I can't say it was a terrible long run only two weeks after KC. 16.5 miles total, 3 Hammer Endrolyte Caps (AKA "eCaps"), 2 PowerBar gels, some trail mix and of course Gatorade & water. (In the next few days hopefully I'll go more into the nutrition strategy and mileage plan that I'm following.) But, I am "chasing" today's long run with another long one tomorrow afternoon of 14-15 miles, and most definitely on a soft trail!

IDIOT RANT OF THE WEEK
For those of you who watch or listen to ESPN's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" (my new favorite show), you're probably familiar with one of their pieces called, "Just Shut Up!" where they allow viewers/listeners to vote on who in the sports world needs to shut their cake-holes the most because they said something stupid. Well, one of our members Alicia Green sent me an article from Salon.com titled "How Oprah Ruined the Marathon", and I think the author totally gets my vote. I'll let you judge for yourself, but to me he comes off as snobbish and bitter for not making the most of his only marathon experience. (Maybe he should have prepared better!) While I do agree that the marathon is a competition and shouldn't be taken lightly, I've got no problem with people wanting to better themselves, improve their fitness, and achieve something that maybe they didn't think was possible. And, with obesity fast becoming one of America's problems, I'm all for everyone being active, even if they weren't blessed with the physical tools to ever run a sub 3:30 marathon.

FUNNY E-MAIL OF THE WEEK
In response to an E-mail sent out to members in the group who are training for the Sunmart ultra marathon, where I suggested doing one Goal Pace tempo run per week... Dave Longcope (who just ran a 3:02 at the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday), responded with "did you qualify anywhere what "goal pace" is? I probably run every mile now faster than my 50 mile goal pace."

THE LAST TWO CENTS
Is it just me, or does having daylight savings go all the way into November just suck? The last few weeks, both Julie and I have been struggling to get moving in the morning due to the lack of daylight. (In fact, normally Champ & Apollo are up by 5:30AM, but even they seem to be more interested in their ZZZ's lately than breakfast.) Thank goodness we can set our clocks back an hour tonight.... And speaking of sleep, I need some - Good night! And good luck to everyone running the NYC Marathon tomorrow morning!

This Blog is Off & Running!

Posted on 7:21 PM comments (2)

Welcome everyone!

For those of you that don't know me, my name is David Manthey and I own/direct/coach a marathon training program based in Denver, CO called Runner's Edge of the Rockies. My wife Julie and I started the program in June of 2003 with just 32 members. We just wrapped up our 2007 Summer/Fall Training Session with 240 members, and continue to grow rapidly!

The main purpose of this blog will be to share some details about what's going on with my own personal training and how I balance it out while coaching and directing the training program. While running is my business, unfortunately it doesn't often leave me enough time for my own training. (Sad, but true!) In addition to my training, I'll probably include details about the group, Julie, the pending birth of our first child, and of course our two other "children", Champ & Apollo!

I'm also currently training for my first ultramarathon; the Sunmart 50M in Texas on December 8th. While I do have some quasi-ultra experience by way of the Pikes Peak Marathon in 2004, covering 50 miles in a race certainly will be a big step, and I'll have to commit myself over the next six weeks to get it done!

So check back daily, and join me on this journey!
~ David

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