ZION CROSSING

My training this summer simply wasn't enough to cover the entire 48.3 mile traverse without turning into a "death march" and risking an IT Band flareup, so JT started from the very southern entrance called "East Entrance", and then I joined in at the next entry point called "The Grotto", which was about 10-11miles later.  We ran all the way up to the Northern trail head known as "Lee Pass".

While cutting off 10 miles was the best idea for my fitness, this also meant that I missed what JT described as his favorite part of the day, and also meant I started my day on legs that weren't very warmed up, in around 40-43F, going straight up for 90 minutes. (ouch)

We ended up missing 2 turns which meant back tracking, which added around 3 miles (and 35 minutes) to our day, so JT ended up with 50+ and I ran right about 40.  My day started at 9:04am and lasted till 7:29pm. (10 hours 25 minutes) .  

I have some photos that I will post later, that I think really showcase the park, just haven't had time to transfer from phone and regular camera.  Hopefully in next 24 hours.

For those of you interested in seeing what crossing Zion National park might be/look like, here's a little video I put together from our weekend run.  It is 15 minutes long, which means I have condensed a 625 minute adventure into 15.  I filmed while running, so it's a little bouncy, but I think it gives you a great sense of the huge variety of terrain that makes up Zion National park.

So here you go... here's my summary on how awesome this run was!!

(Technical: I filmed it in HighDefinition, and uploaded it in 720P which is an option on youtube dot com, so if you're picky about quality, then maybe go there and choose 720p from the 360default. Unless you can upgrade this embedded player.)

Logistics:

We ran Saturday. 

Friday we stayed in: 

Canyon Ranch Motel

(Great location, shuttle that takes you to Zion park is right across the street.  Within a short 5-10min walk from multiple restaurant options)
http://www.canyonranchmotel.com/index.html

Saturday night we stayed in:
Days Inn Cedar City, UT

(it was the best "cheap hotel" I've ever stayed in.  I think it was pretty new.  Bathtub open till 10pm, which felt great on sore muscles.  Dog friendly)
Exit 57 off I-15

Initially the plan looked like it would only be JT and I.  This meant dropping a car off Friday night up north so we would have transportation out.  JT's girlfriend ended up being able to join us, which not only was a big help to transport our stuff, but she was also a very irmportant piece to the puzzle, as she met us with about 13 miles to go.   This was HUGE.  There were supposed to be 6 water sources, but only found one.  So being able to refill, eat, drink beverage of choice etc, was AWESOME.   It would have been problematic to go an additional 13 miles without water.

Bit & Spur is the happening bar on a Friday night in Springdale.  Decent selection of microbrews on tap, and pitchers weren't too expensive.

Cedar Point (north side) doesn't have much choice in original restaurants, to Chili's is pretty much your best bet post run. 

Lee Pass trailhead is off I-15 on exit 40.  About 25min drive from Days Inn and Cedar Point, UT.  

It's $25 for a Park pass. It is valid for 4 or 5 days.  KEEP the receipt ON YOU.  I needed it 2 more times over the weekend.

After spending Sunday in Bryce Canyon (1.5-1:45min drive from Cedar Point), i drove back to St George which took about 2.5 hours, spent the night at the Days Inn (so much crappier, but still ok).   Bear Paw Coffee Shop is just a mile away, and serves a great breakfast before the 2 hour 15 min drive back to Vegas to catch 12:25 flight.

(There is a 1 hour time difference between Nevada and Utah, so you have an extra hour to make it back to your flight.   While Bear Paw was tasty, next time, I may get up earlier, drive to Vegas and fill up at a nice buffet breakfast on salmon, king crab, omelettes and whatever else the Wynn, Mandalay, or Bellagio serves up!)

My flatlander friends kicked ass at Leadville!!!

For the second straight year, Team Rogue Ultra knocked it out of the park at the Leadville Trail 100 miler, with 7 of 8 finishers!

Ken F - LEADMAN! (3 for 3 time finisher!)
Mo F - LEADMAN!
Jason L BIG BUCKLE! (3 for 3 time finisher!)
Lesley H - 16th Female!
Carrie D
John P (2 for 2 time finisher!)
Sydney P

Huge Congrats go out to all of them!!!

Ken and Mo make history by becoming the first ever LEADMAN finishers from the State of Texas!!

Did that just happen, or was it a dream???

It's ONLY the first week in February, but it's safe to say this will be one of the 3 best runs I'll have all year.

It is extremely rare to see snow in AUSTIN, TEXAS.  It's even more rare to see a decent amount of snow that covers the ground and sticks around long enough for a run.  It's even more rare for me to get the opportunity to go run in it.

Monday it was literally 77 degrees outside in the afternoon.  I walked Karma in shorts and Tshirt.  Then it got cold, well under freezing for Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, and on Friday morning, Austin woke up to this.  (8am dog walk)

  By 10:30am, reports were that most of the VERY ICY roads were now drive-able, so 3 of us met up for a great trail run.  One that we all three will remember for a very long time. 

 

 

Today is Saturday and it's hard to believe I ran IN SNOW yesterday.  I went out for a trail run on the exact same trails I ran yesterday, and there was NOT ONE TRACE of any snow having been there.  I ran in shorts and short sleeve in close to 50 degrees, and i felt like I just had a really strange snow dream.


Oh, it's 75 degrees right now at 2pm.

Grand Canyon Photos

Here are the photos.

I'm a little busy getting caught up at work, but will do my best to sum up my thoughts on this most incredible experience in the next couple of days.
but honestly, what others say: "No words or photos can truly describe how incredible this place is" is a very valid statement.

Enjoy the photos!

Grand Canyon double crossing from South Kaibab Trailhead to North Kaibab Trailhead, then returned back south and up the Bright Angel Trail for the completion of the "rim to rim to rim"!

48 miles or so
We were in no hurry.
started at 5:20am
finished at 6:13pm
12hours 54 minutes
spending almost 2 hours resting, eating, looking at things etc.

4200 and 5500 ft elevation changes on either side respectively.

Why a buckle.

My friend (and dietician) (and consultant) (and kick ass trail runner) Meredith will be participating in the Western States 100mile Endurance Run this June.

Definitely the very first 100 mile trail race run by a man in the world. Arguably, the permier 100mile trail race in the world. It started off as a 100 mile trail race for horse riders. One year, one of the riders' horse was unable to compete, so the rider asked for permission to do it without his horse. He completed the race, and there began ultraracing as we now know it.

There's a video called "A race for the soul" that you can buy.

A guy says at the start of a video:

"It's the Boston of 100 milers."

Another ones says

"All the top runners come to this one. It's their Wimbledon. This is how they want to prove themselves to the best ultra runner, the best 100 miler in the country."

David H over at www.endurancebuzz.com (a great website by the way), has a link to the actual video so you don't need to go out and buy it. On his site, you can watch the video in 6 separate sections. Here's a link to those videos. At the very least, check out the first few minutes of the first video. You'll see a bearded man in a turquoise T-shirt... that is Gordon Ainsleigh, the man that ran without his horse!

So it so happens that the prize that every horse rider got when successfully finishing the Western States race was a new shiny belt buckle. This became tradition for ultra races around the country, if not the world.

On Saturday, I set off to earn my first buckle for my first 100km ultramarathon trail race. I'm a little nervous, not nervous of not being able to complete it, but excitedly nervous to get it going.

Next time you see a photo of a Bandera buckle on this blog, it'll be in my hand, or on my belt. ha!

Love this video!

UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.

(I've seen it several times on other blogs, but finally decided i needed to post it too!)

2 hours on trails today

Jo Dee and Bruce and I hit the greenbelt this morning at first light for a great 2 hour run. Ran the entire time, except a little stop midway through to refill water bottles where I dropped a water bottle before hand. Some sticky dirt/mud here and there, but overall, a smile-enducing run through and through.

Bruce's GPS said 9 miles, to it was probably closer to 10 (tree cover, zigzags, elevation gains and losses).

Felt great the whole way, and the hamstring issue was hardly noticed. Lisa did great, and the icing after the run has it feeling good afterwards too. Still a little apprehensive about a faster road run, but eventually i'll have to give it a whirl.

3 hours today

Met Jason for a couple of hours to keep him company this morning at 6:15am. He started at 9pm and ran the trails through the night as training for his upcoming Leadville 100 miles in August.

After 1.75 hours with him, Mer, Dan and I split off and did some more trails at a higher speed. Overall, just under 3 hours of trail time.

It was fun, but my stupid hamstring just won't get better. Part of me is strongly considering 3 weeks of no running to try and see if it fixes itself.

I dorked out and brought my iPhone again to track the run. I then played with some free software on the web and extrapolated some interesting stats. I won't bring it on every run, but from time to time on the longer stuff, it'll be fun to map it out and see what it tells me. Especially since you can really get silly with the analysis.

take a look:

According to topofusion (free software) and analysis it offers, it says we did this much climbing. (the s/w offers many different theories you can consider)

TopoFusion: 2302 ft

Straight GPS: 2329 ft

Straight DEM: 2037 ft

TopoUSA: 2044 ft

Training Center: 2245 ft

Custom Algorithm: 2302 ft

Based on my height and weight, it says this was my output:

GOVSS Score = 1939.89

Lactate Adj. Power = 206.60 W

Average Power = 154.42 W

KCal Expended = 479.49

Click on the photos to enlarge.

as you can see, we stopped a few times to refill water and let Jason eat etc. so the pace was slow and the stops were frequent on the first 6 miles. We then picked up the pace considerably.

Pretty cool for just $2.99 and free demo software.

Unfortunately, the arm band i bought sucks. It won't stay tight with the amount of sweating i do in this miserable heat and humidity. May have to play with safety pins.

Trail run Tuesday

Phew... my legs aren't fully recovered from Sunday's race even though I took Monday off, and it showed today. Total run time today: 2 hours 15 minutes. about 10 miles

Met Bruce and Meredith, and of course Flyer and Karma joined in the fun for an hour run... Middle Road, Shady, down the Z to the water and then home. i could feel my left quad misfiring on some step ups. Leaving Karma in the car and Mer and Bruce went on their way, I swapped running partners for Jo Dee and David and we took off Bologna over to the Grotto, to the field, down to the water up to the damn, then homes.

Grotto: It felt like a day to explore a new trail I've run by 100 times but never taken ubt heard about countless times. I won't be taking it too many more times. Not only did it cut off about 15-20 minutes of trail but it's pretty much just a GIANT drop, then a really steep ass climb on the other side. It completely kileld my legs and the little quad energy i had left. it's probably a good trail to take for hill training for Bandera, but not on fun weekday runs. I can find plenty of other hills that are more enjoyable.

I brought my phone/gps along for the second loop, and here's what the grotto drop looks like on Google Earth. Not mt Everest by any means, but trust me it's very steep.

The Bluffs - 30km Trail "race". report

Phew. That was nasty, rough, and tough. Just like I like it. Definitely my type of trail as it suits my weight and ability to stay light on my feet.

It was pretty hot out there too.. my car saying 93 when I left at 11:15am.

My running as you've read has been pretty sparse, or low in distance in the last 3 weeks. In addition, my trail running has not exceeded 10-12 miles since back in JANUARY, so 18 miles today was for me, just a training run where I'd give it a good fight if the legs were willing to cooperate.

My strategy today (since I'd seen the course from helpding weed-eat-it and kept it secret all week) was to go out conservative and let the course beat up the people in front of me, then let the sun finish them off. Pretty quickly there were what seemed like 30 runners pulling away. I settled in with a couple of others at a more conservative pace and just ran. Had a nice conversation with Cindy H for a while, then pulled away from her on a rocky climb. My friend Dan eventually popped up right behind me and we worked together for the 2nd half of the first loop. I told him I knew the course, and it would be suicide to push the pace. We ran together till the end of the first loop where he told me he'd be pulling off to retie his shoes as they were entirely too LOOSE. felt like he was swmming in them and too dangerous on the quite slanted course. I opted to wait as it's more enjoyable to run with a colleague (strength in numbers). I timed us spending a little over 2 minutes but I didn't really care since I wasn't planning on going all out anyway. 58mins total time for loop 1 includng about a 2 minute stop.

Loop 2 was more of the same... hot single track trails in dunlight, very rocky and loose rock dry creek beds, untouched rock climbs to get over and onto flatter grounds and tons and tons of REALLY rocky, untouched, unrun, technical trails with loose rocks, 3 foot drops, rock stepping etc. Not really sure how to describe it other than it was rough and tons of it had to be walked either due to steepness of short climbs, or the fact that we had to walk over boulders, or from boulder to boulder. Dan and I didn't see a soul ahead of us for the entire 2nd loop. Sure there were plenty of walkers or 10km runners we passed, but our true competitors ahead of us, were just that... well ahead of us.

I slowly pulled away putting about 30 yards on Dan with about a mile to go on the long and hot jeep trail that led to the finish. This time i only stopped for about 4 seconds, just enough to swap water bottles (thanks Kamran for refilling my other one!) and take off. The only bummer on Loop #2, is that giant clouds showed up and kept the loop relatively cool. I know this sounds stupid, but when part of your strategy is to have people ahead of you die of heat stroke and simply outlast them by better hydration/salt strategy, cloudy and breezy extends their power.

I kept the pace easy knowing i had plenty of energy draining climbing, stepping and nasty Sh*t to deal with, and also hoped Dan would catch up from the 50 yard lead I now had. Unfortunately he never did. I ran solo, passing slower traffic (30km runners on their 2nd loop) from time to time. And then the sun burned away the clouds and the heat came! woohoo! In this last 10km(6.2mile loop), I caught a runner at about 2.5 miles in. He had set up his chair right next to mine before the race and I was happy to pass and beat his ass. moooahahahah. I then caught another one, and another, on the really rocky nasty area leading to the mid point water station. A quick water bottle refill with plenty Ice (thanks Henry!) and I made it a point to power walk up the steep hill up and over to get out of their site. I'd never see then again. I'm now running along and not a soul is within site (excluding slower traffic). I'm a little demoralized since i'm not seeing any more death marchers, and I rally hoped I'd pass plenty. stupid loop 2 clouds!.

with about a mile to a mile and a half left, I caught and passed a tall dude in black clothes, then once i got on the long jeep road that led to the finish I passed two more, both walkers at this point. (sun and course victims!) I tried to get both to run in with me, but one bitched about his cramping legs and the other just plain had no gas left in the tank. I switched my cadence and running for to as smooth and track speedwork like as i could and pateintly waited for the final turn to the finish.

I finished a few seconds under 2 hours and 55 minutes, with a last loop of 1 hour and 3 seconds. Definitely slowed down in the last loop, which wasn't in my plan as I wanted a fastest thrid loop, but my strategy somewhat worked as I managed to pass 5 pour souls in the last loop. Dan finished behind me by about 90 seconds or so and also passed all those guys. We later congratulated each other on good strategy.

So to my surprise I ended up 14th overall, and if you don't count the double dippers* (masters - 40+ runners), I'm in at 9th in the under 40s.

Not too shabby for someone that's in the offseason, put no pressure on himself and hadn't done much preparation! My loose goal was to finish top 30, and I figured I could maybe go under top 20 if I got lucky with the heat as the very rough course definitely plays in the favor of light runners.

14th! Woohoo!

can't wait to go out there in november when it's cool out and run 5 or 6 laps as a training run for Bandera!

Congrats to Ken who got 3 Masters and 9th overall!!! WHAT A STUD!

*Double Dippers... while driving home I realized Masters runners have it good, and are essentially double-dippers. (my new term). I totally agree that they should have a masters category as age does take it's toll on humans and competing against young bucks is ridiculous. But I do find it amusing that a masters runner can get top 5 overall and get rewarded there, and then, they still go take an additional 3 masters runners to hand out masters runners prizes. If I were king for a day, I'd say... "if you're a masters runner that is top 5 overall, say 3rd for example, you can choose either 3rd overall OR 1st Masters. However, this automaticall eliminates 1 spot in the masters top 3 awards. If he chooses #1 masters, then 6th OA gets bumped down to 5th award. If he chooses 3rd OA, then only 2nd and 3rd masters are given out anyway. Then again, who cares. But that's just what I was thinking on the long and boring drive home that seemed to never end! So that's my idea. what do you think?! (Then again, I probably will hate the idea in a few yerars, when I get all old and crabby and qualify for senior citizen awards too) heh heh j/k

it's all relative

I was gonna run 2 hours with my friend Jason who's training for the Leadville 100 miler this morning. The plan was to run 1 hour with little Karma so he could get some excercise, stopping at the water so he could cool off and hydrate, then return to the cars to drop him off and return out. My friend started around 3:30am, and I met him at 5:30am with a couple of friend's of his. We'll call them 1 and 2 since I'm terrible with names and already forgot them.

Karma was panting pretty quick as it was a windfree and warm morning and he just doesn't do as well in those conditions. His descents and climbs were pretty slow, and with about 1/2 mile to go to the water he was going at what i would call Karma's deathmarch.

1 was a decent runner and kept pace all the way, even choosing to mock my apparent "scream" when i almost ran into a giant spiderweb. Those things suck to run into in plain daylight, but it's even worse when all you see is your headlamp's beam and you spot it about two feet from your face. Good times, good times!

2, started losing steam earlier than Karma but he could see our lights and caught back up right before the water where we let Karma rest for 5 minutes or so. 2 clearly isn't a trail runner, and it really is rough the first time you're out there. (I think he'd hold his own on the road.)

We then set off on the shortest route back to the cars, Karma leading the pack, but ended up fading back to his slow deathmarch for the latter half of the ~two~ mile return.

Anyway, all this just to say that we dropped "2" pretty badly even at Karma's deathmarch pace on the hills on the way back.

Everyone called it quits when we returned to the cars, and I got lazy as well, and decided to just go home instead of heading out for a 2nd hour alone. But tha now opens up the option of running a little longer on Saturday than what I originally had planned!

Not that i'm mocking him, but it's always nice to know that even at your absolute slowest (Karma's deathmarch pace), there's always someone that isn't used to trails that thinks the pace is still ridiculously fast. It's a different world out there, one that I can't get enough of.

I think next Wednesday I may very well be the slow one since I may venture out with my coach and a couple of ex All-Americans on their weekly trail run that apparently lasts 90 minutes and is pretty "healthy" pace (read Fast paced). But who knows... they haven't see me climb trail hills yet, and they're running in my backyard which is good in two ways. 1- I know the trails well and know what's around the corner. 2- I know the trails well and am not scared of getting dropped like a '2' and finding my way back home without having to curl my tail in between my legs.

(I wonder what "healthy" means to them on trails?!? I know they would leave me in the dust in no-time on a road, but i'm very intrigued to know what trail fast may be and if I can keep up. Maybe I'll volunteer to be a trail guide and make sure we do nothing but hills so I don't get dropped. Then again, maybe I'll get dropped on hills too!)

2 hours on Twosday

Very early this morning I ran 2 hours on the greenbelt with a variety of other people. The first hour was a mostly flat mellow run accompanied by the doggies(Flyer and Karma), then the second hour was a solid paced, hilly and technical workout.

My legs felt the best they've felt since Boston. With a couple of gels and a better dinner than 3/4's of a small popcorn at the movies tlast night, I could have easily gone another couple of hours. I *heart* trail running.

As for the movie, I recommend "The Hangover". A great comedy in the same general league as Something about Mary, Ace Ventura, and Old School (? is that what it was called? The one with Hank the Tank?). That's all I have to say about that as I don't want to ruin it at all for those who haven't seen it or know nothing about it.

Saturday Sunday - 10miles then The Maze 10km

Saturday i met a whole bunch of us to run 10 miles.  It was fun to run with everyone again, followed by a nice soak in the Springs, and breakfast at Torchy's tacos.  My legs felt crappy for the last 3 miles.  By crappy, I mean still tired and a little achy, and definitely no get up and go.

Got a nice nap, then spent the rest of the afternoon painting my living room. 

This morning I ran the Maze 10km version.  There's also a 30km version, but since I'm still fighting "tired legs syndrome" and my race is 4 weeks away, there was no point in digging my gravesite this morning. 

The race was pretty fun.  It rained over night, so there were 6 water crossings, and some mud puddles to bring a smile to my face.  

Race strategy: Not to go all out at any time, instead just start out at a decent pace, then once warmed up, pick up the pace to a comfortable steady state (no, not 6:10 pace) trail run pace. Easy enough.

The start was funny...  I tried to count out how many people took off like it was a 1 mile all out, and think i count about 26 people infront of me.  Including one dude in a burgundy colored shirt that literally SPRINTED by me and 10 other people to get a better positions before we headed into the single track trails.  I would pass Mr. Burgundy well before my watch hit 10 minutes, and he looked like he was about to faint!  Hysterical!  Within 2 miles, people had definitely backed off of that crazy silly pace, and i was steadily passing people left and right.  Some people literally looked like they were dying out there, just 2 miles in.  Rookies.  

I settled in to my decided upon pace, and just held that till the finish.  I continued to pass people here and there, through about 19 minutes, then past one last guy who hung on within about 10 yards of me till about minute 40.   I asked him at minute 30 if he was just going to wait there and then pounce on me once we got closer, but he said he was just trying to hang on.  And I came to the conclusion pretty quickly that he was not lying, since he had no bigger race in the future he was training towards, and he didn't like to talk at the pace we were going.  Dammit, I could really have used some conversation to have the next 10-15 minutes go by.  Oh well, what are you gonna do?  Spoiler: I would never pass, or even see a single soul infront of me (to try and catch) after passing this guy. 

There are never mile markers on a trail race so it's hard to tell where you are, but I guesstimated and told the leach that we were in for another 15-18 minutes, meaning I'd probably run between a 45 and a 48 today.  (After I told him i knew the course, I realized I made a stupid mistake.  Why tell your opponent valuable information?  I should've said:"Oh i have no clue where we are")

I decided that once minute 40 hit my watch, on any next little descent I'd really accelerate down it, then pick up the pace to lose the ankle biter.... And I did just that.   It didn't take much to get rid of him, and I think my tiny pace increase and the fact that the course is EXTREMELY zigzaggy he lost contact and fell off pace.  The rest is pretty unventful.  I kept at it till the finish, and crossed the mat with my watch saying 46minutes 58 seconds.

They eventually posted the results print out, and I found out that I finished 7th overall.  This means I passed 19 runners or so.   First place ran 40 minutes, he had a 3 minute lead on 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then there was 3 minutes between me and 6th place.  (I beat that one guy behind me by about 24 seconds.)

Stats:

• Time 46:58
  
• 7:41/min pace
  
• 7th Overall
  
• 6th Male under 40

I'm happy with my 7th overall, but it's not like I'm pulling out the champagne for a top 10 finish.  Lets not forget that pretty much everyone ran 30km version, so it was a watered down field.  However, it is what it is, and I'll take it.  TOP 10!  WOOHOO!!!   

Bring out the Cheetos!!!... and the paint brush... time to finish the paint project. 

Sunday Trail Run

Once again, the trail didn't disappoint.
Jo Dee, David and I met up at first light (7am) for a 90 minute easy recovery run this morning. We got in about 7 miles of great trail running. I ran in my new trail shoes and they were great.

The highlight for me is when we got to the waterfall, I opted to get in and go for a swim. It was fantastic. Swam in under the waterfall and had the water massage my shoulders for a while.

Ahhh, the magical greenbelt, how I love you.

Whew! What a running weekend! B-22

What a fantastic 3 days of running!

FRIDAY - 5 miles

Friday was supposed to be a rest day for me, but, as I spent so many days at the SXSW music festival, and then knee issues and workouts that didn't include Karma....  Karma didn't get much love from me.  So instead, Bruce and Meredith met me for an easy 5 miles in the greenbelt for Karma to get some fun of his choice.  Meredith brought Flyer, which gave Karma even more fun!  We had a blast, and both Bruce and I commented during our Saturday run HOW INCREDIBLY FRESH our legs felt from an easy 5 mile greenbelt run after some hard running during the week on Friday afternoon.  Knee: 8/10  (10 being perfect)

SATURDAY - 24.5 miles

The doctor has ordered me to run a mile then stretch my knee (IT Band) for a full 5 minutes before running.  That's impossible to do on a trail, but yesterday Nedra who's been having possibly similar issues met me at 5:10 and we ran 1.2 miles then stretched before our group set off for 24 miles.  The route ended up being 23.3, but with my 1.2, it got 24.5 in.   My knee wasn't very happy with me on Saturday, with shooting pains every so often.  Plus, the 24 miles felt like they took for EVER.  Probably because we purposely ran it at a calm pace of just under 8 min/miles.   Knee: 5/10

Saturday afternoon I spent eating eating eating and trying to rehydrate.  I felt hungry and thirsty when i went to bed but knew I couldn't eat anymore.  

SUNDAY - 6.2 (10km) race + 3.8 warmup/down ( i mapped it!) = 10.0 miles.

I sent this email to my boss (coach) yesterday with my plan of attack.  

Looking at the race course...

I think I'll go for
Mile1- 6:45 slow due to traffic?
Mile2- 7:00 two hills... Rt on congress and up 15th. (Don't blow up)
Mile3- 7 to 7:15 big ass hill over lamar
Mile4- 6:20
Mile5- 6:20
Mile6.2-  whatever I got left

33:40 + 1.2miles of ?? to the finish= 39:59-40:59

Looks good enough to me...  Respectable after todays run, and a knee that doesn't like cold and I don't want to aggravate it so close to Boston.

I heard no response, but this morning I reiterated it, and he felt it was fine.   

The first mile was funny.  I was running and actually laughed outloud.  Why?  Well, watch this video...

My legs felt like wobbly spaghetti strands, and pictured the scene in Bambi where she's slipping on the ice as a fawn. I thought: Oh my, this is going to be interesting! and just chuckled. Not sure if anyone heard but I thought it was hysterical as I had no pressure on myself today.

I missed the 1 mile marker, but Keith who was behind me told me it was a 6:25. Uh oh. Waaaaaay too fast. I slowed up and settled into a slightly slower pace to conserve energy with the hills yet to come. I chatted with a couple of running acquaintances, and kept things loose. Overtime, it was apparent that Chad, Keith and I had a goal of sub 40 as our 'A' goal and we ran together.

I missed the 2nd mile marker too, then finally spotted the 3rd one. 19.49 for 3 miles = 6:36 per mile.

We then turned the corner onto the faster half of the course, and trucked along. Eventually Chad made his move, silently and I knew there was no way in the world i'd be able to hang on to his pace for 2 miles, but figured I'd maybe catch him in the last 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile. (that wouldn't happen). Keith and I ran on, keeping each other loose and I tried to keep things jovial as much for him, but really for myself as well to just think about something other than the tired legs. 

Mile 4- 6:24, and Mile 5- 6:17, exactly where I had planned to be, so I'm happy with that.  Last 1 mile clocks in at 6:21, then the last 0.2 clocked in at 1:07 which apparently is a 5:04 pace. Ha!

I'm happy with my final time. I knew I had taken me 7 or 8 seconds to cross the start line so i sprinted to the finishline and snuck in at 40:06. Clicked my watch, and it rad 39:59. Official time was posted as 39:58. Too cool, beat my desired fast time by a second!

Overall I ran 6:25, which means I ran the last 3.2 miles at 6:16pace, so a 20 second per mile negative split.

Not too shabby with 24.5 somewhat hilly miles on my legs the day before!

Stats:

Time 39:58

Pace: 6:26/mile

35-39 Age Group: 24th out of 565 (timed runners) = 4.2%

Overall 150th out of 18,000+ (including everyone who crossed the start line) = 0.008 percentile ha!

Total miles this weekend = 34.5miles.

Total miles this week = 80.8 miles

22 more days to go

2 more very HARD workouts (saturday long run, and one hard weekday workout)... and it's a date with sub <2:59:59>

The race that never was for me

I'm sad to hear that the Sunmart Trail Endurance races (50 miles and 50km) is no longer. 

I was totally going to use this early December trail race as a training run for my first 100km (62miles) trail race in January 2010.   Big bummer.  

I guess I'll just have to join the HCTR group for the Bunmart Intergalactic Challenge down in Bandera instead!  (nothing like training on the course itself!)

Trail run at eleven.... pm?

I'm about to leave to meet my friend Meredith for a night trail run starting at 11pm.
We plan on running for 3 hours.

She is training to run an Ultra Marathon in a few weeks that will require night running when she's tired, so we're simulating a late night trail run as best we can.

I've never run this late at night, and I also don't really know what nutrition strategy should be, but I'm sure the couple of guiness beers I had earlier in the night will provide ample energy!
I'm not quite sure what to expect, but it'll be interesting, that's for sure. Especially since we're running a very hill Forest Ridge loop for 3 hours, after my hard 13 mile workout this morning.

About a third of the moon is out, which should be added help on top of the normal headlamp i've run in, at 5:30am on the greenbelt before.

This will be interesting, to say the least.

I wonder what wildlife will be out looking for 2 skinny runners as a meal?

If I don't report back before dawn, let authorities know that 2 runners are out on Forest Ridge's 8 mile loop somewhere!!

Weekend Warrior

On Saturday, there was a 5K race starting at RoguEQ, so we were asked to start our run from elsewhere to increase the parking availability.  We had a 14 miler on our schedule as it was a recovery week.  It was a fun run me, since I typed up a trip ticket to my 14 mile "Turista" route and proposed that as a run.  A route that doesn't require anyone to put out water for us, and runs around town by some of the more popular touristy sights, and some less touristy, but still sights to see.  Surprisingly, quite a few people from the team came out to run it.   I think most enjoyed it.  Even if they didn't, who cares.  We needed 14 miles, and we got it.  We then had a fun team breakfast filling up a table of about 16  at Maudies. 

Sunday, 6 of us met up at Barton Springs for a point to point 10.5 mile run on the greenbelt.  I got a really weird feeling of excitement when I stopped on the way to our meeting spot to leave a gallon of water for bottle refills.  I was soooo excited to get out on the greenbelt, it honestly felt like christmas!  I haven't felt this way about a run in a long long time, which then sparked thoughts of my upcoming training for a long distance trail race next winter.  I'm already ready to train for my January trail race!

Not that I'm not enjoying my road marathon training for Boston, and won't enjoy training for our October road marathon, but I am already REALLY excited to start doing some really long training runs on the greenbelt trails to prepare for next January's trail race I'm planning to run.   I know most of the greenbelt pretty well, but I'm really excited to get to go out for a 3... 5... 7 hour trail runs where I can just hop on a trail I've never tried before.  I'll need tons of "trail time" so it'll be the perfect time to just hop on unknown trails and get lost.  Learning to run that long, nutrition it requires, and the adventures it will bring is something I can't wait to do!  

But why am I so excited about building up to a 45 mile training run!?  I think I'm turning into one of those freaks everyone talks about!

heat - yes, but smoke???

I really don't have time to be posting stuff, but i can't resist.
My trail shoes are old. Very old. For a few different reasons, I'm not buying a new ones for a while...
The problem is, they're so old, that they're falling apart, but the trail tomorrow is extremely rocky and technical, so I can't wear road shoes. (Plantars would probably flare up real bad)

So I went and bought some superglue. 3 little tubes for $2.64.
Not only did I proceed to put superglue all over my hands, but I also got it on my leg and shorts. (should give me plenty to do on the 2.5 drive down there tomorrow!

I think it did the trick though, because they're not falling apart anymore! Then again, we'll see how long they last once i'm putting 1,500 rough and tough footsteps a mile on each of them for 31 miles

Every area I glued (mostly the toe box, and a little on the sides) got really hot, like some chemical reaction was happenning. Good stuff!
What I was NOT expecting was, the SMOKE that came out of the shoe from the chemical reaction. Yes, smoke. Like a thin stream of cigarette smoke, for about 7 seconds.

I'll let you know how they hold up.

Sunday Tough Trail run

I decided I wanted to get a hard trail run in before I leave for Xmas vacation, to see where i stand with my trail running and to get one of possibly 3 training runs before Jan 10. I'm signed up for the 50km Trail Race in Bandera, TX (photos here)

There is a chance I will drop down to 25km race as I'm still considering how long it will take me from running a rough 50km trail for 5.5 to 6.5 hours. There's not too much time to rebuild my base before Boston in April, and I don't want to be out of commission for 2 or 3 weeks while others ramp up to our peak mileage. We shall see.

Today's run was a good challenge, that was met by all 4 of us. Larry, Bruce and Jo Dee. It's worth pointing out that Jo Dee went and ran 5 or 6 miles on the trail prior to meeting with us. I drew up a challenging course in my head that would have us never hitting the same trail twice, and had 3 tough climbs. Usually in trail races i run/walk up the big climbs to conserve energy, but today, it was all about running every single one of them. I was out on the trails for a total of 3 hours and 4 minutes.

I felt good at the end, tired for sure, but I think I could have kept going for another hour, maybe hour and a half. Could I have gone 2.5 to 3 more hours? I'm not sure. Then again, for a 50k, my pace would have been slower, and i wouldn't have climbed every big hill like i did today, and wouldn't have attacked the other climbs either.

We (or at least I) will do it again next Sunday, and may have some food in the car, so I can return out onto the trails for another hour or two and see who it goes.

It's cold outside. Not eskimo cold, but it was in the high 30's (3-4C), and quite windy. The trees did a good job of blocking the chilly wind.

3 miles with karma up to the lookout and back, then Powerline to Rattlesnake, to Field, to Sculpture falls, to Hill of Life, back down the long way, to the dam, to cedar chop and up, to far South, to the big empty, down middle road to the water, up the Z, back onto different section of middle road all the way around, and home via the concussion tree. About 17-18 miles, it looked something like this.