Badwater 2014

This race report has taken me 2 months to write. For several reasons but the largest is that I needed to spend some time dissecting the events of 21 and 22 July. I made a lot of rookie mistakes and also learned a lot of lessons throughout the race. I failed to achieve every race goal I had besides finishing the race. I honestly feel it was my worst executed ultramarathon to date. With all of that said it was 10 of the best days of my life, traveling to Lone Pine, CA. Every single day I wished I could slam on the brakes and enjoy the moment longer.

On the Friday before the race team converged in Las Vegas. I arranged for a SUV and car rental in Vegas and also picked up all of our supplies like coolers, refreshments, and food. After that we loaded up the cars and headed to Lone Pine (this years starting line for Badwater).

As most know in the Ultra community Badwater this year did not follow the Badwater to Mt. Whitney route due to some permit restrictions from the National Park Service. Due to that we began the race in Lone Pine the town at the base of Mt. Whitney. On our drive however we did make a quick 17 miles detour to Badwater Basin for some photo ops,

After we settled into the Mt. Whitney hostel in Lone Pine which were perfect hosts for the event, we set off to Horseshoe Meadows (the first climb of the race at 10,400') for a little run. It was a funny event having 6 people travel and all of them are itching to run as soon as you arrive to town. It was a nice drive and at the top the entire Owens Valley is visible. We ran a couple easy miles pretty interesting how the altitude effects people, but I was pleased that I was minimally effected by it.

Sunday brought race check-in which was relatively uneventful except for the sweet swag bag provided by the Badwater race staff. It is always interesting to go the a pre-race meeting, you're in a room of people who have accomplished some of the most challenging feats in the world. We went out for pizza that night and slept pretty good.

Race morning came 21 July 2014. The day I've been looking forward to since I received an email in February. I couldn't help but realize that I did not feel super fresh at the start line. I told myself it was nerves but just didn't feel 100%. I think it was due to not tapering correctly. I forgot the most important principal about running: everyone is different and do what works for you. We took a pre-race photo and just like that Badwater started.

The first order of business was to climb 6,000' over the first 22 miles to the top of Horseshoe Meadows. My plan was that if I cracked 6mph I was moving to fast. Of course I moved at about a 9:30 pace. I firmly placed myself in the top 10ish and tried to hang out there. My crew and I choose to meet every 3 miles or about 30 min. The temperature was around 65 at the start line and 60 at the summit for it was nice weather for running. I tried to powerwalk early up the mountain but I was about a half marathon in when I really started to slow down and calm myself down. The second half of the Horshoe Meadow climb was smooth but steep and I made it to the top to see the crew somewhere around 7th place. Suki and Meg gave me a quick tire change and put a little gas in the tank and about 2 min later I headed back down the mountain.

The next 22 miles were solid and easy running. I cruised down the mountain at about a 7:30 pace with a little ipod action. It felt easy coming down but I was a little sick of the downhill about 30 miles in and ready to get flat again. I made it back to Lone Pine (mile 44) with ease and even passed a few people right as I was coming into town. I passed the hotel and took a quick break to choke down some calories, but I was fired up from passing a few people and was itching to knock out some miles. I think mentally I lost my tactical patience at this point in the race and got a little to ambitious. At the turn off for Dolimite loop (50 miles) the sun was baking at around 95 degrees. I was beginning to fry pretty well on the hot interstate and Will and Steve had to sit me down every 1-2 miles and hose me down and give me ice bandanas. My pace slowed drastically to a 9:30-11:00 min/mile pace. At the 60 mile mark we began the second big climb which was Cerro Gordo.

Cerro Gordo is a 7.5 mile climb with 5500 ft of climbing. This translates into a swift kick in the pants and about a 2 hour hike. Will made the treck with me up the mountain. We powerwalked out was to the top passing a few that passed me as I struggled under the heat. We made it to the top just as the sun dissipated. At the top we refilled some water and started our descent. Problem was I couldn't run downhill... My quads were to shot to handle the steep descent. It took me almost 2 hours to come back down and every step hurt.

At the bottom I was super tired, 75 miles into the race. I told the crew I was going to take a nap and then head out to Darwin. I took a 45 min nap in the front seat of our SUV and shot off like a cannon once I woke up. I freaked out the crew, they thought I was going to DNF since I went to sleep, after I woke up I simply walked to the back of the car and asked where my light and pack was and bolted off at a 7:30 pace towards Darwin. I made the 15 mile stretch at well under a 10 min mile pace and handled the rolling hills well.

At Darwin I grabbed Meg for some miles. She ran easily with me for the next 10 miles to the 100 mile mark. We were both pretty well sleep deprived and a little loopy but still a great time. At 100 miles the sun rose and I hit 22 hours in the race. Once the sun came up I felt pretty well recharged but I was having a really hard time keeping calories in. I couldn't stomach anything besides fresh fruit which didn't really have the calorie content I needed. The next 20 mile push to Lone Pine was pretty tough.

As the temps rose to 90 again I needed to recharge ice bandana's every 2 miles and Steve kept hosing me down with the spray bottle when he could. Steve actually ran behind me for 4 miles spraying me at I ran from 118 to 122 (thanks Steve). I threw in the IPOD and tried to grind out the miles. Steve and I spoke a little during that stretch and I told him that I needed to lay down again. What I didn't know was that Suki had arranged for a massage at the hotel. The crew wanted to get me in and out of Lone Pine in a short amount of time and I wanted to lay down for 45 min in the dark cool hotel room before making the 13 mile climb up Mt. Whitney.

This of course ended in sleep deprived runner and crew being upset. I took their advice and kept charging along the course and made it 2 miles before I decided it was nap time. I knew the last 13 miles was going to take 3 hours at best probably 4 hours and just didn't have that much energy without a lot of calories. So there I laid in the front seat of the SUV napping as I was passed by 5-7 runners 10 miles from the finish line. I was just dead tired. I jumped out with much less vigor that the previous nap but determined to finish the race. I made my was up the switchbacks slowly but steadily. Suki and Will kept switching off running with me. Everyone was so tired and excited. Everytime we talked about the finish line I started balling. I would imagine the belt buckle and get all choked up. I remember climbing up the mountain telling my wife how much I loved her balling my eyes out. She was a real trooper, she allowed me to run Badwater on our honeymoon, and ran the last 10 miles or so with me and slept probably less than me over the course of the race. As we got closer to the finish line the temps lowered and we made the last few switchback and together Suki and I walked across the finish line holding hands.

After the race we sat down and had a cold beer at the chalet on top of the mountain and cheered on other runners. A small smile couldn't be removed from my face for the next month. Years of work and dreaming finally came to an end.

I couldn't have finished this race without the crew. My wife Suki was amazing as always as well at Will, Meg, Steve and T.J. It was the greatest days of my life and I feel so blessed to have these amazing people in my life. I know I had a lot of people following me from afar cheering me on and I greatly appreciate all of the support. Finally Cameron ROTC department and Skora Running chipped in with running shoes and financial assistance in getting me to the starting line. Particularly LTC Zaccheus and the staff at Cameron University made it all happen. They saw my dream and were willing to help me achieve it selflessly. I will forever be grateful for them believing in me. I rocked out my Skora Form's and Phase X's during the 135 mile run and they help up well. Good shoes for any race!!!

See you on the other side

It's exciting to think that my next post should be a riveting race report where I blow all the competition out of the water and win Badwater uncontested for the final 13 mile climb to the top of Mount Whitney. But its July 18th and well I think a snowball has a better shot at reaching the podium than I do. The top 4 from last years race are all returning and are all very qualified. Some have posted 150 mile 24 hour results, 17:30 hundos and the list goes on.

I feel good, I feel ready to tackle the challenge. I keep telling myself that I just want to have a good race and be the best version of myself on race day. I tell myself that I'm not as good as the top 10 entrants. I'm to new to the sport and haven't put in the prerequisite miles to stand on the Badwater podium. But I can't stop the highlight real from playing in my head, finishing top 3 or winning the race. This is truly the first ultramarathon I have dedicated a full 4-5 month training program to since I won Prairie Spirit in 2013. That race I knocked back a 16:09 in a blizzard. I feel more prepared than that race, my legs feel fresh ready to pounce. I put in around 52 miles last week and I'm on pace to 32 this week.

The nerves has set in, the anticipation for the reunion with so many friends traveling to California to enjoy the day with me, and of course the test of training and resolve that will come Monday. An article was run in the Army Times about my run, I'm the only Army Soldier running it and 1/2 service members running. It's exciting that their excited.

The only thing that calms the anticipation is knowing that I can no longer do anything to perform better at Badwater but can only do things that will negatively effect me. The plan is to drive to Lone Pine tomorrow and stop at Badwater Basin on the way. I would like to hit a couple miles on the horseshoe meadows climb and the cerro gordo climb not so much to "recon" the course but more to understand what pace to approach the climbs at. Living in the flatland it is hard for me to visualize what 6500 ft in 22 miles looks like or what 5500 ft in 7.5 miles feels like. I keep trying to stack Mt. Scott's on top of each other but the calculations always exceed my quick mental calculator.

So with all that said I have seen myself make to many mistakes this year to let it sabotage my Badwater. When I raced Lake McMurty I allowed myself to be sucked into running the first 15.5 miles to fast, I won the race but I should have run much more consistent. During Jemez I allowed myself to run the first 8 miles with Anton Krupicka and stupidly finished 2.5 hours behind him. Not Badwater. I've learned that I do have the power to close races in the last 1/4 if I stay patient. My goal is to run strong after the 100 mile mark. Not to death march.

We have seen an onslaught of fast races in 2014 but with that come carnage. At Rocky Raccoon I watched 30 runners try to run Ian Sharman's race frankly only 2-3 of them could run his pace and after 2 laps runners were dropping left and right. We saw this again at Western States and Hardrock this year. It seems the strategy is to go out hard and hope like hell you can hold on longer than everyone else. I want to be the one picking up the carnage at mile 80, 90 and 100 looking fresh at Darwin and ready for the Mt. Whitney Climb. Most of all  I want to win Badwater. Deep down that is what I keep telling myself but reality slaps me and tells me I'm not fast enough. Oswaldo is a tough runner, and Badwater is his stomping grounds but I'd be a fool to hide it from myself that I want to win.

Guess monday will play out and the miles will rank all 100 starters 1-100.

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Pre-Badwater thoughts

Today marks 1 week until Badwater begins for me. In my mind Badwater starts the moment I begin movement to the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City. This time of year is very exciting obviously we had Western States 100 June 28th and Hardrock starting today. With that there has been a lot of insightful podcasts, articles, and videos from top ultramarathon runners. Two of them have resonated deeply with my Badwater preparations.

I created a full pace chart for Badwater and based on my estimates I believe I can finish the race in under 24 hours. Either I'm very cocky or the lack of heat will make for some of the fastest Badwater times we've ever seen. Obviously the lack of 125 degree temps will make for a faster course. The added 7000 ish feet of climbing won't likely slow us enough to compensate. Thus we should see some faster times. I estimate moving at 4.5 mph on the 3 major climbs, 6 mph on the flat and 7 mph on the downhills. This seems pretty conservative to me.

This is a hard race to predict times since there is no historical data to reflect on. Frankly there isn't a lot of data on 135 mile races to compare to. The 3 major 135 mile races (Brazil, Arrowhead and Badwater) take place in extreme climates that drastically effect finisher times. With a new 100 mile race course you can look at a race with a similar course profile and ballpark your finish time. My fall back is to look at position. I generally finish in the top 5% of any race I enter but have been creeping into the top 3% recently. Jemez was supposed to be my check on this in a mountain race but they cancelled the race after 20 people so... No help to me there. If the top 5% rule is true then I should finish in the top 5 seeing as there are 100 people. The problem with that assumption is that Badwater requires you to be a grizzly and seasoned ultrarunner. Anyone in the 8am start wave has a chance at top 5 we are all very talented.

This leads me to my first nugget of knowledge that has helped me as I prepare for Badwater. I believe this is from Andy Jones-Wilkins'. He made the comment that we are all just trying to be the best version of ourselves on race day. AJW was preparing to finish his 10th Western States at the time and coming to the realization that he was not going to set a PR or be able to make the top 10 but he could still have a great race for himself despite not competing in the manner he may have 5 years ago. This is how I feel about Badwater. I can't predict my finish time or my place but I can plan on being the very best version of myself that I can be on July 21st.

The 2nd piece of gold I found came from Liza Howard. Liza has been my ultra mentor since she started coaching me 3 years ago. I've been out on my own for two years but she made it very clear that if I have a question pick up the phone and call her. So as I began my taper for Badwater I returned to her taper plan for me for my first 100 in 2012. I use so much of what Liza taught me 2 years later the only problem is the 2012 version of me and the 2014 version of me are two different animals. I had several people question my plan to drop as low as 20 miles the week before the race. My friend Ben detailed some of his experiences with tapering over his 15 years of running experience which never included dropping that low. When asked I didn't know why I just knew I should do what I was told... So I called Liza and asked her, why... Her answer reminded me of the most important thing. Every runner is different and so much goes into how you taper. Liza is a very dedicated mother and is so tired race week that sleep is more important to her. I currently live a life that allows for 8 hours of sleep and a nap if I need it. I am recovering from workouts very quickly and feel great morning to morning so running 7-8 miles clear until 4 days before the race won't effect me. So this week I'm hitting low 50's and next week I'll be in the 40's.

In case you missed the underlying point from Liza, its that every runner is different and you have to learn how to listen to your body. Strava and blogs are great tools to follow other training but what works for one runner doesn't work for another runner. I can run mile for mile like Dominic Grossman but I will likely end up as carnage along the road to my race if I try to run 10 100 mile weeks in a row.

So here I sit 1 week until wheels up and I've already nervously spent $100 on last minute supplies. I bought another 32 Gu's and a Ultimate Direction waste pack for the Cerro Gordo climb. I'm not training as much dropping from around 13-14 hours a week to 7-8 hours which gives me more time to think about Badwater so it's expected. The good news is my wife comes home Tuesday and it will be so great to have her back. The rest of my time has been looking at what comes after Badwater.

Obviously I have the Army 10 Miler in October and I believe the Outer Banks Marathon in November but after that... The CR for the Heartland 100 (my first 100) is 14:26 and hasn't been challenged since 2002 when Eric Clifton ran a 14:30. That's what's on my mind...

New PR's

The taper is finally here. It's time to pull off the mileage blanket and see what lies underneath... This week I ran 58 miles and set 2 new PR's. I wanted to pull my mileage back this week and start a slow taper into Badwater. I had 70 miles in my head but just wanted to feel comfortable and recover well for each run. This week 58 miles is what that amounted to. It's crazy cause it seems like such a low mileage week to me but it's right where the 10 mile team is running and they are approaching peak 1.

The most important thing I can do at this point in time is to toe the starting line in Lone Pine healthy. So mileage isn't very important, I have ballparks, 40 miles next week and 25 miles the week before the race. It's hard to believe that Badwater is two weeks from tomorrow. I've been training/dreaming about this day since February and I still 5 months later get butterflies in my stomach every time I start thinking about the starting line.

This week I also set 2 new PR's. 1 for the 5k which I hit in 17:33 and ran a really strong race good enough for 5th overall at a pretty competitive race. The other PR was for the beer mile which I ran 7:31 (I need to get better at drinking...). Charlie and I both ran the 5k he ran 17:18 good enough for 4th. We ran a little fast for the first mile 5:25 but settled in after that for a good strong race. Again I thought i  had Charlie beat at 2 miles I caught him loosing focus and passed him. At 2.5 miles his kick was to much for me and he put 15 seconds on my in the closing half mile. But again I'm getting closer...Charlie was fairly impressed/excited about my fitness level from last year.

Monday
AM 8.1 miles 7:46 min/mile
PM 4 miles 8:11 min/mile
Tuesday
7 miles 7:36 min/mile
Wednesday
9 miles 7:25 min/mile
Thursday
7.1 miles 7:55 min/mile
Friday
2 mile warm up
5k 17:33
2 mile cool down
7.1 miles total
Saturday
OFF
Sunday
15.3 miles 8:10 min/mile

"That magical workout"

Sharpened is exactly how I feel sitting atop a 350 mile June. This week I didn't hit my mileage goal of 105-110 but hit 96 miles and that is fine with me. I think once upon a time I would have desperately tried to hit that 105 mark and tack on a useless 9 miles just to hit a number but now I see that 96 miles is plenty and I can't make up bad workouts. I think I'm getting smarter.

This week was pretty timid on the workout end. I only had an up tempo run and a long run.

Monday:
13.4 mile 8:15
Tuesday
AM: 7.1 miles 7:26 (up tempo)
PM: 7.4 miles 7:48
Wednesday
AM: 10 miles 7:43
PM: 5.1 miles 8:08
Thursday
AM: 8 miles 7:34
PM: 5.2 miles 8:11
Friday
9 miles more to follow
Saturday
OFF
Sunday
30.5 miles 8:36

This week I found myself in a stare down with *that workout*. That one run that is going to all of a sudden all at once change you from training to racing shape. Everybody has one in a training cycle, for some it is a 20 mile run before a marathon or a track workout that will affirm your 5k pace. For me I had picked a 35 mile run that would be roughly 1/4 scale of Badwater. I was supposed to do the workout Friday morning but I was out until 11 Thursday night so I opted for the sleep Friday morning. Quickly I decided I could borrow my neighbors treadmill and run in my garage for hours on end until I hit that magic 35 miles. I did just that Friday night and recreated the first big climb up Horseshoe Meadows (first 23 miles of Badwater). After 90  minutes I had lost my mind and decided to bonk. I am not a very good treadmill or evening workout kinda guy and I reminded myself that.

With that said I still had a 35 mile run to get to but wanted to take a complete rest day. So Saturday I took off and decided to run long Sunday morning with the 10 mile team and on my own. I woke up early and put in 10 miles before running 13 miles with the team. I for some silly reason did all of this on 1 Gu and 32 oz of water. I was actually pretty surprised how good I felt despite my horrific fueling. After 23 miles we had a quick team meeting and apparently the others saw it in my eyes, I was still on the road running. They saw the look of someone who is completely thrown themselves into a challenge. As we broke up I sucked down 2 Gu's and took off. I made it 3.5 miles and realized how low on water I was so I headed back. I bonked really hard but still ran 10 min miles back to my truck.

It was so refreshing to be in that situation and know exactly how to react. Slow down, conserve your water and wet your mouth, take a quick 30 sec break every 10-15 minutes. The key I knew, lower my heart rate, and reduce my effort level. I hung it up 4.5 miles early recognizing the hole I dug myself into. I didn't do a darn thing for the rest of the day. I stayed home and ate a monstrous breakfast/lunch. I didn't feel like a failure, I felt like a had put in a good effort. I was sad that I didn't have a 35 mile run under my belt but accepted it.

This morning though, I found out that I am 100% prepared to rock Badwater. Hear I was 350 miles into June, 30 miler the day before and I'm running 7:45 min/mile for an easy run this morning. Here I was 17 more miles than the rest of the 10 mile team from the day before and I'm leading them the run wire to wire. To follow it up I had to do about 5 hours of yardwork today (we currently own 2 houses...). Once I got home I changed into shorts and shot out the door for a quick 30 min run and felt good. Who knew a 8 mile run could be "that" workout for me.

I feel fit, refined, strong, and ready to race the Badwater 135. 3 more weeks until the starting gun goes off and I'm stoked.  

Hundo!

Well my first 100 mile week in preparation for Badwater and it went smoothly. I am so paranoid about getting injured at this point in the game I'm being a little proactive in injury prevention. I took 2 ice baths and spent a lot of time stretching and rolling this week. Nothing is hurting and I'm ready to hit the next week even harder, just being careful.

I missed a long run last week trying to spend some quality time with my wife before she took off for LDAC. My first stop after dropping her off at the airport was a hot 20 miler. The run went really well took 2:48 and it felt really easy. I knew I had a workout the next day with the 10 mile team so I didn't wanna burn myself out.

Tuesday morning the 10 mile team ran a hill workout 3x1/2 mile uphill which felt great. The workout was not that challenging but still kept the legs fresh. I went out during the afternoon for a hot easy run.

The rest of the week was pretty similar morning run with the 10 miles team 7-8 miles and afternoon run 5-7 miles in the heat. Friday morning I headed out for my long run 30 miles but the temperature was only 75-80 so pretty moderate. The long run felt great. I ran a 9 mile warm up then spent 2 miles at 8:30, 8:20, 8:10, 8:00, 7:50 and 7:40 then a 9 mile cool down.

I spent the rest of Friday doing homework and ordering supplies for Badwater. It still amazes me how logistically challenging this race is. Since there are no aid stations I spend a lot of asking myself what would I like to have at miles 105?

I realized again how lucky I am to have an amazing wife. She keeps me grounded without her I spend almost all my time running, preparing to run, cooking and reading. I have sat at home every night since she left except 1. Yup full blown running loser. I can't wait for her to get back so we can get Badwater knocked out and start our honeymoon.

Mileage breakdown
Monday: 20 miles 2:48 (8:23)
Tuesday:
AM 7 miles (7:44)
PM 5 miles (8:19)
Wednesday
AM 8.3 (7:42)
PM 6.1 (7:46)
Thursday
AM 8 (7:51)
PM 6.4 (8:02)
Friday 30 miles 4:11 (8:19)
Saturday OFF
Sunday 12 miles (7:40)
Total 103.5 miles 13 hours 56 min

The Doldrums

I am deep in the Doldrums. I had a Battalion Commander a couple years back who would always refer to the Doldrums as a deep and dark place that one would find themselves in. That is how I feel right now. Entering my 3rd week of peek mileage the hurricanes frequently found in the Doldrums.

Last week I hit 72 miles of high quality miles. I did not hit a long run just ran out of time and was not willing to spend my last days before Suki took off for a month of training running 3-5 hours. So without a long run 72 miles isn't to shabby. I did hit a 10x400m workout which I did well at but it became apparent that I will never be a sprinter.

Monday
AM: 7 miles
PM: 6.1 miles
Tuesday
AM: 7 miles
PM: 8.5 miles
Wednesday
7.9 miles
Thursday
AM: 7.2 miles
PM: 5.2 miles
Friday
Off
Saturday
AM: 10x400m 73-75 sec (6.5 miles)
PM: 6.5 miles
Sunday
11 miles

This week is going very well but lacks a very hard workout. Friday will be a big long run and I hit some light hills on Tuesday. I'll hold the course until Friday and hit it really hard. This week looks like 105 miles or so. This will be my biggest mileage week ever. 47 miles on Wednesday is uncharted territory.

Peak miles

This week has been a great week of running. I missed my mileage goal of 90 miles but I had 75 miles that were all very high quality. This week kicked off 10 miler training and I had the chance to run every morning with the team for 6-7 miles. Almost every day I packed in a hot afternoon run ranging from 5 to 8 miles.

Tuesday I hit a hard up tempo run with 3 miles in 17:58 with the team. Last year I was not even close to this fitness level at this time in the season. I was closer to 18:20-18:25 obviously I'm really happy with the kind of shape I'm in. That workout came after hitting a 15 mile day with 8 miles in 61 minutes at 100 degrees on Monday.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all easy miles. One of the girls on the team was turning 30 on Friday so I joined her for 12 miles of her 30 mile b-day run. The run was pretty fun, I really enjoy being apart of someone achieving their running goals. It just makes you feel so excited.

Of course to the main event. I race the diamond brigade 1/2 on Saturday morning. I was pretty excited about this race. The last half marathon I ran was the A2A half in March 2012. I knew a PR was long coming just didn't know how much. My goal/guess was 1:22. Charlie also ran the half being. Charlie and I took off with about 3 others at a 6:15 pace. Quickly the miles put everyone in their proper place and Charlie and I were soon alone on the backroads of Fort Sill. The first 4 miles happened as planned with 4 miles in 25 minutes. After 4 miles we started to climb a few hills. Charlie is a very skilled hill runner and he put about 30-60 seconds on me over the next 2.5 miles. At the turn Charlie had 60 seconds on me and I was behind my goal pace at 41:58. I took inventory and choose to keep pushing. The next 2.5 miles were mostly downhill and I knocked back a couple of 5:58 miles to real Charlie back in my mile 9.

I thought I had finally done it, I had finally beaten Charlie, all I had to do was push pass him and crush his soul! Charlie was very aware of what I was doing and picked the next uphill to lay the hammer down and properly crush my soul. We ran the last 3 miles in very hard running 6:08-6:12 pace to finish in 1st and 2nd Charlie in 1:22 and me in 1:22:30. Obviously Charlie took it easy and I ran 100% but considering I have no specific training for the race nor did I taper I'll take it.

I am feeling super fit and very excited about how I feel. I did not run today, I woke up feeling a little sore so I choose not to push my luck 6 weeks out from Badwater and took a day off. Next week I plan to hit 30 miles on Sunday after I drop Suki off at the airport then lay the hammer on the last 3 weeks of training to Badwater. I'm getting super excited!

Racing to far to early

I was recently watching The Spirit of the Marathon and started thinking about how most runners approach the marathon. I firmly believe that the Marathon is the toughest foot race known to man. It requires such a delicate balance of speed and endurance. In an ultramarathon you can relax a little and preserve yourself for the latter stages of the race. But in a Marathon you are running an uncomfortable pace the entire time.

I believe that many runners are entering the Marathon to early in their running career. In a society that can't handle being told they have to wait we are seeing an increase in people entering the Marathon on 15-20 miles week and simply completing the race not racing it. I believe that running is a journey of self realizations, I can't point to any one place where I learned how to structure a training program or how to race but I have picked up something new every single training cycle.

In order to prepare for a Marathon correctly I believe that it takes 2 years of training. This is for unseasoned runners. The first stop should be a 4-6 month training program for a local 5k. The reason I say start here is it is a great way to learn about speed. A lot of runner just slog out the miles every day. They do not do structured workouts. After a decent base period you should be able to handle 2 workouts a week using either speed or hills or a combination of both to improve leg turnover. This period of time should be extremely exciting as you will see your biggest improvements during this time. You may drop 1-3 minutes off a 5k in a matter of months. I am personally a high mileage advocate, I strive off of 80+ miles per week but I understand others are not willing to commit the same time as I do and few new runners can handle that kind of mileage injury free. I believe a good 5k program should consist of 4-5 days of training and mileage between 30 and peak at 55 miles per week. Again for a newer runner.

After this progression move into an easy unstructured period to give your mind a mental break. This break can last 2-4 weeks. Its hard to gauge but its when you start longing for miles and find yourself looking online for races. Now curb your enthusiasm don't sign up for on immediately. Plan a race 4 months out and pick a local 10k that you're excited about. Again I think you will see giant improvements. 40-65 miles should be the mileage range with 5 days of running and hills and speed. You should have seen some pretty major dietary and physical changes they will likely peak and now you will be working largely on your VO2 max and running efficiency.

Naturally the next step is to step up to the half marathon. This race is a different beast. A half marathon requires a large amount of speed and leg turnover and also requires the endurance to handle 90-120 minutes of 75-85% of your max HR. The speed intervals you do will likely turn into race pace fartleks and mile repeats. This training cycle again should be 4 months in length, and range from 45-70 miles. Long runs will become an integral part of your training, I recommend peaking at 16 miles for a long run. I think this is the first test of if you like distance running. If you enjoy the training then progress to the marathon if you don't then stay where you're at.

The marathon require a lot more volume in my opinion to be ready. 50-80 mile per week (peak mileage) is required to "race" the marathon. The long run becomes the most important run of the week and progress up to 22-24 miles, with 2 20 milers as well. I like to break up these runs by using a progression. 3 mile warm up then progress from race pace + 2 min down to race pace over 14 miles and then 4 miles easy. Some pretty dramatic VO2 max changes should occur during this training as well as some running efficiency improvements.  

I by no means am saying you cannot walk out the door and run a marathon but if you would like to RACE a marathon it takes time. This method also reduces the risk of injury. Running is like any other sport it just takes time to learn about yourself and about the sport. By the way I recommend as much as a 1/3 reduction in mileage for females. 80 miles per week is very high for a female athlete and would likely be approaching the elite levels past 80 miles.

Bolder to Boulder

Sunday morning Will and I took off from Albuquerque and made the 7 hour jaunt up to Boulder, Colorado. The drive went by much faster than I had anticipated but Will and I debated the feasibility of living off the grid in a cabin in North Carolina which perked my construction interests. It was so refreshing to be around Will's friends and family versus the people I generally interact with. They were very supportive of Will's quest to become Quentin Cassidy. Generally people would try to poke holes in a scheme such as this but they offered recommendations and assistance. It definitely reminded me of being home with my family.

Once we pulled into Boulder we were off almost immediately. Will's brother in laws parents were in town for the race and wanted to cook dinner for us. We had a great pre-race meal and talked about Will's cabin, Jemez, life and homemade ice cream. Dessert was spectacular homemade hand turned ice cream and well it was delicious.

I was nursing my left foot Sunday as it was a little sensitive from 52 miles on it and I hadn't quite decided if I would actually run the Bolder Boulder 10k or not. By the time we returned to Will's sister house it was already 9 and we bedded down pretty quick. Will and I both awoke at 5:45 to a blazing sun and decided to go find coffee and pick up our race packets. I was still undecided if I would race or not. I was limping pretty bad but walked the 1.5 miles to packet pickup. Once I had the bib in my hand it was game over, muscle memory took over and neatly folded the bib and laced up the timing chip. Will and I had entered the Military wave we moved into our coral 5 minutes before the start of our wave (8:27 race started at 7:30) The Military wave was about 4 waves from dead last...

The start line was a little eventful as Frank Shorter was within spitting distance waving his starting block pistol around. Once they said go Will took off on fresh legs and I grinded out my first mile in 8:10. My foot still hurt but no more than it would walking so I figured the faster I ran the sooner it would be over. The problem was there was about 38000 people in front of me... I dodged, elbowed, darted and scampered through the next 5 miles at what felt like a trot, 7:30 pace. I finished in 47 minutes a very unimpressive 10k time. I was pretty pleased with it despite being 10 minutes off my PR. The race was very interesting they had 3 or 4 slip and slides setup along the course, shots, keg stands, and much more. It felt like the entire city of Boulder was out to watch the race. The finish line comes into the football stadium and you run the last .2 miles on the track around the stadium.

Post finish we went out for breakfast packed up the car and said our goodbyes to Will's sister. Will and I headed out to the Boulder Running Company for a shirt and then to the Denver Airport. I then said goodbye to Will and made the lonely drive back to Oklahoma.

It was a great race and a great weekend. I would highly recommend everyone take a wild running vacation. Hit a couple races along the way and spend every other moment in between laughing and enjoying yourself. After all we all say we got into ultras because of the community, so take a few minutes and enjoy the community. Coming soon should be a couple of rants about a call to returning to our old roots in ultras and proper training progression.

What a weekend

Memorial day has flown by for me. I can't believe it's already over and I'm back to work. For the weekend I completed my 3 races in 10 days by finishing the Jemez 50 miler and Bolder Boulder 10k.

Thursday around noon I took off for Albuquerque to pick up Will from the airport around 7pm. The drive went by super quick and before I knew it I was reunited with my former 10 mile teammate and a very good friend. Will and I took off for the Sandia Mountains to meet his friend Sean for dinner. The Sandia Mountains are 7200ft above elevation at the base and a quick tram ride puts you at 10,400 ft and provides a view of about 1/4 of New Mexico. After dinner we went back to their apartment and got in a good nights sleep. The following morning Will and I headed out for a 4 mile run to shakeout the drive. That afternoon Will and I headed to Los Alamos to get ready for Jemez.

In Los Alamos Will and I ate at the pre-race dinner and packet pickup went quickly. While checking into our hotel we discovered the Anton Krupicka and Joe Grant (1st and 2nd place) were staying at our hotel. Will and I had a small man crush moments then headed to packet pickup. We settled back into the hotel and went over the game plan for the race and then turned out the lights and I got a good 8 hours of sleep. And the big news of the evening while I was fumbling through my pre-race ritual I received an email from Skora with acceptance into their ambassador program! That right I'm a respectable official full blown Skora athlete! Pretty excited about my relationship with them.

3:45 am came soon and Will and I were off. I brought my pulse oximeter to see the effects of elevation and well needless to say I got down to 95% O2 sat.

 The race start was pretty uneventful. The gun went off at 5am and we bolted off under the guidance of headlamps. I quickly moved into 6th place and stayed there through mile 12 or so. The first 10 miles were technical but relatively tame as far as elevation goes. Leaving the Camp May aid station at mile 10.4 you begin a 2800 ft ascent up Pajarito Mountain. During this climb I lost my ground and fell to 16th place. I just can't climb like the mountain folks can. I power hiked most of the climb the elevation really started to get to me after 9000ft with some headaches and difficulty recovery from steep ascents. I did better than anticipated but I could feel the elevation. It felt much like how I think a sinus headache feels. A bunch of pressure right behind your eyeballs. After the summit of Pajarito it was a 1000ft 2 mile descent into the 18.6 mile aid station. I ran this section pretty hard but it was very technical and at times straight down ski hill slopes. At 18.6 I met Will and refilled on Gu's and water and took off.

The next 20 mile look would take me back to the same aid station I was leaving but included another Pajarito Mountain summit. But Mile 18.6-30 were downhill. I ran hard averaging 8:00-8:30 and I managed to swallow up 8 runners before the 50k mark putting me in a solid 8th place. Leaving mile 31 aid station began a 7.2 mile stint up Pajarito Mountain again. This was again a problem for me. I powerhiked the entire section taking almost 2 hours to cover 7.2 miles.

I ran into the 38.4 mile aid station excited to pick up Will for the final 12 miles. It had started raining and Will was attempting to force me to change shirts as I was already soaked. I finally gave in a threw on a long sleeve shirt and we headed out. The rain picked up and the temperature dropped as we ran along. As we approached 9000 ft again the rain turned into a hard snow. Soon Will and I could not see 100 feet in front of us. The temperature dropped down below freezing very quickly and my hands were going numb. Will offered to run the mile back to the aid station and get my jacket and come back to catch me. With the haze of 40 miles on my mind and Will's enthusiasm to help his fellow runner we both decided this was a great idea. Neither of us did the math and I decided it was fun motivation to try to make it harder for him to catch me and run faster... Needless to say common sense came to both of us after a few miles and Will trusted that my Wisconsin upbringing would take me through the cold. At mile 41 I came up on a couple runners who were trying to warm their hands up on the propane stove at the aid station. I just refilled my water bottle at the Aid station. The last 10 miles I ran like a possessed man. I ran hard from mile 41 to 45 with the bad weather it was excellent motivation to get off the ridgeline and to lower ground. I was running 9 min miles despite 600 ft of climbing.

I flew right through the aid station just shouting my bib number determined to play my strengths and get to warmer elevations. The wind picked up but the weather lightened as I descended 1000ft before mile 49. I continued to run very hard into Last Chance aid station where Will was waiting for me with my jacket. He had to run almost 2 miles just to get into the aid station. Such a great friend! I blew threw the aid station with only 2 miles remaining. Will joined me and ran the last couple miles with me. I knew a sub 11 hour finish would require at least 11 min miles and didn't know how the terrain was so I pressed hard. The race ended with a final off trail climb back to the finish line. I finished in 13th place in 10 hours and 57 minutes and the first flatlander.

I was very happy with my time and race and drank a well deserved beer and enjoyed the awesome spread of tex-mex at the finish line. Unfortunately the race was shut down early. Shortly after I passed through mile 41 many runner were showing symptoms of  hypothermia. The race director chose to shut the race down and begin closing the course down. I think the RD made the right decision and a very difficult one. The safety of the runners is the most important thing. Many of us ultrarunners are to darn stubborn to quit a race despite some nasty conditions to pulling the plug is necessary. It sucks not to finish but it would suck more not the be able to run tomorrow.

Overall Jemez is a great Mountain ultramarathon and a very challenging course. My Skora forms were excellant for the race really allowed me to feel the trail. They were super light and held up really well. I couldn't have finished up without Will. Defiantly nice to have a friendly face along the run. It has a very small town ultra feel but aid stations like a big town race. The people were super nice at every turn. After the race Will and I headed back to Albuquerque for a fun night of steaks and IPA's.

I'll finish up the rest of my weekend report tomorrow evening this ought to be enough to get everyone started. 

Jemez prep

Tapering is always an interesting time for me and I assume most runners. It is hard because your day gets messed up the rhythm of events. So if you are an overachiever like all Ultrarunners are you try to fill your time with all the things you haven't had time to do due to running. For me I've been trying to get my house ready to go on the market. Last week I resided the house then this week finished little projects here and there but still worked 8 hours a day on huge house. The nice thing is that I'm leaving today for Albuquerque and I will have all day tomorrow to relax with Will. 

My runs this week have been uneventful. An easy 7 on Monday in 56 minutes and an easy 5 miler Wednesday in 38 minutes. I feel well rested and the runs are right where I like to be during taper week. I'll try to get a few miles on the Jemez trail tomorrow. 

I was really hoping irunfar would do a race preview because I thought I had a chance of honorable mention as contending for the win but they haven't done one on the race. I think Jemez has moved into the background with the advent of the montrail ultra cup series which is unfortunate. I think races like run rabbit run, jemez and Hardrock have faded into the background. The good thing is that the montrail cup has lead to an incredibly talented field at Western States especially on the ladies side with a top 10 that is a who's who of the sport. It just seems to suck the life out of Leadville, Hardrock, Wassatch, Vermont and many others. 

Army 10 miler

I has been a crazy couple of weeks for me thus the delay in posting. I had some pretty signifigant life events but kept my running going. Two weeks ago I had my finals for my last time! After that I commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and had all of my family in town to celebrate with me. Then one of my best friends from Wisconsin came down to help me reside my house.

The good news... it was taper time anyways. I did have a good couple of workouts leading up to the 10 miler and Jemez next weekend just to clear out the cobwebs and make sure I can run fast. I hit a 2 x 2 mile on the track in 11:46 and 11:41 and a ladder fartlek. For the ladder I started with 1 min hard running with equal recovery and moved up to 4 minutes and back down to 1 so 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1. Its quick and easy speed work on any surface.

For the last week I backed way off I ran 13 miles on Monday with a progression from 8:00-6:40, an easy 7 miles on Wednesday and 4 Thursday night with some accelerations to race pace. My legs felt light and refreshed for the first time since before Lake McMurty

Friday morning was the Fort Sill 10 mile team qualifier. The top 6 male and female finishers are guaranteed a spot on the Fort Sill team, get to train 6 days a week instead of doing Army physical fitness and an all expenses paid trip to Washington D.C to race the Army 10 miler. It doesn't get much better than this... This year the race was on a Friday at 8am which I liked. A relatively casual start line atmosphere made me think I was at the start line of an ultra. The front of the pack took off with 3 ahead of use but Charlie, Zach and I hung back at a 6:00 flat pace. After 3 miles 2 had faded back. Hit the turn around in 29:40 feeling decent and it was Zach, me and the other runner who was doing well. At around 6.5-7 I had a small pity party for myself and fell 20-30 sec off Zach. I came back around after the 7.5 mile water station and started closing the gap on 2nd place. The final mile of the course is relatively uphill and I really started to gain on 2nd place but I ran out of real estate to catch him. I finished in 3rd with a 59:46 a new PR and almost 2 min faster than the time I ran in 2013 on the exact same course.

I'm going to recover now run a little over the next week and head off Thursday to meet Will in Albuquerque  for Jemez 50 miler and then we are driving up to Boulder, CO (Mecca). In Boulder we are running the Boulder to Boulder 10k. I'm super excited to see how Jemez goes for me. 1st I haven't run a 50 miler in a long time (2011 ish) and 2nd it's got 11,000 ft of vert all from 7000 ft to 10000 ft, I'm excited to see how I respond to elevation.  

Teleportation!

I took Monday off after the back to back 20's nothing in particular was hurting just playing it safe. Tuesday I headed out just to knock out some miles and check the legs out to see what the damage was from the week prior. Nothing to bad I knocked out 5.5 miles in the morning then another 7 in the afternoon both under a 8 min/mil pace and felt pretty easy.

Wednesday I had to walk a few miles with the ROTC in the morning. We walked 5 miles at 4mph with a 35-50lbs ruck sack. I hate calling this mileage but it wears on the body and you have to count it. In the PM I headed up to Mount Scott for a CR attempt. I warmed up with 1.2 miles then up Mt. Scott, my up time was just over 22 minutes then screamed down in 15 minutes. Good enough for the first on record sub 38 minute Mount Scott run (37:40). Total time was 58 minutes for 8 miles.

Thursday I headed out with Charlie for some easy trail miles feeling a little sore. Knocked out a total of 14 miles easy and felt great.

I was recently asked if I could have any superhuman power which would it be. I answered the question on the fly but after thinking about my answer I think I hit the nail on the head. Teleportation would have to be the coolest/most useful superhuman trait a runner could have. You could train every single day on the course you wanted to train for. No longer would you be forced to settle for the local races with the hassles of travel removed. Of course you would have to be able to transport anyone holding onto you as well so you could have company on your runs. I feel I'd have a lot more trail friends if I could teleport. 

The American College of Sports Medicine released an article that I found very interesting. They have decided the provide some recommondations in purchasing running shoes. They lean towards keeping the foot lower to the ground and light shoes (under 10 oz). I completley agree with their stance just exciting that its being published by the ACSM!

Wrapping up an A+ week

I feel great about how this week worked out. The week started slow with a couple of 11 and 12 miles days that were a little slow but felt good. I was being pretty cautious about hitting any kind of speed this week since sometimes you need a little more recovery after a hard 50k effort. It's the time of year when you see people bounce from race to race because they are so plentiful in April and May but you see a lot of DNF's as well cause they aren't allowing their body to recover. I'm happy I haven't had to learn this lesson this season.

On Wednesday this week I headed out with Charlie a Army 10 miler teammate. It was a great run just missed the rest of the team. We plugged out 9 miles at a 7:20 min/mile pace which felt good.

Thursday I had to run a 1 mile test for a friends health and physical education class. He had me run 1 mile as hard as I could (really hard on Cameron's 11 lap indoor track) and do 1 rep max on leg press, leg extension, leg curl, lat pull down, and bench press. I maxed out every event except the bench press and lat pull down. I still managed to max at 210lbs which isn't bad considering the last time I benched I was in Iraq. After that I headed out for some speed work at Lake Elmer Thomas Park. I ran a 1 miles warm up 2x2 miles with 1 mile easy in between. I ran the first in 12:02 and the second in 12:38. I wasn't happy with the positive split but I did get hit with a decent 20-25mph wind. Ran a 4 mile cool down for a total on the day of 12 miles.

I took Friday off entirely just trying to be smarter about this recovery thingy.

Saturday I headed out to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge for a 20 miler. The concept of this workout was to run a 9 mile warm up then progress from 8:50 to 7:00 min/mile. I ran down Burma road trail but was greeted by 2 different rattlesnakes moving off the trail in search of cooler rocks in the 90 degree heat. While I did listen to Liza Howard's talk of URP about what to do if you see a rattlesnake I did not feel like spending the next 2 hours freaking out so I hit the roads of the refuge. I ran to Meers and back. The faster paces were easy until 16 miles when I ran out of water. I had to stop by the visitors center to refil. I nice lady was kind enough to refil my bottle since I couldn't go in without a shirt. I finished up in 2:46. I also ran this run in my new pair of Skora's which I am about 60 miles into and quite impressed with!

Sunday was just supposed to be getting out and hitting 20 miles. I ran 15 miles with Charlie and we managed to knock out the miles at a quick 7:40-7:55 pace. We passed the miles talking about this years 10 miler team. It was a fun run Charlie used to be a cross country coach which is one of my top when I retire from the Army jobs so it was nice to pick his brain. I dropped Charlie off at 15 miles and headed back out after a water stop to finish up the 20. I finished in just under 2:36 for a quick 20 miler.

Weekly total came in at 86 miles.

My body feel great just gotta recover with a good cup a bourbon. I'll take tomorrow easy or off and look to some speed come Tuesday. I think a Mount Scott CR attempt is in my cards this week.

 

Back in action

This week is off to an awesome start. I have managed to knock out 23 miles with my legs well under me and nutrition going well. I'm still being patient this week since I know there is probably still some muscle recovery going on.

Monday I headed out to the trail to an old favorite the Mount Scott hiking and biking trail which I haven't been on since training with the Army 10 miler team last August. They regraded the trail to make it more friendly to pedestrians so it turned into a 10k trail superhighway. Thus I dismissed the trail as to easy and not technical enough. I forgot the beauty of the trail despite the easy footing. I was able to accelerate under an 8 min/mile on the rolling hills pretty easily but back off to a 8:30 when I wasn't spacing out. I ran 7.5 miles in a 59:47 and it did feel great.

That evening our local run club met up for a Boston remembrance run (2013). Most of our run club is in full taper for the Oklahoma City Marathon this weekend. It was a very pleasant 4 miles through the developing 2nd street area of Lawton. Afterwards managed to schedule a weekend run club BBQ for May 3rd which is always a great time!

I didn't sleep a lot between Sunday night and Monday night about 6 hours Sunday night and 5.5 hours Monday night due to early morning for the Army Physical Fitness Test. I kept this in mind in my expectation and plan to head to sleep as soon as I finish this blog!

This morning I had my PT test at 5:30 so I had planned on the 2 mile run not going well. But I was pleasantly surprised with a 10:48 not bad considering I'm only 9 days off a 50k. I actually ran the 2 mile dead even splits which I was really pleased with. Both Suki and I managed 300 of 300 points on the test. It was 85 degrees this afternoon so I had to capitalize on the heat and headed out for a 7 miler in 54 minutes a 7:40-7:50 felt super comfortable. I also participated in a friends final project for his health performance course. They asked to do a skin pinch test, sit and reach and a treadmill test. I believe it was the Bruce protocol which had me set the treadmill at 3.5 mph and upped the incline from 0% to 15% over 18 minutes checking my heartrate every 3 minutes. I never for over 126 bpm unfortunately. Still put in 2 miles there with a warm up. Still interesting as they will be attempting to predict my VO2 max based on their data. 

Recovery week

It's a very difficult thing to do to recover from a race that you approached as a training run. The goal heading into Lake McMurty was to use it as a up tempo long run which I accomplished. The problem is I forgot my first rule!

The elites are superhuman and I am not one of them.

I read several blogs of elite runners and sometimes forget that I'm not at their level yet and tried to head out for a run Sunday after I flew into Virginia for a conference.  I went out for a slow 7 miler which was great the only problem was I ran 31 miles the day before and my legs were left drained.

Why was I in Virginia? I went out there for a conference at VMI's campus. It is a beautiful area of the country and much to my dismay I was 12 miles from the Appalachian Trail without a car... again I could have run there but sleep and recovery seemed more pertinent. The conference was wonderful, I had the opportunity to listen to the Army's senior leaders speak about the direction the Army is heading which was very exciting.  Also probably good for recovery, sitting on my butt for 3 days!

After my run Sunday I woke up early Monday to run again and was sore all over. I reminded myself that I am not Mike Morton and decided to blow of running until at least that evening. Well after a long 12 hour day of lectures and classes I was longing to head out for a run but didn't have it in my legs so I choose to head out to Ruby Tuesdays with the other Cadets attending the conference. That's right I substituted beer for running and it was fantastic.

It took until Thursday for my legs to really come back to fresh and I headed out for 5 miles around Lake Elmer Thomas Park. I kept the pace very slow 8:30 ish terrified of a repeat of Monday. The run felt good and it seemed all the gunk was worked out of my legs.

Friday afternoon I was able to knock out a quick 7 miler on Fort Sill reminiscing my days with the Army 10 miler team. The pace was smooth 7:45 ish which felt comfortable and easy. I don't think I ate enough through. The next day (Saturday) I felt super flat. Dinner consisted of 3 cups of steamed veggies and 6oz of chicken. I love the idea of not eating complex carbs and eating "raw" but every time I go down the road my workouts suffer.

Saturday I headed to Burma road trail for an easy run no mileage in mind just a fun run. I knocked out 6 miles but really was feeling flat until after 3 miles. I again blamed my nutrition the day before. It's so easy to make the same mistakes again and again. What stinks is you don't see it until you start troubleshooting 4 miles into a run and then it seems to clear. I was a beautiful day out I saw 4 people out on the trail including a couple who mistook the trail for a shorter on. They ran into me 2.5 miles out and asked exasperated how far the trail went, I informed them it went out 9 miles. I guess they thought it was a 1 mile trail and turned around after a hour of hiking giving up on the end. I saw them resting at the bottom of the giant hill on my way back in.

Today I'm going to knock out a couple of easy miles but nothing significant. Next week I have a PT test on Tuesday which I'll treat as my speed work for the week. Other than that no workouts this week except a long run next weekend. If I feel good Sunday I'll replicate my long tempo work from 3 weeks ago with 2x5 mile at marathon pace.  

Lake McMurty race report

Well today was a great day to run an ultra and none other than a low key Tatur 50k.  This was my first TATUR race and I had a blast.  I was expecting a mid sized ultra seeing as they had a 25 & 12k with the 50k.  However a total of 50 ish toed the starting line.  I love the feel of a small local ultra!

I left Lawton at 4am to drive up to Stillwater and get ready for the race.  I made it to Lake McMurty at 6:30 just as the registration table was being setup.  I picked up my packet and nervously awaited the start of the race.  At 7:50 Ken Childress performed his general RD duties and gave a quick course brief.  I'm always surprised how many people recognize me from Prairie Spirit last year.  At the starting line I was introduced to a half dozen people and then the gun went off.  I was planning on heading out at a 8:30 pace but unfortunately that did not work.  I meet and became very knowledgeable about Justin Franklin over the next 2 and a half hours.  Justin went out at a 7:45-8:15 and I decided to head with him cause why not.  50k is a long time to run alone and worst case I just blow up.  Justin and I had a great time chatting away on the Lake McMurty single track.

We finished the first 7.5 miles in 58 minutes and I was lucky to sneak a few salt tabs off Justin.  It was already approaching 75 degrees.  As we came out of the aid station we were greeted by the start of the 12k race on the beginning of the our South loop.  This was just cruel because the legs were still fresh enough to pick it up and do some damage and here come these fresh fast 12k runners whizzing by.  Still I resisted the urge and Justin and I settled into a comfortable pace.  We finished the 2nd loop at 1:55 for a 53 minute lap and later found out a time good enough for the 25k win.  At the start/finish again Justin gave me some salt tabs as the heat approached 85 degrees.

We headed out on loop 2 and got into that weird part in a race when both of us start to suffer and conversation drifts to almost non existent.  Justin started to drop back about 4 miles into the loop I assume the heat started to get to him.  I turned on my IPOD in search of motivation to push harder.  I finished the loop right at 2:58 running it 5 minutes slower than my opening lap.  Still 4 hours seemed within reach since the 2nd lap is a bit faster.  I really started to feel the first 15 miles when I headed out for this loop.  It doesn't help that there are trail markers every 1/4 mile which remind you just how far you have to go.  At the turn around I kept ticking off the miles reduced to a 8:30-9:00 min/mile.  I finished up pretty strong over the last 4 miles rallying a bit to finish in 4:04 still a pretty slow last lap.

For my first 50k I'll take a win and almost breaking 4 hours.  I didn't use a powder drink in my bottle this time I ran just off gels.  I took in 9 salted caramel Gu's during the race which seemed sufficient.  The heat did start to get to me a little but I think it was more the speed and heat that got to me.

The TATUR's put on a great finish line festival!  I didn't make it more than 10ft from the finish line to sat down on the concrete.  My medal was brought to me and someone handed me a cold drink.  Eventually I made it up for a BBQ pork sandwich and beer.  Justin came in just a few minutes behind me and looked good, 3rd went to Aaron.

Ken hooked it up with a great overall award.

Pre race

I am a terrible race planner.  You know the guy that signs up for a race 2 weeks before it, buys nutrition the day before and quickly throws pre-race packing into the race eve jumble.  With that being said I signed up for the Lake McMurty 50k 2 weeks ago as a good distance race in prep for Badwater and also to get some confidence going my direction.  I had contemplated the Oklahoma City Marathon but I don't know if I trust myself in a road marathon.

So this week I attempted to taper.  I don't know if you want to taper if you're throwing races in just as training because it stinks to take the focus off speed and hills.  That being said for my taper I ran 8 miles on Monday in just over a hour, 6.5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles Thursday and Friday.  My legs do feel well rested and ready for a race just an awkward distance to race.

I've never run a 50k before so picking a pace is difficult.  Not that I typically pick a pace but rather just a loose finishing goal time.  This race I'd really like to win just to put a win on the calender this year.  I haven't race since February 1st which wasn't exactly my best race ever.  There are plenty of talented runners up in the Tulsa area and the course record was set by a 2:28 marathoner at 3:48.  The course record is a little out of reach without injury.

So I'll wander around the house this evening trying to scrounge enough Gu's to water bottles to get me through 50k.  After that I'll eat a chicken soft taco and a refried bean taco and try to get some sleep around 9 for a 4am trip up to Stillwater.

Business as usual

Sunday night I wrote how proud I was of myself for not running for 4 days and well shortly after writing my blog it caught up with me and I headed out for an easy 6.  The good news...  I felt fresh during the run.  Today was new shoe day in the Purdeu household which is always a very exciting day.  I got a pair of Inov-8 Road Extreme 208's.  I was pretty excited to try their road shoe at a 6mm drop I was pleasantly surprised with the flexibility and comfort of the shoe.  I'll put a few more miles in them before I write a full review.  But they were on clearance at RunningWarehouse for $44.99 ($38 is you use coupon code FB15D).

Today I headed out for a 8 mile run at an easy pace entering my full taper this week.  I ran easy at a 7:10-7:20 pace which I right where I like to be during my taper.  My legs felt super fresh and springy.  It helps that it was a perfect day to run 60 degrees and sunny.  I'm taking tomorrow off and running Wednesday and gonna keep this taper moving along.  I'm getting pretty excited to race my first 50k!

Control Alt Delete/Umstead

Sometimes you hit a wall in training and your body stops telling you things and starts screaming them at you.  That is how this week went.  Last week I wasn't getting quality workouts and was complaining that my 90 mile week was miserable but I was determined to push through it this week and get a stubborn 60-70 miles 2 weeks out from Lake McCurty.  Obviously that did not work.  I ran 25 miles this week and I'm proud of myself.

Tuesday I hit Mount Scott and ran well but Wednesday morning I woke up sore all over.  I didn't have a strong desire to run (which means I'm well overtrained).  So I did what ever block headed young runner does... ran 10 easy miles.  Wednesday night I spent the night on the foam roller determined I could roll out my soreness.  FAIL!  This weekend Suki and I had a field problem and I was supposed to be working Thursday and Friday with only a chance to run early Thursday morning and Suki was supposed to be out for the entire weekend.   My thoughts were to run 10 miles easy Thursday take Friday off and run a hard 20 on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday.

Thursday I woke up at 5:30 for my run sore all over.  I decided to pull the plug entirely and took the rest of the week off.  Today (Sunday night) I feel much better.  I was able to pick up a new sofa for our living room, and meet some friends for the Badger game Saturday night.  There is so much time for extracurricular activities when you don't spend 2-3 hours a day running.  So today Suki came home and it was so nice to see her again.  Even though we saw each other during the weekend we're both working in different positions and we might as well be 1,000 miles apart.  She was pretty wooped when she made it home, had to take a nap with her boys!

This upcoming week I plan to run easy Monday, Wednesday, Friday and race 50k on Saturday.  The course seems pretty easy at Lake Mcmurty so I'm nervous about pushing to hard.  The plan is to go out at a 7:30 pace and just hold on as long as I can.

In more exciting news there was a huge race this weekend!  Umstead 100 was yesterday and I was suddenly very interested in the female race.  Liza Howard  ran in her debut 100 post baby.  She ran a 15:07 for a solid 2nd overall and a CR/PR!  She is a true inspiration to me, I was sad when I filled out my Badwater application and I couldn't list her as my favorite Badwater finisher after she couldn't race last year (due to pregnancy).  And Leigh Anne ran her debut 100 in a blazing 19:38 for 4th female overall.  Go figure she wasn't pleased with her time!  So excited to hear her race report after her boyfriend (Will) pampers her for the day.  I can't wait to see what she will do after she corrects a few nutrition issues.  She's gonna make a pretty big splash if she continues down the this road.

Lesson for the week... your body will talk to you just don't be a bonehead like me and keep running.

Mount Scott

I had to take a break after last week and reset the systems yesterday.  Took a complete rest and just enjoyed a normal day and tried desperately not to think about running.  A little hard with the Barkley Marathon coming to a close (congrats Jared Campbell).  But I did it I didn't run for a whole day!

This morning I awoke feeling well rested so I opted to hit my hill work today.  After class I headed up to Mount Scott but only chose to do 1 loop.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the extra miles were lower quality workouts and causing my slow recovery.  Hit a 1.4 mile warm up and headed up Mt Scott (after a slight detour for a couple of long horned steers).  The first mile was run a little to hard at a 7:40 pace and led to some really tight quads over the last mile.  On the way down held on to a 5:55 pace and really focused on turnover.  I ran the 1.4 mile cool down back to my car for a total of 8 miles in 1 hour and 34 seconds.  I missed my Strava course record by 9 seconds...  Stupid cows!

  

Recovery issues

I think this is the worst 90 mile week I've ever had.  Last weekend I bit off a little more than I should have by running 26.5 with 4000 ft of vert followed by a 17 mile tempo run the next day.  Monday I felt extremely flat and just took it easy.  I ran 14.5 miles slow and Tuesday had the intention of hitting a tempo run but called it after I had a very hard time keeping my first mile under 6:50.  I ran an easy 5 miles and hung it up.  Wednesday I hit another easy 10 on the trail but still felt super flat and resolved to take Thursday off.  Friday night Steve and I ran a quick 20 in 2:43.  Friday night felt easy and I headed out to Prairie Spirit 100 this weekend to help pace someone from 50-77 and hang out at an aid station for a while.

Super long day at Prairie Spirit but totally worth it.  Drove 6 hours up to Ottawa to help out at the Garnett aid station and moved to the turn around to pick up my runner later in the evening.  We ran 13 min/mile pretty well through 77 and he ran super strong through the night to finish his first 100 very rewarding experience and an easy 27 miles into the week.  After leaving him at Garnett I returned to working the aid station with Bob and Polly only to discover my CR had been broken but that's ok John is a very talented runner and I don't mind.  I stayed until 3 am and decided to try to start working my way back to Lawton.  I made it about 60 miles down the road and had to stop and nap I was completely drained.  A couple of hours of sleep and a large coffee and I was on my way back to Lawton.  I took a short cat nap and took the rental car back to the airport and jogged home 11 miles at a very casual 8:30 pace.

The next two weeks are going to be much easier leading up to the Lake McCurty 50k.  This week totaled 90 miles without any good workouts not where I want to be.  Next week I'm aiming for 65-75 miles with 1 speed workout and 1 hill repeat and 30 miles before the 50k to 61 miles the week of the 50k.

Crosstraining!

Obviously a very popular topic in today's running scene.  I am a proponent to crosstraining but usually I use it only after my running goals are met for the week and I have free time.  A strong core and flexibility can go a long way to prevent injury.  I'm lucky to have the Army that provides me with a great deal of body weight crosstraining.  Still I find myself in "the box" (gym) every once in a while.  My wife is a "crossfitter" so I generally base most of my workouts on stuff she tells me about and my running background makes me a less than comfortable fellow in the gym.  I have a short attention span so its gotta be high intensity for me.

Today I went after a 17.5 miler to get in some core work and demonstrate some exercises in a typical gym session.  I did a lot more picture taking than working out.  I started by rowing 2k in 10 min just to warm up the muscles.  I love rowing, it capitalizes on my cardio vascular system but strengthens the core and upper body.  When injured I've been known to row for up to 60 min.

After warmed up I moved in to some ab work which consisted of weighted sit ups, pull ups, leg throws, planks and leg tucks.

Now to my favorite some simple stability and leg work.

First boshu ball squats

Then some weighted step ups

Boshu ball lunges

And some boshu ball pistols

Long run with tempos

Now that I'm happy with my base mileage (65-80 mpw) with decent recovery its time to add in another workout  into the mix.  This is a long temp on a long run.  Today I decided to try an old classic of mine 3 mile warm up 5 miles at marathon pace 2 miles easy 5 miles at marathon pace and 2.5 mile cool down.  The run went well my 2nd 5 miler was not quite at marathon pace (7:09 for 5 miles) due to a stiff 15 mph Oklahoma wind but it was equal or harder effort than the first 5 miles (5 @ 33:48).  Nice little workout for 17.5 miles in 2:12.

Wedding week

My mileage was a little disrupted this week cause I was getting married to the love of my life.  The wedding went very well even got a wedding day workout in the morning of.  Here's the workouts for the week!

Monday:  6 miles
1.5 mile warm up 3 miles 1 min hard 30 sec easy 1.5 mile cool down 

Tuesday:  0 miles

Wednesday:  7 mile easy run
Thursday:  0 miles
Friday 4 miles easy (am)

8 miles moderate (pm)

Saturday:  26.4 miles 4100 ft vert ascent

Sunday:  15-20 miles easy

Total miles:  66-71 miles

Easy running

Any delays this week are due to a pretty significant event in my life on Monday!  I'm marrying my best friend Suki.  Thus Thursday I only squeezed in 5 miles with 2 being the army physical fitness test.  I ran well a 10:56 not bad for no break.  Friday we were traveling all day or at campus so I racked a goose egg which is the first day I haven't run since February 2nd I think.  So as soon as we got moved into our home for the next few days I bolted for an easy 8.5 miles around the harbor of Lake Michigan.  A little cold and windy but breathtaking!

Easy Run

Tuesday's run wore my legs out and we had quite the wind storm in the morning still I headed out for a quick 12 miler after class today.  After a few miles I decided I'd just stick to 8 and hit a workout in the afternoon.  So I ran 8 miles in 64 min came home and ate a healthy lunch of steak, sweet potato fries (homeade) and a salad.  Drank some water and headed back out ran down to Cameron's AstroTurf field and kicked off my shoes for a couple miles of barefoot running trying to tighten up my form.

It felt great to run on the warm turf and focus on just form for a little bit.

Total miles for the day: 15

Farlek hills

Tuesdays workout called for some hills.  I just wasn't feeling the normal Mount Scott laps so I decided to incorporate a little farlek hill work.  I've used this workout before it's good to break up the monotony that sometimes comes with hitting the same workouts.  I ran a 1.5 mile warm up then spent the next 4.5 miles sprinting up every hill I came to (which amounted to 15 45 + sec hills) on the downhills and flat you recover and hold a steady pace.  After 6 miles I made the turn around right at 47 minutes and decided to race my time back finishing in 91 minutes beating my outbound time by 3 minutes.  It was 80 degrees so I opted to break out the shorty shorts and no shirt it felt great to be out though I forgot I'm a little pasty from the winter and got a little sunburn.

12 miles : 91 minutes 7:35 pace
Burma Road Trail out and back

Easy running

After a hard weekend of running I took Sunday off and closed the week at 91 miles.  This morning I didn't quite feel fully recovered so I choose to go for an easy run vs. speedwork.  I have a PT test this week so that will be my speedwork for the week.  I hit 12 miles easy today and look to hit hills tomorrow afternoon hopefully the legs will feel better.  Just trying to figure out my spring race schedule trying to sprinkle some 50 milers in.  Total time on todays run was 97 minutes so just over an 8 min/mile.

Long intervals

Today wasn't supposed to be a workout but due to some nasty winds and a cold front I choose to hit the dreadmill for today's workout.  I can't run on a treadmill without doing some interval work but I wanted to run at least 13 miles after last nights 20 ish miler.  I started with a 2 mile warm up then 4 x 2 miles with a 10 min cool down.

2 mile splits
12:25
12:17
12:03
11:50

Pretty pleased overall total was 14 miles in 1 hour 41 min.

This puts the week at 89 miles thus far, I'll hit a few miles tomorrow but I don't desire to run 11 miles to hit an even 100 94-96 miles is good for the week.  I'm pleased with how fresh my legs feel even after this workout.

Long run

After putting in 43 miles by Wednesday evening my legs were super flat for Thursday mornings easy run.  So I headed out Thursday morning at 6 am with the intention to run 8 miles but stopped 4.5 miles.  Lesson here... if your body says your tired, stay in bed!  So I headed out for another 7.5 miles in the evening to put me at 12 miles.

I woke up Friday feeling fine just to early for my liking (4:30am).  After I finished up my ROTC commitments for the day at 4:00 pm I headed out for 21 miles in 2:55 (8:27 pace).  Pretty pleased with how I felt throughout the run took in about 600 calories (300 from Hammer Gels and 300 from Gu Roctane).  I think these long runs at the tail end of a work day will help with Badwater, anyone can run 20 miles after 8 hours of sleep on a Saturday morning.

Hills

Today's training called for another baseline workout that I can compare my fitness to as I progress through the next 4 months.

I set out this afternoon to climb the tallest thing we have around Lawton, Mt. Scott.  It is a 2.7 mile climb with 1100 ish feet of climbing.  So I can a 1.25 mile warm up 10.4 miles (2 laps up and down) and a 1.25 mile cool down.  For a total of 13.2 miles.  Total time was 1:46 which puts me at a 8:00 min/mile.

I was a little dissapointed that I slowed by about 90 seconds from my first lap to my second lap.  Overall it was a good workout and give me a lot of confidence going to this season.

Easy run

Last night after finishing my 4 miles and 5k row I went home ate a healthy serving of rice and dahl and rested up.

This afternoon I headed to the trail for an easy 12 miles.  I kept the pace light and easy seeing as I have hills tomorrow.  Total time was 96 minutes so a 8 min mile.

Mile repeats

I always get asked, do you do speed work for ultras?  The answer of course!  I believe that speed work and hill work is the foundation to any solid training plan.  So today Cameron canceled classes due to a hail/thunderstorm/snow shower yesterday.  So this morning my soon to be bride and I headed off to the gym.

Today's workout called for 8x1 mile repeats with 4 min active recovery.
Warm up:  2 miles 16:47
Repeats:
6:01
5:59
5:52
5:50
5:48
5:48
5:49
5:32
Cool down: 2 miles 15:57
Total miles 15.2

Feeling great just a 4-6 mile shakeout run tonight and row 5k.

I'm back

Recently I received an email that changed my life.  I was accepted into the 2014 Badwater ultramarathon.  This race takes place in Death Valley and is considered the toughest foot race on the planet.  Training is going well I'm hanging around 70 mile per week right now with a hill work day and speed work day.  This is what last week looked like:

Monday:  10 miles easy
Tuesday:  2 miles hard (10:55) 11 mile run in the pm
Wednesday:  11 miles easy
Thursday:  off
Friday:  25 miles easy
Saturday:  15 miles finished with a sub 19 min 5k
74 total miles

I feel decent just going to experiment with recovery and casein protien!  Right now I have an order throughout Bodybuilding.com on the way of casein protien and ZMA which is supposed to help speed recovery while asleep.  Let's give it a whirl!