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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Friday, July 18, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
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...
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...
Sunday, July 6, 2014
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
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
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