12 Days Straight of Running

Don't ask me why I didn't take a day off somewhere within the 12 days, but for the most part my legs felt pretty good up until today before my run.  The first quarter mile of my run my legs were hurtin!  I was almost considering on stopping and turning around back to the car, but I figured worst case I will do a lap on the route I was running in San Antonio and call it a day.  Well after the first mile my legs were starting to feel good and before I knew it I was running at a good pace and it just kept on getting better throughout my run.  I actually ended up running a faster pace today then I did yesterday by 10 seconds!  Sometimes I amazed how the body can react.  Even though my body was telling me to take the day off it still bounces back and gives me a 110% to put in a good day running 9.5 miles.


Well being this is the twelfth day running it is definitely time to take a day off and will be doing that tomorrow during my travel day back home.  Here's my stats for running twelve days straight.

This Sunday will be two weeks until the Colfax Marathon, so this will be my last weekend to get in a long run before I can taper.  I will most likely still put in some high miles, but will tone it down a bit to make sure my legs are fresh for the marathon.  Then it's time for the double marathon in Wyoming two weeks after that!

Colfax Marathon - To PR or not to PR

This will be my first full marathon in almost two years and have been tossing the thought of beating my previous PR of 3:47 at the Rock N Roll San Diego marathon in 2009.  This was my first marathon and my goal for that race was to finish under 4 hours and was able to accomplish that with no problems.  Besides being at sea level my strength level was pretty consistent throughout the race maintaining an 8:40 pace all the way through.  The following week I headed to Steamboat Springs for another Marathon with Team In Training and basically spent that whole week recovering from the first marathon.  Amazing to look back to see it took me 6 days to recover from my first marathon as to now I can knock out 26.2 miles no problem and still feel I can run another 26.2 miles the next day.  Well sadly to say I finished 4:23 bonking the last mile into town, so I ended up walking most of the last mile and mustered up enough getup to run the last .2 miles into the finish line.  Luckily as I finish it started hailing, so no time to celebrate with everyone we just headed straight to the car and back to the hotel.  I was hurting physically big time, pretty much walking around like an old man for the next few days.  The last marathon I ran was the Boulder Marathon end of 2009 and DNF'd that one due to illness.  I was just getting over the flu and thought I was healthy enough for the race, well after mile 18 I felt like crap!  I felt light headed and could tell I probably was a few shades whiter than normal.  I sat at an aid station for probably 30 minutes before deciding I wasn't feeling much better and caught a ride back to the finish line.  I was off to a good start with this race and was hoping to PR up until mile 16 and went down hill from there.  2010 I shied away from doing any marathons and stuck with a couple ultras and half marathons.  I PR'd my second half marathon at Heart and Sole with a 1:40 finish time.  Knowing that I'm definitely on track to PR this next marathon if I choose to.

So why not go for gold and PR Colfax?  Probably because I have bigger plans for this year with completing my first 100 miler.  Also signed up for a double marathon two weeks after and would be nice to be fresh for this race.  Granted two weeks of recovery is more than enough to go from a marathon to a double marathon.  The last 100 mile attempt I ran 60 miles and I was back at running within 3 days and at my normal pace in 5 days.  Like any race I'll probably make my decision that morning and go from there.  Ultimately I would like to finish strong and not have to worry about struggling the last few miles to the finish line.  So far my training runs have been all strong and hoping that will carry through to race day.

If I do decide to PR this marathon it will be between 3:25 and 3:30, which will be a pace between 7:50 and 8:00 minutes.  Guess we will find out May 15th!

Belt Buckle Obsession

2010 has been the beginning of my interest in running ultra's particularly 100 milers.  Besides doing 50 miles with a friend on our own I only completed two ultras - The Greenland 50k and the 12 Hours of Boulder (57 miles total).  After doing the 12 hour race, my thoughts on completing a 100 mile race grew even bigger.  Looking to see what 100 mile races were around I noticed most of the events give out belt buckles instead of medals.  Wow a belt buckle instead of a medal?  I could actually wear it and show it off around town instead of wearing something silly around my neck (not that I would actually do that).  And some of these buckles are actually pretty cool looking.  One that comes to mind is the Leadville 100, but no way in hell I'm ready to finish that race I need to find something a bit more at my level before I can commit to training for 100 miles in the Rocky's.  Since this is the year I'm going to finish a 100 I thought I would stick with Gemini Adventure's running events.  They put on great races and they keep the routes close looped, so you're always close to your gear.  I attempted my first 100 just a month ago and was only able to complete 60 of the 100 mostly due to the elevation gains and lack of training for that type of terrain.

Well my next attempt will be with Gemini again this June with the Laramie 100 and unfortunately they do not do belt buckles.  Of course my priority is to complete my first 100, but man do I want a belt buckle!  I was looking at other ultra-runner websites to see what races they are running this year and I stumbled upon the Rocky Mountain Double Marathon which hands out buckles to the double marathon finishers (52.4 miles).  Well I know I can do that with the past ultra's and this would be a good training run for the 100 in Laramie, which is also in the same area.

If all goes as planned and I can finish my first 100 in June I'm hoping to pack up the family and head to Phoenix for another 100 mile race called Javelina Jundred.  This is another race that I stumbled upon that have cool looking buckles for the 100k and 100m finishers.  Kate's mom recently moved to Phoenix, so this looks like a good opportunity to visit with the kids and I can go run 100 miles in the desert.

I'm bound to finish a 100 and get a buckle this year!

New Balance Tester - MR1080v2

About six months ago I thought it would be awesome to be able to be a tester for New Balance, since I figured my chances of being sponsored are slim to none.  Well finally I received the email last week that they are shipping me my first test shoe!  Once I found out what shoe I was going to be testing I was thrilled and a bit nervous at the same time.  I've been running in the NB minimalist shoes for over six months now and have really got use to the feel of the lightness and style of my shoes.  Whatever I'll suck it up and give them a try and give my feedback as required.  Of course I do not want to be bias about these well cushioned high heeled shoes!  I use to run in these types of shoes and never had any issues with my running style at all.

Well I finally received them in the mail yesterday and when I opened them I could tell they must of been fresh off of the assembly line.  The fresh smell of toxic glue and rubber quickly filled the house, so I decided to leave them outside and in the garage over night before giving them a test run.  I was planning going for a trail run by Boulder today, but I've already put in close to 50 miles this week and thought it might be best to take the day off and get a good long run in tomorrow (Saturday).  Then I thought well maybe going for a quick 4 mile run with the new shoes wouldn't be a bad idea.  As soon as I put them on the first thing that came to mind was they felt like I was wearing high heels, but the cushion was very nice kind of like riding a Cadillac.  So I went out for my quick Westcliff loop, which is 4 to 5 miles depending the route I take back to the house.  The wind was starting to pick up, so I figured I would stick with the 4 mile route instead. First part of the route was going down hill and could tell the sole was very responsive to the sidewalk and seemed to be adjusting fine to the higher heel.  Once I got on to the crushed fines they seemed to respond just fine too.  I did have to stop once to adjust the shoe laces, which is typical for wearing new shoes.  After that I picked up the pace and despite the weight of the shoe I had no problem keeping a 7:30m pace up until the head wind kicked in.  I ended up walking for probably a minute due to the high winds, but after that I sailed right home in time to take Reese to pre-school.

First thought would be the toes feel a bit tight, but that might be the type of thick socks I'm wearing.  I wore the comfy Balega socks, but maybe the next test run I will wear my thinner socks instead.

Here's my garmin run with the test shoes:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/80775536

Wearing the new test shoe

NB MR1080v2 Shoe

Moab 100 Mile Endurance Running Race Report

Took me a while to spit this one out.  Between Kate giving me shit about "blogging" a race (apparently I'm not the blogging type) and the emotions of not completing the 100 miles have delayed this, but here it is!

My first challenge of 2011 was to complete the Moab 100 and unfortunately I was not able to.  Since the beginning of the year I've been wanting to run a 100 mile race and also attempt to run 3 100 mile races for this year.  Gemini Adventures hosts three 24 hour events, which include 100 mile races.  They are hosted in Moab, Laramie and Boulder.  I ran the 12 hour event last year and thought they put on a very well organized event, so I thought it would make sense for my first 100 to sign up for their events.  All races are done with reasonable sized 5 to 8 miles laps, so you're always close to your gear and they provide plenty of drinks and snacks throughout the race.   Another attraction is they have the triple crown event by completing all 3 100 mile events, which nobody has done so far.  Well I failed the first one, so now I have a mind set of just being able to complete 100 mile race.

After explaining to Kate (my wife) about my crazy idea for 2011 she was on board and wanted to support me at the race.  She also thought we could rent an RV and she could support me at base camp at the same time hang out with our two daughters.  Well after calling a few RV places we decided we didn't want to spend a minimum of $600 to rent and who knows how much in gas to get us to and from Moab.  We went with plan B and decided to rent a hotel and she could support me the best she could during the day and hope for the best for the evening.  I mentioned our trip to our friends Ryan and Vivien and they wanted to tag a long to go 4x4, hike in the area and of course help out if needed.  So I signed up for the race early February and the training was on!  I decided to not go overboard and I had a lot of travel days coming with work, so I didn't want to spend most of my weekends running and rather spend it with the family.  I probably averaged 50-60 miles a week and tried to do some longer runs in the evening time while I was on the road.  Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to hit some more technical trails which would of been nice for this race course.  Instead I just hit the pavement and in most cases get around 8-10 miles a day.  Three weeks before the race the traveling finally caught up with me and was on the verge of getting the flu.  Luckily no temperature, just a bad cough and runny nose and that didn't stop me from running.  After that I was able to get in a good 20 mile run to Boulder with some trails along the way and felt pretty good to squeeze in one more long run before the race.  Well one week before the race I came down with the worst stomach flu ever!  This one put me out for four days and it managed to spread to the kids and Kate.  I was getting worried this would carry into the weekend of the race and none of us would want to go to Moab.  Thankfully it was in and out of the kids system fast and as bad as Kate felt her's was pretty fast too.  I was the only one to suffer for four days and ended up taking an extended tapering off of my running schedule.

Race Weekend

We all headed out of Denver Friday morning and ate lunch in Vail.  Another pit stop in Grand Junction and last stop Moab!  Between Grand Junction and Moab the weather was pretty bad with the wind and rain.  I was happy this was not race day!  I can't imagine being pelted by rain and trying to run on wet slick rock.  We made it to our hotel around 5pm, quickly unpacked and headed out for dinner. 

Race Day
Race started at 7am and it was a chilly 35 degrees out.  Just after the race started Kate set up my table across the check-in tent with supplies needed for the 100 miles.  The first lap would start going clockwise then counter clockwise and so on.  The first 4 laps I was able to keep a descent running pace and after that I figured it would be best to start walking the hills if I wanted to have the energy to go 100 miles.  For each lap the first two miles were roughly a 600 foot elevation gain then the same after the turn around back to base camp.  Running clockwise the first mile was a lot of sand and rocks and start of the climb it was all slick rock.

Throughout the day Kate and the girls were there to greet me and help me replenish.  Even Reese would run out to me and run back with me.  That was definitely a big motivation for me to keep on going.  I was doing pretty well with making sure to drink plenty of fluids and take e-caps when needed.  For the most part I was eating gels every lap and whatever looked appetizing at the check-in table.  Later in the afternoon Kate brought a subway sandwich surprisingly back from town and that was good booster to keep me going.  It was time for Kate to take the girls back to the hotel and get them ready for bed, so I was on my own again.  Starting lap 11 was very difficult.  My knee's and ankles were taking a beating with the slick rock, also the rain clouds were coming in.  I decided to put on my rain jacket and carry my phone in case anything happens I can get a hold of Kate.  One mile into lap 11 it started to rain and the thought of running/walking on the wet slick rock wasn't sounding too appealing.  I started to text Kate about it and she assured me that throwing in the towel at 60 miles isn't a bad thing and it's still a huge accomplishment.  So I decided to finish the last lap and Ryan volunteered to come help pack up and bring my battered body back to the hotel.

Later in the week I looked up the Mike Le Roux's (placed 2nd 19hrs 36min) live updates and he was quoted saying:

"100 miler is the hardest thing he's ever done, track had fine sand that was impossible to run thru, + uneven terrain!"

 

Lap	Miles	Time	Split
1	5.37	7:55	0:55
2	10.74	8:49	0:54
3	16.11	9:44	0:55
4	21.48	10:51	1:07
5	26.85	12:00	1:09
6	32.22	13:13	1:13
7	37.59	14:27	1:14
8	42.96	15:42	1:15
9	48.33	17:03	1:21
10	53.7	18:29	1:26
11	59.07	20:00	1:31

Gear
I kept it simple this time around.  Since the laps were fairly short I did the hand held Nathan water bottle with a two to three gels in the pockets.  The first 27 miles I was able to wear my New Balance MT101's, which already had close to 700 miles on them.  Not sure what I was thinking I should of went with a newer pair.  Towards the end of the 27 miles the holes were getting bigger and lots of sand was coming in, plus the support was just not there anymore.  I ended up finishing the remainder of the miles in my old Nike Air Pegasus shoes, which held up pretty well.  Last item were the Zensah compression leg sleeves which I thought came in handy during the race and for my recovery process.  I feel this time around my recovery was much faster than my last ultra.  Within taking three days off I was back on the trail starting off with 3 miles and working my way back up.

Pictures

The vert on slick rock running clockwise on the trail.

Checking in and refueling!

Pictures from my iPhone

At the end of the uphill battle

My stats from garmin 305.

The large spikes in time were when I was taking an extended brake at base camp

Easy part of the trail!