The Hay Is In Someone Else's Barn

This weekend I head down to the Charlotte Marathon. It will be my second road marathon. This was also my first marathon distance race in December of 2007. Kind of got me hooked on the marathon distance (and longer). I really like the course as its pretty hilly and goes all over the city.


The weather this Saturday is ideal with a low of 32 and a high around 40...and then there is the occasional wintry mix/sleet they are calling for with a slight chance of ass. I might become a human icicle by mile 3.

The last 8 or so weeks I have solicited the help of Lucho. I still remember our first conversation - he looked at my running log and the call went more or less like this:
Lucho: "So you do about 25 miles per week?"
Me: "Yes, on about 5 runs a week."
Lucho: "Well what the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

In just 8 weeks I have gone from doing rare slow-ass long runs to doing 16-18 mile long runs all under 8 minute miles (which is a hard effort for me). That's one of the bigger changes - more long runs, and long runs at HR 140+...and finishing even harder. My HR now at my marathon goal pace (7:35-ish) is now 15+ bpm lower than it was just 8 short weeks ago. Sunday on my run the first 5 miles and HRs looked like this:
Mile 1: 8:14, HR 131
Mile 2: 8:17, HR 133
Mile 4: 7:06, HR 149
Mile 4: 7:28, HR 146
Mile 5: 7:19, HR 151

Strange to think just back in October I was hitting close to 160 HR by breaking 8 minute miles.

So while a million people have broken 3:20 in the marathon, I hope to do that as well this Saturday morning. My only hope is I don't cramp up and then go hypothermic in the weather and have to drop...my 1 previous road marathon I did in 3:38 (with a blazing 1:07 last 10k), so as long as I don't fall through a manhole cover I should be setting a new marathon PR...of course when your first one is that pedestrian, it's not much of an accomplishment.

I can't wait to get out in the bad weather and rip it up. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of silly ass-clown outfits a lot of people will no doubt show up in.

Sunday Night 16 Mile Run

Through my neighborhood to the grocery store and back...twice. Avoided the temptation to run in and buy a donut.

11/29 Run..............................................10/3 Run
Mile 1: 8:02, HR 136
Mile 2: 7:58, HR 141
Mile 3: 7:57, HR 141................................(warmup miles before AeT test)
Mile 4: 8:06, HR 140
Mile 5: 8:05, HR 140................................Mile 5: 8:01, HR 157
Mile 6: 8:02, HR 139................................Mile 6: 8:00, HR 155
Mile 7: 8:07, HR 140................................Mile 7: 7:56, HR 155
Mile 8, 8:04, HR 140................................Mile 8: 7:55, HR 157
Mile 9, 7:55, HR 139
Mile 10, 7:52, HR 145
Mile 11, 7:50, HR 148
Mile 12, 7:43, HR 150
Mile 13, 7:34, HR 151
Mile 14, 7:23, HR 155
Mile 15, 7:31, HR 156
Mile 16: 7:33, HR 155

12 days until Charlotte Marathon. This will be my second road marathon. After crossing mile 20 in the 2007 race in 2:35 or so, both quads started cramping (I had foolishly believed I could run faster and pushed way too hard through the in-race fatigue that built soon after the halfway point). It was a death march beyond mile 23. How do you limp when both legs are cramping up?

These HRs make me wonder...maybe after I'm recovered from the race on 12/12, I run at 140 HR and just see how long I can go before it starts drifting much.

After the race I'll post more, but these HRs are 15+ bpm lower while at the same paces during a training run just 8 weeks ago.

16.5 Miles, 2,000+ Elevation Gain, 2:21:53

Out in San Francisco for my company's user conference. Took a cab over to the Golden Gate Bridge at 6am, then ran up into the Marin Headlands onto parts of the Miwok course, then back across the bridge and back to the hotel. (Note elevation and distance is in metric system...)

Some of those inclines it was all I could do to not walk. Some of the declines were jaw dropping. According to MapMyRun, there were a few spots that were 17%-22% grade.

So beautiful, saw plenty of rabbits, deer, etc. It was early and I had the trails all to myself. Gorgeous. A South Carolinian in the Marin Headlands - fish out of water...

HERE is the link to the Garmin data online.

R2R2R, Spring 2010

My brother agreed to try and do the R2R2R with me sometime this spring. We don't know when yet, we need to check the average temps...but maybe April or May. That leaves Easter and Memorial Day when there are holidays to minimize vacation time.

I've been travelling so much lately (in the office 5 days in October), that I'll have more than enough frequent flier miles to fly us both out there.

More soon, but I'm already looking forward to just researching the thing...

2009 Hinson Lake Ultra Race Report

Participated in the Hinson Lake 24 Hour Ultra for the second year in a row last weekend. For the second year in a row I left soon after dark and drove home to sleep.

I made mistakes, I did some things well, I had a blast, I hurt like hell, I came to some realizations, I learned some new things, I met some new friends. I guess typical ultra.

The challenge is remembering it all and putting it on paper so I try to keep learning more. The more I do these things, the more I am in awe of folks like Tim Parr who win 100 milers (like Leadville) in their first attempt at the distance. There is truly so much going on at the same time, I don't know how you keep up with it all to keep finding ways around the multiple walls that you run into.

I had to get up at 3am Saturday morning to make the drive up to Rockingham. I arrived around 6:45am and got a good parking spot right on the course...so I did not set up an aid station/tent but just grabbed out of the back of the minivan on my way by each lap as I needed anything.

Last year I got really sore past 40 miles from walking so much, so this year instead of alternating 5 minutes back and forth between running and walking, I decided to split it more like run 6 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 7 minutes, walk 1 minute...that roughly would be the breakups each lap.

In hindsight, to go really long at my fitness level (I run about 25 miles per week), that is just too much running. Walking well is extremely effective in ultra running. So one realization I came to is that I am not interested in spending hours and hours of walking...so I either need to do more training miles or give up the idea of doing 100 miles in a day.

I used Twitter throughout the day, so now I have a trail of posts to back through. Here below is my pacing over 2 hour intervals through 10 hours (including walk breaks):
First 2 hours: 11.1 minute/miles
Second 2 hours: 11.9 minute/miles
Third 2 hours: 11.7 minute/miles (faster as the day heats up?)
Fourth 2 hours: 11.9 minute/miles (this is now 8 hours straight of really no dropoff in pace)
Fifth 2 hours: 15.5 minute/miles

The middle 6 hours were not really much slower than the first 2 hours? And this was from 10am - 4pm during the heat of the day...pushing 90F heat index. That is just way too fast in those temps. I don't know my exact running pace during those stretches, but I measured my heart rate a few times at the end and it was 145-150. Thats still under my aerobic max, but during a race like that, that is probably more than high enough to start building up a lot of lactic acid (just a guess). And so you can see the blowup in the last 2 hours. (I actually walked a few more laps past 50 which I will get to in a bit.)

So why the 'fast' pace? Well I felt really good for the first 4 hours, so I was just comfortably rolling. But I remember my quads started getting soreness (slight) soon after 15 miles. If that doesn't tell you to slow down, then nothing will. But for several hours I was just shy of making the top 10 leaderboard (often same number of laps, but slower getting to the start/finish line), so I just kept pushing and pushing.

Around the 32 mile marker I hit my first big wall. Big pain and soreness. I slowed down my pace when running and took extra time fueling. After about 30 minutes I turned around in a big way and hit one of the best running highs of the day. Instead of just rolling with it, I began pushing again. I was taking laps back from most of the leaders. At the time I remember thinking as I passed them "I wonder what this means" or "they must be having a bad patch in the heat". Well the next paragraph will tell you what that means.

Around 43 miles I was so sore from toe to hip that I walked the entire last half of a lap. Despite having consumed gallons of water, tons of salt tablets, etc., I pounded more and fueled fueled fueled (ie 3 yogurts, some cookies, etc.) and walked a couple laps to see if it would come back. The pain was so bad at points that I honestly thought about stopping already, and even quitting. But I just walked laps while I refueled even more. Something told me that it was just so hot, that despite what I had consumed it still had to be fueling. It did eventually come back again a little bit and I started jogging slowly off and on and came into 50 miles at a respectable (for me) 10 hours 14 minutes.

Part of my motivation once again to jog was:
a) Try to make the 10 hour leaderboard (stupid idea)
b) Tell myself I can start walking laps again once I get to 50 (still a stupid idea...in ultras I think you need to always do what your body is telling you)

My honest thinking is that pace I was jogging then (probably 12 minute mile jogging with 17 minute mile walking) was what I should have been doing for several hours previously, instead of probably 9 minute mile jogging).

So I was feeling kind of so-so and decided to drink a couple cups of Coke to see if that would rejuvinate me...so I drank some, ate a little, and then set off walking away into miles 50.2 through 51.6 (lap 34). After about 100 yards I immediately new Coke was not for me. For the next half a mile I kept waiting for the inevitable, which eventually happened. I walked over to the edge of the trail and vomited into the woods about 6 times. Within 15 seconds I felt much better. My mind was 100% into it again, but my legs were still sore. I mean mentally I was fantastic. To try and keep my stomach settled, I only drank about 1 cup of water or gatorade at the start/finish line. I kept walking a few more laps and then had a very bad experience on lap 36 (miles 53.2 through 54.7).

After about half a mile I quickly went to a complete bonk. I mean out of nowhere I got incredibly faint. My fingers started tingling, I was getting spacey...so I laid down in the leaves off the trail. I felt a tad better, but not much...after about 5 minutes I got up to walk slowly forward (with a nice guy offering to help walk with me), but I could literally not walk a step. 10 feet later I told him to go on and I laid down again. It was a little scary because I felt like I was right on the edge of passing out...then what would happen? Would I ever wake up again? (Stupid little thoughts that come through your head). And whatever the problem was (again, fueling?), it was not going to go away by sitting there, so I had to move. (In hindsight I think I was still burning a lot of calories and did not drink/refuel enough after vomiting.)

Another very nice guy (pretty much everybody that passed offered) offered to stay with me however long it took. I should have gotten his damned name - graduated from Appalachian State in 72 I think, has run 162 marathons, and is recovering from a heart attack last year. Like most people in these events, salt of the earth. Gradually we went faster and faster and faster until we were walking a pretty good clip. I thanked him as best I could back at the start/finish line, then I sat down for about 30 minutes to eat and drink everything I could find. It took awhile but finally the cobwebs shook loose.

Rather than just quit and drive home tired and falling asleep like last year, I laid down in the back of my minivan for about 2 hours to try and nap and then re-assess. I could never go to sleep, so after 2 hours I got up again. In walking around I was sore and the legs were still locked up. Knowing I had to watch the kids on Sunday, that they were both home sick, etc., I could not figure out a reason to keep going if all I was going to be able to do was walk laps and walk them pretty slowly. I did the math and with walking a good clip I was going to max out at 85-ish miles. Looking at the leaderboard, strangely I was now still only 1 lap off of 10th place with 36, and the next 4 people all had only 37. So they were coming back too...but as I was standing there, several more people were coming by laps 35, 36, etc. and looking good...sure enough, if you look at the difference in the leaderboard between 8 hours and 23 hours, there were plenty of changes and shuffling. In fact half of the board at 8 hours did not finish there at the end. If you're in an event like this for placing, the real racing doesn't start until after the sun goes down.



I heard the leader did an amazing 131 miles. Equally amazing to me was Brad Smythe's 117 miles. Because during the heat of the day I did about 6 laps on the same pace as he did. I know now that I was going too fast, but he was obviously in a low patch too. I was within about 2 laps of him at one point - he finished with 117, I finished with 55...he's a strong, strong runner. He was willing to find ways around his walls.

In the future, if I come back to this event (which is simply fantastic by the way), I'll either plan on just doing a fast 50 miles and then leaving, or I'm going to come with at least 1 other person I know and wipe out my entire Sunday clear. Knowing I have lots of responsibilities on Sunday with the apparently weak mind I have just crushes me when the going gets tough.

POST NOTES:
* Next year run/walk in 3 minute intervals. Keep pacing slow all day until you are bored of it. Do not race until its dark. Periodically test HR and keep it below 140 at all times. Get a friend to join...

2009 Capon Valley 50k Race Report

Well if you like stream crossings, this is your ultra. My brother (who lives in DC) suggested this race for us, and we laughed through the first couple dozen until we lost count. Depending on the amount of recent rain, it can be over 30 crossings. A couple were up to my shorts in depth. Many other places in the race became stream crossings just from the volume of water stuck in potholes on the trail. Sometimes you literally just ran through a small pond there was so much water on the trail.

I'll try to give a detailed report about the race and course in case I ever do it again, since detailed trail maps and reports elsewhere seem at a minimum.

The race starts and finishes at Ruritan Park near the unincorporated Yellow Spring, WV, where my brother and I agreed there is 'less than nothing'. In other words, 30 minutes east is Winchester, VA where there is nothing. In Yellow Spring is less than nothing. (The name reminds me of the term yellow snow, but I digress.)

We reserved a place at the High View House portion of the Concord Retreat. Its a small house about 2 miles from the Ruritan Park start/finish. Each room has 2 bunk beds (ie it sleeps 4) and has shared bathrooms, etc. It was about 1/2 full this time, but made for a nice friendly environment to meet fellow runners.

The race starts at the park at 7am, runs out the entrance road, then across a short 100 yard field back onto the main highway 259 where you turn left, cross a bridge, and then after about 1/4 mile on the highway you turn right and go up a medium hill onto a side road. The local fire station crew were watching this intersection for us. 140 people toed the line at the start. If you finish in the top 25, you become part of a raffle drawing where 5 people win $100 Visa Gift Cards.

I had to tell my brother to settle down several times as my GPS showed 7 minute miles. We quickly went from top 5 (see picture - behind only the big guns like Sean Andrish [who has had some stellar results, like 2nd overall in the MMT50 and too many other to name] and Karsten Brown...which is not the smart place to be) to about 20th by the time we got to this road. Much better. (My brother is a 1:18 half marathoner, but had never run a marathon or ultra before.)
...Sean Andrish (3rd) in the front, Karsten Brown (1st) to the left, and Matt Woods (2nd) is the smaller guy off to the right of Sean...Sean/Matt took a 1.8 mile wrong turn that ended up costing them a chance at the win...

We quickly dropped off the road and onto trails where we kerplunked into the first stream crossing. Just to make sure everyone knew it was indeed a stream crossing, we criss crossed it about 4 more times in the next few minutes. My feet were never dry the rest of the day.

...picture of Karsten from 2008 race...

We got to the first main Aid station (3.5 miles) in roughly 30 minutes I think...can't remember. Its in a land owner's barn right after crossing through one of their fields. (I think its actually even the race director's now that I think of it.)

...me, entering 1st aid station...

Up/down, up/down, up/down we went on trails and gravel/dirt roads. A lot of the hills were steep enough we just speed walked.

...someone else's picture from a previous race to give an idea about some of the hills...

Our plan was to stay together until around halfway, at which time we were going to run our own race. I fully expected my brother would be the one pulling away. He is just a strong runner.

My brother tore his knee open one time on a downhill fall, so he was taking each downhill pretty conservatively. I was finding myself having to wait for him 30 seconds to a minute at the bottom of each hill.

We blew through a small water only aid station. More up and down and wet feet. I don't think West Virginians know what a switch back is. I'm serious. If there was a hill you just went right up it.

We arrived at the second major aid station in 1:55:00. We had only been 10.6 miles. I did the math in my head and knew that you always slow down in these things and so it was going to be a long day.

I miscalculated the long uphill that supposedly occurs at 16 miles and at 11.5 miles when the preceding one hit I told my brother I was going to jog the entire thing. Everyone was walking and I ran the entire 2 mile hill. This move took me from somewhere in the upper 30s position to 27th by the 3rd aid station at the bottom...which is where this next picture was taken (approaching Aid 3). I just did not want to be out there all day.

...me, entering aid station 3...

I kept running everything everywhere.

Looking at my GPS, I realized I had run the 'wrong hill' but said ahhh what the heck and then proceeded to run the entire next hill that takes you up a couple miles to the peak elevation of the course. I did not want to be out there all day. I picked off a few more people near the top, ran with them a bit on the downhill, and then took off. I came into the 18.6 mile Aid Station 4 around 25th place. I ate 1/2 a PB&J again and refilled my 20 oz bottle again to the top. The volunteers are just awesome here. They grab your bottle at every aid station so while you eat they refill it with what you want. They cheer your entry. They cheer your exit.

The trail continued to be in great shape here and generally down, so I pushed it pretty hard. Unfortunately though I miscalculated the distance/time and I ran out of fluids about a mile and a half before the next aid station. It was closing in on 80 degrees, so that was not a good move.

...someone else's picture from a previous year to show an idea of the mud...

More mud in the flats before pulling into the next aid station. Finally when I arrived at Aid 5 (mile 24.4 I believe) they were a sight for sore eyes. I had been out for 4 hours and 10 minutes. I refilled my bottle with water and downed 4 full cups of gatorade and took 3 endurolyte tablets (I took 4 before the start, 2 at hour 1, 2 at hour 2, 2 at hour 3).

Immediately out of the aid station is an uphill to end all uphills. I don't want to even guess the incline - 25%? 30%? I could barely even walk it without my heart rate maxing. But I knew I had dehydrated myself probably, which was contributing to it. I also was entering a bonking state I was having a hard time reversing. I ate an energy bar. But still I was forced to only jog the downs and speed walk even mild uphills for the next 3.5 miles to the final aid station (where you would have about 3 more miles to the finish). I really did not want to lose any further positions and so when walking I tried to power walk as best I could.

We ran on a few dirt/muddy roads where the truck tire tracks were 6 inches depressed. What strange running surfaces, lol.

Entering the final aid station (6) I knew the 3rd place lady was catching up to me - I could see her about 2 minutes behind. I tried to keep up the pace. I did not refill my bottle here as it is mostly down to the finish, but instead downed 2 gatorade cups and left. My time on the clock was about 5 hours 5 minutes. I shit you not. That last 3.5 miles took me an astounding 55 minutes. I told you I had hit a low spot! :)

Stupid me I missed a turn not long out of the aid station and went down a 100 yard long hill and realized no more ribbons. Let me emphasize that again - stupid me. They marked this course so well that if you did get off course, you would know immediately. I had to run back up that damn hill. I did not need that at this point. I met the 3rd place lady at the turn I missed. This is the same Alisa Springman who Won The Inaugural Keys 100 OVERALL last year. That helps ease the pain. :)

Also, the female winner (Sophie Speidel) is a great ultrarunner too. I noticed she has had some stellar performances, like in last year's Inaugural Grindstone 100 and its 25,000 feet of elevation differential.

...thats actually a picture of the 3rd place lady (taller one) and eventual 2nd place entering the 1st aid station...not at the end...

Beautiful. Now I was in place 23. I tried to stay with her but she was moving really well. With about 1.5 miles left I noticed a guy in a white shirt starting to get closer to me. I tried to speed up again. I would later learn he was Kevin Sayers, and finished right behind me.

I crossed the bridge, turned back onto the field, and then about 1/2 mile from the finish glanced back again to see if Mr. White Shirt was gaining. He was nowhere...but THERE WAS MY BROTHER?! WTF? HA HA HA. I had not seen him for nearly 20 miles. I stopped cold and cheered him on as he caught up to me. We ran together for a minute and I congratulated him before I told him to go on (he was running strong, I was on fumes).

He finished 23rd and I was 24th out of the 140 starters. 125 finished. I won one of the $100 gift cards, lol. Results: HERE.

I would highly recommend this race to anybody that wants a good trail running, ultra challenge. Its tough, but laid back and very doable. Its also really the first time I've been able to line up against some premier elite level ultra runners. Its always interesting to see how you compare against the likes of them.

I ran in an older pair of running shoes that had about the life of this race left in them...they smelled so raunchy from the water crossings and mud that I just threw them in the trash after the race. I did not wear gaiters and never had a problem. I wore medium thickness Drymax socks and once again no problems. Not a one.

Race Summary News Article (includes pictures): HERE.

My GPS showing +/- 16,500 feet of elevation change (my personal estimate is +/- 6,000):
HERE. I don't buy it. I have a message out to the race director to see if they have a better estimate. Note I had a poor signal. The distance and pace were off quite a bit during the race. You can see a few sections the signal totally drops.

Winning lady's (Sophie Speidel) blog post: HERE.

2009 Cooper River Bridge Run (10k)

The Cooper River Bridge Run is a 10k in my hometown of Charleston South Carolina each year. This year almost 40,000 people did it. Not an exagerration - every 10 seconds 100 people were crossing the finish line at this 10k. This was 1 week following my 50k trail run in which 30 people participated.

My wife is not a runner but wanted to run it, so we registered at the last minute and I said I would stay with her the entire time so we didnt get separated. (Plus I was recovering from the 50k and knew I shouldn't be racing yet anyways.)

It was like cows to the slaughter - chain link fence for miles down the road behind the start line, people being corralled in based on finishing times. My wife put in less than one hour, meaning we would probably start in the top 5-10,000...oh joy.

The gun went off and we crossed the starting line 3 minutes later...oh joy.

I just let her do her thing and followed her meandering around through all the slow people. Mile 2 is at the start of the bridge...we crossed in 20 minutes. She was very frustrated at all the people, but knew it was not going to be for time...nevertheless I think she was interested to see what she could do.

I told her to bury herself on the incline of the bridge and be exhausted at the top because she'd pass thousands of people (it widens out to 4 lanes on the bridge) and be able to recover on the way down. She did 8 minute miles up the bridge and I could hear her breathing up a storm. I think she did probably pass 2 thousand people. She kept it at 8 minute miles down the bridge (one aid station was handing out free Krispy Kreme donuts and I grabbed one - yummy) and the remaining miles too, crossing the line in 53 minutes and change. For not being a runner (she plays tennis) and for crossing mile 2 in 20:00 I was proud of her. Immediately after the finish we were shoulder to shoulder packed in looking for drinks and things among thousands of people again. Ugh.

We walked up the block to a bar where we met some family and friends who walked and had a few beers with them until lunch.

By the way, they give away good prize money ($3500 to first place, plus I believe $5000-$10000 for a new course record) so many Kenyans and Ethiopians come down and blaze the course in 28 minutes.

Next year I might run over and back and over again, since we typically wait on our families to finish it via walking. I bet I could do it 3 times before they finish. I also thought about wearing a costume - a lot of people do that. Dress up like the damn Easter bunny or something and try and get a good time.