Monday 083109

• I have posted a little here that the arc of Webb, Ritz and Hall is a pretty epic story in the making (think about the story everyone would be yapping about if those three guys were NFL QBs instead of just being skinny little runners). This year by year comparasion thread is interesting (even though it is on that evil site).

• AM - 7.5 miles. Was going real easy, enjoying an amazing sunrise - where the sun was rising just as this muted orange ball - no blaze to it. Effort was low, pace was slow, and then I was hit by a car. Probably mostly my fault as I was in never never land thinking about 100 + mile weeks. I rolled over the hood, completely not expecting it (which was probably good). It was not going fast as it was just coming out of side road intersection. I bounced off and was ready to keep running but then decided I better check on the driver. He was nearly having a small heart attack so I talked with him for a minute. He was very nice and offerred information, etc but I just told him not to sweat it. TZ thought this was a pretty bad way to start the day. I thought it was all in all a pretty amazing way to start the day. Any accident you can walk away from like that (or run five more miles from) is a good one. Seriously, I have hurt myself worse on falls on a run and with my bicycle antics. HR had been maxed at 140 until that point. It took me a better part of 2 miles to get it back under control.

• So in all that ... yeah, I was dreaming a bit of 100 mile weeks ... (of course, afterwards I just making sure I was not seriously **cked up). On the run with Timmy G the other morning we talked about a few of the "what's next?" options for me. Tim and I lived about 1.5 miles apart until last year and so we used to run together quite a bit. He got into sub 15 5k shape in his mid 30's (*yes, up here*) before injuring his foot, going through surgery, etc. He has been slowly slowly staging a comeback that will put him in contention for the 2016 Olympic Games when they have ultra distance down hill mountain racing as an event. Here is the short of his feedback --"are you done feeling sorry for yourself since you put up yet another lame ass performance at Pikes?") (other comments included, "how does it feel when your man crush calls you a moron for going out too fast?" Seriously, good to chat with him, good to see him getting back at it. His point was at some point I need to figure out what I am doing next. I am most likely thinking TOO much about what is next and how to get there (refer to several posts floating around that say - "think less, run more."

• In any case ... here are some of the options I am weighing ... this is sort of a simple view of it all. These are the ideas that are bouncing around in my little tin can ...

  • 1.) Not figure it out yet. (and this is currently where I comfortably am). Run and not think. Not worry about training. Not worry about racing. Go long if I feel like it. Go short if I feel like. Leave the HR monitor off. Wear it if I am interested. Hit trails, high mountains, roads, track. Do a race if the spirit moves me. Jog. Drink. Be merry. Do strides. Or not. Sleep in. Take a day off if I want to ... for no good reason at all.

    • Advantages to this approach include mental down time, and just looking for some fun for a bit. Given life, the fall, and my past desire to get after it right after some other race - I think "hanging out" for a while might just be fine. Consider this a difference between "training" and "running." Training is with a goal and so that drives daily considerations. Running is, well not goal-less, but free of such daily considerations ...

    • Disadvantages there is no ryhme or reason to this approach ... and so results may vary (hell they vary with specific training anyway so - whatever!). I have built (or maybe maintained) some level of fitness over the summer and it would be nice to ride this a bit through the fall. But it is a mental shift for me for the goal just to be "have fun." I realize that is a very embraceable goal for many. It is a bit of a tough hug for me though - over the long term. Having fun is tied to, at some point, some level of result for me ...

  • 2.) Train long. Do miles. Lots of miles. Easy miles. Build a base. Play with low (sub 150) HR training. See if it comes down at the same pacesor alternatively if pace increases with the same HR. Last year I was training at a HR of 150 at a 7 minute mile pace. This year it is 7:35. Why? I don't know.

    • Advantages - gives me a goal. Builds the base. Gives me the opportunity to determine if this low HR thing is really for me. I could "cheat" a bit with strides to get the stride speed back. Maybe prepares me for a longer (ultra race) next year. I have never engaged in a long period of building the base until my body said - enough, you have exhausted that ... some maybe putting in some miles now gives me the break I need, but enough of a goal to chase. It is a good time of the year for it ... Think less, run more. Miles of trials. Trials of miles. The Tims inevitably recommend this.

    • Disadvantages chasing miles takes a lot of time.

  • 3.) Train for speed I have considered just shifting the focus entirely for a bit to throw a new spice in there, a new wrinkle - in the form of training for something short and fast. Like a 5k. Or a mile. Or maybe even an 800. I was reading about Ritz and how he felt the last seven weeks were instrumental to his recent 10k PR (and 5KAR), almost discounting what he had did with Hudson for the two years before. I guess I look at that and think BOTH were a huge influence - but this later training under Salazar just gave him a little boost he needed by shifting his training. I have some belief that we need to occasionally make a make some shifts in our training to promote different results. Could be adding weights to the mix. Could be adding GS work to the mix. Could be a progression run. Whatever. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. Then again, changing the approach every day means no consistency.  

    I look at old log books and see when 6 x 800 in 2:30 with a minute rest was a good workout. I don't think I could do ONE 800 that fast now. And heck, I am not ready to give up thoughts of breaking five minutes for the mile for another year.

    • Advantages potentially fun. Different. Fuels a fire inside.

    • Disadvantages Is it really what I am preparing for, for next year?

• There are a couple of other considerations floating around on all this ... I turn 40 soon. There will be a temptation to do some 40+ PRs, jump in some club XC races with the masters guys, and the like. There is life in general of course and after a summer of training - chilling a bit is okay. And the other consideration is really - what is next (in terms of running and racing)? Is it a 50 miler in the spring? Is it a fast mile? Is it racing a burro? I have not figured that out yet.

  Anyway ... all that said ... there are no race goals right now. I think I am going to just run out there, some strides a few times a week, up the mileage and enjoy the fall. Maybe that is a combination of all of the above.

• NON RUNNING RELATED -- A story probably that might be controversial to some – and I certainly don’t claim to have all the facts but I think the odds of six thousand dudes with guns to 1640 wolves sucks for the wolves.

• Yesterday, while heading to Heil Ranch with Rock he mentioned that he was interested in getting a greater presence on youtube, facebook, etc for his shoe charity, OneWorldRunning.  On the spot, I did a quick interview with him in the car and told him I would post it up here …
  

  
• PM – 6.5 miles easy. August totals – 268 miles, 2365 on year.  According to Sportracks I ran 39 hours, 40 minutes this month, with ~28000 feet of climbing.  The “summer “was 1003 miles, and ~ 143 hours (which is about 6 days of running).
• Given I am now on the receiving end of cars, I might just have to switch to the hammer throw: 
  

Sunday 083009

• Today I ran with several folks including two established authors in the running world, (Mike – also a CU letter winner in XC, and Gerry – 2:26 marathoner at the age of 40 and still zippy in his later 60s), the former world record holder in the 10k, a guy who works for Bill Gates (yes, that Bill Gates)and a Buddhist teacher. I was probably the guy with the slowest PRs, the least credentialed, and the youngest. Amazing group.
• 2:25 up at Heil Ranch, enjoying great conversation, fellowship, and as to be expected - giving each other a hard time. 14+ miles with 1600 feet of climbing. Most of it was pretty easy running. We did do a stretch up a hill for about a mile where the effort was pushed a bit (170s). I had never been to Heil. It is a very pretty spot.
• Great Sunday run. Month stats update ... this week is 77 miles, ~11 hours. This puts me 254 miles on August with four days off, 2351 miles on the year, 20865 minutes

• USMRT does a tune up, and Simon G is in attendance.
• More videos from AJW at Leadville.
• Transrockies reports are coming in, Justin … Caitlin…
• US 10k Trail Championship vids, from DD. (little report from Brandy)

Saturday 082909

Got out with Tim G this AM.  He came over to my place so we ran the Carolyn Holmberg open space.  Chatted up a variety of topics including Ritz’s AR, the arc of those three guys from that class, HR (his HR was nearly always 30-35 bpm lower than mine), training, what to do next, snow leopards, etc.  10 miles in 80 minutes.  After we finished up, we decided to jog over to the MS fields and we did 8 strides.  Totally stoked to see him getting back at it. 11 miles, 88 minutes.  I have not been watching my HR on these runs over the last couple of weeks – just letting it go where ever it needs too.  I wear the HR monitor however just to have the data to look at post run.

Scott Dunlap reported that Eric Skaggs was hospitalized post his 100k record setting win.  I cross posted it here but pulled that when someone began to criticize his posting of it (before perhaps family members knew).  It appears to be pretty broad knowledge now.

Jurek appears done at UTMB (won by Jornet / Moehl)

 

Transrockies also done.  Can’t wait to see the report from Justin.

Friday 082809

• You can follow USMRT tweets … Or Scott Jurek (who happens to be getting ready for the UTMB) ... or Haile. Brett clued me into the great tweets of this musical genius. That is some great stuff ...
• Another good Leadville write up.
• Bernie has a good post re: the Mountain Cup.
• Slept in …
  The past decade of watching Ritz, Webb, and Hall ... the three stars from that class ... trading good times and bad times ... (winning NCAA titles, and dropping out of college, setting records but not making it to the Olympics, crushing the field in the OT marathon, injuries, coach switches, etc) ... well it continued today with a 5K AR, (breaking the guy from my generation's record (Bob Kennedy)). While I ain't haboring the love affair for international elite T&F that I once had ... it is fun to watch this trio on the men's side.   His excitement here is palatable.
   

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

• Got snail mail from Marathonfoto last night asking if I wanted to buy any of these pictures. I am pretty sure I am not going to order the 16 x 24 poster of any of these for 50 bucks.
  
• Easy jogging around Dowdy Draw, Eldorado Canyon State Park.  10 miles with about 1000 feet of gain.  Did some bushwhacking which I paid for – as I picked up a bunch of seeds that got embedded in my leg hairs.

  

Thursday 082709

• 10 miles out of the Flatirons Vista lot. What a great set of trails. 83 minutes. Haiku on the run for the day
  Cluttered mindlessness
  The mind escapes to the trail
  The heart quakes and awakes
• Mock appears to be in sixth place at TransRockies. Ricks in 7th. (mens open) Chase is in second in the master's division (all this is actually to say each of those teams are in those places). Smith and Helms Crosby lead open women.
• Super HS XC coach Joe Newton stuff from mzungo ... “When you are running fast, run faster.”
• Pups at six days …
  

Wednesday 082609

• AM – idyllic morning. Cooler. That slight fog haze just over the ground but clear from the waist up. Sun rising. 6 miles with strides over at BHS track. I am going to try to be more regular with doing strides and so I will measure these to see if there is any improvement over a couple of months. (18.8, 17.9, 17.7, 17.4, 16.9, 17.0, 17.3 – and I missed the last split but the same ball park). Took a 300 jog around the track to assure full recovery. Strides less me feeling good … 46 minutes. Musical choices included Green Day and Miley Cyrus (damn you Brett)
• Brownie’s first part of his Leadville RR. Tim Parr’s Leadville RR is up … Currently, I’m resting up and preparing for the World Mountain Running Championships, in Italy next week. I’ll be ready. Duncan has an detailed race report as well. If these don't scare you off of Leadville, maybe this will ...

• PM – six miles. 46 minutes.

Tuesday 082509

• Mountain Cup results are up
• If you are a member of the Yahoo Group LT100, there is a good discussion re: results over there ("the site needs to be better," "the results posting sucks," "aw stop your whining")
• I have may already posted this non running related link but Boostmp3.com is a great free site to get music.
• This post of rundum thoughts cracked me up
• 10 miles with SM from work. He did Leadville a handful of years back so we talked about ultras quite a bit. Pace was all over the place. Had me cracking up when he said he basically had to fire his crew mid race when they told him he ought to quit. He did finish. 79 minutes.

Where do you keep the stuff?

I was running the other day and I heard bagpipes. I sort of like bagpipes. I know they drive some folks crazy but I kind of dig them. I don't think I could listen to them all day but its a nice little fire up music - ala Braveheart. So I diverted my run towards the sound the pipes. There, about half a block away, was a guy in his garage making noise on the pipes.

And there on the garage walls were running bib numbers from races. There were probably three dozen glued up to the non dry walled areas. He noticed me and so I gave him the thumbs up. He was probably thinking it was for the pipes. But it was for both the pipes and numbers.

Occasionally, I see this sort of display, this sort of tribute to folks running, in garages around the neighborhood. I find it interesting. Of course I am drawn to those folks because I am a runner too. But we feel compelled to put our numbers in the garage.

I put mine in our shed. Numbers. Medals. Wristbands. Pieces of wood. Rocks. Trophies. My wife has asked if I want them in the house. Not really. I prefer to have them in my own Bat Cave, out there with the tools of construction and destruction. Doesn't feel right for me to have it in the house ... just a bit over the top. Would kind of be like being a song writer and listening to your own songs all the time.

In some running magazine recently I saw some picture of an old coach. He had created a crazy cave of this stuff of his career, his athlete's careers, number charts, trophies, articles. It looked pretty cool. But it also appearred to be somewhat "cat lady" like ...

I have one friend who pitched it all recently. Had 25 years of the stuff and he had been pretty successful as a 2:20 marathoner. Outright wins, age group awards, relays, state titles, NCAA career and an IM in the mix. But he pitched it all. Said it was just dragging around a bunch of stuff that was just physical that he really didn't need. Apparently his kids protested so he let them take some small portion of it that they wanted and pitched the rest (maybe he donated it, I can't remember).

Brownie posted that he got the coveted silver and gold belt buckle at Leadville but he does not wear belts. I wear belts but I think I'd have a tough time wearing that sucker around. First it looks like a small plate. I think there is a Jeff Foxworthy joke in there about such things ...

But then this crazy ore cart thing - you apparently win an ore cart with rocks in it if you win Leadville. Not that I am ever going to have to worry about that. But if I did, I don't think I could put the cart in the shed - just because it would get in the way in there. Unless I filled it with other tools. But given that the guys who seem to win Leadville as of late seem to live a relatively nomadic existance ... I was wondering where they put this cart (Anton's post indicates he has dropped two of these beheamoths at his parent's place).

(post script and correction - I have been informed that the ore cart is actually not the full on Indiana Jones style cart that I imagined it to be .. uhh, those of you born in the 1980s might need to look that up - but rather an 8 inch by 8 inch cart, sitting on an 11 inch base)

I remember walking into some guy's apartment before a run and, looking up about 12 feet on the high wall, there was a this oversized plate that declared this guy had won the Pikes Peak Ascent (there was no other evidence in the room that he had won it seven other times). I guess if I had one of those, I might not put it in the shed. That might be cool to put into the master bathroom. ;)

Where do you put your "stuff?" (and note - my picks where to put it is not prescriptive of where you should put it)

Monday morning mountain quarterbacking

Anton has a post up. On a good day, running 100 miles is f**king hard. Period. On a bad day, it's borderline impossible.

Third place finisher at Leadville, Duncan C has an early post up. Tim P has one too but it is still light, but apparently it is his last Leadville. AJW's (who did WS100, HR100 and Leadville this summer) post.

It was apparently 80 degrees at 13K?! DAMN! That is HOT. Still, the course re-route looks to have been advantageous by at least a handful of minutes (as suspected).

With all the focus on Leadville, there is that other mountain running multi day camping trip going on - Transrockies. Looks like Mr Mock's team is in fourth (another article). It is a little hard for me to get amped up to watch this ... it seems more like a camping trip to me. Mind you, a very cool camping trip ... just not my camping trip. Sorry. I am sure I'd feel different if I was there ... and maybe these sorts of races will be something I get into in the future, but oddly I find myself not pouring over these results like other mountain races.

Mountain running pioneer Pablo Vigil posts over at Rickey's blog.

Monday 082409

AM - ~15 minutes of GS (that is general strength) ... push up, girdle stuff. I am avoiding the squats because that makes the groin hurt a lot but I need to pick at those to strengthen it. 3 miles. Did a warm up with Lucy for a mile (swung her home) and then did 8 x 20 second strides on the Ridgeview MS fields. 24 minutes.

PM - easy seven miles. 56 minutes.

Sunday 082309

Tim Parr's win at Leadville is amazing. Winning PPA last week and then LT100 in his innagural century run. Not much to say about that than wow. I only expect him to get stronger now that he will need to hitchhike with that winner's ore cart.

Tony obviously had a tough day, with word being via the Twitter community that he pulled with cramping quads near mile 75. At least one person I know said he was running for the record and when that slipped out of sight, the motivation finish, particularly after winning two times before, waned. The hundred seems like a bit of a poker game for me. When I play Texas Hold 'Em with folks, the people who are still playing at the end of the night are those who were conservative at the begining of the night ... and got a bit lucky with the cards they were dealt. I give a tip of the hat to Tony ... you could argue that he should have run differently and run for the win. And had he run more conservatively at the front end, maybe he'd be hauling that ore cart around in the roost today (along with the other two). But he had a goal of the CR, gambled and went for it. And it did not work out ... as has been said in this sport a bunch of times ... you don't know your limits until you reach them.

In the interim, Mr. Carpenter's record remains intact.

A few weeks ago, I hopefully gave positive feedback about the LT100 site changes. I say hopefully because I had hoped that it was a start of a shift on the site. As it turned out, itwas mostly front page window dressing, and advertising to sell you stuff. The site seemed to struggle yesterday under the load of users wanting to get information about the racers. I get that results there may not be posted quickly or completely accurately given race logistics, but 405 errors?

Congrats to Pittbrownie on a great run at Leadville - particularly after doing the PPM last week. And according to the site this AM, Brownie finished twice.

I have not looked at the logistics of the calendar next year between Leadville and Pikes - but if it works out, I think I'd like to be doing some pace work up in Leadville next year.

10 miles in the AM before it got too warm. 78 minutes. Didn't worry about HR. Month stats update ... Over the last two weeks, with taper, racing and recovery I landed 89 miles (53 and 56) with that being good for 13 hours and 37 minutes (817 minutes). This puts me 177 miles on August with four days off, 2274 miles on the year, 20207 minutes

Slow Saturday

We did very little today. With the birth of the pups, we stayed close to the house … so I did stuff like, run, cut the lawn, and tried to play with /manage a model where I could compare a ridiculously fine grained level of data between my Barr Trail Run and Pikes … yeah, geeking out in Excel. But given the different starts, etc – it is not as easy as it might sound (if you want to get it very correlated).

But as I was on the computer, I got a good deal of info and data flowing in. Some might argue TOO much. I, probably like a lot of folks, have scrunched my forehead about the popularity of twitter. (come on, what the heck do I say in 140 characters or less?) But using Tweetdeck, a search term or two (#transrockies, #lt100 for example) and suddenly I have a pretty good pulse on the world I care about on a slow Saturday.

This sort of news feed communal input thing is incredible … In an ultra race where a person with a cell phone can provide faster updates than an aide station, it is pretty incredible. It is important to note – those inputs come with a risk: they might be wrong. Being the first to put up information comes at a risk of not having it right. It seems that in the Twitter world – this is okay, an acceptable risk … Just know it is there.

Anyway, from over a 100 miles miles away … I tried to keep on top of what folks were doing in a hundred mile race, while cutting the lawn, and doinking around the yard. And thinking a lot about ultras. This was while I kept running outside to check out the F16 buzzing overhead for the local air show. It was cool to see the astonishment in my son’s eyes of the technology, the physics – even though he could not explain it any other way other that “THAT IS COOL!” I felt the recollection bubble up of days and (many cold) nights on the flight line where the sound of such birds were common place and no big deal … and the odd juxtaposition of awe of the power of such planes and the absolute destruction they could cause.

Anyway! USATF 100 news:

Rogue Valley Runner Erik Skaggs wins the 2009 USA Track and Field 100 Kilometer Trail Championships at the Where's Waldo 100K Ultramarathon.

Someday maybe an ultradistance will be an Olympic sport. That would change the whole game … I am not sure how I feel about that. I sense an old curmudgeon in me not wanting it … sort of the way there are those who never want a start up company never wants to go corporate … but the game gets a whole new level of serious when you go there. And that ain’t a bad thing … or is it?

Interesting post by Gordo on how the aging of elite athletes will change the nature of that game …

Thought provoking different opinion on man or woman conversation … (and again, it all reflects why I got to a place of “I don’t care – I am more interested in what YOU are doing).

… okay off to “watch” Leadville.

Saturday 082209

Slept hard again last night. Had intentions of getting up early and getting a run done but slept in, feeling a need for it. Paid a bit for it with it being hot when I started running (10:30ish) but - oh well. More easy jogging. 10 miles. HR was elevated the whole time - no surprise because of the heat and that I am behind still on hydration. Legs felt a little less sluggish today. Care not about HR or anything today ... just cruising for some down time.

Leadville record?

Between Leadville and TransRockies, the MUT world seems to all be headed to Leadville or its south neighbor, Buena Vista (I love that town). With the Blackhawk crash, apparently there will be a slight re-route of the course, and the scuttlebutt is that - a.) it will be a mile shorter by about a mile and b.) any records set will be considered the course records.

First point - it doesn't matter. Such concerns are orders of magnitude smaller then the loss of the four lives there. Records are things we create in our heads. People's lives are real.

But if we are going to discuss this that "any records set will be considered the course records" concept - I got the double positive declaration for that: Yeah - right.

If Anton, or whoever breaks the record by 1 second, think anyone is not going to put an asterisk next to that, including the breaker? Think anyone is going to say a mile shorter record is the true record on the course? If anything such a change means the record needs to be CRUSHED. Anything less than a 20 minute break and there will be speculation as to WHICH record is better. 10 minutes will drive people batty. And even if it is crushed - it will sit out there in question until the regular course record is beat beneath either standard.

Other stuff ... good article on how we went from a culture of competition to completion. Ju'stin Y's post from worlds is pretty entertaining ...

Friday 082109

Easy jogging with kids post school, little breaks, etc. 8 miles. 68 minutes. HOT. JZ and I saw a fighter buzz right over our neighborhood, and we took a break to swing on a rope tied over a stream from a tree branch. Legs are still a bit tired. Did a couple of striders and then pull the plug on that.

I am definitely dehydrated - or maybe it is better to say, behind on my hydration. I could feel it today. I have just have been lazy with it the last few days.

Mind of course is still dancing on the best course of action. Last night I was thinking I'd just run easy for six weeks OR just run however I felt, where ever I felt, when ever I felt. But today, I felt the itch to get some 5k or 10k work in. I still don't know and am okay with that. These runs are not for training right now - they are for a bit of introspection on what I want to do next with running. Part of the allure of the draw to the 10k/5k is that I can work a bit on some 40 something PRs, get some speed back - and if you have a bad one - wait a week. A bad mountain marathon? Wait a year. Just need to let the thoughts go there for a bit ...

I can definitely see a "welt" on my right quad from the bike wipe out last week. When I land on the right leg, I can see the muscle "bulge" out a bit (comparatively to the left). TZ confirmed that I was not hallucinating.

Pups

Our Norfolk Terrier, Ruby, whose line has been in our wife’s family for 40+ years had puppies this AM. 

Thursday 082009 run

Got antsy today and decided I needed to run and so I headed out the door at 8:30 PM. Jogged slowly, listening to RCPM, checking out the stars.

I am still dwelling on PPM, and I need to get past it. What is done is done. My head was spinning on tonight's run - too much about what happened, what I want to do next, what that ought to be. I hear a undertone though that I am making all of this much harder than it needs to be. There are a lot of options as to what is next ... just jog casually until you figure out what is next, log a lot of easy miles, run whatever the hell you want for a while, pick some next race, or all of the above ... a key here is I am not going to make Pikes 09 go away tomorrow.

... to break the head a bit, I stopped and watched a softball game for a bit. A couple of innings, (softball games end after 5 innings I guess), and I jogged home. 8 miles, 75 minutes, av HR 144. Legs felt fine at the start but a bit tired towards the end. Still holding some fatigue.

This sucks

Bad news on multiple fronts:  apparently a Blackhawk helicopter crashed near Mount Massive.  Four dead.  LT course is likely to be re-routed.

Analysis paralysis

Ah, some more analysis …I ain;t gonna lie. It hurts a bit to look at this. You can see the melt down. A screen shot if what Matt’s pace calculator says to run for 2:45:



and then what it would take to run a 2:57:41 (my ascent) – on the pace calculator. Note that a 90 minute to Barr Camp target is what is recommended here.

Of course, I took 81 minutes to Barr Camp. And 96 minutes to the top this year. Splits over the years - and that shows that while I most definitely went out too fast - I was also having a bad day. At BTMR, I went through the Ws forty five seconds faster and at a lower HR. I split through No Name Creek also 44 seconds faster at a lower HR. It goes on - 7.8 sign - 50 seconds faster - lower HR. Barr Camp, 64 seconds faster and you guessed it - lower HR. So I made the mistake of not listening to HR data. But I was running slower anyway. I split on whole to Barr from Hydro three minutes SLOWER than BTMR but at a higher HR. Nearly split from PPA 08 was faster than every split this year (I ran one, the Ws - slower - 12 second slower last year). Everyone. ... but bad day + bad decisions on a bad day = melt down.

Thursday 082009

• Thursday link love – interviews with Anton and Duncan pre – Leadville.   The Leadville talk, the feedback talk, and a couple of down days ... gots me some itches. I can feel way back there an itch for something like Leadville. The epic nature of that race, and subsequent camerderie - well you can feel I'd love to be up there crewing for someone this weekend, to get a feel for the race - but that just ain't going to work out.
• I saw a display at the grocery store this AM that caught my eye … it said “Mexican Coca Cola.”  Apparently when it is made with cane sugar, it is Mexican Coca Cola, versus the HFCS stuff it is normally made with.  I ain’t a sodie fan but it seems the stuff south of the border would be the way to go.
• UK Mountain RT announced. Nick – you got any “home team pride” in this? I’ll put a brew on US over UK (even though I have no idea who those folks are, but I bet they run in “trousers.”)
• This RunScout site is pretty neat.

Feedback

I have received a bunch of good feedback here  regarding my Pikes meltdown.  Most of this has been that I need to get over it, move on, keep my chin up.  And that is absolutely correct.  THANKS to all of you who given me kind words and kicks in the arse to get over this and keep on living it.  Amen to that.   Mentally I have gone through a few states of disappointment, anger, confusion but now I am already feeling a small itch.  What’s next?  But before I get to what is next … I am still looking at what went wrong.

 

I received, as I have throughout the summer, some great feedback from Lucho.  I really can’t thank Lucho enough for the help he has given me.  We have easily exchanged probably 200 emails over the last six weeks – with him being incredibly responsive to my questions and concerns.  He’s caring, he’s honest and he’s committed to improvement and success.  His most recent feedback as to what went wrong essentially said I was over my head early:  I have alluded also to the idea that 180 is over your LT? Since a 2:30 marathon can't be run near LT it makes sense. I had thought that your LT might be over 180 too, but it isn't. This goes back to my old preaching about getting fast at a low HR or an easier effort. Because you can't race within a certain percentage of your LT, you must get fast at this lower percentage. If your LT is 178 then you have to be able to run fast at HR 170.  If that makes no sense to you – I will translate:  I went out too fast for my current fitness.  Yeah, 81 minutes maps up well to what I did going up to Barr Camp in the BTMR, but then I started running down (and actually after 70 minutes there).  I still had to run up at least that same time at Pikes.  I ran fine for a run up to Barr Camp.  Just not for a run that had me keep going for another six miles and 4000 feet up and then 13 miles and 7800 feet down.

So while I am sitting in a meeting this AM, I get a mail from the PPM winner himself – Matt Carpenter.   Unsolicited, Matt looked at my post, my data and gave me the following feedback (slightly edited).

Wait – before I post that, did I say I got the email in a meeting while at work?  Yeah – think about that.  Here is a guy fresh off his kabizillionth victory at Pikes and he is taking time and energy to do analysis and write an email about my race?  So I was suddenly a bit ADD in this meeting because I glanced at the mail, but knew I had to focus on work!  Call it a man crush, but I continue to be impressed as to what this guy does for the sport at a variety of levels.  Thanks Matt!  Matt’s note – some highlights (bold) by me for emphasis…

Great write up on your race!  Sometimes you just need to step back and look for the obvious. Sorry dude but your HR graph gives it away. You went out too fast. Sure you can post that your AHR was ~175s through the Ws but that is an average from when it was still working its way up. UP to the freaking 180s!!! Hell, that would kill me!!! How many times must it be said that uphill running is like swimming. You can double your effort but you don't go twice as fast. The gains are not worth it. The couple of minutes you got ahead in the Ws cost you 10+ up top. But let's move away from HR to actual times to see if that analysis jives. Just for grins I took each of you cumulative times and splits and put them into the pace calculator. On the left is your overall pace on the right was your split pace. Rather telling I should think:

 

R    2:09

H     2:29      2:38

WS  2:36     2:40

NN  2:39     2:43

78   2:39     2:42

BC  2:41      2:46

BP  2:44      3:04

AF  2:52      3:27

2    2:53      3:04

1    2:56      3:15

t     2:57:31 3:18

I don't know what your Ascent goal was. (GZ note – I thought 2:45 was do-able) You wrote on 8/7 "I feel that I can ascend faster than 2:50" but through the Ws you were WAY WAY under that and still WAY under that through BC. (Yes, I ignore the Ruxton split and can't for the life of me figure out why my Ruxton split works but everyone else is LIGHT years ahead of pace there) but beyond Ruxton you were going too fast especially  when you factor in "the day" which I don't think was that good – as shown by those 180s you were running. I call it the PP factor.  Too many ignore that Pikes can have its own set of rules that change day by day and do not care about our goals.  If we stick to our goals it is going to eat us up and spit us out like it has done to solid granite for eons. Yet instead of adjusting for "the day" you stubbornly hung onto that effort (the 180s) until your body could not do it anymore and then look at the HR graph again! Like a cliff and not too much later you were talking about a bad patch. Sorry again, but bad patches don't happen - they are made by us because we did not do something correctly. I went back to your BTMR HR graph where you had a great race and what a freaking difference! Who the heck you think you are that you do a shorter race like the BTMR never much over 175 and kept things pretty level but then in a race that is 2X as long go that long at 180? Bad patch indeed! But the bad patch did not come when you were feeling bad at Barr Camp, it came when you were feeling good in the Ws. Since you like fancy plots and graphs why don't you overlay your BTMR HR graph on top of you PPM HR graph and look at the first 30 mins of your PPM. Game over!

At any rate, chin up, get over it and get on with it. Resolve to run smarter next time. We all do stupid stuff.

But as I think I said before sometimes it is best to keep it simple once and a while. The tweaks I made between Leadville 04/05 and North Face 07/08 were  minor, minor, minor! But the difference is huge. Based on your BTMR you don't even have to tweak your training. You just have to stick to your game plan …

Go out hard, when it hurts speed up...

Matt Carpenter

As Stan Lee used to say … ‘nuff said.

Wednesday 081909

• The thought to run this AM actually came to me, but I suppressed it. I am still dealing with some residual soreness and can feel the hammie still healing. I could run, but I am not in a rush. I went for a walk in the AM with TZ, KZ and Lucy.
• Yet another amazing European mountain running article by Rickey …a 2.5 kilo pack is required?!
• The US Junior MR team … or the mountain runners of fame of the future?
• Not running related ... Not real bad but probably not super work safe is this guy's twitter posts of "stuff" his father says. Had me laughing out loud.
• Nick has a good post re: Leadville coming up. The showdown there between Parr and Anton looks to be a good one. I am not sure I'd agree with Nick on picking Parr over Tony, but I am more conservative in my selections. Simply I go with a person who has proven at the course and distance over a newbie - particularly in a 100. I have not run a 100 but I have talked to enough guys to know it is a different game. What you feel at 40 miles is tough. What you feel a marathon distance later with more than a marathon to go - DAMN.
• Karl M's post re: Leadville ...
• While I get excited about the outcomes of some US elite runners on the international circuit, this sort of contraversy is part of the reason why I gave up subscription to T&F news and decided it was more interesting to watch how locals did.
• So on that local front, I think anyone who has watched US distance running over the last ten years has watched the trifecta of Hall, Webb and Ritz - beating records, taking NCAA titles, dealing with injuries, going to the Olympics, etc. Ritz's left Hudson, after PRing at every distance while under his coaching. Brad talks about Dathan's build up for Beijing and why he thought Ritz was ready to medal ... "most U.S. athletes become better in everything when they have trained for a Marathon regardless of the result of the Marathon"

Tuesday night

Pikes Peak Marathon 2009 Race Report.

• Some days you are the windshield. Some days you are the bug.
• Okay … so I have taken some time to write this. It is rather lengthy, but that is because I wanted to capture where I was at for future review, and be all to recall the energy of this all while it was fresh now. Since the race did not go well, it may come across as a bit “low” or “dark” or bit overly self critical. Certainly while I am disappointed with my race result, I am also very much “at terms” with it. I’d say I am at peace with it, but that seems almost a bit too resolved. I made this comment earlier: I am not sure I can properly convey this in a blog - but ... I am disappointed with the result but happy with the journey. It is frustrating to prepare and focus as I did and then not execute, but it is a blessing to be able to be able to get embrace life on the mountain. I can't say "I have no regrets" but they are minor in comparison ... I'd have huge regrets if I never had tried. My chin is up ... maybe a bit humbled (not a bad thing).
• I am not committing to anything running wise for a bit. At least until my head and body tells me otherwise. Some have suggested I should do a 5k. Nick Other thought I ought to go do Breck Crest. I really don't feel (but it is less than 24 hours post finish) any need to go get a good one out of my system as some sort of reconciliation. What is done is what is done.
• This is definitely a different feeling than post past bad races. Usually a bad performance rips me up enough inside that I feel very motivated to get back after training and get back out there for a good shot at something else. Not this time. I am not sure why that is. I guess it could be that I took a good shot at this and realize it just did not work out. Looking to undo it in some other race just seems futile. Or maybe I am just headed for the pasture. :) I know I will wake up some morning, smell the air and hear the wind - and will be out there running ... and the itch for whatever comes next will be there and it will need to be scratched. It might be a 50k. It might be a 5k. It might be a burro race. Or it might be Pikes again. I turn 40 in a few weeks so that might create some other stir …
• Sooo … what happened? Did I go out too fast? Did I not do enough speed work? Did I not do enough hill work? Did the bike crash adversely effect me the day before (side note, it never seemed to be a real issue although I could feel it a bit on the down)? Did I eat right? Did I mess up the taper? Am I just getting slower because I am getting older? Did I not train enough? Was my training to scattered? I don’t know and I am not super compelled to drive to an answer immediately. I will review it, figure it out and figure out what is next but … as it comes to me.
• So a good day gone bad from a performance perspective but it was a great summer of training, learning and I value that immensely. A bad day in a 5k is 15 seconds. A bad day in a road marathon is 20 minutes. A bad day in this marathon … well, I’d like to think that is worth 23 minutes and 2 seconds … at least. :) Probably more like a half hour?
• Admittedly there is a part of me that is disturbed as to this failure … I can easily say it was just a bad day but it bugs me that it happened. Why did it happen? There has to be a reason, the same way there is a reason that guys like Carpenter rarely have bad race days, or Romero performs so well come race day on this mountain. I get a little angry with myself that I have yet to figure that out: I feel like a bit of a failure in spending this time, energy – and more importantly the time and energy of others to just be flippant that it was just a “bad day.” I feel compelled to do a helluva lot better for those folks. They deserve it.

  On to the details of race day …

Saturday … pre race day

• On Friday a friend asked me how I felt. I responded this way: I don't know how the hell I feel. I feel ready to PR. I feel like I am going to fall apart. I realize that some of this is pre race nerves. I am a little freaked because I have done 27 miles in the last five days. I am fine because I have done more 2-3 hour runs in prep for this than I have before. I am fine because I think this approach I have taken is sound. I am freaked because I also have not done some of the typical or key workouts that I have done in the past. I am thinking alot about the decision that will come in that moment. In the moment when it hurts, what I will do - what I will say. When the urge to walk comes how I will respond to those tough inner voices. So a lot of that. Nothing new. So I am stoked-scared-confident-fraidy cat. How's that? So my head as you can see, was a combination of calm and ready-ness looking to talk over typical race day jitters.
• Not helping my nerves was the crash I took on Saturday while biking around near the start of the Ascent. I cut open my left knee – which was really no big deal and opened up one of the cuts on my right hand (left over from falling last week). I was much more concerned about a knot that was developing from the fall on my right quad that was slowly tightening and beginning to bruise. Again, self talk here: whatever, shit happens. Stupid choice to ride that bike AND hit that curb. You won’t even feel it once you get going tomorrow. Get some ice on it and get over it. (note, voice in back of head is trying to scream various arguments to the contrary). I considered that this idiocy or other events could lead to a race day where I was reduced to walking down the mountain, greatly disappointed with the results but needing to find solace in the attempt. I put that scenario thought to death …
• I laid around most of Saturday, looking at results of the PPA race, posting them to twitter, the blog, facebook. Once that quieted down, I tried to nap a bit but that was not really working out, so I set up my gear for the AM, snacked and drank a good bit. Contemplated the race plan which was no more than this: be reserved early - particularly through the Ws, fight as much as I could above the A frame, and start the downhill a touch reserved so I could push at the end. Everything else was a bit more unpredictable and I figured I had to just go with it. More than anything I knew I would be only able to run the race that I could run that day. Over dinner I chatted with Selig, Clark, Mock about race strategy, particularly through the front end. JM was pretty clear that he felt if he was going to run sub 4:10, he needed to take a chance and go hard to Barr Camp, particularly through the Ws. Mike, Nick and I remained pretty steadfast that the race started at Barr, and really started at the A-frame. We considered Romero as an example (he apparently gained at least three places above treeline for a top 10 finish). Did not hang around much after the PPA awards assembly. I wanted to see Arlene Piper but wanted to get back to the hotel and get to work on sleeping ASAP, so I skipped her presentation.

• Race itself

  • AM – woke up at 430, started coffee and hydration procedures. Went to the bathroom, checked out the weather (looked good), went to the bathroom, suited up, went to the bathroom, packed the car, went to the bathroom, ate a bit as soon as I woke up. Typical stuff … around 6 AM I got the car up on the far side of the finish so it would be easier to get to post finish. Felt good. Jogged down and ran into Daryn Parker. Exchanged well wishes with him and then in a blur was in the mix with everyone at the start. I met John Garner and chatted with him a bit. I saw Bernie and gave him a hug. Bernie is such a wonderful warrior. I wish I could be in touch with him more (tough as he lives in Silt and on the other side of the divide) – as his spirit as a person is so strong – even outside of running. Besides, how many people do you know have had their name made into a verb? Bernie-ing …
  • Start to Ruxton: – 2:50, AHR –157. Got out in what felt very slow and easy. Was surprised a bit at the first split but it felt very comfortable. Nonetheless, I geared back as we made the turn. I was probably in 20th or so place here and felt great.
  • Ruxton to Hydro – 9:21 (6:30) – AHR – 174. Felt good and relaxed and had a great mental state. In past years, I have begun to slip here and worry about the state of the race – and it is way to soon to do that. I picked up a couple places of folks who were already laboring.
  • Hydro through Ws – 31:24 (22:03) –AHR – 175. Still felt good. Saw Jay who ran the Ascent the day before (and PR’d by 19 minutes) at the “just before the dirt” aide station. A few switchbacks up, I could hear and see Anita O coming up on me but I was okay with that. This section went well and I was confident that things were going to look good if I could keep at this. I settled into the back of a pack of three guys. They slowly pulled away through the Ws but I was not concerned. They were either going to come back later in the day or they were going to run faster. Took water at the aid station.
  • Ws to No Name – 46:28 (15:04). AHR 176. Anita came up on me on the flatter stuff and I told her she could pass. She declined and stated she was “suffering.” On some of the steeper sections I felt a bit more labored for the first time in the day, but I was not overly concerned – some of that is to be expected in a race! Just before No Name I slowed to get a gel ready, Anita and another guy passed and got some yards ahead as I took a couple of Gatorades at the station with the gel.
  • No Name to 7.8 sign – 63:18 (16:49) AHR 173. Still feeling good, but definitely getting into the work now. Anita remained about 15-45 yards ahead … she and the guy would trade places. I catch up a bit more on the ups and then they’d pull a little out on the more steep stuff.
  • 7.8 sign to Barr Camp – 81:47 (18:29) AHR 172. I felt that I was in a good position and on target for a 2:45 by getting here in this time. I took another gel, some Gatorade and new that it was now race time. I could still see Anita but she seemed to be gaining a bit more of a gap on me.
  • Barr Camp to Bottomless Pit – 1:35:23 (13:35). AHR 171. I hit a bad patch in here but was not worried. I knew that at least one was bound to happen and tried to keep a positive spirit through it. Just about at the Bottomless Pit sign I got passed by two guys working together. I tried to latch on as they were not going real fast (nobody really does here) but it was not working.
  • Bottomless Pit to A frame – 2:02:16 (26:58). AHR 167. I could feel it all slipping away here. My legs within five minutes went from feeling strong to feeling zapped. I'd tried to keep running but it seemed increasingly difficult. I tried various tricks like running for a minute and walking for thirty seconds but inevitably I hit some step up that would foil that. Then I try running for 100 steps and then walking 25 but that would fail too.
    
    I could feel the 2:45 ascent fall out of reach through the switchbacks, and then 2:50 and the wondered if I’d break three hours. This comes over the course of instants, minutes and tens of minutes. Could I still PR by pulling a decent downhill?
    
    There was a lot of “dark talk” in this section – as I saw my own weaknesses suddenly very close. I could see what I had trained for slipping away, realizing how important that was (which is to say I also was very aware of how unimportant it was). I have run long enough that I know when I am having a bad day … and I could tell this was one.
    
    There is no magic in positive mental attitude here … don’t get me wrong … it helps but it does not magically make you suddenly start running faster and more. I was cooked and I still had more than 2 hours (at least) of running ahead of me … and I knew it. But you try to fight that and overcome it. It is an odd mix of feelings … you see the failure occurring and fight it, knowing the futility in it. You realize that in the grand scheme of things, no one who loves you really gives a shit if you run four hours or five hours or ten hours. They give a shit about how you give a shit. And you realize that you are blessed with an incredible gift to just be able to do this ridiculous thing. And then you go back to fighting, trying to run, overcome the walk, losing that battle and starting it again.
    
    I walked through the A frame aid station, getting passed again (I’d lose count as to how much I’d get passed this day).
  • A frame to 2 to go – 2:20:37 ((18:21) AHR 167. A small victory here. I felt that if I could keep the remaining miles under 20 minutes a mile, I could get under three hours. In this section I could hear the cog horn blast around 2:09. I thought this meant that Carpenter had summitted then but he actually went up in 2:12.
  • 2 to go to 1 to go – 2:37:12 (16:34) AHR 168. Again, somewhat solaced for another sub 20 mile. I knew that sub 3 would not be a walk in the park but I felt it was within reach. I got passed in this mile by two guys who were walking. I would run walk, they would just walk but they ate me up. Matt came by and then later and Daryn came by and looked good.
  • 1 to go to summit – 2:57:31 (20:28) AHR 166. Struggled through the rocks. On the big step ups, I felt my right hammie begin to twinge as it has in the past on the Ascent. I was stoked to see Justin coming down in fourth.
    
    The turn around is always a blur to me. You are on top of the world but you seen none of it. Instead you see small pieces of people’s hands as they mark your bib, hand you gatorade. I was optimistic with a sub 3 and thought I’d might be able to pull together a decent descent – and maybe even come close to a PR – make it a fight for the last three miles or something. Last year I came up on the second day in 3:07 but was able to get down in 1:40 (after changing shoes). I stumbled out of the turn around taking a gel and some gatorade. Decided I’d get my legs back in the Golden Stairs before pushing.
  • down to treeline (Aframe) – 3:29. AHR 155. But it did not come. I was zapped. Sluggish. Slow. Heavy. I was jogging down. Normally I quickly pick up places here and ground but today I could not get going. I was hurting, and could feel the hammie locking periodically over the big step downs. I treated it carefully. The step downs seemed larger than I had remembered them. I seemed more annoyed with the number of the people on the trail, rather than motivated by blowing by them. Just before the A frame, the hammie totally locked and I went down. Amazingly I was not cut up or hurt. It took me about 20 seconds to get up though.
    
    Somewhere in these miles, I knew that any sort of PR was out the window. I was now chasing arbitrary time goals. And also realizing that it probably did not matter. Whether I ran 4:29, 4:49, 4:59 or just made it down, I could hear that very strong voice inside of me telling me it did not matter. I felt like Roberto Duran … “no mas.” In 07, when the race got away from me in similar fashion – I was already scheming on the down as to how I would come back in ‘08. Not today. I was ready to be done for a while. And I was both embracing that thought and disappointed with it at the same time.
  • down Aframe to Barr Camp – 3:57. AHR 152. I realized it had taken me about an hour to get down to Barr Camp. I was wondering if a time better than last year was in the cards, or if five hours would be a press. I was withered. It was warming up. Just before Barr Camp I got passed by a guy, and then he wiped out. I helped him up and we came into Barr Camp together. We both stopped briefly in the camp to take water, gel, gatorade.
  • down Barr Camp to road – I counted the mile markers as they came by. I was taking stock of where I was at, doing the calculations to determine possible outcomes. The rollers reduced me to a walk. I could feel the sub 4:50 fade out … as came into the sharper turns of the course here, the hammie, which had been behaving between A frame and Barr Camp was having a lot of difficulty. I was walking the swtichbacks down and then jogging the straights. I wondered if I was holding 9 minute pace, but the mile markers seemed to indicate I was closer to 8s. Five hours was possible.
  • down road to finish – I was very happy to hit the road when I got to it. But that feeling of elation quickly disappeared as I wanted to be done. That road seems to go forever. And ever. Where the hell was the Miramonte Castle? Hot. Feet hurt. Hammie is screaming. I am looking at the crowd at the finish … dazed. I am scanning children’s faces wondering if mine are there. And then I finish. 4:53:01. AHR 164 (from Barr Camp). The slowest I have done the marathon (even when I Doubled) and 29th, the lowest I have finished.
  • 
  • Immediately as I finish the hammie does a full on lock up and so I am helped to a chair. Shortly after that, I am helped to a cot and offered an IV. I am not loosing vision like I was in 07, but I decide to take it to expedite recovery. It helps. Something about those IV’s though … you are pumping liquid into your body that is at ambient air temp – which is much cooler than body temp. It cools you quickly. Within 15 minutes I went from a hot, hamstring spasming hurting unit to one that was shivering and having his teeth uncontrollably chatter (but otherwise feeling okay – even if I was walking very very slowly).
  • Unexpectedly, I have family in town – and I make a call to skip the awards assembly to be with them. It is not a decision I am entirely happy with – as I have never missed a race awards assembly in which I am awarded something and I am a bit peeved by those who do. But it is the right decision at the time

    … I get home in the early evening. My kids hug me. My eight year old son asks what place I came in. He asks if Matt Carpenter won again. He is satisfied and goes back to running around in the back yard. My daughter gives me a skeptical look and asks if I needed an IV again. TZ and I don’t talk about the race because the performance really does not matter. As far as they are concerned – I have done well. And it is now time to eat dinner, and discuss the start of school for them.

  • Tuesday … Less sore today physically, but a bit more antsy from a mental perspective – I found myself a bit put out by questions about the race by co-workers, and parents of friends of my kids. I realize these questions are because they are interested and they care. And I love to talk about running, and I love to talk about this race. The problem for me here is that the people who ask just assume it is awesome to just finish, and they don’t distinguish between a good and bad time. I get the “completion” culture, and I encourage it – if that is what your goal is. It is hard to explain in this culture however beyond completion is another C word. That C word is competition, be against yourself, the clock, another competitor. It seems that is often viewed as a behavior disorder however. Nonetheless, the only reason why these journeys are meaningful at all is because failure is a possible outcome. Despite the bruising to my ego, a voice in my head tells me that I am obliged to entice these people to try something like this they could fail at. Because if they do, chances are they will be better than if they never tried at all.

  • I have wondered if my perspective on this needs to shift. Maybe as opposed to looking at it as a journey of sacrifice and preparation to execute for success, it is simply learning the lessons of life via various failures. I know that sounds bad, but I think that might a pretty joyous path unto itself.