I'm really stoked to say that I'll be joining Team Montrail for 2009 (and hopefully beyond). I've been running the majority of my mileage (and almost all of my races) over the past 2 years in Montrail shoes so this is a perfect match in my mind. Montrail Team partners also include Mountain Hardwear, Nathan, Nuun, and Clif Bar... a great combination of shoes, clothing, gear, hydration, and nutrition.
Team Montrail consists of about 20 ultra runners from all over the country who, I'm learning, are treated very well in regards to free and/or reduced price gear so this deal will help A LOT with my training/racing expenses in 2009. More than this though, I think this will be a great opportunity to become more involved in ultra running and the ultra running community. Montrail sponsors dozens of races throughout the year and encourages their athletes (through financial assistance) to get out to these races as well as to get involved with clinics, coaching, camps, and any other ways in which their athletes are interacting with other runners. Racing is without a doubt still my primary focus, and likely will be for at least the next few years, but I could see myself interested in pursuing an involvement in ultra running that will go beyond however many years I have left in which I'm interested in racing as much as I am now. I think this deal with Montrail has potential to be the beginning of slowly moving toward more involvement in ultra running, beyond just the racing. And if not, it's still really sweet to know that I'll be running in my favorite shoes, free of charge, for at least the next year. Hell yeah!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
One In A Thousand?
I wasn't very fast when I ran in high school and college. I wasn't the top runner on my high school cross country team until my senior year and the one year in which I ran in college I was the 3rd or 4th guy on a very bad team. In the most competitive race I ran in college I got beat by more than 100 runners.
I know there is a HUGE difference between running 5 and 10k's and running ultra marathons, but I can't help but wonder just how many of the tens of thousands of runners who were and are much faster than me at shorter distances could be elite ultra runners if they decided to devote the time to it? On one hand I feel like very few of these runners have the mental strength, tenacity, and patience to make great ultra runners, but on the other hand there are so many people out there who can run so much faster than me at anything under a marathon that certainly many of them should be able to be very fast ultra runners as well.
There is the "cream rises to the top" idea that perhaps runners who are genetically made up to be elite ultra runners tend to come to realize this sooner or later. On top of this is the fact that being an elite ultra runner almost certainly requires that you passionately enjoy running or you're just going to get burnt out from all the training that is required. There may be thousands of runners who have the physical potential to be top ultra runners, but don't enjoy it enough to ever put in the time to get to that level. But there is also the idea that there just might be thousands of runners out there who have the ability to be elite ultra runners but they just don't ever pursue it because they simply aren't aware of their abilities or just aren't interested in running that far.
The question then that this raises is if the elite ultra runners in the country (Jurek, Krupicka, Skaggs, Carpenter, Steidl, Meltzer, Koerner, Pacheco, Mackey, etc.) do in fact represent, for the most part, the best ultra runners in the country or would these names just be anonymous names mixed in with thousands of other runners if ultra running were as popular and as widely contested as 5k, 10k, and marathons? Am I actually a better ultra runner than the 100+ runners who beat me in one race 12 years ago in college would be if they decided to train for and focus on ultra races? I'm really not sure what the answer is to this question. What do you all think?
I know there is a HUGE difference between running 5 and 10k's and running ultra marathons, but I can't help but wonder just how many of the tens of thousands of runners who were and are much faster than me at shorter distances could be elite ultra runners if they decided to devote the time to it? On one hand I feel like very few of these runners have the mental strength, tenacity, and patience to make great ultra runners, but on the other hand there are so many people out there who can run so much faster than me at anything under a marathon that certainly many of them should be able to be very fast ultra runners as well.
There is the "cream rises to the top" idea that perhaps runners who are genetically made up to be elite ultra runners tend to come to realize this sooner or later. On top of this is the fact that being an elite ultra runner almost certainly requires that you passionately enjoy running or you're just going to get burnt out from all the training that is required. There may be thousands of runners who have the physical potential to be top ultra runners, but don't enjoy it enough to ever put in the time to get to that level. But there is also the idea that there just might be thousands of runners out there who have the ability to be elite ultra runners but they just don't ever pursue it because they simply aren't aware of their abilities or just aren't interested in running that far.
The question then that this raises is if the elite ultra runners in the country (Jurek, Krupicka, Skaggs, Carpenter, Steidl, Meltzer, Koerner, Pacheco, Mackey, etc.) do in fact represent, for the most part, the best ultra runners in the country or would these names just be anonymous names mixed in with thousands of other runners if ultra running were as popular and as widely contested as 5k, 10k, and marathons? Am I actually a better ultra runner than the 100+ runners who beat me in one race 12 years ago in college would be if they decided to train for and focus on ultra races? I'm really not sure what the answer is to this question. What do you all think?
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Long Version - North Face Endurance Challenge Race Report
Saturday morning, 4:22 AM I awake in confusion from a very back loaded night of sleep. Before 1:00 AM I didn't sleep at all, but eventually I fell into such a deep sleep that at 4:22 it took me several seconds to figure out where I was and what that noise (my alarm) was. Once I reacquainted myself with reality my first thought was that I should just go back to sleep and skip the race. Finally though I snapped out of it and crawled out of my sleeping bag.
20 minutes later I found myself jogging the half mile from my campsite to the race start.
10 minutes later we were off and running.
It quickly occurred to me that I didn't really know who any of these guys were. The front runners quickly grouped into a pack of about 15 guys, but it was dark and I had, to my knowledge, only ever raced against one of these guys (Hal Koerner at Miwok earlier this year). I also knew which one Kyle Skaggs was, but beyond that I had no idea. What I did know was that I was blessed that day with some decent uphill spring in the legs. It's funny with uphill running. Some days it just doesn't feel like you're ever going uphill and other days it feels like you're going uphill the entire time. Lucky for me Saturday felt like it was going to be one of those good uphill days.
Eventually our group consisted of 13 and I found myself pulling easily to the front of the field on the climbs and falling back on the downhills. On the switchback climb from Muir Beach (mile 13) daylight broke and we were finally able to turn off our headlamps as we formed a single file line on the narrow trail to climb up toward Pantoll, with me in the front. In places these switchbacks were so short and tight that I could look to my side and see a continuous snake of the other 12 guys winding down around two full switchbacks. Still I was feeling very comfortable climbing and even considered for a bit making a move to try to shake the field up a bit. I wanted someone to go with me. I had no interest in breaking away by myself that early on. Kyle was running just behind me through this stretch but didn't seem very intent on trying to pull away from the others so I decided to just hang tight. Eventually the trail opened up and Matt Carpenter, Shiloh Mielke, and I pulled a bit ahead of the pack as we rolled into Pantoll (mile 18).
I had some friends lined up as a tentative crew but I had left a drop bag at Pantoll in case they weren't there. I didn't see my crew so I fumbled through my drop bag to get a second Gel flask and a bottle of Perpetuem, and drop off my headlamp, arm warmers, and earband. By the time I rolled out of there (perhaps 90 seconds later) I was behind the two runners who had rolled in the same time as me, as well as 3 or 4 others who didn't waste as much time at the aid station. For a few minutes I was a bit frustrated that my lack of organization and planning had just cost me precious time at that stage of the race, but quickly I remembered that in the large picture it almost certainly didn't matter and that I just needed to focus ahead of me, and that the race was really just getting started.
By the time we all rolled through Stinson Beach Aid Station (mile 21) we were grouped back together in a tight group of at least 7 or 8. Shiloh was a bit out ahead, but I felt a lot more comfortable being in a chase group with Kyle and Matt than being the guy out in front being chased. By the top of the climb it was once again Shiloh, Matt, and I running stride for stride with each other. Kyle and Uli were not far behind.
This was the point when Matt made his move. At about mile 25 he just took off and I kind of knew that I shouldn't go with him, or I would pay dearly later on. It was also right around this point that Shiloh pulled up and started walking, shortly after he had finished telling me that this was his first ultra ever! I guess he doesn't have the endurance mentality totally figured out just yet, but certainly a name to keep on the radar in the future.
By the mile 26 turn around Matt had about a one minute lead on me and Uli Stiedl was about a minute behind me and Kyle Skaggs and Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, from Japan, were maybe 2 minutes behind me.
20 minutes later I found myself jogging the half mile from my campsite to the race start.
10 minutes later we were off and running.
It quickly occurred to me that I didn't really know who any of these guys were. The front runners quickly grouped into a pack of about 15 guys, but it was dark and I had, to my knowledge, only ever raced against one of these guys (Hal Koerner at Miwok earlier this year). I also knew which one Kyle Skaggs was, but beyond that I had no idea. What I did know was that I was blessed that day with some decent uphill spring in the legs. It's funny with uphill running. Some days it just doesn't feel like you're ever going uphill and other days it feels like you're going uphill the entire time. Lucky for me Saturday felt like it was going to be one of those good uphill days.
Eventually our group consisted of 13 and I found myself pulling easily to the front of the field on the climbs and falling back on the downhills. On the switchback climb from Muir Beach (mile 13) daylight broke and we were finally able to turn off our headlamps as we formed a single file line on the narrow trail to climb up toward Pantoll, with me in the front. In places these switchbacks were so short and tight that I could look to my side and see a continuous snake of the other 12 guys winding down around two full switchbacks. Still I was feeling very comfortable climbing and even considered for a bit making a move to try to shake the field up a bit. I wanted someone to go with me. I had no interest in breaking away by myself that early on. Kyle was running just behind me through this stretch but didn't seem very intent on trying to pull away from the others so I decided to just hang tight. Eventually the trail opened up and Matt Carpenter, Shiloh Mielke, and I pulled a bit ahead of the pack as we rolled into Pantoll (mile 18).
I had some friends lined up as a tentative crew but I had left a drop bag at Pantoll in case they weren't there. I didn't see my crew so I fumbled through my drop bag to get a second Gel flask and a bottle of Perpetuem, and drop off my headlamp, arm warmers, and earband. By the time I rolled out of there (perhaps 90 seconds later) I was behind the two runners who had rolled in the same time as me, as well as 3 or 4 others who didn't waste as much time at the aid station. For a few minutes I was a bit frustrated that my lack of organization and planning had just cost me precious time at that stage of the race, but quickly I remembered that in the large picture it almost certainly didn't matter and that I just needed to focus ahead of me, and that the race was really just getting started.
By the time we all rolled through Stinson Beach Aid Station (mile 21) we were grouped back together in a tight group of at least 7 or 8. Shiloh was a bit out ahead, but I felt a lot more comfortable being in a chase group with Kyle and Matt than being the guy out in front being chased. By the top of the climb it was once again Shiloh, Matt, and I running stride for stride with each other. Kyle and Uli were not far behind.
This was the point when Matt made his move. At about mile 25 he just took off and I kind of knew that I shouldn't go with him, or I would pay dearly later on. It was also right around this point that Shiloh pulled up and started walking, shortly after he had finished telling me that this was his first ultra ever! I guess he doesn't have the endurance mentality totally figured out just yet, but certainly a name to keep on the radar in the future.
By the mile 26 turn around Matt had about a one minute lead on me and Uli Stiedl was about a minute behind me and Kyle Skaggs and Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, from Japan, were maybe 2 minutes behind me.
Me running just ahead of Uli Steidl somewhere between miles 27 and 30
I very much liked the position I was in but I also knew that there was still plenty of time for things to change drastically. And almost right away they did. I held on to second place all the way through mile 30, but somewhere around there things started to go quickly downhill for me. My quads were really starting to ache and for only the second time ever during a race I was getting muscle cramps in my legs (mostly in my hamstrings). Uli passed by me right at mile 30; Tsuyoshi at about mile 32; and Kyle at about 37. I was particularly struggling when Kyle passed me.
By this point of the race we were getting mixed in on the trail with some of the 50k runners and on the rolling climbs in that area I found myslef very content to just walk for awhile behind some of the 50k guys on the steeper uphills. I was still feeling OK going up, but the downhills were feeling really bad and I thought maybe if I took a few of the climbs easy that things might come back around for me. When Kyle passed me I was feeling horrible and I spent several minutes trying to decide if I was going to pull out at the next aid station or not. I knew I had it in me to finish but I thought for certain that in doing so I would be passed by a dozen or more other runners and I just wasn't sure I wanted to go through that. Finally after several minutes thinking about it I decided I was just going to suck it up and finish no matter how long it took me.
The thought that I had any chance of maintaining my current 5th place position never even occured to me. It seemed so far out of the realm of possibility that I couldn't even remember for awhile what place I was in.
Somewhere after this though things started to improve. The cramping subsided and even the aches in my quads seemed to become less severe. By the time I got to the mile 41 aid station I was finding that my climbing strength was coming back to me. There were still 2 pretty long climbs left in the race and I knew that I could use them to make a shot at holding onto my 5th place position. Finding this new challenge to shoot for gave me even more strength and eventually I was running the uphills with the same pep I had 5 hours earlier in the pre-dawn stages of the race. On the long steady climb up out of Tennessee Valley (mile 44) I found myslef mixed in with some of the middle/back of the pack half marathoners and I was just blowing by them left and right. There was one steep climb in which I must have passed 20 runners in 2 minutes. For several minutes I was taking great pleasure in passing all these runners and then I snapped back to reality and remembered that I was not racing against these people, that there were 4 people in my race who were out in front of me, perhaps already finished. I felt like an idiot. I laughed out loud at myself. A few of them heard me and perhaps thought I was laughing at them. I thought about explaining to them why I was laughing but I was too far past them already.
From here the rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I knew that I had given up too much between mile 30 and 40 to have a chance of reeling in any of the 4 in front of me, but I also knew that I was now cruising along smooth and was not likely to be caught by anyone behind me. I finished in 5th place with a time of 7:12:35.
I am very happy with that time, and with 5th place in one of the strongest field of ultra runners assembled for one race in quite some time. For the second time this year though I feel like those trails in the Marin Headlands beat me up and humbled me quite a lot. I think I had good (but not great) races at both The Miwok and this past weekend, but I also feel like I have a grudge now with those trails. I've run 7 ultras now in my life and the only two that I did not win were these two in the Marin Headlands. These were also the 2 most competitive ultras I've ever run (and quite likely the two most competitive ultras in the country this year) so my frustration isn't with being beat by Dave Mackey, Jon Olsen, Matt Carpenter, Uli Steidl, Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, and Kyle Skaggs - but rather with being beaten by those trails in that area. They're very hard packed trails and I'm used to running on snow and mud here in Juneau. In both of these races I ended up with intense fatique in my quads - likely a result of so much downhill pounding on such hard surface. I'm thinking pretty seriously about running the Miwok again this coming May, but I'm also going to admit right now that I'm kind of afraid of those trails. A fear that I suspect will soon turn into some pretty intense motivation to get it right the third time around. And I'm also not forgetting that the Miwok 100k this coming May will be the last chance to qualify for what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive 100 mile races ever at Western States next June. 2009 could be fun...
Full race results HERE
Nuts and bolts:
Shoes: Montrail Streak
Socks: Injinji
Calories: Power Gel: ~1,100 calories
Hammer Perpetuem: ~900 calories
Coke at aid stations: ~200 calories
Electrolytes: Nuun
Endurolytes
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Quick Race Recap
I finished 5th today. I was very pleased with my place and with my time (7:12). My race however was far from perfect. The first 25 miles or so went very smooth. I felt very strong on the hills and ran near or in the front of the field that entire time. Through about mile 14 we were still in a group of 13 guys within seconds of each other. The hill leading up to Pantoll (mile 18) broke the field up a little bit with Me, Matt Carpenter, Some dude who was running his first ultra and I think ended up dropping out, and Kyle Skaggs pulling a bit ahead of the others. By the time we dropped back down to Stinson Beach (mile 21) it was a large group again. Then the climb up out of there had the same result, with the same 4 guys pulling away a bit, but this time Uli Stiedl was also right there with us. At the top of that climb Matt Carpenter made a move and none of us attempted to go with him. Somewhere after the mile 26 turn around I started to struggle. I was able to hold off Uli until mile 30 but by that point I was really hurting. Lots of cramping and lots of pain in my quads beginning to really stand out on the downhills. By mile 33 or so I was passed by a Japanese dude who went on to finish third (behind Carpenter and Steidl) and then at about mile 37 I was passed by Kyle Skaggs who finished 4th. At this point I was really struggling and thinking about pulling out at the next aid station. After thinking about it for about 30 minutes I decided that I didn't care if I was passed by another 10 runners, I was going to finish no matter what... and then shortly after that I started to feel a lot better. I knew it was almost certainly too late to catch back up to anyone in front of me but I gradually felt more and more confident that I could hold on to 5th place. I really enjoyed the rest of the run after that. I was still feeling pretty crappy on the downhills but the uphills started to click again and it was a really good feeling to break through such a horrible feeling and feel pretty strong again for the last 10 miles or so. I'll probably post a full report in a day or two.
Full Race Results Posted Here
A few pictures below. First one is of me crossing the finish line; second one is Matt, Kyle, and I shortly after the finish (notice the $10,000 smile on Matt's face); third one is the presentation of the prize money to the top 3.
Full Race Results Posted Here
A few pictures below. First one is of me crossing the finish line; second one is Matt, Kyle, and I shortly after the finish (notice the $10,000 smile on Matt's face); third one is the presentation of the prize money to the top 3.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
There's This Weird Bright Thing In The Sky Down Here
Got in to San Francisco late last night and got all checked in for my race today. I like that everything is lined up ahead of time and that I don't need to deal with any of that Saturday morning. The ridiculously early race start of 5am doesn't seem as bad now. If things go as planned I'll be sleeping until 4:30. I'm camping about 1/2 mile from the race start so I should be able to just get up and pack up my tent and walk down to the race start, all the while hoping to get as much food as possible into my system.
North Face hooked us up with some pretty nice race loot, which consists of almost $100 worth of socks, shirt, hat, and water bottle (granted the stuff is really only worth about half that much if it didn't have The North Face logo on it but it is nice stuff for sure). Pretty sweet for a race who's entry fee was under $100. One thing I will say is that it's very impressive that The North Face is willing to put so much money into creating a championship type ultra marathon. They've made a serious effort to draw as many elite runners to this race as possible and it appears to be working. I'd love to see them up it to a 100 miler or create another 100 miler that they put this kind of focus into, but for now I guess this 50 miler will have to do. I think this race has an opportunity to be the ultra marathon that a lot of top runners focus on in the next few years, but that all depends on how things seem to go on race day this Saturday. I for one don't like to run races that I've run before as much as I like to try new races. For me to repeat a race I've done before I generally need to feel like things are run in just the right way. Laid back but generally organized and well thought out so that racers can just focus on running their race as much as possible. There will be enough top runners here on Saturday that if things go smoothly word will get around and others who missed out this year will be excited to be here next year. The $10,000 prize for winning is a huge draw in and of itself, but an even larger draw is an event that develops a consistently large percentage of the top ultra runners. I think even for many middle of the pack and back of the pack runners it's very exciting to run in a race that has dozens of elite runners (rather than the small handful that most ultras draw). I'm sure there are many people who could care less about top runners being in the field, but in general I think that there is a trickle down effect that occurs, such that for a race to be hugely popular for the masses it benefits significantly by being popular amongst the elite runners.
North Face hooked us up with some pretty nice race loot, which consists of almost $100 worth of socks, shirt, hat, and water bottle (granted the stuff is really only worth about half that much if it didn't have The North Face logo on it but it is nice stuff for sure). Pretty sweet for a race who's entry fee was under $100. One thing I will say is that it's very impressive that The North Face is willing to put so much money into creating a championship type ultra marathon. They've made a serious effort to draw as many elite runners to this race as possible and it appears to be working. I'd love to see them up it to a 100 miler or create another 100 miler that they put this kind of focus into, but for now I guess this 50 miler will have to do. I think this race has an opportunity to be the ultra marathon that a lot of top runners focus on in the next few years, but that all depends on how things seem to go on race day this Saturday. I for one don't like to run races that I've run before as much as I like to try new races. For me to repeat a race I've done before I generally need to feel like things are run in just the right way. Laid back but generally organized and well thought out so that racers can just focus on running their race as much as possible. There will be enough top runners here on Saturday that if things go smoothly word will get around and others who missed out this year will be excited to be here next year. The $10,000 prize for winning is a huge draw in and of itself, but an even larger draw is an event that develops a consistently large percentage of the top ultra runners. I think even for many middle of the pack and back of the pack runners it's very exciting to run in a race that has dozens of elite runners (rather than the small handful that most ultras draw). I'm sure there are many people who could care less about top runners being in the field, but in general I think that there is a trickle down effect that occurs, such that for a race to be hugely popular for the masses it benefits significantly by being popular amongst the elite runners.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
San Francisco Showdown
I fly down to San Francisco tomorrow.
The race Saturday is shaping up to be the highest competition in any ultra all year (perhaps in several years).
A couple months ago when I decided to run this race it had a lot to do with the shot at the large purse. Now though the money is just a secondary thought to the opportunity to run against so many fast runners.
If everyone who is rumored to be showing up for this one actually toes the line Saturday morning it'll be pretty impressive. The following names are either rumored or confirmed to be running: Steidl, Carpenter, (Kyle) Skaggs, Mackey, Wardian, Meltzer, Koerner, Schmitt, Kockik, Miller, Lint, Roes. That's a dozen guys who are used to winning most races they run. All told there may be 15 guys toeing the line that aren't used to being beaten by more than one or two guys. A bad day and any one of these guys could slip back to somewhere in the teens! I look forward to seeing where I fit into the mix.
The race Saturday is shaping up to be the highest competition in any ultra all year (perhaps in several years).
A couple months ago when I decided to run this race it had a lot to do with the shot at the large purse. Now though the money is just a secondary thought to the opportunity to run against so many fast runners.
If everyone who is rumored to be showing up for this one actually toes the line Saturday morning it'll be pretty impressive. The following names are either rumored or confirmed to be running: Steidl, Carpenter, (Kyle) Skaggs, Mackey, Wardian, Meltzer, Koerner, Schmitt, Kockik, Miller, Lint, Roes. That's a dozen guys who are used to winning most races they run. All told there may be 15 guys toeing the line that aren't used to being beaten by more than one or two guys. A bad day and any one of these guys could slip back to somewhere in the teens! I look forward to seeing where I fit into the mix.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Recommended Reading
I can't imagine there are very many people who read my blog who don't also read Jill's blog, and thus don't already know that she recently published a book called "Ghost Trails." For the few who do not know this I highly recommend checking out both her blog and her book. She's 100 times the writer I am and she is much more motivated about taking pictures of all the beauty that surrounds us here in Juneau, and therefore her blog, unlike mine, is actually entertaining on a regular basis.
I just finished reading her book two days ago, and even though I knew the outcome of the story it was still very fun and exciting for me to read. I often have people ask me details about what it was like to attempt the Iditarod Invitational last year and why I want to do it again this year. At least now I can just tell them to read her book for more of a sense of this than I could ever provide. Jill and I had a very different experience out there, but I was out there long enough to begin to see how harsh, intimidating, unforgiving, and addicting this race is. Reading Jill's book made me realize just how much more I will hopefully learn out there this year. If you're at all intrigued by the Iditarod Invitational or any similar events in which competitors push themselves to such extreme levels of pain, isolation, and independence I think you'll enjoy her book. And if you order it directly through the link on her blog you can request a signed copy if you're interested in that kind of thing.
I just finished reading her book two days ago, and even though I knew the outcome of the story it was still very fun and exciting for me to read. I often have people ask me details about what it was like to attempt the Iditarod Invitational last year and why I want to do it again this year. At least now I can just tell them to read her book for more of a sense of this than I could ever provide. Jill and I had a very different experience out there, but I was out there long enough to begin to see how harsh, intimidating, unforgiving, and addicting this race is. Reading Jill's book made me realize just how much more I will hopefully learn out there this year. If you're at all intrigued by the Iditarod Invitational or any similar events in which competitors push themselves to such extreme levels of pain, isolation, and independence I think you'll enjoy her book. And if you order it directly through the link on her blog you can request a signed copy if you're interested in that kind of thing.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Tapering Blues
Tapering for a race has never felt very normal for me. Typically I will hit my peak of training about 10-15 days before a race and then I will make an effort to cut back gradually until finally cutting back severely the last 2 or 3 days before the race. I never have too much of a problem with the severe cut back just before the race but the slight cut back in training that I started about 5 days ago now is always a bit uncomfortable. It always feels weird to be in this limbo state of training in which you are still putting a lot of time and effort into it but much less so than you were just a few days previously. I find it harder to put in a 15-17 hour week of training like I might do in the early stages of a taper then a 20+ hour week like I typically do in the midst of my training. I guess it's just hard for me to cut back my training but still feel like I'm moving forward toward an ultimate goal to be as fast as possible on race day. With a big race just a week away I know that it's better for me to be doing the 75-90 miles per week that I'm doing right now rather than the 110+ that I was doing a couple weeks ago but it is a little hard to cut back that much and not have a sense of moving backwards. All week this week I had been planning to take a day off but I just kept going out for a run everyday because it felt like taking a day off would be "slacking" off (not to mention that I just wanted to get outside and run each day). Finally today I actually got myself to agree to the off day. It felt kind of nice to take the day and do some other things, but it sure is going to feel nice to get back out for a few hours tomorrow. In reality I'm not sure how much of a difference I can really make in my race performance with only 7 more days, but eventually here as I do more races I hope to become more comfortable with the whole tapering process, because right now it just feels way too contrived and out of place on the heels of my previous 5 or 6 weeks of training.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Alaska Ultra Runners Rule
A couple of my fellow Alaskan ultra runners went down South this past weekend and once again represented Alaska very well in ultra races. Evan Hone placed 4th in a 50k in the mountains near Malibu, CA and David Johnston placed 25th in the JFK 50 miler in Maryland. 25th place doesn't sound that impressive until you remember that the JFK 50 has about a thousand finishers! Congrats guys.
It's no secret that Alaska has (and has had for a long time) some very strong mountain runners. Races like Bird Ridge, Mt. Marathon, Crow Pass Crossing and Matanuska Peak Challenge are some of the most competitive and difficult to win off road races you will find anywhere in the country. In the summer of 2006 I ran what felt like a pretty good race at Bird Ridge and I finished 9th! The only time since college that I've been beaten by 8 people in one race. That's 4 times as many people than have beaten me in all 6 of the ultras I have ever run combined!
The quality of Alaska's ultra runners however is much more of a secret. We only have a few ultra races up here so a lot of runners who might otherwise run 4 or 5 ultras a year end up just running 1 or 2 because it takes a lot of time and money to travel to a lower 48 race. As far as I can tell Alaska has had a handful of runners travelling to the lower 48 for ultras for quite some time, but I think the level of success that Alaskans are having in ultras is higher than ever right now. This year alone 3 different Alaskans have won four 100 mile races! I would suspect there are just a handful of states whose residents have won more 100 milers than this. Especially impressive when you figure that Alaska has only 650,000 people! There are at least 5 or 6 states in the country whose residents would have to win every single 100 miler in North America to perform at the per capita rate that Alaska has this year.
Anyway, there is a point to all this bragging about Alaska ultra runners. The point is that our ultras might be pretty small and pretty low key by lower 48 standards, but they are incredibly scenic and challenging races with a handful of very talented runners. If you've ever thought about coming up here for an ultra I highly recommend it. And if you think it's not worth coming up here because there won't be enough competition in the race, you might want to think again. You may get up here and find yourself in a race with only a few dozen other runners (or in the case of the Resurrection Pass 100 this year 5 others), but you can just about be guaranteed that there will be at least a few who will give you a pretty good run for your money... even though you might not recognize their names.
These are the 4 ultras up here you might want to check out (you should be able to find links to each of them in my sidebar):
Little Su 50k
Susitna 100
Resurrection Pass 50
Resurrection Pass 100
It's no secret that Alaska has (and has had for a long time) some very strong mountain runners. Races like Bird Ridge, Mt. Marathon, Crow Pass Crossing and Matanuska Peak Challenge are some of the most competitive and difficult to win off road races you will find anywhere in the country. In the summer of 2006 I ran what felt like a pretty good race at Bird Ridge and I finished 9th! The only time since college that I've been beaten by 8 people in one race. That's 4 times as many people than have beaten me in all 6 of the ultras I have ever run combined!
The quality of Alaska's ultra runners however is much more of a secret. We only have a few ultra races up here so a lot of runners who might otherwise run 4 or 5 ultras a year end up just running 1 or 2 because it takes a lot of time and money to travel to a lower 48 race. As far as I can tell Alaska has had a handful of runners travelling to the lower 48 for ultras for quite some time, but I think the level of success that Alaskans are having in ultras is higher than ever right now. This year alone 3 different Alaskans have won four 100 mile races! I would suspect there are just a handful of states whose residents have won more 100 milers than this. Especially impressive when you figure that Alaska has only 650,000 people! There are at least 5 or 6 states in the country whose residents would have to win every single 100 miler in North America to perform at the per capita rate that Alaska has this year.
Anyway, there is a point to all this bragging about Alaska ultra runners. The point is that our ultras might be pretty small and pretty low key by lower 48 standards, but they are incredibly scenic and challenging races with a handful of very talented runners. If you've ever thought about coming up here for an ultra I highly recommend it. And if you think it's not worth coming up here because there won't be enough competition in the race, you might want to think again. You may get up here and find yourself in a race with only a few dozen other runners (or in the case of the Resurrection Pass 100 this year 5 others), but you can just about be guaranteed that there will be at least a few who will give you a pretty good run for your money... even though you might not recognize their names.
These are the 4 ultras up here you might want to check out (you should be able to find links to each of them in my sidebar):
Little Su 50k
Susitna 100
Resurrection Pass 50
Resurrection Pass 100
Friday, November 21, 2008
You Don't Want To Step On One Of Those
There are a lot of porcupines on the trails around Juneau. I have a fear that I am going to step on one when while running sometime. It's very common to come around a corner and not see one of them right in the middle of the trail until I'm just a couple feet from it. They move slow, but when I come this close to them they usually do scurry away pretty quickly and climb up the closest tree they can find. Sometimes I need to yell or throw a little stick at them to get them to move off the trail. Today I came across a really stubborn one. This guy just wouldn't move and there was no space around him on the trail. As I was looking for a stick to throw at him this huge clump of snow suddenly slid off a tree above and landed dead center on top of the porcupine. That got him to move away pretty quickly... at least once he dug himself free of the mound of snow he was trapped under for a few seconds. Sucker.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Muscle Fatigue
It's funny how at times muscle fatigue can seem like a bottomless pit that you'll never be able to pull yourself out of, but other times the same feelings can feel like such a positive, easy to overcome thing.
My muscles were feeling quite tired all day today after logging almost 50 miles in less than 24 hours over the weekend. In my 10 mile run before work and in my bike ride to and from work it was very clear that my legs just didn't have much energy today. The thing is though that it kind of felt good.
All day I had an unexplainable comforting feeling about my muscles feeling so tired. I think part of it may stem from basic feelings of satisfaction from putting in a very solid 5 or 6 days to lead up to this fatigue, but I think even more comforting is the feeling of being quite tired out but also feeling "strong" at the same time.
It's a rare feeling for sure. Generally if you're muscles are tired out you feel very weak, but I've noticed a few times in my life, when I'm in really good shape, that I can get myself really good and worn out but still feel very strong. The distinction between the two is hard to explain as the actual feelings in the muscles aren't that much different.
When I was biking home from work today my leg muscles felt pretty near the same as they did my last 2 days in The Great Divide Race when my muscles were so weak that they were basically useless. Today though, despite almost identical feelings in my legs I would not characterize them as weak in any way. In some ways what I felt in my legs today made me even more optimistic about the shape I'm getting myself into than last Friday's run when I felt nearly as fast, strong, and flexible as I ever have.
My muscles were feeling quite tired all day today after logging almost 50 miles in less than 24 hours over the weekend. In my 10 mile run before work and in my bike ride to and from work it was very clear that my legs just didn't have much energy today. The thing is though that it kind of felt good.
All day I had an unexplainable comforting feeling about my muscles feeling so tired. I think part of it may stem from basic feelings of satisfaction from putting in a very solid 5 or 6 days to lead up to this fatigue, but I think even more comforting is the feeling of being quite tired out but also feeling "strong" at the same time.
It's a rare feeling for sure. Generally if you're muscles are tired out you feel very weak, but I've noticed a few times in my life, when I'm in really good shape, that I can get myself really good and worn out but still feel very strong. The distinction between the two is hard to explain as the actual feelings in the muscles aren't that much different.
When I was biking home from work today my leg muscles felt pretty near the same as they did my last 2 days in The Great Divide Race when my muscles were so weak that they were basically useless. Today though, despite almost identical feelings in my legs I would not characterize them as weak in any way. In some ways what I felt in my legs today made me even more optimistic about the shape I'm getting myself into than last Friday's run when I felt nearly as fast, strong, and flexible as I ever have.
Friday, November 14, 2008
One Of Those Days
I quite likely won't win my next race, but I thought a lot today about how exciting it is to run in a race with over $15,000 in prize money. Even if I don't win any of the prize money that goes to the top three finishers it's going to be pretty exciting to be a part of an event where that type of reward is on the table.
People always want to know what I won after I come home from a successful race. At this point I break into the description of the plaque or trophy and before I finish am interrupted with, "yeah, but how much money?" I think it's hard for most people to understand why you would run 50 or 100 miles if you weren't going to get a cash prize for winning. For me it's always been kind of the opposite: I can't imagine why you would run so far for anything other than the enjoyment of doing so. I think most ultra runners would agree with this. I don't imagine there would be that many more people racing ultras even if most of them had cash prizes (I think the fact that there is still space available in The North Face 50 is pretty decent proof of this). There's already hundreds of marathons nationwide with cash prizes. Why run 50 or 100 miles to try to make a buck when you can run 26? For those crazy people like me though who have more fun racing 50 or 100 miles than 26 it's just a little icing on the cake to have a shot at earning a buck doing something that I love to do. Would I be excited if more ultras began to offer prize money? Absolutely. But would it make me love running ultras any more? Absolutely not.
The question I was toying with a lot today though, was whether or not I really could win this race?
Today was one of those days when I felt like I could if things broke just right for me on race day. That is to say that if I feel as good on December 6th as I did today I don't think anyone will beat me. I know this is a bold statement, but I felt as good today as I've ever felt in any training run! At first I wondered if I only thought I was feeling so good because most of my runs in the past two weeks I've felt pretty crappy. As my workout went on though I realized that I had a level of flexibility, strength, and speed that I have not felt all at once in a long time. In the middle of my run I stopped at the gym to lift weights for a bit, and in the midst of my weight training, as I like to do, I got on the treadmill for a couple short, fast sessions to keep my legs loose. I always run these little 2-4 mile sessions pretty fast, but never beyond what feels comfortable. Usually I get down to about 5:45 to 6:00 mile pace. Today I felt like 5:45 could have been sustained for hours. I dropped to 5:30. Still very comfortable. 5:15. Is something wrong with this machine? Why is this so easy? 5:00. Ok, this still feels really good but certainly I won't be able to sustain this for more than a few seconds. Half a mile later and I'm still very comfortable at 5:00 pace! I cut the speed back without going any faster, but only because it feels really dangerous to run that fast on a treadmill. As I slowed gradually back down to 6:00 pace it felt like an absolute crawl. If only I could find a way to harness what I "had" today to be able to use it whenever I want.
The important thing now is to avoid the temptation to train too much if I continue to feel this good for several days. I have a 30 miler planned for tomorrow, but after that I'm really going to try to discipline myself to take Sunday and Monday very easy.
People always want to know what I won after I come home from a successful race. At this point I break into the description of the plaque or trophy and before I finish am interrupted with, "yeah, but how much money?" I think it's hard for most people to understand why you would run 50 or 100 miles if you weren't going to get a cash prize for winning. For me it's always been kind of the opposite: I can't imagine why you would run so far for anything other than the enjoyment of doing so. I think most ultra runners would agree with this. I don't imagine there would be that many more people racing ultras even if most of them had cash prizes (I think the fact that there is still space available in The North Face 50 is pretty decent proof of this). There's already hundreds of marathons nationwide with cash prizes. Why run 50 or 100 miles to try to make a buck when you can run 26? For those crazy people like me though who have more fun racing 50 or 100 miles than 26 it's just a little icing on the cake to have a shot at earning a buck doing something that I love to do. Would I be excited if more ultras began to offer prize money? Absolutely. But would it make me love running ultras any more? Absolutely not.
The question I was toying with a lot today though, was whether or not I really could win this race?
Today was one of those days when I felt like I could if things broke just right for me on race day. That is to say that if I feel as good on December 6th as I did today I don't think anyone will beat me. I know this is a bold statement, but I felt as good today as I've ever felt in any training run! At first I wondered if I only thought I was feeling so good because most of my runs in the past two weeks I've felt pretty crappy. As my workout went on though I realized that I had a level of flexibility, strength, and speed that I have not felt all at once in a long time. In the middle of my run I stopped at the gym to lift weights for a bit, and in the midst of my weight training, as I like to do, I got on the treadmill for a couple short, fast sessions to keep my legs loose. I always run these little 2-4 mile sessions pretty fast, but never beyond what feels comfortable. Usually I get down to about 5:45 to 6:00 mile pace. Today I felt like 5:45 could have been sustained for hours. I dropped to 5:30. Still very comfortable. 5:15. Is something wrong with this machine? Why is this so easy? 5:00. Ok, this still feels really good but certainly I won't be able to sustain this for more than a few seconds. Half a mile later and I'm still very comfortable at 5:00 pace! I cut the speed back without going any faster, but only because it feels really dangerous to run that fast on a treadmill. As I slowed gradually back down to 6:00 pace it felt like an absolute crawl. If only I could find a way to harness what I "had" today to be able to use it whenever I want.
The important thing now is to avoid the temptation to train too much if I continue to feel this good for several days. I have a 30 miler planned for tomorrow, but after that I'm really going to try to discipline myself to take Sunday and Monday very easy.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Feeling Slow, Moving Fast
I've not been feeling very good on my runs lately. My back and sciatic nerve problems that I was having last month are completely healed up and I've been getting in somewhere between 70-100 miles a week for the past few weeks, but I've had very few runs in the past two weeks that felt good.
Most of the runs just feel sort of awkward and slow.
The strange thing though is that whenever I keep track of my times over a known distance I'm running about 20% faster than I usually do. My typical pace when I'm just jogging on flat terrain has always been somewhere between 7:30-8:00 per mile. Lately though I've been noticing that my "jogging" pace is somewhere between 6:30-7:00. Only when I'm running technical trails or gaining a lot of elevation am I running as slow as 8:00 miles.
Today I ran an 8k race as a tempo training run. I didn't feel very good on the run and I felt like I was going very slow, especially in the second half of the out and back race. My time at the turnaround was 15:30 and then strangely I ran the second half in just under 14 minutes (about 5:40 pace), even though it felt slower than the first half. 29:30 isn't by any means fast for an 8k but it was strange to me just how slow it felt and just how much faster I feel like I could have gone if I was feeling "normal" and was pushing myself 100% rather than the 85-90% that I estimate that I pushed myself today. The thing is though that I've never really had the speed to run an 8k much under 27:00 so a 29:30 should not have felt slow to me at all.
I guess it's a good thing that I'm running faster than I feel like I am, but I'd rather be fast and feel fast. It's just such an odd feeling to not have the accurate sense of the speed that I'm moving that I've always had.
Most of the runs just feel sort of awkward and slow.
The strange thing though is that whenever I keep track of my times over a known distance I'm running about 20% faster than I usually do. My typical pace when I'm just jogging on flat terrain has always been somewhere between 7:30-8:00 per mile. Lately though I've been noticing that my "jogging" pace is somewhere between 6:30-7:00. Only when I'm running technical trails or gaining a lot of elevation am I running as slow as 8:00 miles.
Today I ran an 8k race as a tempo training run. I didn't feel very good on the run and I felt like I was going very slow, especially in the second half of the out and back race. My time at the turnaround was 15:30 and then strangely I ran the second half in just under 14 minutes (about 5:40 pace), even though it felt slower than the first half. 29:30 isn't by any means fast for an 8k but it was strange to me just how slow it felt and just how much faster I feel like I could have gone if I was feeling "normal" and was pushing myself 100% rather than the 85-90% that I estimate that I pushed myself today. The thing is though that I've never really had the speed to run an 8k much under 27:00 so a 29:30 should not have felt slow to me at all.
I guess it's a good thing that I'm running faster than I feel like I am, but I'd rather be fast and feel fast. It's just such an odd feeling to not have the accurate sense of the speed that I'm moving that I've always had.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Victory For Alaska
This has nothing to do with politics.
I think I'll just focus on the positive things in Alaska instead.
This past weekend my buddy, and fellow Alaskan, David Johnston went down to Texas and won the Cactus Rose 100! This was the first 100 miler that he's finished and the email I got from him makes it sound like he did it in style. Set a new course record.
Congratulations Dave!
I think I'll just focus on the positive things in Alaska instead.
This past weekend my buddy, and fellow Alaskan, David Johnston went down to Texas and won the Cactus Rose 100! This was the first 100 miler that he's finished and the email I got from him makes it sound like he did it in style. Set a new course record.
Congratulations Dave!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Nothing Left To Do But Vote, Vote, Vote... Whether You're A Real Or Fake American
I don't know about where you all live, but where I live here in Juneau, Alaska there is a huge excitement about this election. In the past few days I don't remember anyone talking about anything but the election. On one hand I'm a bit tired of the campaign and ready for it to be over, but for the most part I'm really excited that by the end of the day on Tuesday we will likely know who our next president is going to be.
The good news is that it's not going to be George W. Bush.
The polls of course all look very good for Obama and for large Democratic gains in the House and Senate. In fact of the 159 polls taken in the last 6 weeks John McCain has led in exactly zero of them. The actual vote is the only poll that matters though so get out and vote. If you're an Obama supporter don't take anything for granted. If you're a McCain supporter it doesn't look good, but it's only going to be worse if you don't vote.
Me? I voted early for Obama and this is by far the most excited I've ever been about a presidential candidate. I think Obama has a chance to be a very effective president, but more than that I think an Obama presidency has a chance to almost over night make us a stronger nation than we have been in a long time. In my mind the strength of our nation has very little to do with our economy or our military. Certainly it is important for us to have a strong economy and, for the time being, a strong military, but in many ways these are self-perpetuating "needs". The stronger our economy and our military become the more their strength is needed. At some point one needs to come to the realization that building up more financial wealth and a stronger military only leads to more enemies throughout the world and thus more need for money and power to protect ourselves from these enemies.
The real strength of our nation lies in the tolerance, optimism, equality, freedom, and opportunity to thrive that we have always liked to pretend every American is born with. An Obama victory would be a message to our country, and perhaps more importantly, to the world that we really do have an interest in these ideals which have been pushed to the back burner for a huge portion of our nation's history (and likely never more so than the past 8 years). For a more clear, more well written version of what I'm trying to say I highly recommend checking out this column.
Of course there is more (a lot more) to being president than simply inspiring hope in people, but when you see that the candidate who happens to be inspiring (arguably) more hope in people at home and abroad than any candidate we've had in over 40 years is also the candidate who actually talks about his specific plans rather than only talking almost entirely about the faults of his opponents plans. I don't agree with everything that Obama wants to do, but at least he's willing to talk with people about what he wants to do. I think maybe if John McCain had made his campaign a little more about himself and what he can do to help the people of this country and a LOT less about Barack Obama and why we should be afraid of him, he might not find himself in a position of needing a miracle today.
This bullshit about "real America" and "who is the real Barack Obama" and questions about Obama being a terrorist that McCain (and even more often Sarah Palin) have been peddling for several weeks now is completely ridiculous and should have on some level offended anyone who takes the time to think about the implications of comments like these. I don't necessarily think that McCain or Palin believe most of these things themselves, but I do think that they have tried to excite their supporters by making comments that have fueled the underlying bigotry and racism that many of their supporters have. I stop short of labelling either of them racist, but how much of a difference is there between being racist and using the racist tendencies of others to better your cause? Thankfully in this case it appears to have hurt their cause. If this election plays out the way that almost all polls and pundits are predicting I would suspect that those of us that McCain and Palin have essentially labelled as "fake America" might suddenly feel a lot more real to them.
The good news is that it's not going to be George W. Bush.
The polls of course all look very good for Obama and for large Democratic gains in the House and Senate. In fact of the 159 polls taken in the last 6 weeks John McCain has led in exactly zero of them. The actual vote is the only poll that matters though so get out and vote. If you're an Obama supporter don't take anything for granted. If you're a McCain supporter it doesn't look good, but it's only going to be worse if you don't vote.
Me? I voted early for Obama and this is by far the most excited I've ever been about a presidential candidate. I think Obama has a chance to be a very effective president, but more than that I think an Obama presidency has a chance to almost over night make us a stronger nation than we have been in a long time. In my mind the strength of our nation has very little to do with our economy or our military. Certainly it is important for us to have a strong economy and, for the time being, a strong military, but in many ways these are self-perpetuating "needs". The stronger our economy and our military become the more their strength is needed. At some point one needs to come to the realization that building up more financial wealth and a stronger military only leads to more enemies throughout the world and thus more need for money and power to protect ourselves from these enemies.
The real strength of our nation lies in the tolerance, optimism, equality, freedom, and opportunity to thrive that we have always liked to pretend every American is born with. An Obama victory would be a message to our country, and perhaps more importantly, to the world that we really do have an interest in these ideals which have been pushed to the back burner for a huge portion of our nation's history (and likely never more so than the past 8 years). For a more clear, more well written version of what I'm trying to say I highly recommend checking out this column.
Of course there is more (a lot more) to being president than simply inspiring hope in people, but when you see that the candidate who happens to be inspiring (arguably) more hope in people at home and abroad than any candidate we've had in over 40 years is also the candidate who actually talks about his specific plans rather than only talking almost entirely about the faults of his opponents plans. I don't agree with everything that Obama wants to do, but at least he's willing to talk with people about what he wants to do. I think maybe if John McCain had made his campaign a little more about himself and what he can do to help the people of this country and a LOT less about Barack Obama and why we should be afraid of him, he might not find himself in a position of needing a miracle today.
This bullshit about "real America" and "who is the real Barack Obama" and questions about Obama being a terrorist that McCain (and even more often Sarah Palin) have been peddling for several weeks now is completely ridiculous and should have on some level offended anyone who takes the time to think about the implications of comments like these. I don't necessarily think that McCain or Palin believe most of these things themselves, but I do think that they have tried to excite their supporters by making comments that have fueled the underlying bigotry and racism that many of their supporters have. I stop short of labelling either of them racist, but how much of a difference is there between being racist and using the racist tendencies of others to better your cause? Thankfully in this case it appears to have hurt their cause. If this election plays out the way that almost all polls and pundits are predicting I would suspect that those of us that McCain and Palin have essentially labelled as "fake America" might suddenly feel a lot more real to them.
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