Born To Run

2/20/12: George Washington Birthday Marathon Race Report

2012-02-20T17:51:00.000-08:00

I had a fantastic time running my second George Washington Birthday Marathon. Three years ago I ran 3:14 here and really enjoyed the laid back feel of the race. This year's race did not disappoint, and I had a solid run in 3:04, which was good for 6th place and winning my age group.

My running was not good at all in the week leading up to the race. I may have been too exuberant in the prior week and pushed too hard. All throught last week, my legs were tired, and I had all sorts of aches and pains.

I took it very easy throughout the week and ended up feeling pretty decent on race day. I took off towards the front of the pack and tried to stay relaxed. I was pretty pumped to see the first two miles go by in 6:40 and 6:33. I couldn't help but smile after that. It felt good to be out there racing and feeling good on a beautiful day. It seemed like it had been too long since the 50K I raced in December. I do love racing!

I intentially dialed back the pace a bit and very consistently hit most miles in the upper 6:40s. Most of the course is 3 loops that are a little over 7 miles. I came through loop 1 at mile 10 feeling fantastic. Soon enough I hit the half marathon in 1:29.

I started to struggle holding pace around mile 15. "No problems", as a wine steward from our summer cruise to Bermuda would say. I knew I was not at 100% with little serious running over the prior 1.5 weeks, and I was not planning to go 100% anyway. This was supposed to be a hard training run and not an all out effort.

The old Will would have kept pushing really hard, likely would have blown up towards the end, and would be too worn out from the race given that the National Marathon is only 4 weeks away. The old Will was not the smartest.

Instead, I dialed it back right away to the 7:00-7:15 range and held there for a while. I slowed down a little bit more in the late miles, but overall I kept pace pretty well . Even the 3/4 mile steep hill starting at mile 25 was doable, though I will say that whoever designed the course to have that right at the end is very, very mean. I finished strong with plenty left in the tank and felt fine after crossing the finish line.

This was a great race and shows that I've come a long way. When I first ran 3:04 at Philly in 2006, it took everything I had and left me injured for months afterwards. Yesterday I was able to run 3:04 on a really hilly course (probably runs 4-5 minutes slow) without going all out. Today I felt fine and biked a little over 20 miles to loosen things up.

The time I am shooting for at the National Marathon will still be extremely tough for me, but I do have a bit more confidence now after yesterday.

2/11/12: Training Update

2012-02-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

It has been a pretty solid two weeks of training. In the first week, I bounced back from the week long recovery well and had a great track workout with the DC Road Runners.

Then on Saturday I went out there with the DCRR again and hammered out a very tough 21 mile run (18 @ 6:50 pace with a warm up and cool down). This was one of those confidence boosting runs. My legs were still tired from the track workout, but the first few miles were at a pretty relaxed pace.

Then one of the guys who consistently runs marathons in the mid / upper 2:40s dropped the hammer around mile 3 and started cranking. By the top of a huge hill at mile 8, I was already toast. The thoughts of how I could shorten the route or when I would start walking were already creeping in.

I hung on to him until mile 11 or 12 and just couldn’t hold pace. I was cramping up and wanted nothing more than to walk / jog to ease it in and find a way to shorten the route for a few miles. I pulled myself together though and instead shifted to a more comfortable but still brisk pace. We had probably dipped down to 6:20-6:30 pace, and I adjusted back closer to 7:00s.

I was still hurting, though. The sustained fast pace and hilly section from miles 7 to 10 just killed me. The goal was to hang on as long as I could and then ease in the rest of the 18 mile loop.

Things got worse before they got better, but they did eventually get better. I guess the old ultramarathon saying that “it can’t always get worse” finally proved true (I have had plenty of ultras where it does in fact always get worse).

7 minute miles are pretty easy for me at this point, and I was finally able to start recovering from the punishing early miles. The cramps were easing up, and I was able to start dropping the pace into the 6:45 range. I put in a strong finish and a solid pace for the last few miles. It was great to be able to run for about 10 miles after I was already pretty spent and manage to hold a good pace. Hopefully it is good practice for the last 10 miles of the National Marathon!

That run took a good amount out of me, and my harder workouts over the rest of the week were not great, but that is to be expected and doesn’t worry me too much.

Anyway, here are the digits for the last two weeks:

Week ending February 3rd

Saturday: 7 miles easy. Still recovering.

Sunday: 7 miles easy. Still recovering.

Monday: 11 miles easy. Finally felt my legs coming back to me.

Tuesday: 12 miles easy. Again felt much better.

Wednesday: 14 miles. 20 minute tempo run @ 5:54 (almost 3.5 miles). 1x400 @ 68.

Thursday: 6 miles easy

Friday: 10 miles easy

Total: 67 miles

Week ending February 10th

Saturday: 21 miles with 18 @ 6:50.

Sunday: 15 miles easy with cross training & lifting.

Monday: 6.5 miles easy.

Tuesday: 12 miles. 5x800 @ 2:45. 800s were really tough. I was hoping to do 8 of them, but my legs were pretty wrecked, so I was happy enough with this.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 10.5 miles. 7 @ 6:27 pace. I was hoping to do 10 miles and for it not to feel too hard. The good thing is that the pace was pretty relaxed, but my body was just really exhausted.

Friday: 7 miles

Total: 72 miles

2/2/12: Back in Black

2012-02-02T06:54:00.001-08:00

Happy Groundhog's Day everybody! I sure know it is my favorite holiday of the year. (note, I wrote most of this on 2/2 but didn't post until today)

Any time I am feeling totally worn down and am forced to take some time off, I either come back quickly and better than ever or end up having more serious issues that require longer recovery.

Last week was a bit scary since I'm only 6-7 weeks out from the National Marathon and was feeling terrible, but I am back! Luckily this was one of those times where I just needed a short break from training before kicking it up to the next level.

On Wednesday I hit the track with some coworkers and the DC Road Runners for the first time in a while. The workout was a 20 minute tempo run, and I was hoping to run it in the 6:05 to 6:10 range.

I felt very strong and ran it in 5:54, which amounted to just under 3.5 miles in 20 minutes. I felt good enough to tack on a 68 second 400 at the end just for kicks.

I've come to realize that getting faster is mostly about knowing when to back off and when to push. I think I have been getting better at both parts, but most importantly have been better at backing off. There are usually few benfits to forcing a workout when you feel terrible and far more negative consequences. The flip side of this is that you have to go 100% and haul ass when you feel good. It isn't always easy, but that is the part of this sport that I love!

1/30/12: I Hate Recovery

2012-01-30T19:00:00.001-08:00

I hate taking time off to recover. My can't my body just go 100% all the time?

I was intentionally going to take the weekend of 1/21 and 1/22 off while we were down in Fort Lauderdale with friends (which was awesome). Then I ended up having to take off the following Monday and Tuesday due to some crazy work travel and very delayed flights.

After four days, I was already getting really antsy and ready to make up for lost time. I figured my legs would be fresh and ready to go.

Wrong. I felt terrible. My legs were really tired, and I had all sorts of tweaks and pains that felt like the onset of injury. I ended up running a bad 8 miles on Wednesday and a terrible 5 miles on Thursday. I enjoyed a 10 mile trail run on Friday, but mostly because I was running on my favorite local trails with sunny and unseasonably warm weather. The legs were still not good though.

Things were no better by the weekend, and I was feeling a bit sick, too. I very reluctantly limited myself to a 6 mile hike on Saturday (which was very nice) and some cross training on Sunday with the bike and stairmaster.

On Monday I snapped back and felt a whole lot better. Apparently my body decided it needed an entire week off and wasn't going to let me run. Over time I have gotten much better about listening to my body. It is tough to feel like you are losing fitness, but you have to trust that taking a few days (or a week) doesn't really matter and that you will come back stronger. I was not happy about taking time off, but I think I am now in good shape to push hard for 5-6 weeks before tapering off for the National Marathon.

Tomorrow night's speed workout with the DC Road Runners should be a good gauge of fitness. Hopefully it shows that the time off was helpful!

1/23/12: Training Update

2012-01-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

I kicked off this week in style with a very good run on Saturday with the DC Road Runners. I forgot how awesome it is to train with them. I was tired from a long week and traveling on Friday but managed to drag myself out there.

The route was 14 miles, and I was planning to run 17 in total with a warmup and cooldown. I was aiming for somewhere in the 7:15 to 7:30 pace range. I ran with a guy who is a 2:45 marathoner and ended up going both faster and further. Hooray!

The guy I was running with added an extra loop around Hanes Point, which made it 19.25 miles. I averaged 6:57 pace and ran 24 miles total with the warmup and cool down. I ran easy for the first three miles or so, but I felt pretty good and started stretching out the legs. I immediately dropped the pace below 7:00 and held it there.

I was super comfortable running in the 6:50 – 6:55 range and could have run a lot longer at that pace. I pushed it hard in the last few miles and must have been well into the low 6 minute range. My legs were hardly even sore the next day, and I ran another 17 miles on hilly trails at around 7:45 pace.

This was a huge confidence booster for me and is the first time that I have been able to wrap my mind around running a sub 2:50 marathon. My legs did feel tired throughout the rest of the week, but I still notched up some good overall mileage.

Saturday: 24 miles with 19.25 @ 6:57

Sunday: 17 miles @ 7:45 on hilly trails

Monday: easy 15 miles and lifting

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 7 miles easy

Thursday: 13 miles with 2 x 1 mile @ 5:49 (legs were tired, so I cut the workout short)

Friday: 9 miles easy

Total: 85 miles

1/12/14: Training Recap

2012-01-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

I have had the usual ups and downs in training over the past 3 weeks, but the ups have been pretty solid. I took advantage of the down week between Christmas and New Years to run 91 miles and crank out some really good workouts.

I did some hard runs both before and after this week, so I ran about 125 miles over 9 days with lots of tough workouts. Needless to say, I needed a bit of recovery after that (and after New Year's Eve). I dialed it back the next week and ran 62 miles with nothing that hard.

Last week I hit 70 miles despite some work travel and got back to running some decent worksout.

Here are some of the key workouts I've run over the past 3 weeks:

Tuesday 12/27: 8 miles @ 6:22. Felt pretty easy.

Thursday 12/29: 3 x 2mi @ 6:00 (6:07, 5:56, 5:56). This was outside in Chicago, and it was crazy windy. I was hurting in the first 2 mile repeat, so I was really happy to be able to crush the second two.

Saturday 1/7: 19 miles total with 14 @ 6:56 on a hilly route.

Thursday 1/12: 10 miles with 2 miles in 11:38. Did a morning run and was going to do a nighttime workout. Worked late and ran out of time, so I just hammered it for 2 miles.

Saturday 1/14: 24 miles with 19 @ 6:57. Felt very comfortable the whole time. Big confidence booster.

1/8/12: Sunrise in Washington DC

2012-01-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Jen got a really nice new camera recently. I am secretly very excited to use it to take awesome pictures of sweet running scenery. Ok, I guess it isn't secret now. Jen, don't worry ... I won't take the camera WITH me on the run.

Earlier this week I woke up bleary eyed and started getting ready to run. I looked out the window of our condo and saw the most amazing sunrise just beginning. I quickly grabbed her new camera and went out onto the balcony to capture the glorious scene (and I nearly froze doing so).

Here are a few of the pictures from that epic sunrise.

12/29/11: Training Recap, Speed Workouts, and Kilian Jornet

2011-12-29T16:16:00.000-08:00

I have had another two good weeks of training. Definitely laying the foundation for the National Marathon on March 17th.

Week of 12/10

Saturday: Magnus Gluteus 50K in 4:42. Very hard effort that brought a PR and 2nd place.

Sunday: 10 miles easy and some cross training / lifting

Monday: 12 miles easy

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 10 miles with 5x800 @ 2:40. My legs were still shot from the race, so this was a very tough workout. Would have wanted to do more repeats if I was fresh, but I was happy with this.

Thursday: 4.5 easy

Friday: 2.5 easy

Total: 70 miles

Week of 12/17

Saturday: 15 miles. Did a 14 mile route that I often run around DC in what I think was my fastest time ever. Averaged 7:10 pace on mostly trails with some hills. I didn't have a watch and wasn't even pushing the pace all that much, so this was a great run for me.

Sunday: 15 miles easy

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 8 miles easy

Wednesday: 5 miles easy

Thursday: 10 miles easy. Wanted to do a speed workout in the evening, but my legs just were not there, so I bagged it.

Friday: 9 miles with 4x1mi @ 5:43. Obviously I made the right call with postponing the speed workout. Rather than have a crappy run on Thursday, I had a very solid workout on Friday with somewhat fresher legs.

Total: 62 miles

For the first time in a long time I have been able to do speed workouts pretty consistently. I hate speed workout with the passion of a thousand burning suns. If you offered me the choice of a track workout at 6:30am in the dark and being kicked in the face, I'd have to think about it for a while.

But I will admit that I always feel fantastic afterwards and am really glad I did it. I am also convinced it is the key to success for me and more important than the distance and long runs. I have plenty of endurance at this point after years of a consistent base and running 3,500 miles a year. But I am not naturally fast and benefit greatly from more speed workouts.

However, I used to really force myself to do the workouts on a particular day of the week. That lead to some bad workouts and cutting workouts short when I wasn't feeling good. Sometimes I would skip them altogether and end up falling out of the habit.

I have recently been much more flexible on when they happen, such as the 4x1mi repeats I recently did on a Friday morning, which I wouldn't have even thought of doing a few years ago. But I make sure to do them regularly whenever my legs feel good, and I think it is producing good results.

On a less boring note, Kilian Jornet is one of the best ultramarathoners in the world and is also the world champion ski mountaineer. The way he runs up and down mountains defies explanation and is truly inspiring. I highly recommend clicking on this link and watching episode 7 for some sweet footage of Kilian running in the Alps: http://www.salomonrunning.com/us/tv-channel.html?ch=kilian-quest.

12/11/11: Magnus Gluteus Maximus 50K Race Report

2011-12-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ran the Magnus Gluteus Maximus 50K for the third year in a row. I've run well here the past 2 years, but I had a particularly good day this year and ran 4:42. That was good for second place and a 13 minute PR in the 50K.

The MGM 50K is a fantastic VHTRC event that has a solid post race party. I almost didn't show up this year since I had been traveling nonstop for work from Tuesday through Friday and was exhausted. But I managed to drag myself out of bed and figured I'd give the run a shot.

The course is 12 miles on the Bull Run trail, 7 miles on the unmarked and unnavigable "Do Loop", and the same 12 miles back. My legs felt pretty good at the start, and I took off at a decent pace feeling pretty relaxed.

I was running out front with 3 other guys for a while. My main concern in this race is always how the hell to make it through the Do Loop. 2 of the other guys were on the course for the first time, but the other guy said he knew the Do Loop pretty well. My plan was to try to stick with him, but he started to push the pace and take off after the first aid station at mile 5.5. I didn't want to push too hard, so my hope was that I could stay close enough that I would catch up at the aid station right before the Do Loop. He was my only hope!

I came off the Bull Run trail in 1:45, which was right on 8:45 pace. Luckily my plan of catching up at the aid station worked, and we headed off into the Do Loop. Our fearless leader navigated us through successfully, and man did we haul some ass. We ran a lot of it at sub 8 pace and ran the whole thing in just over 8 minute pace. That was a real stretch for me on that tough terrain, but I had no choice but to keep hanging on. I was worked over by the end of the Do Loop, but man did we make good time!

I came into the aid station again and was thrilled to see my good buddy Greg! I haven't seen him in a while, so it was great to catch up. His dog Ziggy was also there and was the life of the party as usual.

Given how exhausted I was, my plan was to dial it back and just try to survive. But somehow I managed to crank out a great pace and ran the six miles from 19 to 25 in 8:40 pace, which was even faster than my pace on that section on the way out.

I rolled into the last aid station at 25.5, refilled the water bottle, and grabbed some Coke and a cookie. I got back on the trail but was just toast at this point. I haven't been doing many long runs since I've focused more on speed, and I just couldn't hold this kind of pace beyond 25 miles. I pushed as best as I could and still managed to keep it together somewhat. The last 3/4 of a mile is straight uphill, and my legs started cramping up. Luckily that didn't happen until very close to the end.

It was quite a relief when I made it back in 4:42 with a big PR. My stomach was great the whole time, and the new system continues to work extremely well. The speedwork definitely paid off, and I have realized that I should do a lot of speedwork even when training for the longer stuff.

The only down side is that I had to leave before the beer and pizza got there. Quite a tragedy, but you can't win em all!

12/10/11: Training Recap

2011-12-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't quite hit the mileage I had hoped for last week, but I at least got one very good run out of it.

Saturday: 13 miles with Dad in NJ.

Sunday: Off. My legs were shot, and I really needed to take a day off.

Monday: 13 miles easy @ 7:40. Felt better after the day off.

Tuesday: 10 miles w/ 9 mile tempo run @ 6:18 pace. I was very happy with this run. I was initially planning on running 6:30s, but the faster pace felt pretty easy at the start. Definitely was getting tired at the end, but still a very encouraging run.

Wednesday: 5 miles easy @ 7:40

Thursday: 7 miles easy @ 7:20

Friday: 5 miles very easy @ 8:00

Total: 53 miles

This morning I ran the Magnus Gluteus Maximus 50K and had a pretty solid run. I'll leave you all in anticipation for the race report I'll run soon!

12/2/11: Training Recap & Great Falls Pictures

2011-12-02T15:11:00.000-08:00

First off, here is what I've been up to over the last week:

Saturday: 14 miles easy. I was still beat up from lots of racing and hard running, and my legs were shot. Took it very easy.

Sunday: 17 miles, last 8 @ 6:30. Still recovering, but finally had a little bit of pep in the legs. Ran the last 8 miles at 6:30, which actually felt pretty easy.

Monday: 12 miles easy. Lifting + core work.

Tuesday: 5 miles easy @ 7:40.

Wednesday: 10 miles with 4x1mi @ 5:41. My legs didn't feel as fresh as I had hoped, but I still managed 4x1mi in 5:49, 5:42, 5:39, 5:34. The first two intervals felt easy. Last one was tough.

Thursday: 12 miles easy @ 7:40. Lifting + core work.

Friday: Off (work travel)

Total: 70 miles

Now that it has turned cold and the leaves have fallen off the trees, here are some late fall pictures from a trip out to Great Falls the day before the Potomac Heritage race.

The canal that runs for 250 miles starting in Georgetown

One of the "small" falls on the way to the real deal

Great Falls in all of its glory.

Kayaking anyone?

Eve was very impressed by Great Falls

11/27/11: Training Recap (Weeks Ending 11/18 & 11/25)

2011-11-27T18:43:00.000-08:00

The main story of the last two weeks of training is that I ran better than expected at the Potomac Heritage 50K and then was not surprisingly pretty beat up afterwards.

Week ending 11/18

Saturday: 10 miles. Took it easy the day before the race.

Sunday: 31 miles. Potomac Hertage 50K in 4:58

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 5.5 miles easy

Wednesday: 12.5 miles. 4x1000 @ 3:23. My legs were still very tired from the race, so this was a tough workout. I was happy with how it turned out given how beat up I felt.

Thurdsay: 9 miles easy

Friday: 7 miles easy

Total: 75 miles

Week ending 11/25

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 27 miles. Philly Marathon in 3:44 with Dad.

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Off. Wanted to run and do a short speed workout to stay sharp before the turkey trot on Thursday, but I was traveling for work and got very delayed coming back.

Wednesday: 6 miles easy w/ one 800 in 2:30 in a futile last minute effort to get some leg turnover going before the turkey trot.

Thursday: 8 miles. Long Grove Turkey Trot in 18:03. Felt pretty good, but my legs still weren't 100%. The main issue though is that I didn't have enough speed and couldn't get comfortable running under 5:45 pace. I ended up running pretty even splits right around the 5:49 pace I averaged. I should have been at least 10-15 seconds faster in at least the first mile.

Friday: 9 miles. My legs felt all sorts of tweaked. My left hamstring and calf, which had bothered me towards the end of the race, were really flaring up.

Total: 50 miles

11/25/11: Long Grove Turket Trot 5K

2011-11-25T05:44:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Yesterday Jen and I kicked off turkey day by running the Long Grove Turket Trot, which was near her parent's house. I ran the 5K, and Jen showed me up by running the 8K.

I had a pretty decent run and finished in 18:03, which was good for 5th place and winning my age group (results here). It wasn't my fastest time, but I was still pretty happy with it given where my fitness is. I would really have liked to finished under 18 and regret that I didn't wear a watch. There were no splits on the course, and I feel like I could have found 4 seconds if I had only known!

But it was a great race and a lot of fun. It starts and finishes in a cool little downtown area on a main street lined by shops. The race has also grown a lot in recent years and is up to about 2,000 people, which seems like the max they can actually handle.

I'm sure that I'll do this every other year when we are here in Chicago for Thanksgiving and make this part of the turkey trot tradition along with the Flemington 5K.

11/22/11: Philadelphia Marathon

2011-11-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

I had a fantastic time yet again at the Philly Marathon, mostly because I was running with my dad. He finally hit the wall for the first time in his fourth marathon (as opposed to me hitting the wall halfway through my first marathon). He toughed it out though and held it together for a very solid finish in 3:44.

This was my fourth time running Philly, and I have grown very fond of this race. I realized that it is starting to become something of a tradition, as I’ve now done it 4 of the past 6 years.

The race has grown a lot over the years to 25,000 people and has 65% more marathon finishers than when I first ran it in 2006. Despite that, the race is still incredibly well organized and has maintained a great feel. I find it to be an excellent middle ground between a small low key race and the mega marathons (e.g. NYC and Chicago) that are cool but can be a huge hassle.

If you are looking for a fall marathon, Philly is a good choice for someone shooting for a PR and is just a great race in general. If you do find yourself running it, I highly recommend the semi-official beer aid station that you hit at miles 19 and 21.

Now I need to take it easy for a little while to let the legs recover from building up the mileage and intensity quickly. I’ll still plan to run hard at the Turkey Trot, but otherwise I will definitely back off for a bit.

11/20/11: Philly Marathon with Dad!

2011-11-20T02:36:00.000-08:00

It's 5:37am. Dad and I are in our hotel room listening to the Rocky soundtrack and getting ready to go kick some ass.

The weather is perfect, and Dad is feeling good. It's time to Make It Happen.

11/19/11: Potomac Heritage 50K Race Report

2011-11-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I ran the Potomac Heritage 50K for the third time. I finally had a good race for the first time in a very long time and ran 4:58 for 2nd place.

I am still not in very good long distance shape and came into the race with very tired legs, so I was thrilled with the outcome. I have been building the mileage back up and ran about 80 miles in the week before the race with a 10 mile run the day before. I have also been doing a lot of speedwork, which included 5x800 in 2:40 a few days before the race. That left me not exactly race fresh!

The weather was beautiful for race day, and conditions could not have been any better. The first 5 miles of the race are on some great trails that wind through northwest DC. I train on these trails pretty often and love running these stretches through Glover Archebald and Battery Kemble Park. From there you run down a rocky creek and through a crazy tunnel that definitely does not look like you can go through it. Then you pop out on the canal tow path for a few flat miles before crossing Key Bridge to the first aid station at mile 8.5.

I ran this section conservatively and felt pretty good. A group of people took off fast from the start, and I more or less ran with a chase pack in about 10th place. I had Mom and Dad Lewellen and Jen waiting for me at the first aid station, so I was able to run without water bottle, which was nice. When I got there, they passed me a bottle with HEED in it. I ran about 8:30 pace for this first stretch, which was right about where I wanted to be.

I also carried a gel flask the entire time with 5 servings of Vanilla Hammer Gel. I haven't ever run with with a gel flask, and it worked out great. It was easy to get gels quickly, I didn't have to fumble with wrappers, and it is also environmentally friendly! Mom Lewellen was not impressed that my main source of fuel for 31 miles of running would be a tiny bottle of yellowish goop, but it got the job done!

From there we hopped on the Potomac Heritage trail and would run the 10 mile length of the trail from Key Bridge to American Legion Bridge. The first stretch was the four miles up to Chain Bridge. The Potomac Heritage trail is hilly throughout with a number of stream crossings and some very rocky sections that aren't really runnable. The 3rd and 4th miles right before you hit the aid station at 12.5 are particularly gnarly. There is one section where you climb hands and knees up a rock face. As if that section wasn't already hard enough, the recent earthquake totally dislodged the handrail that was bolted into the rock. Thanks a lot, earthquake.

Early on in this section the tired legs started to take their toll. I was get sore already, and my left calf was starting to tighten up. I was worried about my legs holding out for 20 miles more, especially if I started to cramp up. But what can you do other than keep running? I came into mile 12.5 in 1h57 and a bit under 45 minutes for the previous 4 miles, which I was happy with given the tough terrain and not feeling great.

The family was here again to cheer me on. Each aid station also has different challenges you can complete, and you get to subtract some time if you complete the challenge. At this aid station you could drop 1 minute from your time if you took your shirt off and did five push-ups. Obviously it was a no brainer (though it probably took me about a minute to do it). I tried lobbying for additional minutes with more pushups, but no dice unfortunately.

The next section is listed as 6 miles but is really more like 6.5 miles. I train a decent amount on this part of the trail, and usually 70 minutes would be a solid time. My legs still were not feeling good, but it wasn't getting any worse, and I was moving fairly well. I was starting to suck on the hills since I haven't been doing much hilly trail running, but I think the recent speedwork was helping with the downhill and flat sections.

I ran into the mile 17 aid station with a surprisingly fast split, which really fired me up. The legs were tired arleady, but I wanted to see how hard I could push it and if I could keep up a strong pace until the end. I got to the end of the trail and the turnaround point in 2:57 and a 60 minute split from the start of the section. That was by far the fastest I have ever run that stretch of trail, which was shocking to me.

I kept pushing hard on the way back and ran 64 minutes for the same 6 mile stretch, which was awesome. I was walking a fine line and going all out with my legs on the verge of cramping up. I had been able to keep it up so far but was definitely worried about blowing up in the last 6.5 miles. I came into mile 24.5 in 4:01, which put me in striking distance of finishing under 5 hours, but it would be dicey given how tired I was.

The cheering squad was there for me again, and it was certainly great to see them. I chugged a glass of Coke, grabbed a few grapes for the road, and put my head down and trudged off to finish the last leg. Someone at the aid station mentioned something about another challenge, but I had no time for that. Man on a mission!

The first couple miles were flat as I crossed Chain Bridge and ran on the tow path again. I tried to keep a good pace going since the rest of the course would be on hilly trails and much hard to run well on tired legs.

I had steadily passed people on the Potomac Heritage trail and was now running in 3rd place. I was surprised every time I came upon someone else, but I guess running consistently and not slowing down much was enough to get the job done. This course is a lot tougher than some people expect, and it is very easy to go out way too fast and struggle with the tougher terrain later on.

Someone told me Keith was leading and 10 minutes ahead. Keith is very fast and a ridiculously strong and consistent ultrarunner, so I immediately responded with "yup, that isn't going to happen" (and it in fact did not happen ... Keith finished 11 or 12 minutes ahead of me). I had no idea how far ahead second place was, but the gap was close to 15 minutes at the mile 19 turnaround, so I figured I was still far off.

The last several miles were a real grind. I was sucking something awful on the uphills and just doing my best to move decently well on the flats and downhills. I figured I would probably just miss finishing under 5 hours but kept pushing on anyway.

I eventually popped out onto the last road stretch and kicked it in to finish in 4:58. I ended up catching the guy in second a few miles from the end. We ran together for a bit, but he was suffering from leg cramps and had to dial it back a bit.

I couldn't have been more thrilled with this race. I had been hoping to just run under 6 hours and figured 5:30 would be a great time, so I was blown away by running under 5 hours. It was also exciting to be able to push so hard and run well on really tired legs. I have continued to believe that I can run ultras faster and push harder. However, this hasn't really come together yet due to stomach problems and bad luck with getting sick.

My stomatch was great this time, and my new fueling system was spot on. I took in 5 gels, one 20 ounce bottle of HEED, two 20 ounce bottles of water, a glass of coke, and ~10 grapes (got to count the grapes). It was nice to confirm that I now have the experience and conditioning to really push hard for a long time, too.

I'm excited to keep seeing where I can takes things with ultras. If I can get a bit of luck going for me (or at least not have bad luck), I think I can string together some solid races next year.

The crew also took some great pictures that are below. Thanks again to Mom L, Dad L, and Jen for being out there. It really helped keep me going and inspired me to push a lot harder. I mostly wanted to redeem my poor performance for them at Chicago :)

The fans waiting for me to come in at the mile 8.5 aid station

Blurry as I come into mile 8.5. Guess I was running too fast!

Offshoot of the Potomac River by Teddy Roosevelt Island.

View towards Georgetown and the National Cathedral from the aid station

Another view of the River

A buck that the crew saw while waiting for me

Running downhill towards the mile 12.5 aid station

Coming up into the aid station

Happy to see everyone and about to do some shirtless pushups!

Back again 2 hours later at the same aid station at mile 24.5. Drinking flat Coke, the nectar of life in ultramarathons. Very tired but ready to close this thing out.

Trudging away from 24.5

The finish line in all of its glory

Pushing hard to finish under 5 hours

REALLY happy to be done

11/6/11: Getting faster

2011-11-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

My endurance training still has not been great, and my weekly mileage is no where near what I would like. But on the bright side, I seem to actually be getting fast again!

This last Monday I did 2 x 1mile repeats after work and hit the miles in 5:42 and 5:30. Both didn't feel too hard, and I only held off on a 3rd mile repeat because I was still sick. On Thursday I ran 5 miles of my run at 6:10s, which felt really easy. Then yesterday I did a 14 mile run with 10 of the at 6:34 pace. It is fun to run fast again! (or at least fast for me)

I'm still focusing on building up the mileage and getting back in good endurance shape, but I'm going to try to keep doing the speed workouts to see if I can throw together a decent Turket Trot 5K this year.

Here is the weekly summary. Mileage sucked in part due to being sick and in part due to work travel. I guess there is always next week!

Saturday: Off (sick)

Sunday: 12 miles easy & lifting

Monday: 12 miles, 2 x 1mi @ 5:42, 5:30

Tuesday: Off (work travel)

Wednesday: Off (work travel)

Thursday: 12, 5 @ 6:10

Friday: 10 easy

Total: 46 miles

10/23/11: Training Update

2011-10-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday: 24 miles. Mountain run in the Massanuttens by Elizabeth Furnace

Sunday: 15 miles. Mostly on trails around DC. Did some lifting and core work afterwards

Monday: 12 miles. 8 easy in the morning, 4 easy in the evening

Tuesday: 6 miles easy

Wednesday: Off (traveling for work)

Thursday: 9 miles. 3 x 1mi @ 6:00, which felt harder than it should have

Friday: 8 miles. Moderate effort (probably around 7:30 or 7:40 pace)

Total: 74 miles

10/16/11: Back to the mountains

2011-10-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was really excited to get back to the mountains yesterday. I hadn't made it out that way since early July, and I've been looking forward to this run for weeks.

It was a beautiful fall day with great weather and great foliage. It was a chilly 43 degrees when I started, but I didn't stay cold for long with the 1,500 foot climb over the first 3 miles. It also warmed up quickly and was in the upper 50s to upper 60s for most of the run.

There was a great breeze up when I was higher up on the mountain, and I was in all my glory listening to the wind rustling through the leaves and taking in the fall colors.

I did about 23-24 miles and overall had a pretty solid run. I felt pretty weak on the climbs and on the technical sections, which wasn't surprising as I still don't have all my strength back. I was pretty pleased with my running on the flatter sections though, and I was really able to hammer the downhills.

This is the trailhead where I started the run. I took one look at this trail with the all the foliage and knew it was going to be a good day!

Looking out to the western ridge of the Massanuttens (I'm on the eastern ridge)

The western ridge again

Very nice foliage on the mountain I'm about to run up

There were tons of wildflowers on this trail. I didn't know these flowers grew in the fall!

The near range is the western ridge of the Massanuttens again. In the distance, you can just make out the Shenandoahs. It was much clearer in person but the lighting wasn't great for this picture.

This has got to be the most runnable stretch of the 71 mile Massanutten trail, which is typically narrow and very rocky singletrack trail.

I've been running in this area for years now and have covered hundreds of miles, but somehow I never found this lake before!

The peak just above and to the right of center is where I ran from

You can see the Shenandoahs much more clearly in the background. This was a great view, and the visibility was fantastic.

This is how the week ended up looking:

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 28 miles with Chicago marathon in 3:33

Monday: 2 miles easy

Tuesday: 11 miles in ~ 7:50

Wednesday: 7 miles easy in downtown Chicago

Thursday: 7 miles in 7:45

Friday: 10 miles easy

Total: 65 miles

10/12/11: More running in Chicago!

2011-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

So after the Chicago Marathon this weekend, I flew to San Antonio Monday night for a meeting on Tuesday. Then I flew back to Chicago on Tuesday night for a conference on Wednesay. Incredibly efficient use of time.

The upshot was that I was able to get out at dawn this morning for an incredible run along the lakefront. I was staying in a great location at the Hilton Chicago and was able to pop into Grant Park right outside of the hotel. I headed north along the lakefront for about 7 glorious miles.

The weather was perfect, and it was great to be able to watch the sun rise over the lake. Runs like these are what I really love about this sport. My legs were still beat up from pushing too hard in the marathon and from an overly exuberant 11 miles yesterday, but it still just felt awesome to be out there. One good thing about shorter days is being able to see more sunrises without having to wake up as early for runs.

I brought along the iPhone and took a few pictures en route.

The hotel I was staying at right along Grant Park

Looking out over fields towards the museum at dawn

For some reason, this picture came out very blurry, but it gives you some sense of how beautiful the sunrise was

Jen and I actually took engagement photos right around here

The Hancock building

This field is where the post marathon festivities were held. I spent a while after the race laying on the grass and pulling myself back together while drinking some outstanding Goose Island beer

10/9/11: Chicago Marathon Race Report

2011-10-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran the Chicago Marathon. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fast, but I got through a tough race and finished in 3:33.

The weekend actually ended up becoming quite the family event. Jen hadn't been planning to come for the weekend but was able to get a last minute trip with airline miles. Then Christine and Adam decided to drive up from Indiana to join in on the fun.

Dad Lewellen was able to reserve the corporate condo right in downtown Chicago. It was an amazing place on the 39th floor with fantastic views of the city and the lake. We all hung out there for the weekend, and it was a ton of fun spending time with everybody in such an amazing location. The condo was also a very conveniently located for the race and made logistics really easy.

(View from the condo out to the lake)

(Nighttime view down Michigan Avenue)

The race itself was a really tough one. With very little training post Lyme Disease, I assumed it would be tough and that something would go wrong. However, I didn't expect that everything would go so wrong.

The race started off fine. I was cruising along and clicking off 6:45 miles basically until mile 10 or 11. I felt very smooth until mile 7 or so but started to cramp up a bit at mile 8. This has happened before and in fact happened at the same point during my 2:55 run at Philly in 2008. I hoped it would go away as it had before, but unfortunately that was not the case.

I started dialing back the pace around mile 11 to 7:00 - 7:15, and I felt pretty good until mile 14 or 15. I ran through halfway in 1:30 and was hoping that I could cruise the rest in 7:15 to 7:30 pace and still have a pretty solid sub 3:10 finish. Alas, that was not the case.

My legs started to get very tired in addition to the cramping in my side still continuing. Mile 16 to mile 20 were a grind, and I was slowing down a lot. By mile 20 I was toast, and my stomach was really starting to act up. I started focusing more on getting my stomach better, and it seemed to work for a little while.

But by mile 22 I was in rough shape and had to start mixing in some walking. I continued to spiral down and hit a low just after mile 24 when I threw up everything in my stomach. I was actually surprised I threw up, and it didn't feel the same as some times when it had happened in ultras. I think it may have been more related to pushing my body too far when I wasn't in great shape than specifically what I was eating / drinking.

I still felt terrible after throwing up but was able to run most of the last 2 miles to the finish.

So it was not a great race, but I suppose that is to be expected 3 months after getting Lyme Disease with very little running inbetween. I was happy I was able to push through the lows and finish the thing. I'm also hoping that this will help kickstart me back into being in good shape and that I can really get things back on track from here.

Chicago was a great race. Aside from having the amazing support of family being out there cheering, it was a really fun and scenic course. The logistics at the start were disastrous, but otherwise it was well run and well organized. It got pretty hot again this year (into the 80s on parts of the course), but the heat really wasn't too bad, and it was a beautiful day.

I hope to come back to Chicago someday, and I plan to run it a whole lot faster next time. Thanks again to the family for making it an incredibly fun weekend!

(Right around mile 4. Running 6:45s and feeling strong)

(Veering towards the family from across the street at mile 12 or so)

(Coming to say hi at mile 12)

(In a world of pain about 400m from the finish. I remember feel WAY worse than I look in this picture)

(That wave was about all I could muster at this point)

(Post race on the bridge across the river)

(With Jen, Christine, and Adam in front of a silly Marilyn Monroe statue)

10/1/11: Finally a good week of training

2011-10-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

I finally strung together a good week of training.

My speed/tempo work was not my fastest, and I cramped up towards the end, but I ran some decent times. I was pretty worn out at the end of my long runs, but they also went pretty well. I also found it interesting that I needed a lot more fluid and calories than usual during the long runs. I guess I am less efficient after the time off.

But it was great to get back to some good solid training. Here is the summary:

Saturday: 20 miles @ 7:25 (much it was hilly trails)

Sunday: 20 miles + lifting

Monday: 10 miles

Tuesday: 14 miles with 2 @ 6:00 + lifting

Wednesday: Off (traveling for work)

Thursday: 6 miles with 4 @ 6:15 + lifting

Friday: 10 miles

Total: 80 miles

9/25/11: Almost time for the Chicago Marathon

2011-09-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

So getting back into serious training has been hard! Part of it is that running has always been a routine for me, and I just need to get back into that routine. Lots of travel for work also has not been helping.

Things were starting to come back together, and then I got sick last weekend. I wasn't able to do any running, but on Sunday I felt good enough for a really nice hike with Jen in the Shenandoahs near Charlottesville. It was about 11 or 12 miles up to Skyline Drive, and the weather was fantastic. We got a couple of pictures along the way.

I felt much better after the weekend and did a very solid tempo run on Wednesday. I ran 6 miles starting at 7:00 pace and steadily ratcheting down until I hit 5:30 pace for the end. I averaged about 6:20s over the 6 miles.

Then this weekend I got the higher mileage going again. I ran 20 miles yesterday and another 20 today with some additional cross training and lifting. Yesterday I ran hard and averaged about 7:25s on a route with a lot of hilly trail miles. I kind of pulled that run out of nowhere and definitely paid a price for it. I was wrecked afterwards!

I'm not going to taper much at all for Chicago and plan to continue training fairly hard for at least another week. I'm in general pretty rested since I took it easy for so long this summer, so I figure it is better to keep getting my legs back in the very little time I have.

8/28/11: Lyme Disease and Onwards

2011-09-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I posted anything. While the past 1.5 months have been “eventful”, the news unfortunately has not been very good.

On my last training run in the mountains before the Headlands Hundred on July 10th, I managed to pick up a tick that gave my Lyme Disease. Luckily I caught it very quickly and got on antibiotics, but it really knocked me out at first, and the effects lingered for a long time afterwards.

I completed the antibiotic cycle a week before the Headlands Hundred and was feeling much better, so I figured I’d give the race a shot knowing it was unlikely I’d be able to finish it with very little running over the prior 3 weeks and still not feeling 100%.

Not surprisingly, I DNFed at mile 46. I had a good start and felt very solid through the first 25 mile loop, but the wheels came flying off shortly afterwards. I generally felt much more fatigued than I should have, and I also had two major bouts of throwing up and couldn’t keep anything down.

In the three weeks since the race, I’ve taken it very easy and have done little running. The 46 mile effort really took it out of me, and I was not feeling great for a few weeks afterwards. Mostly I was just still very tired and worn out. So I finally started to listen to my body and slept a lot more and ran a lot less. The good news is that seems to be working!

Late last week I finally started feeling like myself again. This weekend I ran 11 miles on Saturday and another 11 on Sunday. I had a lot of energy and felt like myself again for the first time in a long time. I can’t tell you how great it felt to enjoy a run and have my body respond well. I tried to keep it in check and not go too crazy to make sure I continue giving my body what it needs to recover.

Hopefully I can slowly mix in more running and continue trying to rest a lot. I’m not exactly sure where that will leave me for the Chicago Marathon on October 9th. For now I’m trying my best to keep the focus on getting well and not worry as much about the race.

I can’t wait to get back to what I love doing. The weather has been getting nicer and nicer, and I’m excited for what I hope will be a good fall!

7/10/11: Massanuttens to Shenandoahs and back

2011-07-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

I ended up getting stuck in Charlotte on Friday night and didn't make it back until Saturday around lunch time. I was exhausted and only did about 14easy miles that afternoon. To make up for it, I headed to the mountains again for about 41 miles with 9K feet of climbing on Sunday.

I did a slightly shortened version of the route I ran with Greg last fall that goes up and over the Massanuttens, across the Shenandoah Valley, up the Shenandoahs to the Appalachian Trail, and back (what I call Virginia's Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim). I did stop a bit short of the AT, so it was more like 41 miles instead of the full 45 mile route.

The first 15 miles went really well. I was still tired from the previous 111 mile week, but everything was going smoothly. I made it up the 3.5 mile Sherman's Gap climb in about 45 minutes, which is pretty good time for me on that big 1,500 foot climb. I cruised across the Shenandoah Valley and stopped in the local store to fuel up with some more water.

Around mile 15, I started to get REALLY hot. It got to be over 90 degrees and was pretty humid. I started to seriously overheat on the 3,000 foot climb to the top of the Shenandoahs and had to stop at one point to let my heart rate slow down and body temperature cool.

I wasn't feeling so hot running down the Shenandoahs and crossing the valley, but it really helped to refuel at the store again on the way back. After that, I made pretty steady progress despite the serious heat.

It took me about 4 hours to run out and about 4:30 to run back. I was pretty happy with only losing 30 minutes on the way back given how much hotter it was.

This was a tough run with the heat and fatigue from lots of training. I also ended up getting many bugbites and some poison somethingorother on my legs.

However, this was another great training run and confidence booster for me. I leave you with a quote:

“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man” Hunter S. Thompson

Start of the run. This is the stream that runs between the ridges of the Massanuttens. It was still pretty cool at this point.

I still look pretty sleepy here.

On top of the climb up to Sherman's Gap. The furthest peak in the distance is basically where I'm heading.

I descended the ridge after Sherman's Gap only to climb up again to this point. I really like this part of the trail.

This is a bit of a better view of the mountain I'm heading to across the valley. Still very far away!

I had just run down this, which was very fun. Going back up it in 6 hours .... much less so.

Nice view from down in the valley.

Crossing the Shenandoah Valley. It was definitely hot at this point.

I came across this fawn just at the start of the climb up the Shenandoahs. I thought it was just waiting for its mother, but it was still there when I came back down the mountain and wasn't looking so good. I fear this poor little guy didn't make it, which made me extraordinarily sad. Unfortunately there wasn't anybody or much of anything around this part of the trail, so I really didn't know what I could do other than give it some water on the way back.

View from where I turned around in the Shenandoahs. The closer ridges are what I had run up to get here. Way in the distance you can see the Massanuttens where I came from.

I was exceedingly hot at this point, but at least there was a nice breeze at this lookout.

This is where the Over Run Falls are, but they weren't really running too much since it's been dry recently

7/9/11: My New Ultrarunning Nutrition Plan

2011-07-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

Nutrition issues have plagued my running for several years. In most races since Vermont 2008, my stomach acted up to some degree, often resulting in a DNF. It's ridiculous to have the legs and lungs to run 100 miles but have my stomach hold me back!

Along the way I figured out that the first problem was I wasn't drinking the right amount based on conditions. Mainly I was drinking too much early on in races, particularly when it wasn't hot.

I've learned much more about how much I need to hydrate in various conditions. My fluid intake needs vary from 5-10 ounces per hour during cold weather all the way up to about 30 ounces per hour during the warmest weather. 30 ounces per hour is also right at the max of what you can process in an hour, so I typically would not be hitting that level for many hours in a row. I also always hold off on drinking anything for at least 5 miles in cold weather and 3 miles in warm weather. This helps me not fill up on water from the start makes it easier for me to start taking in calories early on. This is completely counter to the "drink early" theory, but hey, it works for me.

I was still having problems though even after dialing in the hydration. Then Greg Zaruba to the rescue! Greg had been recommending Hammer Nutrition to me for a while, and I finally decided to give it a shot.

I can say it has completely changed my running experience. I have had no real stomach problems since starting to use it about two months ago, which has included some long, tough 40 mile runs and lots of running in very hot weather.

First off, they make a gel that far surpasses any I have tried. With all other gels, after about 3 of them, I absolutely cannot stomach any more. Hammer gels are much less sweet tasting and go down very easily. I have had no problems with taking 7-8 gels during a run, and I could happily have more if I needed to. Having a fuel source that I can continue using throughout very long runs is incredibly helpful.

They also make an electrolyte drink mix called HEED that I use up through about 3-4 hours of running. Aside from the electrolytes, HEED is also a great way to get about 200 additional calories per bottle. I often go with part HEED mix and part plain water in the first several hours of long runs.

Perpetuem is a drink mix they design specifically for endurance fueling beyond 3-4 hours. A bottle mixed with Perpetuem has about 400 calories, and it has some protein in addition to carbohydrates.

Here is what I love about this. Later on in long runs, I sip on Perpetuem while still using water as my main hydration source. Even if it take me two hours to finish the Perpetuem, the 400 calories I get is close to all that I need. You can't absorb more than 250-300 calories an hour anyway, so all I have to do is take 1-2 gels over that same time. Even if my stomach isn't 100%, it has never been at all difficult to drink a bottle of Perpetuem over a few hours.

Finally, they make a bar that has about 250 calories. It is still good to have some solid food from time to time, so it is a good addition to the gels and powder mixes. This bar has worked better for me than any other solid bar I've had before (such as Clif bars). I think it is because it is a bit softer and seems to break down more easily to make it easier to digest.

I have been able to very easily get through an 8 hour run with 5-6 gels, a bottle of HEED, 1-2 bottles of Perpetuem, and a Hammer bar. My runs have been a whole lot more fun, and I can't tell you how nice it is not to have my stomach feeling terrible during long runs!

I know I sound like a spokeperson for Hammer, but these products have helped me out immensely, and I hope this ends up helping someone else out as well!

Oh, and note to self, always listen to Greg on all things!

7/8/11: Week of 7/2 Training Update

2011-07-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting writing this on a plane at about 10pm on a Friday night, and man am I tired! This was another very big week of training after many other recent big weeks of training.

It is catching up to me, and I am exhausted, but I'm rapidly approaching taper time for the Headlands Hundred. While I'm mostly very tired, I've had some encouraging signs that I'm really snapping into good shape.

Saturday: 13 miles very easy. Was really tired and listened to my body.

Sunday: 25 miles. Rock Creek Park loop in 8:30. Felt pretty easy.

Monday: 35 miles. Browntown Loop with VHTRC in ~4h. Added another 14 miles. Probably close to 6K feet of climbing.

Tuesday: 11 miles. Pretty sore.

Wednesday: 13 miles. Still tired

Thurdsay: 7 miles. Yup, legs still felt terrible.

Friday: 7 miles. Better, but still recovering from the weekend.

Total: 111 miles

7/5/11: Browntown Loop and July 4th training

2011-07-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was 5 weeks out from the Headlands Hundred. Given that it was a long weekend, that means it was prime time for some serious training!

On Saturday I was initially planning for a long run in the Shenandoahs. But I was just way too tired. I had traveled for work all week and was still beat up from lots of recent running, especially the 40 miler a week before.

I instead planned on 20-25 miles around DC. After sleeping in a bit, I started my run and realized my legs still felt like crap. I ended up doing a very easy 13 miles with some cross/training. The old Will would have just powered through the run anyway and probably done more harm than good. I think it is a very good thing that I'm better about listening to my body now.

I got a second good night of sleep and felt much better on Sunday. My goal was to do the 25 mile Rock Creek Park loop but run it very easily to leave plenty in the tank to head to the Shenandoahs on Monday. It was ridiculously hot and humid, but I managed to run 8:30 pace and still felt pretty fresh at the end.

On Monday, I headed to the annual July 4th Browntown Loop with VHTRC. It is about a 21 mile loop, and it is a great course that has a good amount of climb but is also pretty runnable. I did this last year as well and was looking forward to going back.

Other than being ludicrously humid, it was another fun day in the mountains. I ran the loop pretty hard and felt great. I ran almost all of the first climb and about half the second climb until you hit the really steep trail section. It was fun to run with the VHTRC crew, and I finished the loop in 4:05, which includes several stops along the way to refuel and regroup.

I had hoped to feel good enought to head back out for some bonus miles, and luckily that was the case. I ended up running another 2:50 (probably about 14 miles). That was longer than I had planned, but I took something of a detour and ended up running all the way to the town of Washington before turning around.

Total run was about 35 miles in a bit under 7 hours, and I still felt strong at the end. Last year I felt terrible at the end of the 21 mile loop, and I think my time was also a bit slower. Another confidence booster for the Headlands Hundred, especially since I had run 25 miles the day before!

7/3/11: Headlands Hundred!

2011-07-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's official. I've signed up for the Headlands Hundred in San Francisco.

In my fury after being sick for the North Face 50, I immediately looked at race calendars to find another ultra. There aren't as many ultras in the summer (at least ones that aren't already full), so I was pretty sure that the Headlands Hundred would be the winner. The flight is now booked, and race registration is complete.

It's a very hilly course with 20,000 feet of climbing, which is the same as the Tahoe 100. That is certainly some no joke elevation. However, without it being at altitude (like Tahoe) and with likely good weather (it's pretty much always nice in San Francisco), I think it could be a good course for me.

As you may be able to tell from my heavy mileage, I've been training as if I was doing this race since the North Face 50. My last three weeks have been 85, 95, and 103 miles. I'll hopefully be above 100 miles for the next two weeks as well.

I'm really fired up about this race. I'm also very excited to see Brome, and the big man himself is going to be doing some pacing duties! Can't get much better than running in the beautiful Headlands with Brome.

I did a 25 mile extremely hot run around DC today, and tomorrow I'm heading to the Shenandoahs for another long run with VHTRC. So far everything is coming together. In the words of Mickey from Rocky I, I'm going to become a very dangerous person.

7/2/11: Week of 7/25

2011-07-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

I capped off another solid week of training. The highlight was definitely the 40 miler in the Shenandoahs on Saturday. Good stuff. I was pretty beat the rest of the week but still managed some decent mileage.

Saturday: 40 miles, ~ 10K feet of climbing

Sunday: 20 miles with stairmaster and lifting

Monday: 10 miles

Tuesday: 8 mile tempo run

Wednesday: 12 miles

Thursday: 6.5 miles

Friday: 6.5 miles

Total: 103 miles

7/1/11: Epic Run in the Shenandoahs

2011-06-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I had an epic 40 mile run out the Shenandoahs. It had a good 10,000 feet or more of vertical climbing, so it was definitely one tough run!

I started out at Buck Hollow and did the same 4.5 mile, 3K foot climb up to Mary's Rock that Jen and I did a little while back. Just one mile in the run, I had FAR too exciting of an encounter with 2 bear cubs and a mama bear. Mama bear was not pleased, and I just about peed myself.

The picture below is from after I some distance between me and the bears, but you can see mama bear defending the tree her cubs climbed up. She wouldn't let me by, so I had to bushwhack way around the trail and got pretty cut up by thorns. Thanks a lot, bears. Another mile along I saw ANOTHER bear, but this one mercifully just ran away.

The climb up to Mary's Rock is long and steep, but I felt great and made it in just over an hour. The views from up top were outstanding as usual.

From there I cut south on the Appalachian Trail and followed it quite a ways. This was some beautiful single track trail. Most of it is up on the ridge with great views, and the trail is very runnable.

(It pretty much doesn't get better than this. Some beautiful AT single track).

(The AT wove around Skyline Drive, and I would occasionally pop out on it).

(Awesome view looking back from where I came after a pretty sizable climb on the AT. You can see Skyline Drive winding over the mountains. The AT basically wove to the left of Skyline Drive and the ascended up to where I'm standing.)

After 10 or so miles on the Appalachian trail, I hit the top of White Oak canyon. I had heard amazing things about White Oak Canyon and was excited to explore it.

Basically it is a canyon that cuts down the mountain about 3,000 feet with some beautiful waterfalls along the way. This was some of the most beautiful stuff I've seen in the Shenandoahs (or most anywhere for that matter).

(Some glorious trail at the top of White Oak Canyon).

(White Oak Canyon is divided into Upper Falls and Lower Falls. This is the first of the Upper Falls. Pictures don't quite do it justice.)

I ran all the way through Upper and Lower falls, went about a mile beyond Lower Falls, and then hiked back up. I was cranking hard on the long climb up and made incredible time. The run down was 1h (though I stopped to take a lot of pictures), and I made it back up in 1h2min.

This marks the highest part of the Appalachian Trail in the Shenandoahs. It was another mile or so of climbing after the top of White Oak Canyon.

I ran back along the AT to Buck Hollow and was treated to more amazing views.

The run took about 8 hours and was insanely fun. I felt really strong the whole way. My stomach held up well, and I was able to get a ton of calories and liquids down (over 2,000 calories and over 200 ounces of water). The weather was absolutely perfect, too. I'm glad that I was able to take advantage of this glorious day.

This run was definitely a confidence booster, and I can't wait to get back out to the mountains for the next run!

6/26/11: Training Update

2011-06-26T04:47:00.001-07:00

I've had a few great weeks of training. Here is the quick summary:

Week of 6/11

Saturday: 25 miles with stairmaster and strength training
Sunday: 30 mile trail run
Monday: Off for work travel
Tuesday: 9 miles
Wednesday: 7 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 9 miles
Total: 85 miles

Week of 6/18

Saturday: 20 miles (12 with Dad when the parents were in town)
Sunday: 22 mile trail run
Monday: 12 + strength training
Tuesday: 11 miles easy
Wednesday: 11 miles with speed/hill workout (2mi @ 6:00 and 2mi @ 10:00 w/ 10% grade)
Thursday: 9 miles with 3 miles at 7% grade
Friday: 10 miles
Total: 95 miles

So two solid weeks of training! I felt good throughout and am looking forward to keeping the mileage high for several more weeks.

6/20/11: North Face 50 Race Report

2011-06-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is a tough one to write. I’ve DNFed more races than I would like. The reasons have all varied, and I’ve been more ok with some than others, but I’ve always been able to look back without much regret. While there is no regret with my DNF at the North Face 50, it is certainly the one that hurts the most.

Training went exceptionally well leading up to the North Face 50. My mileage was high with lots of 85-100 mile weeks. I had done numerous quality long runs, back to back long runs, speed workouts, hill workouts, you name it. I hit the taper just right and went into the race in top physical shape.

There was just one problem. I got really sick the week before and unfortunately couldn’t shake what I had in time for the race. By Friday night I was feeling a bit better than I had earlier in the week, but I was far from 100%. I still had ear infections and some sort of cold / sinus infection plaguing my nose and throat.

I was sufficiently foolish and stubborn to decide that I would still give the thing a shot. I knew it wouldn’t be possible to finish well and was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to finish at all, but I thought there was an outside shot at surviving to the end and figured I’d take that shot. Another brilliant move in a long list of my brilliant moves.

Jen and I woke up at 3:30, filled our thermoses with as much coffee as they could possible hold, grabbed the race gear, and threw a confused and startled Eve into the car. Before I knew it, the race started at 5am in the pre-dawn darkness.

My energy was low, but on the bright side my legs felt great. I was effortlessly running somewhere between 7:30s and 8:00s and feeling good. Before I knew it, I blew through the 4.8 mile aid station.

Around mile 6, I took an unfortunate 10-15 minute detour. An official race sign pointed to turn right towards a country club. I figured it was strange to be leaving the trail, but I looked behind me and four guys were following in the same direction. I figured we couldn’t all be wrong.

We were. It became apparent we were straying off course, and we turned around. As we got back towards the trail, there were at least 50 people also heading off course. I definitely have never seen this may people go off course at the same time in an ultra.

We got back on the trail, but now I was in the middle of a conga line that was moving more slowly than I liked on a really narrow trail. It took a good three or four miles to finally break free and start making up some ground.

I met Jen at the 14.8 mile aid station still feeling pretty good all considering. Aside from the detour, my pace was still pretty solid, too. The course then had us run three 6.9 mile loops before heading back the same 14 miles we started with.

Loop 1 was also went very well. I was really enjoying the course, the scenery, and the weather. The temperature was perfect with highs in the 70s and no humidity. The course had some really nice single track trail and was hilly but very runnable. We also had great views of the Potomac River and Great Falls, which was pretty awesome to see with all the recent rain.

My stomach was also feeling great. I’ve switched over to fueling primarily with Hammer products (more on that in future posts), and it was working well. I ran that first 6.9 loop in 8:40 pace and refueled from Jen for Loop 2 still feeling good.

But alas it couldn’t last forever. My body started failing on me pretty quickly during that loop. I just had no energy and was completely wiped out. Being sick had finally caught up with me. There was only so far I could push my body, and I had reached that point.

I definitely slowed down during Loop 2 and finished it 4h30min and 29 miles into the race. While my pace had been pretty solid up to that point, I knew I was done. I could probably have very slowly dragged myself through the third loop, but it was daunting given how bad I felt, and I didn’t really see the point.

So this DNF really hurt. I was in great shape, I finally pulled my stomach together, and I know I could have had a great race. Unfortunately I just had really bad luck and got sick.

I had been planning to transition to training for the Chicago marathon after this race, but I think I will have to postpone that now. I have trained really hard all year and feel that I’m in my best shape ever, but I just haven’t been able to get it all together in a race. I really feel that I need to run a good ultra to take advantage of this hard work and get some closure.

I’m looking to figure out what race to tackle. I’m definitely running the Catoctin 50K in Maryland as more of a training run on July 30th, and hopefully I can find a 50+ mile race shortly after that to gun for. Stay tuned!

5/19/11: Training Hard for the North Face 50

2011-05-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

The North Face 50 is coming up in two weeks from Saturday. I hadn’t initially planned on doing this race, but I sure am gunning for it now and have been training hard.

I figured I needed to do something after DNFing the NJ 100, and the North Face 50 seemed like a good candidate. My 61 hilly, technical miles at the CAT 100 a few weeks ago were definitely a good confidence booster. The following weekend, I did a hard 25 mile hilly run in about 7:40s.

Last weekend I ran 23 miles out in the Massanuttens with about 4-5K feet of vertical climbing. On Sunday I followed it up with a 28 mile trail run in about 8:20s. I’ve been hitting the speed work, too. Last recently did a track workout with 3 x 1 mile in 5:55, 5:45, and 5:40. Not bad considering I haven’t hit the track in over 6 months!

I’ll have 4 weeks in a row of 85 to 100 miles before the real tapering starts. So far I’m feeling great and starting to get excited for the race. I REALLY hope that this one goes smoothly. I don’t care as much how fast I go and just want to run strong and finish the thing.

On Saturday I’m going to do a hard 35 mile trail run, which will mostly be on the Potomac Heritage trail. After that, they hay is in the barn!

5/1/11: Buck Hollow and Mary's Rock

2011-05-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Jen and I did an awesome ~10 mile hike from Buck Hollow up to Mary's rock.

I wrote up this post, but for some reason the blog took it down, so I'm just putting the pictures up this time.

Short story is that it was a beautiful day with perfect weather. The views from Mary's Rock were amazing!

Eve had a pretty great time being carried by me most of the way. Even still, she was pretty tired out by the end. She basically fell asleep while I was carrying her. Hiking is tough work!

5/7/11: CAT 100 and Potomac Heritage Pics

2011-05-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit overdue for an update on the last couple weeks of running.

Right after getting back from Seattle, I went for a 28 mile run on Sunday. Much of the run was on the Potomac Heritage trail, and it was a beautiful day. Below are a couple of pictures.

There were these crazy flowers that were hanging off the trees everywhere.

The Potomac was really flooded due to lots of recent rain.

This shows the Potomac Heritage trail on the right and the creek through the trees on the left.

The trail went right across this stream, which was a bit tricky.

It was past peak bluebell season, but there were still some left on the side of the trail.

I narrowly avoided stepping on this snake that was sunning itself on the trail.

Another stream crossing (well, maybe more rock crossing than stream crossing)

Parts of the trail were just covered with these bright green ferns.

Now on the CAT 100. This is a low key 100 mile race up on the Catoctin Trail and the Appalachian Trail. The course starts with 26 miles covering the entire length of the Catoctin trail up in Maryland. Then you cross over to the AT, run up into Pennsylvania, and come back down the AT through Maryland to Harper's Ferry.

Greg Zaruba had signed up for the race and talked me into joining him. I signed up about a week ahead of time, and it certainly seemed crazy to sign up for a 100 mile race just a week in advance. But I figured I'd take it easy and see how far I could go.

Greg unfortunately injured his knee and had to modify his plans. He decided to jump into the run at mile 26 to pace me for a while, jump out around mile 59, and then crew me if I was able to keep on going from there.

The short of it was that it was an awesome day, and I bailed after about 60 miles due primarily to stomach trouble.

The longer version is that the race started at 5am in the dark on the southern end of the Catoctin trail. I went off at a super easy pace with a group fo 5 or 6 people. It was fun having some company out there and watching to sun rise to reveal a perfect day out in the mountains. The high temperature was 70 degrees, and there was no humidity and few clouds.

I ran with a group up to the mile 15 aid station,, where we had to cross a knee deep, fast flowing stream. From 15 to 26 I was mostly on my own and started the push the pace a bit more. Unfortunately, I also got lost and went about a half mile off course, which basically negated all the benefit of pushing the pace.

I came off the Catoctin trail at mile 26 feeling strong and having a good time. It was great to see Greg waiting for me there, and better still, he brought his dog Ziggy! Ziggy is a trail runner extraordinaire and an excellent distraction when you are out there running for a long time.

We ran for a few miles on a road to cross over and pick up the Appalachian Trail. Once we hit the AT, there was a pretty long and rocky climb up. I started to get into a bit of a funk here. I've come to realize this happens a lot when I do really long races and have to start significantly increasing the food, water, and electroloytes I'm taking in.

When I was getting in trouble in the early miles of ultras, it was usually because I was forcing down too much fluids and food early on. Now I run pretty light for a while, but there does come a time (often around mile 25 - 30) where I have to kick it into gear.

At any rate, I ended up taking 2 S-caps, a gel, and a bunch of water. I immediately started to feel much better. From then on I was much more careful about the S-caps and food.

Greg and I cruised for a while on the AT on some pretty rocky sections, and I came into the mile 33 aid station feeling great. I really had no issues and was running strong all the way until I circled back to the same aid station at mile 52.

The only point of note was that I had taken the lead coming out of mile 33 and got to the mile 40.5 aid station before it was set up. Can't really say I've ever been in a situation of beating the aid stations! The major problem here was that the turnaround at mile 42.5 wasn't marked yet. We basically were supposed to run 2 miles up a mountain to the turnaround, but there wasn't a distinct point that would be recognizable as the turnaround.

The guys at the aid station wanted to run up ahead of me to put up the turnaround, but I was moving fast at this point and apparently not that easy to keep up with. Luckily Greg came to the rescue here. He knew the course well and was able to tell me where the turnaround was and put up the turnaround marker as well. Thanks, Greg!

My stomach started to feel shaky going into the mile 52 aid station. I loaded up on a bunch of food and headed off from there. The next aid station was at mile 61, but I was fading fast. My stomach was revolting, and I threw up around mile 57. Luckily Greg's car was a few miles away. Given the bad stomach, a work event I had to be at the next day, Jen being trapped without a car and not able to come up for the race, it was time to call it.

I didn't really have the preparation to be able to hang in for 100 miles, but it was awesome to feel good for so long. My legs also felt fantastic all throughout, so it's good to know I'm in good shape. This run was also a big confidence booster for the North Face 50.

All in all, it was a great day in the mountains with beautiful weather and good company with friends. Can't ask for more than that!

Very typical trail for the day. Lots of bright green early spring foliage upu in the mountains.

Nice view from around mile 12 or so. I went off course a little ways to get a picture from this lookout.

This was the incredibly scenic location for one of the aid stations. You hit it at mile 33 on the way north on the Appalachian Trail and then again at mile 52 after turning around at mile 44. This aid station was right by the Pennsylvania / Maryland border.

There was tons of water out on the course. The streams were running really high, and much of the trail was flooded or washed out in places.

4/25/11: Seattle & Vancouver

2011-04-24T19:05:00.001-07:00

Jen and I went on a trip of the Northwest this last week. Our route took us to Seattle, Olympic National Park, Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Whistler, and back to Seattle.

It was an amazing trip, and we had a lot of fun. The weather was absolutely incredible for the whole week. It was in the 50s and sunny every day, as compared to usual weather of 40s, cloudy, and rainy for this time of year.

I have a ridiculous amount of pictures below that include hiking in a rainforest in Olympic National Park, skiing in Whistler, and lots of snow-capped mountains.

Hope you enjoy!

View from the needle in Seattle. It was a really clear day, and you could see over to the mountains in Olympic National Park.

On Monday we drove around the bottom of Olympic National Park to the Hoh Rainforest for an afternoon hike.

The rainforest was incredibly lush and gets something like 140 inches of rain a year.

The amazing thing about the rainforest is that you have these huge snowcapped mountains all around that you can see from the trail. I don’t think there are many rainforests where you have these kinds of views!

There were some beautiful waterfalls in the rain forest that were coming off the mountain the trail followed.

At the trailhead, they had these warning signs about watching out for elk and being sure not to get too close to them. At one point towards the end of the hike, I looked right and saw 3 elk about 30 feet away from us. Man, they are huge! The elk looked over and were just staring us down. Jen and I backtracked and circled wide around the elk. Fortunately they decided we weren’t worth their time or energy!

We stayed at the Kalaloch Beach in Olympic National Park. It was a beautiful spot right on the ocean. I went for a nice run the next morning on the beach.

On Tuesday we drove around the west and north side of the park. There were some great views along the way.

On the way out of the park we drove up to Hurricane Ridge, which has some great views of the mountains. The ridge is around 5 or 6 thousand feet and looks out across tons of 7 to 8 thousand foot peaks, including Mt. Olympus. It was an amazingly clear day, which was unusual for the area and lucky for us. They also had a crazy amount of snow up there!

We caught the ferry from Port Angeles over to Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island. We stayed at a B&B over there and just enjoyed hanging out and walking around parks.

Vancouver Island has a famous garden called the Butchart Gardens. We kicked off Wednesday by spending some time there before taking another ferry over to Vancouver.

This one is for you, Brome. Beard Papas was a store exclusively devoted to cream puffs. The name made me think of you!

Jen and I drove from Vancouver to Whistler to ski for a day. We weren’t originally planning on going there, but we couldn’t resist since they had so much snow this year. Whistler had over 600 inches this year and still had a 12 foot base when we were out there! The skiing was great, and Whistler is definitely a word class ski area. We can’t wait to go back there some day.

This was on the drive back from Whistler. There were great views the whole way.

This was the view from our hotel room. We had great views of the mountains on the north side of Vancouver.

On the next day in Vancouver we took a long walk and hit up Stanley Park.

On our flight back, our route took us right over Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood. These pictures are from the airplane window!

4/11/11: 31 Miles in Shenandoah National Park

2011-04-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

Spring fever hit me hard this year, so I decided to go out to Shenandoah National Park for a long run this weekend. I realized that I haven't done any mountain running since my DNF at MMTR 50. Unacceptable!

I planned out a route that would start and Little Devil Stairs and basically do two big loops. The map below is not exactly clear, but you can see the two loops highlighted (big one on the bottom and the smaller one on top). The solid line running across the middle Skyline Drive.

The route would be about 29 miles and called for over 8K feet of climbing. It was an ambitious run, but I didn't mind if I ended up going slower and taking a while. I started out at the bottom right corner of the highlighted route at the Little Devil Stairs trailhead. Litte Devil Stairs is supposed to be one of the toughest climbs in the Shenandoahs. It climbs 1,500 feet in 1.8 miles (15% average grade), and the second half is much steeper and over 25% grade. Seemed like a good way to start a long run.

I started off at 8:10am and was excited to be back out in the mountains again. This section still looked at least kind of like a trail.

The forecast called for it to be cloudy until 1pm, which was a bummer. It was incredibly foggy and hazy, making it look like something out of Sleepy Hollow. I was a bit bummed I wouldn't have sunshine for so much of the run.

As I kept on climbing, it started to look a little bit lighter.

There were waterfalls all along the climb. With all the recent April showers, the waterfalls were pretty close to peak, which was awesome.

I swear there is a trail somewhere around here.

All of a sudden, I unexpectedly broke out above the clouds. The forecast may have called for clouds all morning, but I figured out that you could solve that by climbing above the clouds! It was really cool seeing the surrounding mountains popping out from the clouds below. I was already loving this run!

Another cool waterfall. Getting close to the top now.

In this angle, you can kind of see the rocky trail I'm climbing towards the right.

As I got towards the top, the sun was out in full force, and it stayed this way for the majority of the run. I turned onto another trail that was mostly rolling hills up on the ridgeline. I had been lollygagging around enjoy views and taking tons of pictures, so it was time to start doing some real running. Otherwise I'd still be out there on the mountain!

I hit the Appalachian Trail at the top of the climb and popped out onto Hogback Overlook. When I did the Tuscarora Trail run from the Massanuttens to the Shenandoahs and back, this intersection with the AT was basically the turnaround point.

More views of the clouds in the valley with mountains just cresting over the clouds.

Appalachian Trail marker.

This was further down along the overlook. You can start to see that some of the cloud cover is burning off.

I took the Appalachian Trail to the Tuscarora Trail and then began the northern loop of the run. The trail descended most of the way down the mountain and then connected with the Tuscarora Trail further down close to where it came into the park.

Somewhere in here I ended up taking a 2 mile detour. And just like that this run turned into a 50K! In my defense, I think the map was not quite right for that section. I was also starting to feel a bit out of it in this section. It turned out I was just a bit depleted. I drank a bunch of water, had a gel, and took 2 S-caps. Good as new!

Next was a montrous climb back up to the top. This was the same trail Greg and I climbed back in the fall. The view below looks across the valley to the Massanuttens.

Then a bit further up is a 93 foot waterfall! This was really cool to see and is the largest waterfall in the Shenandoahs. It was completely dry when Greg and I ran this, so I was surprised to see it!

From there I crossed back down to the southern loop and had probably a good 11 miles left. Much of this section was rolling up on the ridgeline, and I started to really push the pace. After a few miles on the AT, I turned onto the trail that descended back down the mountain. I flew down this trail, and I think I terrified a few hikers.

I was still feeling fantastic and surprised to be running so strong 5.5 hours in. When I got to the bottom, I still had about 3.5 miles left, which I hoped would be flat or downhill fireroads. Wrong.

There were still some big climbs in this section. There were also numerous calf deep stream crossings, which made for very wet, heavy shoes.

I kept on cranking and got myself back to the parking lot around 2:35. I was thrilled with how the run went and couldn't have had more fun out there. It was great to be able to run a tough 31 miles with tons of climbing and feel comfortable the whole time. My stomach was also great, and I downed tons of food and water while out there.

All I can say is that I wish they were all like this!

Next week Jen and I will be in Seattle and Vancouver. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures from hikes and short runs out there.

4/4/11: Early Spring Running

2011-04-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

I may have ended the NJ 100 very early, but my knee was still pretty tweaked afterwards. It actually started bothing me during the heavy training mileage, particularly in the 50 mile training run. It was very sore after the DNF, but I took it a bit easy for a while, and now it is almost back to 100%. I did about 35 miles of running this weekend in the beautiful DC early spring. I really love when spring comes after a long winter of putting in miles in the cold, dark, winter weather. It never seems like it can come fast enough, though! For some reason, every year I expect it to magically switch to being full spring sometime around late March. That never actually seems to happen, and this year has been no exception. In fact, it has been worse than usual. It has been unseasonally cold in DC, and spring has been slower than ever to come. All the cherry blossoms came out early and then promptly froze off the trees. But we're finally turning the corner. I took a few pictures of spring in DC this weekend. Jen and I had our friends Joel and Rachel in town. We went to the Tudor Gardens, which are between Georgetown and Dumbarton Oaks. I've been meaning to get there for a while and was very excited when we made it in just before closing! My late spring race plans are also starting to firm up. I've signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler, which is on June 4th and very close to DC. I'll likely end up doing the Capon Valley 50K in West Virginia on May 7th as well. Next weeking I'm hoping to make it out to the mountains for the first time in a long time. If that happens, I'll definitely post more pictures next weekend.

4/3/11: Skiing in Colorado

2011-04-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went skiing in Colorado with Jen, Dad, Danny, and Dylan. We went to Copper, and it was glorious! We had about 2.5 feet of snow and some great conditions, especially for late March. There wasn't any running on this trip, unfortunately. I was thinking of going for some short runs, but we were staying at about 10K feet and there was tons of snow everywhere, so I bagged the runs. But I did take some pictures! The last one is from the place we were staying and shows what a huge amount of snow there was. I'm feeling fully recovered from the NJ 48, so more running updates soon!

3/20/11: The NJ 48

2011-03-20T11:52:00.001-07:00

The NJ 100 didn’t go quite as planned. It ended up being more like the NJ 48.

The good news was that I felt fantastic for much of the time and was in first for most of the 48 miles. The bad news is that my stomach went downhill really fast, I threw up at 43, and I just couldn’t bring it back together.

Here is the full report:

Pre-Race

Jen and I drove up the night before from DC and got in around 9:30. I got all my stuff together for the race and was in bed around 10:30. After a whole 4 hours of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed at 2:30 for the 40 minute drive to the race. Jen drove. I tried to sleep some more but mostly whined about how early it was.

The race start/finish was at the Long Valley Church. Since it was 80 degrees the day before, it was still a pretty nice 50 degrees, though it was supposed to get colder later in the morning, and the high temperature was supposed to be around 50. All in all, pretty good weather for very early spring.

We got lined up, had a short brief on the course, and started off running at 4am in pitch dark.

Loop # 1: 0 – 16

I took off towards the front with a pack of 10 guys. The course winds for about 2 miles until you hit the Columbia trail. For the first 4 loops, we turned west on the Columbia trail, ran 6 miles to the turnaround, and then ran back to the start for a total of 16 miles. After the four 16 mile loops, we would turn east on the Columbia trail to do another four 9 mile loops.

We were all running together until hitting the Columbia trail. A group of 5 or 6 guys started to push a bit, so I let them go. I was trying really hard to stay relaxed and take it easy.

I was feeling great in these early miles. My legs felt 100%, the weather was nice, and there was an awesome full moon. It was actually the brightest moon in over 10 years!

Shortly after getting on the Columbia trail, a guy named Josh pulled up, and we started talking. It turns out his brother won the race last year in an incredible time of 15:20. Josh is also super fast and one bad mother. He had done a 100 mile run 3 weeks before during a massive storm. The run was unsupported, and he and 2 guys pushed a baby jogger with their supplies through the 50 mph winds and driving rain. Josh is gearing up for the McNaughton 200 in early May. That’s right. 200 miles. Like I said … one bad mother.

Josh and I ran side by side through 22 miles, and it was great having company in the early miles. We came to the mile 8 turnaround with one other guy and were surprised to find that we were leading the race. We had passed a few guys when we blew through the mile 6 aid station, and a couple of guys also went off course around this time, which was a bummer.

Josh and I pulled out in front after the turnaround and kept on cruising easily. We were running 8:30s, which was a bit faster than I had expected to go, but I was feeling great.

Before I knew it, we were getting back to the start and completely the first 16 mile loop. Our 16 mile spit was somewhere around 2h22m. I asked for directions on where I should go before turning back around and got yelled at by one of the race directors. I thought that “where should I go” was a pretty reasonable question, but I guess they felt like yelling at the person leading the race. They were also nasty to Jen for some reason when she asked where she could get water for me. Not exactly the typical friendly atmosphere of an ultra. Oh well.

Jen showed her outstanding support crew technique and swapped out my water bottle, handed me a gel, and sent me on my merry way in no time at all. Thanks, Jen!

Loop # 2: 16 – 32

Unfortunately I ran a bit too fast to be able to ditch the headlamp after loop 1 and still had to use it for the first few miles of loop 2. I suppose there are worse problems.

I was making a conscious effort to stay loose and run very easily. I think I was still running around 8:30s or 8:40s though. I just felt so easy!

I made a pit stop at mile 22, and Josh took 1st place on his own. My split from mile 16 to the mile 24 turnaround was 71 minutes even with the couple minute stop at mile 22. That was definitely faster than I expected , so I tried extra hard to run slow on the way back, which was a bit easier since I was running on my own.

The sun was coming up on the way back, and it was a beautiful day. I was really enjoying the awesome weather and was cruising along very easily.

I still ended up running a strong pace and before I knew it was coming back in to mile 32 and was in 1st place again. I ran 2:23 for the second 16 mile loop, which only just slower than the first lap. I felt fantastic and was actually feeling better than I did at mile 16!

I was really excited by where I was at. I was about 1/3rd of the way through the race, and I felt like I hadn’t even run at all. It was hard to believe that I had been out there for 4h45m. I felt like I just started running. I was thinking that if I could comfortably get through the 3rd 16 mile loop, that would put me almost halfway through the race in around 7h15m.

I came to the turnaround and told Jen I was feeling great. She took my headlamp and gave me a bottle of ginger ale, a Gel, a granola bar, and my headphones. Jen was like a NASCAR pit crew and got me out of there in no time flat.

Loop # 3: 32 – 48

I ate the granola bar right away in loop 3. I also quickly discovered that the water bottle I had picked up was leaking badly. I was immediately covered in ginger ale. And I mean covered. Sticky does not begin to describe it. But hey, when you are running 100 miles, you don’t exactly expect to stay clean!

My stomach started going south pretty early on this loop. I nursed a bit of the ginger ale, but it wasn’t going down very well. I took an S-cap around the mile 38 aid station and grabbed a few pretzels that I hoped I’d be able to get down. Jen was at the aid station this time and gave me a water bottle, and I worked on getting somewhat less sticky after dropping off the ginger ale bottle.

Right after the aid station, the lead 100K runner caught me. He was a really nice guy, and I ran with him for 2 miles until the turnaround. He was running faster than I had been running, but it was good to have company, so I sped up and hung with him for a bit.

After the turnaround, I took a quick walking break to let him go ahead and to make sure I wasn’t going too fast. I walked only long enough to get my MP3 player set up and then kept on chugging. At mile 42, I saw Jen again and grabbed some Tums, which I really hoped would get my stomach better.

Sadly the Tums didn’t help, and I was going downhill REALLY fast. I hadn’t had much of anything to drink in over 10 miles and nothing to eat either. Around mile 43, I threw up whatever was left in my stomach. My legs immediately cramped up, as I was now really dehydrated. I hoped that my stomach would feel better after throwing up, but again it only kept getting worse.

I was running on fumes and really struggled through the 4-5 miles to get back to the start/finish. I had no energy, was really dehydrated, and my stomach was still roiling. Josh passed me right as we came in to the start area, and I wished him luck. I came to the end of the loop at 48 miles in about 7h20m.

I sat down for a while and figured I’d take some time to see if I could get things back together. I spent about an hour trying to nurse myself back to health, but it just wasn’t working. I couldn’t get anything down, and I almost threw up any time I tried eating/drinking anything much.
I contemplated going back out and trying to slog through it, but I just couldn’t talk myself into fighting my stomach for another 52 miles. It was kind of weird to lead the race for so long and then suddenly drop out, but my body really collapsed on me.

The Aftermath and What’s Next

I think a lot of it came down to being sick and running my last really long run 4 weeks before. The time off was fine for my legs (which felt great), but my stomach never does well when I haven’t put in a long run in a while.

I’m disappointed I didn’t finish, but happy with my training and the effort I put in. If my stomach hadn’t gone south, I would have come through 48 miles with my legs feeling great in a very fast time. I think I could post a very good time on a fast course like this, and hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to do so some day!

Thanks to Jen and my parents for helping crew. My poor parents got the race just as I dropped, so they unfortunately didn’t get to see much. Sorry, Mom and Dad!

I don’t yet have my racing plans figured out for spring/summer, but I’m definitely going to be thinking hard about what to do. Hopefully I can get a good race sometime soon!

3/12/11: NJ 100 - It's Showtime!

2011-03-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

The NJ 100 is just about here, and I'm excited!

I unfortunately got sick after my last post and was sick for about a week and a half. I missed quite a bit of running, and did no running at all last weekend, which was two weeks out from the race. I was hoping to race the Seneca Greenway 50K as a tune up, but what can you do?

I missed a lot of running and was worried about my fitness but was encouraged by a great run on Wednesday. I did 10 miles easy on Wednesday morning and 6 miles Wednesday night. 4 of those miles were at 6:00, and it felt incredibly easy. Big confidence booster.

So I'll do one was long run today, do a bit of faster running on Monday/Tuesday to stay sharp, and then get rested for the big race.

Wish me luck!

2/27/11: NJ 100 Training Update

2011-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

I have a much better post on the way soon, but first a quick training update.

This was my last big week of training before the NJ 100, and it went incredibly well. The 50 miler was a great test for me, and I recovered quickly and felt very good the rest of the week. I managed to hit 110 miles overall, which is the most I've done since before the Tahoe 100.

Really starting to get excited for the NJ 100!

Saturday: 50 miles in 7:48
Sunday: 7 miles very easy
Monday: 17 miles with some stairmaster & lifting
Tuesday: 14 miles
Wednesday: 14 miles with a 3 mile tempo run at the gym
Thursday: Off (work travel)
Friday: 8 miles easy

2/20/11: 50 Mile Training Run

2011-02-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my longest training run before the NJ 100. The plan was to run 50 miles on trails and bike paths around DC, much of which would consist of doing a 21 mile loop twice.

Melissa Chen (college friend) was also in town and doing her last long run before the Napa Marathon. My plan was to start running at 4am, meet her after running about 25 miles, run 22 miles with her, and then drag myself home for the last 3 miles. Certainly a questionable plan.

I staggered outside a bit after 4am, and it was an extremely windy day (gusts up to 50 mph). Unfortunately my legs also felt pretty tired from the start. I had taken the previous 2 days easy, but I think all the hard training had caught up with me.

I trudged along in the wind and the dark and tried to stay relaxed. The nice thing was that there was an amazingly bright full moon. It was so bright that I almost didn't need my headlamp.

My stomach had been going south for a while, my legs were totally dead, and I was generally in very tough shape around mile 20. I figured that when I saw Chen at mile 25 I'd have to tell her to go ahead without me. Over the next 5 miles, my stomach settled down though, and my legs started to feel a little bit better.

Then at mile 25 ... Chen! I think just having some company really boosted my spirits. My stomach was back to 100%, and my legs actually felt a bit better. I figured I'd run 5 or maybe 10 miles with Melissa and see how it went. If I needed to, I could cut the loop off short.

I kept on feeling better and was running sub 9 minute miles and feeling very comfortable. This was actually faster than the just over 9 minute miles I ran for the first 25. I decided to try to go for the full 50 miles. I figured there would be a good chance that I'd blow up, but I've always been pretty good at making bad decisions when it comes to running.

We kept on clicking off miles and making our way around the loop that went up around Bethesda. It was great to have some company and really helped distract me. At mile 35, I actually felt MUCH better than I did at mile 20. Distance running is a strange thing, but I was just happy to be feeling good.

Before too long, I was 40 miles in and still feeling decent. My legs were very tired, but I knew that I would make it to the end. Each mile got tougher and tougher, and by mile 45 I was in a world of hurt. But hey, what's another 5 miles?

Chen peeled off at mile 47. I was really hurting at this point and think I may have scared people I passed running through Georgetown, but I eventually made it home.

I finished a bit under 7 hours and 50 minutes, which made it a 50 mile PR for me by just a few minutes. Several things made me super excited by this run:

First off that I ran 50 miles. This was tied for my 4th longest run ever (Vermont 100, 68 miles at the TRT 100, 53 miles at Laurel Highlands, and tied with the JFK 50).
My legs were tired from the start, but I managed to keep on pushing for 50 miles, even when I really wanted to stop after 20 miles.
My stomach was not good but came back and felt great through the end of the run. I was able to get down a lot of food and dropped only 2 pounds during the run.
Got more used to running very early. I think part of why I struggled was the 4am start, and I'll have to face the same thing with the 4am start at the NJ 100.
Basically ran 2 big loops, which helped prepare mentally for 25 mile loops at the NJ 100.

I want to throw out a huge thanks to Chen. If it wasn't for her, I would have cut the run short at 30 miles and would not be as well prepared for the NJ 100. It was also really great to have some company at there. Chen, good luck at Napa!

I did end up tweaking my knee on the run, but I think it will be fine if I'm careful with it. I do have a bit of serious running left to do (including the Seneca Greenway 50K on March 4th), but the hardest training is done. Now I just need to stay sharp and make sure I'm rested for the big day!

2/15/11: 100 Mile Week

2011-02-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I hit a 100 mile training week. My training logs seems to think the last time was last May when I threw in a heavy training week before the Laurel Highlands 77 that I DNFed.

This last week looked as follows:

Saturday: 40 mile trail run
Sunday: 21 miles
Monday: Off (traveling for work)
Tuesday: 4 (quick run early in the morning while traveling)
Wednesday: 14 with 4x800 @ 2:45
Thursday: 12
Friday: 9

I ran the 40 miler pretty hard and ran the 21 fairly hard as well, so I didn't really mind taking it easier while traveling for work. My legs were still pretty shot on Wednesday, and the 800s definitely felt much harder than they usually would.

It was still a very solid week of training, and my legs held up well. This week I'm dialing it back a bit (targeting 70-75 miles), and then I'm planning to go nuts next week! Hopefully I'll get a 50 miler in on Saturday and be somewhere around 110 miles for the week. Then the taper will start for the NJ 100!

2/5/11: Building Character

2011-02-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

Training has been going incredibly well for the NJ 100. Maybe too well? Here are some of the highlights since I began serious training a month and a half ago:

5 weeks in a row of 90+ miles a week
4 runs over 30 miles, including a 35 and 40 miler
Some decent speed workouts such as 3 mile repeats in 5:39
Some pretty solid longer tempo runs in the mid to upper 6s

All in all, I couldn't really ask for much more (at least without hurting myself).

Today I ran 40 miles, which will hopefully be my second longest training run before the NJ 100. Naturally I chose to do this run on a cold, rainy day. I can say at the very least that this was a "character building" adventure.

For the entire ~6 hours it was about 34 degrees and rainy. I was also not very well prepared for these conditions. I mean who needs forecasts? I neglected to wear my waterproof jacket and actually wore nothing at all that was remotely waterproof.

After a few hours, I was pretty thoroughly soaked through. My hands were the worst. My gloves were soaked with freezing water, and I honestly thought I would have the bail out from the run because they were so cold. The trails still hadn't recovered from last week's snow either. A lot was clear, but there were stretches of several miles that still had inches of uneven ice.

Despite all these challenges (some environmental and some self-induced), I actually had a fantastic run. My legs felt solid, my stomach was fantastic, and I ran relatively fast (close to 9 minute miles).

Hopefully I can keep feeling good and have another solid run when I attempt ~ 50 in two weeks. And maybe I'll get to build some more character in the process.

1/17/11: Race Plans for 2011

2011-01-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

I've been going back and forth a lot on which races I want to do in 2011 and have finally figured it out. Maybe. I hope.

Running the Philly Marathon with dad and then setting a 5K PR shortly afterwards inspired me to change my original plan and focus on flatter, faster running. Don't get me wrong, I love running in the mountains. But those races reminded me that I also love running fast (or at least fast for me) and that road races can be a lot of fun.

The first big race will be the NJ 100 on March 19th. It's been a while since I finished the Vermont 100, and I've really been itching to finish another 100 after not making it at Tahoe. This is a flat course on a 25 mile loop trail that is very close to my parent's house in NJ. That should make the logistics very easy, and I'm hoping to be able to put together a good time with the easier terrain.

My only plans before the NJ 100 will be the Seneca Greenway 50K that I've run for the last 3 years. This should be a good tune-up race and gauge of fitness. I was thinking about throwing some other races in, but I think it's best to just focus more on training.

Late spring and early summer are still wide open. I'm sure I'll jump in some low key events, and I may try to run a fast 5K or something like that. Who knows! It would also be awesome to run a trail marathon or 50K with Dylan and Danny if I can talk them into it. What do you think fellas?

Then the big fall race will be the Chicago Marathon. I'm pretty fired up to try to train for the marathon again and break my PR. If all goes well, I'd love to be able to break 2:50.

So I'm sure there will be more to come, but that's the general plan. Training has been great the last few weeks, so the year is off to a good start! Hopefully it will pay off in these races.

12/11/2010: Magnus Gluteus 50K Race Report

2010-12-27T14:08:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I went back to Magnus Gluteus 50K for the 2nd year. I really like this race, which serves as the club's holiday party of sorts. What better way to celebrate the holidays than run 31 miles? The race is on the Bull Run trail, which is only about 30 minutes away, and it is a great time of year to get in a long training run with some friends.

The run went very well, and I had a great time just like last year. I was running on fairly tired legs after doing 80 miles the week before and hadn't done a run over 20 miles in a very long time, but I felt good nonetheless.

On the first 12 or 13 mile section, I was moving surprisingly well. I was running out in the lead and ran a pretty fast split on this hilly trail (sub 8 minute miles). I ran a lot of that section with a young guy from LA. He was a 5K runner, and his longest previous training run was a 13 miler the week before. Sounds kind of like someone I know (cough, Brome). Oh, and did I mention he was wear the Vibram Five Fingers and had never run in them on trails? That is crazy even in the world of ultramarathons.

Next I got to the infamous "Do Loop". The barely marked, unnavigable section that meanders through a heavily wooded area. As I went into this section, I lost the fast cross country guy. I didn't see him again and dearly hope that he made it out of the Loop.

I was relatively sure I was going in the right direction based on what I remembered from last year and was feeling pretty confident. Then I got lost. The good news is that I cut the loop a bit short. This was much better than the typical getting lost situation, which involves going round and round the loop until you're too exhausted to move and finally give up.

I don't think I cut too much of the loop, but I managed to get ahead of the first place guy who had passed me just as we went through the loop. Fortunately this is barely even a race with no entry fee, timing system, or any of the other formalities that would indicate it is actually a race. I wasn't too worried.

I got back to the main trail to run the same 12-13 miles back to the finish/start. My legs were getting very tired, and I slowed down but still made decent progress. I finished in 4:37, which would be a solid 50K PR had I not cut the course short.

I've been training pretty well since then and have been concocting some racing plans for 2011, but more on that in the next post.

Happy holidays, everybody!

11/29/10: Flemington Turkey Trot & 5K PR

2010-11-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

Steve and I have a semi-tradition of running the Flemington Turkey Trot each year. I realize that if it is "semi" then it really isn't a tradition, but oh well. Mike Mozer also joined in on the semi-tradition and rounded out our "Blood, Sweat, and Beers" team.

It's been a long time since I've run this race seriously since it's often right after a major race (Philly Marathon or JFK 50). For that matter, it's been a very long time since I've run any 5K seriously. But over the last few weeks, I've been running some surprisingly good speed workouts, so I decided to go for it.

My legs were still a little sore from running the Philly Marathon with dad 4 days before and doing a workout of 800s two days before. I felt pretty good all considering, though.

The gun went off, and the first mile went by quickly, as it always does. I was running very fast for me, but the pace felt sustainable. I hit the first mile in 5:32. I tried to stay relaxed and in control while still pushing the pace in the second mile. I didn't get an exact split for this mile, but I think it was around 5:45.

I was hurting in the last mile since I'm really not used to running this pace, but I know sub 18 and a big PR was in the bag. I hung on and finished in 17:48. That knocked out a long time goal of going sub 18 and was a 16 second PR. Also was good for 36th place out of over 5,500 runners. Woohooo!!!

So I guess even slow ultramarathoners like me can run fast sometimes. This also made me think how fast I can actually go for 5K. Maybe I'll give it a real go again someday.

Running has continued going well since the Turkey Trot. On Sunday I went for a long run on my favorite 25 mile loop (I mean who doesn't have a favorite 25 mile loop). I was feeling good and decided to run an extra 1.2 miles for hahas. Ran it in 3:15, which was surprisingly good for me.

I've been feeling awfully good recently, so hopefully I can keep it up and throw down some good performances this winter.

11/21/2010: Philadelphia Marathon

2010-11-21T17:26:00.001-08:00

Two posts in one day. You all are lucky readers!

Today was the Philly Marathon / Half Marathon extravaganza. Dad and I ran together in the marathon, Dylan (college roommate and Tahoe crew / guest poster) ran the marathon, Laura (Jen's high school friend and track teammate) ran the half marathon, and Roz (college friend) ran the marathon with one of her students in the Students Run Philly Style program.

It was wildly successful all around. Dad had an amazing race and ran 3:40, which qualified him for Boston with 5 minutes to spare! He ran strong the whole way, paced it perfectly, and just crushed it in general. We ran right around 8:12s for the first half and ran the second half in around 8:30s. This was only his second marathon, and it's incredible how well he had it dialed in. Congrats Dad!

I had a ton of fun running with Dad and really enjoyed the race. Highlights (aside from running with Dad) included excellent weather, gummi bears at mile 23, and liberal use of the beer aid station twice at miles 19 and 21. It's so good when it hits your lips.

Dylan did very little training and still managed to run 3:11 somehow. Rumor has it that he would have qualified for Boston if it wasn't for a porta potty stop. Dylan's ability to run races well with very little training just amazes me.

Laura racked up another half-marathon in her quest to run a half or a full in every state. Laura also didn't train a lot for this one but finished really well in 2:05.

We didn't get a full debrief from Roz, but we saw her out on the course running with her student. Students Run Philly Style is a great program, and it's great that Roz gives so much of her time to it.

Jen really outdid herself in crew duties this race. With so many runners going different distances, it was certainly complicated. Jen should write a book on how to crew in races. She's got a black belt in it.

I really like the Philly Marathon and have a ton of great memories there. I'm looking forward to going back there. Rocky has 5 movies (I only count 1-4 and 6), so I figure I should at least run the marathon that many times!

11/21/10: Mountain Masochist DNF

2010-11-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

This post is about two weeks late, but I unfortunately DNFed at Mountain Masochist. Here are the details of my latest saga.

It was a cold day, and we started off in the dark at 5:30am on the roads for 5 or 6 miles. I was running a brisk pace, feeling good, and clicking off pre-dawn miles quickly. After 6 miles, we hit the trail and starting climbing. I was feeling good on the trails and moving up in the field.

Around mile 9, I went for my first S-cap and took a fall. Nice move, Will. I looked down and discovered my leg had very quickly gotten covered in blood. It wasn't pretty, but I felt fine and kept on running. The upside was that I figured I was now in contention for the best blood award!

Jen was waiting at the mile 11.5 aid station. She quickly switched out my bottle for me and sent me on the way. Boy what a great crew I have! There was a long climb up to about 2,000 feet, and I was still feeling great and ran the whole climb.

I was in about 15th place at this point, which is great for me in the very competitive field there. Unfortunately I hadn't been able to drink much of anything the whole race. I've learned my lesson not to overhydrate and let it just come to me. My new formula is to take it easy on the drinking for a while, wait until I get thirsty, and then drink as needed. The problem was not I knew I was getting dehydrated but still couldn't get much down.

The top of the climb is at mile 17 or 18, and I was starting to cramp from the dehydration. My legs weren't doing very well on the downhill. I threw down a few S-caps in case it was an electroloyte issue, but they didn't help. I was still about run a decent pace and got to Jen at mile 22 not feeling great.

Jen filled up my bottle with ginger ale, which I hoped would help. From mile 22, it is a nasty 8 mile climb up to mile 30 and 4,000+ feet. A very daunting prospect when I already felt bad. I slowed down on the climb and tried to make it to mile 27. The bright side is that the views up there were amazing, as they were for much of the course. The beginning of November is close to peak foliage in southern Virginia, and these really were beautiful mountains.

I came into mile 27 in worse shape than mile 22. I still wasn't drinking much of anything and was starting to feel pretty out of it. I wasn't ready to throw in the towel though, so I managed to eat one whole grape and got back on the trail.

The wheels really started falling off on the last big nasty climb to mile 30. My legs were cramping, and I couldn't run uphill anymore. Something I did during the fall early on had apparently been getting aggrevated, and it was also very painful to run downhill. It was getting extremely cold moving up the mountain, and there was snow on the ground. Because I was moving so slowly, I was really freezing. Yeah, not good.

I literally stumbled into the mile 30 aid station. I slumped into a chair and put my head in my hands. A little kid was apparently concerned about my leg that was still covered in blood and offered me a band-aid. Very cute, but it wasn't quite going to cut it. I asked the aid station crew to fill up the 1/3 of the bottel I had managed to drink with more ginger ale and stumbled on down the trail.

I now have 6 miles to go to get to Jen, and I am not in good shape. I take a sip from my bottle, and it tastes god awful. I have no idea what the aid station crew put it in, but I immediately threw up everything in my stomach. Now I can't run uphill, can't run downhill, am ridiculously dehydrated and low on calories, and am freezing. Somebody get me off this mountain!

I have no choice but to keep moving, so that's what I do. Somehow I get off the trail to the dirt road that climbs to the next aid station. This mile long climb really seemed to just add insult to injury. I trudge on up, wander over to Jen, collapse on the ground, and announce weakly that I'm dropping. Jen immediately agrees that is a good idea all around and promptly tells the aid station workers I'm dropping. They also agree. I'm glad we're all in agreement. Jen half carries me to the car, and we drive off this helacious mountain.

I think I trained really well for this race and was in top shape. I felt great for a while and was running strong. But on some days things go wrong and there is nothing you can do. I'll hopefully go back to MMTR one day, and I hope to have a bit more luck!

11/1/10: Tapering like it's my job

2010-11-01T15:45:00.001-07:00

I’m five days out from MMTR and definitely ready to go!

Tapering is always weird. I can run 90+ mile weeks and feel awesome. Then I stop running, and I feel like I’m about to fall apart. It’s very strange, but I’ve gotten used to it. I don’t know if it’s the residual fatigue from training or just all in my head, but whatever causes it, I’ve learned not to stress out.

After the 22 mile run I did two weeks before the race, my right leg was feeling all sorts of messed up. My calf was blown, my knee was all locked up, and my hamstring was incredibly tight. I just took it really easy with the running and made sure to sleep a lot. Now I’m feeling really good and am ready to rock and roll at MMTR.

Mom and Dad were here last weekend, and it was great to see them. Dad and I went on a 12 mile run on Saturday and an 8 mile run on Sunday. It was awesome running with Dad as usual, though I still wasn’t feeling 100%.

Then on Sunday afternoon I went to the gym with the intention of lifting weights and maybe some stairmaster. My legs felt pretty good on the way over, so I decided to hit the treadmill. I ran 1.5 miles at 6:00 miles and then 2 10:00 miles at a 10% grade. The 6 minute miles felt pretty good, and the 10% grade felt REALLY easy. Better still, my legs feel great today.

I feel very ready for Saturday and just can’t wait for the gun to go off!

10/24/2010: Fine Tuning for MMTR

2010-10-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell, I'm really getting excited for the MMTR 50. The big training is done, and now I mostly just need to make sure I'm rested for the race. I definitely want to avoid what happened in Laurel Highlands, where I came into the race not nearly rested enough.

I hit 90 miles last week, which was the third week out from the race. While it may not seem like that is tapering at all, the mileage was heavily stacked to the start of the week, and I was taking it easy in the second half of the week. I ran 6 easy miles on Wednesday, 3 easy miles on Thursday, and took Friday off.

Aside from resting, my other goal is to do some fine tuning to make sure I'm fully race ready. The first part of that was to get in a "comfortably hard" final long run this weekend. I did some light running and cross training yesterday to make sure I'd be ready for a long run on the Potomac Heritage trail today, which is fairly hilly and has a good amount of short steep climbs. The goal was to run hard but not redline it.

I had hoped to run to the end of the trail and back, which would have been 26 miles. But my legs were feeling really tired and "tweaked" though when I started the run. I guess I was still feeling the 90 mile week and 44 mile long run. I decided to cut it short and maybe not run as hard.

The first 7 miles were on hilly roads. I was hitting around 8 minute miles, and my legs definitely were not feeling great. When I hit the trail at mile 7, I surprised myself by really coming to life. My legs hurt less, and I was able to pick up the effort level. I felt fantastic on the climbs and descents. Usually 10 minute miles is fairly brisk on the Potomac Heritage trail, but I was averaging under 9 minute miles. I came off the trail at mile 16 and ran pretty hard to the end. Finished in 3 hours 3 minutes, which is a 7 minute PR on that route. Definitely better than I had expected, especially with tired legs. This run was a huge confidence builder for MMTR, which is exactly what I wanted.

Later this week, I'm also planning to do one of my favorite workouts for ultras as long as my legs are up to it. It's a treadmill workout where I run a few 6 minute miles, take a short break, and run a few 10 minute miles miles at 10% grade. I love this workout because it is a bit of a speed workout and then a great way to practice running hard uphill when you're already tired.

I'll do another short speed workout early in the week before the race just to keep the legs moving. I'm also trying to do some cross training and strength training this week, though I'll back off from that next week. Yesterday I biked 10 miles easy and did a good amount of upper body lifting.

Hopefully this will all result in me being in perfect shape for race day on 11/6!

10/18/10: Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim

2010-10-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went for a really long training run with Greg. We figure the run was about 44 miles with 9-10K feet elevation gain, which makes it the biggest and baddest run I've done at least since my 53 mile DNF at Laurel Highlands in June.

Greg came up with the route, and a glorious route it was. The short version is that you climb up and over the Massanutten mountains, run across the Shenandoah Valley, run up the Shenandoahs to the Appalachian Trail, and turn around and do it again. Aside from running to another mountain range and back, another cool part is that the whole route is on the Tuscarora Trail, which is an ~250 mile trail that runs mostly parallel to the AT.

Here is the more detailed course description:

Start in the valley between the western and eastern ridge of the Massanuttens
Climb up the eastern ridge to about 2,000 feet (0 - 3 miles)
Run along the ridge with some great views out over the valley towards the Shenandoahs (3 - 6 miles)
For kicks descend back to the valley on the western side, climb back up, and descend over to the Shenandoah valley (6 - 12 miles)
Run across the Shenandoah valley and river on rolling dirt roads (12 - 16)
Climb forever from the valley up to about 3,500 feet (16 - 22.5)
Turn around and run back to car (22.5 to 44)

For the math whizzes out there, you'll see that the way back was a mile shorter. We took a shortcut route on the final descent (weak sauce, I know).

Below is a terrain map of where we ran. I've marked the starting point, where we crossed over the Massanuttens and into the valley, and where we hit the AT and turned around.

It was an awesome day out in the mountains. The weather was perfect, the views were incredible with the low humidity, and there was some good fall foliage. My legs were a bit dead after running 90+ miles the prior week, but I hit a groove after a few hours and stayed there for the rest of the 10 hour run.

Here are some pictures from the adventure:

(After climbing up the eastern ridge of the Massanuttens. We ran over the rolling hills up on the ridgeline that you can see in the center of the picture)

(View out over the valley to the Shenandoahs where we were going. It looked pretty dauntingly far away)

(Crossing the river down in the valley)

(We came across the biggest mushroom I have ever seen. It was bigger than Greg's head! Greg ate the whole thing while running)

(Part of the way on the climb up to the Appalachian trail. You can see the Massanuttens in the distance.)

(There's a trail somewhere in here!)

(Fall scenery up at 3,500 feet)

(Back down in the valley. The highest peak in the distance is where we came from.)

(View while climbing back up the Massanuttens)

(I really love this part of the trail that climbs back up into the Massanuttens)

(Another view over the Shenandoahs from the Massanuttens. Almost home!)

It was a fantastic run, and I was really excited by how good I felt. I'm pumped for MMTR in a few weeks and just need to make sure I'm fully recovered and rested!

Greg, thanks for keeping me company and designing a killer course.

10/10/10: Training Update

2010-10-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

Last week was a bit of a down week for training. I ended up hitting something like 55 miles. Most of it was pretty easy running with the exception of a track workout with three 1 mile repeats (5:57, 5:51, 5:38).

I was feeling pretty energized going into this weekend. On Saturday I ran 26 miles out in the Massanuttens. It was an absolutely beautiful day (got some good pictures below). The run was so/so, and I basically ran out of gas, but it was a good time.

On Sunday I followed it up with a fairly brisk 27 miles that felt pretty good. One more big weekend of training for MMTR and then it is taper time!

(Nice morning view into the valley)

(The eastern ridge of the Massanuttens. I'm running on the western ridge. You can see the Shenadoahs in the background, too.)

(It was definitely well into fall up top!)

(Looking out west towards the GW National Forest)

(VIew from Signal Knob)

(Even better view looking out east over the Massanuttens and Shenandoahs)

9/25/10: Training Update

2010-09-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

I've continued to have a great time running the last few weeks.

I took it easy for a week and then got back to 80 miles this past week. Last weekend I ran 20 and 22 miles, and both were really hard and by far the fastest I've run on those routes. As a result, I was mostly taking it easy and recovering the rest of the week.

Today I was still not feeling 100% and did 8 miles with a bunch of cross training (30 minutes biking and 1 hour stairmaster). Tomorrow I'm heading out to Bull Run for a long trail run (hopefully 30+ miles).

I also finally got around to posting the pictures from my run in Toronto. It was actually a much nicer morning and much more scenic than the pictures show.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I'm definitely putting my name in the for MMT 100 next year. We'll see what the lottery gods have in store, but I'm crossing my fingers!

9/11/10: Training Update

2010-09-11T06:03:00.000-07:00

This ended up being a great week of training. The stats are:

Saturday: 23 miles in the Massanuttens on the Tuscarora trail
Sunday: 26 miles on DC trails
Monday: 17 miles mostly on hilly roads with 2 treadmill miles at 10% grade and 6mph
Tuesday: Off due to work travel
Wednesday: 9 mile run in Toronota. It was a beautiful sunrise run along Lake Ontario. I took some pictures that I'll post soon.
Thursday: 11 miles
Friday: 9 miles with hill sprints
Total: 95 miles

I felt strong all week, and most of the runs were pretty fast relative to my usual pace. This was the third week of heavier training (75 miles, 85 miles, 95 miles), and next week will be a down week with 40ish miles to recover.

I'm taking this weekend mostly off while I help my Dad do some work at the Florida house and drive with him from Florida to DC to bring some things back to Jersey. It'll be good to take it easy and not run much for a few days after a tough week of training.

Hope you all enjoy the great fall weather!

9/6/10: Labor Day weekend training

2010-09-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

It has been an amazing Labor Day weekend here in the DC. For all 3 days, high temperatures have been in the low 80s with no humidity at all. In other words, a perfect weekend for tons of running!

On Saturday, I met up with Greg at Elizabeth Furnace for some mountain running. We did a roughly 23 mile out and back on the Tuscarora Trail, and it was a great day out in the mountains. Up on ridges, there was a great cool breeze, and the views were spectacular with the chrystal clear sky.

Unfortunately most of my pictures didn't turn out except for the one below, which was the view across the Shenandoah Valley towards where the Tuscarora Trail hits the Appalachian Trail. I've run a lot of the Tuscarora Trail, but this section was new, and views were great as you dropped off the mountain towards the valley.

On Sunday I did another 26 on trails around DC. I felt surprising good for the day after a long run in the mountains and ran much faster than expected. Then today I did another 17 or so with the last 2 miles on the treadmill at 10% grade.

That brought the total for the 3 days to over 65 miles, which is some of the best training I've done in a long time. My legs are pretty shot, but it felt great to get out there and run hard this weekend.

I'm looking forward to some more weekends of hard running on beautiful trails leading up to Mt Masochist. If this weather keeps up, it'll be a fun fall!

8/29/10: Training Update

2010-08-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Boy it's been a while since I've posted! I've been working a ton and traveling a lot, which unfortunately has cut into both running and blogging.

For the last month, training has been decent but not stellar. My mileage has been a bit lower than usual in the 60-70 range. I've done some pretty good speedwork on the treadmill while traveling for work, but the long runs and trail mileage haven't exactly been tip top.

I'm starting to build back up though and get myself ready for what I hope will be a good performance at the Mountain Masochist 50 miler in early November. I have plenty of time left but just need to start upping the mileage and hitting the long trails runs on the weekend.

Last week I managed 75 miles and had a pretty sold 25 mile trail run out on the Seneca Greenway. I felt pretty solid throughout and enjoyed getting back to the Seneca Greenway fro the first time since March. I also got a few pictures while out there:

(There a several nice looking fields towards the beginning of the Seneca Greenway)

(Creek I passed around mile 8)

Today I started off the week with a 30 mile run on some of the tougher trails around Washington DC, notably the Potomac Heritage trail. This run kicked my ass, but sometimes you need those kinds of runs. I also got a few pictures on the run. It was a bit hot and humid, but all in all was a beautiful day with some great views on the local trails.

(Near where I picked up the Potomac Heritage trail, which was around mile 4 of the trail. I took hilly roads through North Arlington and a few other smaller trails to get there. The creek is on the right with the trail on the left)

(Most of the waterfalls were running pretty low, but this one for some reason was flowing more than usual)

(Looking out on the Potomac River from the trail. About half of the trail runs right along the river)

(You can tell the Potomac is pretty dry from this view)

(Dumbarton Oaks, which is right behind Georgetown and little known treasure)

(More Dumbarton Oaks)

7/29/10: Catherine's 50K Race Report

2010-07-29T14:24:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I hit a new level of stupidity (hard to imagine, I know).

I was scheduled to run a 50K, which was a questionable idea in and of itself. I had been on vacation in Hawaii and hadn’t been running much. The course was also out in the Southern Massanuttens and a tough one with somewhere in the neighborhood of 7K feet of climbing. It would have been a rough return after the hiatus in the best of circumstances.

As it turned out, circumstances were not at their best. The forecast called for 100+ degree temperatures. Did this deter me? You would think so, but for some reason I still decided to run. I even threw in a cocktail party the night before just to make things interesting.

In one last bout of stupidity, I also opted not to go for the shortened route on the out and back course. What can I say? I guess sometimes you just have to put it on the line and see what you’re made of.

(At the race start. I was already starting to sweat!)

It was a tough run, but I finished pretty strong and had a good day all in all. The first ~9 miles was on some trails I’ve run before and is basically a long climb up followed by a long descent down to the first aid station. The climb went pretty quickly as my legs felt pretty fresh after the rest. I also made good time on the way down the mountain to the first aid station.

(Running down the mountain)

I blew through the aid station as the race director said there was a natural spring just a mile and a half down the road. I filled up my bottles there and had a kind volunteer pour a pitcher of spring water over my head. It was amazingly and gloriously cold. Apparently it is fed from deep underground.

The next 10 miles out and back from the spring were fairly uneventful. I was getting a bit tired along the way, as my legs weren’t really in top shape after vacation. I was moving a lot slower on the uphills in particular.

Despite filling up by bottles at the halfway aid station, I was running low coming back towards the spring and was also getting really hot. Temperatures were really rising on the course, and it was slowing me down.

I stopped at the spring for a few minutes to get a lot more cold water on my head, neck, and back. There are few things in life that feel that good. There are some that come to mind, but not many! My core temperature lowered significantly, and I came back to life. I motored down the gravel road to the aid station 9 miles from the finish. I came in feeling strong and quickly filled up my bottles and got some more cold water on me to cool down.

The huge climb up the next 4 or so miles was brutal. My legs were shot, it was really hot, and I could already tell that my two Nathan bottles wouldn’t get me to the finish. I kept chugging along and finally hit the top. I start moving faster on the downhill but was out of water with 4 miles to go. Luckily I passed Eva from VHTRC hiking up in the other direction, and she filled up one of my bottles. Thanks Eva!

The last two miles were a gentle downhill, and I made good time again now that I was rehydrated. I was also really motivated to finish and cool off. I finished in around 6:35, which is slow for me on that course, but I was pleased given the conditions.

I survived my own stupidity and came out with a pretty solid race. Now I’m just hoping it gets a bit cooler for the rest of the summer!

7/4/10: 4th of July Browntown Loop with VHTRC

2010-07-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met up with the VHTRC in the Shenandoahs for the traditional 4th of July running of the Browntown loop.

I run a lot in George Washington National Forest but have hardly spent any time in the Shenandoahs. Man I've been missing out! It was a beautiful 20-21 mile loop. There are some great views and a lot of fun trail that is very runnable (especially compared to the Massanuttens).

Below is a picture from the spot where we all met up at 7am. The trailhead was about 15 minutes away from here towards the mountains. While it was supposed to hot later in the day, it was mid 50s at this point and looking like an excellent day for a run. It did warm up as the day went on, but it never felt too hot with the shade on the trail and lack of humidity.

The next few pictures show the view from Big Devil Stairs, which we got to by a side trail at the top of the first climb. On the way up, we saw a bear from the distance, and there was a buzzard hanging out at the top of Big Devil Stair. Hooray wildlife!

I didn't really know the route, so I was trying to stick with someone who knew the way. That someone ended up being Keith, which meant I had to run hard. This was at the bottom of the first climb, and I was starting to feel not so good. I hung back a bit but kept Keith and John in sight and met up at the General Store.

The next climb really worked me over, and I felt like crap. Keith very kindly circled back for me to point me in the right direction for the next turn. It was all downhill from there, but I just couldn't get the legs going. I started to cramp up and realized I was probably low on salt. I ended up taking four S-caps pretty rapid fire and really came back to life. I was back to having a good time in the last few miles and finished strong.

Thanks to the VHTRC for another excellent run! I'm excited to get back out to explore this area again soon.

6/29/10: Gettin to It

2010-06-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

So first off, Eve is finally recovered from Laurel Highlands. Between waking up at 4am, playing all day at aid stations, having to sit in my lap when I was gross and sweaty, and me spilling Ginger Ale all over her on the way back to the hotel, it was a rough day for her. Ultramarathons are tough for all involved.

I’m feeling recovered as well, but it did take longer than I had anticipated. I thought I’d be 100% after a week, but it ended up taking a full two weeks. I guess 53 miles is still 53 miles even when it comes with a DNF!

My shin continued to bother me after the race, but it has been subsiding and feels back to normal now. I’m really glad I didn’t push further in the race and do something worse. My knee is also still a bit tweaked, but it is also continuing to get better.

At the end of the Laurel Highlands race report, I mentioned that I wanted to focus a lot more on quality over quantity. I’ve always been more old school and felt that you could extol quality all you want, but at the end of the day, the person who gets out there and runs the big mileage will end up winning.

In my new and reformed mindset, I still think that quantity is important, but I recognize that it just isn’t enough. I really want to take my running to the next level, and to do that, I need to be able to run fast on technical trails in the mountains for a long time. I have plenty of endurance, but I just don’t have the speed or technical running ability.

This last weekend was the first step in that direction. On Saturday, I drove up to Catoctin State Park to run with Greg Zaruba. He and I have run a lot of miles together in races, and Greg is a really fun guy. We ran close to 20 miles in the mountains through his backyard trails, and it was a really solid run. I felt great, the trails were beautiful, and it was a good time running with Greg. Greg is also a really strong downhill runner, so he pushed me a lot on the downhills, which has historically been a weak point.

On Sunday I ran 11 miles on the Potomac Heritage trail, which is a really rocky and technical trail that runs along the west bank of the Potomac and is very close to where I live. It was 99 degrees and humid, and I got very dehydrated, but I ran fast at least for the first half and had a solid run overall.

I’m already feeling a lot stronger on climbs and on technical trails. Here are some of the main things I’m planning on to continue moving in the right direction:

More time on the trails
More runs out in the mountains (ideally once a month or more)
Shorter, faster trail and mountain runs. Most of my trail and mountain running tends to be on really long runs, but I think shorter runs of 10-20 miles would help me get faster on trails.
Run timed routes fairly regularly and track progress. I think this will also help me get faster and will make it easier to see if I’m getting in better shape. Started by running 2:03 on the 11 mile Sunday run.
More track workouts with the DC Road Runners

I’m still planning to keep up a decent mileage base but will try to focus more on the above rather than being a slave to big weekly mileage. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

6/18/10: Laurel Highlands Ultra Race Report

2010-06-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I attempted the Laurel Highlands 77 Mile Ultra and unfortunately had to drop at mile 53. That being said, I’ve never been happier with a DNF for whatever that is worth.

It’s been a while since I’ve written up a full race report, so I’ll provide the full lowdown on Laurel Highlands even though I didn’t actually finish

Start to 11.6

Jen, Eve, and I woke up around 4am to go from our hotel room to the start line. Eve was wildly unhappy with being woken up that early. The race start was in a really great state park that had a beautiful waterfall running through it. I started thinking that white water rafting or kayaking may be a more fun outdoor sport for the day, but too late to change plans now!

We started at 5:30am, and it was just light enough to see where we were going on the trail. It was already humid with temps in the 70s, and it got up to the 90s later in the day. Not exactly ideal, but what can you do?

The first 8 miles is mostly climbing, and I severely underestimated this climb. I unfortunately didn’t have much opportunity to get out to the mountains to train, and the climb was tougher than it should have been. It certainly was beautiful, though. We broke through the clouds and got to see the tops of surrounding mountains peeking out around us.

I was pretty tired by the top of the climb, and my legs felt way more dead than they should have. While the terrain mellowed out, unfortunately my legs never came back to me. I think it was a combination of not having enough trail/mountain training and too short of a taper, but this was definitely the worst my legs have ever felt during a race.

My stomach also started going downhill fast around mile 8. Uhoh … all too familiar of a feeling. My stomach was rumbling and roiling, I felt really full, and I was having a hard time getting anything down.

It was going to be a tough day.

11.6 to 19.3

I rolled into the mile 11.6 aid station feeling like crap. But you can’t stop a 77 mile ultra 11.6 miles in. Unless one of your legs literally falls off, it’s just not an option.

I moved through quickly, said hi to Jen and Eve, and started plodding towards mile 19.6. Things definitely weren’t getting better. My legs still felt like lead, and my stomach was getting worse. I also managed to make a wrong turn with a group of guys I was running with that cost us about 15 minutes. Doh!

I kept on moving forward and running slowly with my main goal being to get to the next aid station. I figured that once I got there, I could reevaluate and figure out what to do.

19.3 to 28

Finally the aid station! I immediately sat down, poured a bunch of ice water on my head, and started chugging some soda. Eve sat in my lap, and we hung out for a bit. The soda gave me some much needed energy, and I at least felt a lot cooler, so I dragged my ass up and started running towards mile 28. I told Jen that it would take me a long while, but I’d meet her there eventually.

So far I have never been able to bring my stomach back after it went south. This time when things went bad, I just shut everything down. Stopped eating much of anything, didn’t drink much water, and stuck to whatever soda I could stomach with some regular S-caps. Slowly I started pulling out of the funk.

My legs still were no good, but I finally felt decent and had my stomach cooperating. Woohooo!!! I was still moving slowly, but it was getting to be much more enjoyable. The trail really was beautiful. It’s just covered in lush ferns and really is a great place to run.

As my stomach continued to settle down, I was able to eat some fruit and a Clif bar, which tasted pretty good. Later on I hit some Clif Shot Roks, which I’ve recently become a BIG fan of.

Around mile 26 you hit Seven Springs ski resort. It’s a really cool part of the trail that is really wide open and gives you a great view of the surrounding mountains. Before I knew it, I was at mile 28 and finally feeling decent. Jen said that I actually looked like I didn’t want to die. Next aid station was only 4 miles away, so I got myself moving on down the trail.

28 to 32.3

I was still in much much better spirits, but my legs continued their downhill spiral. I really didn’t know how long I could keep going and was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it 77 miles. But I was still having a good enough time and figured I’d keep shooting for the next aid station until my legs totally gave out. I figured that would be somewhere around mile 40 based on how I felt, which would at least be a respectable day’s work.

This stretch had a lot of hikers who cheered for us loudly as we went by, which was fun. I also had some company along the way for much of this stretch with a nice guy named David, who was having a great day and went on to a great finish.

32.3 to 44

I came into mile 32 tired but in good spirits. It was getting really hot by this point, but luckily we’d been in the shade for most of the day. I asked about the next aid station and was told it was at mile 39. I figured I could make it that far and told Jen that I’d see her there.

I took off and started slowly slogging through this rocky, technical patch. I was slowing down a lot, and my legs were seriously starting to hurt.

At mile 36 we got to the detour around the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The good part was that this section was on dirt roads and much more runnable. Bad part was that it was all in the sun, and it was REALLY hot.

As I kept chugging along the in the heat, I quickly started to realize that there wasn’t an aid station at mile 39. There was a manned water stop around 37, but I was only able to coax half a bottle from the guy. For some reason he seemed upset that I was asking. Given that he was there with the express purpose of handing out water, I’m not exactly sure what pissed him off so much.

At any rate, I was running out of water fast. I was carrying two Nathan handhelds with me, and they were getting empty fast. My 41 or so I was dry. I knew there was an aid station at mile 53 but didn’t know if there was anything sooner. If there wasn’t, I was going to be in big trouble.

I was making my way slowly up a big climb and getting incredibly worried about dehydration. Then I saw it! An aid station! My oasis in the forest! I took off running and ran my way all the way up there. As I got closer, someone started shouting over to me. Turns out it was Greg Zaruba.

Greg is fast guy, and I’ve had the pleasure of running with him in a bunch of races. He was recovering at the aid station, and there were a bunch of other guys trying to bring themselves back to life, too. Turns out that last section was brutal for everybody.

I got some much needed water, soda, and salt and was feeling MUCH better. Disaster avoided.

44 to 52.9

I left the aid station feeling better and was able to run for most of the first few miles. I then started to slow down fast, and by 48 or 49 just had nothing left. My legs were totally shot. I couldn’t run at all anymore, and my right shin was really starting to bother me.

I kept plodding along and inched my way closer to mile 53. I was planning to drop there and was feeling ok about calling it a day. Things hadn’t been ideal, but I’d gotten a lot further than I hoped. It was slow going, and I was very ready to call it a day when I got to the aid station.
I sat down and recovered for 20 or so minutes to make sure I was 100% in my decision to quit. I still felt crappy after resting there for a while, so I called it.

All in all, I’m really happy with how it turned out. I would really have liked to finish, and I think I could do very well on that course someday, but I pushed as hard as I could and ended up with my 3rd longest run ever (after Vermont 100 and 68 miles at TRT). Good enough for me.

The important thing is that I learned a lot from the race, including:
It is possible to pull my stomach back when it goes downhill. It seems like the key is to shut down the eating and drinking until it settles down and feels better.
I need more time in the mountains and on the trails. I knew I was pushing it with spending much of the year on roads training for Boston. Even aside from the climbing, it takes a lot of time on the trails to be good at running them. I need to be more consistent and will try to run tough trails more often in the next year leading up to TRT 100.
Do more course research. I got stuck out there without enough water and need to avoid that in the future.
Take Tylenol 8 hour before races and again during very long races. I think this would have helped a bit with my legs. I did it at Vermont 100 and had a good result there.

I’ll take it easy for a bit to recover but am excited to continue training hard and begin the long build-up to TRT 100 next year.

5/31/10: Indestructable

2010-05-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

This was a rare weekend of no running for me. Jen and I went back for our 5th reunion at Princeton, so I took a few days off, which I really needed anyway. Reunions was great as always. A lot of good friends, a lot of beer, a lot of dancing, and a lot of fun.

After a long weekend of hard partying, I decided to recover by waking up at 4:45am on Memorial Day for one last big training run before Laurel Highlands. I hit 42 miles in a faster than expected 6 hours and 45 minutes. The first half was singletrack trail, and the second half was mostly paved trail with some more single track

I felt really fantastic for the whole run and finished with a lot left in the tank. It was really hot and humid, but that didn't seem to bother me much. My stomach was also better than it has ever been on a really long run. I ate and drank a ton and felt 100% the whole way. On days like this you just feel indestructable. Everything goes right, and it feels like you can run forever.

Hopefully I'll feel the same way in 2 weeks. In the meantime, I need to do some SERIOUS tapering. I followed up 105 miles last week with this run, so I have a lot of recovering to do. I had to cram a lot of training in pretty quickly, but almost 2 weeks should still be enough time.

Bring it on Laurel Highlands. Bring it on.

5/23/20: Back to the mountains

2010-05-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

I'm a mere 3 weeks out from Laurel Highlands now and had a monster weekend of training. Jen was out of town for the weekend at her sister's bridal shower, so that meant it was time for some serious running!

I ended up hitting 60 miles for the weekend, which is a tie for the most I've run in a training weekend. All in all I felt great, and I think I'm in good shape for Laurel Highlands.

On Saturday I drove out almost 2 hours to the Massanuttens to run in the southern part of the range. I realized I hadn't been to the mountains since January, and it definitely kicked my butt.

I took a few pictures below:

The run started with a 5 mile climb up to Bird Knob that was 2K+ elevation gain. The terrain gets pretty gnarly in spots, and this is a picture of the "trail" up to Bird Knob.

Near the top I saw this guy in the middle of the trail. It was about 5-6 feet long, and I almost stepped on it!

Awesome view from the top of Bird Knob

View north towards where I started

The mountains in the distance are on the other side of the gap where I started. I've run over there before too, and it's also a great run.

Field about 8 miles in

Nice section of trail. This is as smooth as the Massanuttens get. No rocks!

Another nice view after the second big climb

Next weekend I'm hoping to do one more really long run that is around 40 miles. After that, it's basically taper for Laurel Highlands and hope for the best!

5/16/10: Born to Run Eve!

2010-05-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

So Eve is also Born to Run!

We were at a Dachsund Meetup recently, which basically involves 30 or 40 dachsunds running around a big yard. Pretty cute stuff.

Eve was having an awesome time tearing around the yard, and someone there was kind enough to take a few pictures of Eve running with their super awesome camera.

The pictures below are pretty outstanding. I'm not sure I've ever seen a creature look so happy while running!

On a side note, training is still going pretty well. My knee bothered me last week, but I just cross-trained for a few days and still managed to get in over 90 miles. After two 90+ mile weeks, which I'm not really used to at this point, I'm definitely in need of taking it a bit easy. I'll dial it back this week and then hit it really hard next weekend. I'm planning to head out to the mountains and will definitely bring a camera and post some pictures.

Happy running everybody!

5/9/10: Training Hard

2010-05-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

First off, I forgot to post the picture Jen took at the finish line of the New Jersey Marathon. What was I thinking?!

With Laurel Highlands not very far away, I've started training to get back in ultra shape. There isn't too much time left, but I do have a good base from pretty consistent miles throughout the winter and early spring.

Last week I ran 90 miles to kick things back in gear. I'm hoping to hit 100 miles this week. It's going to tough with work trips on Monday and Friday, so I kicked things into gear with 53 miles this weekend.

I went out to Bull Run yesterday for 35 miles, which was by far the furthest I've gone in a while! I had intended to more like 30 but somehow managed to get lost on a trail I run all the time and added another 5 miles. My legs were pretty beat, but my stomach held up well, and it ended up being a great run. Today I ran 18 and felt great despite the long miles yesterday.

I've got to do a lot of running between now and June 12th but am feeling good so far and looking forward to it. I took a few pictures yesterday at Bull Run. It was awesome weather and a beautiful day. Hopefully the good spring weather holds up for a little while longer before the DC swamp kicks in.

5/7/10: New Jersey Marathon

2010-05-07T15:45:00.001-07:00

Jen, Eve, and I headed up to New Jersey to join Dad for his first marathon. I was going to run with him, and Jen was going to provide her stellar support crew skills.

Dad trained really well and was extremely ready for the race. Unfortunately, the Jersey shore turned into a sweltering oven and made it a really tough day.

We lined up at the start and they blared Born to Run. Very fitting for a race on the Jersey shore (The Boss must have stolen the name from my blog, though). The song finished and we still hadn't started yet. Rather than play another song, they decided to blare Born to Run again. Awesome.

After getting our fill of Bruce Springsteen, we were finally off. The race started right on the boardwalk next to the beach. With the breeze coming off the ocean, it seemed deceptively cool. Once we got away from the beach, it was already a lot warmer even though it was only 9am.

We started off running strong and clicking off a bunch of miles around 8:20. Dad was feeling good, and we were moving well. It was probably 75 or warmer even towards the beginning of the race, so people were dumping cups of water on their heads to cool down from the start. There were also some kind people who lived along the course who had put sprinklers out to help runners cool off.

We kept motoring along and saw Jen again around mile 12. I had put sunscreen on my face in the morning but had foolishly forgotten to put it anywhere else even though I was running shirtless. In case you weren’t aware, I’m pretty pale. After a winter without much sunlight, hours in the blistering bright sun was going to cause some problems. Jen was planning to swing back to the car to get some sunscreen, but it was in Dad’s car, and she didn’t have the keys. Doh! After we went by Jen, there was a big crowd of people. I spotted some steaky Jersey shore guy putting on sunscreen and ducked off the course to bum some sunscreen off him (thanks, dude). Even with that I STILL ended up getting burned.

Anyway, I caught back up to Dad, and we came towards the halfway point in around 1:52 and were still feeling strong. The marathon does the half marathon course twice, which is rough when you have to run through the finish line when you’re only halfway down. I suppose such things build character.

Now it was really starting to get tough out there. I’m guessing it was well into the 80s at that point and on its way into the 90s. There was very little shade, no cloud cover, and we were running on black asphalt. Each aid station became mostly about dumping as much water as we could on ourselves (and trying to avoid dousing ourselves in Gatorade).

Dad continued running a fast pace around 8:30s until mile 17 or so. From here to the end was really a battle against the heat. There was just no way to keep from overheating. It was really getting ugly out there. A lot of people were dropping from the race (something like 40% dropped), people were collapsing on the side of the course, and a number of people ended up needing medical attention. It was really all about survival at this point.

Somewhere around mile 22 or 23 that same damn guy in the Minnie Mouse costume who passed me at Boston passed me AGAIN. Man, I’m not sure how many more times I can take getting passed by this guy.

Anyway, we kept slogging it out and hit the finish in 4:14. We were both spent. I’m still amazed that Dad was able to finish his first marathon in such brutal conditions and run so well on top of that. Congrats Dad!

We tried to find some shade as soon as we could to start cooling down. Both of our stomachs were also in tough shape since we had to drink a lot more to stay hydrated than we were used to. After recovering for a bit, I downed a big, ice cold root beer float. Boy was I a happy guy.

It was certainly a tough day, but I had a great time running with Dad as usual. He is recovering extremely well and already back running. He’s even starting to threaten another marathon, which will hopefully be in cooler conditions (couldn’t really be much worse). I’ll keep you all posted.

In the meantime, I need to start upping the miles, throwing down some really long runs, and getting my mountain legs back to get ready for the Laural Highlands 77 mile race on June 12th. I ran 90 miles this week and am heading to the Massanuttens tomorrow for what will hopefully be a 30+ mile run out in the mountains. The race isn’t that far away, so hopefully I can get ready in time!

4/24/10: Boston Marathon Pics

2010-04-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

I took a few pictures before and after the race that I wanted to post.

So far recovery has been going pretty well. Took it easy this week and started loosening up.

Foolishly went out and ran a 5K this morning pretty hard, but more on that soon.

Dylan is so excited!

Athlete's village in Hopkinton. It was pretty crazy there! Good music over the loudspeakers though.

Oh my god. This guy is ready to go!

Rocking out by the portapotties.

Tata Consultancy took a picture of me on the course and e-mailed it to me. Not really sure why, but thanks Tata! You can see that I was hurting at this point.

After the race. Victorious!

Robert Anderson came by to watch the finish and somehow managed to find me in the mess of people. Thanks buddy!

Public gardens again .... I love gardens

Taking a breather in the public gardens and having a few snacks. We ran 26.2 miles and burned about 3000 calories. What did we get for it? A 100 calorie pack. Dylan was not amused. He's about to say a particular 4 letter word. See if you can guess what it is.

This may be the picture where Dylan looks most like Prefontaine. We decided to recover after the race by immediately heading to Cheers bar (yes, that Cheers bar). Nothing like a beer and a mountain of fries to replace calories. It was a ton of fun, and there were a bunch of other marathoners in the bar.

First Sam Summer of the year. Delicious.

4/22/10: Boston Marathon RR

2010-04-21T17:19:00.001-07:00

On Monday Dylan and I ran the 114th Boston marathon. Since running my first marathon in 2004, I’d wanted to run Boston. I qualified in 2006 and then couldn’t run it for a few years, but I finally made it! Dylan qualified handily in San Francisco with a 2:58, so we were able to tackle this thing together.

Koushik’s apartment was amazingly well situated for the race (thank you Koushik). It was maybe a 10 minute walk to where we caught the buses to the start. We got to the bus area at 6:40 and a mere 2 hours and five minutes later were finally at the race village in Hopkinton. Yes, the winner of the marathon RAN the whole race in the time it took for us to take the bus.

Dylan and I did all the usual pre-race rituals – peed in the woods, pooped in the Portapotty, taped and lubed various parts of our bodies, and peed in the woods again. Nobody ever said marathoning was pretty!

We had a pretty good seed with our qualifying time that put us close to the front, which was cool. The gun went off, and we start cranking downhill. The first 4 miles of the course was downhill with a bunch of flatish miles after that. We were mostly hitting 6:20s and 6:30s, which definitely didn’t feel very easy, but we went for it anyway.

The crowd was awesome from the start. Most of the city has Monday off, and these people know how to spectate a marathon! One other racer put it very well: “other marathons like New City also get a big crowd, but this is a professional marathon crowd … they know how to do it.” Well said, sir. There is an impressive amount of drinking, yelling, signs, and true running appreciation. One knowledgeable fan cheered on Dylan by saying “that guy’s got a Pre stache! Go Pre!”

I was starting to hurt around 7 or 8 and was wondering how this thing would play out. Between mile 12 and 13, you hit Wellesley, which definitely helped pick me up. I’d heard a lot about this section but still wasn’t prepared for it at all. To say there screaming girls lining the course is really an understatement. You can hear it coming from hundreds of yards out. The sound as you’re going through is deafening, and my ears were ringing afterwards. All of them are also inexplicably trying hard to kiss very gross, smelly runners. In a word … awesome. No kisses for this guy. Saving those for someone else (you guessed it … Eve).

I hit the half in 1:24, almost dead on what I did in Philly last time. Unfortunately, I started fading quickly after that. My pace was still decent until the Newton hills, but then it became much more of a struggle. I’ve run tens of thousands of feet up and down mountains, but Heartbreak Hill just owned me. I was hoping I’d come back to life after hitting the top at mile 21 and then work the downhill to get sub 3, but that wasn’t to be.

Low point was definitely when I was passed by a dude in a Minnie Mouse costume around mile 23 or 24. When Minnie Mouse passes you and you can’t respond, you know you’re in tough shape. I was slowing down but still kept at least a decent pace and crossed the finish in 3:04. That put me just a bit faster than Philly in 2006 but a ways away from my 2:55 in Philly in 2008. I was definitely happy with the finish though.
Dylan finished not far behind in 3:19. He had some vicious hamstring cramps but in typically Dylan style pushed through and still threw down a good performance.

All in all it was a great day. Really good weather, great crowd, and good company. I have a feeling I’ll be back for the Boston Marathon in the near future.

I’ll also come back to post some pictures soon.

4/18/10: Pre-Boston w/ D'Fitz

2010-04-18T18:26:00.001-07:00

Question: Who is this person?
a) Prefontaine
b) Homeless guy asking for change
c) Del Piero
d) Will's long lost running partner

Answer: All of the above! Yes, that is me, Steve "Dylan Fitz" Prefontaine getting ready for Boston while wearing a Del Piero soccer jersey (gotta stay focused on the World Cup even during the race) and I am away from home so I yes indeed homeless. Just before the picture was taken I dropped my "Will run marathon for water and gatorade" sign.

While some people prefer to train with massive amounts of running (see Will's taper as reported in the previous few posts), I, Steve Prefontaine, chose to forgo my usual incognito persona of Dylan the graduate student to return to the hairstyle and mustache that propelled me into a legendary runner. It is true - I, Steve Prefontaine, am returning to running! Because I have been in hiding as Dylan Fitz, graduate student mediocre, you might expect me to run at the normally slow pace that "Dylan" usually runs at. However, tomorrow I will let loose and unsheath my inner competitive sword to cut into Boston through the Heartbreak Hill. Look out!

The expo today was good and crowded. If I had exposed myself as an elite runner before hand, it would have been nice to have skipped the expo and sent Will "Pre's Little Errand Boy" Weidman to register for me. But the best laid plans are often developed while posting blog entries on BTR well after the plan would have proved useful.

Anyway, I've gotta go pick up a chick and cut my toe so that everyone is impressed by my ability to run through pain and bloody feet. Follow my results tomorrow on the Boston Marathon website and on BTR!

This is Boston Commons.

Fan of BTR Koushik Das (special thanks for housing us) and Steve Prefontaine

Water

Good weather for the race

The long walk to the expo

This picture is pretty small, but adidas developed a great add campaign for their Boston Marathon "BM" (hahaha) gear. They had this incredibly large picture of a female runner squatting over a camera. But have no fear, we will be very cautious of the transparent sidewalks with cameras pointed up our shorts during the race. After all, I want to receive money for my money shots!

4/11/10: Muir Woods Marathon pictures

2010-04-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

I took a few pictures with the big guy out on the trail. Rachel also took a bunch of pictures in addition to being support crew. Thanks, Rachel!

Awww, so cute

Near the start line on a cloudy morning

Brome is already having trouble drinking water. I'm sporting my "Top Golfer" hat and have the game face on.

Already having way too much fun

Brome celebrating success early

Celebration may have been a bit premature. Danny looks a bit scared.

Looking up the mountain we're about to climb.

And we're climbing!

Victoriously entering the first aid station at mile 3 after 1,800 feet of vertical

Brome hauling some ass out of the first aid station

Refueling at 11 miles. Despite Brome's face here, he was running well and feeling good (or so he told me).

Me pointing to Brome. I was beginning to be amazed by his performance.

This was a really beautiful section, so I took some pictures while Brome went ahead.

It was super green and lush here. Probably because it was raining so much.

Coming into mile 20

Rachel got this really cool shoot of us in the distance coming out of the last aid station. Around here we realized that we were only about 3 hours in and starting turning it on.

Glorious finish!

Brome's face shows he is not someone to be messed with

Man, it was a good day ....

Muir Woods Marathon

2010-04-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

[Guest Post]
This morning I managed to slow Will down enough to keep up with him for almost four hours, a substantial achievement by any standard.

The race started off from the beach, and started with a pretty steep climb over the first three miles up to an aid station at about 1800 feet. Most people were pretty restrained on the ascent, which helped keep Will from going into a bloodlust and charging off so I couldn't keep up. This part of the trail was really cool-- there were a few little waterfalls, lots of big mossy trees, and a ladder. My special friend Rachel was waiting for us at the aid station at the top of the climb, and we convinced Will to pause and enjoy a gatorade, instead of charging through. Heading out of the aid station, we passed a group middle-aged female hikers; one of them looked at Will and exclaimed "nice bod!" We were all thinking it, somebody had to say it. Then we headed down into Muir Woods, a great national park with huge redwoods and tourists, dropping almost the full 1800 we climbed, then heading right back up to the same aid station at mile 11. Rachel was there again, and supported us while we ate some ultra Cheeze-its.

After mile 11, most of the run was along a relatively flat out and back. We passed some delightful wildflowers, and then some fog rolled in, temperature dropped, and a little rain started. Will's tiny frame almost got blown off the mountain. The weather was actually fairly awful-- much worse than Birkie! weather. Our fingers had a tough time with the snacks we brought along. We made it to the aid station at mile 17 feeling great, the flat part went by really nicely, and the fan cheered us in. From there it was just a mile and a half to the turn around, so we got to see who was ahead of us. Other than one dude who was absurdly far ahead, we were pretty pleased to note only a handful of folks ahead of us, and Will got a little fired up for a top ten finish. I was feeling good, so I let him take the lead (in the run and the conversation), figuring I would try to hang on as long as I could.

We kept up a good pace through the flat return, then Will let loose on the descent to the beach. Truly terrifying. I think we were moving so fast the poison oak couldn't stick to us. The just a short trip through Stinson Beach to the finish, and one marathon done.

All in all, a pretty awesome race. Great trails, nice people, and an huge chunk of uncut WillGT time. Will's got an intense summer schedule of running, but that will be important to get him ready for Birkie! 2011. He's going to rock it in Boston with D'Fitz and Jersey with his dad, then get back to his absurd long runs. The amount Will runs is crazy, but after today I can definitely see the appeal.

4/10/10: The Hall of Fame

2010-04-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

This morning, I had the pleasure of running the Muir Woods marathon with Daniel Brome. You may have seen in a previous post that Brome signed up for this basically on a whim and trained for 2 weeks.

The Muir Woods Marathon has 4.5K feet of elevation gain, which would be tough for anyone, let alone someone running their first marathon after signing up a few weeks before.

I was expected something in the 5 hour range. Brome blew my mind and ran 3:45 and finished top 10!!! This must be the finest athletic achievement since Abebe Bikila won the Rome marathon barefoot in 1960.

Ladies and gentleman, a sub 4 hour marathon is fantastic. It is even more impressive when it is someone's first marathon. It is incredible when run on a trail marathon with tons of climbing. With the minimal training, I don't even know what to call this.

Brome's achievement has inspired me to create the BTR Hall of Fame, with Brome being the first inductee. Congratulations my friend. It was an honor running with you.

I'm going to turn it over to Brome to recount his tale of glory and victory.

4/6/10: Spring Running

2010-04-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have a lot to write about but very little time to do so!

I've been very focused on ramping up to Boston over the last few weeks. I was sick for about a week, but have still been managing to jam in a lot of quality workouts, including:

3 miles in 18 minutes
16 miles with 12 @ 7:15s
19 miles in low to mid 7s
800s in 2:49s
3x1 miles in 5:45s
21 miles with 16 @ 7:00s

I've started to feel pretty good and am exciting for Boston. I don't think I'm in better shape than I was before Philly, but I feel like I have a good shot at sub 3.

It has also been some amazingly glorious running weather here in DC. The first set of pictures below was taken on various days while running around town. The second set is from a trip to wine country with Jen and Eve that also included some hiking in the Shenandoahs. It was awesome!

I'm looking forward to running the Muir Woods marathon this weekend and will definitely post some pictures soon.

Happy spring running!

Canal by Georgetown

Early spring in Rock Creek Park

Cherry Blossoms one morning

Random little park close to me

Eve loves wineries

Grey Ghost winery

Sharp Rock Vineyards

B&B where we stayed for a night

More of the B&B

And more. The grounds were really beautiful.

Climbing up during our hike

Eve wasn't quite up to a 6 mile hike, so she got to enjoy the ride for a while

3/28/10: Running with the big guy!

2010-03-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about running the Muir Woods Marathon the weekend before Boston for a while now. It probably ... correction, definitely ... isn't the smartest idea, but as I'm already in San Francisco that week, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity for a beautiful run through the Marin Headlands.

Now here is the amazing part. Dylan and Brome have been trying to get me to do the Birkie 50K cross-country ski race for a long time. One of the deal sweeteners they threw in was that Brome would do the Muir Woods Marathon with me if I agreed to the Birkie. Dylan has also threatened to run a 50 miler with me.

So here we are today, and I just signed up for the race two weeks out. To my knowledge Brome has never run a race longer than a 10K. I think he runs somewhat regularly and know he plays lots of ultimate, but he certainly hasn't been training for a marathon.

Does that stop him? Nope! Big papa Brome signed up, too. His first marathon. Signing up two weeks ahead of time. Not just that, but it's a trail marathon with 4.5K feet of climbing. But he's not letting that stop him. Brome, you're a monster.

I for one can't wait to run with the Big Guy. In my next 3 races I'll be running with Brome in Muir Woods, Dylan in Boston, and my Dad in the NJ marathon. It's going to be great!

3/7/10: Seneca Greenway 50K

2010-03-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my third trip to the Seneca Greenway 50K. I really love this race. It's incredibly well organized, I like the course, and it only costs $20!

Man did I end up having a tough day. My last few races have gone well, but yesterday was definitely a relapse of the 2009 debacles. A hadn't run much for a little while with the Jackson Hole ski trip, my legs were still shot from said ski trip (skiing Jackson is tough!), and deep dish pizza for dinner the night before had its revenge. What they say is true: Chicago and ultramarathoning truly don't mix together.

The short of it is that the first 15 miles went pretty smoothly. My legs were tired and much of the first half was covered with snow and ice still, but I made decent time and was averaging around 8:20-8:30 miles. I also got to run a bunch of those miles with Greg Zaruba, which is always a good time.

The wheels started exploding off in the 4 mile loop around the lake with my usual stomach problems. I came into mile 19 in big trouble. All I could really do was back off the eating/drinking and try to plod forward and get the thing done.

It was pretty rough, slow going. I did manage to get a bit of food and Coke down at mile 25. I was in a world of hurt in the last few miles and ended up throwing up a mile from the finish. Well man did I feel good after that! I flew through the last mile to finish in 5:37.

So it was a slow time, but I was really happy I persevered finished. I hung out with the VHTRC crowd for a while at the finish and nursed myself back to health. Big shout out to Zaruba who ran 4:36 in really tough conditions. He's a monster.

Today I felt pretty good and ran another 16 miles. The weather was awesome! It was about 60 and sunny, which felt amazing after a long and cold winter. The trails were all clear and dry around DC, and it was fun to hit the dirt again.

I'm looking forward to training hard, getting back on the trails, and enjoying some early spring running. Get out there and run, everybody!

3/3/10: Jackson Hole

2010-03-02T19:12:00.001-08:00

I just got back from a trip to Jackson Hole with my Dad. It was our twelfth annual winter trip out West! While we went for the skiing, we also did some running, which I suppose makes it fair game to post here.

Jackson Hole is tucked up in the northwest corner of Wyoming close to both Idaho and Montana. It is very close to Yellowstone National Park and basically right in the middle of Teton National Park.

It was a really beautiful place and unlike any other place I have been. The whole area is very remote and doesn't have the usual built-up feeling you get with ski towns.

We got in 3 days of skiing and also went out for 3 runs to shake the legs out. Nothing like running at 6,000 feet after a long day of skiing!

I would love to come back to ski Jackson again and would also love to come back in the summer. Maybe someday I'll make it out to the Teton ultras on Labor Day weekend.

(Looking up the mountain from the base)

(Looking over the surrounding mountains from the chair lift)

(The ski was such an incredible blue. The pictures don't really do it justice, but you can definitely get a sense for how beautiful it was)

(Looking out from the highest point at the top of the Tram at 10.5K feet. In the distance you can see the Grand Teton)

(Dad at the top of the tram)

(A happy skier)

(More of that bluebird sky)

(Looking across the mountain)

(Looking out over the Snake River Valley)

(Grand Teton in the distance again)

(View of the surrounding area while I was out on a run. I came to a few spots that were even more scenic, but unfortunately my camera lense had frozen. It was about 10 degrees.)

(View of Jackson Hole while driving from the airport. What is amazing is that you can barely tell it is a ski area. Jackson has so much extreme terrain, trees, chutes, and out of bounds skiing, that you can barely tell it apart from the surrounding mountains.)

(The Grand Tetons again on the drive to the airport)

(The airport is actually nestled in right by the Tetons. You can see them just behind the airport. It made from some really scenic flights in and out.)

2/15/10: A Bunch of Sissies

2010-02-15T03:58:00.001-08:00

I was supposed to run the George Washington Birthday Marathon this weekend. I was really looking forward to this race, as I had a great time there last year.

They ended up cancelling the race because of the recent snowstorms. Seriously?! I mean it’s a road marathon, and the snow was finished 5 days before the race.

Ah well, what can you do? I’ve been trying to get a lot of miles in with the snowy conditions. My runs have been slow, and my legs are shot, but hopefully it’s making me tougher. All of my runs are on a mix of packed snow, slush, and deep snow.

The trails are still beautiful, and the forests are still just covered with snow. I was kicking myself for not taking my camera with me yesterday, as there were really some great shots.

Next race up is the Seneca Greenway 50K on March 10th. They are thinking about rescheduling the GW Marathon for March 6th, but I’m not totally sure how that will fit into Boston and other race plans.

Enjoy all that snow, everybody!