Inside the mind of an Ultra-runner

My iPod is full of all sorts of things from Avril Lavigne to The Zencast. Through iTunes I have created playlist that carry me along the trail or propel me along the road. There are a fairly solid stable of podcasts that I listen to. Recently a couple of the ones I have listened to have some pretty insightful interviews with two luminaries of the ultra running world; Karl Meltzer and Scott Jurek.

Mike, an accomplished ultra runner himself and the host of Dirt Dawg’s Running Diatribe spends an hour chatting to Karl. Fresh off running the Pony Express Trail, Sacramento CA to St Louis MO, some 2000 miles. They talk about UTMB, Karl’s odds, nutrition and a whole bunch of other good stuff.

At the other end of the spectrum are Ray and Jason and two relatively new runners with their sights set on their first marathon sometime in 2011 and hosts of the Geeks in Running Shoes podcast. They spend an hour with Scott where they peel back the layers of what goes through your mind when running 100 miles and discuss the famous Green Magma!

There are a few other interviews or ultrarunners out there mostly on Endurance Planet, which is on hiatus at the moment including Anita Ortiz, Duncan Callahan, Nikki Kimball, Hal Koerner and the Gran Daddy of Ultra Running Gordy Ainsley

Got a long run planned this weekend and need some company why don’t you take one of them on a run with you…

End of the experiment…

Back in June I installed a plug in called Intense Debate, it was designed to make the comments more interactive and more connective. I really liked that premise and the fact that I was getting bombarded by spam comments such as:

I immediately noticed a drop in comments and that never really picked up . Now I am the first to admit I am a comments whore…and of course that reduction is most likely directly correlated to my status as a bad commenter, I have actually been reading and commenting when I get a chance which is usually around 5:30am! 12:00pm or 11:00pm! So a big thank you to all who persevered and I am trying to catch up on my Reader.

Anyway times have moved on and Google has now implemented a Spam filter which catches all the Spam and the occasional proper comment, there are a couple of other security measures added like Capcha and the like. The above combined with the somewhat confusing registration process of ID I have decided to remove it.

Alas all the comment left in the last 5 months have been removed too :-(

Normal service has been resumed.

Wordless Wednesday…

Well wordless for me!

Click here and smile!

Re-zoning!

Fear not I am not about to tear down your local quaint Main Street and throw up a 1,000,000sqft Mall! What I am talking about is changing my zones that I posted about here. After posting them Wes from A Code Geeks Tail asked where I got my zones from and I pointed him in the direction of the website…and this is why I love being a blogger and the community of athletes that I know, he immediately offered to work out my zones properly and suggested I follow the 20 minute test, of course he didn’t offer to do the test for me!

 Click on the image to go to the full article!

And of to the gym I went, there was no point in trying this on the road, I work in the foothills, it’s all up or down.

I set the treadmill at 1% grade and set off. A simple 10 minute warm up, 20 minutes at best effort without blowing up and then a cool down, average HR for the 20 minutes: 164.66, let’s call it 165. Not sure what the heart-fart is around minute 17 through? And I was surprised to see that I can still throw down some consistent  sub 7:00 miles, although it’s a ways off my 5k best pace.Here’s the GTC output, I emailed it off to Wes and overnight got the response…

Woot! Just as a reminder, here’s what I had by comparison to the new ones:

As you can see they are a lot narrower in the spread and with the first three have a higher upper limit. I’ve reset my zones in GTC, on my 305 and in SportTracks and so now on with the show, Zone 2 here I come!

Of course none of this was possible without Wes, so a big Big HUGE thank you to him.  If you haven’t checked out his blog you should, self described as: “A Neo Southern Gentleman from the Heart of Dixie, navigating the silver waters of the IT industry, IT Consultant, family man, marathoner, triathlete, Ironman. Come dance with me as I train for Ironman Arizona in November 2010...”

So what are you waiting for…he asked you to dance!

Broadening the horizons…

I have  a pretty long blog list, it runs (no pun intended) the gamut of the endurance sports world from midpackers to elites. It includes many that I am sure you are familiar with, Frayed Laces, ChicRunner and DCRainmaker to name but a few (and if you’re not you should be) but there are also a few that you might be less familiar with and in fact these span the world geographically. So let me introduce you to five blogs you never knew you needed to read!

Just us and a Few Friends: Ian is a fell runner, ultra runner and photographer who documents his jaunts in the English countryside, always with sense of humor and a great eye for the camera!

Banff Trail Trash; Leslie is a skier, trail runner, adventure racer and lover of the great outdoors, she travels, races, writes and roams about the mountains in her back yard; Banff!

Competitive Cycling; Groover is a German import into Brisbane Australia, a cyclist since 20o3, she’s climbed the ranks through blood sweat and gears and now races Elite Woman B, follow her if you can!

Tony Western States 2010; Tony lives by and will be racing the Western States Endurance Race this June, follow his training and he takes you to that start line and the finish line!

The Running Fat Guy; Glenn is a relative local, about 100 miles south of me, in the third year of running, he is "just an old guy…trying to get fast, drop weight, and keep it fun!” You can’t say fairer than that!

So there you have it some new reads for you, pretty diverse and definitely global, UK, USA, Canada and Australia!  Take a peek, leave a comment and stick around for the ride!

Tonight’s special guest…

I am slammed this week, I knew I was going to be so in the spirit of complete laziness cooperation I asked one of my favorite podcasters Barb from the Kelowna Gurls Tri’s Podcast if they would be willing to write up a blog post for me in my absence and to my surprise she said yes!

In case you don’t know Barb, here’s how she describes herself; In 2008, I documented my journey to become a triathlete. A couch potato most of my life, I began cycling as a means to weight loss in 2006 and over that year, fell in love with biking, and lost 20 lbs. As my fitness level increased, I began to wonder if I could run, and in 2007, I had run my first 5K in 26:16! Last January, I returned to the pool after a 35 years hiatus, took some lessons, and then practiced on my own 3 times a week with a goal of completing a sprint triathlon in August 2008. And I did it with great personal success! Meeting my time goal (1:30), coming in 4/11 in my age group, and exceeding my goal in the bike portion was tremendously fulfilling and made me finally realize – I AM an athlete!

Pretty cool huh! Anyways she’s an awesome person and athlete and was really the catalyst for me getting my act together in the pool! Find her here on Twitter. I am really grateful and happy to share this with you, maybe this will start a trend, enjoy….

So you wanna be a triathlete?

Or at least you're thinking about it, right?  You can't tell me you can read the Quadrathon blog every day, and see a hard core runner like Stuart turning himself into a triathlete, and not be at least a teensy bit inspired to give it a go yourself!

I know, you're probably thinking - "but I can't swim!"  Or perhaps - "I haven't been on a bike since I was 10."  Whatever. Those are just excuses.  My personal excuse was  "I can't run the end the the block" AND "I haven't had my face in the water for 35 years."  But I did it.  And if I did it, and if Stuart can do it, then so can you.

So what do you need to be able to do?

Well, if you're lucky, there's a Try-a-Tri or some other aptly named mini-triathlon (perhaps a Super-Sprint?) within driving distance of you. Go google it and see.  Go ahead, I'll wait right here.

If you didn't find a mini-triathlon for beginners, they I'm sure you found a sprint tri.  It's a little longer than a mini-triathlon but it'll still be ok for your first race. There are LOTS of newbies just like you even in the sprint tris so don't worry. You will not be alone in your newbie-ness.

Most Try-a-Tris or Super Sprints require you to swim about 300-400m. That's about 12-16 lengths of a standard 25m (or 25 yd) pool.  You can do it with a little practice, believe me.  If you choose a tri with a pool swim, you can even hang on and rest after each length if you really need to.  And to be honest, a LOT of try-a-tris with a lake swim (also known as an OWS) are kept in the shallows so you can stand up and take a breather if you need it.

OK, you've done the swim. Next you have to bike about 6 miles and then finally, you run about 1-2 miles.  I know, now you're thinking, "That sounds pretty easy, I think I might be able to do a regular sprint tri." Well then, go for it!

The standard distances for a regular sprint triathlon are:

Swim: 500-750m (20-30 lengths - pool sprint tris are often only 400m swims though)

Bike: 20 km (16 miles)

Run: 5 km (3 miles)

Equipment: 

You need a bike. Any bike will do. Dust off your old mountain bike, pump up the tires, maybe take it down to your local bike shop and have them give it the once-over. If you don't have a bike, then borrow one. SOMEbody you know must have a bike that fits you.

You'll also need:

A swim suit

Goggles

Shorts and a t-shirt to throw over the swim suit later for the bike/run

Running shoes.

(If you do a lake swim and it's cold, you might want to borrow a wet suit as well) 

Triathlon Survival

Your first triathlon is all about survival.  You just want to finish the thing. Once you're done, you will be hooked and of course you will want to do way more training to beat all your previous times, buy a cool bike and a Garmin, and better gear and, well, then it gets expensive.  But it's great fun and you will have met lots of cool, fit people who you can run and ride and swim with.

So how do you survive the first one?  Well, give yourself a few months to train, the more the better if you are a total non-swimmer.  Go sign up for a set of private lessons and then hit the pool 3 times a week to practice, practice, practice.  I promise the swim only gets better with time spent in the pool.  LOTS of time in the pool will help you learn how to do a basic freestyle, how to breathe without inhaling water, and how to put on a swim cap without ripping your hair out by the roots.

You can also join a Master's Swim club to get some swimming guidance. Don't be scared off by the word "Masters" like I was.  I thought it meant only hard core awesome swimmers could join. Not at all, they have a slow lane for the 2-3 people just like you and I, and they are happy to help us learn the ropes. Ask questions, watch, learn, and swim!  Lots!

Next: Check to see if there is a local triathlon club in your town, or perhaps a running club - they usually have some triathletes as members.  Joining a group or two will give you someone to train with, and people to ask the million questions you will have along the way.

Finally: Read a few books, join online triathlon forums such as Beginner Triathlete or listen to podcasts about triathlon. And ask lots of questions - it's the only way you learn. And of course, get out there and run, bike, and swim 2 times a week.  That's 6 days of training a week. You can do it! Now that doesn't sound so hard does it?  It's a challenge, it's fun, and it's something new!

I live by the motto "It's never too late to be what you might have been"  by George Eliot, and I have slowly learned that there isn't anything I can't do.  How about you? What are you waiting for?

Thanks Barb! Normal service including my reading and commenting will resume shortly…

I am back!

Not that I ever went away but some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of comments on your own literary diatribes, well I apologize but I have now rebuilt my reader, I’ll spare you the det’s but suffice to say that my Google ‘follows’ were going into a different folder from my RSS subscriptions that wasn’t visible due in part to the preference settings based upon the folder architecture and there were left unfiled and unread…hello are you still there, hello!

Anyway I have trimmed the fat, blogs that have not been posted to in over 3 months and some where I am just not feeling the reciprocal love (read: I am a comments whore!) have been cut and I am left with, hopefully a manageable number (currently bobbing around 80, I did have over 150!), as you would expect most are about running, some are about triathlons and some cycling, a couple about nutrition, most are mid packers like myself but there are a few pro’s or semi pros, I nearly have an A – Z with only H, Q and V not represented! I'll be catching up with everyone over the next few days.

You can check out the list here, this is not a complete list because there are some are a manual RSS subscription; these are just the Google follows, so if I have not left some quick witted comment for you in a week or so let me know that means I cut you by mistake I did use a rather sharp knife!

Good Company…the mile killer!

Cloudy and cool, it had been that all week, perfect for running. I awoke Sunday and when the sun came up there was nere a cloud in the sky! Twenty miles was on the plan, the first of nine 20+mile runs I have over the next twelve weeks. Fortunately the coolness still had a hold on the morning and the temperature was, like me; slow to climb!

Billy (L A Runner) had graciously agreed to join me on this run, deliberately chosen by me because of the amount of climbing. The route was more or less eight up eight down with a little detour to up the total to the required 20 miles, more importantly I wanted 4 hours on my feet, my long runs also have a time element to them to build up the ‘on my feet time’ into the teens as the runs get longer and longer over the coming weeks.

We started the run and were soon sucking Os, it really was a pipe opener to put you in your place and remind you who is who, as I said to Billy on the way, it’s this the determines who wins and who finishes; winners run up and finishers walk! I am clearly a finisher. The route is actually two joined together by a short section of road that offers a brief respite. Once we had got our legs and breathing under control (well I’ll speak for myself at least) the conversation was free flowing and easy, we slowly caught up on recent events and future plans, discussed books we had read and generally put the world to rights. Before long we were at the summit of Castro Peak some 2000’ higher than when we had started and heading back down. A short out and back detour onto the Backbone Trail for a mile or two put us on the final run down and we hit the starting point with around 19 miles on our Garmins and about 3:50 in time, wanting the extra mile and 10 minutes I ran back up for a half mile and back down again and finished up with just over the 20 miles.

I had promised a replen of chocolate milk; which I had kept cool in an ice bag and so we toasted each other and bid our farewells.

A great run only improved with good company, we both agreed that really makes the miles fly by, which I hope will be a sign of things come in September.

This was also the first of the series of scheduled back-to-back runs (albeit a small one) and I put in another 10.25 this morning before breakfast.

Thanks Billy, see you on the next one!

Some pictures and the MotionBased data:

Normal service will be resumed shortly…

Technical difficulties; read my pc at home dieing, has prevented me from getting online with any real purpose up subsequently delayed multiple posts include the second part of the MyTach GPS watch review, a review of my 3 course dinner made with a Vita-Mix blender both sent to me By the manufacturers (thank-you) and a shoe report on the Go Lite trail shoes I picked up in January.

Additionally all my review photos were on the pc, I don’t move them to external hard drives until I've used them, anyway hopefully all my data will be recoverable, I actually think it’s the power unit that’s died. I am left cobbling stuff together at work or fumbling around on my wife’s Mac.

This Sunday is the PCTR Malibu Creek 50k, it’s a tune up race for me and really only a supported long run, it’s been raining this week and while I don’t want it hot I don’t want it soggy and boggy, I am not 100% sure of the course, it’s two laps, but if it is where I think it is there are sections where you run alongside a creek which has been known to flood and there are at least two stream crossings; add to that there are sections of running on rock which if wet will be as slippery as snot! Fun times!

I am looking to finish sub 6:30, I ran the approx reverse route last year for one lap and it took me just under three hours and this time the way round I think will be tougher? It's a longer climb and a more technical decent which will be made all the more fun if it's wet and/or muddy!

Anyway it’s a Blogger/Twitter/RunCastTV meet up, Billy (LARunner), and Sara (Docs to Crocs..) who I know via blog and in person through the TRC will be crushing their first ultra, Danica (chicrunner) who I know via blog and Twitter is running the 25k and Autism Runner from RunCastTV is running the 50k, a veritable Social Media event!

Expect lots of photos, videos and race reports!

Christmas come early!

How cool is this!

Last month I posted up a couple of shoe reviews onto Running Shoes Reviews. Each month they have a draw from the people who have submitted a review and last month I came second! I wasn’t expecting any prizes so I was delighted to get an email asking me for my mailing address as there was a box of free stuff with my name on it! Anyway last week it arrived inside I found the following: my handmade winners certificate, a water bottle (you can never have too many of those right!), some Hammer gels; yum, some Honey Stinger gels and some Sharkies both of which I have been dieing to try but have not seen in my LR or LBS! Awesome! So a big thankyou to Shoe Running, check out her blog and excellent website which is full of reviews and add you own and you could be a winner also!

Looking backward moving forward!

I am a lazy blogger, I apologize; I can barely keep up with the reading/comments without even thinking about putting fingers to the keyboard for anything substantive. The past month has been a bit of a blur but things are starting to settle down, sort of.

My day starts around 5:15, initially with a start but after four weeks it’s become a habit (a'la Jess’ 21 Days) and now I am up before the alarm around 5am. Breakfast is spent going through personal email, forums, blogs etc and then it off for a shower and all that good stuff and I am on the road around 6:15am. The traffic is mercilessly light and I am usually at my desk around 7am. I plow through the morning till noon, nip off to the cafeteria, yes it’s a big office, well site really there are 22 buildings and a gazillion employees. I grab a salad, usually DIY Cobb and head back, spend the time it takes to eat it doing personal stuff and then I am back in the groove by 12:45. To get home in decent time I can leave at either 4pm or 6pm, if I leave at five I arrive around the same time as if I had left at six; Thursday was a pain; it took two and a half hours!!! Usually I walk in between 7 and 7:30pm, just in time for a bedtime story with our eldest and phew that’s it. Fitting a training plan around will be tricky but doable, early morning runs are best for me but that’s a 4am or earlier start and I am pretty crap at going to bed at a reasonable time…at least for now.

Looking back I’ve pootled around the last month or two runningwise and while the freetime is nice my base is eroding and after a couple of runs this week I am getting the itch to get going again. After last weeks ITB issues I spent the last weeks evenings with some pretty full on one-on-one action with my foam roller along with some extensive stretching and that’s helping.

Right now the weather is a little bothersome, I am officially bored with summer; yes I now its just started but another week of triple digits is forecast and it’s not uncommon for it to be 80+ when I leave my house for work. Fall is another three months away but the summer can drag, hopefully it won’t this year. I would like to drop a few pounds also, thanks to Viv’s challenge I am now south of 170, somewhere I have not been for a few years, I want to get within the 160-165 range.

So now with half the year over it’s time for mid-year resolutions and thoughts about training again. My second A race; Twin Peaks is December 13 so I have to work out the training plan to back into that date, that sets me on the path with a start date for late August, the plan will envelop some race dates along the way, provisionally these will include; the Long Beach Marathon (Oct), PCTR 50K, (Nov) the Eco Marathon (also Nov) on Catalina Island, and I’ll probably throw in some Xterra races along the way as well as some cycling miles.

Objectives for this half year; a faster PCTR race (sub 6:00); this was my first ever 50k last year so I know what to expect this time around, a sub 11 hour Twin Peaks, (sub 10 would be awesome, but lets not get carried away, there’s a reason it has a 15 hour cut-off!) I want to hit my target weight zone as I start the training cycle so I need to drop just over a half pound a week for 7 weeks, wean myself of the Coke Zero and Popsicle habit (not consumed together) I seem to have developed and get a decent nights sleep, well anything more than 6 hours would be a start, and with that I hope everyone Stateside had a good fourth and has a good weekend, I am off to grab some zzzs!

Cornered in the School Yard!

This is a reply to an open tag that has appeared on multiple blogs I read so here’s my two cents.

How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Hmm let me think. Ten years ago I was living in London, working in HR/Recruitment and serving as a Sergeant in the Territorial Army (think US National Guard) my running pretty much was composed of maintaining a passing level of the BFT; Basic Fitness Test, this comprised of three miles and was age graded, the first half was, from memory, was fifteen minutes (10 minute pace) and was completed as a squad the second half was individual effort and I was given 10.5 minutes (6:59 minute pace). This was all completed wearing running clothes; vest shorts and running shoes and was on the road. Because everyone know that when you heading off into battle you’ll going to don you nicest matching Asics kit this test was changed to the CFT; Combat Fitness Test, three miles, a 56lb Bergen and your personal weapon and in boots. The whole thing was completed as a squad, the route was shifted to a tank trail, think mud, more mud 12-24” deep puddles, mud, more puddles, did I mention mud and you had an hour to finish it.

What is your best and worst run/race experience?
I have actually had some pretty good race experiences; my personal best half marathon at the Santa Barbara Wine Country half last May was a great run, finishing my first marathon, my first 50k and then my first 50 miler all hold special places but probably the best runs are the ones where I have a whole morning to run around the trails “out back” behind my house and for that I have my understanding wife to thank. As for the worst; getting stuck with a knee injury 10 miles from home kinda sucked, getting soaking wet in Wales wasn’t so great and overheating while on a 20 miler wasn’t much fun either but you know they may have been bad runs but there’s always a lesson to be learned and that counts for something in itself.

Why do you run?
Because golf is too damn hard! To find the limit. To see Mother Nature in all her finery. To see what’s on the other side of the horizon. To set a healthy example to my boys.

What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
A couple of pearls of wisdom; never make decision on an uphill! If you want to run fast; train fast, a modified military one; train hard: race easy and finally sunscreen! As for bad advice; hmm a couple of bad shoes salesmen who nearly killed my feet, running is bad for you knees (a perennial favorite) and run through pain; you can run through discomfort but pain, real pain should be listened to.

Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
Dang, there’s really not much left…hmm let me think. I am a qualified riding (horse) instructor, in a previous life I trained and competed as a show jumper in Holland and the Low Countries.

So if you’ve just read through this and have a blog and haven’t partaken consider yourself tagged.

PS for those of you who follow such things, this year's, (this weekend's in fact) Western States has been canceled due to wildfires that are raging through Northern California, thousands of lightening strikes during the month of June on the backend of one of the driest winters on record have left many areas in tinderbox conditions. While I even cannot begin to emphathize with runners who have trained and been selected for the race my thoughts go out to the firefighters on the line working hard to save people and property.

It's getting hot in here...

...so take off to the coast.

Southern California has been experiencing a little heat wave for the past week, temperatures have been in the triple digits for most of the last week with the high on out front patio topping out at 114 degrees, great practice conditions for Badwater but that’s about it. Sunday I threw the bike rack on the car and headed west to the coastal road, it was already 84 at 6:30 in the morning when I left and I didn’t fancy the slog through the canyons in the heat. A nice ride on the rollers up and down Pacific Coast Highway would make for a pleasant Sunday morning, plus I wanted to try out some new aerobars that I fitted during the week.

It was an uneventful ride, three hours of saddle time and a fraction of a mile under 50 miles. The aerobars took a little getting used to and there was a definite wobble the first few times I settled into them, there’s a noticeable aerodynamic improvement but I think I’ll need to adjust my saddle, I am having a little tissue-issue (gezundheit) around the three to four hour mark and while the Selle SLC and company looks tempting weightwise, I think there is a lot to be said for comfort and I may even try the ISM Adamo saddle as recommended by Wes perhaps a trip to my LBS for a fitting would be a good course of action, input from cyclists welcome here.

The weather is forecast to cool down over this week and should lead to a nice weekend, thanks to Burger I am going to head over to LA's westside and see how the Trail Runners Club does it.

Pictures can be found here and here’s the Forerunner data:

An accidental cross trainer...no more!

This weeks “Take it and run Thursday” from Runners Lounge is about cross training, no not running about in a state of angriness that’s another post altogether but the oft acknowledged but then completely overlooked art of complimentary training to your running. Now I confess that my history in this field is somewhat accidental, without any real effort I found myself cross training and now with hindsight I can see the benefits that it brought to my sport.

While I have run on and off for years I have also been a frequent cyclist, either on the road or on the trails, in fact for four years or so my mountain bike and I traveled many of the trails in the Santa Monica mountains that I now find my self running. In between cycling I would run and so without any real conscious effort on my part I was cross training. Looking back, apart from the injuries caused by impact; head on rock, knee on bush, hands on trail and the like; I was actually “injury” free for that whole period of time. Last year when I was down with ITB issues my PT was happy for me to jump on my bike and put in the miles of course as I came out of the injury pipeline into recovery biking fell by the wayside and running took the main stage again and like a dolt I forgot a lot of the important lessons that I had learned. Well if the definition of an idiot is someone who is doomed to repeat their mistakes over and over then that was me as I went down in March with ITB problems…again. This time I was able to manage the problem and stop it in its tracks allowing me to complete my 'A' race for the spring but it was a close call.

Now there are not too many training programs that take you to 50 miles and beyond as a runner and so when I found myself constructing mine for my fall 'A' race I made sure to include a large proportion of miles dedicated to cross training, in my instance cycling and core body workouts which addresses not only the core but many of the joints and stabilizing muscles, I actually have a ratio of around 1:1.3 run miles to bike miles for the plan and I work on my core 6 days a week

For me there are two benefits; mental and physical. Mentally; if you do enough of one thing you’ll get bored, a little variation keeps the blade sharp and interest level high, additionally the range on a bike is so much more than running; at least for now. Physically; the benefit to me in cycling is the balance it provides in developing the muscle groups in my legs. It’s probably incorrect to state that these muscles are running and those are cycling as they are all interconnected and work in conjunction with each other and additionally there are muscles in the core and upper body that are used in both sports but here we are talking about everything below the waist. The reality is that the main muscle groups used when running are your calves, hamstrings and glutes; with the hamstrings doing most of the work. If you think about it the hamstrings, calves and glutes are on the back of your leg, that’s because the motion of running is propelling or pushing. In addition to the above groups when you hop on your bike you start to incorporate the largest muscles in your legs, in fact they are the largest in you body; your quadriceps. The quads come into play when cycling as you are also pulling, they don’t play a role in running until you start running hills, this is when they come into their own, you may have heard people talking about their quads “being mashed” after a long downhill stretch taken at speed, so ignore them at your peril.

Now in addition to the main muscle groups in the legs there are lots of smaller interconnected stabilizing muscles that hold things together (like your hips, knees and ankles) as well as the ligaments and tendons etc that all play an important role and all need to have some attention levied at them; think balance and wobble boards, stretching plyometrics, core strengthening exercises and the like. Check out some of the books in the widget thing in the sidebar. While I profess to be no expert and this is all based on my experience and my second hand knowledge the benefits of cross training are a pretty well accepted standard, just look at the FIRST training program. You may want to know why I choose cycling over swimming which is a great alternative, the answer is simple I have the aquatic characteristics of a large stone!

The message here is run all the time and your will develop all the things that help you run and ignore all the rest. Cycle all the time, ditto. Mixing it up actually benefits you overall training, ignore it and you may end up injured, sidelined and just cross!

Leona Divide 50 Mile Run

My alarm was set for 3:15am, apparently it went off, several times in fact, but I finally acknowledged it around 3:40, crap I was late and I hadn’t even started. I had been up late the night packing my drop bags and weighing and measuring the lotions and potions that would see me through the day. I had packed three bags but I actually only used two in the end and had finally crawled into bed around 11pm, fortunately I had been having early(ish) nights through the week in anticipation of a bad/short night the night before. I showered, dressed, had breakfast and headed out the door finally leaving around 4:20am. I had allowed 90 minutes for the drive and in fact in took 75 so I was slowly reclaiming the time. I parked my car, grabbed my bags and went looking for the registration and somewhere to drop spot them off. I collected my number, dropped off my bags and went back to the car to pick up my vest and bottles. I would, for the first time, also be running in an IT bandage, which would hopefully give my ITB some support or at least keep it tied down so tight that it wouldn’t give me any problems, so I wrapped it tightly around my leg and made my way to the start line. I readied myself for the saw blade; tradition has it that the ringing of the blade with a hatchet marks the start of the race and with an unceremonious clang we were off. As observed by Donald it seems inevitable that as the distances get longer the reports do, in an attempt to combat this I’ll break things down into nice manageable chunks.

Mile 1-10. The first ten miles slid by without me really noticing. After the start we headed up, a common theme for this race, and while the speedsters shot of I had in my mind to pace myself all the way, this would comprise of walking the ups and running the flats and downs; a typical strategy. After the first three miles of up the path leveled out and I began to run, around mile 8 I met Catra Corbett who was running with her boyfriend Andy Kumeda and we had a nice chat, Catra was running her third 50 miler in as many weekends! We passed through the first Aid Station and were directed to cross the road. The weather was proving to be changeable, one minute clear blue skies and the next thick billowing cloud would swallow me with gusts of cold damp wind. I decided to record some video as I went round the first section is here. I was surprised at how quickly the runners had spread out and looking ahead and behind you could sometimes see a runner traversing a hillside but even by mile 10 I was on my own.

Mile 11-20. I passed through Aid Station 2 at the 13.4 mile mark after about 2:30 .Up until this point we had been running on dirt roads and it was here we were directed onto the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), here we would spend the next 33+ miles. The trail is narrow and varies in surface from sand to dirt to solid rock, needless to say it’s not anywhere near flat and in parts it’s really just the least steepest section. Its narrowness makes passing tricky and you have to politely ask or be asked to pass, sometimes this can create a bottle neck until a suitable passing point is reached and this happened once or twice during this section. There was a nice five mile section that was mostly downhill into Aid Station 3 which was located at 20.3 mile mark. My first drop bag was here so I refilled my bottles, drank two bottles of Ensure, and picked up another packet of Hammer pills. I had been taking Endurolytes, Anti Fatigue Caps and Energy Surge about every hour and they were working well in addition I was taking a gel every hour or so. In addition at the Aid Stations I had been grabbing Pringles, M&Ms and, strangely, Sprite, which was really hitting the spot. My ITB was starting to niggle me now so a popped 3 ibuprofen tablets to ward it off. I also bumped into Tanya from Marc and Tanya’s Running Blog, I met Tanya at the Calico Trail 50k in January and we passed a mile or two together.

Mile 21-30. I left the Station and bumped into Xy Weiss the creator of Dirty Girl Gaiters and we had a quick chat. I pushed on up the hill, and recording some more video, this was a two mile climb and over the top for a decent of about a mile into Aid Station 4 at mile 24.5, we then had another decent, this time over 3.5 miles into Aid Station 5. It was in this section that I saw the first of the returning runners; Jorge Pachero was flying up the hill and I assume went on to win, the results have yet to be posted, essentially he was at mile 41 while I was at mile 26! All the descending was starting to mash my quads and what made it all the more disheartening was that I knew I had to climb back the same path as this section was an out and back. We were essentially going from one peak, down into the valley, up over the next peak only to turn around and come back the way we had come in. I had my second bag at this Station so I drank another Ensure, refilled my bottles again, by now the sun had some out and I um’d and ahh’d about taking off my long sleeve shirt and running in a sleeveless vest. I decided that it would be better to be too cold than too hot and stripped off the layer stashing it in my bag. I bid my thanks and farewells and headed out.

Mile 31-40. This was by far the hardest section, the addition of the heat; I managed to get some nice sunburn on my shoulders and head, proving that going to vest was a good idea, and the long climb along with some stomach sensitivity was making it not much fun at all. I eventually reached a section that had some trees that provided some welcome shade and I finally topped out. Here I saw the first female runner, Krissy Moehl, at least I think it was her she was moving so fast tearing up the trail heading down. This part of the PCT was definitely both physically and mentally challenging, you can tell it in my voice, with lots of switchbacks that hugged the contours of the hill and gave you little down and ups, normally these would be taken in a few strides but by now my legs were feeling pretty tired. My ITB was niggling again so another 3 ibuprofen were taken and I retightened the strap around my leg. I made it to Aid Station 6 at the 32 mile mark and had several cups of Sprite, here the volunteers had gone to town and had a Hawaiian theme with leis and coco-nut bras! I headed out into another wooded section that was lined with fir trees, on the floor were some of the biggest pine cones I have ever seen; they were as big as my head! I reached Aid Station 7 at 35.5 miles, this was the turnaround point, in terms of distance this was all unknown territory, my longest previous run only being 31 miles (50k) I knew that I could manage my way back. I skipped Aid Station 8, which was 6 coming from the reverse direction and set off at a steady run knowing that I could make up some time on the downhill section I got into a nice groove and the downhill section rolled by under me. I passed a female runner on the downhill and we both agreed that we were getting very bored of hills, she was looking forward to an uphill…I wasn’t!

Mile 41-50. At mile 42.6 was Aid Station 9, it was 5 coming from the reverse direction. In my bag I had a bottle of Amino Vital and I drank that, I was craving a clean taste and after 6 bottle of Perpetuem my palate was somewhat sour, I think this was why the Sprite was tasting so good. I headed out knowing that I had a little over 7 miles to go but half of it was uphill. I was in full plod mode and was making best use of the relentless forward motion mantra, here I was overtaken by the girl I had previously passed who was chugging up the hill. My stomach had settled down and apart from the obvious tiredness I was feeling pretty good. I made my way up the final Aid Station 10 at mile 46.1 here I was told that I had another mile or so up and then it was downhill all the way. I was thinking to myself which would be worse the up of the down, it proved to be the latter. I set off at a brisk walk up the hill and just after a mile I was greeted with the downhill, I really did my best to run this last section but it ended up being a walk-run-walk most of the way. Finally I could see the car park and the start line and then shortly afterwards I exited the track and was running through the finish line.

I ended up finishing in 11:24 and change the actual results are yet to be posted.

So now a few days later I have had time to reflect. Overall I was pleased with my performance, I stuck to my original walk/run strategy and despite not having really put any significant mileage in over the last 4-6 weeks my fitness level was pretty good, one thing for sure helped me were the few months of back to back long run weekends as did actually training on the trails rather than just accumulating the miles running the roads. Running on trails is just so much more demanding. One thing I need to do more of is “train terrain” that is if I am going to race over hills, I need to train over hills ditto for mountain, I need to actually look up their definitions! My ITB held up, a combination of a slow pace and the strap (and ibuprofen) ensured that it was a relative non issue, although it was only when I got in the shower that I realized that perhaps I had had the strap too tight as it had cut into my leg drawing blood front and rear! I can say quite emphatically that the jump from 50k to 50m is a big one and a 50 miler is significantly more than 2 back to back marathons certainly from a mental standpoint. My nutrition/hydration was ok, I was, perhaps, a little dehydrated at the end and I need to think about alternatives to Perpetuem as, as mentioned, it kills your palate. According to my Forerunner I burnt off 5716 calories and I conservatively consumed somewhere between 3500-4000 so while I was in a deficit in the end it wasn’t too bad. For those of you interested; the preceding night I had chicken and mushroom risotto, followed by Greek yogurt and honey and for breakfast a bowl of Natures Path Optimum Power, a cinnamon bagel with pb&j, and a cup of coffee. I also drank a bottle of Amino Vital in the car on the way.

Looking forward I need to work on my ITB and free it off, treating the cause rather than the symptoms and in fact as a whole my core needs some attention. I am really noticing that my core is weak especially post race now that I am hobbling around the house like an old man! As they say it only hurts when I move. Additionally I need to drop 10lbs or so, the lack of any real running this year has meant that the pounds have crept back on. So the plan moving forward will be to address my ITB and core over the next 8 weeks or so and during that time construct my new training program, the last one a modified Hal Higdon lasted 20 weeks and in my mind that is too long, 14-15 weeks I feel is long enough so I can avoid another overuse injury…at least that’s the plan.

I have uploaded my photo’s here and here’s the MotionBased data:

This one's for Marcy!

After totalling my rear wheel last weekend, I have be pawing over ebay looking for a new one (set). A quick correspondence with DCRainmaker put me in touch with The Wrench over at Wrenched By Winz, (you have got to love blog networking), it’s a great blog if you’re even remotely interested in bikes and it's pretty cool if you're not. The Wrench provided me some comments and feedback on a few makes, models and sets etc that I had been perusing online namely; Mavic, ALX or Cane Creek.

Well today I scored. A nice set of Cane Creek Aerohead SGs, albeit used but in, I am told “like new” condition, complete with tires; yay, no skewers; boo. Retail price new $550, ebay price $120.09. On that note if any of you (that means you Marcy) are an ebay shopper and are fed up being pipped at the post check out Auction Sentry, it’s a very nice little snipe program. OK I am off to pack my drop bags.

A post of lists!

I’m it, I picked this up last month from DCRainmaker and have overlooked it, sorry bud, it’s the Lucky #7 version. First here are the five rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you; check, see above
2. Post the rules on your blog; check, eh yeah, got that one!
   
3. Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog; check, reasonably random!
4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs; check, these seem like some random folks to me!
   
5. Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged; check, this is so much work!

Next for your viewing pleasure here are your seven “oh I didn’t know that facts”:

1. I used to be a professional showjumper; I spent two years riding in Germany, France, Holland and Belgium in my late teens.
2. I have bungee jumped twice, but because I never learned how to dive (think swimming) I just jumped off feet first, the biggest was only 71m or 220’! Here's a picture of the bridge.
3. I made my wife climb Mt Kinabalu on our honeymoon, after a night in a hut with damp mattresses we pressed onto the summit, despite both having altitude sickness, happy honeymoon sweatheart…we’re still married 10 years later!
4. I have had three motorcycle crashes and the only time I have broken a bone was when I was angry and kicked the bed in frustration…I broke a toe!
5. Continuing the injury theme I have dislocated both knees, an ankle, my wrists, my jaw and a shoulder…ouch!
6. I am a crackshot, in the military I nearly always got top marks for my marksmanship; so don’t piss me off!
7. If I could do it all again I would be an architect or industrial designer.

And finally it’s my turn to pass the bug on and I get to choose seven folks…eenie meenie miney moe:

• Audrey – she needs an excuse, any excuse from tidying her apartment
• Robin – coming back from injury this’ll take her mind off of over thinking it
• Frayed Laces – who was bemoaning the fact that nobody tags her!
• Melanie – who just got a new job, congrats!
• Laura - who needs something to think about in the airport lounge
• Ultra Dad – who's been a bit quiet lately so this’ll get him back online and
• Drusy – who's from the old country and is running the Flora London Marathon, go girl!

PS thanks to everyone who has cast their votes, it’s much appreciated, keep 'em coming.

Can you help?

So I am thinking of going from Blog to Vlog or even to WebTV, I have been discussing it with some folks in the know and they think that it’s a good proposition and that there is a niche to fill, I have several ideas but I wanted to get some reader input.

To that end I have created a little survey, see right hand column which offers several choices for content. Each episode would be less than 10 minutes so bear that in mind when responding, please pick your top three, I would support it with the written blog that would provide deeper content, links, photos and the like, basically enough information to support the video.

I know am asking a huge favor for you to respond but I really do appreciate your thoughts it and it will be really useful in making decisions. Please leave as detailed comments as you would like too so I can get a feeling for which direction to drive this…stand by, this could be a lot of fun.

Running the numbers

I am covering several bases with this post, firstly it addresses my own analysis of my actual mileage vs. my training plan in an attempt to identify where I went wrong (again!) and ended up injured (again!) and secondly it hopefully provides some insight for any would be runner on how not to do it and thirdly Runner's Lounge Take it and Run Thursday this week is about Training Plans so that just seemed like great timing.

Being that I am in Los Angeles I'll give you some backstory as they call it around here. When I started training for my first Marathon last year I had been running consistently for the three years prior, I had run before that but had had a hiatus where I spent several years mountain biking. I never really kept tabs on my mileage but it averaged around 25 miles a week over three or four runs. I set myself the target of completing it in 3:30 or less, I had no real appreciation of if this was fast or not but it sounded like a challenge.

In preparation did I choose my plan after great deliberation and research, after a review of the literature of the great marathon runners and planners, Lydiard, Galloway, Noakes or Daniels and after long consultation with coaches and other marathon runners? Well no, I found one in a freebie magazine and thought “huh, this’ll do”. Of course as any new disciple of something does I immersed myself, consuming Runners World each month before breakfast and plowing through the literature, nutrition, shoes, clothing, GPS I read about it all. I did however stick to my plan…well I mean I kept using the same one. The plan itself was aimed at a newbie runner and took them from zero(ish) miles to a marathon over the course of 26 weeks.

Mistake #1; I was already ahead of the curve and should have started 4-6 weeks or so into the plan.

Along the way I picked up a Nike+ chip primarily as a means to measure my mileage, I was running a lot on beach paths and was unable to get an accurate read on the distances, from there I discovered the Nike+ forums and the challenges that people created there and jumped in feet first.

Mistake #2; I veered away from my plan, running on my rest days.

My target marathon was to be San Francisco in early July, along the way I built in several half marathons and even a full marathon as a training run despite the fact the longest training run on my plan was only 22 miles.

Mistake #3; exceeding the training mileage and extending my long runs even further.

I ran the San Diego Rock’n’Roll Marathon in early June as a training run and finished in 3:45:09, nearly fifteen minutes faster than my target time of 4:00, I thought I was set, 3:30 was in my sights and I had tone, it was a done deal, you could take it to the bank. The day before I was due to leave for San Francisco, my son was sick, not just a "brought it home from school have a runny nose sick" but full blown sky high temperature on the phone to the Doctors and monitor him closely sick. It’s at this point that everything else goes to the sidelines, I spent an hour on the phone canceling flights and hotels and cuddled up with him on the couch for the rest of the weekend, of course 48 hours later he’s a right as rain and tearing the place up in his usual manner. It was totally the right decision but it was also six months of training gone up in smoke. I signed up for a local 50k at the end of August and it was during mid July that my miles caught up with me. I had run over 1100 miles in 28 weeks and my IT Band had had enough, basically it stopped working, point blank refused to function. Not just on one knee but both along with one hip. I DNS'd for the second time in as many months.

I’ll save you the recovery story, it’s documented here, but the short version is that 10 weeks of physiotherapy put me back on the straight and narrow.

This brings me to this training cycle I find myself 18 weeks into a 20 week plan and once again I am faced with an IT Band issue. In an attempt to detect a pattern I looked at my running log comparing this year to last, and yes there is one, providing you squint and tilt your head 30 degrees to the left you can just make out the profile of some nice hills!

Next I looked at my actual running this year vs. my plan. This brings me to Mistake #4; think macro. I was actually under the impression that I was within 90% of my plan 75% of the time, that is for a big race like a 50k my mileage before and after would drop but for three out of fours weeks I was within an acceptable margin…wrong! Check out the graph and you’ll see that I was off by a mile or two or ten! A picture really is worth a thousand words. The early zero was when I was ill and the last two are projected.

So as you can see four classic mistakes leading up to what I am almost sure will be a DNS for next weeks race, I have yet to vocalize that decision but in my mind it's almost made.

In conclusion I hope that this post helps someone in their planning and that they can learn from the mistakes I have made, I certainly have!

The VP of 3P

Runners Lounge Take it and Run Thursday this week is all about Gadgets, Gear and Equipment. With that in mind I wanted to introduce you to my little friend, here he is and he is little but when I have a bad day boy can he kick my butt! He is the VP of 3P; pace, performance and perseverance he is Virtual Partner! He is a duathlete; he rides a bike; both mountain and road and he runs; roads and trails and he is always just ahead or just behind me!

I admit that I am a running gadget freak, my side table drawer is laden with them; Polar watches, iPod, Nike+, several abandoned MP3 players, stopwatches, extra headphones, Bluetooth thingys and cables, chargers and batteries for all of them and more. One gadget that never gets a coating of dust, well unless I am running through the desert, which happens, is my trusty Garmin 305. My 305, you have got to love this thing, I have had mine nearly a year have piled on over 1000 miles on it and it’s never let me down. It has a feature rich menu of options which I won’t go into in depth as I know a lot of you have one but the VP is one I have only started using recently and at the moment only on my road bike while on the trainer. To do this you need to use the Garmin Cadence Monitor which is easy to fit, self calibrating and costs around $30. Another sensible option is the quick release strap which allows you mount the watch body onto your handlebars and gives you a longer strap that can go over clothing if you running in the winter, ok enough of the Garmin product placement. Programming VP is a cinch, distance and time are the two setting and it calculates you pace for you combine this with the pace alert, press start and you’re in good shape.

For the solo trainer like myself the VP provides some stiff competition, he never warms up or eases off nor does he draft! He never gets injured, well unless you really drop him and he will be there come rain or shine. For a runner he provides a sensible balance and makes getting on the bike more fun through the addition of a little competition. After you workout you can use Garmin Training Centre to compare runs/rides to see where and if you’re improving, you should be improving right?!?

Go on, press Mode and dig into that menu, your Virtual Partner is waiting to be unleashed.