Busted

At work this morning I was thinking about what type of run I wanted to do in the late morning/afternoon. Initially I was leaning toward arboretum hill repeats run at 5k pace. But being 2 weeks out from Howl, I decided a long run was the smarter choice.

Sunday I ran a 13 mile South Farms loop, although I was planning to run longer. When I got home to refuel (mile 13), I was ready to walk out the door and then abruptly decided that I was through for the day. I had not gotten much sleep the prior 2 nights and I could feel a sluggishness which weighed on my mind and body. Physically I felt good, but I decided it was best to cut it short.

Today I had the same plan as Sunday, run as long as I comfortably could, which I was hoping would be 2 full loops for 26 miles. During the first loop I was thinking about the Lean Horse 100 and tried to imagine it was race day. I searched for a pace which I would have liked to run if I found myself at mile 70. If I found myself picking up the pace, I asked, "could I run this fast at mile 70?" If I answered no, then I slowed down. I did a lot of slowing down during those 13 miles.

Unfortunately I realized my quads were sore early in the run. I did 5 x 1000m hard loops at Busey Woods 2 days prior (at 1:00pm), and although that is not a lot of reps, the temperature was 95 degrees with high humidity. In normal heat I am probably fit enough to run 12 x 1000m loops, but the heat knocked me out by the 4th one, and I struggled to get to 5. Those 5 reps must have been tougher than I had anticipated because my quads had not yet recovered from the effort.

The positives for the day was it was only in the low 80's at noon, with moderately high humidity. I chugged along at 70 mile pace and covered the 13 miles in about 2:40. The easy pace left me breathing easy, so I tried to forget about my sore quads. When I refueled at home (mile 13) I ate more than I should have, and when I resumed the run, heading back to Busey Woods, I felt a bit bloated. The day now felt warmer, maybe 84-85, and by the time I got out of the woods I lost control of my breathing. It was similar to what happened at my 22 mile run at Mingo last month, although this time I could not blame the heat or a fast first 7 miles.

Within minutes I lost all energy and the will to continue. I thought it was just a bad patch that needed to be worked through, but once I started walking I knew I was done for the day. It felt similar to a bonk, although I am sure I still had some fuel left in my body. The same feeling overtook me a couple years ago at Wild Wilderness Race at Kickapoo. After 3 miles I lost the will and energy to run, and I had to jog the remaining 4 miles of the race. That day marked the end of my faster running efforts. I lost the will to run fast after that experience, and the following year all I did was run long and slow. The end of last year I started doing some moderate speed workouts, and this spring I picked it up a bit more. However, I have yet to recover my old capabilities, as I ran a 5k in July in 21:00, well off my normal times from 2 years ago.

Sometimes my body quits on me for reasons that are beyond my comprehension. I can easily accept it, however, things don't always go according to my wishes. I do what my body allows, and push it as far as I think it wants to be pushed. Maybe it is telling me that 100 miles is out of the question at this time. I will try another long run on Sunday or Monday, maybe it will go better. If not, my 100 mile dream is busted for now.

Lean Horse

Last week I realized I don't have any races planned after the Howl, which is only 2 weeks away. With ultras the sign up is normally well before race day, so I decided to plan and register for a late summer/early autumn one.

I began looking for 50 milers as that seems like a logical progression after running an 8 hour race. However, now that I have regained the health of my legs, I contemplated signing up for a 100 mile race. Seeing there are not many races between 50 and 100 miles, one has to take a leap of faith and hope that if one can run 50 miles, one can run 100. It reminded me of talking with the 1st time 50 mile guy at Devil's Lake - "if I can run 20, I can run 40, and I can gut out the last 10". As I was unimpressed with this line of thought at the time, I too am skeptical of people attempting to double down from 50 to 100. I therefore take the same line - I most likely won't finish my first one, and if I do, it will be a death march from mile 70-100.

That being said, the seeming impossibility of it, and the chutzpah needed to even think one can achieve it the first time around, makes me want to attempt it. It is not everyday that a task most likely headed for failure is contemplated and attempted.

The image of the man running up and down Blackwell Hill when I was 22 is still etched in my memory. Even more so the words he spoke - "I made it 80 miles, but then got pulled from the course because I was taking too long to finish." He had been unable to finish, but the fire was still in his eyes, he was in amazing fitness, and ready to try again.

I found a race in South Dakota called the Lean Horse 100. It is 2 weeks after the Howl. I am close to pulling the trigger on this one (clicking the submit registration button). The only thing holding me back is the financial burden it will place upon me when I return from the race. It is a question of how important the 100 mile quest is to me - am I willing to sacrifice in order to achieve something which had been burned into my spirit 22 years ago. I need to decide by August 8, the final day of registration...

At the Track

I rarely do running at the track, but yesterday I was planning to do hard 200m repeats and decided that I would go to the 2nd Wind track workout to test myself with a full 3 miles of hard running. I have attended only 1 track workout this year, about 3 months ago.

When I arrived at the track a light rain was cooling things off, but the sky cleared before we started. The group was doing 12 x 4oom with staggered starts, the slower runners beginning before the faster ones, so that everyone would be racing to the finish at the same time. I did 8 x 400m on Saturday on dirt roads, 12 sounded a lot tougher.

I did not use a watch, but someone was calling out times on a few of the laps, and I was averaging 85's, which is better than I expected. I managed to finish all 12, well, 11.5. On the final 400 I decided to go all out from the first step to see how long I could last. I had to stop at the 200m mark due to exhaustion. I didn't mind coming up short, I knew before I started the lap that there was no way I could sprint 400m, but it was good to push myself to the limit.

Not much to write about guitar playing. I am practicing 4-5 times a week, mainly playing along to old blues songs. I am working hard on soloing with the pentatonic scale. I have been getting better with the basic techniques - hammer/pull, vibrato, sliding, bending, mini bars. I am at the point of my practice where it is going to take 2-3 years of constant playing to get past the beginner's level of blues guitar.

Poison Ivy and all systems GO

Finally got a taste of poison ivy. With all the trail running I do, I am fortunate to have bypassed its unpleasantness until this week. I obviously picked it up at the 50k last week. Lots of itching and ugly blisters on my ankles, calves, thighs, and arms. No complaints, though, as my face is clear of it (for now).

Another reason not to complain is I made a quick recovery from the race, and have 2 relatively healthy knees (for now). I am already putting in strong training for the upcoming Howl race. Friday I ran 8 x 400m hard repeats on the arboretum dirt roads under noon time heat. Yesterday I ran 15 hard hills at the arboretum - 100m at 5k pace, 100m up the hill, followed by an all out 200m downhill/flat sprint. A 300m jogging recovery leading to the next rep. This also was done in noon time heat, and I wanted to stop at 10 reps, found a way to get to 12, and somehow willed myself to 3 more. Tomorrow I will do 200m hard sprints. It is time to get my speed on equality with endurance. I plan to do a 3-5 hour slow run early next week, which will lead me into the August Howl.

GO!

Devils Lake, II

I returned to Baraboo, WI, for a rematch with the Devil's Lake 50k. Here are a few memorable moments from the 2010 race :

• Passed a runner at mile 7 who looked like Bruce Dern in the film "On the Edge". I did a double look and said "you look like Bruce Dern", he replied, "At another ultra I was told I looked like Chris Christofferson".
• Bruce and I kept bumping into each other on the trail. When we were running along the shore of Devil's Lake he told me, "I'm gonna look for a place to jump in". He slowed down and I lost sight of him, but upon seeing me at the next aid station, he says "The lake was fantastic!".
• Bruce told me that during the initial 5 miles, run on ski hills, he fell face first on the Black Diamond (long, steep down hill), causing the left lens of his eyeglasses to fall off the frame. He did not notice the lens was missing until a mile later, when his vision became blurry.
• After telling me the story of the fall, I looked closely at Bruce's face and saw a bloody gash above his left eye, and some scrapes on his shoulders.
• Bruce and I finished within 1 minute of each other.
• Bruce finished as top master (0ver 60, and he still possessed the good looks of Bruce Dern).
• Every runner I saw carried a water bottle.
• I did not carry anything, hoping to get by on aid station water and grub. It worked.
• I banged my left forefoot on a sharp rock early in the race. A few miles later it turned into a hot spot, but I was lucky that a blister never formed.
• Both knees worked fine for the entire race, no pain!
• I ran most hills, but walked the bluffs because they were steeper than the two hills I train on.
• Coming down the 2nd bluff I heard a loud locust, but the runner ahead of me declared "Rattlesnake!" We stopped instantly and proceeeded with care. I looked but did not see the snake in the tall grass next to the trail, and got away from there in a hurry.
• I ran a consistent pace throughout the race, never going too fast or too slow.
• I got lost once, but recovered within 1/4 mile.
• I saw a young man at mile 10, he was running his first 50 miler. He told me "I trained by running a few 20 milers. I figured that if I can run 20, I can run 40, and the last 10 I can gut out." He was breathing heavy, as if he was running a 10k. I wanted to tell him that he should be breathing easier at this early stage of the race, but I held my tongue. I gave him a 5% chance of finishing (It was getting hotter, he would have to cover the bluffs 4 times instead of twice, and 50 milers can decide to drop down to 50k at the half way aid station), and if he did finish, a 95% chance of death marching the final 15 miles.
• I was looking forward to drinking the lemonade that I stashed in my drop bag at mile 17/19. I shared some with a woman who ran the 1.5 mile hill with me leading to the aid station. She loved it.
• I did not pee once during the race.
• I crossed the finish line in 6:09 (chip time 6:08). My time from 2009 was 6:22.
• Was a bit nauseous from the heat after the race, but felt better after showering and eating a meal of pancakes and hash browns with a tall glass of chocolate milk.
• Before bed I ate 8 pieces of cheese pizza and drank lemonade.
• I got up 3 times during the night to drink water.

Injured? II

Not much going on with guitar, just the usual daily practice of scale work and finger relaxation exercises.

After the weekend tennis blitz a large section of my right leg was hurting. Fortunately it wasn't serious and by Thursday all was well.

However, on my run that day my left knee started feeling funny at the beginning of the run. I had jogged to Busey Woods and began my usual 1000m hard repeat loops. I wasn't sure how many I was going to do, I just wanted to push as far as I could go. From the first loop I was feeling the best I have all year. The past 2 times at Busey I stopped at 5 reps due to high heat/humidity. Thursday the temp was 70 with low humidity, it was a big difference. I was moving fast, breathing easy, and the icing on the cake was that I had dropped 9 pounds since May 1. I was now at the upper end of my racing weight, I still want to lose 5 more pounds, but at least I got the excess weight off.

At rep 3 the left knee started to bother me. I first felt this odd sensation at boot camp when doing squat jumps across the gym. I now realize that not having done squats my entire life, boot camp was pushing me too fast and hard in that area. Push ups, no problem, ab work, ok, but squats/lunges are too much for my knees. The day after boot camp the knee felt fine and I was able to put in some big runs in the coming week, so I didn't think too much of it. The day before my Busey run I went to Brookens on my own and did the usual set of exercises, which now include squats/lunges. I felt no pain in the knee, but at rep 3 the next day it started to hurt. Feeling so good otherwise, I was reluctant to stop. At rep 4 the pain subsided 50%, so I decided to keep running and ended up with 10 reps, which is a great workout and gives me confidence for the upcoming ultra.

That evening the knee was weak when walking up and down stairs. I have been through so many injuries the past 2 years that I was not dazed, I just got the ice and decided I needed to rest until it started feeling better. I took Friday and Saturday off, although I did 2 hours of walking on Friday.

Today I was still planning to run the Freedom 5k at Assembly Hall, but I wanted to make sure my knee was strong enough, so I rode my bike to the arboretum 90 minutes before the race and did some exercises and a couple of hard hill repeats. The knee felt better than Friday, still some weakness, but strong enough for a hard 3 miler, so I rode my bike to Assembly Hall and registered for my first 5k in 2 years.

I warmed up by myself between the long stretch of walkway between the Hall and the Tennis Complex. I felt pretty good, and the knee was 85%. I stayed out late last night, drinking beer, which I normally don't do, but no big deal, I just wanted to get a short hard run in before the 50k this Saturday.

Standing at the start line I told myself that time and place were not that important today, just run my own race. The plan was comfortably hard the first 2 miles, and uncomfortably hard the final mile. I took it nice and easy the first mile, someone said the split was 6:56. Faster than I expected, so that made me happy. Second mile I still felt good, did not slow down, and when I hit the 3rd mile I started to push a little harder. It was a hot day with high humidity, and I saw a few people walking toward the end, and one young boy bent over a trash can puking his guts out. I passed a few people during the final 800m and got into the chute in 21:02. That is a slow time when compared to 2 years ago, but I don't mind, it felt good to run hard, and my knee did not give me any problems.

After the race I was spent so I soaked myself in the sprinkler showers that were set up in the road, I had my eyes closed and was breathing heavy. I heard my name and opened my eyes to see Ken W. We slapped hands, and I said long time no see. I then walked to get a cold water bottle and saw Yong, he said he ran 18:15, pretty darn fast! As I talked to Yong, Pat Mills came up to say hi to Yong, and I got introduced to Pat. I have seen him numerous times at races, but never had a chance to speak with him. When Yong left with his wife I talked with Pat for about 20 minutes about ultra races. He has completed 2 100 milers, and one of my running goals is to participate in one of these races. I got some interesting stories and advice from Pat, so it was nice to make his acquaintance. I also saw Bill Dey, and we talked for a minute about our upcoming ultra races.

I was concerned about my knee as I finally got to the ice coolers to pick up a water bottle. I had stood in one place talking for 20 minutes and feared the knee was going to feel stiff and miserable. I was relieved to find that it wasn't too bad, it still felt 85% strength, so the race had seemingly done no harm.

The next couple of days I will care for the knee with ice and rest, and begin to mentally prepare for my first ultra race since last October at McNaughton Park.