Sunday, November 22, 2009
Ramping up for 2010
So I have put into works the plan to do a spring 100 miler again -- either a return to Kettle or to head west and take a kick at Bighorn. They are only two weeks apart, so regardless of which one I finally decide on doing, the training for now won't be much different. This is the outcome of spending a week home sick with the piggy flu. It's funny how both Natalie and I in our sickness started to focus on training and getting stronger.
So the plan has me slated to run about 2100 miles between now and early June, with some weeks getting a bit over 100. I'm also planning on four fitness tests throughout to act as a gauge of both my fitness and to test for over-training. The first one is in a couple weeks, first to give myself to fully recover from this flu bug and to get some business travel over with first. The protocol will include a 5 mile, specifically paced run on the treadmill where HR will be the variable. Followed by pushups, timed plank & flexed arm hang (to exhaustion) and then squats. This should give me a well rounded indication of cardiovascular, core, upper body and lower body strengthening. Or at least that is the hope :-)
This past week has challenged the streak. Thankfully, having a treadmill at home made it easier on the body to keep going. I think the streak would have ended if not for this wonderful piece of equipment as I wouldn't want to go out to the gym and infect the world, nor was I in any condition to run outdoors when I had the craziest chills earlier in the week. But here I am at day 678.
The plan I have laid out, as you can probably guess, is heavy on long runs. I have decided to continue with the back to back long runs, as that has worked for me in the past. The typical second long run is about 2/3rds the length of the long one, but on the recovery weeks, I've opted to back to back 15's or 20's (all distances in miles).
For as long as the weather holds I will be doing real hills once a week too. Then it will be treadmill hills. Like the past, there will be speed work too. Some tempo running, intervals and fartleks all in the mix; more to help keep it interesting and to avoid going stale and getting stuck in that mono-paced rut.
28 weeks to go (or 30 if Bighorn is the winner).
Dwayne
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Surfing for Halloween
Surf the Murph 50 mile trail race
31 October 2009, Minneapolis, MN
Preamble: I only decided to do this race about 2 or 3 weeks before; yes, that's right, I did a 50 mile race on a bit of a whim -- what can I say, it is the ultra-marathoner mentality of looking for the challenge knowing that regardless of how much training you do, there is bound to be some suffering. In this case, it was just how much suffering I would experience. The reality is that while not training specifically, I was still putting in the miles and even doing the odd back to back long runs; all this while organizing the 6 trail races in the trailrunmanitoba.com race calendar.
The Journey: This was my first solo trek for a race which was a bit weird. Knowing that it was going to be a small race made it easier because I know ultras are so low key that within 5 minutes of being there I'd be chatting it up with other runners; not so much if it was a big marathon. The drive down had it's normal conversation with the US customs agent where she thought I was just a bit crazy, but nevertheless, allowed me into the country. From Fargo to about St. Cloud MN wasn't much fun as there was quite a snow storm blasting through that turned to rain as I got closer to Minneapolis. Once I got checked into my motel I realized that being on the second floor was going to make the post race hobble to my room a bit more challenging :-)
I set out to find the start line, got a bit lost, then figured out that the spot I initially discounted as the start had to be it, so I went with that assumption and made all my mental notes of landmarks. Then it was time for some food then back to the room for prepping my gear for the race. Since it was still pouring rain with the forecast calling for below freezing overnight, I planned for running in wet and cold and laughed at my inclusion of shorts and short sleeve shirts.
Race Day: It started with a phone call at 3:20 am, it was the Race Director who I had left a message with the night before when I was lost. He wanted to make sure that I had found the start and when I explained where I thought it was he confirmed that I was right. I tried to sleep a bit more, but just laid there so I shut off my 3:50 am alarms and started to get ready. It had stopped raining and there was no snow, but it was -2 C so I stuck with my original clothing plan which was my lulu run kit of un-tights, a base layer shirt and a new bright orange half-zip pullover that had just enough flocking to make it feel comfy in the cool weather. I also decided to try out my North Face Rucky Chuckys in a long run, having only worn them for up to 22 miles in the past. I had my Adidas Response Trails in reserve in case the RC's stopped feeling comfy.
I briefly debated calling up Les in Phoenix for his 100 mile race, but when I couldn't quickly find his hotel name in my e-mail that plan vanished as I didn't want to start randomly calling phoenix Holiday Inns asking for some fellow crazy Canadian. I did think about him and the difference in the weather he was going to face that day; 32 F for me, 32 C for him according to the forecasts.
With next to no traffic I made it to the start area in about 10 minutes and was probably the first runner there at 4:50, so I just helped a couple volunteers get the fire started in the ski chalet while I waited for the kit pickup to get organized. Pretty soon a few other runners started wandering in and the random conversations started. Quite a few of the people I talked to would be tackling their first 50 miler that day; then I realized I hadn't done a 50 yet, only the 100k and the attempt at 100 miles. I had it in my head that today was going to be about 8 or 9 hours on the trail based on what I had done at the 100k distance.
Once I got my race kit, I went back to the car, finalized my attire and supplies and set up the hatch for my drop box layout. There wasn't really an area set aside that I could see for the drop bags, and since I was there so early, I was only 30 metres from the trail. I made sure my blackberry was where I could easily get at so I could give Natalie updates after each lap.
The race director gave us a run down of the unique parts of the trail such as where to be watching for the short loop turn. The course was set up as a short 3.2 mile loop to get us going then three 16-ish mile loops for the majority of the race. After his briefing, a firework rocket was launched to start the race, and off we went, headlights bobbing in the dark. There were about 40 of us in this start group, with the shorter distances starting an hour later. It was a ton of fun starting in the dark, although some of the big hills in the first little bit seemed really crazy because you couldn't see the top and we were still bunched up enough that there wasn't a long line of lights going up and over to gauge. At about 3/4 of a mile we hit a marsh, but there was a small wooden bridge off to the side that took a moment to find in the dark. In the coolness of the morning, it was all iced over so more than one person, myself included, nearly took a tumble going up the ramp slipping around. I also noticed a few random snow flakes in my headlamp's glow along the way, which got me thinking this could be a chilly day.
As the group thinned out, we came up a short hill with markers heading to both the left and right. I remembered the RD saying we would come to this intersection and we should go right for the short loop. I called out to two guys about 20 metres ahead of me, and along with the 2 or 3 behind me, we figured this was indeed the turn, although the volunteer mentioned wasn't there. We made the right call because about 3 minutes later we came across the RD jogging down the trail to be at the corner and he confirmed we made the right choice. I found out as the day went on that the majority of people missed this corner. All I could think of was my experiences as a RD and people missing the intersections, even though you explained, described and did what you could to make them clear.
I ended up getting the short loop done in around 32 minutes and it was back onto the course for the three big loops. The trail on the north half of the course is about 5 metres wide and is much like the ski trails at Birds Hill Park, wide enough for the groomers to get in and make a nice track for cross country skiing. The big difference with BHP is that in the Murphy park, there are monster hills, and for about 5 1/2 miles it was a constant up and down. In the dark the biggest challenge was not being able to see some of the big rocks under all the fallen leaves on the downhills. So feeling fresh you still have to take it easy on the downhills as it could get sketchy pretty fast. Just before the first aid station I stopped for a quick pee and was left behind by the small pack I was running with, so began my day of pretty much running on my own.
The aid stations were small but well stocked. The guy setting up the first one asked me where in Canada I was from (wearing the maple leaf buff gave away my nationality I guess) and when I said Winnipeg, he immediately asked if I knew Dallas -- already the third person to ask me about him and I was barely 8 miles into the race! Thankfully Dallas is such a nice guy nobody passed on death threats or demands of money owed :-) After a while I was tempted to answer that question with "I'm from Winnipeg, and yes, I know Dallas". His chatterbox personality leaves an impression on people I guess.
Shortly after leaving this aid station (just had a quick shot of heed to see if I wanted to switch from my gatorade or not) the trail smoothed out and we crossed the road into the less hilly south end. The majority of this section was really rough dirt roads that were full of mud from all the rain in the past few days. The big hills were done for now, but it was still quite rolling, more than this flatlander was used to for sure. If you check out this link (http://rxironman.blogspot.com/2009/11/surf-murph-50k-race-report.html) you can see quite a few pictures of the south end of the course.
By this point the sun had come up and I did my first video snippet (link coming soon) to try and capture the nature of this run. This section was very runnable, or at least should have been had it not been so slick with mud. It was also quite exposed to the wind which was whipping around quite strongly, not something I really wanted on a cooler day.
It was around the 12-13 mile mark that two or three of the speedy folk doing the shorter races went whizzing by me, and I was making a decent pace at this point, averaging around 9:45 min/mile, even having a few km in the sub 9 range on the really flat dirt road sections. To make the loops work, the trail cut into the bush at a few points for some singletrack, about 4 sections altogether on the whole loop. The first one was just after the third aid station, which was where I caught up to and passed a couple other guys in the 50 miler. They were two of the ones that did the short loop with me earlier. We ended up running somewhat together until the first aid station of the second loop; we tended to jockey around a bit; I would be ahead of them, then would walk a hill as they ran past, but we always ended up together at the aid stations. It was on the long shallow climb to the fourth aid station that I passed the first of the 50 milers that had missed the short loop turn. So passing people that I was three miles ahead of was good on the psyche, the trick was to keep moving so that I wasn't passed myself!
As it turns out, I wasn't passed by anyone in the 50 miler for the rest of the race, but over the next lap I managed to keep picking off a few more and pulled ahead of them, usually having a short chat before pulling away.
One more single track cut into the bush and then it was across the road again to the hilly north half of the course for the last few miles back to the start/finish. These hills were nearly as bad as the first part of the course, but what they didn't have for elevation they made up for in steepness or length. Some were really long wavy climbs with false peaks and others were just steep. Two rather devious sections of bush-whacking singletrack in the last mile and half to the loop start. Just after descending a ridge, you turn into the bush and climb that ridge again but this time in some rather technical bush rather than the nice smooth dirt road. There was one boulder in the middle of the trail that was probably the size of an old microwave, but by the time I saw it on the last loop it had grown to be bigger than a vw beetle.
After cresting that ridge, it was down again on a dirt road, then a few corners and then back uphill on the way into the aid station for the end of the first leg, around 19.5 miles. I did a quick check in with Natalie on the blackberry, she was worried that it had taken me so long, my response was 'the hills are grinders!' and that it was not going to be an 8 hour run like I initially predicted. I filled up my hydration bladder, grabbed a few more gels for my stash and was off again after another graze at the aid station where I decided I would start taking the shots of coke just to keep my caffeine levels up :-)
I now got to see these hills in the daylight and was left shaking my head at how long and steep some of them were! I just kept walking up and doing my best to run as much as possible on the downhills without hitting one of the fist sized rocks hiding under the leaves. Other than some weird side stitches that kept popping up, this lap was pretty uneventful, I just ran it as best I could knowing that my lack of real training was going to kick me in the ass come the third lap. I did end up passing three or four more on this lap, one who was doing her first 50k and picked up her pace to ask me questions once she established that I had done this before. The summary of my advice to her was just don't stop moving forward and stop looking at your garmin pace. She had been obsessed with it and said she tried to stick with 30sec/mile slower than her marathon pace and ended up totally burnt out after the first loop and was ready to drop out, but kept plugging away. I saw her again when I was leaving the main aid station for my third lap and she was just finishing, had her whole cheering squad there. She wished me luck and thanked me for the chat miles ago. From this point until I finished, I never saw another runner; just the aid station volunteers.
The third lap was where grit, guts, determination and the ability to manage the suffering came into play. I'd done 35 miles in 7 hours at this point and knew what I had to deal with yet. I made the decision to essentially walk 90% of the nasty hilly section (down hills too) as I wanted to have something left in me to run in the last couple miles. I think it was the smart thing to do as I felt pretty decent by the time I made it to the smoother south section. By now the mud had been beaten down quite a bit too, so it was actually quite runnable and I was able to do actually run! Sure some of the hills had magically become too big to run by now, but quite a few of them were still easily ran. I did linger at the one aid station a bit longer than I should have, but they had some mashed potatoes there (still hot!) that I just had to eat. I also saw my first live animal on the run here, just before coming into the aid station a large mule deer popped out of the trees, looked down the trail at me, snorted, stared and just stood there. A shout got him snorting one more time before he took off into the trees. I kept hearing him for the next 10 minutes thrashing around in the bush, like he was cutting a tangent to where I was going.
After being re-invigorated by the mashed potatoes and a larger shot of coke, off I went to knock off the last 6 or 7 miles. My garmin had ran out of battery just before the aid station and I couldn't remember exactly how far it was. I figured it would be about 90-110 minutes to the finish. Overall, this last section felt not too bad, of course I was tired at this point, but I had some good running stretches before another hill would pop up and slow me down. The side stitches persisted as well, which for the most part, got to the point where they just pissed me off rather than make me stop. I did my best to run and breathe through them, just plugging away.
I had made careful note of the distance on the last nasty singletrack climb to the finish and predicted it would take me 16-18 minutes to do that last 1 1/4 miles. Somehow I managed to do it in 17 minutes and hit the finish line in 10:50:xx. I'm still waiting on the results, but I know quite a few dropped from the 50 miler and just did 50km, apparently a lot of them had missed the short loop turn and were just too beaten up mentally by the course to do another long loop and then muster the energy for even that 3 miles.
I would do this race again. As hard as it was, it was a great event, well organized, well supported, and put on by some really great people. Thanks to all of them for putting it on and for the volunteers being out there in the chilly wind keeping us running.
As soon as I finished, I trotted over to the car, grabbed my bag of dry clothes and went to change. Nothing like changing in an outhouse with a concrete floor with no where to sit down (except an open toilet...) when it is +1 C. Thankfully there were handicap grab bars in the outhouse to help keep me stable, as the legs were just a tad wobbly. I got that done with, went inside the ski chalet to sit by the fire, eat something and call Natalie. After feeling a bit warmer and having something other than a gel in my belly, I headed back to the hotel, after stopping for a latte at Starbucks. I also picked up some chips to snack on while I waited for my pizza to be delivered; a man needs to replenish his salt after sweating that much!
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, I ate lots of pizza, slept, woke up to eat more pizza, then finally woke up Sunday morning ready to drive home. Some short runs this week and all is good with the body, just one toenail that will fall off, but no blistering to speak of. Time to tackle a 100 miler again in the spring!
