PCT 50 - 5th 7.46

Exactly two weeks after Zane Grey I decided to take on another 50 mile race.  Sounded like a good idea while I sat at my computer looking at races.  Sure enough, 1/2 way through the race I was cursing my decision.  Here's how it played out:

The nice thing about this trip is that my wife came along, just the two of us, hanging out in sunny San Diego.  So regardless of how the race turned out, the trip would be good.  We got in late Thursday night and then spent all day Friday lounging around in La Jolla.  I must say it was relaxing but every now and again I would remind myself I had to race in the morning - ugh.  I could tell my mind was not fresh and soon enough I'd find out my body wasn't either.

Nicole in La Jolla

At the start I could tell it was going to be a scorcher, not a cloud in the sky and the air was still.  We took off right at 6 AM and right from the get-go Rod Bien, Fabrice, Hardel, and another fellow were running at a pretty good clip up the hill.  As much as I wanted to go out with them, I knew that was a recipe for disaster.  By the first aid station, mile 6-7, they were out of sight.  Jesse Haynes and I ran together for the next 15 myles and really keeping a steady pace.  Most of the climbing is done on the way out but we were running everything.  It's that douche-bag grade stuff that you just can't walk but at the same time takes its toll for running it.

Right before the turn around I sensed my body was not going to hold on at that pace.  I hit the 25 mile mark in 3.25 and now I had the chance to see where the 3 leaders were.  Rod and Fabrice were about 10 minutes up, while 3rd place was only 4 minutes up.  I got a little charge out of that and decided to push and see what I had.  Pretty steady running for the next 12 myles and I found myself in 2nd place.  I quickly asked the aid station how far up Rod was and they told me a demoralizing "30 minutes".  Rod was running out of his mind!

Mile 32 or so

I had given everything I had up till about 13 myles to go and hearing the news just let the wind out of my sail.  I put my head down and pushed on, most of which was downhill running, but I started to develop cramps in my upper calves and groin.  That was really the beginning of the end.  And just like that, a freight train came past me: Jesse was first and he was motoring, next was Fabrice, and finally with 1.5 myles to go the fellow I didn't know.

I basically walked the last 4 myles and really, really could not wait for this race to be over.  I finished and I couldn't be happier to see Nicole waiting for me.  She looked concerned, which means I looked like hell, and I immediately collapsed in a chair.  After my Ultragen I must have downed 4 cokes in the span of 10 minutes.  The cramps were still acting up in my legs so I just lounged in the chair for a good hour.  Nicole said my face was caked in salt so I know I was doing enough electrolytes, I just think it was too hot for this Colorado boy

Walking to the finish

We didn't hang around too long, all I could think about was a shower and food.  Specifically, El Indio shop, the Mexican food I grew up on and it did not disappoint.  I have to admit that I ate a tortilla for the first time all year but since it's not "technically" bread I still have my food challenge going for the year.

Next up, Jemez 50 mile on May 25th.  What was I thinking??

Zane Grey 50 - 9th 10.20

On the eve of another 50 I had better put some thoughts down around Zane Grey or all will be lost.

Zane Grey didn't turn out as I had hoped but I can tell you it was the worst and best of times.  Here's the story:

I spent the week working in Phoenix trying to acclimate to the heat by driving around with my windows rolled up in business clothes and going out for mid-day runs.  The salt layer on my face is always a good conversation piece with my customers and wouldn't you know, I didn't get any business this trip.  With it being so cold in Colorado I needed some sort of heat to increase my salt flow and although I knew it was too little too late, every little bit helps.  I think back to my previous race in Utah where the temps hovered in the 20s and 30s all day, even with a mild year at ZG it was going to be a scorcher for me.

Lots of people whom I consider friends in the desert this year: James Bonnet, Mark Cosmos, Kevin Higgins, Jamil and Nick Coury, Jason Lutick, Ian Torrence, Paulette Zilmer, Dom Grossman, Mike Foote, Chris Price, Diane Finkel, and Brian Tinder.  So my thoughts going in were "no matter how the race turned out it was worth every second to hang out with these folks".

The moon was out and the air very pleasant as Joe yelled "Go".  I found Mike Foote and we chatted it up on our way to Geronimo (8) in a casual 1.17.  Chris Price was out front with Mike, Dom, and myself trying to keep in under the hood.  The trail up to this point is very tame in comparison to what was coming but apparently my memories were foggy as to how many rocks, twists and turns, and ups and downs really lie ahead.

I pulled over and lost sight of Mike pretty quick and never saw him again.  Looking at the splits, Chris had sped up and Mike was slowly catching.  It's pretty much the same story with the trail up to Wash Park (17.5) and with nearly 3 hrs in the legs I was still feeling pretty good.  It was shortly after the aid station that James Bonnet caught me and really looked smooth going down the technical descents.  I was going to latch on but then sure enough I rolled my ankle pretty good.  So I slowed up and James was out of sight in no time.  Up to this point I had fallen twice and rolled my ankle and with the Manzanita bushes starting to carve there work into my legs, I looked beat up going into Hell's Gate (23.6).

Hell's Gate is apply named because the trail is the toughest trail I've ever run.  You have to run Zane Grey to understand what I'm talking about; it's hot, exposed, up and down, twisting, rock, roots, bushes, you name it and this trail has it.  And just as the name suggests I started feeling it.  Basically for 10 myles it does not quit and this hellish place was sucking every bit of energy.  I was dizzy and stumbling on rocks and every hill was a death march.  I continued to eat and drink hoping the energy would return.  I pull into Fish Hatchery (33) trying to put on my best smiley face but deep down I knew things were not good.  As I left the aid station I could have sworn I saw a naked man running down the trail.  I stopped, rubbed my eyes, and sure enough there was a naked man running down the trail asking me which way to go!!  I laughed so hard!  It was Brian Tinder and exactly what I needed at that point.  The image still haunts me today but it's good payback.  At Western States 3 years ago we were both pacing (Josh Brimhall and Ian Torrence) and I took off all my clothes as they rounded a corner and started running.  It gave us all a laugh and boosted our spirits so Brian paid me back and lifted my spirits when I needed it the most.  You're awesome Brian!

It didn't last long because there was another exposed climb and my conditions were deteriorating quickly.  Now I started cramping everywhere.  I had a second bottle now but within 30 minutes of leaving the aid station I had already drained one.  To add insult to injury I took a wrong turn.  I took a left and started heading up to the rim and it didn't feel right but what kept me going was a set of footprints.  The trail started to fizzle out, I stopped and looked around but was totally confused at what I should do.  It was probably about 10 minutes that I had gone up and finally made the decision to go back the way I came.  When I got back to a junction a man was standing there asking how far up I had gone and if I'd seen anyone else.  I told him I was following some footprints but didn't see anyone.  Turns out Chris Price had gone up that same trail about double my time and the radio people had seen us make a wrong turn.  Chris came by me later and asked why I hadn't waited for him...  I was totally out of it and couldn't even remember his name to respond.

After that point the trail actually gets better with a bunch of trees for cover.  People were starting to catch me and I had no idea how many people passed me while I was off trail but at this point I was far beyond trying to race.  I just wanted to be done and drink some beer.  I pull into See Canyon (43.5) and Ben is there (Diana Finkel's significant other) and he gives me this look like "you should stay here a while".  My face, arms, and legs were crusted with white from the salt.  Brian Tinder was pacing Kerrie and had brought me back a bottle of water prior to the aid station because I was completely out.  I was dizzy at See Canyon and sat for a bit but I just wanted to get this over with, and besides, sitting down only made my cramps worse.  So I got out of there and basically walked it in.  My split to the finish was 1.39...  I'd say that pretty good for walking.

Tough day in the desert.  But what made it all worthwhile were the friends I mentioned in the beginning.  It took me about an hour after the race before I could actually socialize and once I did Justin Lutick had plenty of beer to rehydrate every single person in the race.  Special thanks to Dom and Katie for giving me a ride to the start, Chris Price for giving me a ride home, and Justin for, well, just being Justin.  Big congrats to James Bonnet for winning Zane Grey!  I don't know if I'll be back because Zane has kicked my ass twice now and I'm too old for a good ass whooping anymore.

Buffalo Run 50 - 1st 6.24

A successful first race of 2013.

Nutrition, training, and Hulk Juice were they keys to a successful day on the island.

Leading up to the Buffalo Run I felt like I had dialed in my training by integrating tempo and metabolic efficiency runs into my weekly routine.  But I also knew I had to race exactly like I trained, something in the 7:30/mile range was well within my reach.

The morning was very cold to start but like many times before I knew I'd warm up as long as I kept moving at a good clip.  As I stripped off my final layer of warm clothes at the car I heard Jim yell "GO" and just chuckled as I sprinted toward the start.  I was only about 20 seconds late so I hustled through the pack to the front.  Already there was a light bobbing way up ahead the first hill and based on my breathing I knew I shouldn't chase.  I actually felt kind of funky before the race and through the first 10 myles, just seemed like I was working way too hard to maintain a 7:45 pace.

Threw this picture in because Nicole snapped a good Juan

Even though I was working harder than I wanted early on, I also reminded myself that all the 3500+ climbing is done in the first 15 myles of the race.  So I finally settled in around mile 8 as I started the split rock loop and light from the sun started to expose the landscape.  I let gravity take me downhill and felt very comfortable with a 6:11 mile and that took my average/mile back down below 7:40.  I had one water bottle with me, filled with 1/2 flask of EFS LS and then another flask tucked in my shorts.  A total of 600 calories for the first 20 myles, which ended up being around 250 calories/hour - exactly like training.

Nick Pedatella telling me to jump in the lake if a Buffalo chases me

I came through the start/finish area and I noticed the fellow in front of me was coming back, little by little.  I didn't speed up, just maintained, and by the time we hit 20 myles he was behind me.  With the hills behind me I concentrated on getting my average per mile closer to 7:30... 7:31, 7:25, 7:22, the miles started ticking away and surprisingly I was feeling stronger.  I ended up going through the first half of the race in 3.11 and just hoped I could maintain.  Only problem was that I was going with the wind through Lower Frary on my way to the Ranch and knew coming back into the wind would not be fun.

Finally at the Ranch aid station, my father in law helped me with my drop bag in which I had a special potion called "Hulk Juice".  I poached this recipe from Cameron Dye and had tried it a few times in training. 1 scoop Pre-Race, 1 scoop EFS Grape, 1/2 flask EFS LS Berry, and the rest water.  I wouldn't say it makes running late in a race easy but it helps me focus and get into a rhythm.  I feel like I can push harder and dig deeper.  Even though I did not look forward to going back into the wind I had a chance to see where everyone else was at.  My best guess was that I was about 12 minutes ahead of second place at mile 34.

Coming back with the Hulk Juice starting to kick in

Knowing that gap made me push harder.  And with the Hulk juice starting to do its work I was maintaining my pace into the wind: 7:45, 7:31, 7:34, 7:26...  Although I knew my work was still cut out for me because I had made a bet with Karl - best 50 mile time +15 minutes to Karl.  I knew he put down a 6:30 something but not sure on the exact number during the race.  At any rate, I knew I was cutting it close.

Rick had been following me around the backside offering support and then my wife and kids showed up to cheer me on.  Then I came around to the front side of the island and saw my parents with my brother - man this was like home field advantage for me.  I was motivated all the way around the island and never once did I bonk or get low on energy.  But deep down I had to get that dreaded monkey off my back from the last time I ran this race (I took a couple wrong turns and lost the race with a 1/2 mile to go).  Not this time.  6.24:19, 7:41 avg - a 50 mile PR for me by 20 seconds.  Second 1/2 split was 3:13 so I was pretty steady all day.   btw - I ended up losing the bet to Karl by 3 minutes.  Race Results.  My Garmin

Up the fence line to the finish

A little fist pump as I yelled "No wrong turns"

Couldn't be happier with this result.  I feel my nutrition for the past 3 months played a huge roll in how I felt late into the race, concentrating more on nutrient dense food as opposed to carbohydrate dense foods.  Coupled with metabolic efficiency training and, of course, Hulk Juice - this race was a success.  And if it couldn't get any better, I sat around with a group of friends afterwards and shared a bunch of beers and stories.

Thanks, as always, to my family and extended family for their love and support.

Jaxon and I at the finish with Myles purple hat at the bottom

Here is my nutriton for the race:
2 EFS Liquid Shot flasks - 1/2 flask diluted in 20 oz of water x 4
2 EFS Liquid Shot flasks - full strength (nipping every 15 minutes in conjunction with water bottles)
1 bottle of Hulk Juice - 1 scoop Pre Race, 1/2 flask EFS LS berry, 1 scoop grape EFS + water
handful of bananas
Ultragen post race

Racing again

The last time I toed the line was at UROC 100K last September.  I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that I was not in the right place mentally and physically to be there.  But like most athletes I love to compete and could not turn down an invitation to race on the East coast.

Fast forward 6 months and I am here, ready to compete.  Physically and mentally.  I took the better part of those 6 months making my core stronger and didn't force any training.  I wanted it to be "organic", as some people would say, and run what felt good.  I have skied more than 30 days this year, skate skied a dozen times, and did my core routine every morning.  The cross training been refreshing to say the least.

January is when I really started to pick up more of a running routine by adding two tempo runs each week along side my metabolic efficiency run and tempering each with a heart rate monitor.  But most important were those easy/recovery runs in between where nothing mattered except breathing, pumping the blood, and pumping GodSmack into the brain.

What I've seen is my heart rate go down while my pace picked up.  Here's an example:  My metabolic efficiency run consisted of a 15 mile trail run -1200 ft of climbing- with no calories in my system and only 90 calories (in the form of EFS drink) during the run while keeping the heart rate around 140 bpm.  Here is the progression:

• January 7th - 8:21 pace (avg 140 bpm)
• January 16th - 8:20 pace (avg 140 bpm)
• February 1st -  7:59 pace (avg 137 bpm)
• March 18th - 7:45 pace (avg 139 bpm)   

One important thing to point out about these numbers is that once I incorporated tempo stuff twice a week (2nd week in January), I became more efficient at a faster pace while the heart worked at the same rate.  Common sense.  I believe in speed work for ultra runners.  I don't like to be hooked up to the gadgets but I've become used to it and feel I am training smarter, not harder, because of it.  Over the past 3 month build up to The Buffalo Run I have been able to put in 740 myles (Jan 245, Feb 305, Mar 190) and continually feel stronger. I firmly believe this has everything to do with my off season strengthening as well as balancing easy and hard workouts.  

My goal was to be able to run a 7:20 pace for 5 hours leading up to this race while keeping the HR under 150.  I didn't quite get there but I did put down a 7:24 pace for 4.40 with HR of 148 - almost!  SO if I stay within my limits on Saturday I know I will lay down a good time.  Not gonna make a prediction because if I do then mother nature will lay down something nasty of its own.  

HUMRs will be in full force Saturday

I look forward to seeing all my friends and sharing a few beers!  

The Body-Training-Nutrition

It's a new year -and hopefully- a new version of me.

I didn't quite make it through last year with two DNF's (which doubled my lifetime total) but for some reason the mind kept pressing on while the body disintegrated.  I've been running trail ultra's for 10 years now, accumulating 24,704 myles while making it to the finish line at 64 ultras - something eventually had to give.  Whether it was the mind or body, it was hard for me to take a step back and not do something I truly love.

The Body

Last October I decided to take that step back to put everything back together and re-evaluate my passions.  I ran a total of 628 myles in 3 months and only ran when I wanted to and only if the body had allowed me to enjoy it.  Rewinding to the beginning of last year, my job had me traveling quite a bit but I still wanted to maintain a race a month so the only way to do that was to race myself into shape.  I picked 4 - 50 mile races in a span of 8 weeks and paid the price with shin splints.  Doesn't sound too bad but since shin splints were the very thing that almost made me quit the Colorado Trail back in 2009, I had to let them heal or miss out on Hardrock.  Next up was the lower back that I had been "putting up with" on and off for the past two years.  If I would have just looked at the tread wear on my shoes I would have seen that my stride was not symmetrical.  I was wearing through the tread on my left outside soul within two weeks.  The PT in October told me I had a proximal rotated hip which caused my SI joint to cease up on the left side.  Cindy Stonesmith fixed me up during Leadville this year but my non-symmetrical stride put the hip rotated again before I hit Winfield, resulting in a DQMITTFL.  I did, however, manage to finish UROC 100K in Virginia afterwards but I did so only to get the sour taste out of mouth and because it was relatively flat on even running surfaces.

From October through December of last year I concentrated on core work every day.  One of the books I purchased was Run with No Pain by Ben Greenfield , which had me doing very specific one sided resistance and stretches.  The pain slowly went away and with a little maintenance I am now relatively pain free.

Training

In January I put in 245 myles with another 40 on the skate skis for some cross training.  I can't confirm this but I feel the skate skiing complimented the core work I was doing to straighten out my hip.  My approach to training has taken a little twist as well.  I have taken things I have learned from coaches I have had and combined them with nutrition.  More on nutrition in the next paragraph.   January training has been a base building month by using a heart rate monitor.  I used the first 3 weeks with nothing over 150 bpm.  Then for the last 3 weeks I integrated some tempo work twice a week in the range of 160-170 bpm.  One workout designed as an LT (mile repeats) and one as a tempo (10 mile @ mp) each week, alternating weeks with flat and hills.  Here is an example:

Flat week			Hill week
Monday	2+ hrs	Long run	3+ hr	Long run
Tuesday	1.5 hrs	recovery	1+ hr	recovery
Wednesday	4 x 1mile	LT run	10 x 1 min (7%)	LT run
Thursday	1.5 hrs	recovery	1+ hr	recovery
Friday	10 mile	Tempo	2 x 20 min (undulating)	Tempo
Saturday	1 hr	recovery	2+ hrs	recovery
Sunday	off		1 hr	recovery

This schedule has been giving me about 70 myles and 10+ hrs on the feet.  Little by little I have been watching my HR drop with the same perceived effort during those long runs.  For instance, in the beginning I averaged 145 bpm with a pace around 8:20 on a course that offers 1200 ft of climbing over 15 myles.  Now the pace has dropped to 8:00 with the same average.  As I get past The Buffalo 50 mile race I will drop the flat week and go strictly on the hill week to get ready for Hardrock and other 'hilly' 50 mile races.  Here's a profile my most recent run to show where my fitness is at right now.  Getting fit.

Nutrition

As some of you might know every year I give up a food that I really love and is really bad for me.  This year it's bread.  I also gave up coffee last September so the "Bakery and Espresso shops" are a sinful place.  At any rate, I'm trying to teach my body to rely more on nutrient dense foods as opposed to carbohydrate dense foods.  I have never been a good eater and always find myself gravitating to the sweets, pastas, and breads because they satiate me most.  Call it a high carbohydrate craving that needs to come down.  Truth be told there is a real chemical dependence here with serotonin but I won't get into it.

In the October 2012 issue of Ultrarunning, Sunny Blende wrote an article entitled "Metabolic Efficiency - Becoming A Better-Butter-Burner" and a light bulb went off in my head.  I thought "I'm a carb-whore and that's what I burn, when it's gone so is my energy." Then I watched this and read "High Fat/Low Carbohydrate" by Tim Noakes.  And the last piece of influence, First Endurance has a great article on how to implement a low carb diet into training and racing.  Ultimately I am trying to teach my body to become more efficient, and by "efficient" I mean burn fat.  I honestly feel I will be better off in the late stages of 100 mile race and I will be healthier because of my eating habits.

Will this work or is this a bunch of mumbo-jumbo?  I don't know but I'm willing to give it a try and have been doing so since the beginning of the year.  I believe there is real substance here and with all the processed food here in America, it's time to train my body to reacquant itself with nutritious based food and less carbohydrate dense food.

If you care to remember anything from this post, remember this "You will never out-train a bad diet"

Pearl Izumi 2013

Not sure why I decided to put up a blogpost because for all intents and purposes, this thing is dead.  I've come to the computer several times over the past year to shut it down but just don't have the heart.  There is some good content on here and I find myself referring back to see what my fitness was like in any one month.  When I started the blog it was to log my workouts so friends and family could keep tabs on my fitness.  But now there are so many other avenues to log workouts on the computer, I just don't see the utility anymore.  Not to mention brevity is key, and with such media venues as Twitter and Facebook the blog becomes a thing of the past.  But for the sake of tradition I'll blog about important stuff and link it to my FB and Twitter accounts.

There has been talk about the Pearl Izumi Ultra running team folding.  Why would PI do such a thing when the attention was at an all time high, not to mention the launching of a new shoe line: E:Motion?  I'll put all rumors to rest by saying that the PI Ultra running team did not fold, it just changed shape.  Here is an official statement from the PI headquarters:

“We have decided to aggressively expand our trail and ultra presence in 2012 through a program called Team PI which is a grassroots program developed in concert with our rep and retailers.  In 2012 Team PI grew to 55-60 athletes across the country . This proved so successful that in 2013 that we want to grow that program to 250 members of the running community many who are a part of the trail and ultra community. Growing this program from the ground up awards many athletes a chance to be a part of PI and brings us brand awareness across the country.  There is also a direct tie to retailers. The expanded Team PI is an evolution of the concept started with the elite team and is intended to support the program with a broad base and a few highly visible athletes. We are aggressively evaluating new athletes for 2013 so, visit our facebook page to find out if a Team PI program exists in your territory and to learn more.”

7 years ago when Aric Manning, myself, and Bob Africa met for the first time in Moab to discuss the Pearl Izumi Ultra running team, it was by meer coincidence.  Aric had branded some Pearl Izumi shirts with the Smith logo for me and we were looking for additional sponsors to fully outfit a team.  I just so happened to be running with Bob Africa during Moab Red Hot 55K and he noticed my Peak I Pearl Izumi running shoes and started asking how I liked the shoes.  I began to tell my story as to why I love PI.  Little did I know Bob actually worked for PI and designed the very shoes I was wearing.  The rest is history.  The one thing I remember is that we all agreed that we wanted a small group of talented runners who loved to be on the race scene, hang out afterwards and have a beer together.  A group that genuinely was fun-loving.  I feel we accomplished that over the years.  But we all know nothing lasts forever and as business' morph so do areas of focus and marketing strategies.  So I say to Aric Manning and all those runners who flew the PI flag - thank you for making the team and Pearl Izumi products what they are today.    

Moving into 2013 I will once again fly the PI flag and hopefully it will be a year to remember in the racing and adventure department.  I am no spring chicken anymore but every time I see Karl Meltzer take down another 100 mile race, I'm inspired.  So we will see what the pins have left in them.  Here is my 2013 schedule:

Buffalo Run 50 - March 23rd
Zane Gray 50 - April 27th
PCT 50 - May 11th
Jemez 50 - May 25th
Hardrock 100m - July 12th
Colorado Trail - August 6th-13th (more to come on this juan)

Here's to 2013 and health!