Itching for a piece of gnarly trail

I mentioned a couple of days ago that with the Summer heat approaching, I'm getting excited about starting my North Face Endurance Challenge training.

While I love training and training cycles, I especially love this time of year and what it means to me. Really, it only means one thing in particular; Time to get out on Pine Mountain Trail again. That puts a smile on my face every time I think about it:)

The funny thing is, the trail kicks my butt every single time I put serious mileage into it. I've had some epic tales of crash and burn, dehydration, overexposure, etc., but I keep on going back for more.

How DOES one explain that? Well, for me, I just love training out in that ultra gnarly, rooted and rocky wilderness of single track goodness.

Take a look at some of these pics..

How about running through some of this technical glory when your legs are full of lead and you can barely pick up your feet? Face plant waiting to happen...

One of the great things about the PMT is that it has some pretty decent downhill stretches, but they're extremely technical, full of rocks, boulders and sharp switchbacks. It's a constant challenge to be able to really get some leg turnover, while trying to maintain balance and speed to keep you from peeling off a ridge line. Like I said, it's addictive.

For the North Face Endurance Challenge in September, I can't think of a better trail system to be running on. It separates the strong from everyone else. If you finish the race here, you have demonstrated some very tough character and iron-clad determination. You just can't "fake it" in this terrain.

Trust me, I know!

Ultimate Direction Katoa II: A review

I was doing some Spring cleaning in our garage a few days ago, and I finally made it into our storage/utility room that serves as my "Man Cave" of sorts. No, I don't have a theater system or surround sound, it's actually just a storage room where I can stash all of my running gear without fear of my wife reminding me of how badly it stinks. With a wife and three boys, I don't get much storage space around the house, so this is a shrine for me.

While cleaning my "shrine", I came across a medium-sized box that contained many (and I mean MANY) different handhelds, waistpack carriers, fuel belts, one bottle systems, two bottle systems and even a hydration bladder setup that I recently won from Nathan Performance Labs. I don't think there is a single hydration option on the market that I don't already have at least two of. With the exception of the Nathan bladder system, I've used all of these bottle systems many times over, and I've come to know each of their strengths as well as limitations. The setup I choose on race morning greatly depends upon which options fits best for the race I'm participating in. It's all about dealing with the race-day variables for hydration.

At least, that was the case until the Katoa II. From my perspective, this particular pack from Ultimate Direction, has changed the way I think about hydration packs. The long and short of it is that the Katoa II may be the perfect waist pack. In fact, I'll go even further and say that I can't think of a single thing in which UD could improve upon. Seriously, it's THAT good.

Having used several single bottle waist packs in previous races over the last 7 years, my complaints are the same as many other runners:

* too bulky

* fit is not secure

* bouncing

* not enough storage pouches

* "slosh" around during running

UD has addressed each of these former problems with the Katoa II. Because it's a 2-bottle system, it doesn't feel bulky at all. The bottles serve to counter-balance one another, and the result is a more minimal feel in terms of weight and where it sits on your hips. The Katoa also has a thick waist strap and buckle that do not slip during the run. In this design, that snug fit helps you focus on your running and not on how much your waist pack keeps sliding down your hips. The Katoa also provides ample storage space for gels/nutrition, cell phone, a shell/jacket and small foot care kit. In all honesty, there is more storage capacity in this pack that I've ever seen in a hydration bladder setup, which is pretty impressive.

And the biggest selling point of the Katoa II is it's hydration capacity. Two 22-oz bottles give you enough fluid capacity to get you from one aid station to the next, and that's really all I ask of a pack. The storage and pockets/pouches are icing on the cake, but the fluid capacity is the reason we're here. Based upon my experience in the recent 100k, a couple of marathons and numerous training runs, the UD Katoa II waist pack is a piece of must-have gear for any ultrarunner needing to care for himself on the trail.

Vacation at the beach; Continuing ramp-up

My wife, our three boys and I just returned from a trip to the beach for the 2nd time this summer. We've been really fortunate to have the ability to go down for a week or so, and we had a great time together as a family. We did some cool stuff together, swam alot, and had an all-around great time. I ended up only getting in two (or maybe three, I can't remember) runs in while in Florida, but it was nice to take a break. My body appreciated the recovery time, I know. I finished up last week with a whopping 25 miles. That's pretty weak for me, but like I said, I enjoyed the break.

Now that we're back home, I am back in the saddle with the ramp up to the North Face 50 miler in October. I ran a nice 15 miler in the wee hours of this morning, and that was actually a little more effort than I expected it to be. Having done a few 20 milers over the past 5 weeks, I didn't expect 15 to take much energy, but actually did. It's good though, because I had to work my way through the run, which is good practice.

Here's my training schedule for the rest of this week:

Tuesday: 6 miles (easy --> tempo)
Wednesday: 5 miles (recovery)
Thursday: 6 miles (hills)
Friday: Rest or 5 miles (easy)
Saturday: 14-16 miles (long)
Sunday: 5 miles (recovery)

I hope everyone's training is proceeding smoothly. It's hard to believe, but Summer is drawing to a close. I'm looking forward to those cooler days of Fall, but I know Winter is only around the corner from those cool days. I'm in NO hurry for dealing with the cold again.

"10 miler Tuesdays" continue; midnight 20 milers = running goodness

Really digging the 10 miler Tuesdays, and it's becoming a hard and fast effort as part of 50 miler training for me. It's really encouraging for me to see that I can now hammer out 45+ miles per week without issue, injury or fatigue. I know that ultramarathon training is supposed to get you to that point, and it really seems to be working well for me thus far.

I will finish up this week with around 50 miles, which is a decent week of training for me. Along with the "Tuesday 10", I"m incorporating Thursdays as hill workout sessions, and Monday and Wednesdays as 7-8 mile easy/recovery days. Saturday marks long run day, and I'm being considerably more disciplined about my long runs, and that's a first for me. During previous marathon training seasons, I was quick to cut out a long run at a moments' notice, knowing that if I grabbed a couple of 18 milers and a single 20 miler, I would be okay for race day. Not with ultra training. I've hit every single long run (except one) AND the back-to-back run that follows on Sunday. In fact, here's the breakdown of what I've done for long runs thus far:

• Two 12 milers
• Three 14 milers
• One 16 miler
• One 18 miler
• One 20 miler

The sweet thing is that I've done all of these within the first (6) weeks of training for the North Face 50 miler in October. By the time I toe the line on race day, my long run mileage tally will look like:

• Eight 12 milers
• Ten 14 milers
• Six 16 milers
• Six 18 milers
• Five 20 milers

The latest "weird thing" in my training revolves around the timing of my workouts. For the past few years, I've been religiously up at 4:30am to get the day started with a run. Since last November, I just have not had the discipline to be consistent about getting up that early to run. Eventually, I would find myself running in the late evening/lunch/nighttime hours, but it was not consistent at any single time of day. Since summer has started, I have (for some strange reason) gotten back into the swing of really enjoying doing my run (ESPECIALLY long runs) around 11pm. 

This just seems to really work for me, and it's the weirdest thing. Last night saw me start a 20 miler around 11:40pm, and I ran until around 3:15am this morning. I remember how much I used to enjoy running in the dark, and it really is speaking to me again now. I love just running through our neighborhood while the entire street is dark and everyone is asleep. For me, it seems to be easier (for now, anyway) to run until the wee hours of the morning, come in and shower, and go to bed. My wife thinks I've lost my mind, but I seem to make her think that on a regular basis anyway. :)

At least for now, I'm living the title of the blog; I'm definitely running after daylight ... :)

Tim Twietmeyer, Long run goodness and the Western States 100

Morning, everyone. I had a stellar 14 miler early this morning around midnight. I spent alot of the time concentrating on my running efficiency and form, and I gotta say that I had the best 14 miler I've had in a long, long time. Really concentrated on my foot landing, gait and stride economy. It's really amazing what level of feedback your body will give, but only if we 'unplug' long enough to be able to hear it.

So, I'm listening to a podcast leading up to today's running of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Tim Twietmeyer is now on the board of directors and heavily involved in operating the guts of the race. For those of you that may not know about Tim, he's a past 5 time winner of the WS, and has 25 sub 24hour finishes to his credit. A real ultrarunning legend when it comes to Western States.

Over the course of the podcast interview, one of the hosts asked Tim how he managed to balance extensive WS training with the demands of a family, home life and the balance between  them. Tim came up with what I consider to be one of the most brilliant things I've heard in a long, long time. He said that he always relied on the "Domestic Tranquility Index" or DTI. Basically, if the DTI was high, everything at home was in good shape, his wife was happy with him, the kids were cheerful, etc. On a day with a high DTI, he felt that going out for a long run was acceptable. However, on days when perhaps the DTI was low, he called the run a wash and didn't go that day.

Domestic Tranquility Index.

Brilliant, man. Absolutely brilliant.

-------------------------

PS - I'm running a local 5k here in town later this evening, and I should have a race report soon thereafter. Haven't run a 5k in a couple of months, but I've got a fellow colleague that is going to be there, and has been talking a fair degree of smack regarding performance in the race. I intend of smoking him, but we'll see....

Now Showing: Ten Miler Tuesday's

A new summer ritual began today - the Tuesday 10 !

Learning it all over again

As many of you know, I've been doing this running thing for around 5 years now. I've made that progression from 5k to 10k, half mary to full mary, and then to 50k.

As you can tell, I've done the training it takes to accomplish these distances and endurance experiences. Althiugh I'm in a different running spot right now, and am training for the longer ultra distances, I still should know "how" to train for them.

But I don't.

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of how important it is to have confidence in your training. That confidence comes from your past experiences with that same training. With the new distances I'm chasing, this is completely new for me, and its unsettling.

I am pretty certain that I went through a similar zone when I decided to tackle the marathon distance, but an ultra is different. If you haven't done one, I don't know that you can really understand what I'm talking about.

A marathon is a very challenging endeavor, make no mistake about it. But its over in a relatively short period of time. The North Face 50 miler I'm running in October can very easily see me out on the course for nearly 12 hours or more. And the majority of those final 15 miles will likely involve some significant suffering on both the mental and physical side.

That's difficult to know hoe to train for. Actually, I am now regularly rehearsing in my mind how I will deal with the inevitable problems and mental fatigue that I KNOW will confront me in the latter stages of that 50 mile course.

Make no mistake about it, I am so excited about running this race, I can sometimes hardly stand it. My mind also continues to plan ahead for April, where I will attempt my first 100 miler. But having said that, I do maintain a very real, very healthy respect for the effort its going to take to get me there, and get me through. I just believe that God gave us these bodies to make full use of, and that's exactly what I want to do. I want to know the outer limits of what His gift can help me accomplish.

It's been a crazy trip thus far, and I assume it likely will remain that way...

Diagram of a mega-crappy run in paradise

(How's that for a title, huh?)

Back to the story. My wife, I and our three boys were at the beach late last week for several days of post-baseball, post-All Stars season family vacationing fun in the sun. With school only out for the past 2 weeks, summer is just getting cranked up here in Georgia, so we really enjoyed spending time together at the beach, the pool, the boardwalk, and some less-than-stellar food establishments, but that's another topic altogether.

So, what do you expect I am going to want to do while at the beach? Yep, you got it. I had my gear packed and checked and with us in our condo, just waitin' to be used. Beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery to help the miles pass by, and plenty of time to get er done in the mornings. Like I said, Perfect.

...eh, maybe not so much.

I get out the door around 9:40am on Friday morning, only to find that the summertime on the Florida coast is a bit different than in rural Georgia. You see, Georgia mornings are relatively mild in temperature until around 10:45 or 11:00 in the morning. That leaves plenty of time to get a solid run in before temps get ridiculously hot. Apparently, the rules in Florida are a bit different. It was SMOKIN' hot as I stepped out the condo door. I don't mean warm, either. I mean HOT and humid.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I love running in the heat of summer. Lunchtime runs are some of my favorites of all. But only after I've acclimatized to the summer heat and humidity. Apparently, I have not acclimated yet because I was about to endure a suffer-fest of mammoth proportions.

I get the Garmin synched up, push "Play" on the ipod, and off I go along the beach on a nice, wide bike path. Since I had taken the previous 2 (yes, I actually took 2 whole days off) from running, I was feeling pretty darn fresh and stoked about running in such a beautiful place. You know what comes next.

I dropped the hammer (for me, anyway) and started nailing out 6:20 pace miles. There were some other runners and walkers on the path, but I was able to just rip by them without even trying hard. I was thinking to myself about how easy this run was going to be. 3 miles out, 3 miles back, and done.

Have you ever noticed that just about the time you get cocky and start thinking you're bulletproof, the wheels come off? That's exactly what happened next. The wheels came off. Big time.

Long story short; I ended up walking most of miles back home. Yeah, walking. I walked more on that 6 mile run than I have walked in 50k races. I emptied the tank a little too quickly, had a little much cockiness to me, and paid a nice high price for doing so.

Humbled was I. I hope I learned something in this, and I hope never to repeat it again.

Have you had one of these "disaster" run episodes? Drop me a note or comment and give me all the gory details.

Boston Marathon mojo

I don't know about you guys, but after following the drama of yestetday's race, I am more determined than ever to push my training to that elusive "next level".

As I have mentioned before, I have several running goals that I am committed to achieving, and a BQ is in the short list for sure. After watching Ryan, Kara and Des gut it out yesterday, I am committed to working even harder for that magic 3:20:00

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Flat Rock 10k Trail Race - 2 days out

Starting to look forward to this Saturday morning and the Trail 10k I'll be running here locally in Flat Rock Park. It's being put on by bigdogrunning.com, our local run shop, and promises to be pretty sweet. This will be the first non-marathon/ultramarathon distance race I've run in at least a year.

I haven't run at Flat Rock before, but our oldest son, Josh did some of last seasons cross country practice runs there. It's funny, but the race advertisements call it "trail racing", but after a few ultras, I find it pretty humorous that a dirt road is now considered a "trail". No bother, I'm looking forward to seeing how many other racers show up, and seeing what I can squeeze out with a shorter distance race. Even though I don't think this is anything close to technical terrain, I doubt this will be a PR-level race venue, but I could be wrong. And rest assured, I'll put in a PR caliber effort - yeah, baby!

Oh, and I just happened to stumble across mention of the fact that Elite Racing's Rock n Roll Marathon race series is now hosting a stop in Savannah later this year. May be able to swing over to the coast and run along the river. I haven't run one of the R n R races since my wife and I ran Nashville back in 2005, I think. Anyone run any of them recently? 

I never thought it would happen... and then it happened

I was out on a fartlek (I still love saying that word) 6 miler this evening, just taking in the beauty of a fabulously cool, breezy, Georgia Friday afternoon in the hood (neighborhood, that is). Listening to the occasional sounds of our three sons playing kickball in our yard whilst arguing with the friend from next door that was playing with them, I realized something,


The Buildup

About 13 months ago, I began to get interested in the now-overtalked-about topic of minimalist running. Specifically, I was interested in what I read concerning forefoot striding. As an average sized guy, I'm about 6'2" and weigh around 190 pounds. I'm not petite by any means, but I'm not overly large either. But in the past 3 years, I've had occasional issues with injuries resulting from nothing more than poor biomechanics related to my running form. With this new information about the natural running form, I began to wonder if a:) I could actually change my running stride/gait and b:) If it would help me reduce some of these nagging little aches and pains.

I spent alot of time reading some of the fantastic research material over at www.runblogger.com on the natural running form, what it looks like, and how it enhances your running efficiency. It sounded almost too good to be true, honestly. Pete made it sound so effortless to run with a forefoot strike (no heel striking such as I had always been doing). Coupled together with the slight forward lean during the run is the fact that your stride should be marginal and not overreaching. Your feet should strike ground directly below your center of gravity. It sounded so easy on paper, but I soon discovered that putting it into practice on the asphalt was a completely different animal.

My first attempts at incorporating forefoot running were, let's say, less than successful. As I concentrated on trying to land forefoot rather than on my heel, I couldn't help but get the sensation that I was running on my tip-toes, and that's just not natural to me. I would try and try, but it never felt, well... right. What I failed to realize at these points of frustration was that the impediments to me achieving this more efficient stride were the two size 11 1/2 running shoes that were attached to my feet.

Kick 'em off...

About two months later, the game-changer happened. I was listening to a running podcast, and the guy being interviewed made a revelational statement that hit me between the eyes, and unlocked the secret of forefoot running...

Run barefoot.

Yep. I said it. Run barefoot.

Here's the gig: As running shoes have evolved, the cushioning contained within them has caused our feet to change the way in which they strike the ground. In essence, because the majority of running shoes today have thick, padded, cushioned heel cups, our body has no reason to strike on anything but that nice, soft cushion of the heel. BUT, if you take off your shoes, walk out onto the street (or sidewalk) and start to run, your body will absolutely not allow you to land on your heel. Why? Because it would hurt ! Your natural foot strike is, and always will be, your forefoot. If you don't believe me, try it now. I'll wait for you to come back.

See what I mean? The shoes on our feet have changed the way our feet "interact" with the ground beneath us.

In my next post, I"ll tell you how I put all of this knowledge (it wasn't that much, honestly) into action, and what it has done for my running. It really is nothing short of revolutional.

-Out

WANTED: (1) running groove. Will pay any price for it

It happens this time every single year, and I hate it.

I really do.

Every year when Spring marathon season ends for me, I fall right into the middle of what I call "post marathon funk." And it's anything but "funky".

This racing season went tremendously well for me. I set a marathon PR back in January in Disney, and I'm really stoked about that. I had a couple of less-than-stellar marathon performances mixed in as well, and they bother the crap out of me, honestly. But I can deal with it, you know? I just don't like it when I don't have a goal race to train for. That's where I'm at right now.

Did I mention how much I hate that fact?

Now, I've got races on the calendar for sure. But they're well over three/four months away, and that's too far for me to start a structured training program. It's just that when I'm not hard into a training regimen for a goal race, my running becomes something less than it should be. It becomes something I do sometimes as an act of obligation; self discipline; routine. That's not what running is about to me.

I long for that first day of my structured training plan. I really look forward to being able to start the training cycle and see where all the hard work takes my body, mind and strength. I love feeling the hard work every day, and then seeing the results on race morning. But I don't have that day on my calendar yet.

In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away the miles, adding them up when I can, making good excuses when I can't. I'll get around 30 miles per week every week, and I'll feel lousy that I'm not doing more. I just pray that this relatively restful period will put my body in a more recovered, refocused state for when training day really does begin.

The best I can tell, training will commence in around 32 days.

I can't wait...

Some more Sweet H20 50k punishment...

I have been going through some race reports from last years ultra at Sweet H20, you know... just trying to get a good lay of the course. Since I haven't run this course before, I find it to be a BIG help in learning from past experiences of other ultrarunners.

As I have read along on several blogs, I'm getting even more stoked about this race. It's 6 weeks away now, and I'm getting antsy about it already!!

In nor particular order;
The TOP 10 Adjectives used by others to describe the Sweet H20 50k:

10. Pain (this one's pretty self explanatory)
 9.  Suffering (makes sense, right?)
 8.  Unrelenting (hmmm...)
 7.  Unforgiving ("Life is hard. It can be even harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne) nuff said
 6.  Deceptive ("The hill you just suffered up is far easier than the ones that lie ahead." - Race Director
 5.  Punishing
 4.  Technical
 3.  Humbling
 2.  Crippling
 and...
 1.  INCREDIBLE

A few more pics I scrounged from others' blogs:

Now THAT'S a nasty climb !!

A running shoe follow-up and some good, clean shoe porn

Don't ask me how, but I have somehow managed to completely leave everyone out in the cold on the verdict for the Brooks Green Silence kicks I bought a few months back.

I didn't mean to, I really didn't. I actually love the shoe. It's everything you want in a pair of running shoes; it's incredibly light underfoot, very breathable, and moderately durable (to a point, anyway). It really is a nearly perfect racing shoe.

So, am I going with another pair to keep in the barn?

Probably will once Fall gets here. In the meantime, I've been looking for a new pair of sneaks for exclusive road work. Right now, I'm leaning toward the Defyance. It really does have it all, and it feels fantastic underfoot.


Oh, I almost forgot... I was able to try on one of the newest models in the Ravenna line. It felt pretty good, considering it's a stability shoe. Pretty responsive and flexible, which isn't common for a shoe built around guidance.






Add to this lineup the newest member of the oh-so-fabulously-designed Cascadia lineage, and Brooks has perhaps the most solid line available thus far...

Ramping it back up; Just in time to taper it back down

Disney Marathon around Mile 23

I'm hitting a nice stride in post-Disney Marathon/pre-Mercedes Marathon training, and now have less than 3 weeks until race day in Birmingham.

I'll be running a 20 miler (or so) with Speedy Dave on Saturday morning, and that will be the only 20+ mile long run I'll get in before race day. I should have time to grab a couple of 16-18 milers in the next 2 weeks, so I'll be ready.

And on a more serious note...

Little nuggets o' deliciousness

I've also discovered that I am addicted to the Hostess white powdered donuts that come in a bag at the grocery store. I can't seem to stop thinking about them, and I have been eating about 2 bags per week now. I don't typically eat junk/garbage such as this, but I believe they have crack in them, and I am therefore hooked.

I may need a donut intervention.

2011 Mercedes Marathon on Feb 13; Here I come

I just booked a hotel reservation for my wife and I in Birmingham for Feb. 12, the site of the 2011 Mercedes Benz Marathon. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you likely remember that this race is my favorite marathon course of all. I'm really stoked about running it again, and also getting to turn the weekend into a Valentine's weekend with my wife makes it even better.

The Mercedes Marathon (www.mercedesmarathon.com) is just such a fantastic course through the downtown Birmingham area. It's not like the other urban city marathons I've run, because you don't really go through the urban blight areas/warehouse districts that so many other inner-city races force you to traverse. Birmingham is simply terrific for a venue, and the hills that are thrown in throughout the course make it even better in my book.

What's my strategy for this marathon? Well, I'm obviously planning on taking advantage of my training and periodization I have left from the Disney Marathon training cycle. Since I"ve been able to reach a new PR this early in the racing season, I'm absolutely going to push Birmingham a fair degree harder than I did Disney. In terms of a time I"m striving for?

3:39:00

Is that a lofty goal? Yes. Is it within my ability? We'll see. I think it is, or at least is close to my ability. I don't have any delusions about the fact that running a sub 3:40:00 will require suffering and toil on my part, but I'm willing to pay that price for the goal. I've honestly got nothing to lose, so why not? My plan is to begin the race with the 3:40 pace group and follow them until around Mile 24. If I'm able to stay with them until that point, I will then attempt to peel off and squeeze everything out of what I have left in me.

Now, there's no way I would ever attempt a target this aggressive, had I not already reached my season goal of breaking 3:45:00. But like I said, why not go for broke? I still have two additional marathons in March and April that I may run, so time is still on my side. We'll just see how this one works. 

Between now and the race, I've got about two weeks of training time. In that time, I'm going to just do some tempo work and long runs (now that I have my trusty new treadmill :)) I'll leave the final week before Valentine's Day for tapering, and I should be able to show up at the Start line in good order.

Of course, I could be completely, dead wrong on all of this..

We'll see.

Disney; Here we come

So, we leave for the world of the mouse tomorrow afternoon. Here's the summary of where I am, in terms of preparation for this race:

1. Training is done.
2. Training went well.
3. Injuries are none.
4. Excitement is high.
5. Confidence is higher.

Objective for this weekend's 26.2 mile journey:

BUST it.

Uh, Greg.. I thought this was a taper???

Second post for the day, but it's relevant...

So, this is taper period right? 

My trainer/coach doesn't seem to understand that, apparently. I pulled out my training plan that Greg McMillan (mcmillanrunning.com) created for me, and I fully expected to see todays workout consisting of something akin to "75-85 minute recovery/easy run".

Not so much.

Instead, Greg threw in a nice, 10 mile tempo interval session that literally kicked my $**()#*%$) halfway down the street and back. Here's the lowdown as I found it in my inbox:

30 min warmup @ 8:30 pace
3 x 2000m @ sub 5k pace
  w/ 2:30 recovery @ 8:45 pace
3 x 40 sec @ 6:45-6:55 pace
  w/ 1 min recovery @ 8:45 pace
20 min cooldown @ 8:50 pace

Lucky for me it was nice and cool out there, because by mile 4, I was flat humping it. I haven't had an interval session like that in months, and he saves it for 10 days before race day??

My running coach that pummels me with 3x2000m tempo
repeats @ sub-5k pace the week before a marathon !!!!

Thanks Greg. The marathon plans you've prepared for me in the past have been epic feats of endurance, suffering and toil, but they have never failed me on race day. I don't doubt the results of your plan, but crap dude, I sure would have appreciated a bit of advanced warning about today's torture session.

And now, my fatigued, sore and limp body is able to type, but nothing else.




(I did take a peek at tomorrows session -)

"60 minute recovery run"

WOOT

Yet another example of my foolishness and folly

I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday season with family, loved ones, friends, and fellow runners. It was a fantastic month or so around our home. Along with the fun activities leading up to Christmas, my wife and I were out of town in the mountains celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary.

We had a great time together and did some final shopping for Christmas gifts. Also, our oldest son, Joshua, had his 12th birthday the week before Christmas, so this time of year is always really, really busy (and alot of fun) for our family.

All self respect aside, I've GOT to share this jewel..

So, my wife and I are staying at a lodge in this state park in northern Georgia. There is a waterfall at the top of the ridgeline where the lodge is located. We decided that we'd go do some hiking one chilly morning, so we meandered over to where this waterfall and its trail are located. At the top of the trail there is a sign that states the trail down to the base of the falls is done via a very twisting/turning route of stairs that is, dig this, 600 steps long. This sounded pretty cool to us, so we thought we'd bomb down the 600 steps to the bottom, snap some photos and see how fast we could get back UP the 600.

My brilliant plans always sound so much better before I act on them...  

As we're zipping down the zig-zag stair sections, I start thinking about how tough the climb back up them might actually be. Then I shrug it off, recall the fact that I'm a well-trained, highly energized distance runner with great cardio capacity. "No problem" I say to myself. I'll rip up those 600 steps in less than 10 minutes, no doubt.

What a complete goof ball I am.

We reach the bottom of the falls in about 15 minutes, and it's beautiful, pretty chilly and incredibly peaceful. We snapped some pics and decided to turn around and bomb the ascent back up to the parking area.

Literally, I turn around, look at the first section of stairs and start to sprint up them 2 steps at a time. I'll be at the top of these babies in NO time, I tell myself.

I'm so completely stupid, it really is sad.

Within 30 steps, I realize I can't breathe. 

Still 10 more steps and I come to find that I've lost feeling in my right leg, left ear and my two front teeth hurt really badly.

Yet another 2-3 steps and I begin to think about who I want to raise our three boys since I am obviously about to die.

You really should feel pity on me for being so completely ignorant and stupid.

Suffice it to say, the hike up the remaining 550+ steps was a slog, and took probably 45 minutes to complete. It was a slow march of shame and embarrassment for me in front of my wife, who by now is well aware of the poor state of my intelligence. Over the past 16 years of marriage, I really have come to see that above all things she feels for me, the primary one truly must be pity. 

You know, like the pity you feel for that slow, stupid zebra you see on the Animal Planet show about lions. Amidst all the zebra herd, this poor stupid one is the last to leave the watering hole as the lion zeroes in on his prey. Oblivious to any real danger that is now present, our stupid little zebra friend stops to smell a flower or look at a shiny rock and the next thing you know....

DINNER !  

That really is me. 

Stupid little zebra; waiting to be enjoyed as the main course.

Bon Appetit

All I want for Christmas is another 22 miler

I don't remember Mariah Carey's rendition of the song containing that line, but it should have been there.

Disney Marathon training is starting to wind down for the season as I am now well into the "3 weeks until race day" window. I know I've mentioned it before, but I don't really subscribe to a 3 week taper as some runners do. Instead, I'll end up running another 22 miler on this coming Friday/Saturday morning and that will (or at least, should) cap the long runs before I toe the line at Disney on Jan 9. I say "should" because I'm not one to hesitate throwing in another long one if I feel that I need it.

As training goes, everything continues to rock on without issue. My mileage continues to hover between 45-55 per week, and I still (praise God) remain injury-free. As I look back at my training schedule and logs, this buildup has been the most grueling, yet rewarding training cycle I've completed since I started the whole "marathon-thing". It's been loaded with tough workouts, which I love, tougher workouts, which I don't love quite as much, and long distance tempo/fast-finish workouts, which I now hate so much, I think I love them in a way...

Strange.

I should finish up this week with about 50 miles again, and then head into next week with the goal of notching down mileage and long runs to about 38 miles total for the week. The following week will see my decrease take me down to about 34 miles. Two days later, Disney marathon.

Yeah baby.

To all of my fellow runners that will be heading down to Orlando, FL around Jan 8-9, stay strong in these final two weeks of training. Don't do anything stupid (I need to take this advice myself, now that I think about it:)) and trust the training that has gotten you this far. With three weeks until race day, there is very little additional physiological benefit that can be realized by increased training now, but injury can definitely be a real risk. Again, don't try to make up for lost workouts that you missed back in October - it's not worth the risk to your body. Be smart, train smart, recover, and on Jan 8 or 9, RACE.