Preparing for the Pocatello 20 mile Trail Run

Well I have been a bad blogger the last couple of weeks.  I have been so busy with life that I have neglected my blogging duties.  Just a quick update on how things are going.  I took a week off after the AR50 to recuperate.  I suffered from some serious soreness for about a 4 days after the run.  I did not run for 10 days to recover then jumped back into  training.  My weekly mileage was a follows: April 17-23 - 24 miles, April 24-20 - 36 miles, May 1-7 - 45 miles, May 8-14 - 41 miles, May 15-21 - 12.5 miles.  I will run 3 miles on each day next week until Wednesday, take Thursday and Friday off, then compete in the Pocatello 20 mile trial run on Saturday. I did a 20 mile trail run last Saturday and included on pictures of the route in the Indian Springs area south of Twin Falls in the foothills of the Sawtooth National Forest This is one of my favorite running locations, providing lots of variety in terrain and a peaceful place to run.  I also included a picture of my big toes that are starting to regrow (as you all now from my video, I had toenail issues in the AR50). I look at my toenails as proud battle scars but my wife thinks they are disgusting and refuses to look at them. Maybe this will force her to see them.  Enjoy.  I will post my Pocatello 20 video report early next week. 

American River 50 Mile Endurance Run Video Logs

Check out my American River 50 mile race video logs (Parts 1 and 2).

American River 50 Mile Endurance Run - Race Report

I am still in CA and wanted to get a post up reporting on the race.  I plan on updating this race report with more details and put together a video  when I get back to ID, but until then this will at least give everyone a brief report.

Everything came together on April 8, 2011 for an enjoyable time on the trails between Sacramento and Auburn.  I had a great day both in terms of having fun and my body feeling great. The weather was beautiful. it was sunny and started out in the upper 40s and ended in the mid 60s. During the two weeks previous to the race, as you all know, I was battling a cold and sinus infection that had me feeling physically wore out.  In hindsight, the extra rest during the taper period may have been just what my body needed because I felt very strong for the entire race.

I finished in a time of 10 hours 23 minutes. My 26.5 mile split was 4 hours 58  minutes.  My average pace in minutes per mile at this point was 11:15 (this included all the stop time at the aid stations and restrooms, my running pace was between 9:00 and 9:20/mile) and I was in 412 place out of the 600 finishers (over 200 people entered and did not finish). I ran the second part of the course (the trail portion) in 5 hours 25 minutes (included at least 30 minutes of stoppage time while I changed shoes and attempted some first aid on my feet). My average pace over the entire race (including all stoppage time) was 12:28 and finished in 310 place overall.  I followed the advice given to us rookies from the veterans at the pre-race briefing to go out slow so you can finish and stay ahead of the cutoff times. During the first half I maintained a very conservative pace and felt great.  After changing into my trail shoes at mile 27.5 I hit the trail and passed over 100 runners before the finish.  In hindsight I could have went out faster because I had a lot left in my legs after the finish, but not having run a 50 miler before, I did not know how my body would react and respond to the stresses throughout the day.

I picked up Marilyn at Rattlesnake Bar (Mile 40) and she paced me to the finish.  It was nice to see her and the kids.  From mile 27.5 to 40 the trail was very technical with lots of mud, water, and boulders on narrow single track.  I had to work hard to get around slower runners because of the narrowness of the trail and the obstacles on the sides of the trail.  The only physical issue I had was at mile 39 when I noticed a odd felling in both of my big toes.  I stopped took my shoes and socks off to discover large blood blisters under my toenails (the dreaded "Black Toenails").  I had never had this happen before so did not know what to do. I was worried about the effect this would have over the remainder of the race. At Rattlesnake Bar, I popped the worst blister and put band-aids around both toenails.  They continued to bother me a little over the remaining 10 miles but it was not to bad. Now my concern is the healing process and the effect on my preparation for the Pocatello 50K at the end of May.

I will get the video up ASAP.

The Start - 6:00 AM

Me crossing the finish  at around 4:20PM

Paved Bike Path (1st half of the race)

Ice cream at mile 35

A climb on the trail (2nd half of the race)

Folsom Dam

My pacer (Marilyn) at mile 47

Toenail issues (post race)

Toenail triage at Rattlesnake Bar aid station (mile 40)

Another trail picture

I found my family waiting for me at Rattlesnake Bar aid station (mile 40)

5 Days and Counting Until Pain Time.

My sinus is finally feeling better. It is not completely better but my headaches have gone.  We will be leaving for CA at 5am Wednesday morning. We have tried to predict every contingency regarding our children to keep them content so we can haver a peaceful trip.  I have been having trouble sleeping because I am getting to excited about running the race (I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve).  I am going to try a magnesium supplement before bed.  It is suppose to have a calming effect.  I found out today that  the AR50 website is going to webcast live at the finish line from 11:30AM to 7PM.  I do not know what time I will cross since this is a big step into the unknown for me but my goal finish time will be by 5PM.  If you would like to see lots of people suffering and in pain check out the feed.  http://www.ar50mile.com/

American River 50 Mile Endurance Run

American River 50 Mile Endurance Run  This is the link to the race I will be competing in next week.

Stinking Sinus Infection

My stuffed up right sinus from my cold has been aching all night.  I have been up since 2:30AM.  I think I have an infection so off to the Dr. this morning for some antibiotics.  I hope it works, the big race is in 8 days. Months of training come down to this, I will not let an illness stop me now.

Update:  I told the Doc about the race in one week and he prescribed me an antibiotic (amoxicillin), a couple of medicines to help with inflammation. He said this is the best combo to get this over ASAP.  I have to take the antibiotics for 10 days which could reek havoc on my gastrointestinal bacteria populations.  He told me to eat three servings of yogurt per day to repopulate them.  I hope I do not have stomach problems during the race (when you run a ultramarathon or do any other endurance event you have to eat to keep a constant supply of glucose in your system and supply protein latter in the event).  I may lay off the antibiotics the latter half of next Friday until after the race.  I just hope I feel better soon so my body can recover and be well rested.

Sick

I have one week to go be for the AR50 and have developed a head cold.  My sinuses are clogged and I am blowing out cream of mushroom soup,  "THIS AIN"T GOOD".  I am currently trying every cure (airborne, elderberry extract, sinus salt washes, sudafed, acetaminophen, high vitamin D episode, etc...).  It is not the sinus issue that concerns me the most, it is that I am dead tired and have no energy.  I ran 4 slow slow miles today and it felt like I have not ran in a year.  I hope I get better and get my energy back soon.  I plan on sleeping in tommarrow and laying around all weekend.  This is conference weekend so I do not have to spend all day at church which will help.  I will give a sickness update before we take off for CA next Wednesday.

Trying to Post Video Log With No Luck

I have spent the last week trying to put together a video log of my 31 mile long run last Saturday but have been having some issues with running my HD Flip Video in my movie making software.  When I figure it out I will put it together and post it.  I only have 3 weeks until AR50 day.  I hope I am ready.  I will do one more 20+ long run tomorrow then start my taper.  Marilyn's youngest brother gets married tomorrow so I will have to squeeze it in between the wedding and the reception. I was going to put in a long one today but did not have time, I was only able to get in 10 miles, but I put in 2 -1mile 7:30 min/mile intervals.  I plan on working in some hill and speed workouts during the first week of the taper period, this is suppose to help with endurance.  I feel my base is really strong, I have put in hundreds of miles within my aerobic training heart rate zone (130-140 ppm) in the last 5 months so starting speed work is probably in order. This may be a little late to help much with AR50 but I did not want to start to early because I would have increased my chances of getting injured.  From what I have researched, a good base is critical before starting a once a week speed workout.  Hopefully this will pay off for the remaining races this year.

Great Trail Ultra Video

I found this video on YouTube, if this does not inspire you to want to run a trail ultra, nothing will.  This is awesome.

Salmon Marathon 2010 Video

Here is a video I made of my adventures at the Salmon Marathon.  It is also located on my YouTube site.

Enjoy

Albuquerque

I spent most of last week in Albuquerque attending a conference.  I did not know the running options before going, so on the way from the airport to my hotel I asked the shuttle driver if there were any routes from downtown (I did not have a rental car).  He informed me of the paved bike path along that follows the Rio Grande River.  During my first break on Wednesday, I made my way down to the trail.  It was about a 1.5 miles from the hotel.  After running about 1 mile along the paved bike path I noticed a single track dirt trail leading off toward the river.  The trail kept following the river so I followed it (dirt and gravel are so much better on my legs).  I ended up covering 11 miles on Thursday, 6 miles on Friday, and 21 miles on Saturday all on the dirt paths along the Rio Grande.  Albuquerque has a great trail system for runners.  After resting on Sunday, I ran 8 miles on a treadmill and 10 miles today.  I feel really good and will be ready for this Saturdays 30 mile long run.  Next week is my last build week (oh ya, my body needs to fully recover) and after that I start the my taper leading up to the AR 50.  I just keep doing the little things to prevent injuries (stretch after runs, ice if needed on little aches and pains, and recovering between hard runs).  I will see how it goes.

"Incredible Hulk Smoothie/Green Smoothie"

Part of my training entails eating better.  I have much to say about this and will do so throughout the year.  As a start, my wife started me hacking down a morning health drink she has named the "Green Smoothie".  I have resisted for over a year but have broke down based on advice I recently received from a podcast named "Endurance Planet" on which a guest speaker named Ben Greenfield (an expert in sports nutrition) recommended. Every morning my wife puts about 2.5 cups of green grapes, 4 cups of spinach, 1 or 2 leaves of kale, 1 orange, 1 banana, 1 cup pineapple, and ice in a Vita-mix blender and emulsifies it into the greenest concoction anyone can come up with.  My wife convinced my boys into partaking of it daily by naming it the "Incredible Hulk Shake".  Since my boys were big time Hulk fans they drank this stuff down like it was Kool Aid.  This worked until my two oldest boys discovered that the green color was coming from some kind of plant.  Last year my oldest son Brady made the observation one morning: "Mom I know you put grass in this." Well he was not far off.  My second son's (James) love affair with the "Hulk Shake" has now started to wane as well; this morning he said: "Mom, do we have to drink this every morning" with displeasure weaved in his works.  Since I just started drinking the mixture, I just plug my nose and suck it down as fast as possible.  In reality it does not taste that bad.  It is actually fairly sweet and I eat a spinach salad at least 4 times a week, which I really enjoy.  I just have this mental thing going on with mixing everything into a liquid and drinking it.  Now the only ones who do not complain or have to hack it down are my wife, because she is just plain healthy, and my youngest son (Jackson), who is to young to know better (give him a year and he will put the "green" and "grass" together as well) [see pictures].

Running in the snow (Week 16 of AR 50 miler training)

My long runs this week were both in the snow.  I had been spoiled by the relatively nice winter weather the last couple of months (no snow and decent temperatures) but Mother Nature decided it was time to frost the ground with five inches of fresh powder Friday morning. On my birthday (Friday, February 25) I started my first of two consecutive long runs (3.5 hrs on Friday and 4.5 hours on Saturday) in the middle of the storm at 4am.  The early start on Friday was because I needed to get to work on time.  I have three presentations to finish for a conference in Albuquerque next week and needed to get to work on time.  I was not very excited about running when I walked out the door.  When I say I was not very excited, I mean I was about to return to my bed and sleep in, but I pulled myself together and went anyway.  I have put in way to much work for the American River 50 Mile Endurance run at this point and was not going to slack off now. I actually really enjoyed the run because it was so beautiful outside with the fresh snow covering everything.  My pace was slower than normal because of the snow but that is okay, at this time in my training it is the time on my feet not the distance that matters (at least that is what my training program reads).  I covered a little over 17 miles in 3 hours 30 minutes.  My wife took a few picture of me when I got home partially covered in snow (see posted pictures).  On Saturday I covered 23.5 miles in 4 hours 30 minutes and felt great.  This is the best long run I have ever had in terms of my legs feeling great. I only ate half a Cliff bar,one Power Bar gel, and an orange during the run.

After I finished the last long run, I looked back on the experience with a touch of gratitude that I started the first long run on Friday.  Life is like this sometimes.  I often do not want to do something difficult.  I may be tired or just feel like doing something else. But like that run, if I stick with it I always have the great feeling of accomplishment.  Now, if I can just remember this lesson the for two weeks after I return from NM in which I have back to back Friday/Saturday 4 and 5 hour runs.