Dan

All,

Dan passed away from complications in late June. I will miss him as I'm sure many others will as well. Working on getting ok with this.

BC

AR50 - Old Dog, New Trick

Somewhere after Negro Bar (about 24 miles in):

Friendly Spectator: You are number 125 overall.

#187 (me): You have got to be shitting me! I have never been this far up.

Friendly Spectator: Definitely 125...LOOKIN GOOD LOUIS!!

#187 (me): FEELIN GOOD BILLY RAY!!! (I was floating - no bullshit)

Just when I thought I had a clue...got this stuff kinda dialed in...I LEARNED SOMETHING NEW. SOMETHING BIG. Who knew?! Who in the hell knew!?!?

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Toeing the AR50 start line, I had a NEW PLAN and was going to stick to it come hell or high water. NEW PLAN was not going to be easy, however, and was going to force me to run in a way that cuts across the grain with the way I naturally approach ultra running or running in general. NEW PLAN had structure. NEW PLAN made sense. NEW PLAN would provide the guns needed to spit in the eye of this 50 miler and finish...smiling...upright...or fake it convincingly. Twice before I've made the finish of this one but never in control and always after plenty of self induced suffering.

Hell did eventually show up, by the way, as well as his bro High Water who usually, in the latter hours, take turns sucker punching me mentally ("why in the f**k do I subject myself to this crap?") and physically ("who needs toenails anyway...just 20 miles to go..."). However, this time I had NEW PLAN in my corner....NEW PLAN was by my side for the long haul. Yeah...NEW PLAN had my back!

Hell and High Water...SAY HELLO TO MY LIL FREN!!! (think Al Pacino - Scarface).

At the Way to Cool 50K a few weeks ago, the plan was to go on the full tilt boogie until I blew. I refer to this method as "The Gump" and it's one of my favorites. The beauty of the Gump is in it's simplicity. Just run your butt off from the start and deal with paying the piper later. No watch, no pace, no brains...just run like you stole something baby! Sometimes you make it, most times you don't, but the unencumbered running somehow fuels it's appeal. I dig not having to pay attention to the details early on so much that I am willing to risk the obligatory physical and mental flogging that come with a planned, intentional Gump. I know there is a better method but I still enjoy Gumping it quite often. Strange choice the Gump.

It's also fun to find out what kind of shape you are in utilizing the Gump. It's simple...and I like simple. I will caution however that, for a runner of my caliber (read; hack), the Gump should be reserved for distances 50k or shorter. I have never attempted to Gump anything longer and have no plans to. I'm foolish - not stupid. Or is it the other way around? Depends on who you ask. =)

The Gump... and it's various styles and flavors has been part of running since it's inception. An Intentional Gump, if successful, can be a thing of beauty while the more pedestrian Unintentional Gump will more commonly gather scorn. More on Gump Theory & Appreciation to follow in another post....

For AR50, NEW PLAN consisted of wearing a heart rate monitor and keeping my HR below 145 all the way to Beals Point (mile 27) in an effort to reach that point of the race feeling good and optimistic about the remainder of the race. (Why I chose 145 bpm I'm not sure other than the knowledge that 155-160 bpm at WTC reduced me to a quivering mass of self doubt by mile 24....a shivering, salt encrusted chihuahua without his blanky...I needed a hug, therapy and maybe a laxative). NEW PLAN also had me eating more than I have in the past to see if that would help me avoid some of the stomach problems that I typically encounter.

So the NEW PLAN boiled down to additional calories and controlled pace and BOTH WORKED! It was high fives and butt slaps for me all the way to Rattlesnake Bar (mile 40) before I felt like I actually had to begin working to finish the damn thing.

(Here's a tip. Last year I passed on the free ice cream cone being handed out at Rattlesnake but this year I had one. I will NEVER pass up ice cream during an ultra again. It was that good and gave me a boost over the next few miles.)

I'll tell you something else, running with a plan and maintaining a positive attitude throughout REALLY helped. Just being able to pull into an aid station and crack a joke with a smile improved my mental state and approach to the entire race. I need to write that down somewhere.....

Over the last 20 miles, I think I passed about 10 runners and got passed by a couple finishing 118 overall and in 8:53:55 - a PR by about 25 minutes. Big Sur Intl. Marathon coming up on 4/26 and then Miwok the following weekend, TRT100 in July. Good stuff. BBB

Way to Cool Crash and Burn

Overheard at the Goat Hill AS, mile 26.8 into the race....Or, did I just imagine this?

Friendly Aid Station Person: "Welcome to Goat Hill aid station. What do you need?"

Runner #139 (me): "(gasp) There's nothing on that table that can fix what's wrong with me (wimper)!"

Friendly Aid Station Person: "What's the matter?"

Runner #139 (me): "My self diagnosis is age and LACK OF FITNESS!!! Can you fix that with a damn brownie?!"

Friendly Aid Station Person: Nope (pointing and laughing) so get your ass outa here! (more pointing and laughing)

Runner #139 (me): "I'll sally forth without your useless brownie! A pox on your brownies! Oh, and thanks so much for being out here you guys...I love each and every one of you."

I was fried....legs crispy and the stomach was staging a coup.

It took about 20 miles.....20 miles for the wheels to get wobbly and the dashboard lights to start flashing. I made it to the half way point in 2:17 and felt like a hero, however over the next several miles, my mortality surfaced once again and the familiar pace squelching leg fatigue inevitably took the reins. The rest of the race I found myself running with the "not gonna go sub 5 hours so stopped giving a shit" group. A friendly lot, with plenty of walking and stalling to chat at various aid stations...I had, for the moment, found my peeps.

THE PLAN going into WTC was to run hard from the start and see how far I could get before caving in. The weather conditions were perfect, the course was very runnable and I felt my conditioning was in the "OK" category - basically trained but not optimal - but still pretty good for me. With the exception of 2 ball bustingly steep climbs (one shared with Dawn Infurna-Bean of the WS100 video A Race For The Soul - and for the record, she is just as nice in person as she appears in the video. I will add she is way stronger/faster in person as well.), this course can be run without walking so fast times were there to be had for those who had done their homework.

The dog ate my homework.

My time of 5:25 was on the disappointing side mostly due to not being able to move any faster over the last 8 or 9 miles...but, as stated, THE PLAN was to run hard and deal with the consequences later. At some point past 20 miles, I knew my tab would need to be paid, I just wasn't sure when the bill collector would come-a-knockin...he eventually did, and my account was slowly, painfully, settled.

WTC is a long way to drive for a 50k but I think I will want to have another go at this one next year. I'll come with a revised PLAN and attempt a more even pace throughout. Still, it was good to test myself and see how far I could go at that pace. Overall, the event is extremely well run and a great way to kick off the Sierra Nevada ultra running season. BBB

Race report from my first ultra - Dick Collins 50m 2004

Hello Blogsters - What follows is a quick recap of my first shot at running an official ultra event - The Dick Collins Firetrails 50 on Oct 9th in Castro Valley:
I slept well friday night. Better than I have all week. The race went really well, pretty much just as I had planned it. I was surprised at how good I felt almost the entire way. I ate and drank continuously staying well hydrated. The weather was optimal. Low 50’s at the start and getting to the mid 70’s by the afternoon. I used primarily Gu and Gu2o/Gatorade as my fuel source. I tried some pbj’s and half a payday bar as well as a Boost Plus 1 hour before the start and another diluted in one of my bottles during the run. The diluted one I didn’t care for very much because running with it shakes it up and makes it foamy and hard to drink. I probably got three quarters of it in and dumped the rest.
My family crewed for me and were a huge help. At each aid station that they had access to they were there with anything I needed and that helped me save some time. I think the longest aid station stops were the two where I did a sock change and those were shorter than 5 minutes. Probably more like 3 or 4 minutes tops. I had to change socks twice during the race due to blisters which started to occur around mile 20. The worst one is on the ball of my left foot behind my big toe. It is about the size of a half dollar and popped on its own at about mile 45. I didn’t start with hydropel on that area and that may be the reason it blistered. There is another in the same spot on the other foot but smaller.
My plan was to get to the turnaround point (mile 26) 30 minutes ahead of 10:30 pace. I arrived 25 minutes ahead and outside of the blisters felt great. The climb back to mile 30 is a long one and by the time I got there the cushion had shrunk to just 5 minutes (I passed 5 runners on this section). I was a little worried with 20 miles to go, a slim 5 minute cushion, and expecting to slow due to fatigue. So I decided to concentrate on moving as fast as possible on all the runable sections and of course keep fast walking the ups. This worked out well and I passed several more runners over the next 20 miles and made up time. When I got to the mile 37 aid station I had made up a bunch of time and had around 3 hours left and 13 miles to finish in under 10:30. I knew it was in the bag at that point and turned my attention to try breaking 10 hours. 5 miles to the next aid station.
At the mile 42 aid station is where I made my only mistake of the day. I was getting tired of eating Gu and decided that with 8 miles to go and being ahead of schedule, and feeling great, I would run it in without eating anymore. The blisters were hurting but not enough to make me want to stop for repairs and miss breaking 10:00 so I decided to run it in. After the last aid station at mile 47, I started to get tired from lack of fuel. I would have had to run 3, 10 minute miles from that point to break 10 hours and with no fuel in the tank, some hills comin up, etc, I was not able to muster the strength to do it. I was pooped. I think if I would have continued to eat I would have finished the last 3 stinkin miles much stronger.
Anyway, I finished in 10:06:33. 62nd out of 120 finishers. OK by me for a first ultra. That’s good enough to get into the WS100 lottery and I sent my application in yesterday..Oh Yeah!!! With the exception of the last 3 miles I felt strong and in control the whole way. And the last 3 miles were not like a fall apart/bonking type of deal, I was just too tired to break the 10:00 time which was no big deal since I only needed a sub 10:30 to qualify for Western. The hamstring problem was never an issue. That’s huge. The only thing that got sore were my knees later in the race from the downhills but that never really slowed me down either. I do need to figure out how to avoid the blisters. I have blistered in the same place twice now. Both on long hilly runs of more than 25 miles. Also, this is weird because I have not been sick in years but, I have developed a sore throat and am coughing up some lung junk similar to what I remember bronchitis being like. Not sure what is going on there.
I really dug the course and will for sure want to run this one again next year (except next year I want to be faster). Meeting Ann Trason and Carl Anderson was great. They were both there to high five me as I crossed the finish line. I got a cool DC50 wine glass, a tee shirt and a polo shirt for being a rookie finisher.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the WS lottery on Dec. 4th. So far all is going according to plan.