Thoughts on Chuckanut - The Day After

Well it's a day after Chuckanut, starring at the computer screen wondering how to write my expeirience at Chuckanut ... Regan, a runner I was chatting with on the way to Aid Station 4 told me I should let the day sink in, and wait a couple of month before I reflect on the day's event ... This was his fourth 50k, and this his second Chuckanut.  So I think it's a good idea ... I have flashbacks from the run, bits and pieces.  Why don't I write 20 thoughts about Chuckanut instead?  In no particular order:

1 - Walking will eventually hurt more than running.

2 - After ten miles pain goes away if just ignore it long enough.

3 - Projection is a powerful thing.  While running the last few miles I projected my core was a warp drive and when I yelled "engage" out load on the trail I was propelled like 5 feet forward instantaneously!

4 - Popping my ultra cherry hurt.

5 - At mile 19 you will have to decide how committed you are to this insanity.

6 - At mile 20 you will embrace your insanity.

7 - Mud will get under your toe nails and skin if you run long enough and deep enough in it.

8 - Ponchos will make you look weak and sissy next to elite runner in short but the poncho will keep you dry and warm rain or snow!

9 - Baked over-salted potatoes is your friend.

10 - Don't swallow a wad of peanut butter at mile 13 your mouth is so dry it will stick to your throat and you will choke!

11 - Thanks a friendly volunteer!  It was harder for them to hike to and setup the aid station than it was for you to run to it!

12 - Rule #1: don't slip over rocks next to a huge 150 ft drop ... If you slip, refer to rule #1!

13 - If you though you don't do ankle deep mud ... you do now.

14 - Who the hell is Dan?

15 - Who would had though: tumbling several miles downhill never felt so great than tumbling down Claytor road and the Lost Lake trail directly following hiking up Chinscrapper.

16 - There are two reasons why the Chinscrapper is called the Chinscrapper.

17 - If you can still think you have nothing left inside you, there is still plenty more to go (or else you wouldn't be there to begin with)

18 - Movie quotes work best out on the trail ... The cheesier the better !

19 - There is no comparison to the feeling of ecstasy you get crossing that finish line at mile 31.  You will be high on endorphin and will laugh uncontrollably for hours on after the end of the race.

20 - With every high comes a low.

Thoughs on Chuckanut ... The Day Before

Chuckanut is fast approaching … less than 24 hours.  I have been preparing the last couple of days mentally for the toughest challenge yet in my life by visualizing passing the major points in the race that I feel the most anxious about … This is mental …. I have shifted from apprehension to a belief that it will be extreme but that I CAN do it.  If I am in shape physically doesn’t mean that I will be finishing, because finishing will be depending how tough I am in my head … mind over matter. 

This is my second consecutive day of rest and little aches and pains in my legs have subsided quite a bit.  On a typical marathon I would go for 2-3 miles run the day before to “loosen” my legs up but I won’t today.  Stretching has helped tremendously in that area so I don’t feel the need to loosen up really.  I am anxious to hit the trail tomorrow so I expect I will be jumpy all day today lol … As a matter of fact I am jumpy as I write this.

I have also loaded the aid stations in the Garmin for the race.  Took me a while to figure that out ...  My first approach was to load the GPS tracks from a 2011 course I found on the net in Google Earth.  Since there are changes from the 2011 course for 2012 in order to reflect the changes I needed first to draw the route from the tracks then modify the route to reflect the changes … But I found this just wasn’t practical because of the length of the course and also because some of the route trails are no coming up on Google Earth.  I figured a day later (Thursday) why not just load the important waypoints ...  I experimented with placing the aid stations.  It looked good when I overlaid the waypoints on the 2011 GPS tracks too.  So the location will likely be off but al least I expect I have them on the actual trails.  If time allows I will go over the course description again tonight and see if there are important waypoints (like forks) I should add.   Anyway, with the aid stations loaded on the Foretrex I will be able to “navigate” to them during the race.  I think this will help me mentally to get a mile countdown to the next waypoints as I make my way to the toughest areas.  Without a route defined I am not sure I will be able to get an elevation profile reading like I did when I experimented with the Tolt Pipeline trail … But if nothing else it’s more experimenting.  I don’t need the elevation profile … I already know it’s f*&cked !!

Talking of experimenting … Still not quite sure what’s going to be the best running strategy.  Recalling the ladies that I met on the course of Birch Bay marathon they were running on a 8 min run/2 min walk schedule (they had ran a 50k the day before so were taking the half “slow”) … And I have been wondering if that would work better to run/walk the first 7 miles for energy conservation rather than run the whole 7 miles at a slow pace.  If I run at a slow pace then I figured 12 min/mile would be good … I am at a point where I wish I had a GPS watch with the ForeTrex (that means I wish I had both gadgets not that I regret getting the Foretrex ah ah.)  The Foretrex wasn’t design with trail runners in mind.  No min/mile pace.  If I go by speed then 10 min/mile (too fast for Chuckanut) should be 6 mph.   12 min/mile is 5 mph.  So I guess I’ll watch my speed to be less than 5 mph for the level sections.  That said I recall that on Tolt the Foretrex reported my average speed the entire time as 3.0 mph … but my actual average was more like 5.6 mph so what gives ???  Maybe I need to load a different screen?   Like current speed instead.   There is a shadowy timer function I need to figure out.  From what I read so far it is possible to schedule intervals on it, but on any device designed for the runner in mind the timer function would be pro-eminent.

I have been nursing some type of a cold all week too.  I was hoping that it would be gone by now but it seems to want to linger there.  Everyone around my cubicle has got a turn to a pretty bad sore throat with some the guys being out for a few days at the time the last weeks and mine has just bothered me at night mostly so far and slightly in the throat so I should be happy in terms of intensity mine has been pretty mellow.  I hope that a few miles into Chuckanut I will have got rid all the crap in my lungs 

Strength is wherever you find it so maybe it is appropriate to conclude with this scripture … Hebrews 12:1 

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

2 Weeks to My First 50k Endurance Run: Schedule Adjustement!

So after snowmagedon, bad shoes that splitted my feet in half, a pulled calf, and an irritated IT band I am finally back on a schedule if not track.  I can't make up training time lost and can't train for my longest, toughest endurance run to date in just a week.  The smart thing is continue to let my body recover so that on March 17th I am as strong and solid I can be.

All these problems were not a total of waste though.  I learned new valuable stretching techniques, re-discovered R.I.C.E and now own a foam roller and stretched helper for my calves.

This is about taper week now so that I will pick right there.  It will also allow me to continue running at a good level without straining myself.  The remaining schedule is as follows:

3/5 - Monday - Rest
3/6 - Tuesday - 4 miles
3/7 - Wednesday - Cross-train
3/8 - Thursday - 6 miles
3/9 - Friday - Rest
3/10 - Saturday - Lake Sammamish half-marathon - 13.1 miles
3/11 - Sunday -rest/Cross-train (pool 1 hr?)

3/12 - Monday - 4 miles
3/13 -Tuesday - 3 miles
3/14 - Wednesday - 2 miles
3/15 - Thursday - Rest
3/16 - Friday - Rest
3/17 - Saturday - Chucknanut 50k - 31 miles

Thinking of doubling up during the week with 1-2 miles runs in the morning as well.  I did that last week to break back into a running routine without adding too many miles at once too fast. It worked great.