A Great Day for a Run ...

Saturday saw a break in the cold rainy pattern around the Seattle area.  Since I am still recovering from Chuckanut I didn't have any grandiose running plans for Saturday, except accompanying SGF on her first ever 5k, which actually was pretty grandiose in unto itself ...  Friday night, came an email from Bob Muk (ESNW).  Bob was inviting people to support an ultra runner, Kevin D, as he runs 100 miles around Greenlake in Seattle, WA, by coming out in the eery morning hours for a lap or two with Kevin.  I figured if I woke up I would go.  And I did wake-up, at about 2:50 am ... Was a great night for run.  A little chilly, some overcast, but still the stars shined on the lake.  We met up Kevin D. as he was about 50 miles in his goal, so 16-17 laps left to go to his goal.  I was really impressed, not only the distance was challenging but running laps around Greenlake is utterly boring.  Another runner accompanying Kevin, Jesse, explained to me that there is a reason to the madness:  running laps for so long so far toughens you up mentally.  Something to consider, maybe I could run a 50k around Greenlake ...  Greenlake has a paved loop around the lake for recreational users but we followed Kevin around the outer loop which has a softer track, compact dirt and grass.   Bob and I stayed for one loop, which was about 3.3 miles ...

 I am glad I came, very impressed with Kevin D, so much so I am inspired to do my own little ultra 50k run around the lake to challenge myself now  ... A 50k would take ten laps.  Maybe make it 11 for effects?  And if I could keep that average pace of 11 min/mile, the entire run would be about 6 hours ... A great confidence builder after my 8 hr 53 min Chuckanut run .... mmm ... definitely thinking about it now ...

After our loop with Kevin D we headed back.  I met up with SGF then SGF and I headed to the Armar Road trail head of the Centennial trail to do the Cupcake cake 5k fun Run/Walk.  SGF has been training hard to walk her first 5k and I was looking forward to walk it alongside her.  She did great, I am very proud of her.  Although I figured I would just walk the 5k along side her, I made it a little more challenging for me by jogging it backward instead!!

In the end the best part could be that I won first place male in the 5k ... By virtue of being the only male in the 5k.  For a minute I though I was getting the award for finishing first backwards eh eh ... But I'll take it, this may my only first place ever ...

Actually there is a reason for the madness of the 5k backward as well [besides providing a visual carrot to SGF] ...  My physical therapist suggested simple exercises to strengthen my backside, such as: swimming on my back, going backward on the elliptical machine or running backward.  Because the field of runners is quite small at the 5k I figured, why not, let's try jogging it backward.  And so I did ... The backward jogging felt good.  I felt like it relieved some of the tightness/pressure I feel in my right buttock.  I should remember to cooldown after my runs with a five minute jog backward on a regular basis, feels great [mental note!].

For good measure I jogged down tot he main intersection at 172nd and 67th, another 1.41 miles.  When all was said and done I realized that I ran in one direction or another (pun intended) like 8.0 mile.  Although non-consecutive this was still pretty cool, but way bad by recovery standard ... Can't help it though, I am addicted to running !

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,”

GPS Nav for Trail Runs

I have acquired a Garmin ForeTrex 401 recently.  The reason, I have been wanting to have a map device independent of my Iphone.  The ForeTrex 401 is really a GPS navigator similar to the GPS watches, with a navigation screen.

Garmin ForeTrex 401

It is geared toward general outdoors, including JumpMaster for skydivers ... But we are not going to there.  I liked the fact it had a screen, to me it made it easy to carry a map on the palm of my hand on my runs.  The Garmin comes with an optional heart rate monitor.  I tried to use it with my BoxFlex chest sensor unfortunately the Garmin did not read its signal.

Anyway, the reason I got it is for the map feature.  So I spent some time this evening figuring the GPS.  I picked the Tolt Pipeline trail to run on tomorrow.  I used Google Earth to map the route over the trail.  Google Earth creates a .KML file readable in Google Maps or "tracks".

I saved the Google Map files as .KMZ to import it in Garmin's BaseCamp.

Tolt Pipeline Trail Map

Garmin's BaseCamp allow the user to add waypoints to the route.  When ready I uploaded the final route with the waypoint to the ForeRunner via USB.  The tracks and the waypoints are there.

Tomorrow I will get dropped off at one end of the trail and run it back.  In addition to this being my first ten miler since the Birch Bay marathon, I will test-run the ForeTrex too.

Running, P90x, Ultra ... all coming up in 2012 :)

I started planning my next few months as far as target, waypoints and how I do I get there ... Target?  50k around July 31st.  Waypoints? Heroes half marathon 4/29/12, Three sisters marathon 6/9/12,  Seattle Rock and Roll 6/19/2012 ... How do I get there?  well my heavy training will start in February.  Half and full marathon become my long runs ... seeking feet on ground rather than PR for these races ...

After my Las Vegas RnR recovery week I want to start a cross-training program that will improve my strength and stamina.  I have long been interested by the P90x program. Based on "muscle confusion" it's seem geared toward people already in shape wanting to improve their look, at least that's how I see it marketed.  Looking into the program and its components I thought that i could replace some of the cardio components with running to merge the two.  I am not seeking to loose weight.  I want to stay around 165 - 170 like I am now.  Loosing body fat would be a nice by-product but not a goal unto itself.  So my though is that the food and cardio components are the least important for my goal.

I did an internet search for running training with P90x and found this blog article.  The article present an a P90x schedule altered for running.  Designed to get the most out of the P90x for your running.  I have not compared it to the "normal" P90x but it looks like it does not replace the cardio portion with running rather it compliments the P90x program with an altered maintenance running schedule.

I am pretty decided with trying P90x up.  One downside .. The Last Chance Marathon Dec31 in Bellingham, WA.  The P90x runner schedule does not include any running the first three weeks of the program whereas to run the Last Chance Marathon would require me to maintain my level of readiness this December, thus starting P90x mid-January.  I need next to transpose my 50k training schedule with the race dates I wanna do.  Because it is still early I haven't yet selected a 50k race.  Not worried there cause there are plenty of ultra races in the summer.

Happy running everyone :)