Hot times at the Nightmare

  I certainly would have preferred cool weather like we have had for nearly all of the Spring of 2013, but it wasn't to be with a forecast for the warmest day of the year. So, there was nothing to do but work with what you have and try and make the best of the situation. When I saw the forecast was for 86F mid afternoon, I knew I would have to change my goal by at least an hour if I was still going to have a shot at a pr.


  I arrived at the trailhead about 1:45 and saw Lee Watson and Mike Walsh were waiting for me and  I was pleasantly surprised to see THE Marathon Princess, Karla Werner pull in right behind me.We made last minute preparations and right at 2pm we started off at a nice and relaxed pace. At this time of day the sun was bearing down and most of the greenway was exposed. I was being careful to keep my pace slower than normal and hope to stay fresh by the time the sun went down and things begin to cool off. Karla was already feeling the heat by mile 5 and told us to go ahead but I said it was time to do some walking and so she was able to hang with us I had some water stashed at mile 6.5 and we stopped long enough to refill before heading on.  I had hoped to do the first lap in 1:35 but having to slow down to keep the core temp down made it take 1:39:30 which was fine for my new more conservative goal.

  Karla called it a day and after just a short break I headed out. Lee caught up with me after about 1/2 mile. Kept waiting for Mike to catch up but he was struggling with the heat. He finally caught us around 11.5 but by 13 he backed off and Lee and I continued own having a good time getting to know each other better and sharing old hippie stories and running stuff. Lee started struggling around mile 17 right in the middle of me telling him all about how Karla and I began training together and how she became the Princess. He told me to go ahead so he wouldn't hold me back but I finished the story and then left him behind at mile 18.  As I made the last turn going back up to the parking lot I was greeted by cheers from, Kara Labella and Brad Broyles and Laura Frey and her sweet daughters.. That lap took  1:49:58 including the aid station stop between laps which was what I was hoping to hold for at least the next 2 or 3 laps. The last 5 miles had more shade but it was still in the mid 80's. Laura and the girls brought a cooler with cold cloths for me to wipe down and cool off with and they felt oh so refreshing. Thanks !

    Lee and Mike called it a day but Kara and Brad headed out with me for lap 3. We had had a great time and were maintaining the pace fairly well and were enjoying even more shade now. Pretty uneventful lap other than the nice companionship. With about 2.5 to go we saw John Adamoff running toward us. I paced John a lap at Umstead this year and he wanted to come out and support me and get in a long training run for Western States coming up next month.  That lap including the transition took 1:57:15. I had taken a longer break and a potty stop but it was still slower than I wanted. I was still feeling pretty good but I knew I needed to keep up with the calories and hydration so I once again took a longer than hoped for break before heading back out.

  Brad and Kara left  and John and I headed out for lap 4 as the sun began to set. It had cooled off a little but we could feel the humidity rising. As I had done on each lap, I took advantage of gravity and ran the whole 1.2 miles down to the river and then another .5 to the bridge before beginning to start the walk breaks. I was still moving at a decent pace but the stride was getting shorter as expected. The bugs were coming out now and bouncing off of us and in our faces and the frogs were  serenading us along the river. It was now getting dark but it had become overcast and light reflecting down made it possible to run without our lights which I prefer to do whenever possible.

  But without the lights I missed the turnaround point. I noticed some things that didn't seem just right and sure enough we soon came to the county line which is exactly 1/4 mile past the turn point. Not really a problem. We would just turn at the sign 1/4 mile before the turn the next lap to even it back out. We were about a mile and a half from the finish of the lap when we saw a headlamp coming towards us. We figured it must be Sean Flannery who was planning on running through the night with me. Other than a cyclist with the brightest headlight I'd ever seen we had the trail to ourselves that whole lap. I was still running fairly well running most of the uphill back to the lot again.

  That lap with the extra half mile took 2:25:44. Even with the extra distance I was beginning to worry about the pace. I didn't want to be that slow until the lst couple of laps but now my cushion for the pr was already disappearing.  I knew as I headed out that if the pr was going to happen I couldn't slow down anymore. I started out and John and Sean quickly caught up to me. It didn't take me long to realize things weren't going too well and it didn't take long for the guys to notice too. My legs were feeling fine and for brief moments I could run a decent pace but was soon back to a shuffle. I couldn't pinpoint anything in particular that was wrong. I was just tired.

  I took some S caps and ate another gel and felt better for just a short time but the pattern continued of short burst of decent running followed by shuffling and more frequent walk breaks. We made the short turn and I was actually feeling a little better the last few miles as we headed back but although I was beginning to feel better the pace was still way to slow. I tried to push as much as I could up the hill to the lot but when I checked my time I knew it was over. Even with the short 9.5 mile lap it took 2:2846.   Even if I could hold that pace for the next 5 laps, I was going to be over the pr and the reality was I would be slowing more each lap. I really hated to do it but the only sensible thing to do was to call it off. I felt bad that I couldn't keep going and run the next couple of laps with John and Sean and I was expecting a few more folks to join me for the finish in the morning.

  With long and frequent breaks, yeah, I probably could have finished 100 miles but it would have not been pretty and it would have been meaningless. Been there and don't have anything to prove to anyone or myself  there. This was all about the pr or bust. I gave it my best shot which is all I could do. Much wiser to shut it down and save myself for the next big thing which will be the Bighorn 100 next month.

  My time for the 50 was 10:21. In contrast at C&O two weeks ago I went through what should have been 50 in about 9:15. In contrast to feeling weak, tired and slowing way down here I was still holding pace at C&O. Just shows you how much difference the weather can make. I have never performed well in heat and the difference was about 40F cooler at the start two weeks ago with the high only reaching the low 60's.

 A big THANK YOU to all that came out and also to so many at home that were keeping up with my progress and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers I feel truly Blessed that you care !

Nightmare On The Neuse 100

    The C&O 100 doesn't deserve a report and I really don't want to talk about it other than to say I was really frustrated to be in great shape on a day of perfect weather and have things turn out the way they did. 

so a couple of days later I began to look for another 100 miler that I could go to to take advantage of my training and have a legitimate shot at the pr. Really nothing out there and the only things later this year would conflict with my other plans. I didn't want to have to wait another year to give it a shot in the early Spring again so I decided to create my own event, below is what I posted on Facebook. 

Join Ultraman Joey as he attempts to run a 100 mile pr.

Course Details : 10 x 10mile out and backs on the Sam's Branch and Neuse River Greenways. 100% smooth asphalt surface. The course starts with a slight gradual downgrade to the river to the 1.2 mile point. From there it is flat with just two small hills. One is the ramp up the bridge over the river near the 2/8 mile points and another small hill at about the 2.5/7.5 mile points

Aid: None unless you bring your own. Don't expect anything from me since I'm running and no plans to stop. I plan to use my car for my aid at the end of each lap.

Crews: Are welcome. Besides the S/F there is easy access at about the 2.2/7.8 mile mile from Covered Bridge Road and several more from the Riverwood Subdivision. Google it. I'm not doing all the work for you.

FAQ's

Why?

Because I couldn't find a real race anytime soon to go for the attempt while I am in shape to do it and didn't want to wait another year or screw up the rest of my plans later this year.

Why a 2pm Friday start?

Because that' when I want to. And it will give me all weekend to rest. And it will avoid more runnnig in the warmest part of the day although it will probably rain all day anyway. 

Will I need a light?

A. How well do you see in the dark?
B. Are you afraid of stepping on snakes?

Are there snakes?

Yes, I see one nearly every time I run here in warm weather including today. Most in one day so far was 4 on a long run.

What kind?

Copperheads, Brown Water Snakes, Black Snakes, King Snakes and Worm Snakes and Garter Snakes have all been seen.

Will there be awards?

Yes, Unique Handmade awards to all finishers.

Are there intermediate distances?

Not really. I'm going for a pr and anything less will be a dnf. However it is a FA so you can go as far as you want and count it anyway you like. If you want to stop at 100k all you have to do is 6 laps and then run down to the river and back one more time. Awards only go to 100 mile finishers.

Are pacers allowed ?

Of course not, but you can have anyone run with you for as far as you like at anytime from the beginning to end. I hope to have some Angels along for at least part of the run.

Is there a cutoff time?

 No, you can run all weekend if you want to. Just don't expect me to hang around too long after I get my pr.

Is there a waiver?

No it's a FA ! And besides if you wanted to sue me all you would get is disappointed. Put my net worth in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up the fastest.

 The location for Sam's Branch greenway can be found here.

Whats with all the cross training ?

 If you just read my blog, then you probably don;t know what I'm talking about but if you follow me on Daily Mile or Facebook then you have been seeing an awful lot of other workouts besides running lately.
Lets take a short look into the wayback machine for a little history.

 As a child I was always around sports but being scrawny and  not very talented I wasn't good at much of anything but enjoyed the exercise. At some point we had some boxing gloves and a speed bag so me and my brother mostly but some other friends would beat each other up on a regular basis. Sometime when I was around 9 or 10 dad bought us a 110lb  Ted Williams weight set from Sears ( which I still own) and we had a good exercise book from the NFL coaches and trainers. Of course it was used sporadically and then interest was lost just like when we read Ken Cooper's Aerobics book in 1968 that had us experimenting with running for a short while.

 Fast forward to when I was just past High school and working for the drugstore downtown. My boss and friend and mentor was into body building and got me started with it as well as doing some yoga. I was really enjoying that stuff and worked out hard for over a year with the weights working up to 6 workouts a week plus extra pull ups and dips at work. I went from a scrawny 128 lbs to about 142 of muscle before I began running and you know how that story goes.

 Not much cross training went on after that until my knee injury in 1998. I joined the Y to help with the rehab and started biking and swimming eventually getting into tri's in 1999 until 2005. By then I was full bore into ultra's and quit swimming and biking for another 3 years when I got talked into doing a sprint try and then in a moment of insanity entered an Ironman exactly a year later. So I was back to the Y  and swimming more than ever and added core work and weights  about 3 days a week for about a year. I was in pretty good shape at that point but soon after the Ironman in 2009 I quit the Y again and haven't been on my bike or in the pool since and not long after my core program was neglected once again.

  So, I noticed last Fall that I was feeling pretty weak other than my running and my weight had been in the upper 140's for a long time. I felt soft and I noticed I was slouching a lot and some  pictures of me running showed me hunched over when I was tired. I decided it was time to do something about it. I begin working on doing my core routine for 15-20 minutes and had done that for  awhile when I decided to  begin doing the 100 pushups challenge. Just before I began with that though, Amy  put out a  30 day plank challenge. I decided to wait to begin the pushup until after that was over. We actually did the planks for about 37 days and then I moved onto the pushup beginning in  December.

  The pushups were working well and then I bought a power tower in Feb and added pullups and dips to the program as well as leg raises to the core. About the same time I began the 200 situps challenge to add to the core. So by now I was getting in a lot of extra work and starting to see results in the way I feel and look. I also started losing the extra weight as I cut back on snacks along with all the extra work and other quality running. so just about everyday I was doing core one day and body weight strength the next in additon to the running.

 I was also influenced by Amy to begin doing yoga again to try and get back some long lost flexiblitly. She had been taking yoga classes for awhile at Arrichion hot yoga so I pulled out my old yoga book and begin working on  some beginner stuff. Not long after that I came across a 21 day beginner challenge from Yoga journal online with videos so I have been doing that and now I am near the end of the 21 day intermediate challenge. Really enjoying doing these routines nearly everyday which has me up to 3 or 4 workouts a day now. I can really feel the results and I think people can see the results too. I am enjoying doing all the extra work and look forward to getting up every morning and getting started. Here I am at 57 and in nearly the best shape of my life !

 Speaking of Arrichion, I would like to give them a plug. I took advantage of a 20 day intro special so I could see what it was all about that Amy was enjoying so much. In addition to the hot yoga they do a circuit training class several times a week that I wanted to check out.   I really enjoyed the circuit class. A great high intensity workout that works cardio with weights, core, plyometrics, body weight strength, kettle bells, medicine balls and other stuff that gives you a great full body workout.. I am not going now because I am tapering for a 100 and then I'll need to recover before doing anything else with that much intensity but I hope to make it to some classes every now and then when I can fit it into my schedule. And the hot yoga? not so much. Seems people either love it or hate it. hate is a strong word but lets just say I am not a fan. I hate being hot, don't like sauna's so I'll stick to doing my yoga at home with the fan blowing on me ! they do have some really good instructors so if if you think you might like hot yoga , give them a try.

Cary Road Race 5k 2013

  Other than the pine pollen invasion we had a near perfect morning for the race with cool temps and low humidity. Nice to know that was one thing not to worry about. The way my running has been going lately I was feeling pretty confident of having a good race but a nasty hill in the first mile had me a bit worried about achieving my goal of a sub 22. I did my usual warmup routine and then lined up with Amy and the rest of the Surrette family. We were not planning to run together since we each were aiming for a test of how fast we could run and hopefully both make it to the podium. She certainly didn't need me to pace her for a 5k ! I was hoping we would be very close for most of the race though.

  Amy and her son Drew got off to a fast start but I stayed focused on my own run and by 1/4 mile I had pulled even with Amy, feeling smooth and hoping we could stick together. We hit the hill at about the 3/10 mark and I settled in for the climb. It starts off fairly steep for a couple of hundred yards but then eases off the incline a bit. I was surprised at how well I was running up and quickly pulled ahead of Amy. There was a man right with me but I didn't recognize him. I hit the 1 mile mark in6:54 which shocked me. I was expecting to run around 7:30 with that climb. The turn around came shortly after the mark and I began to push the pace.

  I could see Amy was not too far behind running strong. As I reached the steep part of the downhill I was letting it all out and hit the turn onto the lake at about 1.7 miles. I was working hard and came up on mile two in 13:16, a 6:21 mile ! I haven't run a mile that fast  in 30 years ! I was now having visions of actually running faster than my Selma 5k time from 2006 which is my fastest since 1991. I continued to work hard and as usual it probably sounded like I was dying to anyone that could hear me. I felt like I was holding pace but I hit mile 3 in 7:24 which makes me question if they had the timer at the right spot for mile 2. It was a certified course but to adjust for the 2 lap 10 k the turn around was a little different so the 2 mile marks were different too.

 Kicked it hard to the finish and was ecstatic with my time of 21:24 ! I waited for Amy and she came in about 45 seconds later in 22:12 ! Woohooo !

  We waited for the rest of her family and then got ready for the awards ceremony. I was able to win 1st Grandmaster and a $40 gift card. And that guy that was with me at mile 1 ? He turned out to be Tim Beck, a strong runner in my age group that I don't recall ever beating until today was 2nd.

As promised Amy not only made the podium but instead of an age group placing  She was 3rd woman overall !!!!!! Her son drew was 3rd in the 13 and under and her husband Andy was 2nd in the 40-44 group. great day for all of us !

 All the hard training, running as well as all the strength, core and yoga are really paying off. The result today almost makes me want to concentrate more on some speed. Almost. But next I got a 100 mile pr to shoot for followed by a marathon pr attempt but don;t be surprised to see a few more road races  in the training mix.

5k? Yeah, every now and then.

 This Saturday I'll be heading over to the Cary Road Race for a 5k. As you probably know if you follow my running at all, I don't do many 5k's these days. In fact it was 2 years ago in March that I last raced in one. It's not necessarily that I don't like them. As a matter of fact I take a perverse pleasure in the pain of racing fast. It's just that they don't often fit into my schedule and I really prefer doing the longer stuff that I have focused on for the past 11 years now. My pr is from 1983 and I'm not even running in the same time zone as that now. The photo above is me on the way to setting that pr at the Zebulon Freedom run 5k on the 4th of July

  Back around the first of the year as Amy and I were deep into the marathon training I took notice of how fast she was becoming doing the intervals and repeats as well as her overall strength. I knew that another one of her goals is to make a podium in a 5k. A near miss last October had gotten under her skin so I suggested that within 3 or 4 weeks after the marathon she should take advantage of her fitness and race a 5k. I told her she would probably be ready to race her fastest time since her HS XC days and would almost guarantee a podium finish. And I would also get a good test of how my speed is holding up. Getting harder and harder to do these days ! And if things go well every now and then I can give the road racing guys a run for their money and get an age group award also.

 I had planned on about 3 workouts to focus on after allowing some recovery time but it didn;t quite happen. Amy went on a mini vacation and is taking a "warrior" challenge at Arrichion which means at least 3 circuit training sessions each week. With that intensity and  hard work she really didn't need to do the hard running I had planned but she will do fine.  s I was able to get in two of the panned workouts and was hitting interval times faster than I have in many many years so stay tuned and see what happens. I hear training and racing a 5k is great 100 miler training !

The Grande Experiment Two. Continues !

  The GE 2 began last summer with the plan to qualify for Boston at Tobacco Road Marathon along with Amy while still training for a 50 mile pr in January. I got the pr but the BQ attempt didn't go as planned for either of us. That however doesn't mean that it's over. No, not by a long shot. With the past 3 years having my best mileage ever and my training with Amy going so well the past several months I am more excited than ever to push on with pr attempts at both the marathon and 100 miles in the next few months !

 A lot of the future plans are still up in the air at this point but Amy and I are both committed to attaining our goals. A few things are certain though. I am going for the 100 mile pr in 4 weeks at the C&O Canal 100 in Maryland and in June I will be running the Bighorn 100 in Wyoming to get a Western States qualifier. And I plan to go for at least a BQ if not a marathon pr at the Wineglass Marathon in Corning NY on Oct.6th. What I attempt will be determined on how the training goes.

 As I have said before, I seem to run my best ultras off of solid, fast marathon training and thats what I will continue to do. The only thing I will do differently for the 100's will be to add a weekly run/walk for the next few weeks and then after C&O I will be adding more single track leading up to Bighorn. I learned that lesson by not running trails enough before Oil creek last October. Otherwise, in the meantime it will be more of the type of stuff that got us ready for the MB half where Amy shattered her pr. Hills, intervals, tempo and pace work.

 Of course the last two week running wise have been mostly recovery. I took it real easy the first week after the marathon and gradually built up the miles and ended up with 50 for the second week capped off by a strong 20 miler in Umstead. And that was in a crazy cross-training week too but I'll give more detail about that in another post.

 Stay tuned !

Tobacco Road Marathon 2013

 Writing about disappointments is harder and not nearly as much fun as writing about the big successes and I have certainly had a ton of blowups and dnf's over the years. And while it's hard to call a 3:52 marathon, my fastest in 3 years a disappointment,  I didn't accomplish what I came for and what I felt I was conditioned to do. But for me the biggest disappointment was not my failure but that I was not able to miraculously pull Amy along to her Boston qualifier. Yes, after all we had been through to prepare for this I was looking forward to going to Boston and sharing the experience with her but it was always about getting her there and helping her achieve a dream.

  Although neither of us were successful in achieving our goal we hopefully have learned something in the process and are determined that we will get there. It was long shot from the beginning for her to improve on her marathon time so much in such little time but as I shared in the previous posts of our training, I couldn't be more proud of how hard she has worked and how far she has come. I know going forward that we are both going to continue to train hard and stay focused as we are "Running down A Dream ". She will get to Boston, set a lot of pr's in the process. and I will do all I can to defy the odds and the years and get one more marathon pr before I am done. We don't really know right now exactly when it will happen but the work is just started as well as the fun that we will share in the process.

  In the meantime, we are both going to run a 5k in 3 weeks to take advantage of our condition and get Amy her first age group podium finish and for me hopefully my best 5k in several years and maybe a podium for me too. Oh, and right now I am back in ultra mode for awhile with a 100 mile pr attempt coming up in 5 weeks. But have no fear, the training is going to continue like we have been doing. I have proven to myself that for me I run my best ultra's when I am training for a fast marathon. I know there is no way I would have shattered my 50 mile pr in January if I had not been doing this type of training with Amy.
  The only thing that will be done differently is that I will  add a run/walk workout about once a week just to get back to practicing being able to walk fast and strong. Otherwise the tempos, intervals, marathon and half marathon pace runs, the strength training , core and yoga will go on.

 Oh, you were expecting a race report ? Ok, here is the Cliff Notes version.

 With much excitement but knowing we had a tough task before us, Amy and I lined up together a few minutes before the start with the intentions of sharing all 26.2 miles. We had a plan,the training was done and now we just had to make it happen. Things started off perfectly as we stayed calm and relaxed and hit the 1st mile a little slower than what we needed to allow a good warmup. By mile two were were right on track. The pacing for the next couple of miles was perfect also but in mile 5, Amy dropped back a couple of seconds. No problem since we were running about 5 seconds over goal pace so I dropped back to her. But she once again dropped back again and when I checked the 6 mile split, we had slowed to 15 seconds slower than what I needed. I looked back to her and knew I had to go so I turned my attention forward and picked up the pace.

  I was sad to leave her so early but all I could do was try to stay focused on my race. I was now hoping  and praying she could settle into a pace that would still get her a 3:45 and a BQ for her. My pacing continued  perfectly for the next several miles and shortly after making a u turn around the 9 mile point I began looking for her. I saw she was maybe a 1:30 minutes back but I knew she had been planning a pit stop and she was running well so I was hoping she would stayed locked into that pace. I was still crankimg out the miles like clockwork and feeling pretty good.

 I saw Amy's family around mile 11 -12 and told them to let her know her new goal pace was 8:33's as I continued on. I went through the half in 1:49:05, right where I had planned it with almost a minute cushion and still pacing dead on. Even through mile 17 I was doing ok and feeling confident but then mile 18 was a little slow. I wasn't too worried because it was a slight upgrade but by 19, I was slowing more and not feeling good, I saw Gene Meade working the turnaround and told him I was losing it.

 And at mile 20 I lost a full minute and knew it was over. The worst thing though was when  I saw how far back Amy was and she did not look happy and she didn't even see me as I passed by.  I knew the Boston dream was over but I was still hoping to salvage something from the race and try to hold on for my 2nd fastest marathon and I was able to pick it up slightly the next mile but by mile 22 I was alternating between a jog and a shuffle and each new time goal slowly ticked away. Now I just wanted to get it over with. With about a mile to go a friend, Tony rode up to me on his bike and he told me that Amy and Margo were going to be close to sub 4. I knew that was a disappointment for her but it would be a pr at least and something positive to take from it.

 I crossed the finish and then waited in the finish area for Amy. I had to stay out of the way so I lingered by the medical tent so they wouldn't run me off . I was determined to be there for her when she finished. Margo came in under 4 but I couldn't see Amy and I was praying for her to come on and sure enough a few seconds later she came into view and I could see she had the sub 4. As I expected she was in tears so I quickly made my way to her and we just  hugged and shed a few tears. Like I said was disappointed but my heart was breaking for her. And that's about it. Time to move on now to more adventures with fun along the way.

Training with Amy Part 4 or what's in it for me?

  2008 was a sub par year for me as I was in almost constant pain running. I had dnf'd  couple of races and finally in December after running Derby I took 6 weeks off completely from running and cycling to finally heal. 2009 was a re-building year and I mostly swam and biked while slowly building up my running to do my Ironman at Coeur D Alene in June. After that my goal was to get back into shape for a fast marathon so so that I could qualify for Boston in early 2010. I needed to get my qualifier so that I could go with Karla back to Boston and celebrate our 5th anniversary of that special day in 2006 when we ran together. I worked hard and got a 3:45:00 which just barely got me in since I needed at least 3:45:59 at that time. Later that year after more training which included the track work that we were doing when Amy joined us as I mention in a previous post, I ran the Lehigh Valley Marathon in Sept to try and get a faster time. I succeeded but just barely with a 3:44.

  I continued to train hard and focused on running a pr at Boston but for some reason I still don't understand I had a terrible day and my race was a flop from mile 6 and I never even got up to race pace. I was very disappointed with that and knowing how hard I had trained to qualify and just barely doing it, I was resigned to the fact that at my age I would never again approach my 2006 pr time. I spent the next couple of years focusing more on ultras again although not trying to do nearly as many as before. Just trying to have some quality runs. I was no longer doing much on the way of speed work and content to run easy most days. Yes, occasionally I would do a tempo run or maybe some mile repeats but never in an organized way with a goal to focus on. I figured just with good mileage and the occasional quick run I could get a 50 mile and 100 mile pr before I was too old.

  And then Amy tells me after Umstead that she wants to qualify for Boston. A quick look at the qualifying standards shows that we need the same time, a 3:39:59. I had promised her I would get her there but in doing so I was going to have to  run my second fastest marathon ever, 7 years after my pr and believe me when you are in your 50's , 7 years is a lot of difference. At first I had not planned on going and really thought I didn't have a chance of going anyway. I would just train her and plan on returning with Karla in 2016 when I could get in with a 3:55.

  As we began to get serious with the training and we were having so much fun with it I began to entertain thoughts of just maybe I could make it after all. I have always enjoyed doing speed work and running fast and sharing the tough runs with Amy made me realize just how much I had been missing by not doing it regularly. It wasn't too long into the training that I knew I had to be all in. We were a team and we were going to go to Boston ! I still find it hard to believe how well I am running right now but the past 3 years have been my highest mileage years ever so I had a great base to build on.

  In addition to the running, last Fall I had decided I wanted to start back doing some core work and a little strength training. I had just been doing a little bit for a couple of weeks when Amy put down a 30 day plank challenge. That was more motivation and we actually went about 40 days on that before moving on. I have kept up the core and as soon as the planks were over I began my 100 pushups workouts and a couple of weeks later began the 200 situps challenge and began adding pullups and dips to my routine.

  Over all the last several months Amy has been going to Arrichion Hot yoga for yoga and circuit training and now I have been inspired to add yoga to my routine also for the past month or so.

 So, although I get a lot of happiness and satisfaction in seeing Amy come so far over the past  few years we have known each other I want to say THANK YOU AMY !!

 Thank you for showing the toughness and spirit and love of running. Thanks for sharing the miles with me. Thank you for giving me a new goal and the inspiration I needed to dream big again. Thank you for pushing me harder than I would have ever pushed myself over these last 6 months and most of all, THANK YOU for your friendship !!

Training with Amy- Part 3

  Moving into December it was now time to get the faster stuff done to prepare for the race pace workouts in Jan and Feb.  This is also where I decided we had to break one of the cardinal sins of training. All the experts say to train at your current condition and not at your goal pace. Well, I knew if we trained based on the current 4:00:00 range that we would have no shot at a BQ by March so I planned on running at the paces needed for the 3:40. I found out pretty quickly that even  holding Amy back to that pace was going to be nearly impossible.

  One of the great things that has worked for us is that I am able to run all of the key workouts with her as well as the occasional easy and recovery runs so I know her very well. I am always monitoring her breathing and effort as we run along and because of our friendship I can keep up with her other activities and plan around them. Some days when I can sense she's struggling, I'll change the workout mid-run and other days when she has had some hard yoga or circuit I'll just re-schedule a hard run. But then some days she unexpectedly is feeling good and pushing the pace so I'll just hang on and go with it and then other days I just let her go.

   For example one day I had planned 800's at 3:40 which should have been about our lactate threshold pace but Amy took off  on me. I just went along and the first one was 3:28. It felt good so we just kept it up. She dropped back on the last two but I didn't back off since she had set the tone for the workout. I could tell from that one that the training was going very well and was gaining more confidence. Then on Christmas Eve we met and I was hoping to do some mile repeats at tempo pace , about 7:30's. Once again she felt good and took off on me crushing the first mile in 7:10. It felt good so I just went with the flow but this time she held strong and killed the last one in 6:52 while I struggled  3 seconds behind her.

 A week later it was time for more 800's. I had decided we would do the same pace as the last time and go for about 3:30 average. Well, she took off like there was a fire and I just let her go and didn't even try to stay with her. She ran a crazy 3:18 while I nailed the 3:30. As expected she paid for it. The next couple were right on pace but by the 4th one she was struggling to recover and by the last two she was finishing about 8-10 seconds behind me. Of course when I had added those two extra repeats, which really I didn't because I had planned them from the beginning, but for some reason Amy thought we were doing 4 instead of 6, she got to call me her favorite nickname giving me the chance to sing the song to her again while I laughed !!  You have to love her spirit and exuberance ! The good thing that came from that workout was that from that point on she did a much better job of sticking with the planned pace on most of the workouts but it didn't stop her from pushing me on some of the other days when I was expecting an easier pace. And I'm really happy for that because I enjoy being pushed myself and it showed me that the overall plan was working if she could recover and feel good on those days.

  I had my 50 mile race a week and a half later and shattered my pr by over an hour ! Proved to myself again that I run my best ultras off a strong marathon training plan . I was even amazed at how quickly I recovered and another week and a half later Amy and I started working on the hard marathon and half marathon pace workouts. I must say that these went even better than expected for both of us. We did a very good job of running the paces within a few seconds per mile and the one workout that stands out was a 3x3 mile mp run that went so well that Amy beat her half marathon pr by 10 minutes with the warm up and recoveries included. That was a huge confidence boost and another sign the training was on track.

  The next few weeks went very well and then it was time for the test at the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon. What a perfect run ! It went exactly as I hoped with perfect pacing and a stronger than hoped for finish. When we first started this we were able to get together 2 and sometimes 3 times a week to run together but over the last couple of months we have been able to meet 4 and some weeks 5 times.

Getting in all the extra miles and quality workouts has really shown what she can be capable of doing and now with the race coming up this weekend. I feel very confident that she will get that Boston qualifier. But this is only the beginning. She has so much potential to run pr's at every distance for years to come and I know one thing for sure. She will give it everything she's got !  I just hope I can continue to hang with her for at least awhile longer !

Training with Amy-Part 2

   After finishing the 100 miles at Umstead , Amy told me that she now wanted to back off of the ultra's for awhile and get back to some speedwork with the next big goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. We had a lot of discussion over how and when she wanted to accomplish this over the next few weeks of recovery runs and it was decided that the first attempt would be at the Tobacco Road Marathon in March of 2013. We both knew going into this that being ready that soon was going to be very difficult and in reality was a long shot at best. Not that she didn't have the potential to do it as I have mentioned many times before, but due to the fact that her best time was 4:06 and her qualifying time is 3:40.

  I told her to just make sure she was recovered well, have some fun over the next couple of months and try to build up her mileage as much as possible over the the summer with  trying to add at least one more day a week of running. Consistency was going to be crucial for the plan to work. We had already added a normal Tuesday afternoon run together and with the Thursday night Social series runs she just needed to try and add at least one more run to her schedule. In the meantime I was working out a schedule for our training to come later on and also we planned on doing the OBX Marathon in November to see how things were progressing and then a test at the Myrtle beach Half Marathon in Feb 2013 as a final test to see if we were on track.

   I was of course now in the Grand Experiment 2 which for those of you not up to speed meant I was going to try and get myself back into 3:40 marathon shape while still having a couple of 100 milers, a 24 hour race, a 50k and then a 50 mile pr attempt mixed in with the training.  Of course both of us encountered a huge setback after the dog attack at my 100 mile  Double Boogie attempt in June and it was late July before I was back to running my normal pace again without feeling worn down.

 So by August it was time to begin doing  some hill work and throwing in some strides every now and then to get our legs prepared for the hard work to come. By this point Amy and I have running a lot together for a  3 years and in fact for the year of 2012 she ended up with one if not her biggest mileage years ever and about 60% or more of those we ran together. We had become the best of friends and I had shared a lot of advice with her but now I was going to more a less take on the role of her coach over the next several months prescribing the phases of her runs and specific workouts to achieve the goal. I would find out very quickly that it was a very good thing that I do know her so well and understand her because I learned right from the beginning that I was going to have to be very flexible and adaptable with the training as you will see.

   And I had to be flexible and adapt from day 1 ! Yep, right when I was hoping she would be piling on some miles, she decided to do a 3 week "cleansing diet" and was not suppose to do any running or working out during that period. OK.  Soooo, instead of going from a strong base, we'll just pretend she has a good base and is going into the next phase well rested and ready to work hard. Fortunately she did do some running as well as some of her cross-training after all so she wasn't completely stale.

  I had my 24 hour run which turned out for me to just be 13 hours and 60 miles on Labor Day weekend and just a week and a half later we met for our first "official" workout for our goal.  We met for the first of several gut busting hill repeat workouts that we would be doing over the next couple of months. These were not your normal hill repeats but max effort runs for 1/4 mile up a fairly steep hill so that "when " we made it to the top we were gasping and about to throw up. Fun Stuff !  This is just of of the many things I love about running with Amy. She thrives on this kind of stuff. That's one of the great things about coaching her is I don't have to  worry if she is going to give 100% effort to a workout. We would  usually end up nearly dying on some of these but would still be joking around and loving it.

  But right in the middle of this I had to make another one of those adjustments. Hinson Lake was coming up and although I felt we needed to stay focused on the marathon training , she wanted to run her age in miles since her birthday fell in the middle of the run. So I went to Hinson and ran with her at midnight as she crossed over and got her birthday miles in. Then after just a week to recover she had a 5k race so when we finally got together a few days later she was sore but I was in taper mode for my upcoming 100 at Oil Creek so we just ran a few times together  the next couple of weeks taking it easy and planning the next phase.

 I was able to recover very quickly from the 84.5 mile beating I took at Oil Creek and we were both ready to resume the hard training a week and a half later with another torturous hill session. I did pretty good  considering I was still in recovery and actually ran faster than the last time we did them but Amy was well rested and I noted in my journal, "she was on fire" and smoked me on all of them.

 Just a couple of weeks later we were at OBX and basically running it with no taper other than a couple of easy days before the race. I had a disappointing race but not really unexpected with the hard race a month before and hard training in between. Amy was a little disappointed not to go under 4 hours but she too had been working hard and she still had a lot of  positives from the race including a pr by a couple of minutes and she was able to push it hard the last 10k after not feeling too well in the middle miles.

 The next couple of weeks were for recovery and we met for a few easy runs and then I did the Derby 50k for a long training run as part of my planning for the 50 mile pr attempt coming up in January while Amy ran an 8k Turkey Trot for Thanksgiving.  No recovery allowed for me. Just three days later we ran a 5 miler and then the next day we were right back at normal pace.

 Let me step back here for a second and explain a little about the training plan. Normally after a base period, there is a strength phase, a stamina phase and then speed work followed by the taper. I chose to try something different that a lot of the Kenyans coaches use which puts the speed work before the stamina, which in theory makes it easier to maintain   race pace in the final phase because for the marathon holding the pace for a long time is the most important thing.

  The next couple of workouts are pretty typical of how our training sessions go. We had done a long run in Umstead and Amy just wasn't feeling it so we walked some of the hills. Well, on Monday , the first week of December, I really wanted to start us off on the speed training but planned to ease into it with a fartlek type session just to get the legs used to moving faster and go through a range of paces. We were early into the workout and I was trying to get us to do a mile at marathon goal pace but I could tell Amy was working too hard to hold the pace so I shut it down at the half figuirng she needed a little more warm up. Then we did a qtr at tempo pace and then a mile at marathon pace. She was tired but as we came to a little hill in our cool down I made her do a hill sprint. She gave me a look that could kill and I just laughed and giggled as we finished our coo ldown. She has a word for me when i do those things which I won't repeat here but I have a song that I sing to her  that fits the name. So the next day we are running into Umstead from the Art Museum and thnking it's going to be an easy day. Well, no. Amy is feeling good and she gets her revenge on the run back up by putting the hammer down the last uphill mile which ends up being at tempo pace. I couldn't hang with her the last qtr and ended up about 5 seconds back and gasping thinking if I had to run another ten yards my heart would burst. Yep fun stuff !

 Stay tuned for part 3 and the final phase

amosmotor "runnin' happy": Myrtle Beach Half Marathon - February 16, 2013

 This is Amy's Version of our race at the Myrtle beach Half Marathon. Just click on the link to read it on her blog.


amosmotor "runnin' happy": Myrtle Beach Half Marathon - February 16, 2013: I registered for this race several months ago as part of the marathon training plan for Boston Qualifying attempt.    The timing of...

Training with Amy- Part 1 the Beginnings

 I first had the pleasure of meeting Amy at the August Umstead series which I was in charge of back in 2009. A group of us met for dinner as usual after the run and the conversation of course was mostly about running and what events we had recently finished and had scheduled for later. She had run a couple of trail half marathons in respectable times considering the courses.   Now she  was in  training to run her first marathon later that Fall. I think she was a bit surprised to find that half the folks she was sitting with were very experienced at marathons and ultra's.

  We got to know each other a little bit over the next few weeks and then one day she asked if it would be ok to join Karla and I on one of our long runs. I'm not one to usually say no to a pretty lady so I said she was welcome to meet with us. So, on Saturday Oct 17, we met for a long run at Umstead. Amy had never gone more than 15 miles and her marathon was just 3 weeks away so this was going to be a challenge for her. We began at an easy pace and were having a great time but after about 13 miles in she began to struggle a bit and we would have to slow and wait for her. This happened a few times so as Karla and I headed up Powerline for the last time, Amy fell behind again. Just before we got to the end however there she was working hard to catch back up. 20.7 miles on a very difficult course which we ran faster for the 2nd half and she was giving it all she had. I knew then that there was something  special about her and definitely Angel material.

 I decided soon after that I would go to the marathon and run the last part of the race with her at City of Oaks. Race day turned out to be a miserably rainy cold and windy mess as I watched the race from a couple of different spots. I estimated when she might be coming out of Umstead and began running backwards on the course and finally met her just as she exited the park at mile 19. The rain had stopped and was now just an off and on sprinkle as I began to run with her. She was tired but in good spirits and moving along at a decent pace.

  Over the next several miles I tried to keep her entertained just like when I run with Karla, even singing to her to keep the mood light and take her mind off the work still ahead. I could tell she was  hurting but she was determined to keep running and as we neared the last miles I saw once again first hand the toughness and determination that makes her so special. And after she crossed the finish line and met her family I got to see the true nature of her sweet spirit as she held her then 3 year old Ashlynn in her arms and crying. I just walked away to give them their special moments as a family, knowing that yes, she was truly someone special.




  After the race she joined several of us for another long run but then other things were going on and she wasn't focused on another race for awhile so we didn't run anymore but would just see each other at other NCRC events. Then in August  of 2010 as Karla and I were beginning to run on the track in preparation for the Boston marathon among other things, Amy asked if she could join us on the track.

 I don't think she had been doing a lot of running over the summer and at first it was hard for her to keep up with us. She would fall behind but still give 100%. After several repeats she might need to sit one out but then she would be right there trying again. Over the next few weeks she would continue to go and push herself to the limit showing me time  and again the grit and determination that I had grown to love and admire in her. In no time she was not only keeping up with us on the workouts but hanging right with us and pushing the pace. I noted after our Sept 20th workout that Amy had improved a lot. By now she was joining in on most of our weekend long runs and this would continue on up to this day.

   That November Amy would move to the Darkside and run her 1st 50k at Derby. I would have loved to have run it with her but I was trying to go for a pr.  By now we were running together on a pretty regular basis and our friendship had grown as well. A few months later she asked me if  I  thought  doing "The Boogie" as her first 50 miler was a good idea. Without hesitation I told her yes. At this point let me explain, that Amy had run very well and done some very good  races on very limited mileage. Due to her family obligations, job and  volunteer work at church, she was lucky to get in 3 runs a week so I knew she had great potential.  Lots of folks thought it was a bad idea for her to try and run Boogie but after all the running I had done with her and getting to know her as well as I do, I never had any doubts that she would not only finish it but do well. And I was proven right as I ran a course pr and she was only a couple of minutes behind me and running strong.

  I was a little surprised when she told me soon after that she wanted to run the Umstead 100 the following April. We had talked about her running it someday but I had suggested she wait until 2013 and give herself more time to build up her mileage but once she made up her mind I knew she was going to do it so I just told her I'd help get her ready the best I could.  I must say I was a bit disappointed too because I had hoped she would run a lap with me since I was running it and planned on letting all my Angels share a lap if they could.

  Over the Fall and Winter we continued to run a lot together with Karla and Lisa and Jenn. Amy went to a 24 hour race in Virginia and despite sub freezing temperatures put in a very respectable distance of 83 miles  which would go a long ways in showing her what she had to expect at Umstead.

  As Umstead rolled around on March 31st 2012, I once again had no doubt that she was going to finish. I knew she was probably going to suffer more than I would want to see due to her low overall mileage but I was going to support her in anyway I could. We started off together for a couple of miles but then I had to say goodbye since I was going for a pr and she just wanted to finish. I think she really wanted a sub 24 but that would have been very difficult. I know she has the potential to run much faster than that but not on 20 miles a week. It did turn out to be a tough day for both of us. By the mid point she was really hurting and having major blister issues. I got  to see her a few times on the out and back portions and I would stop and just give her a hug and some encouragement. I hated to see her in such pain but I also knew there was no quit in her. After I finished I calculated about when to expect her to finish and took a nap and had several people make sure that I was up in time to see her finish.

  Seeing her come up that last little hill to the finish was a very emotional moment knowing that she had really suffered out there but nothing was going to stop her. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am extremely proud of her for what she has accomplished as well as just the person and friend that she is.    

 Stay tuned for part 2 and the road to Boston !

The Grand Experiment Two. Late February Update

 Our last update in late January had us just completing a tough 4x2 miles at half marathon race pace a  little over two weeks before our test at Myrtle Beach. Just for fun and a change of scenery we did our medium long run that weekend with Jenn at Umstead and felt very strong on the hills. As we approached the half I wasn't going to have us do a full taper but keep training for the BQ so with a little less than two weeks to go we did a step down pace workout of 4 miles at MP, 2 miles at HMP and finished with a mile at about 10k ace, or 7:25. Yeah, it hurt but I told Amy we were doing just in case we needed to do that in the last mile of the race. This was after a pretty hard run the day before on House Creek when I had to remind Amy to save a little for the next days real workout. She is so eager to do well when she feels good and I could tell she was about to put the hammer down the last mile.

 The week heading up to the race I had one more workout in the bag of tricks. we did 8 x 400 at tempo pace and then took a mini taper the remainder of the week. Obviously everything is going well because we shattered her pr again by another 6.5 minutes and exceeded our goal by 1.5 minutes at Myrtle Beach.

 This past week has been a recovery week and we didn't get a chance to run any together. I put in some decent mileage, 38 for the week with 2 days off, all at an easy pace. Glad I could get in a run with my other Angels Karla and Lisa on Thursday.

 We have a big week of training coming up and then we will taper the last two weeks but there will still be some hard workouts in there, just at a bit lower volume and intensity.

  Another thing that is going well as we get close is that  my weight has come down to within 2 miles of my pr weight of 2006. I have carried normally around 145 pounds the past 6 years or so but had crept up to about 148 last year. The only thing I have done differently ios keep my hands out of the snack box in my car and eat smaller portions of the snacks when i do. Otherwise my diet has stayed the same. Running consistent mileage and a lot more of it at a higher intensity these few months along with starting back with some core and strength work last November has really made a difference not only in the weight loss but how I feel.

 So, with 3 weeks until the big attempt I am thrilled to be in my best shape in 7 years and even more thrilled to see Amy doing so well. I can't express just how proud and amazed I am at her determination and hard work with not just the running but with yoga and circuit training which helps her handle the hard work.

 Stay tuned, it won;t be long now !

Myrtle Beach Half Marathon, Pacing Amy

  This one was all about Amy and our ultimate goal of getting her qualified for Boston. The only reason we signed up for this one was as a test to see how the training was progressing and get a good idea if we were on track. Well, she passed the test with flying colors and according to the race prediction calculators we are not only on track but ahead of pace. Short Version, we were hoping for a 1:45 and ended up with a 1:43:29 !!!!

  As I have recently reported on the training updates, things have really been going well and we seemed to be ahead of where I had expected but workouts are one thing. Performing on race day is another.

 We were very lucky to have near perfect running conditions with the starting temperature of about 43F. We had discussed our strategy several times over the past few weeks and now was the time to execute. First, I had to make sure Amy didn't go out too fast. Then we were going to try and maintain 7:55-8:00 pace up to mile 10. And at that point if she had anything in the tank, she could open it up for the last 5k. Check, check and check.

  We started off comfortably and I only had to tell her to calm down once around a half a mile in when her garmin was showing our pace was too slow. I told her trust me we were fine and sure enough we went through mile 1 in 8:24 which was about perfect for my plan. We then settled in as planned and hit mile 2 in 7:58. Perfect.

  Over the next few miles I was feeling great and setting the pace. I was slightly worried because Amy kept dropping back a few strides so I was hoping that she was feeling ok and just holding back a little. I slowed down and ran beside her and we repeated that a few times. I was just trying to stay on pace but I didn't want to push her too hard this early. Mile 3 was an 8:00 and then mile 4 was a little fast in 7:50. At that point I let her catch back up and stayed by her side.

 I think the 5th mile mark was off because we hit it in 8:18 and didn't feel like we had slowed  and then at mile 6 we hit 7:42 and I know there was no way we had fluctuated that much. I'm usually very good at holding steady pace, especially on a flat course like this.   Shortly afterwards we passed some timing mats which they said were the 10k point but that was way off and closer to 6.5.

  We went through mile 7 in 7:51 and at that point it just seemed to me like I was floating. The pace up to this point had felt fairly easy to me but now I was talking like we were on a training run and singing as we past a band playing "Crossroads" along the course. I was thinking to myself that if I was racing for myself I could easily go 1:42 or better which would be my fastest since 2006. Amy seemed to be doing fine as we continued to click off sub 8 miles and I was  already confident she was going to get the 1:45.

 We hit mile 8  in 7:56 and mile 9 in a quick 7:48 which for the first time had us under 8mp overall and making up those 24 seconds we were behind at the first mile. Now I was eager to get to that 10 mile mark and let her know we were under pace and the time was in the bag. Sure enough we hit mile 10 in 7:55, and overall 1:19:48, 12 seconds ahead ! Woohooo. Perfect pacing !

  Now it was go time. Amy was definitely working but seemed to be doing fine so I pushed a little bit and kept checking to make sure she was right there and doing ok. We were joking about anybody could run a little 5k so I knew she was good. Mile 11 was a 7:44 and then Mile 12 was a 7:41 !  I told Amy we had a 1:44 in the bag.  One mile to go and I'm feeling fantastic ! I pushed it up another notch and Amy was right there and then finally we made the turn into the ballpark with about .2 to go.

  Just before mile 13 I told Amy, "this is why we did that 7:25 mile at the end of our last  pacing workout" and then we went through it in 7:33  ! The mark was right before the final turn and as soon as we went around it Amy put it into her passing gear and surged ahead. I was just hoping could answer her younger legs and natural speed and fortunately I was able to respond. Amy looked up and saw the clock showing we were going to go well under1:44 and was smiling and nearly laughing. We were able to cross the line to gather and celebrate her amazing PR !!!!!

 I am so happy and proud of her and the hard work that has gotten her to this point and in the process I am in my best shape in years.

Myrtle Beach Half Marathon 2013 Preview

 Looks like I am heading back to MB for the first time since 2010, which was the snow year that caused the race to be cancelled. I had entered the half that year  for the first time and was planning to use it as a test and training run in my quest to re-qualify for Boston at the Tobacco Road Marathon a month later.After the race was cancelled I hadn't really planned on returning any time soon as there are so many races that I love to do around the same time of year. Funny thing is that I almost never ran at Myrtle Beach to begin with but thanks to some special friends I ended up deciding to go run the marathon in 2005 which began a string of 5 years in a row.

  Here is an excerpt from my blog post from late 2005 about how I ended up running that first one with Karla....

"Jerry had introduced me to Karla Werner at the NCRC meetings but we were just casual aquaintences until this past Jan. Jerry told me that Karla was attempting her first marathon at Myrtle Beach in Feb 2005 and that she wanted to run 4 hours and qualify for Boston. I thought that was quite a lofty goal for her 1st. They were following an 18 week training program and Jerry was asking my thoughts on the program. I met them for one of their long runs on Jan.1st. We were joined by Margherita Scott (Margo) , another lady that Jerry had introduced me to. This was the beginning of special group in my life.
Jerry had been trying to talk me into running the Myrtle Beach Marathon, his favorite race but I had declined because it didn't fit in with my ultra schedule. When I learned that he was planning to pace Karla then I changed my mind. Jerry is a very good runner and a great friend but he runs with his heart. He really has no sense of pace and pays no attention to split times. I knew in the excitement that he would lead her out too fast and I couldn't let him ruin Karla's debut.
I told Karla I wasn't going to be able to run the whole race with her. I had already run two ultra's in Jan. and was running the Uwharrie 40 mile two weeks before MB so I wasn't expecting to run a PR. I knew I could get her off to an even pace for the first 15-18 miles and then she would be on her own, with Jerry for company.
Myrtle Beach turned out to be a great day. I was able to pace Karla evenly for 24 miles. She got her Boston Qualifier in 3:58 and I was able to continue and get a PR 4:00:40."

 This of course was the beginning of a wonderful friendship with THE Marathon Princess as I begin to call her during our training together to get me to Boston with her. If you are interested you can get that whole story from this link.

  Which brings us back to this year and why I am returning.You probably already know  if you follow my blog regularly but in case you didn't know, last April after the Umstead 100, another of my "Angels" and training partners, Amy Surrette told me she wanted to back off the ultra's for awhile and make a goal of getting faster and qualifying for Boston. I told her I would do all that I could to make sure she was able to achieve that goal. We talked about it a lot , making plans on when she would like to make the first attempt and it just worked out that Tobacco Road  this March was the first logical time to give it a try. So I begin planning our training and working with her so that it would fit into the other things she had going on for the remainder of the year and just as it did for me in 2010, it made sense to plan on a half at MB.

  So with the training going even better than expected we are prepared to go and take that test this weekend. We figure that for her to have a reasonable chance for the BQ next month that she needs to be able to run about 1:45 at MB and I am confident that she can do it. Stay tuned for the results ! 

De Grote Experiement Twee. Late January Update

Ok,our  last update was a week before I headed out to Nevada for the 50 mile pr attempt that obviously went very well. I never dreamed I would shatter my pr by over an hour. I have always thought that targeted marathon training has worked best for my ultra running and in this case as in 2006 it seems to have been proven correct.

 While I was out there Amy continued with some quality training with a tough run up a mountain in Boone followed later in the week by a tempo run as her dog dragged her around Lake Lynn (-;

  I recovered quickly taking just 3 days off before resuming running and by the end the week I was right back to normal paces with no soreness. The following week it was right back to business with the marathon training with a great goal marathon pace workout. We did 3 x 3 miles at a little faster than mgp and in the process even with the recoveries were able to shatter Amy's half marathon pr by 10 minutes. I felt great and it was  not only a great workout but a big confidence boost for both of us, especially her.

 Put in some long runs this past weekend and then a hard 6 tuesday followed by a half marathon goal pace run. We ran 4 x 2 miles at ghmp and I nailed the workout, feeling great and running very consistent splits. Amy struggled a little on the last set but then she did run a total of 26.2 miles just 3 days before. At this point I am extremely happy with our progress. I am a bit surprised but very pleased to see how far Amy has come over the past several months and I know she is going to do  great when we race at the Myrtle beach Half Marathon in two weeks. I was a little worried if I was going to be able to hit our target of 1:45 in this test effort but the way things are going now I don't think it will be a problem.

 stay tuned !

Running From An Angel (and into a new pr)

 After all the planning, and preparation I couldn't believe I was going to let myself be late to the race. It was just an easy 3 miles from the hotel to the start but I had let time get away from me and now I had 15 minutes to get to the car and get to there. It's a good thing I had everything ready. Headed out in the dark and cold (30F) and drove down to the starting area and parked the car with 5 minutes to go. A brisk walk and I was at the line with 1.5 minutes to spare. Nothing like cutting it close for no reason other than I wanted to minimize my time standing around in the cold wind.

   We headed out into the darkness and since the 1st quarter mile was uphill I just began walking and by the time I reached the main road almost everyone was in front of me. Although it was dark I didn't need my light and by the first mile I had adjusted to the darkness. That mile was 10:21 even with the uphill walking start and now we were running into about a 10mph headwind. The entire course is rolling with various grades from 1 to 8 percent, some 1/4 mile and some climbs a mile or longer.  This first section was about equal up and down and I passed mile 5 in 49:07. I was very happy with that because it felt very easy and I wasn't pushing the pace and the last half mile was a pretty stiff climb.

  After touring the course the day before and knowing that it has twice as much elevation climbing as Boogie and a little more than Umstead, I was wishing I had spent more time on the Umstead hills instead of the greenway. But so far I was feeling good with the climbing but with 45 miles to go a lot can change. About this time the sun was coming up behind the mountains behind me. I was still running in the shadows but the high peaks in the distance in front were bathed in golden light making for an awe inspiring view. What a gorgeous place to be !

  At mile 7, the first rays of the sun shown on my back and by now I was warmed up and comfortable and it seemed the wind had died down to about a 5 mph breeze and would not be an issue for awhile. I continued with the easy pace and came by mile 10 in 1:38:11, 47:04 for that 5 mile segment. This was awesome! For the first time I was running with my phone so when I came to a walking spot which came soon after mile 10 with a long steep climb out of a river valley, I texted Amy and Jenn so they could track me and post updates for my friends and family on facebook. It was really nice to be able to keep up with them that way and I loved getting their encouraging text back. As beautiful as the desert scenery was, it was very lonely out there. The race had a very small field and we were very spread out I never had anyone to talk to on the course. but for a couple of brief moments.

  I passed the half marathon in 2:10 and texted that to the Angels as I climbed the hill just past that point. Just as I started running down the other side Amy called ! I almost didn't answer but I did and said Hey I'm running ! The next mile was a gradual downhill and I wanted to make time because I knew some serious climbing was coming up. We talked briefly  while I ran and she was so supportive but I had to go and get down to business. The split at mile 15 was 2:30:45. The 5 mile split was a 52:34 ! And that included an 8:47 mile !

  By now I was having visions of a sub 9 hour actually being a possibility and not just a fantasy but I also knew I had a very long way to go and the toughest parts were coming. The next 5 miles were almost all uphill but it was a very gradual climb and quite runnable so I ran all but a few short sections when the grade would tick up a bit. Still ,when I hit mile 20 I was shocked to see that I  had run that 5 mile section in 48:53 ! 3:19:38

   I thought that was going to be the high point of the course but I was wrong ! The next two miles continued climbing but at a much steeper grade and I was forced to take more and longer walk breaks but I was still feeling very good. Finally I topped out at 22 but the next 3 to the turnaround were a series of steep rollers similar to going up and down cemetary in Umstead over and over again. I was now counting the runners coming back toward me from the turn and by the time I got there I was in 11th place overall. My time for that 5 mile split was 57:22, (4:17:16) the slowest by far and the first one that was slower than the pace need for sub 9. In and out of the aid station quickly as always and was now looking forward to some easier running for awhile.

 But first I had to get through the steep rollers. The marathon wasn't marked but with my average up to that point I was about 4:30. I made it through the rollers and was looking forward now to mostly 7 miles of downhill with only a few short upgrades the wind had picked back uo to around 10 mph and was mostly in our faces now. I was definitely beginning to feel the effort and I knew my pace was slowing down. I doubted I would make up any of the time lost over that past 8 miles but hopefully I could at least maintain. I was able to do that and in the meantime enjoy the gorgeous desert views around me. I was able to pick up the pace a little and did that 5 miles in 54:38 passing 30 miles in 5:11:17. 

    The next 5 was mostly a slight downhill but I still took a few walking breaks so I wouldn't wear myself down. I had gone through the 50k in about 5:23, slightly faster than I ran at Derby. Amazing since this course has 3 times the climbing of derby and I was feeling a lot better ! I had really hoped to run this section a little faster but at mile 35, my 5 mile split was a 53:28 (total 6:04:35) which was the fastest since mile 20 and I was still on pace overall to come close to cracking 9 hours.

  I was now heading into probably the toughest 5 miles of the day but my spirits were high I was having fun and loving life. My Angels and I had been in contact every 5 miles and at this point a pr was in the bag unless something serious happened.  Shortly after I did hit a little low energy spot and the steep long hills over the next few miles were working on me. I tried running as well as I could on the downs but my stride was shorter now and I could feel myself slowing down. Mile 40 comes just as I began a long climb back up from the river valley and I texted the Angels my time and said "tough 5 miles" My split for that 5 was a very slow 1:03:32 (7:08:08). I figured at this point my fantasy of  sub 9 was gone but I still was feeling ok and I had a huge pr in the bag.

  Just before I finally reached the top of the climb and mile 40.5, Amy called again to tell me how happy she was and proud for me. I told her I now estimated my finishing time would be about 9:10 at the pace I was moving unless the last 9 were a lot easier than I remembered. We hung up and I looked around as I topped the hill. I noticed that the lake was a pretty good ways below so It had to be predominately downhill but I also knew there were several more hills in the way. so, I thought, ok you have a pr in the bag and could almost  walk it in but you came here to go for a big one so just go for it. and that's what I did. I took off running as fast as my feet would go without going into oxygen debt. When I got to an uphill I was still able to do some decent running and when I did take a walk beak it was only for about 30 seconds and then I would run some more. Came into the 45 mile aid station with a 5 mile split of 53:56, 10 minutes faster than the last 5 and that included that nearly half mile climb from the river.(8:02:04 total) There was an 8:50 mile from 44 to 45 !


  I texted the time to the Angels and said I was going for it !  I flew down the next hill and then I had one more steep half mile hill to go. I  alternated power walking and running and got that one behind me.
Soon after I could see the finish area nearly 4 miles away. Normally this would be discouraging but today it was a beautiful sight. I knew I had the sub 9 now if I just kept moving. There were no more real hills ahead, just a couple of short upgrades so I was able to run most of the way including a couple of more at 9mp.   I hit the final downhill 1/4 mile and nearly sprinted to the finish in 8:55:03, a huge pr by an hour and 2 minutes ! that last 5 mile split was 52:58.

   I knew my training had been going very well but after my pre- race tour of the course and knowing how much harder it was than some of my other 50;s I would have been pleased just to get a pr by a few minutes so as you can imagine I am overwhelmed with how well this race went for me. My results in the past have shown that I do my best ultra's when I am training for a fast marathon but at my age I never imagined I could shatter my pr like this. I have to give a lot of credit to my Angels and especially Karla and Amy. Ever since I barely qualified for Boston  after intense training in 2010 and then my poor performance there in 2011, I had given up on ever running any faster. I had been content to run easy pace nearly all the time with rare occasional faster paced runs. But then after Umstead this April , Amy stated that she wanted to qualify for Boston. It just happens that our times needed are the same so I decided to help her get there and in turn it has given me the motivation to get back into some serious hard running again.

  I have really enjoyed the training with her, the hill repeats, the intervals and long repeats and now we move into long tempo and marathon pace stuff.  So many times over the summer and into the Fall when I would run with Karla, thinking it was going to be an easy day, she has made me work a lot harder than I would have on my own. The result has been that my average daily pace is much faster than it has been in years and it feels easy and good doing it. My intervals times with Amy are faster than they were several years ago so I am obviously in great shape. I have also been able to run consistently higher daily mileage for the past 3 years now with the past two being my biggest years ever so I guess I can expect to keep running well for awhile longer.

 For those that care about such things my nutrition plan for this race was very simple. I ran with one 20oz water bottle, I drank a small cup of Heed at each aid station and I took one gel every 5 miles. that is all the calories I took in other than one handful of caramel popcorn at mile 15 and a small cup of coke at each of the last 4 aid stations. It seemed to work because my stomach stayed happy and the energy level was pretty consistent the whole way.

  here is a link to some photos along the race course.
 and here are more from the drive around the rest of Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
and here are some from Valley of Fire State Park just outside  Lake Mead

Running From an Angel 50 miler -Preview

  Anyone that knows me can tell right away that there is something wrong with the name of this race. You'll find me running with an Angel or running towards an Angel but never running from an Angel.

  The main reason I am heading out to Lake Mead National Recreation Area is to attempt a 50 mile PR.  It seems every 50 miler I have raced over the years is either a very tough trail course or in the case of the Boogie, in hot humid conditions along with the hills. I learned the hard way after a couple of attempts there that it is not a pr course.( I missed out on the  rare cool weather this past year).  Due to this, all my previous 50 mile pr's have been in the halfway point of a hundred miler or 24 hour race. Until this year my previous best was halfway through the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler back in 2007, a 10:15. Rocky is still my 100 pr in 23:15. This past year I lowered it to 10:02 halfway through Umstead and then lowered it to 9:57 (50.22 miles) on the track during the Badgerland 24 hour.

 It was after that event that I decided to try and find a 50 mile road course where I might have a shot at a 50 mile pr under favorable weather conditions and this race seemed to fit the bill. The average temperature is a low in the upper 30's and highs around 55F. Sounded good to me and at a good time of year for me too. My 50k pr was also set in January.  Well, I should have paid a little more attention to the elevation profile. Hmmm, I was hoping it was about the same amount of climbing as the Boogie course but no luck. Boogie has about 2250 ft. RFAA has 4277. Whoops. Thats a little more than the 50 miles at Umstead.

  OK, so I set the pr this Spring at Umstead under some miserably warm and humid conditions with rain for the first 35 miles so it should be doable.  I am  also in much better condition right now compared to the Spring so I am still confident I can set a pr. Just probably not quite as fast as I was hoping.


 Oh, and the other reason for entering was so I could make another trip out West and see some beautiful desert scenery. and maybe play a little craps in Vegas (-;

 here is the race website.

 Stay tuned for the results

Die Grande Experiment Zwei. January update

 In the early December update we were just getting started on a speedwork phase and looking forward to over a month with no competition. This was the first full month where we could  fully recover from November races and focus solely on the training.  I had a great mileage month in December and even with the holidays, Amy was able to put in a very good month for her.

  We continued with the speed work with 800's and mile repeats at a pace which surprised me. I was really not expecting things to go as well as they did for either of us. All the miles have been paying off and in Amy's case she seems to really respond well to the workouts.  In addition to the speed, we were able to get in a few good strong long runs and some faster paced mid week runs.

  We began this month with the last of the speed sessions which went very well and now it's time to move into the stamina phase which will include a lot of longer efforts at 10 miler and half marathon pace as well as long intervals at marathon race pace. Or least that's what we should be doing. I hope that Amy can stick with the program while I am actually tapering for a 50 miler next weekend. It was kind of a funny conversation last week when I told her we were right on track and not to do anything stupid. Like run a 50 miler and go for a pr ! But after all, that's what the Grand Experiment 2 is all about isn't it?  

100 Pushups. The challenge begins

 A couple of years ago I came across this program  to get you to the point where you can do 100 pushups. About  a year and a half ago I started the program and I got up to 84 before I lost interest and got away from doing anything but running. I noticed a couple of months ago that I was slouching a lot and I knew that it was time to get back to doing some of my core workouts. I got started on that in November and shortly after that , Amy put out a 30 day plank challenge. I took it on and it was a big help in keeping me motivated to get back into doing more core stuff on a regular basis.  I didn't miss a day for about 40 days and I did get back to doing at least some of more core routine 3 or 4 days a week. I can already feel and see some results.

  So a few days ago I decided it was time to get back onto the strength phase and so I am going to start at the beginning with the 100 push-up program and this time I am determined I won't quit until I get to  at least 100 consecutive pushups. And hopefully after I reach that goal I can stick with the maintenance program. I know it is not going to happen in 6 weeks but I will keep repeating the last 2 weeks of the program until i achieve success. 

here is a link to the program.

Looking ahead to 2013

I don't ever make New Year's Resolutions but I do like to set goals and make plans. At this point there are still a lot of holes and maybe's in the schedule so here is what I have already entered and some of what I plan to do if possible.

 To begin with I really hope I can run as many or more miles with The Angels this year.

 In January I will be heading out to Nevada once again, this time to Vegas where I will be running the Running From an Angel 50 miler and hopefully set a 50 mile Pr. After that it's back to marathon training.

 In February I will be heading to Myrtle Beach to run the half-marathon with Amy as a test run and workout as we prepare for her hopeful Boston Marathon Qualifier at the Tobacco Road Marathon in March .

 After Tobacco Road, I quickly convert back to ultra's with a PR attempt at The C&O Canal 100 miler the last weekend of April. Since I will have been concentrating on marathon type training for most of the past several months leading up to this I am hoping that it will be like 2006. That was one of my best years ever and after training for and running Boston I set many distance and course pr's for the next year in ultra's.

 Right now I have nothing planned for may and June as I wait on a couple of things.

 In July I do plan to return to one of my favorites, the Grandfather Mountain Marathon. Hoping to run it with Amy and /or some of the other Angels.

 Nothing for August or September at this point.

 October 6th I am heading up to Corning NY to run the Wineglass Marathon. Lisa, Karla and Frank are also making the trip and hopefully another Angel or two(hint hint).  This is a fast course and should be good weather so I hope to continue with the mostly marathon type training over the summer and go for a fast time here.

 The only thing I am sure of after that is that I will be returning to the Derby 50k for my 10th finish.

 That's it for now. Stay tuned as other things will be added to the calender soon.

2012 A Look Back

The year is nearly over now with no major events planned so I guess it's time to take a look back and see how things went with the running.

  The year got off to a great start with the Weymouth Woods 100k. A cold day but very comfortable for running and I was able to finish in a time (13:53)  that gave me a qualifier for Western States. The best part of it was that I felt strong and was able to actually pick the pace back up over the last lap. Beats doing a death march finish anytime! I finished up the month with some fun at the NCFA 50K on the All American Trail at Fort Bragg. Just used it as a long training run and some time for socializing with a bunch of MTC friends.

  In February I made the trip to Pilot Mountain State park with Margo and Tony for the Pilot Mt Payback Trail Marathon. It was a gorgeous day and I ran strong and met my goal of feeling good and going sub 5 hours. Great day with several MTC friends.

 After that I just spent the rest of the month and most of March training for the Umstead 100 until March 24th when I ran  a 5k cross country race. Not the smartest thing to do a week before a 100 miler. I wasn't going to run hard but ended up going just about all out on a rainy muddy slick course. Lots of fun anyway.

 A week later I attempted a 100 mile pr at Umstead. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. After raining most of the first 35 miles, it got very warm and muggy which are the worst conditions for me. I went on to post my 50 mile pr in route but things went downhill from there and the 2nd half was pretty miserable. I don't use pacers but since this is the home course I was happy to have my friend Jerry run lap 5 with me and then Angels Lisa and Karla ran the last two so at least I had company in my misery. Still finished in a respectable time of 25:52.

  Recovery went well and by the end of April I was ready to go for a fast time at Promise Land 50k, one of my favorites. I had the unexpected pleasure of running the entire race with a college girl from VT that was running in her first ultra. Beautiful day until around mile 20 when thunderstorms came and turned the course into a mudslide and the temps dropped and we almost went hypothermic. Although no way near my pr, I felt great and ran well despite the tough conditions over the last 3rd of the race.

  After once gain recovering quickly and getting back to training, I went down to The May Madness 50k, Boogieman Doug's Wild Card run of the year. Ten 5k's , one every hour in sand and heat and humidity. Had a lot of fun there but those last couple of 5k's hurt !

  In June, I was ready to spring my surprise and  waited until  the day of the race to announce my intentions of doing a Double at the Bethel Hill Moonlight Boogie. Doug and a few of my Angels were the only ones in on the plan. Amy came to run the first 26.2 with me and things went great until the 1.5 mile mark. That's when we were attacked by the dogs. Oh well, only another 98.5 to go right? I gave it my best shot but the loss of blood and pain caught up to me and I finally had to drop at mile 62 and head to the hosptial for treatment.

 It took another week before I was able to resume running and still had a lot of pain for a couple of more weeks. I was also very worn down from the effort and ordeal and the antibiotics so when another of my favorites, the Grandfather Mountain Marathon rolled around 4 weeks later in mid July I was almost tempted to not run it knowing I was not anywhere near condition to run it well. despite miserably warm and muggy conditions, I felt better for longer than I expected but then reality set in and I suffered mightily to finish. Fortunately I didn't have any more racing planned until September so I was able to recover and train

 Sept and Labor Day weekend I flew to Milwaukee for The Badgerland 24 hour run on the track at Germantown high school. I was hoping  for a new distance pr but my dumb race strategy combined with a blustery warm day prevented that from happening. I did bring home a new 50 mile pr though as I passed 50.22 miles in 9:57.

  I once again recovered quickly and although there was no more racing until mid October, Amy and I begin the start of training for her to get a Boston qualifier next Spring which at this point was mostly trying to get her more consistent with her mileage and  Max effort hill repeats once a week.

 On October 13th I attempted the Oil Creek 100 miler in Titusville PA. Although I felt great, I was not prepared for the mostly single track, steep hills and once the cold rain hit in the dark of night, near hypothermic and in the ensuing mud, I just couldn't move fast enough and missed a cutoff at 84.5 miles.

   Although I felt pretty good within a week of that effort,4 weeks  was obviously not enough time to recover and run a fast marathon as I found out at OBX on Nov 11th. I was running with Karla and Amy and things were going well and according to plan but inevitably the wheels came off around mile 22 and I didn;t get to finish with either of them.

  I finished up my competitive year with a very non-competitive effort at The Derby 50K. I just wanted to get my ninth finish, get in a good training run and have fun doing it which I accomplished. The remainder of the year has been focused on getting Amy and myself in the best shape I can for the BQ attempt. We have been doing speedwork for the past 3 weeks now and it is going much better than I expected.

 So despite a couple of dnf's and less than hoped for results, it was still a pretty good year.  I can't complain when I get a 100k pr,  lower my 50 mile pr twice in one year and earn another buckle in a 100 miler.