After the awesome 1st half of the year I am looking forward now to an awesome 2nd half but it will be a bit different. and quite a bit different than I had plan back last January when I was making the schedule for the year.
As I mentioned in an earlier post after the disappointment at Myrtle Beach and with the marathon training going so well I began to look at more opportunities to not only get a Boston Qualifier but a marathon pr. To do so would require some changes in the schedule so here is what the new plan looks like.
July
As expected nothing else came up so I am looking forward to one of my favorite weekend getaways to Grandfather Mountain Marathon. I'm kind of hoping to take a shot at a sub 4 this year but that decision will probably be made depending on the weather and how I feel when I hit the first climb just past the 2 mile mark !
August.
I have no plans but training hard although I may jump into a 5k if I can work it out. It would be good speedwork and I haven't run one now since last August.
September.
This is one of the biggies. Heading to The Erie Marathon at Presque Isle for a BQ attempt. With the odd timing of this one coming in the middle of the Boston entry period I have a long shot at actually getting in to the 2015 Boston after all if I run fast enough. Back in January I thought I was going for another 100 miler pr this month but that changed with the decision to chase the marathon pr.
October.
This is a big one but in another way. Heading overseas for the first time ever to run The Verona Marathon in Italy with a group of friends. This one will be just for fun and I will take my time and take lot of pictures along the way.
Then the last weekend of the month I am returning to the NCRC event, The American Tobacco Trail 10 mile. I ran it the first year it was held 8 years ago and I will tell you I will be very disappointed if I don't run much faster this year !
November
This is another change from earlier plans. I thought I would be going for the 24 hour pr at Croatan but decided against that and will return once again to The OBX Marathon and have some fun with my friends again. This is one that I will probably wait to decide how I will run it. I have never had a good race here but I have had a lot of fun the years I ran with Karla. Next year I will definitely be running it with her as it will be the 10th and the anniversary of us running it together while she was still undergoing radiation treatments. So if the weather is good and training is good I might be trying one more time to "race it" this year.
Same thing later in the month when I return to my 11th straight Derby 50k. Run it easy or go for the 50k pr while I am at it. That would give me 3.5 months to get ready for the big pr attempt next year.
December.
As usual nothing but recovering from Derby and training.
Well that's the plan . Stay tuned and see what really happens !
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Training update 6-21-14
Well, it has been two weeks since the Boogie 50 miler and I'm thinking maybe the recovery is at least complete enough that I can now begin to focus on the big goals that are coming up over the next several months. I took a few days off and then eased back into things for the first week but I did resume the cross training a little earlier but went a little easier on those the first week too.
This second week I eased my mileage up about to normal again and will probably finish up the week with 50 miles and those were under some tough conditions with mornings in the 70's with super yucky humidity and afternoons in the mid to high 90's. Even under those conditions I was able to get in some quality running and the longest run was just a 12 miler..
My next goal is to run well at Grandfather Mountain and it works out great that my main focus in the training is hill work for the next few weeks anyway. I made it over to my favorite place for max effort hill repeats at The NC Museum of Art which is a perfect spot with two challenging hills opposite of each other and both near exactly 1/4 mile. I was very happy to nail the workout and had some zip doing it. The rest of the miles this week went well too. I did a cut down run on Thursday am and then on Friday I had planned to run easy but it turned into another cut down run but itwas still easy ! I did do a double on Tuesday and hopefully if time allows I will being increasing the doubles to at least two or three days a week over the summer. I also did some 20 second strides on two of the runs this week and plan to continue squeezing those into at least two or three runs per week or either hill sprints depending on where I run.
I was also back to normal with all of the cross training although due to time restraints I skipped Thursday. I was still able to get in 6 workouts for the week so I am happy with that.
If everything goes well and according to plan I hope to get in between 50 to 60 miles a week over the next two weeks and focus on the hills again and a little pace work. I also hope to get in at least close to a 20 miler next weekend.
Well, that's it for now. I'll update again in a couple of weeks.
This second week I eased my mileage up about to normal again and will probably finish up the week with 50 miles and those were under some tough conditions with mornings in the 70's with super yucky humidity and afternoons in the mid to high 90's. Even under those conditions I was able to get in some quality running and the longest run was just a 12 miler..
My next goal is to run well at Grandfather Mountain and it works out great that my main focus in the training is hill work for the next few weeks anyway. I made it over to my favorite place for max effort hill repeats at The NC Museum of Art which is a perfect spot with two challenging hills opposite of each other and both near exactly 1/4 mile. I was very happy to nail the workout and had some zip doing it. The rest of the miles this week went well too. I did a cut down run on Thursday am and then on Friday I had planned to run easy but it turned into another cut down run but itwas still easy ! I did do a double on Tuesday and hopefully if time allows I will being increasing the doubles to at least two or three days a week over the summer. I also did some 20 second strides on two of the runs this week and plan to continue squeezing those into at least two or three runs per week or either hill sprints depending on where I run.
I was also back to normal with all of the cross training although due to time restraints I skipped Thursday. I was still able to get in 6 workouts for the week so I am happy with that.
If everything goes well and according to plan I hope to get in between 50 to 60 miles a week over the next two weeks and focus on the hills again and a little pace work. I also hope to get in at least close to a 20 miler next weekend.
Well, that's it for now. I'll update again in a couple of weeks.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
2014 review of the 1st 6 months.
I have nothing else planned for June so I guess it's ok to go ahead and post a review of the first half of the year and WOW, what a first half it has been. I was a bit worried as the new year began after struggling with the upper hamstring issue for most of the last half of 2013 but despite that I was able to maintain a high level of fitness and once the injury was finally over I was quickly able to go right back into a high level of training.
And train I did in January. No races with the focus on getting ready for Myrtle Beach and I was having a lot of fun with a lot of great workouts even though a lot of those were done in some really yucky cold and wet conditions.
February brought me to Myrtle Beach in great shape and confident in a good attempt at the PR. I was running great and on pace for most of the race but steady winds in the upper teens and 20mph range with gust into the 30's made it tough and mostly a headwind the last 7 miles were too much for me. A good time of 3:49 under the conditions.
March 1st , just 2 weeks after MB and I returned to the Umstead Trail Marathon for the first time in many years mainly to use it as a training run for the upcoming 100. It was a near perfect day to run and I was surprised at how well I ran and even just using it as training I improved on my course pr by about 5 minutes boosting my confidence even more.
Just two weeks later and I was in the Tobacco Road Half Marathon. With the way things were going I was hoping for a 1:40. Well, it was another perfect weather day and even after the two recent marathons I felt fantastic and ran 1:39:03, my fastest half in 8 years !
April and finally it was time to go for the 100 mile pr at Umstead. The weather was about as good as could be hoped for and the support of so many friends and volunteers made it a special weekend. Everything clicked and I got the pr by an hour and seventeen minutes and never had any problems for the entire distance. Although I normally don't use pacers I make an exception here so I can share the experience with my closest friends and had some wonderful company with Laura MacLean, Lisa Howell and Karla Werner making the pr all the more special.
May started off with a trip to the OBX and my first running of The Flying Pirate Half Marathon. With the great races leading up to it I was hoping to run about 1:40 on this course but a combination of warm weather and lingering fatigue from Umstead and I struggled the last 5 miles slowly falling apart. Oh well, every race can't go perfect !
And then lees than 2 weeks later was an amazing adventure as I made a venture into the unknown at 3 Days at the Fair, a 72 hour race in NJ. Having never attempted a multi day ultra before I had no idea what to expect especially after the first 24 hours and 100 miles and really no idea how many miles my body and mind could handle. I set a rather lofty goal for myself and kept focused on it the entire 3 days. Amazingly I was able to achieve my goal and added a mile for icing on top of it for a total of 211 miles.
June and most years that means it's time to Boogie. I had a goal of running it to set a course pr. I finally figured out that under the conditions and toughness of the course it is not a pr course so just the pr for a Boogie would make me very happy. My confidence was high that I could do it with the way the past year had gone but the only question was how much the beat down just three weeks before in the 72 hour race would be felt. Well, I did have a tough stretch in the middle miles but overall had a very good race and i was able to get that course pr by 32 minutes and finished 16th of 97 starters.
So there you have it. One of the themes I have had for the past couple of years is to try and amaze myself and I am certainly doing that. My love and passion for running and racing is stronger than ever and I plan to keep working hard and racing hard and have a lot of fun along the way moving forward.
Thanks for reading and your support. Stay tuned.
And train I did in January. No races with the focus on getting ready for Myrtle Beach and I was having a lot of fun with a lot of great workouts even though a lot of those were done in some really yucky cold and wet conditions.
February brought me to Myrtle Beach in great shape and confident in a good attempt at the PR. I was running great and on pace for most of the race but steady winds in the upper teens and 20mph range with gust into the 30's made it tough and mostly a headwind the last 7 miles were too much for me. A good time of 3:49 under the conditions.
March 1st , just 2 weeks after MB and I returned to the Umstead Trail Marathon for the first time in many years mainly to use it as a training run for the upcoming 100. It was a near perfect day to run and I was surprised at how well I ran and even just using it as training I improved on my course pr by about 5 minutes boosting my confidence even more.
Just two weeks later and I was in the Tobacco Road Half Marathon. With the way things were going I was hoping for a 1:40. Well, it was another perfect weather day and even after the two recent marathons I felt fantastic and ran 1:39:03, my fastest half in 8 years !
April and finally it was time to go for the 100 mile pr at Umstead. The weather was about as good as could be hoped for and the support of so many friends and volunteers made it a special weekend. Everything clicked and I got the pr by an hour and seventeen minutes and never had any problems for the entire distance. Although I normally don't use pacers I make an exception here so I can share the experience with my closest friends and had some wonderful company with Laura MacLean, Lisa Howell and Karla Werner making the pr all the more special.
May started off with a trip to the OBX and my first running of The Flying Pirate Half Marathon. With the great races leading up to it I was hoping to run about 1:40 on this course but a combination of warm weather and lingering fatigue from Umstead and I struggled the last 5 miles slowly falling apart. Oh well, every race can't go perfect !
And then lees than 2 weeks later was an amazing adventure as I made a venture into the unknown at 3 Days at the Fair, a 72 hour race in NJ. Having never attempted a multi day ultra before I had no idea what to expect especially after the first 24 hours and 100 miles and really no idea how many miles my body and mind could handle. I set a rather lofty goal for myself and kept focused on it the entire 3 days. Amazingly I was able to achieve my goal and added a mile for icing on top of it for a total of 211 miles.
June and most years that means it's time to Boogie. I had a goal of running it to set a course pr. I finally figured out that under the conditions and toughness of the course it is not a pr course so just the pr for a Boogie would make me very happy. My confidence was high that I could do it with the way the past year had gone but the only question was how much the beat down just three weeks before in the 72 hour race would be felt. Well, I did have a tough stretch in the middle miles but overall had a very good race and i was able to get that course pr by 32 minutes and finished 16th of 97 starters.
So there you have it. One of the themes I have had for the past couple of years is to try and amaze myself and I am certainly doing that. My love and passion for running and racing is stronger than ever and I plan to keep working hard and racing hard and have a lot of fun along the way moving forward.
Thanks for reading and your support. Stay tuned.
Friday, June 13, 2014
The next phase or how I plan to train for the marathon pr attempt
I have come close to a BQ a couple of times in the past year but nowhere near the pr but with good weather I think I would have been close at Myrtle Beach this year. Within a couple of days after that race I had decided to go forward with this plan, and I have been thinking about what I need to add or subtract from what I am currently doing to push it to another level.
First thing of course is to drop the ultra's so I can be doing the training on fresh legs and a body not worn down from the long races.
Over the past several years my mileage has been fairly consistent with just shy of 50 miles per week. I am ahead of that pace already this year. I hope to build from that to at least 60 per week and if things go well I'd really like to get into the 70 per week range at least part of the time. At least during the summer I will be padding the miles with adding a couple of doubles each week with some morning runs to supplement the normal afternoon runs.
As far as the types of workouts I'll be doing, the stuff I did over this past Winter seemed to be working really well. The 4-5 mile tempo runs at 10k to 10 miler pace seemed to be very effective. And lots of marathon and half marathon pace runs. I really enjoyed the hybrid workouts I made up on the fly. They were tough but made me tough mixing tempo and race pace stuff into the same workout. and of course mile repeats and some 800's too. I like to do a wide variety of stuff to keep it fresh and work on all facets of my running.
I will also be adding a little more hill work especially in the next few weeks of June and July. I like variety here too. I do some max effort 400 hills and some longer but more relaxed pace too and as part of my speedwork will be doing some short hill sprints. I also will be doing more strides a couple of times a week on my regular runs. I do these every now and then but have been inconsistent.
And of course the cross-training. Over the past year and a half now I have been alternating core and body weight workouts at least 6 days a week and adding some free weights about every fourth day. I plan to continue that but will be tweaking it a little bit too. I plan to add some more lower body stuff like lunges and squats and dead lifts and I'm thinking of adding circuit training workout in place of one of the others once a week. We'll see how that goes.
So first up after finishing up this recovery week from the Boogie I will be getting the mileage back to normal, adding a couple of doubles and began hitting the hills and adding more strides. Next race is Grandfather Mountain Marathon so now is a good time to get strong on the hills. I will probably make a decision on the fly at GMM on just how I plan to run it. If I feel good in the early miles and the weather is a little better than the past two years I may try to go sub 4. Otherwise I'll just have some fun and use it as a long training run.
After GMM the focus will be on the race pace workouts with the first real test coming at The Erie Marathon at Presque Isle on Sept 14th. I hope the weather will cooperate and I can attempt to get a BQ and see how close I am to the pr The big target is at Wrightsville Beach next March 22nd but that is a long way off. I'll keep you updated of course with the training and racing in the meantime.
First thing of course is to drop the ultra's so I can be doing the training on fresh legs and a body not worn down from the long races.
Over the past several years my mileage has been fairly consistent with just shy of 50 miles per week. I am ahead of that pace already this year. I hope to build from that to at least 60 per week and if things go well I'd really like to get into the 70 per week range at least part of the time. At least during the summer I will be padding the miles with adding a couple of doubles each week with some morning runs to supplement the normal afternoon runs.
As far as the types of workouts I'll be doing, the stuff I did over this past Winter seemed to be working really well. The 4-5 mile tempo runs at 10k to 10 miler pace seemed to be very effective. And lots of marathon and half marathon pace runs. I really enjoyed the hybrid workouts I made up on the fly. They were tough but made me tough mixing tempo and race pace stuff into the same workout. and of course mile repeats and some 800's too. I like to do a wide variety of stuff to keep it fresh and work on all facets of my running.
I will also be adding a little more hill work especially in the next few weeks of June and July. I like variety here too. I do some max effort 400 hills and some longer but more relaxed pace too and as part of my speedwork will be doing some short hill sprints. I also will be doing more strides a couple of times a week on my regular runs. I do these every now and then but have been inconsistent.
And of course the cross-training. Over the past year and a half now I have been alternating core and body weight workouts at least 6 days a week and adding some free weights about every fourth day. I plan to continue that but will be tweaking it a little bit too. I plan to add some more lower body stuff like lunges and squats and dead lifts and I'm thinking of adding circuit training workout in place of one of the others once a week. We'll see how that goes.
So first up after finishing up this recovery week from the Boogie I will be getting the mileage back to normal, adding a couple of doubles and began hitting the hills and adding more strides. Next race is Grandfather Mountain Marathon so now is a good time to get strong on the hills. I will probably make a decision on the fly at GMM on just how I plan to run it. If I feel good in the early miles and the weather is a little better than the past two years I may try to go sub 4. Otherwise I'll just have some fun and use it as a long training run.
After GMM the focus will be on the race pace workouts with the first real test coming at The Erie Marathon at Presque Isle on Sept 14th. I hope the weather will cooperate and I can attempt to get a BQ and see how close I am to the pr The big target is at Wrightsville Beach next March 22nd but that is a long way off. I'll keep you updated of course with the training and racing in the meantime.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Ultraman has left the building..... temporarily.
Yes, I have decided it's time to change my focus, training and racing and the new plan doesn't not include any ultra's for awhile.
Ok, let me explain. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, after failing to get any faster at the marathon in 2010 and 2011 I had given up on ever coming close to my Pr of 3:35:15 set in 2006 when I was 50. and it made sense in a way. You are not suppose to get faster once you get my age. So I decided to quit chasing after that goal but felt like I still had a shot at a 50 mile and 100 mile pr if I could just get everything to fall into place on the right day at the right race. And that became the focus of my training leading up to the 2012 Umstead 100. As you may recall lousy warm humid weather de -railed that attempt.
It was right after that race that Amy and I began to train her to get faster and get a Boston Qualifier. I had no plans at that time to go to Boston but our qualifying times were about the same so we could train at the same paces. I knew from past experience in 2005 and 2006 that I ran most of my best ultra's off of marathon training so it seemed reasonable to do the hard workouts with her while focusing on my ultra's. Of course over a period of a few months things were going great I began to feel that I actually had a legitimate shot at going for the marathon pr and added that to my list of goals.
Well, a couple of attempts and I fell short, most recently at Myrtle Beach due to the very windy conditions. But as I shared , I do my best ultras during the marathon training and it proved to be true again. During the training I shattered my 50 mile pr last year by an hour. and then this year after MB I have knocked an hour and seventeen minutes off of my 100 mile pr. and then I have just followed that up with a dream goal of 211 miles in 3 Days at the Fair and a course pr at the Boogie 50 miler. And also during that training period I have raced my fastest 5k in over 20 years and my fastest Half marathon since 2006 !
Ok Joey, then get to the point !
Well, the point is after running MB I had already decided that I was going to give myself every chance to get myself one more marathon pr before I turn 60. It already seems ridiculous to think I can do it at 58 but I have the confidence in myself that I will do it. I had planned on going for a 24 hour pr in the Fall and also another 100 mile pr but those plans were change after MB and the schedule has already been changed. I have already gotten the ultra pr's I wanted and now it's time to concentrate on the marathon.
I know it is a difficult challenge I am facing but I thrive on the challenges and training for them ! I also know that in order to do it I need to drop the ultra's for awhile. The recovery from them just
doesn't allow me enough time to train properly and I think that is the edge that I need to reach the next level. 6-8 weeks is just not enough time after an ultra so they are out of my life for at least the next 10 months. Ok, yes I still plan to run Derby at Thanksgiving as always but it is seriously just a long marathon and it will be an over distance training run.
I could just wait until after September and slow down and still get a BQ due to aging up for the 2016 event but this is not about Boston. It's all about the pr and actually I want to go sub 3:30 so there you have it !
Actually this is time away from ultra's is not without precedent since I began ultras in 2002. After Derby in 2008 I went an entire year without running an ultra before returning to Derby in 2009. The big difference this time around though is that in 2008 I was struggling with painful nagging injuries for the entire year and after taking 5 weeks off completely from running or biking, I began a slow re-building with biking swimming and just a little running as I returned to triathlon. After doing the Ironman Couer D'Alene in June 2009 I once again returned my focus to running. This time around not only am I not injured but I am in my best shape probably since my mid-30's !! And I am hoping that fact is what will allow me to push the barrier back just a little more before time does finally take it's toll on me an my speed.
So that is my announcement for the next phase of the runner formally known as Ultraman. It will be awhile before you get to follow along on any of my crazy ultra adventures but don't worry there will be more to come. Hopefully I will get lucky in the lottery and a year from now will be in the final days of training for The Western States 100 and if not I'll be looking for a qualifier to keep my name in the hat. And there are still so many more challenges out there I want to do. They will just have to wait awhile.
Stay tuned and I'll have an outline of how the training and racing the next 10 months will be looking like.
Ok, let me explain. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, after failing to get any faster at the marathon in 2010 and 2011 I had given up on ever coming close to my Pr of 3:35:15 set in 2006 when I was 50. and it made sense in a way. You are not suppose to get faster once you get my age. So I decided to quit chasing after that goal but felt like I still had a shot at a 50 mile and 100 mile pr if I could just get everything to fall into place on the right day at the right race. And that became the focus of my training leading up to the 2012 Umstead 100. As you may recall lousy warm humid weather de -railed that attempt.
It was right after that race that Amy and I began to train her to get faster and get a Boston Qualifier. I had no plans at that time to go to Boston but our qualifying times were about the same so we could train at the same paces. I knew from past experience in 2005 and 2006 that I ran most of my best ultra's off of marathon training so it seemed reasonable to do the hard workouts with her while focusing on my ultra's. Of course over a period of a few months things were going great I began to feel that I actually had a legitimate shot at going for the marathon pr and added that to my list of goals.
Well, a couple of attempts and I fell short, most recently at Myrtle Beach due to the very windy conditions. But as I shared , I do my best ultras during the marathon training and it proved to be true again. During the training I shattered my 50 mile pr last year by an hour. and then this year after MB I have knocked an hour and seventeen minutes off of my 100 mile pr. and then I have just followed that up with a dream goal of 211 miles in 3 Days at the Fair and a course pr at the Boogie 50 miler. And also during that training period I have raced my fastest 5k in over 20 years and my fastest Half marathon since 2006 !
Ok Joey, then get to the point !
Well, the point is after running MB I had already decided that I was going to give myself every chance to get myself one more marathon pr before I turn 60. It already seems ridiculous to think I can do it at 58 but I have the confidence in myself that I will do it. I had planned on going for a 24 hour pr in the Fall and also another 100 mile pr but those plans were change after MB and the schedule has already been changed. I have already gotten the ultra pr's I wanted and now it's time to concentrate on the marathon.
I know it is a difficult challenge I am facing but I thrive on the challenges and training for them ! I also know that in order to do it I need to drop the ultra's for awhile. The recovery from them just
doesn't allow me enough time to train properly and I think that is the edge that I need to reach the next level. 6-8 weeks is just not enough time after an ultra so they are out of my life for at least the next 10 months. Ok, yes I still plan to run Derby at Thanksgiving as always but it is seriously just a long marathon and it will be an over distance training run.
I could just wait until after September and slow down and still get a BQ due to aging up for the 2016 event but this is not about Boston. It's all about the pr and actually I want to go sub 3:30 so there you have it !
Actually this is time away from ultra's is not without precedent since I began ultras in 2002. After Derby in 2008 I went an entire year without running an ultra before returning to Derby in 2009. The big difference this time around though is that in 2008 I was struggling with painful nagging injuries for the entire year and after taking 5 weeks off completely from running or biking, I began a slow re-building with biking swimming and just a little running as I returned to triathlon. After doing the Ironman Couer D'Alene in June 2009 I once again returned my focus to running. This time around not only am I not injured but I am in my best shape probably since my mid-30's !! And I am hoping that fact is what will allow me to push the barrier back just a little more before time does finally take it's toll on me an my speed.
So that is my announcement for the next phase of the runner formally known as Ultraman. It will be awhile before you get to follow along on any of my crazy ultra adventures but don't worry there will be more to come. Hopefully I will get lucky in the lottery and a year from now will be in the final days of training for The Western States 100 and if not I'll be looking for a qualifier to keep my name in the hat. And there are still so many more challenges out there I want to do. They will just have to wait awhile.
Stay tuned and I'll have an outline of how the training and racing the next 10 months will be looking like.
Sunday, June 08, 2014
Boogie 2014.
I was coming into the race this year full of confidence that my course pr from 2011 was going to fall based on how well my training and racing have been going this first 6 months of the year. Of course I did have some reservations about that with the lingering effects of the 72 hour race remaining as an unknown until I actually got out there and put things to the test. The weather forecast was looking like it would be about as good as can be expected for a night of Boogie.
I lined up near the front and while everyone was wondering exactly where the starting line was located Doug yelled go so we just took off from where we were standing. My plan was to run well within myself the first lap and not get over-heated knowing that after the first lap we would be in the shade and the temperatures would begin to slowly drop. It was about 86-87 but that is mild compared to some years. I fell into a comfortable pace and enjoyed some light conversation with the runners around me in those first few miles. I have to say that as I approached the house where the Devil Dog attacked 2 years ago I had a bit of an adrenaline boost but no sign of him around.
We came around the first 6 mile loop and I was pleased and a little surprised at the pace because it felt easy. I stopped at my car which I was using as my personal aid station and took a gel and refilled my water bottle . The water at the aid stations is pretty nasty here every year so I had brought my own. In fact I never stopped at the aid stations but once the entire race and I'll tell about that a little later in the report. Normal aid station fare just doesn't have much appeal to me any more and whenever its possible I provide most of my own nutrition.
I was quickly back out on the road and headed down the hill. This is about the only time in the race on this out and back spur that you get to see the runners in front and behind you in the daylight to know who they are. Lots of friends and familiar faces and lots of encouragement along the way. I ran strong up the hill and finished the lap a couple of minutes faster than I had planned and feeling good while looking forward to no more sun and cooler temps.
As I headed out for lap 2 I stopped at the car once again and slammed a Carnation breakfast shake. I found these to work better than the Kellogs that I used at Umstead because these do not have the 5 grams of fiber which lets just say adds up to way more than my body can tolerate in a 24 hour period !
Refilled the water and off I went. Still feeling good and moving well but I was having a bit of foot pain, so far the only thing I was feeling left over from 3 Days. I also noticed my ankle tendonitis which I have had since before Umstead 100 was being bothered by the camber of the roads, ,especially in those first couple of miles each lap so I was trying to find the flattest part of the road as possible.
Lap 2 was rather uneventful. By the time I was down to the river it was getting dark and I was having to keep my mouth shut to keep from eating so many bugs along the swampy area. I was not running with a light and as I was climbing the hill I was surprised at how many people were recognizing me and offering words of encouragement and calling my name. I could hardly recognize anyone but I did at least know most of the voices !
BD Sechler caught up to me just as we crested the hill and we ran the next 6 mile loop together. These were some of the most enjoyable miles of the night but I think as we got caught up in the conversation we ended up running a lot of the spots we should have been walking ! As we finished the lap I stopped at my car as he went on to the aid station. We had planned to continue on together but I was never able to catch him. I found out later he had dropped 4 miles later.
I had been feeling very good but as I took off down the hill things began to turn on me quickly. I was feeling tired, my hip flexors were aching, the pounding was hurting my feet and the ankle was flaring up and I was forced to take several walk breaks going down. Still lots of runners speaking to me in both directions in the dark. We did have a nice moon, just over half of one that was offering some good light but still nearly pitch black along the tunnel of trees by the swamp. By now it had cooled off into the low 70's but it was slimy sticky feeling as the humidity continued to rise. A haze in the sky prevented many stars from being out at this point.
I made it back up to finally complete mile 30 in a slow disappointing time for the lap and took time for a pitstop and then another re-fuel, refill stop at the car and hoping I would feel better now. But, I continued to struggle and things just kept getting worse. I was breathing way to hard, having to take frequent walk breaks on the easy downhill grade that I normally run the whole way. Life was beginning to stink for me and I was doing a lot of moaning and groaning. It was not going to be much fun to have to go on in this condition. I knew I could keep going but the motivation was fading.
With half mile to go before reaching the dog pen aid station I was telling myself, ok get it together. Think what you need to do to try and turn this around and be prepared when you get there. I finally shuffled in and immediately sat down and asked for some chips. That was one thing I knew was missing was any sodium other than the little bit in the gels. After about 5 minutes I got up and grabbed a cookie to go to tide me over until I could get to my car.
After finishing off the cookie I started to run again and in a few minutes was very pleased that I felt a whole lot better, running all the sections I normally do. No more gasping, moaning and groaning. I just hoped that the feeling would last. When I got to my car I was ready for the rocket fuel so I downed half a bottle of pepsi in addition to the gel. As I headed back down the hill I was very pleased that the hip flexors were relaxed and not aching nearly as much and once again I was able to run all the way down and to the turn. The only real problem was that the feet were still not liking the pounding. I was able to do some decent running coming back up too and I knew now that I could make my goal of a course pr even if I walked the remainder of the evening.
As I came through for mile 40 I could see that I had lost an awful lot of time in the those first 4 miles of the previous lap and my other goal of a sub 10 hour was going to be nearly impossible but I decided to give it my best shot and keep pushing. As I headed out on that last lap, it had cooled down into the mid to upper 60's, still slimy humid though. but the haze in the sky had cleared and more stars were visible now as the moon was getting low on the horizon.
Crusied by the dog pen and took a gel from my pocket and thanked them for being out there all night for us and moved on. Really enjoyed the now nearly star filled sky along the former dirt road which is the best part of the course for sky-watching . Although tired I was still moving well or at least it seemed that way and I pushed on in hopes of getting that sub 10 finish. But , when I made it back around to the car and just a hair over 4 miles to go I saw my time and the reality was there that I had no chance of doing it. My pace and perceived effort in the dark just didn't match up and I was moving a lot slower than I had hoped. More pepsi and off I went to get it over with. A huge pr was mine now and I thought to myself no need to push it but it's just not my style. As long as I was able I would go for as fast a time as I could.
Fortunately I did feel good but tired. As I ran all the way down once again I was making up stupid rhymes and making noises in rhythm to make the time pass and keep my mind from telling me to slow down or walk. And then I was at the turn and just two miles to go ! Anyone can run two miles I told myself, but then usually 2 miles don't include 1.4 of Bethel Hill ! I did run as much as I could, more than the past few trips up and then I could tell as I reached the last little pitch before the curve when you can see the lights of the church. And just at that moment as the church came into view a meteor flashed by to my right seemingly just above the treetops burning brightly ! That brought a smile to my face and then a minute later I crossed the finish line. I was so happy that I had been able to turn things around and feel so much better the last 16 miles or it could have been a real suffer-fest and I probably not have attained my goal.
I chatted with the folks there and got my mug while my heart rate dropped and then it was time for me to drop and do 50 pushups. Tada ! Time of 10:14:11 and the course pr by about 32 minutes. 97 runners started out of 120 that had signed up and of those, 50 finished the 50 miles and I placed 16th overall . Another 32 got credit for 30 miles and I guess that leaves 15 that were dnf's before reaching at least the 30.
Thanks to Doug and Brandon and all the volunteers for another awesome version of the Boogie !
 | |
| the start. |
I lined up near the front and while everyone was wondering exactly where the starting line was located Doug yelled go so we just took off from where we were standing. My plan was to run well within myself the first lap and not get over-heated knowing that after the first lap we would be in the shade and the temperatures would begin to slowly drop. It was about 86-87 but that is mild compared to some years. I fell into a comfortable pace and enjoyed some light conversation with the runners around me in those first few miles. I have to say that as I approached the house where the Devil Dog attacked 2 years ago I had a bit of an adrenaline boost but no sign of him around.
We came around the first 6 mile loop and I was pleased and a little surprised at the pace because it felt easy. I stopped at my car which I was using as my personal aid station and took a gel and refilled my water bottle . The water at the aid stations is pretty nasty here every year so I had brought my own. In fact I never stopped at the aid stations but once the entire race and I'll tell about that a little later in the report. Normal aid station fare just doesn't have much appeal to me any more and whenever its possible I provide most of my own nutrition.
 | |
| mile 6 |
I was quickly back out on the road and headed down the hill. This is about the only time in the race on this out and back spur that you get to see the runners in front and behind you in the daylight to know who they are. Lots of friends and familiar faces and lots of encouragement along the way. I ran strong up the hill and finished the lap a couple of minutes faster than I had planned and feeling good while looking forward to no more sun and cooler temps.
As I headed out for lap 2 I stopped at the car once again and slammed a Carnation breakfast shake. I found these to work better than the Kellogs that I used at Umstead because these do not have the 5 grams of fiber which lets just say adds up to way more than my body can tolerate in a 24 hour period !
Refilled the water and off I went. Still feeling good and moving well but I was having a bit of foot pain, so far the only thing I was feeling left over from 3 Days. I also noticed my ankle tendonitis which I have had since before Umstead 100 was being bothered by the camber of the roads, ,especially in those first couple of miles each lap so I was trying to find the flattest part of the road as possible.
Lap 2 was rather uneventful. By the time I was down to the river it was getting dark and I was having to keep my mouth shut to keep from eating so many bugs along the swampy area. I was not running with a light and as I was climbing the hill I was surprised at how many people were recognizing me and offering words of encouragement and calling my name. I could hardly recognize anyone but I did at least know most of the voices !
BD Sechler caught up to me just as we crested the hill and we ran the next 6 mile loop together. These were some of the most enjoyable miles of the night but I think as we got caught up in the conversation we ended up running a lot of the spots we should have been walking ! As we finished the lap I stopped at my car as he went on to the aid station. We had planned to continue on together but I was never able to catch him. I found out later he had dropped 4 miles later.
I had been feeling very good but as I took off down the hill things began to turn on me quickly. I was feeling tired, my hip flexors were aching, the pounding was hurting my feet and the ankle was flaring up and I was forced to take several walk breaks going down. Still lots of runners speaking to me in both directions in the dark. We did have a nice moon, just over half of one that was offering some good light but still nearly pitch black along the tunnel of trees by the swamp. By now it had cooled off into the low 70's but it was slimy sticky feeling as the humidity continued to rise. A haze in the sky prevented many stars from being out at this point.
I made it back up to finally complete mile 30 in a slow disappointing time for the lap and took time for a pitstop and then another re-fuel, refill stop at the car and hoping I would feel better now. But, I continued to struggle and things just kept getting worse. I was breathing way to hard, having to take frequent walk breaks on the easy downhill grade that I normally run the whole way. Life was beginning to stink for me and I was doing a lot of moaning and groaning. It was not going to be much fun to have to go on in this condition. I knew I could keep going but the motivation was fading.
With half mile to go before reaching the dog pen aid station I was telling myself, ok get it together. Think what you need to do to try and turn this around and be prepared when you get there. I finally shuffled in and immediately sat down and asked for some chips. That was one thing I knew was missing was any sodium other than the little bit in the gels. After about 5 minutes I got up and grabbed a cookie to go to tide me over until I could get to my car.
After finishing off the cookie I started to run again and in a few minutes was very pleased that I felt a whole lot better, running all the sections I normally do. No more gasping, moaning and groaning. I just hoped that the feeling would last. When I got to my car I was ready for the rocket fuel so I downed half a bottle of pepsi in addition to the gel. As I headed back down the hill I was very pleased that the hip flexors were relaxed and not aching nearly as much and once again I was able to run all the way down and to the turn. The only real problem was that the feet were still not liking the pounding. I was able to do some decent running coming back up too and I knew now that I could make my goal of a course pr even if I walked the remainder of the evening.
As I came through for mile 40 I could see that I had lost an awful lot of time in the those first 4 miles of the previous lap and my other goal of a sub 10 hour was going to be nearly impossible but I decided to give it my best shot and keep pushing. As I headed out on that last lap, it had cooled down into the mid to upper 60's, still slimy humid though. but the haze in the sky had cleared and more stars were visible now as the moon was getting low on the horizon.
Crusied by the dog pen and took a gel from my pocket and thanked them for being out there all night for us and moved on. Really enjoyed the now nearly star filled sky along the former dirt road which is the best part of the course for sky-watching . Although tired I was still moving well or at least it seemed that way and I pushed on in hopes of getting that sub 10 finish. But , when I made it back around to the car and just a hair over 4 miles to go I saw my time and the reality was there that I had no chance of doing it. My pace and perceived effort in the dark just didn't match up and I was moving a lot slower than I had hoped. More pepsi and off I went to get it over with. A huge pr was mine now and I thought to myself no need to push it but it's just not my style. As long as I was able I would go for as fast a time as I could.
Fortunately I did feel good but tired. As I ran all the way down once again I was making up stupid rhymes and making noises in rhythm to make the time pass and keep my mind from telling me to slow down or walk. And then I was at the turn and just two miles to go ! Anyone can run two miles I told myself, but then usually 2 miles don't include 1.4 of Bethel Hill ! I did run as much as I could, more than the past few trips up and then I could tell as I reached the last little pitch before the curve when you can see the lights of the church. And just at that moment as the church came into view a meteor flashed by to my right seemingly just above the treetops burning brightly ! That brought a smile to my face and then a minute later I crossed the finish line. I was so happy that I had been able to turn things around and feel so much better the last 16 miles or it could have been a real suffer-fest and I probably not have attained my goal.
I chatted with the folks there and got my mug while my heart rate dropped and then it was time for me to drop and do 50 pushups. Tada ! Time of 10:14:11 and the course pr by about 32 minutes. 97 runners started out of 120 that had signed up and of those, 50 finished the 50 miles and I placed 16th overall . Another 32 got credit for 30 miles and I guess that leaves 15 that were dnf's before reaching at least the 30.
Thanks to Doug and Brandon and all the volunteers for another awesome version of the Boogie !
A Short Boogie Quiz.
Question 1.
A. My feet are killing me
B. My quads are trashed
C. My butt hurts.
D. All of the above
Question 2.
A. Did anyone get the license tag of that bus that hit me?
B. Oh God, I am sooooo tired !!!
C. Just shoot me now and get it over with.
D. All of the above
Question 3.
A. I am never running another ultra.
B. I may never run again ! Well maybe a 5k every now and then.
C. when can i sign up for next year?
D. All of the above.
Bonus Question.
The best thing about the Boogie is
A. Doug and all the wonderful volunteers.
B. Running with all the wonderful like-minded runners and the support from each other.
C. Running in the dark with just the light of the moon and stars.
D.All the sounds of the night creatures, especially down by the swamp.
E. And the lightning bugs
F. Boogie Burgers !
G.Finishers Mugs.
H. Seeing the lights of the church as you round the last curve and reach the top of the hill on lap 5 and knowing you can stop !
I. All of the above !
Answers. 1. D
2. D
3. D
Bonus. I
Question 1.
A. My feet are killing me
B. My quads are trashed
C. My butt hurts.
D. All of the above
Question 2.
A. Did anyone get the license tag of that bus that hit me?
B. Oh God, I am sooooo tired !!!
C. Just shoot me now and get it over with.
D. All of the above
Question 3.
A. I am never running another ultra.
B. I may never run again ! Well maybe a 5k every now and then.
C. when can i sign up for next year?
D. All of the above.
Bonus Question.
The best thing about the Boogie is
A. Doug and all the wonderful volunteers.
B. Running with all the wonderful like-minded runners and the support from each other.
C. Running in the dark with just the light of the moon and stars.
D.All the sounds of the night creatures, especially down by the swamp.
E. And the lightning bugs
F. Boogie Burgers !
G.Finishers Mugs.
H. Seeing the lights of the church as you round the last curve and reach the top of the hill on lap 5 and knowing you can stop !
I. All of the above !
Answers. 1. D
2. D
3. D
Bonus. I
Thursday, June 05, 2014
Boogie 2014 Preview
I am excited and looking forward to returning to this 50 mile night time run after having to miss it last year while I was out in Wyoming. This of course is one of the MTC events and is always a lot of fun despite the heat and hills.
I made my debut in 2005 and actually just ran the marathon in the first year that Doug had added it as an option. I ran it with Karla, our 2nd together as I had just began training with her. It was tough and my slowest marathon to date. However I must mention I had just raced 41miles in an 8hr overnight run the week before !
I returned in 2006 for the 50 miler and despite having run the Old dominion 100 miler 2 weeks before I actually ran fairly well just taking it easy finishing in 11:03.
In 2007 I had to skip running since I had Western States coming up 2 weeks later but went and volunteered.
I returned in 2008 but I was really banged up that year with nagging injuries and was forced to drop after just 10 miles barely making it up Bethel Church Hill my legs were in such pain.
I came back again as a volunteer in 2009. After finally taking off a month to heal the previous December I was in a re-building mode and cross-training and had my first Ironman coming up a week later.
After the Ironman I was ready to re-focus on running and was excited to return to Boogie in 2010 ready to race. Well, it turned out to be one of the hottest ever with about 97F at the start. A slow miserable 11:32 that had me wandering to myself at mile 30 as to whether I was really wanting to be an ultra runner again. I decided I did and went back out and actually felt better the last lap.
By 2011 I was much stronger again and running well and set my course pr of 10:46 on a fun night including an epic thunderstorm.
And then the madness of 2012. I surprised everyone with my plan to do a double Boogie, the first Boogie 100. I started at 6am with my then training partner Amy and within the first 1.5 miles we were attacked viciously by the dogs. We continued on after the attack and Amy left after 26miles and I continued on but was forced to drop after 62 miles and go to the hospital.
And then I had to skip last year of course as I mentioned due to the Bighorn 100 out in Wyoming.
And that brings us to this year. I am in great shape and looking forward to giving my course record a beating ! But although I seem to be running well and recovering nicely, it has only been 3 weeks since the 72 hour race and the 211 miles . I have been running well with almost normal mileage but I'm sure it will be well into the 50 before I find out if or how much lingering fatigue there may be. And my feet are still a long ways from being back to normal and I just hope they hold up ok.
I made my debut in 2005 and actually just ran the marathon in the first year that Doug had added it as an option. I ran it with Karla, our 2nd together as I had just began training with her. It was tough and my slowest marathon to date. However I must mention I had just raced 41miles in an 8hr overnight run the week before !
I returned in 2006 for the 50 miler and despite having run the Old dominion 100 miler 2 weeks before I actually ran fairly well just taking it easy finishing in 11:03.
In 2007 I had to skip running since I had Western States coming up 2 weeks later but went and volunteered.
I returned in 2008 but I was really banged up that year with nagging injuries and was forced to drop after just 10 miles barely making it up Bethel Church Hill my legs were in such pain.
I came back again as a volunteer in 2009. After finally taking off a month to heal the previous December I was in a re-building mode and cross-training and had my first Ironman coming up a week later.
After the Ironman I was ready to re-focus on running and was excited to return to Boogie in 2010 ready to race. Well, it turned out to be one of the hottest ever with about 97F at the start. A slow miserable 11:32 that had me wandering to myself at mile 30 as to whether I was really wanting to be an ultra runner again. I decided I did and went back out and actually felt better the last lap.
By 2011 I was much stronger again and running well and set my course pr of 10:46 on a fun night including an epic thunderstorm.
And then the madness of 2012. I surprised everyone with my plan to do a double Boogie, the first Boogie 100. I started at 6am with my then training partner Amy and within the first 1.5 miles we were attacked viciously by the dogs. We continued on after the attack and Amy left after 26miles and I continued on but was forced to drop after 62 miles and go to the hospital.
And then I had to skip last year of course as I mentioned due to the Bighorn 100 out in Wyoming.
And that brings us to this year. I am in great shape and looking forward to giving my course record a beating ! But although I seem to be running well and recovering nicely, it has only been 3 weeks since the 72 hour race and the 211 miles . I have been running well with almost normal mileage but I'm sure it will be well into the 50 before I find out if or how much lingering fatigue there may be. And my feet are still a long ways from being back to normal and I just hope they hold up ok.
Sunday, June 01, 2014
3 Days At The Fair, some final thoughts.
It's been 2 weeks now and I am still struggling with putting the final words on this experience so I'm just going to ramble a little bit while I have some free time on my hands.
First of all I would like to say thanks to Rick and Jennifer McNulty , their family and all the volunteers. An awful lot of hard work goes into putting on an event like this. I imagine their were a lot of runners that got more sleep than the McNultys did.
I would love to be able to tell all about what an almost spiritual experience this was or how I had these epiphanies on the meaning of life. How I left a big part of myself out there or how I had to dig deep into myself and discover things I had hidden inside to push myself on. But even if I had the writing skills to do it I couldn't because none of it happened.
No, I am very happy to say that as long as I was out there, I never really entertained the thought of not continuing, even when I was so sick of the rain and even when my feet were killing me. I had come with a purpose and a challenging goal and for those long 72 hours I was able to keep my focus on what I came to do. Yeah, there were a few rough patches but I kept a positive attitude and kept moving. I have had quite a few races over the years that I have given up mentally as well as physically. There have been many times I have questioned why I was continuing to put myself through an ordeal and many times in distances from 50K to 100 miles made up my mind to never do another one. That did not happen here. I don't know if it is just that I was well trained for this or I did a great job of listening to my body and had a well thought out plan for success and was able to roll with the punches and adapt that plan as needed. Whatever the case, things just went amazingly well for me to be able to still be knocking off some fast laps in the final hours.
As I said in the reports there was really not a lot of self-exploration or deep thoughts going on. I was so focused on the goal that I was able to keep count of all 211 laps and I was constantly going through the numbers of how much time I had left, what pace I needed to maintain, how long I could allow for a rest break, etc and that really didn't leave much time for wondering in my mind. The one thing I did allow myself to think about was one of the main things that helped with my motivation and that was of my many family, friends, followers and of course the Angels that were out there supporting me. I really looked forward to reaching a milestone or something special that I wanted to share with the FB updates and text. I couldn't allow myself much time to see the likes and comments on FB but I was aware of them and when I would check and see a text checking on me from one of the Angels it would bring a smile to my heart. Thank all of you that cared enough about me to follow along. It was huge in helping me to perform as well as I did knowing you were out there thinking of me and pulling for me.
I do wish I could have spent more time talking to some of the other runners but it is really a hard thing to do when you have a tough, tight scheduled goal. I had to keep my own pace and it was just very rare that anyone was around that was moving at the same pace or wasn't running when I was walking or vice versa. There were some really cool people out there.
I have to say that I was a bit surprised and almost amazed at how little soreness I had and how well the recovery has gone. I was pretty much walking normally the day after once I got moving other than the very painful blister. By Tuesday that pain was nearly gone and I was walking normally with practically zero soreness I allowed myself another day for the swelling to go down and was running my normal easy pace by Thursday and ran everyday for 8 days straight afterwards with some strong fast miles mixed into some of those.
One thing that took a little longer was getting over the sleepiness ! I was sleeping my normal routine all week afterward but by mid afternoon everyday for the first week I was groggy and all I wanted to do was take a nap which I couldn't do . I was glad that was finally over. And eating ! That was a good thing. All I could think of beside sleeping was eating. Lots ! And I did !
So, is there another 3 day or other multi-day in the future plans? The first few days I was thinking no way of course. My feet hurt and I knew I had put myself through quite a beating. And I had achieved my goal so really what would be the point? Well, there would be none other than if I just ever have the desire to do another one and I can't answer that question now. I don't see anything anytime in the near future but who knows what another year or two or three may bring.
So thanks for reading and your support. Stay tuned and find out what I do have planned coming soon !
First of all I would like to say thanks to Rick and Jennifer McNulty , their family and all the volunteers. An awful lot of hard work goes into putting on an event like this. I imagine their were a lot of runners that got more sleep than the McNultys did.
I would love to be able to tell all about what an almost spiritual experience this was or how I had these epiphanies on the meaning of life. How I left a big part of myself out there or how I had to dig deep into myself and discover things I had hidden inside to push myself on. But even if I had the writing skills to do it I couldn't because none of it happened.
No, I am very happy to say that as long as I was out there, I never really entertained the thought of not continuing, even when I was so sick of the rain and even when my feet were killing me. I had come with a purpose and a challenging goal and for those long 72 hours I was able to keep my focus on what I came to do. Yeah, there were a few rough patches but I kept a positive attitude and kept moving. I have had quite a few races over the years that I have given up mentally as well as physically. There have been many times I have questioned why I was continuing to put myself through an ordeal and many times in distances from 50K to 100 miles made up my mind to never do another one. That did not happen here. I don't know if it is just that I was well trained for this or I did a great job of listening to my body and had a well thought out plan for success and was able to roll with the punches and adapt that plan as needed. Whatever the case, things just went amazingly well for me to be able to still be knocking off some fast laps in the final hours.
As I said in the reports there was really not a lot of self-exploration or deep thoughts going on. I was so focused on the goal that I was able to keep count of all 211 laps and I was constantly going through the numbers of how much time I had left, what pace I needed to maintain, how long I could allow for a rest break, etc and that really didn't leave much time for wondering in my mind. The one thing I did allow myself to think about was one of the main things that helped with my motivation and that was of my many family, friends, followers and of course the Angels that were out there supporting me. I really looked forward to reaching a milestone or something special that I wanted to share with the FB updates and text. I couldn't allow myself much time to see the likes and comments on FB but I was aware of them and when I would check and see a text checking on me from one of the Angels it would bring a smile to my heart. Thank all of you that cared enough about me to follow along. It was huge in helping me to perform as well as I did knowing you were out there thinking of me and pulling for me.
I do wish I could have spent more time talking to some of the other runners but it is really a hard thing to do when you have a tough, tight scheduled goal. I had to keep my own pace and it was just very rare that anyone was around that was moving at the same pace or wasn't running when I was walking or vice versa. There were some really cool people out there.
I have to say that I was a bit surprised and almost amazed at how little soreness I had and how well the recovery has gone. I was pretty much walking normally the day after once I got moving other than the very painful blister. By Tuesday that pain was nearly gone and I was walking normally with practically zero soreness I allowed myself another day for the swelling to go down and was running my normal easy pace by Thursday and ran everyday for 8 days straight afterwards with some strong fast miles mixed into some of those.
One thing that took a little longer was getting over the sleepiness ! I was sleeping my normal routine all week afterward but by mid afternoon everyday for the first week I was groggy and all I wanted to do was take a nap which I couldn't do . I was glad that was finally over. And eating ! That was a good thing. All I could think of beside sleeping was eating. Lots ! And I did !
So, is there another 3 day or other multi-day in the future plans? The first few days I was thinking no way of course. My feet hurt and I knew I had put myself through quite a beating. And I had achieved my goal so really what would be the point? Well, there would be none other than if I just ever have the desire to do another one and I can't answer that question now. I don't see anything anytime in the near future but who knows what another year or two or three may bring.
So thanks for reading and your support. Stay tuned and find out what I do have planned coming soon !
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