So where I have been the last 5 weeks?

That is a very good question. I wrote about half of my race report within the 2 weeks following Harbison. That was the decent half, where things weren't great, but had not completely fallen apart. Finally finished it tonight. I've been here, just have not had much time at all to complete it. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when I did, but still.

My "recovery" was surprisingly fairly quick - after taking 4 days off (that worked last time I had ankle/lower leg pain), I still ran 20 miles in the next 4 days (1 day off in there). Thought I'd get it all back and just keep motoring on.
However - my motivation was sapped. I was tired of struggling in these 50k's/ultras. How to move on?
I started doing a circuit training class once a week.
I added back in a 4th day of running (the hills around ICAR).
Added speedwork back in (on the FIRST 3:50 marathon pacing schedule)
All that seemed to do (or maybe it was just the overall timing) was make my legs very heavy and weak. Long runs were Not happening. Cut all of them short since the race to 9-13 miles.
I did my longest run on the trails at Lake Conestee, which was a much better place to run than I expected. Did two full "laps" of practically every trail.
After 4 weeks of struggling (except my speedwork/tempo runs have been decent the last 2 weeks) with weak legs, I decided to take an easy recovery week. No circuit training, no extra hill run - just a speedwork session and a 6mi tempo run.
So far so good...until last night.
Out of the blue, a cramp in my right calf woke me up from a deep sleep. 20 hrs later, I still feel it. Tomorrow is my "long" run, so we'll see how it feels. Heading back to Conestee - it's closer/quicker than Paris Mtn.
Part of my motivation waning has been do to my desire to be at home with the family. My little girl is three now. Enough said.
I also do not have a single race scheduled. During Harbison, I obviously gave up on the Mount Mitchell Challenge. I don't believe in myself to do the long runs just yet needed to train properly for any race of any distance, and I don't have the speed to enjoy a shorter race right now.
So what does that leave?
Doing my FIRST training plan, but without the longer run. I'll stick to 10-13 miles each weekend, but focus on my speedwork and tempo runs. Getting my speed back is my new goal. For what - I am not sure. Keep my mileage around 30/wk though. May have a 1-day relay with Team DNR in April (Southern Blue). Brother wants to do Tough Mudder in SC in October...unsure right now.
We'll just see how the next few weeks go!

2nd Harbison 50k Trail Race Report

Saturday January 7th was the 2nd Harbison 50k Trail Race outside Columbia, SC. Got down there an hour before the 7:30am start and quickly got my bib, technical race shirt and pint glass. Although starting temps were comfortable in the mid 40's, it was expected to reach into the 60's as the day progressed. At least the aid stations were numerous on this double loop course to keep us all hydrated.
3 weeks after my last 50k, I was unsure how I'd do on this one. I was hoping I would not have IT band issues as I had last year (and 3 weeks ago) but a finish time near last year's would be nice.

After the pre-race instructions by the fire, we started on a short gravel road before quickly getting on the single track trails. We were warned that these first miles were easy - but that did not stop many of us from going out a bit too fast - even those of us out here last year. The 5.8mi first section was constantly winding with small ups and downs. I felt decent but wondered if I was going out a bit too fast. Without a GPS (not that I truly trust them anyway), I did not have much of an idea other than comparing my times to last years splits.

Long line of runners early on.

Still a bit crowded on the nice trails

There were some long lines of runners and I stopped to let two sets pass me before the aid station. Made it a bit crowded, but I was in and out in no time, and 1 minute ahead of my 2011 pace.

I knew from last years race that each of the next 3 sections would take about 40 minutes each. It helped knowing where I was on the course, but I realized I wasn't feeling that great and was hoping for the next aid station a little too much. No pains, but just slowly increasing leg fatigue. Course was still enjoyable as people passed me every so often. Played leap-frog with a number of runners as they obviously spent more time at each aid station. Came thru the next aid station (mile 9.4) another 2 minutes under 2012 time. That would not last.
Third section was the most difficult (of course it's all relative) with the "Spiderwoman" section. It's a short (.75mi) section that goes up, loops around, and comes back down. I wasn't pushing thru this section - just getting thru it - and that was fine with me. Next aid at Mile 12.7 and the last section had a nice view overlooking the Broad River and some rocks. Picture time!

It was early here that my legs really began to fail me. Thighs weren't just weak - but getting sore. This just confused me. I know I had run a 50k 3 weeks earlier, and I had a cold the full week before (that kept me home yesterday), but sore?! I was also getting a hot spot on a toe...but held off doing anything about it. I came to the halfway point aid station and in my desire to not stay long, left it without even thinking whether I needed anything out of my drop bag. 50 yards out of there, I realized it - stopped - thought for a moment about dealing with my toe, then continued on.
Halfway in 2:50. Faster than last year, but that last section seemed shorter (don't remember the difference, but it was a good 5 minutes faster).
The second half got worse and more miserable by the mile. Lower/middle back started to hurt and didn't let up. I dealt with my toe at mile 15 or so and as soon as I sat down and bent my leg to remove my shoe - a fierce cramp shot thru my thigh. I have Never had a cramp like that during a race. And at Mile 15? I was in trouble.
No blister on that toe, but I loosened up my sock and that was at least taken care of. That cramp though - man that hurt. (I'd feel the resulting soreness from it for the next 3 weeks).
A few people I knew were behind me would come into the aid stations as I was leaving them and we did that for few a few aid stations until they finally caught me near the end.
My legs were sore enough that I couldn't even run the flats. The soles of my feet began to hurt at mile 21 and didn't let up either. The first half I was doing 10-11 min miles...I came out of the halfway AS doing 14's. Slowed to 16's thru Spiderwoman. The last 4 miles, my lower left leg became so sore I could not run the downhills either and walking was only with a limp. I had been able to at least shuffle thru some downhills prior to that, but those last miles were brutal. A handful of runners passed me the last miles and I could do nothing about it.
I never doubted I would finish - not once. A few people asked how I was and with all my issues were surprised that other runners had dropped out in obvious better shape than me. There was no reason not to finish this. I was in pain, very uncomfortable with my lower back, but I really wanted that "bison 50k" pint glass!

So - finish time of 6:39:57, only about 2 minutes slower than last year (yes, I struggled last year for a while too). I did run in the last 100 yards or so to make it look good.

I was not a happy camper. It was good to see some people though (Jason S, Jason S, Seth, Dan (RD), Viktor, Bo M, Joe P, William S, +) and the volunteers were always SO Helpful! Thank you!! I still ove this course and if I ever get my confidence/motivation/ability back to doing ultras, this will be on my list.

Where do I go from here?
Stay tuned...

Post-race

View of the finish area

Harbison 50k race tomorrow

Wondering what causes people to DNF, or more particularly, not start an event. I understand being completely under trained, work/family priorities, serious sicknesses.
Why do I bring this up today, 12 hours before my 50k?
I have a cold.
Started trying to fight it off Tuesday after my 4.3miles in 24° weather. (Didn't feel too cold)
It was a draw thru Thursday morning. Someone asked what would it take to Not start on Saturday? Not sure, but I was not close to that.
I have only not started 3 or 4 races, I have limited knowledge.
1. My 1st Half ever. Sept 2000, Asheville Half. Was ready enough, but got into some poison ivy that week and was absolutely miserable. Drove up to get my shirt and drove right back.
2. Reedy River Run 10k 2003 or 2004. Think I had a cold and it was a cold rainy morning. May have been injured/under trained?
3,4. Marine Corps Marathons back in 2000 and 2001 or 2002. Completely under trained/injured. Fought injuries for Years until I tried the right shoe (Asics 2120's and such) back in 2007 - after 7 years of running. How ridiculous is that?!

So I got a little worse yesterday - moved more down into my throat/chest, head ached, even had achy teeth. Fever, stuffy/runny nose (and bloody noses), chills, constant tickle int he throat and annoying cough. Have mostly had an appetite though, and have gotten some sleep. The 5hrs Mon night and only 6 Tuesday night probably didn't help. Rested much of today and felt a bit better - but it gets worse as the sun goes down.
No goals for tomorrow. Hope to not have my 1st DNF. Surely this isn't enough to do it. My 50k PR streak may be over.
Good luck to all those out there and to the volunteers - you are appreciated!!

No idea how tomorrow will feel.

2011 Year in Review

So 2011 was a year in which I ran a bit more in mileage, but fewer races and more long distance events. Had a few times where I had to stop running for more than a few days at a time, but I jumped right back into it each time and kept it going. Didn't cross train much - mostly yoga again, but serious injuries stayed at bay. Did have a bad bout of Poison Oak after my May 50k that kept me from running for the longest amount of time since December 2007 - 10 days off - from anything.
Had two runs with my brother as he ran his 1st Marathon in 17+ years and his 1st ultra - both were nice in their own way.
I did run more on trails this year (the 1st half anyway). I also did alot of speedwork in prepping for Chicago. Ran half-marathons on consecutive weekends. Ran a 40miler and a 50k in the same month (doing the 50k second made it seem super-short!!)

Random stats/info:
-Total miles for year: 1507 (+14 miles than 2010)
-Fewest events (9, by design) since I had zero in 2008. 3-half-marathons, 2-full marathons, 3-50k's, and 1-40miler.
-My farthest run/race ever: 40 miles
-Successive PR's in my three 50k's (From 7:23 to 6:38 to 6:34 to 6:19)
-Only 196 days working out (Run, walk, yoga, etc)
-8 weeks of under 20 miles (low of Zero, see Poison Oak above)
-I did have my highest weekly mileage (Mon-Sun) ever in late April = 50.9 (included my 40mi run!)
-I averaged almost 35mi/wk for the 15 weeks leading up to the October Chicago Marathon (so included the whole summer)
-I thought last year's heat was bad - this year was Much worse. How about 78° at 5:30am??
-Ran on all but 4 weekends (1-injury-1st weekend of the year, 1-poison oak, 2-scheduled)
-Changed to Smart Wool socks (for trails) and size 12 shoes.

Races:
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8-Jan-11	Harbison 50k Trail Race	6:38:05
19-Feb-11	14th Myrtle Beach Marathon	4:14:14
1-May-11	2nd Enoree Passage 40 Mile	8:30:28
29-May-11	2nd Long Cane 50k	6:34:30
11-Sep-11	6th Parks Half Marathon	1:51:26
17-Sep-11	12th Asheville Half Marathon	1:48:56
9-Oct-11	34th Chicago Marathon	4:07:53
12-Nov-11	2nd Camp Croft Half Marathon	2:03:21
17-Dec-11	3rd Seashore Nature Trail 50k	6:19:16

2012 Goals:
See upcoming post!

50k - 1 week later

So after looking at my recovery after my last knee issue (1 year ago) - I took off 4 days from running, and by that time - my knee felt fine. Aside from a little muscle soreness in my hips - no other problems. Not one blister or toenail issue - thank you smartwool and size 12's!; I did wear my road shoes for this as my new trail shoes weren't quite broken in and the trail was not technical at all).
I began with a 6 miler outside my work (around ICAR), followed by 4 more there the next day. Worked out for me to run Christmas day after lunch and got a good 10 miler in. Took me 2-1/2 weeks to get that many miles in after Harbison.
I wore my watch (basic Timex Ironman) and my brother's Garmin he's letting me borrow. I wanted to check my route and see if the mileage I have been writing down was accurate (or at least as accurate as the Garmin). Turned out - my distance was exact! Whew - I've always been a little worried that my actual mileage was not true. I adjusted it down once a year or two ago - but now I can worry no more.
Oak Grove Lake: 1 lap = 0.85mi.
One lap + hill loop = 1.15mi

During my nice 10 miler yesterday - I was also thinking about the Mount Mitchell Challenge. I am still undecided...full refund by the end of the year, or only $30 lost if I wait to cancel by the end of Jan. Guess I'll wait to decide. I like the challenge, but want to see how my knee holds up at Harbison. Maybe I'll take a trip up there in Jan to look at the course.
With my motivation back - looks like I'll keep my current schedule for 2012 - running thru early June before taking the summer off from races.

My year in review is coming up soon! Will I break 1500 miles finally? (Not telling!)

3rd Seashore Nature Trail 50k Race Report

The 3rd annual Seashore Nature Trail 50k took place at First Landing State Park just outside Virginia Beach, VA on Saturday December 17th. My brother Pat and I were going to run this together. After running the Chicago Marathon together in October, he thought he'd get an ultra under his belt (in his LAST long race) while the distance was somewhat recent. No long (over 12) training runs for him since, and my running has been up and down the last 3 weeks. Were not really sure how this would go.

Where it began

Before the start

We arrived for packet/chip pickup at 7am for the 8am start and debated about tights or shorts. It was around 40° after a night of rain, with it staying in the 40's for the day, maybe some sun later. Definitely shorts and the weather turned out perfect! About time - but too bad I was not in condition to take advantage. So - chip, bib, bumper sticker, fleece vest all received quickly and we hung out for a bit, gathering our drop bag items. We'd leave this at an Aid Station we'd pass 4 times - at 5, 8, 20 and 23. There were additional aid stations at 12.5, 16 and 27.5.
Planned on stowing my jacket/gloves after 5 miles and that worked out well. (Ended up getting my gloves later on as my hands got cold on and off).

start/finish on road

And we're off (after a few pictures and leaving the drop bag in a truck)! I was not going out too fast, so we settled in as people moved ahead of us. We stayed in the last 30% of the runners all day, which was fine with us. The initial road section was short (maybe a mile) and towards the turn off onto the trail, I realized my hands were free. Huh? I Always run with a water bottle - even when I was running 5k's. I don't believe I just left it at the start!! Wow - what a mistake. I actually debated going back for it, but running 31 (and not 33) was enough for today. With Aid pretty close together, I would be ok, but just not what I'd prefer. We came upon an aid station for later in the race and I asked if anyone was in contact with the start and if they could ask about my bottle. Sure enough - at the 1st AS - it was there. Whew! Felt normal again. Not sure I'd ever run 5 miles without anything in my hands before.

Some long, flat sections

Panoramic of boardwalk/marshland

Few mud areas - easily avoided

So the course was very nice. Early on, I was already thinking this would be a good course/race to run again. Some gentle rollers, some flats (although the long flat straightaways were not my favorite). Pine straw, packed dirt, some boardwalk, thru marshlands and swampy areas - all great to run on/near. There was a "main" trail (Cape Henry) that we ran on, then do a side loop (King Fisher/White Loop), then an out and back on the main trail to a turnaround. We'd return the way we'd come and back near the start, take a different side trail loop (Bald Cypress & Osmanthius). Then do it all over again.

first of a number of Aid Stations

Aid Stations were, as expected, perfect. My typical stop consisted of refilling my water (if needed), maybe sipping some Gatorade, then grabbing M&M's, PB&J triangles, potato chips, pretzels, and small choc. chip cookies. Yum. I'd walk out eating and not start running until my hands/mouth were empty. One different thing I saw - the bag drop area had all the bags spread out on a tarp, so you could stand back and see your bag easily. Very organized.

More leftover water.

So we stayed a pretty slow/steady pace, not really knowing our speed, but assumed it was about 11min/mi based on the approximate AS mileages. Under 6:00 hr pace. Our goal of the day was, if we did not break 6, then to get me another PR (under 6:34). Early miles felt good - best I'd felt in 3 weeks with no leg issues, feeling pretty strong. We ran near some people on and off, but after 8-10 miles, it was mostly just us, even with ~250+ starters.

beautiful moss

Some gentle rollers

Nothing too serious thru the halfway point for either of us. We knew we'd slow down some. Did not expect it to be partially because of me or my right knee. Near the turnaround (~Mile 22), my knee quickly went from being slightly sore, to being very painful to run. Really, the only other time this had bothered me was almost a year ago around Mile 21 of the Harbison 50k. Why??? (Cold/cooler weather + slow running?) Until the finish, I could not run more than 100-200 yards of flat (could run downhill fine and felt nothing when I walked; we were walking the gentle uphills at this point). So strange. At this point, we were running for just over 4 hours, so we were still looking good for beating my previous best. 6 hrs was definitely out. Pretty much decided that my Mount Mitchell Challenge attempt was off (for Feb - more on that in another post)

Little bit of boardwalk

So the last 9 miles was run until it made me cringe, walk (where the pain disappeared instantly), then run again on any downhill or where I thought I could try it again. Our splits (according to my brother's Garmin after the fact) were mostly under 12 min/mi until mile 20 or so, then it became 13:15's or so. Once we came out of the last side trail loop, we knew we had a mile or so left, mostly on pavement. I tried running it in, but just couldn't - two short walk breaks, then I was ok and we ran to the finish side by side - finish time: 6:19:16!

The Goal

Finishers!

Picked up our finisher's medal (nothing special), paperweight (solid!) and a nice finisher's hat. Grabbed a few snacks, took a few photos, and we headed back home. Very happy to have done this with my brother - he did great. I can see doing this one again (Alone - as I said before - my brother is DONE with long runs!) if we come up for a visit in mid-December. I would recommend it to anyone.
Thank you to the Race Director (very detailed website/emails) and all the volunteers!!

Results

2011 Course

Photos

Catching up

Have been too busy to post - so here is a quick summary of the last month.
Seashore 50k this Saturday. Not ready.
More ready than my brother.
Barely.
Last weekend's long run: 8.5 and heavy legs from the start.
Weekend before that: 14 or so. Not so great.
Before that I actually had a good 20 miler on trails (got me 42 miles for that week!)
Not the best lead-up to a race, especially not an ultra.

Two treadmill runs last week in El Paso (work trip) - hated to do it, but the only option. Been what, a year??

Not making any bets on time for this race. Expect breaking 6 is out for Harbison...only 3 weeks between these. Oh well.

Motivation is low these days. May take another break from distances...we'll see. Just need more sleep (nightly).
Obviously too busy to write on my blog...sorry (if anyone is still out there)