Finished up 30 miles today (most of it with Brian, which provided a nice chance to catch up and get in some quality social time) . . . ran about 17/18 miles yesterday with a bit more vertical stress . . . and my legs are excited for taper time. I plan to taper for the next two weeks by dropping down to recovery mileage next week (about 60 miles) and then a pretty standard race week countdown -- like 6-5-4 or 5-4-3 . . . I have mentioned this before, but tapering is a stress for me; however, especially coming off of Squaw Peak and then running pretty solid miles all week this week, I know it is time to recuperate before heading to South Dakota.
Anyhow, the main thing I was trying to watch and/or keep track of this week was how well my legs would bounce back from SP50 and whether or not I could pull off a full week of training after running a bit harder than I planned last weekend . . . seems to have gone relatively well. I have had some general exhaustion all week, but was able to not only put in decent mileage but also got some good climbing in yesterday and did a modified tempo workout earlier in the week . . . so hopefully my body will use the next couple of weeks to recharge and my mind will keep from obsessing about racing and just enjoy having a bit of a break before being put to the test once again.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Training Race?! or Race?!
Squaw Peak 50 Race Report . . . my intentions this past Saturday were to take it easy -- perhaps run a minute/mile or so off race pace and simply get some solid time on trail leading up to the Black Hills 100 which is in 3 weeks . . . well things went off plan somewhere on the way to Windy Pass . . .
The race started out fairly conservative for me as I found myself stuck behind a group moving up the climb to Hope Campground that were moving a little slower than I would've preferred be it training or racing. However, I remained patient and simply enjoyed the fact that I wasn't having to work too hard. It was a wonderful moment of single track imposed laziness. Skipping the first aid station, and passing this group without expending any extra energy, I was able to create a little space for myself and could start climbing at my own pace alternating between hiking and slow jogging on the way to the first real summit/pass. The first 7 or 8 miles of Squaw Peak include some of my favorite views anywhere in Utah -- the early morning light, the snowcapped mountains, the green valleys -- and I was able to soak it all in while letting my body slowly warm up. I had run fairly hard over the past few days and it was taking my legs a while to loosen up. And despite the slow pace, I wasn't necessarily in a place of joy early on in the race. In fact, I was actually starting to question my decision to train straight through this race and my legs kept asking me why in the world I had run alternating tempo miles on Wednesday night . . .
During the long descent toward Hobble Creek (once I worked through some GI issues) things started to loosen up and I kept surprising myself by recognizing a lot of familiar faces at aid stations -- it seemed like I would get to the aid stations just as people I expected to be further ahead of me at this point were just heading out of the stations -- guessing about a minute or two ahead of me. Anyhow, I told myself to be patient and simply enjoy the day in the mountains without getting caught up in the notion of racing (at least not this early -- Hobble Creek aid is now only about mile 20 so it was still early). By the time I got off the couple of miles of oven-baked pavement in hobble creek, I knew that once again a "training race" was turning into a race.
I was able to run with B.J. and John for a good chunk of the section leading to Little Valley, which I am certain had to be driving the two of them nuts since I have a tendency to alternate between jogging and walking on climbs more than most people which creates kind of a yo-yo pace. And it was especially necessary for me to jog the mellower sections of each climb because B.J. hikes like a beast and trying to hike that pace for too long would simply have destroyed me. Anyhow it was good to see both of them (last year we had chased one another around the course for a good 10-15 miles) and get a solid bit of social running time in during the middle of the race. Some pretty upbeat group running left me feeling relatively fresh as we reached the beginning of the Windy Pass climb where I accidentally pulled away from the pace everyone else was running. My first pseudo realization of how my race was going in terms of time came part way down the long (7 mile) descent from Windy when somebody told me the clock time -- ironically this made me run faster, because I couldn't figure out the math to make sure I was sub-10 and figured it best to just keep moving.
In either case -- this has definitely become one of those rambles -- I had a really good race (by my standards) and can't really understand why . . . shit, in complete avoidance of any kind of taper, I had actually run 10 miles in the heat of Friday afternoon finishing my run about 12 hours before Squaw Peak would kick off early Saturday morning. I do think that going into the race with no self imposed pressure helped me simply listen to my body and keep the pace totally sane . . . I never really felt taxed until I hit the last couple of miles and even felt like I was moving a little too slow in a couple of earlier sections. Part of it was simply having one of those days where everything worked, but I think a lot of it had to do with racing by not racing. I ate well, drank well, increased my electrolyte intake when it seemed necessary, and kept things pretty well balanced throughout the run. It would be great, if I could maintain the same level of common sense and luck while running in the Black Hills later this month.
9 hours 33 minutes for 6th place . . . this is a course PR by roughly a half hour and my best finish place wise by a couple of spots . . . it helped not getting lost (minus one little goof up on Windy - damn elk trails) and having the trail be almost entirely snow free this year. . . it was also my 3rd Top Ten finish at Squaw and continues a pretty nice streak of finishing in the Top Ten at the 50 mile distance . . . it helps of course to find races with only about 11 or 12 runners present . . .
The race started out fairly conservative for me as I found myself stuck behind a group moving up the climb to Hope Campground that were moving a little slower than I would've preferred be it training or racing. However, I remained patient and simply enjoyed the fact that I wasn't having to work too hard. It was a wonderful moment of single track imposed laziness. Skipping the first aid station, and passing this group without expending any extra energy, I was able to create a little space for myself and could start climbing at my own pace alternating between hiking and slow jogging on the way to the first real summit/pass. The first 7 or 8 miles of Squaw Peak include some of my favorite views anywhere in Utah -- the early morning light, the snowcapped mountains, the green valleys -- and I was able to soak it all in while letting my body slowly warm up. I had run fairly hard over the past few days and it was taking my legs a while to loosen up. And despite the slow pace, I wasn't necessarily in a place of joy early on in the race. In fact, I was actually starting to question my decision to train straight through this race and my legs kept asking me why in the world I had run alternating tempo miles on Wednesday night . . .
During the long descent toward Hobble Creek (once I worked through some GI issues) things started to loosen up and I kept surprising myself by recognizing a lot of familiar faces at aid stations -- it seemed like I would get to the aid stations just as people I expected to be further ahead of me at this point were just heading out of the stations -- guessing about a minute or two ahead of me. Anyhow, I told myself to be patient and simply enjoy the day in the mountains without getting caught up in the notion of racing (at least not this early -- Hobble Creek aid is now only about mile 20 so it was still early). By the time I got off the couple of miles of oven-baked pavement in hobble creek, I knew that once again a "training race" was turning into a race.
I was able to run with B.J. and John for a good chunk of the section leading to Little Valley, which I am certain had to be driving the two of them nuts since I have a tendency to alternate between jogging and walking on climbs more than most people which creates kind of a yo-yo pace. And it was especially necessary for me to jog the mellower sections of each climb because B.J. hikes like a beast and trying to hike that pace for too long would simply have destroyed me. Anyhow it was good to see both of them (last year we had chased one another around the course for a good 10-15 miles) and get a solid bit of social running time in during the middle of the race. Some pretty upbeat group running left me feeling relatively fresh as we reached the beginning of the Windy Pass climb where I accidentally pulled away from the pace everyone else was running. My first pseudo realization of how my race was going in terms of time came part way down the long (7 mile) descent from Windy when somebody told me the clock time -- ironically this made me run faster, because I couldn't figure out the math to make sure I was sub-10 and figured it best to just keep moving.
In either case -- this has definitely become one of those rambles -- I had a really good race (by my standards) and can't really understand why . . . shit, in complete avoidance of any kind of taper, I had actually run 10 miles in the heat of Friday afternoon finishing my run about 12 hours before Squaw Peak would kick off early Saturday morning. I do think that going into the race with no self imposed pressure helped me simply listen to my body and keep the pace totally sane . . . I never really felt taxed until I hit the last couple of miles and even felt like I was moving a little too slow in a couple of earlier sections. Part of it was simply having one of those days where everything worked, but I think a lot of it had to do with racing by not racing. I ate well, drank well, increased my electrolyte intake when it seemed necessary, and kept things pretty well balanced throughout the run. It would be great, if I could maintain the same level of common sense and luck while running in the Black Hills later this month.
9 hours 33 minutes for 6th place . . . this is a course PR by roughly a half hour and my best finish place wise by a couple of spots . . . it helped not getting lost (minus one little goof up on Windy - damn elk trails) and having the trail be almost entirely snow free this year. . . it was also my 3rd Top Ten finish at Squaw and continues a pretty nice streak of finishing in the Top Ten at the 50 mile distance . . . it helps of course to find races with only about 11 or 12 runners present . . .
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Peak Training
80 miles and somewhere between 14,000 and 16,000 vertical in 4 days . . . good times. Ironically today's relatively mellow run of 7 miles and 1,600 vertical was one of the most enjoyable runs of the cycle and recent memory. There was something that simply felt natural about today's run -- little/nothing in the way of thinking about pacing, drinking, eating, or route finding. I was simply running. The foothills were beautiful. Clouds, wind, rain in the distance, and everything turned ever green . . . just one of those days when everything came together despite the recent miles and tired legs. As I crested the ridge in City Creek, it felt like my body/mind forgot all the running of the past few days and simply wanted to be free and move without thought.
In other news, I am nervous about the BH100. After last fall's surrender at Bear, I am nervous about how my mind/body will react when the push truly gets to shove -- this is probably in reality why I have suddenly started writing again after a rather long hiatus (to clear my head). There is something amazing about the connection between training and racing. There is also something amazing about what seems to be the disconnect between the two. Recently, I have been looking back at running logs from the past couple years in an attempt to find clues pointing to good/bad race efforts. Not sure there is much rhyme/reason. Signs of burnout? Signs of overtraining? Signs of undertraining? Reading it all in hindsight, the signs are obvious. But in reality, I am not sure how the info would all read if the results had been different. I was surprised to see that before both Wasatch a couple-three years ago (caused because of injury) and Bear last year (caused by burnout?) there were unusual drops in my training followed by and/or connected to random periods of overly intense training. In contrast, my more typical training follows a fairly gradual increase in terms of overall mileage (with mini-recoveries thrown in from time to time) until reaching peak training about 3 weeks before the race followed by a taper that goes 80, 60, race week. Shocker: it seems that consistency might be the closest thing to a key for me.
In other news, I am nervous about the BH100. After last fall's surrender at Bear, I am nervous about how my mind/body will react when the push truly gets to shove -- this is probably in reality why I have suddenly started writing again after a rather long hiatus (to clear my head). There is something amazing about the connection between training and racing. There is also something amazing about what seems to be the disconnect between the two. Recently, I have been looking back at running logs from the past couple years in an attempt to find clues pointing to good/bad race efforts. Not sure there is much rhyme/reason. Signs of burnout? Signs of overtraining? Signs of undertraining? Reading it all in hindsight, the signs are obvious. But in reality, I am not sure how the info would all read if the results had been different. I was surprised to see that before both Wasatch a couple-three years ago (caused because of injury) and Bear last year (caused by burnout?) there were unusual drops in my training followed by and/or connected to random periods of overly intense training. In contrast, my more typical training follows a fairly gradual increase in terms of overall mileage (with mini-recoveries thrown in from time to time) until reaching peak training about 3 weeks before the race followed by a taper that goes 80, 60, race week. Shocker: it seems that consistency might be the closest thing to a key for me.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
hello?!
If you forget your password, it has obviously been a while since you wrote anything . . .
Training is in full swing for the Black Hills 100 coming up towards the end of June. Today I ran around 3500 vertical in about 17 miles as a kinda BH100 simulation. My thinking goes and/or went as such -- I need to get used to quick bursts of up-down activity and the course I ran today simulated this idea by including about 9 climbs and descents in a rather short amount of running (each climb consisted of roughly 300 to 400 vertical feet and was followed by a similar descent). Although the BH100 doesn't look massive in terms of big time climbs, the elevations seems to be ever-changing and I felt the need to at least somewhat mimic that idea today . . . in terms of getting ready for the Black Hills, too much of my everyday running probably consists of big climbs and/or descents that come natural to the terrain around here.
Training is in full swing for the Black Hills 100 coming up towards the end of June. Today I ran around 3500 vertical in about 17 miles as a kinda BH100 simulation. My thinking goes and/or went as such -- I need to get used to quick bursts of up-down activity and the course I ran today simulated this idea by including about 9 climbs and descents in a rather short amount of running (each climb consisted of roughly 300 to 400 vertical feet and was followed by a similar descent). Although the BH100 doesn't look massive in terms of big time climbs, the elevations seems to be ever-changing and I felt the need to at least somewhat mimic that idea today . . . in terms of getting ready for the Black Hills, too much of my everyday running probably consists of big climbs and/or descents that come natural to the terrain around here.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Coyote Call
Great foothill run on shoreline trail -- basically Hogle to City Creek and back with a couple of zig-zags thrown in for good measure. Admittedly I cheated today by sleeping in and avoiding any "chance" to break trail after the first (maybe second if you stretch the definition a bit) storm of the season . . .
I didn't hit the trails until this afternoon and figured my only real goal was to stay relatively consistent on the snow and ice . . . good times. Thanks to the number of people who spent the early hours doing all the hard work, the running ended up being quicker/easier than I expected with the trail being packed almost the entire way.
Highlights: amazing sunset and cool coyote moment.
As I turned on my headlamp -- just before the descent into dry fork -- a couple of coyote howls echoed from the hills surrounding and the necessity of returning home sent me running toward them with a bit of extra adrenaline -- a better kick that the mocha clifshot I had saved for the last few miles. The next mile and/or mile-and-a-half were an awesome combo of music playing on my ipod (deak kennedy's, velvet underground, and the dead came in succesion), coyote howls, a group of deer rushing out of the way, a singular star, and more typical nighttime views of my headlamp reflecting off the snow. Good times.
I felt like this was the first run that really tested me in terms of distance and effort over a sustained period since Bear . . . and I have been happy to see how quickly I have recovered since getting home. A good start to the training ahead . . .
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
January
I have been digging the running as of late . . . I am still throwing down relatively light mileage (47 last week, with a goal of about 50 this week) . . . but the time on trails has felt good. It may all be an illusion, but it seems like the average pace of my runs lately has been fairly strong . . .
The past couple of weeks has been filled with some of the best winter running I can remember since moving back to Salt Lake almost a decade ago. The trails are fairly dry and generally pretty fast for this time of year, which has meant I have been able to do a decent amount of climbing and at least some of it at a strong-consistent pace. In addition, despite the lack of storms moving through the area, the inversion has been survivable (typically there has been enough wind to clean things out every few days and although there has been some pollution there have been almost no red burn days --- YEAH!).
Two of the best runs since the New Year in terms of running at a good-solid pace include a PR on the "mountain lion" run that connects the steepest route up Mt. Van Cott with some Red Butte trails and a new Red Butte-Shoreline loop that I am using as a time trail/tempo course for the next few months in preparation for running in the Black Hills. The loop is right around 6 miles and has about 1000 feet of vertical which is relatively close to the vertical-ratio listed for the Black Hills race. Both of these runs gave me a chance to push the pace over a middle distance . . . In more traditional training, I ended up running through the Buffalo of Antelope Island the other day -- 16 miles with no food or water -- and ran about 15 miles in one of the few storms of the season along the shoreline trails with what turned into a group of about 6 runners . . .
The one thing missing from my training so far this season is long runs. I still haven't gone much beyond 20 miles and am trying to decide how long I can continue putting in mostly shorter runs . . .
This has been a ramble of thoughts, but it's one of those nights where I simply needed to push out some ideas/memories about the past couple of weeks. My general feeling is that the year has started off well -- knock on wood.
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