Holiday Lake!

Yesterday was the 17th running of the Holiday 50k(++) near Appomattox, Virginia.  It's  fun race in its own right, and it's pretty fast; although it is a bit flat for my taste.  The two loops make for interesting play as you can try to negative split if you'd like.  I can't really write an exciting report of the race since the terrain is a bit uninspiring compared to a mountain race, and possibly since it's my second time at the race, but here you go.


I sort of tapered for the week leading up to the race in that I skipped my long run last weekend, and then got miserably sick on Sunday, preventing me from running much the past week even if I'd wanted to.   Toeing the line Saturday, I felt itching to run, but I wasn't really sure how I planned to run the race.  I got hurt last year after Holiday Lake and had to pull out of Promise Land in April, so I didn't want that to happen.  A nagging IT band the days leading up to the race had me planning a conservative race, and that's what I did, if only just to have fun.  My IT band was sore leading up to Horton's sound-off at the start, but after that I haven't felt it again. It's funny how those things work.  I picked a couple of the faster ladies who was running a nice pace and followed in behind her for a while, just cruising along.  After a few miles, they took off for faster times and I just kept hanging out.  After running with a Liberty student I've run with before (nicknamed Idiot...I wish I knew his real name), he told me he was aiming for sub-5.   Sub-5 is a nice little benchmark and it would be a PR for me so I decided then it would be nice fitness test to see if I could run comfortably all day and still hit that...and that's exactly what I did!

I coasted through the halfway point not paying any attention to the time and after grabbing a bag of energy chews (Pink Lemonade Honey Stinger are delicious!) from my bag, I headed onward.  After a while, a lot of people who had passed me early in the race started coming back as I just held my comfortable cadence, hiking the couple super steep hills and grinding out the rest of them.

There's long section of soft doubletrack that follows some powerlines at around Mile 22-24, and somewhere in there, the unexpected heat of the day and my adjusted stride from my still healing right ankle cause my right hamstring to grab.  Another awkward stride change to keep the leg straighter (I'm glad HL isn't technical!) and I was still trucking along.  At the next aid station I just grabbed salt off a plate and ate it,  which helped.  The two super cold stream crossings locked it up again though, so I grabbed more salt at the last aid station before moving on.

I felt a bit low with 3ish miles left (no calories for a while) and a nice Australian man gave me a gel that I sucked down and started picking up the pace some; he followed suit.  Somewhere around here, local runner/friend Rachel Corrigan passed me on her way to finishing 11th overall. She had a bit of a breakthrough race yesterday! The Australian and I were moving along nicely with like a mile left and he mentioned we were starting to cut the 5-hour mark a little close, so when we hit the road, I leaned into it and just let gravity take me down all the way to the finish.  I just squeaked by too.

So, I finished the first race of the Beast Series (which I'm leaning toward over the LUS) still feeling pretty fresh.  Today, I was a little stiff, but other than a nagging right knee from the awkward form I had for a while, I don't feel any worse for wear.  Next up is the Gahuti Ring-of-power challenge on March 3 in Georgia!

2012 Running plans and fun.

I think I've made a few 2012-themed posts already, but I've just not really been sure what I wanted out of the year.  With Holiday Lake a week away though and this head cold keeping me indoors, I thought I'd make a post.

I'm doing a two week taper for Holiday Lake, sort of out of necessity. I didn't take as much time off after Hellgate as I'd planned (meaning only 4 days), and I have a tendency to run pretty high mileage during the winter.  The amount of trails near my home and the free time of having no classes makes me head out the door for a lot of running.  So by the time last week was ending, although I had put in a recovery week in the middle of January, my body was asking for some leisure time.  Thankfully Holiday Lake was coming up so I just pushed through a hard week before beginning a real two week taper.  I'm taking Holiday Lake to be a fitness test for the start of the new year.  I'd like to see where I am compared to last year, so all I really want to do is PR.  I'm planning to peak for Promised Land and then the Eastern Divide 50k in June to have good runs at those--the latter will most definitely be a big PR.

Racing aside, I want to just run more this year.  I've been discovering a lot of new trail in the area and I want to just go run. Having only 4 days of classes this semester will let me get out for some super long weekends too.  I'm planning to head down to Umstead in March to crew/pace Jennifer as she runs her first 100.  That will be a great experience, and I'm excited to be able to help her get to the finish line however I can.  She's been a great encouragement to me.

My real goal for the year is finishing Grindstone in October, and beyond that, trying to finish the Beast Series.  If I get through GS, there's no reason not to toe the line at Masochist and try to finish it all.  That all depends on how much I get to run this summer between classes and working though.

Workouts.

This past Saturday I did specific two-a-day workout that I read about on a blog, and I think I'll start incorporating them more regularly.  In the morning, do a "long" run of 15-20 miles and a comfortable pace, then that night do a hard foot turnover workout (I did an 8 mile tempo). It gives you pretty good mileage on the day and trains your body to run fast when tired.  I'm not going to replace long run days with these, but I think I'll do them during the week every couple weeks.  The evening workout can be hellish, so they won't become frequent.

I feel really good about wear my fitness is right now. My legs are absorbing whatever I throw at them, and while I'm only running ~70-76 mpw right now compared to the 85 I was running this fall, I feel strong and faster.  I'm not slacking off so much as just focusing more since I'm not running anything longer than a 50k until August. 

This weekend I'm going out with Rudy from the VT Tri team and whoever else might decide to tag along to do back-to-back long runs.  The Saturday run will be an AT route I've wanted to do for a while but haven't since it requires stashing a car.  20 miles of singletrack with ~5500 feet of elevation gain, which is the most you can really get here without just doing hill repeats or heading north of Roanoke.  

2011/2012

2011 was the best year of running I had, even though my two big races went abysmally.  This fall especially, I had the best training cycle ever, with routine quality workouts instead of ust running every day.

Looking forward to 2012, I'm doing the LUS (Lynchburg Ultra Series), as well as a the Gahuti Ring Of Power down in Georgia and the Cheat Mountain 50 miler in August.  If I bounce back quickly from the CM50 then I'm going to run the Grindstone 100 in October and try to finish the Beast Series.

It'll be a fun year though, that's for sure.

Revised 2012

After disappointment and frustration at both Leadville and Hellgate the second half of this year, I've decided to revise my thoughts for 2012 and focus my races a bit more.  Hellgate was frustrating, but I fought it out as long as I could, and of my 3 DNF's in ultras, it's the one where I know I made the right decision.  I had only managed to eat a couple handfuls of pretzel sticks from mile ~15 through 44 (where I dropped) and the course is too demanding to get that depleted.  There are some lengthy rock fields and technical descents in the 8.6-mile stretch into Bearwallow Gap, and they just destroyed me.  Regardless, I loved every bit of Hellgate I ran, even the parts I hated, and I will be back.

So anyway,  I had planned to give 100 miles another crack in 2012, but I've re-evaluated, and I want to get better at shorter distances before I give that arduous task another go.  I also want to give myself more quality, focused workouts this year and try to get faster.  For now at least, this is what I'm thinking for 2012:

Spring:
Holiday Lake 50k++
Terrapin Mountain 50k
Promised Land 50k
Mt. Washington Road Race (Something pretty different, but I do enjoy climbing)
The Eastern Divide Ultra 50k (new race, 30 minutes from my apartment, looks to be a fast course)


After this, I'm (almost) definitely signing up for Mountain Masochist to round out the LUS, and if I can do the right workouts (if I even want to) this summer, I might go to Grindstone and try at just finishing, but probably not.
If I don't then my fall will be some combination of this:
IMTR 50 Miler
Cheat Mtn 50 Miler
Mountain Masochist 50 Miler
Hellgate 100k+

I'm not going to double MMTR and Hellgate, so which I decide to race will really depend on my training through the summer and autumn.  Whichever I choose, I want to be fully prepared.


My thought for not doing anything longer until the Fall is that I can do a natural progression of mileage, focusing on some speed this spring and then making it longer as I move forward into the Fall.  I've got plenty of base from this Fall, so hopefully I can bounce back quickly.  I'm also only taking 15 (fairly easy) credit hours this Spring thanks to abysmal course placement by the Chemistry Department limiting my schedule, so I'll have time to do more focus workouts and actually do stretching and core work and all that good stuff.

Fall running and 2012 racing

After Leadville I had a few weeks of great running.  Coming from the mountains of Colorado, everything in Blacksburg just felt easier, so after my week off, I ran 3 straight weeks of probably 90 (fast for me) miles per week.  Then I just didn't really feel much like running, at least daily, so I ran maybe 50-65 mpw, but over the course of 3-4 days.  After I ran 3 Ridges + Priest (24ish miles with 8k ft vert/8k ft descent) with the CAT people and Jenny though, I got the spark back and started running again regularly.  Now, I'm starting to peak for the Hellgate 100k next month, and I feel in great shape.  I'm on my 3rd straight week of at least 1 long run for the week.  I like to get out for 16-18 miles on Tuesdays if I can, but those are touch-and-go.  Anyway,  I finished a 24 mile 3:30 run up on Ft. Lewis Mountain This is my new favorite area to run near school. It's like 30 minutes away, but there's a lot of winding single track and service road you can string together for any length of run.

Anyway,  I feel pretty good, and the miles are coming easily, so I'm excited for Hellgate.  It will be my first 100k; I love running in the cold and running at night, so it'll be a treat--a horribly masochistic treat.

Onward.

I need to get the 100 mile monkey off my back, so Old Dominion is going to be my first peak race of the year...all the way in June.  I would also like a 50 mile PR, since my current (10 hours) is pretty bad, and I know I can knock a couple hours off that, so Bull Run Run 50 or the Mississippi 50 is on the list for Spring.  It'll be an interesting year.

January: one of 3 50k's.
March 3: Mississippi 50 Mile Run  OR
April 12: Bull Run Run 50 Mile

April 12-14: 24 Hour run for cancer OR
June 2: Old Dominion 100

August 24-25: Cheat Mountain 50 Mile
September 1: Iron Mountain Trail Run 50 Mile
~October 4: Grindstone 100

That's a lot of racing; especially if I get the urge to do a marathon or retry Terrapin Mountain, but I'm looking forward to it.

Leadville: DNF

The week before any race I normally feel nervous.   I feel my throat down in my gut and my extremities tingle. Leadville didn’t fall into this rule.  I moved into my apartment in Boulder, CO in late May with the sole objective to run.  I went out for 3-hour jaunts in the mountains a few times a week and had the best training block I’ve ever had.  Three weeks before Leadville I went out for my final long run planning to do the Boulder Skyline that traverses Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Mt. Sanitas, and Flagstaff if I recall.  During this run I ran out of water very early and it took me several days to feel recovered, but I still felt tired on most of my runs for another week.  I finally came around about 10 days before Leadville since I’d been tapering and I started feeling all my strength come back.

So when I toed the line at 4am last Saturday, I wasn’t nervous.  I felt ready.  I started near the front because I don’t like doing the shuffle across the start line of large races that is standard for the middle of the pack onward. Once everything opened up a few hundred yards later I settled into what felt to be a nice slow cruise along the first road miles.  I know well that I have a problem with starting races too fast, so I made sure I stayed within myself.  I kept pulling back to keep myself bored (I kept myself in my head to know I wouldn’t pull away).   I hit the tabor boat ramp at mile 6 in what felt pretty slow and I maintained that pace through May Queen.   I felt heavy this entire section and I figured it was just nature calling.

At May Queen my dad informed me that I came through at 2:05—10 minutes faster than what I’d planned.  Two Gu chomps packs and a refill on my Nathan bladder and I was off to Fish Hatchery.  I hiked a good portion of the climb up Sugarloaf just to slow down some and then held myself back down powerline.  Through this point in the day I’d felt pretty bad and had a growing ball in my bowels that I was hoping could be taken care of soon and I would feel better.  That never happened.  I felt decent on the road to fish hatchery except for that and some growing blisters form my Hoka OneOnes.  I came through Fish Hatchery at 4:10, 20 minutes faster than I’d planned but I still felt like I was holding back just fine.  I switched into my Saucony Peregrines, put on some sunscreen and swapped my Nathan pack for a handheld for the upcoming 3-4 mile stretch to Timberline.  On this road my right quad started hurting. Not cramping, not a sore feeling, but just hurting.  I felt it on every step until I had to resort to walking until we got onto a dirt road and even then my stride was more of a lope dragging my right leg behind.  I took a few minutes at Timberline to try to massage it out and then I headed on to Twin lakes.  The stretch to Halfmoon II or whatever they call it now was uneventful.  I felt bad but I ran it.  At that aid station I sat and massaged my quad while eating some watermelon and ramen.  I was feeling great again except for my quad and when I headed out.  I walked almost all of the next 10 miles to Twin Lakes.  I ended up getting into Twin Lakes pretty close to cut-off and made the decision to quit.  It might have been possible that I’d have turned things around, but most likely not and at my current rate I wouldn’t have even made it to Winfield by cut-off.  Even if I did manage to pick things back up, I didn’t go to Leadville to stagger in at 29:50 and so I made the decision drop.

The next day I couldn’t bend my right knee and that reassured me that I’d made the appropriate decision.  I went for a 30-minute jog today and felt okay, except my right quad still felt raw.  In another week I should be back to some decent semblance of training.