Light From Self-Luminous Tablet Computers Can Affect Evening Melatonin, Delaying Sleep

E-Readers Push Sleep Back by as much as 90 minutes

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Reference Links:

http://www.Mobilitywod.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/TREtherunexperience

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In this episode I talk about changing the mindset to accept the change of plans and make the best of it, along with how I fueled during activity each day.

 https://anchor.fm/lilestrials/episodes/Completing-the-Oregon-PCT-Recap---part-1-e1r9oh

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We talk about what it is like to be on different paths in the same household and how it came together for each of us to keep working towards our goals.  Spoiler Alert, she's not a runner. 

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Show Notes
Human Performance Podcast - zachbitter.com/hpo-podcast/
Dr Jeff Volek - www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/jeff-steve/

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Sleep and Injury prevention

Sleep and Athletic Performance

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Show Notes:

What is MAF? 

A Case for Base Training.  Though this article doesn't care as much for MAF

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Show Notes:

Cook Books

*none of the links below are referral links, I don't make money off of this*

• Against All Grains

• Butter And Bacon 

• The Wicked Good Ketogenic Diet Cookbook

Write here…

Show Notes

• Dr. Cate's List of Good Fats
• Dr Cate on the Keto BluePrint Podcast - Part 1
• Dr Cate on the Keto BluePrint Podcast - Part 2
• Jeff Browning on Primal Endurance

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I take a little bit to talk about why I chose a new high fat low carb diet and some really unexpected side effects.

Show Notes:

The Big Fat Surprise - Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

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My first episode is embedded below and you can listen to that right here.  You can also subscribe in your favorite podcasting software like;

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I'll be using the blog here as a place to share any notes or references per episode, just hit the podcast link in the navigation above.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions in the comments section.  Thank for listening !!

This was my second time running Rio Del Lago 100.  Both times it was a bit of an addition to the race schedule later in the year vs a planned race from the beginning.  The first time we had just moved to Oregon after a hectic year of selling our home and everything that comes from getting settled into a new place.  Rio was late in the year and about an 8 hour drive away so I threw in last minute.  It was a less than stellar race but I kept my 100 mile race a year streak going.

This time was similar.  After a DNF at Big Horn 100 I wanted to get in 100 to land my 10th completed 100 and keep the streak rolling.  After analyzing what 100 mile races were left in the season, which qualified for a WS ticket, and was feasible with work and life I chose to go back to Rio.  Luckily, my buddies Jordan and Steven said they'd crew and pace for me again so we hopped in the truck and headed south for Folsom, CA.

The course was different in this 2017 iteration. These first 20 miles were a loop that came back to the start/finish.  This section was all paved save for a few short stints of single track and mostly flat.  I undoubtedly went out too hard for a 100.  "This pace feels easy" was the wrong thing to tell myself regardless of terrain.  I jumped into that sugar burning zone too soon and would come to regret it later.

The next 20 or so miles hopped on some jeep type roads, single track, and a few hilly paved sections.  There were various places along the course with inconsistent marking that were a problem for me throughout the day.  Apparently there was some course vandalism as well.  Multiple times I would see a bunch of markers then nothing for a long stretch.  I'd turn around to see where I may have messed up only to find another runner asking the same question.  We'd figure it out and get to the next place.  Overall this inconsistent flagging didn't have that big of an impact on my time, it was just frustrating to keep encountering almost the entire race.

A not frustrating part of the course was how easy crew access was.  There were huge parking lots right off the road with close access to a town.  This made for straightforward crewing and access which is nice because it rained all day.  Crewing in less than ideal weather is not fun so making the logistics a easier and simple makes the day a little easier for those waiting around.  On top of that the aid stations were great.  Very helpful, fun, and loaded with food options.

The course shares a few spots with the Western States 100 but stays out of the big stuff.  There is only about 10k feet of gain for this whole thing.  It comes at you weird though.  The front 20 are pretty flat. The next 25 or so rolls with a pop here and there. The middle 30 have most of the meat.  The last 25 roll as well.  That faster running early along with a lack of taking care of myself properly hit me pretty hard around the 100k mark and I never really got it back.  There was a whole lot of walking on the back half that probably could have been avoided with a little more care up front.

The last 25 were a mix of low energy and some puking here and there.  Looking back, I really let my electrolytes get low and just couldn't really get it back together.  Regardless, I finished 100 miler number 10 in 21:33.  I checked a lot of the "standard issues 100 miler".  I ran too fast, I got turned around a few times, it rained all day, vomiting, I walked way more than I wanted, I recieved great help from friends getting me through it.  Looking forward to #11.

December marked a laid back month for fitness with lots of work travel.  I'm working on mobility everyday to clean up some weaknesses and just general bad habits I have formed from not taking care of these things in the past.  Running started ramping up just enough toward month's end to let me know where I am and that I am ready to start getting back to a more consistent weekly mileage. 

Below are some pictures from a few runs in December.

Be Merry, Group Run

Dec 11 - North Portland Roads and Trails

- Knock out another 100 miler to keep my streak at least one 100 every year going.

- Get in under 20 hours

- Enjoy this cool race with great scenery supported by my community of friends

The gun went off at 8 and myself and 100 plus crew of like minded folks started ready to take on the day and everything that was thrown at us.  I settled into a sustainable pace and let 20 plus people pass me in the first few miles.  I was probably a bit fast too but if there is one thing I have learned over the years doing these is that these events are so long that, within reason, you almost can't go slow enough. 

I ran with a few folks early on in the first 26 or so making sure not to take on anyone else's pace and just keep doing my thing.  I played the course and ran the flats and downs and power walked the hills.  There was not a ton of climb on this course so I really made sure to pay attention to my perceived effort on even small climbs and if it felt like my HR was getting high I backed off and let things calm down.

I had some great friends helping me along the way too that I always looked forward to seeing as the day went on.  Brian Donnelly crewed me early then paced and crewed me later.  I didn't give him a ton of instructions because I hate to be a pain in the ass with tons of specific requests.  It's enough to dedicate a weekend to helping someone run one of these things, it's another to stress them out with all these demands so I just like to keep it laid back.  Again, there is a ton of time out here and I'd rather take an extra minute and keep it relaxed then create a feeling of panic every time I see these people.  With that said he was on point. He gave me full bottles of Tailwind and had a few solid food snacks ready when I saw him at crew stops.  No wasted time or effort.  It was about as efficient I could have hoped.

My buddy Jordan came out to help as well and run the 17 mile section around Timothy Lake.  He also did double duty by running the last 30 with another racer Robbie O'Grady later on.  We've spent a lot of miles together but none like this in this race setting.  It felt just like any other run though.  We chatted, kept moving, sang a little and kept it light.  My goal was sub 20 hours.  I was ahead of that pace the first 55 and the goal through this section with Jordan was the same.  Keep the pace under 12 minute miles and keep building the buffer.  Success.  Jordan dropped me off back at the aid station after a few hours together where I fueled up on some solids, threw on a slightly warmer layer then headed out into the night with Brian to finish this thing off. 

My left quad had started barking on the lake loop and was getting progressively worse.  I could still move but running and especially maintaining much was becoming a problem.  "Luckily" a lot of this back portion of the course is climbing back up to the start and my power walk was working for the most part.  I settled in and just kept hiking and hiking.  This wasn't the finish I was hoping for.  I really wanted to push on this back section but the body was not having it so I just kept to task.  Brian and I would talk for a bit then he'd stop and check on keeping me fueled up.  I'd drink or eat a little something and keep leaning into knocking this thing out.  We'd move in and out of aid stations making sure not to waste too much time and just kept moving forward as slowing down had made sub 20 a little harder than expected.  There was no magic to be had, no sprint finish here,  just stubborn forward motion and I was lucky to have Brian there to provide some extra motivation and the occasional push.  We finally popped off the trail and back to the finish in 19 hours and 47 minutes.  Good enough for 6th overall. 

I checked all the boxes for my goals on this one.  Another year another 100 - check (8 years). Go sub 20 - check. Enjoy the race - check.  What more can you ask for on 100 mile finish number 9?  Not much really.  Would I have liked a better time?  Sure.  Does this race let me know I could go faster? Yes. Ultimately that is what these things are all about.  Can you ever put all the puzzle pieces together at an exact point in time and walk away 100% satisfied?  I doubt it.  So, I'll do another one and keep trying.

Lastly, GoBeyond nails it.  They put on great races with a excellent vibe throughout.  The views are killer and the aid is top notch.  This course is tough enough to be interesting but not so hard that it is unapproachable to the first timer or perhaps the slower runner and gives plenty of chances for those looking to "lay one down." 

This summer I had a pretty big blowup and I've thrown a few things out here and there about it but never really said much about it.  Mainly because there was an independent film made about it (more on that another time) and I didn't want to "spoil the surprise." Of course those who know me or follow me on social media knows the outcome.  I've never really let on my how disappointed I was with this whole failure.  It sucked bad.  I went after my biggest adventure to date of trying to cross the state of Oregon on the PCT in under 8 days and couldn't make it.  I dropped with an injury, not because my head wouldn't let me.  While we cant always control injuries I probably didn't do enough to prepare properly.  That slow grind run/hike got to me.  Extra weight in my pack got to me. Hardly any downtime between huge efforts got to me.  I think.....

And thus the crux of all of these pursuits are exposed for what they are, giant unknowns.  These things are so big and so out of the norm we can't pin down exactly anything.  We only know the outcome. My outcome was not what I wanted, but I've accepted it and I'll seek redemption. 

Redemption will not be 1:1 this go around, but the thought of what could have been will be present a lot.  I'm running Mountain Lakes 100 this weekend.  Most of it on the Oregon PCT and all sections I didn't get to during the PCT crossing because I dropped.  So here we go, another year, another 100 miler.  Time to keep the streak alive.

I'm not normally one to get into the philosophical side of racing.  I've always felt like I could just dig deep and keep going because that is mostly how I am wired for life in general.  No need for me to train my brain for anything.  However I noticed something about myself over the last year.  I lost my edge.  I know a ton of factors played into it.  The stress of moving the entire family across the country and everything that comes from effectively having to start fresh in both my work and personal life was a huge weight on my mind.  There are so many little things that I didn't account for.  Before I moved I knew the all the routines because I'd been doing them for years.  Now everything is new.  Where to get groceries? What routes to run? Who do I call when issues XYZ comes up?  How do I drive from point A to point B? It just took time to figure these things out and because of that everything seemed a little unknown and frankly I didn't feel settled. 

I also have been in this sport a while.  This is my 10th season running ultras.  They became part of the routine.  In contrast to the above this comfort level was hurting me.  I know I can complete about anything I am thrown into.  I've done it enough that even my bad days are good enough to land me above the midline.  I noticed that when I'd get uncomfortable in a race, I'd back off.  I'd tell myself "take it easy, you'll finish. no reason to get bent out of shape."  While that sort of attitude has its place it doesn't line up with my goals.  I'd finish a race and think that I didn't run the race that I wanted or that I was physically capable of.  After I finished Waldo 100k back in August, I put my foot down.  I'm done with this half assed approach it is time for a change and that change has nothing to do with running.

I started trying to really concentrate while training.  Thinking about how I felt, concentrating on understanding the moment. No headphones, no disconnecting, no zoning out. I knew I needed this mental conditioning.  In parallel the Sport Psychologist from the Seattle Seahawks, Dr. Michael Gervais, came and spoke at work.  I am as anti Seahawks as it gets but the timing could not have been better.  It was all about being present, about practicing excellence in the moment.  It clicked.  That was it.  Don't think about the big picture. Think about the now and be in the now.  On top of this I was talking with a training buddy Bill and he mentioned the book "The Obstacle is the Way" by Ryan Holiday.  I immediately got the audio book and started listening.  This book focused on how to deal with situations.  Don't put a label of good or bad on something. Accept that it is a thing that is happening and deal with it.  A flood of information came at me at the exact right time and I used these strategies to mentally prepare for this last race of the year as well as try to snap this streak of so-so races.

Usually I would go into a lot of details about this race and walk through it all from start to finish but not for this report.  I am going to call out a few situations where this new mindset and mental training paid off big time.  If you are curious about the course you can see the RD's provided GPX file that I uploaded on Strava for logging purposes below.  Know that this course is riddled with big climbs of 3000+ feet, technical rocky footing, long quad crushing down hills, was very lightly marked, required constant review of a turn by turn sheet that I just happened to print the night before, and I went at it solo with no crew or pacers as it seemed too much of a pain in the ass to drag my friends or family around this remote location. 

Start Line - This race is loosely organized and just know that theme is felt throughout.  It is not bad by any stretch as the aid stations were excellent but packet pickup, course markings, race information leading up to race day, even the pre race briefing were all lacking for those who really want a lot of details.  The race was supposed to start at 6am.  The RD decided to let the sun come out a little more so we did not have to wear our headlamps on some of the early technical sections.  He even said "the race will start in 15 minutes!" through his megaphone.  I decided to run back to my car and drop off my long sleeve shirt and headlamp as I didn't need them anymore.  My car could not have been more than .2 of a mile from the start so getting there and back in just a few minutes was going to be pretty easy.  No sooner did I throw my stuff in the back seat and shut the door did I see everyone running towards me.  "What happened to 15 minutes?" I asked.  A few runners said that the group convinced the RD that it was light enough and to start the race.  I ran back to the Start so my chip would register then worked my way back toward the pack.

In the past this would have really weighed on me.  Not today.  This thing happened and now I deal with it.  There is no reason to sprint to the front as it is just a waste of energy.  I had many miles and hours ahead so I relaxed and just did exactly what I would of had I done had I been at the normal start.  This was such a freeing feeling.  I immediately forgot about what happened and just executed on the present.  The start was not ideal but it was out of my control and that moment was gone.  I worked on this moment at hand.  I found a couple of other guys that were about my pace, Paublo and Shannon, and just cruised and talked with them the first 12 miles.  I was relaxed, fueling and feeling great.  That missed start was all but forgotten.

Heat of the day - There was not a cloud in the sky and my softening to heat since moving to Portland was definitely felt.  It was just before the middle of the race where I tend to have a slump anyway.  I was a little behind on calories and fluids and could tell.  In the past I may have just tried to muscle though it and ultimately pay for it later with having to dig myself out of a massive hole.  Today I was listening to my body thinking about the right now and how I can practice excellence in the moment.  To be excellent right now for this situation I needed to get back on track with the fuel and slow down.  My brain and body were anxious.  I had been moving up in the standings all day and was now running close to the top 10.  I didn't want to slow down.  I pushed those thoughts to the side and worked on the now.  Any exposed section that trended uphill, I power hiked.  I drank and drank Tailwind until I had 400 calories in me over the course of 90 minutes and suddenly things changed.  I was getting stronger, feeling less fatigued at just the perfect time.  The heat of the day was passing and I was ready to move. A passage from The Obstacle is the Way popped into my head. "Sometimes we must slow down to speed up."

Mile 90 - The day progressed without many other issues.  I was playing the course.  Running anything down or flat and hiking all the uphills.  I had found a running partner in Nikki Kimball, yes that Nikki Kimball.  I was a bit star stuck at first.  This is someone I knew through her amazing running talents and now I was running with her through the night.  We stuck close as our paces matched up.  We helped each other navigate the course when ribbons were lacking and directions were questionable.  We swore, laughed, complained about course markings, and talked about life all while making our way up and down the mountains.  It was an amazing experience to spend time with such a talented runner and caring person.

Close to 81 miles the wheels started to come off.  I was eating solid foods and drinking coke but something wasn't right.  I assumed it to just be a low spot and kept moving forward.  Nikki was moving better than I so we parted ways while I tried to get myself together after the aid station.  I had a long 7 mile down hill that I kept moving on.  Using gravity to pull me along as I knew I needed to keep moving here as I had to turn right back around and go up this 7 mile climb plus another few after the aid station before the course would trend down to the finish. 

I hit the aid station at mile 88 and just stood there.  Usually I am talking to the volunteers, but today I was that weirdo guy out of it barely talking.  I didn't want to make these guys nervous so I just sat down for a few and tried to eat and collect myself.  I didn't stay long as there was only 12 or so miles from here and I wanted to be done.  I knew the next 8 miles were uphill so I took some food and just started walking.  I was out of it big time and after about 3 miles of slow walking, I sat down and put my head on my knees to take a nap.

I knew this was bad news so I got up and tried to eat something and ended up puking it back up.  That puking helped.  I felt a little better and marched along for a bit until I was getting dizzy and sleepy again.  I sat down again until another runner heading down into the AS talked to me a bit.  I got back up until a 3rd time where I laid down.  I decided I was just going to nap for a minute so I could get back to the AS.  Then I'd sleep there for a bit until I could get myself together.  Just as I started nodding off, another runner asked if I was ok. I told him no and that I was having trouble staying awake.  He handed me a caffeinated gel and gave some encouraging words.  My stomach was weird so I stared at this gel for a few seconds not wanting to eat it.  Then my mental training kicked in.  "The Obstacle is the Way!!!" my inner voice shouted.  This gel was my obstacle, not the race, not getting to the aid station, not breaking 24 hours.  This once ounce packet of sugary, goopy, hell was going to do one of two things.  It was going to make me sick or get me out of this dizzy funk I was in.  There was no option to avoid it as something had to change.  I ate the it and immediately felt better.  I was low blood sugar and that gel turned it all around.  Thanks to that runner for helping me out!

The Finish - I was back in it and still had time after this massive blowup to get under 24 hours but I had to work.  I charged hard to the aid station.  No time to waste, I grabbed a few more gels and flew out of there.  My mind was focused on the task at hand.  Anything remotely runnable I had to run.  I had to own the down hills and be relentless the last 8 miles to get there before that clock flipped past 24. 

I blew though the last two aid stations just yelling my bib number and thanking the aid stations volunteers for their help.  Still unsure if I could break 24 hours or not I pounded the 3 miles down hill until I hit the entrance to the campground roughly a 1/2 mile before the race finish.  I then looked at my watch.  Just like always my math brain failed me.  I had plenty of time to make it under 24 and crossed in 23:32.  Good enough for 6th overall. 

I rallied through a missed start, a bad patch during the heat of the day, countlessly questioning if I was on course, a little puking, and even a few micro naps all by removing the label from the situation.  It was not a good saturation or a bad situation it was just a thing that was happening.  I removed emotion from these detours and took them head on.  I pushed through what appeared to be a negative situation until it became a positive.  Each time becoming mentally stronger and more confident. 

Wrapping up - I possessed the physical tools already to complete a 100.  I trained hard in the months leading up to this race.  I ran lots of miles and put in a ton of vert.  However In these closing moments of this race I knew it was this time spent on the mental side that paid the biggest dividend. 

As always I have to thank my family for putting up with this silliness of a sport.  Thank you to the other runners that supported me and helped me out when I was feeling rough.  A giant thank you to the aid stations that were out of sight good.  You gave up your weekend to help a bunch of runners achieve their goals and your contribution to our success is not small.

Let's start with Waldo 100K.  I was really trying to key in on this race but those two ankle sprains from July really pushed my specific training back and I ended up concentrating on just getting healthy.  I avoided a lot of the technical stuff and big down hills which were the major irritant to my ankle. Waldo does not have much from a technical trail standpoint but does have a few long descents that I'd of liked to attack a little harder but played it safe.  Overall everything held up and I landed right around where I thought I would which was between 12 and 13 hours.  My time was 12:15:44 good enough for 19th overall.  I know that I left some time out there by not having that "killer instinct." I didn't push too hard when things were uncomfortable and they were given this thing took place above 5k. However, given that I had been dealing with some injuries coming in I wanted to get though this thing in one piece and just enjoy the day on a killer, well organized course.  Mission accomplished.

So..... what happens when a race does not go as well as you would have liked?  You sign up for another one of course!  I took a hard 2 weeks off after Waldo to recover and let that big effort soak in knowing full and well that I was going to get in one more big effort before the year closed out.  I went back and forth on a few things.  Attempted to find a 100 that would get me a lotto ticket for Hard Rock but ultimately determined that nothing out there fit into my schedule.  My RD duties at the Mark Twain Endurance Runs take a lot of time and effort, not to mention toll on my body from a rest standpoint.  I end up taking off almost a week of work to put the event on so to even attempt to travel somewhere else in the month of September to get in that Hardrock qualifier was just not happening.  I settled on Chimera 100.  It looks to be a tough one with lots of climb and technical trail.  I am a fan of these because it means I get walking breaks on the climbs! (We'll see if I am still a fan 70 miles in) This will probably be one of my last big efforts for a while with the new baby on the way.  I figured I might as well go big.   

It is really simple from here.  Run and climb a bunch.  So far I am on track. 

I cant really complain as I did hit some milestones last month.

1. Most vertical gain in a single week (maybe ever not including races)
2. Longest time on feet in a week
3. Tied for the most cumulative training hours in a month

I was just hoping for more.  Unfortunately I hit a snag.  More specifically my right ankle hit a snag back in early June and I reinjured it again in late June.  The first time was a rough one.  I was running down a fairly technical downhill on Kings Mountain and landed on a rock and the full weight of my body came down on it.  I think it popped but there was enough other noise going on with footsteps and my yelling that I cannot be 100% sure.  I nursed it back and was regaining confidence when I did it again on a social run.  I was taking it super easy on the very smooth Wildwood trail when I took a step down and it just felt like it was not there to support me and boom I rolled it again.

The second time seemed to be a little worse as I could feel it pull across the top of my foot and down into my heel area.  I even ended up with a little bruising running horizontally on the outside of my foot  just below the front of my ankle to near my Achilles tendon.  I took some time off to let things heal up again.  I even stayed off the trail for a few weeks and stuck to the roads where I could keep thing level to avoid too much wiggling around for this unstable situation.  The positive of all of this was I was spending a little more time on the roads and was able to concentrate in on some speed work which was probably needed anyway.

 July came and I knew that I was going to be walking the line with this thing.  I wanted to just go out and test it to see what it would do to see if it would hold up.  However I was performing my boy Tommy's wedding on top on Half Dome on July 22nd and could not risk being in a situation when I could not make that hike.  The good news is that the wedding in Yosemite was amazing.  We ran several times in the days before the wedding and hiked the entire Half Dome hike.  I came home and hit some more trail and climbing and ended up with a 7 day total of 77 miles and 16,000 feet of vert.  A positive week for sure.

My confidence is a little low in that ankle stability still.  I hate that.  I usually attack downhills and for now I can't quite get my head around just letting go.  I'll get there.  It is just going to take some time.  My base is good.  Speed is coming around.  Climbing is at an all time high at this point in the year.  I just have not put it all together in a training block that sends my confidence though the roof.  Good thing I have a race coming up to help me figure it out. 

Below are some pictures from my travels and training in July.

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My initial thoughts were that we were going to "just" follow the Mark O Hatfield Trail which runs 60 miles East to West (or West to East) though the Columbia River Gorge.  However, after a planning session over a few drinks I found out Jason's plan was to also hit the high points along the way.  Perfect! This would let me start checking off the bucket list I had mentally created.  This would make the route considerably harder but I don't have any races planned until Waldo 100k in August so I have plenty of time to recover plus... I should get some good views so why not?

Jason, Jordan, and myself decided an early start was in order so we planned our meeting points and where we would drop cars.  Jordan had been fighting some injuries and had never gone this far before so we had a bail out point right around the 30 mile mark.  I parked at the end point at Multnomah Lodge, Jordan at Eagle Creek, and Jason took us to the starting point at Starvation Creek. 

I'll let the 2 videos below tell the story of what we saw on the trail and how awesome an adventure it was, but was it great! These guys are super solid and just great guys to hang with.  In the end, we cut the trip short of the 60 mile mark as getting off of the main route to summit these high points took a little more time than expected.  With Jordan being going well over his longest run as well as time on feet, Jason having a big trip to Europe coming up, and me not wanting to be too banged up to keep my training volume up we decided as a group to cut it short after we summited our  Tanner Butte.  All in all it was a 48 miles push with 12,500 feet of climb in just under 15 hours.  We saw some of the best the Gorge had to offer and had a great time doing it.  Six of the high points of the Gorge can now get the check mark by them.  I can't wait to go out and hit them again, they are just too good to not see again.

Weekly totals

62.1 miles 13,665 feet/gain 

I on the other hand am a young 36 years old.  I'm fit!  I put in 20+ miles on the trail almost every Saturday.  I can go 100 miles at a pop over rough terrain and be in good enough health to sign up for another one.  I am bullet proof!  Turns out, that is not exactly the case.  

A few months back I noticed a small lump along the side of my spine on the lower left hand side of my back.  At first I did not think much of it.  I assumed it was just a swollen gland or maybe some inflamed tissue from wearing my hydration pack.  It never went away.  It stayed the same size.  It did not hurt and I only noticed it when I sat in a chair where there was back support that hit it directly so I continued to ignore it.  After trying to tell myself over and over that it is nothing I finally had an "ah-ha" moment.  I am not immune to anything.  I am a living breathing human who is susceptible to being sick, to getting cancer, to bad things.  I am a father and a husband first and foremost.  I cannot be stubborn and block headed about my health.  It is not an acceptable way to act as a grown ass adult. 

I scheduled a Dr.'s appointment and met with an excellent doctor who was fairly certain it was nothing but he did not like where it was at so he sent me to a specialist that I met with a few weeks later.  The specialist again thought it was nothing as well.  He brought in his partner to look at it as well and they decided they could remove it right there in the office if I wanted.  I immediately said "Yes, let's remove it." 

After about 20 minutes I had been numbed up, cut open, and the little bit of fatty tissue was removed.  The specialist both again said it appeared to be nothing but they sent it off for testing just to be sure.  I walked out of the office with a small cut on my back and no more lump.  Feeling better but I still had the cloud of "what if?" hanging over me.  I anxiously waited for the lab to call and 4 days later they did and everything was fine.  It turns out that I am just a little lumpy... just like Augie.

Oh man was this tough.  The race was great, the trail was amazing, the people I met were fantastic.  My running was blah. This race was a tale of slogging along and no quitting regardless of how much I thought about it.  I finished in a time 12:53.03 which was more than an hour off of my goal time.  I could tell out of the gate that it could be a long day.  There were several factors that probably played into this.  One was the 4am start.  It is not normal to get up at 2am for a race.  Digestion along with other systems are just not ready to fire that early.  I knew in my mind this could be the case so I prepped myself for an easy start and felt like I dealt with that aspect fairly well.  I think the bigger deal was coming off of the flu a little over a week before.  I had been down weight and unable to keep food down during the height of the sickness then it was another several days before I was able to start eating and drinking again normal.  Not the ideal way to taper.  Long story short, the lingering effects of the flu hung on and really had me worn out for the duration of the race. Food was not digesting well and my energy was really low from the start.

This is, however, a long race and they do not all go well.  What I can say is it was really great to run a race like this out in my "back yard."  I drove about 40 minutes to get to the start line of this beauty of a race.  Tons of green, waterfalls, flowing rivers, technical terrain, and big climbs with views made my low energy and poor digestion a little more tolerable.  Watching some of the big competition unfold from the turn around was really great and then meeting some people like Gary Robbins post race who I have corresponded with over social media for years was excellent as well.  The aid stations we were well done.  Course marking was spot on save for some course vandalism that happened to the front runners.  I just cant say enough good things about this event put on by Rainshadow Running .  This course was no picnic as you can see from the Strava below, it makes you work for it.  Now I just have to decide how hungry I am to have a better race out there or maybe I'll just sleep in and run the 50k on Sunday next year!

For some really excellent pictures from the race check out Glenn Tachiyama's photos of the race.

This week however was not as good.  I was so sick. Late Monday night to Tuesday morning was spent hugging the toilet and I did not feel normal again until today.  I'm still a little dehydrated and under weight but my energy has returned and I ran easy this morning and hiked this afternoon so I should be good to go come race day on Saturday.  Not exactly how I planned on spending my taper week but I guess my legs are fresh as I have barely moved the last few day.

I'll spend this week staying hydrated, eating good foods, and mentally preparing.  I'll get in a few runs here and there and just take it easy.  I'm antsy and ready to roll.

Tuesday - Extended out my normal 7 miler a bit and picked up some extra climb. Pushed the effort a bit as well. 8.5/1,152

Wednesday - My staple hill routine but added a little longer warmup and cool down. 10.2/2,070

Thursday - Doubled down to get a extra sun.  Hit a shorty before the Animal Athletics group run.  10.7/1628

Friday - An easy little something to keep the blood flowing after a long day behind the computer. 5.1/696

Saturday - Hit the Wildwood Trail with Robbie O. Fairly relaxed fat burning outing. 16.2/2664

Sunday - A family hike and a solo road run with some turnover at the end.  Sub 21 5k to close it out. 12.6/1689

Daily - push-up, dips, abs

Total 63.2 miles 9899 ft/climb

I'll ratchet things down a bit in both miles and climb this week as Gorge Waterfall 100k is right around the corner.  Given where my fitness is I think I'll be better served going in with fresher legs than to keep driving on the training .  The weather looks really good again this weekend though so I still plan to log a long run on the back portion of the course.

Another item of note is my wife's new blog.  She decided she wanted to get out and hike somewhere every week this year so she started http://fifty2hikes.tumblr.com/ to capture the process.  It has been a great way for us to explore the area around out new home and spend time in the outdoors as a family.  The pictures on this post are from our failed attempt to drive up to Larch Mountain and hike around.  The road to the top was still closed for the winter but we made the best of it by running around like fools on the closed pavement for a few miles.  There is something oddly freeing about being on a street with no traffic to worry about.

What does it all mean?  Simply, I'm climbing more here during the week.  Steady climbs of 2+ miles was unheard of in IL, here I can do that right out my front door.  My in week runs that used to be flat and faster are now hillier and slower.  I am adjusting to them though as last week's 7 mile staple runs was some of the fastest I have done since being here without feeling like my effort was any higher.

Monday - rest

Tuesday - upped the pace a little on my hilly road route - 7.1

Wednesday - hill repeats 400 ft x 5  - 7.4

Thursday - quick spin - 5

Friday - hilly road route clockwise 7.1

Saturday - Wildwood Trail and some power hiking 12.9

Sunday - Wilson River Trail 21.6

Total 61.1 miles 10,942 ft/climb

I had planned on exploring the volcanos of Hood and St. Helens in the upcoming summer months.  I can now cross one off my list a little earlier than planned.  This past weekend I had the pleasure of hitting the PNW classic of running the 33 miles around Mt. St. Helens.  Doing this in February is, from my understanding, almost unheard of.  The weather here in Portland has been out of control good for this time of year.  Now, I recognize that for those that enjoy snow sports it is less than ideal, but selfishly for the point of this post I am commenting as a runner.  

I jumped in with a few vets (Jason, Brian, and Yassine) who have all run the route more than a handful of times each and just went along for the ride.  I was not quite sure where I was going to be from a fitness standpoint and was a bit worried that I might hold the group back.  The last month or so has had some fairly solid training but the move out here has my baseline fitness lower than I normally would be this time of year.  If fact, last July until January has been some of my least consistent training in 5 plus years.  I am happy to report back that I was not dropped and left for dead at the base of the volcano.  I feel great for being on my feet for almost 9 hours but I can feel that I am not as strong as I should be.  I am not overly sore or beat up.  I even went out for an easy recovery run Sunday just because I felt like running some more.  The big thing I notice is the lack of "pep in my step."  It will come with time and consistency.  Each run seems to inspire me to a little more than the last and having spectacular views available all around is driving that desire to get out even more.

I am grateful to have a body that is capable  of moving relatively quickly though rugged terrain now I just need to tune it to where it deserves to be.  Below is a video of the day.  There are some amazing views captured but it still does not show off the whole story.  It feels like being on another planet in some sections of the trail.  Words cannot describe how excellent it is out there.  I am sure I said the word "awesome" 50 plus times and I meant it each time it came out.

Training - Feb 16-22

65 miles 13,500 ft/gain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS8Ri-g5pbs

Whatever it is, I like it. I feel great and have that desire to really get out and run. I even did hill repeats on a whim today.

Sometimes you go for it hard and succeed. Other times you fall flat. Every now and then you land somewhere in the middle.  That pretty much sums up my Potawatomi 100 race. I went into this race in really good shape.  I'd trained hard through the rough winter (feel free to check my last post for more details on that).  I was as ready as I could have been.  I went out at a comfortable pace but was not just taking it easy.  I ran the flats and down hills and power hiked the climbs.  This was my mode for the entire race.  Take what the course gave me and execute in those areas.  Everything was going to plan.  I was getting food in early and often and was pushing the fluids.  Unfortunately my stomach had been a little grumbly the entire day before and through the night.  I made some not so great food choices due to travel and  while I can't lay all the blame here, I know better and should have brought my own food to cook/eat for the day.

I was feeling really rough and felt like my food was not going anywhere.  I just kept feeling fuller and fuller.  My energy was really down and I even laid down on the ground at one point.  Eventually the stomach revolted around mile 57 and I unloaded everything.  This actually helped a lot.  I was feeling better and  running again.  I let things settle down and worked to consume but I was walking a tight rope with it.  Luckily I had my great crew of Tommy and John out there who were keeping me motivated and moving despite feeling really rough for the back 1/3 of this one.  Most things were making me nauseous so I stuck to a diet of soup and soda.  All of this held up well until 80 miles where I unloaded again around mile 80.

I didn't eat again for the rest of the race.  A little over 16 hours in and I couldn't stomach any more calories.  Everything that went in immediately made me sick so I decided that I was done with food.  My legs were shot and my energy was really low but if I could avoid slowing down from being sick then I could just keep moving and get this thing done a little faster.  I felt empty but we all have enough fat in our bodies that we can keep moving especially when we are not anaerobic so  I just kept that in mind and kept pressing.  Run (or attempt what appeared to be) the flats and down hills and hike the up hills just like I started this thing.

I wanted to win the thing but that was out the door.  My goal time was gone, and I just felt like a pile of garbage.  I wanted to drop from this thing more than once.  However I had people helping and believing in me to knock this thing out.  Plus I trained a whole bunch for this moment.  As Tommy says "these things don't start until 60."  I wasn't going to let a less than perfect day (which is about what I would have needed to hit my goal time) keep me from finishing.

I crossed the finish line 2nd in a time of 21:25 (Brandt Ketterer took first in a great time of 19:45).  A new 100 mile PR on a much harder course then my previous PR time.  That was also over 4 hours faster than I ran this race 5 years ago.  It also appears to be the 6th fastest 100 run in the race's 12(?) years.  I'll take it.  A less than ideal performance turned out to be a very solid day that I can look back at and see tremendous growth.  Through all the adversity, I ran a good race with a strong first 50 and really had to dig deep to keep driving when the wheels came off.  It is not very often that a person really lays it all out there to attempt something not fully knowing the outcome .  I personally can say this is the first time I have done so.  It didn't go exactly to plan, but the outcome was still extremely positive.  I learned some things about myself.  I made some mistakes.  I know more what my training needs to look like to get to where I want to get to.  I wouldn't know that if I just went out there and played it safe.

Last week was my highest volume training ever at 101.4 miles and close to 10k of climb in a hair under 16 total hours. I’m feeling great as I go into my taper. I’ll be making food, sleeping, and hydration high priority as I try to not bounce off the walls and irritate my wife while anxiously waiting for that start gun to go off. I was highly motivated to train. I did that. Now I am highly motivated to race.

Training wise, things are starting to trend up. After being knocked down by the flu for the first week of Jan, I came back fairly strong and have averaged over 60 miles a week for the last 4. I'll move this up a bit more in Feb, but this weather that has hit the central part of the US sure has not made it easy. We have had lots of snow and lots of really cold days. Doing my best to enjoy the treadmill and make the most of my time outside. Luckily the really bad stuff seems to have missed the weekends and I've been consistently hitting the 25-29 mile long runs every Sat or Sun. These runs may have been muddy or snow packed but it all will pay off when the good weather hits. Potawatomi 100 in on the schedule and I'm going to go in fit and trying to hit it hard. Game on.

Things are moving along as I look toward planning the 2014 season.  Per usual, the lottery gods did not smile upon me but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to have some fun next year.  I have my roll over to Grindstone 100 in October since it was canceled due to the government shutdown and I think I'm going to head back to McNaughton Park in Pekin, IL in April to hit the Potawatomi 100.  I'll throw some races in there along the way before and between, but as of now those will be my anchor races. Training is going well as I set my base and begin growing out my average monthly miles.  While the weekly miles are not quite where I want them to be yet.  The weekend miles are going great.  I'm moving my average Saturday runs from about 21 miles to 25-28.  In fact, yesterday these 3 dudes cracked off 32 miles in the cold temps.

I also have not drank a cup of real coffee in over 3 weeks! This is pretty big for me.  I'm (was) a coffee drinker.  The smell of it, taste of it, finding new beans, the ritual of making it in the morning... I love it!! But I was having some cramping issues that I could not track down so I decided to take a shot at getting off the stimulants and see where that would get me.  It seems that the cramping has gone away and as a super added bonus, I sleep like a baby.  I go to bed early.  I don't get up during the night to go to the bathroom.  I wake up alert.  It's pretty great. There are also some potential athletic benefits to more sleep so overall it seems to be the right move to make.   I do miss it and think that eventually I'll have a cup every now and then just to enjoy it.  Ultimately it feels great to not be so reliant on something every morning to wake up.  Plus I am over the headaches and wanting to punch the walls from the withdrawals so I figure it's best to stay off it a bit longer.

If you are out in the Phoenix area and like architecture go check this place out. Amazing buildings with some great desert scenery for a backdrop.

Happy to see him get the win! He told me he was going for it and even though he was feeling less than his best, he gutted it out and got it done. Below are a few shots taken along the way.

http://youtu.be/GP9rgWRIEO4

The goal was for this post to be my race report from Grindstone 100.  However, the government shutdown caused the race to be canceled so I had to find an alternative.  I'm heading back to Fountain Hills, AZ for the Javelina 100 once again.  It's a way different race in terms of terrain.  A lot less climbing and a lot more runnable surfaces are on tap come Oct 26th.  My last go out there ended at 80 with about 20 miles of puking.  I hope to not repeat that part again. Training has gone fairly well.  I have a 6 month bulk of mileage that is as high as I've ever had so even with a little dip in mileage from my RD duties in Sept, I'm in a good spot.  I've also tapered once already and now I'm doing it again.  I don't know if that is good or bad but my legs feel great so we'll go with it being a good thing.

This week: Monday - 7.2 miles Tuesday - 7.6 miles shake out Wednesday - speed work plus some easy running - 5 miles Thursday - off Friday - negative split. 8 miles Saturday - cruising 11 miles at a steady 8 min/mile Sunday - 20.4 miles and 4k on the Green Rock.  My legs felt awesome

Total - 59.2 miles

post trail run. We all have races in the next 2 weeks.

John - 24 The Hard Way- 24 hour race

Me - Javelina 100

Tommy - Ozark Trail 100

  Here are some pictures from the start of the weekend to the very end.  I Wish I personally would have captured more but we had a photographer helping with that.

What a whirlwind that last few weeks have been!  Training has been going really well and my fitness is fairly high right now.  The week of August 5th ended with 71 miles and some solid speed work with my turnover really coming around. I may be running faster than I ever have as some of my mile repeats have landed consistently in the 5:45 range with a 5:31 coming at the end of a workout.  I guess I need to run a 5k just to see where things sit. Last week was a rough one.  I was in Chicago for a conference where I was pretty much booked up from early morning to late night.  Getting in anything medium to long during the week was out the door so I did what I could living out of the hotel.  A hill workout on the treadmill, a fast cruise with my buddy Caleb along the lake front where we averaged about 6:40s and I didn't feel like dying.  That's a far cry better than when we used to run together a few years back.  I squeaked out 16 miles during the week, then took to Leadville for a little pacing and race coverage with iRunfar over the weekend.

I started with this out my windows on Monday

and ended up here on Friday

I hung with Meghan for the first part of the race and had a great time helping out, laughing, and taking pics for the race.  Then waited at the turn around for  my runner to come in to do a few pacing sections where I climbed Hope Pass and then did the last 13.5 from May Queen in.  It was my runners first 100 but we got him in with 28 minutes to spare! Nice job  Randy, way to keep pushing!!

Below are some various pictures throughout the weekend.

After reading Geoff Roes' "One Story about Overtraining" I decided I should do something similar about my run in with Shingles.  Mainly because of the total cloud that existed throughout my entire discovery of the root cause.  While I can't tie my breakout of shingles directly to overtraining,  I also cant fully dismiss it.

I was cleared by my GI doctor back in May and he confirmed that all of my symptoms of; dizziness, headaches, digestion issues, abdominal pain, bloating were all related to having the shingles virus attack the right side of my torso where the gallbladder and small intestines are located.  Since the virus it is a nervous system disorder, there can be a lot of symptoms that occur for weeks, even months before the actual rash appears on the skin with no clear signal of what is causing it.  Fun right?  "You bet!"

Lets step back a bit into 2012 to see where this all started.  I trained hard though a really hot summer and put myself in a solid position to run a strong Tahoe 100 in July.  That didn't quite come together as planned but I finished knowing that I'd be taking on another 100 before the year was over to make up for my less than stellar performance.  I quickly threw my name in for Ozark Trail 100 in early November.  I continued to train hard as well as put together and direct my first race in September with the great help of my friend and Co-RD Tommy Doias.  We worked hard, lost lots of sleep and were generally stressed out most of the time but we pulled it off and felt great about it.

On the work front, a co-worker quit and I took over some of their duties.  I continued to do a few jobs as well as get my training volume up to continue to prepare for Ozark Trail.  I ran Ozark, had a good race but could feel myself being worn down.  Not just the "I ran 100 miles" worn down, but physically and mentally I was not firing on all cylinders. I decided to lay off and give myself a break from training all together.  I took a trip to New Orleans where I slept little and drank much.  It was a relaxing and great time but I kept digging that whole of exhaustion even though I was not tearing myself down in training.  Shortly after that, flu season hit and the Liles household was not exempt.  I was sick for a week or so then finally jumped back on the training wagon so I could hit my yearly goal of 2400 miles just as the year closed out.  Maybe I was coming around?

Not so fast! January was terrible.  I could not get it together.  I was fatigued all the time.  My legs felt like lead and my breathing was labored all the time along with some random chest pains on the upper right side.  I gave up and threw in the towel in January.  In Feb, I continued my downward spiral and all of my symptoms hit full on, mirror that of a gallbladder disease.  I went to the doctor where I had ultrasounds and HIDDA scans to determine if my gallbladder was going need to be removed.  I passed every test with flying colors.  The doctors even noted on several occasions, "you are one of the healthiest people we've had in here."  "Awesome" I'd say "then why do I feel so bad?"

It was getting depressing.  I was sick all the time and no one knew why.  I'd changed my diet drastically to combat any food allergies but my body responded different all the time.  I could eat an amazing meal of whole foods and feel terrible or eat fast food and feel amazing.  I could do that same thing the next day and get the exact opposite result.  I was refereed to a GI specialist with the instructions of "we need to get his blessing to get your gallbladder out because I think that is the issue even though we have not evidence."  I was desperate. I r-e-a-l-l-y don't need a gallbladder so lets just get the damn thing out so we can cross that off.  How silly is that?  And what a desperate though. "Cut out an organ just because"

Somewhere between waiting for my appointment at the G.I. doctor and late February I started feeling better.  I was running again and even hit a 50 mile week. However I caught what I thought was some poison oak on my side right where my pack hit then extended to my chest and to the middle of my back.  Great, I just got back to training and now something on my pack from months ago is going to mess it up.  Well that rash grew, became more red, and hurt super bad.  It hurt so bad in fact that I was losing sleep as I could not sleep in a single position where I was not on the irritation.  Time to go to the prompt care and get a shot to get rid of this poison oak.  I arrived at prompt care and showed the doctor the rash and she quickly replied... "nope, that shingles"

Shingles! What am I, a 70 year old?  Regardless, it does not matter.  ALL of my issues came from this virus that sits in your body and may or may not ever come out.  It was the perfect storm of stresses hitting me, training, work, race directing, flu season, all around the same time and boom, I was a mess of sickness.  Today, I'm running as if it never happened.  As debilitating as this virus was for 2 months it just went away and I am fine now.   Interestingly there is not much that can be done about shingles other than wait it out for someone my age.  I can get a shot in 25 years or so that will suppress it.  In the mean time I just have to keep the stress down I guess.

So why write all this?  Well, it sucked and as a generally healthy person to have some sort of illness that takes (in some cases) months to fully come to a head is a painful experience.  Second, I have not written a post in a while  Third, since having it I have heard many stories from others about Shingles and how it has done everything from put a young man in a wheelchair and another to think he was having a heart attack all to just go away as fast as it came.  This is my story, hopefully you don't have one like it.  If you are having weird health issues and have had chicken pox as a kid.... don't forget about shingles as a possible cause.

The course starts around 8800 feet above sea level then drops down to roughly 4600 in the first 18 miles.  I went out with the lead group but eased it back fairly soon as I knew running 7:30's out of the gate was way out of bounds for me.  I fell into a "chase group" of about 20 runners strung out along the trail and decided to keep a conservative yet upper pace through this section knowing that I needed to play the course and that I'd be a bit labored with the altitude and I did not want to blow myself up too early.  I also was a little unsure how well I could handle all the down hill running.  I hit the first major aid station at mile 18 in 2:45.  With the great help of the aid station workers at Foot Bridge  I shed my arm warmers and the Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer Anorak jacket I had keeping me warm during the early cold miles up top, stuffed my pockets with gels and headed out with the quickness.

Miles 18-21.5 are made up of a climb gaining 2,300 feet that takes us back up around 7k.  If you look at the embedded GPS route from my Suunto Ambit above, you can get a feel for it.  It was steep and slow.  I had to back off a few times in here to get my heart rate down as it felt like my heart was going to come out of my neck.  I worked in with Jim from Park City, UT who was returning from a 10 year hiatus of ultrarunning, and we passed a few miles together before he took off.  I'd end up playing leap frog with Jim the remainder of the race.  After finally getting through the climb I realized I may have messed up a little.  I only brought one water bottle and I was using it up about every 5 miles or so.  The next aid station from the one at mile 21.5 was 7 away.  I drank a little extra at the AS thinking that I was still going to run out and as if reading my mind one of the volunteers told me there was a spring 3 miles away and it was drinkable.  Score!!  I took a check of my mileage on my watch then headed back out.  I found the spring filled up again and splashed some of this cool mountain water in my face.  What a great find! Mentally I was feeling a lot better.  I made a good consistent push though this section and had made up a few spots.  I assumed I was running in the top 15 at this point.

Unfortunately this next section was a bit of a downer.  It was very exposed and hovering around that 7k mark.  My legs felt like straight garbage.  Luckily I hooked up with a runner from Laramie, MT, Nik Deininger.  He had ran the 50 last year and said he had a rough section here and asked if he could run with me.  I was all over it.  A little team work to get through this section was needed.  We worked our way through this hot and exposed 6 mile section by using the "lets run to that next tree" mentality.  Each adding a little bit of support for each other when the other was down.  Eventually we climbed up to Dry Fork AS with about 16.5 miles to go.  I took a little longer than I wanted at this aid station but I needed to get my head on straight. I "caught" my buddy Greg here who was running the 100 and in high spirits which helped my attitude get better.  I grabbed my drop back, stuffed more gels in my pocket, chugged a small cup of coke, ate some M&M's, then stared walking up the gravel road out of the aid station.

My stomach felt pretty rough.  For the most part I'd kept my guts in good shape up until now.  I may have gone a little overboard with the AS food but I let out a burp that was probably heard at the finish line and was back in business.  I continued to walk the gravel road climb then decided it was time to start pushing.  Nik and I ran together again and just worked together to push.  Flats and downhills meant running.  We hit the aid station with 12.5 to go and caught two other 50 milers.  We all ran together for a bit but I knew that I wanted to hit this last section hard.  We hit a steep 1/4 mile climb named "The Wall" which I climbed steadily getting ready to bomb down once I hit the top.  From here on out, it was mostly downhill or flat to finish line.  Which sounds great but that much downhill for someone who does not have long downhills can crush your quads.  I decided that I had leg left so I was just going keep pushing and see what happened.

Nik and I were still together but had said that if either of us started falling back for the other guy to go ahead.  I decided it was time to make a move.  I saw Jim up in front of us and he was not matching our speed so he stepped aside and let us go by.  I kept the pedal to the metal as much as I could.  I was enjoying the vast scenery to take my mind off my burning quads.  I finally started pulling ahead of Nik and hit the aid station with around 8 miles to go.  I dumped off some gels that I would not use, filled my water bottle up quickly, and then dunked my bandanna in the river to cool off as the heat picked up.  I charged out of the aid station and did not let off the gas until this thing was over.  I ended up averaging about 9 minute miles over the last 10 miles or so.  It felt great to race to the finish of this one.  I had enough in the tank, had taken care of my nutrition, and was focused enough to continue to drive hard through until the end.  Don't get me wrong, it was not easy.  I was hot, tired, my legs were on fire, and I would have loved to back off and walk some of this flat 5 miles to the finish, but this is where all that time and effort put into training comes into focus.  I owed it to myself and those that put up with my silly little hobby to finish this thing right.

The winner and new course record holder, Seth Swanson,  came in almost 2 hours ahead of me and not quite an hour in front of 2nd place,which was b-a-n-a-n-a-s!!  While there are some naturally abilities  and access to mountains, he's from Missoula, I want to close that gap a little more. I need to work on my sustained climbing and continue to push my overall volume up to compete better in races like this.  However positive growth is important and if you'd have told me a few years ago I could run under 10 hours in a mountain race, I'm not sure I'd of believed you.  Having Matt Hart (3rd in the 100) as a coach has helped me a ton.  Adding some variety, speed, strength, and focus to my training has taken my running up a level.  I plan to continue that trend.

The Big Horn races as a whole are a well oiled machine.  Staggering the races so that everyone finishes together might be a little rough on the 100 milers but makes for a great finishing experience with runners of all distances coming in together.    Were there a few spots where aid or a volunteer was not over the top good, sure it happens.  In general though the pre-race meal, course, aid stations, volunteers, swag, post race breakfast, and awards ceremony were all excellent.  I'll be going back to this one.

Here some additional photos from the weekend including my friends, Tommy, Greg, and Kyle who all ran and completed the 100.

I get that this does not mean a lot to the outside world but this trail is rough.  The two guys that I train with and have both won multiple trail 100's over the last few years had the top 2 times out here.  Being on "top" even just for a bit is a major boost to my confidence and a great way to kick off my new training block with Matt.  I am under no illusion that it can't be done faster.  In fact, I know I could lop off a few minutes if I was climbing better.  The thing I "hate" the most about this is now it's a thing we're going to do and we'll be lopping off a minute or so off of each others times and turning ourselves inside out to do it.  Just the way it should be.

This week was pretty light for weekly miles but I more than made up for it this weekend pacing my buddy Tommy at the Potawatomi 100 in Pekin, IL. He landed first place and the second fastest time ever on the course in 19:33.xx. A great day for him and I was just glad to be a part of it. It is an amazing thing to see just how deep someone can keep digging when it seems like there is nothing left. I paced 40 total with him. 50-70, took a break from 70-80 to refuel and be rested enough to make sure I could keep pushing him the last 20 from 80-100.

Monday - 4.3 easy trail Tuesday. - 4 easy road Wednesday - 5.4 progression Thursday - off Friday - 7.1 sunny road miles Saturday - early a.m. Sunday - 40

Total - 60.8 miles in 11:47

After a month plus of weird digestion, dizziness, and other random symptoms a rash decided to pop out on my right side. It stretches along my rib cage from my spine, under my arm pit, to my chest stopping just before my sternum.   Weird right?  Maybe it is from one of my hydration packs.  Perhaps I got into some poison oak?  Nope, it's shingles.  Yes the same thing elderly people get, I have.  The bad news is that it hurts.  That's because shingles is tied to the nervous system.  It is like chicken pox except painful and not itchy (at least for me).  The pain kept me up for a few nights but has since gone way down and it is now just annoying.  Good news?  It turns out that shingles can wreak all sorts of havoc on your system for 6 or more weeks before the rash finally breaks out.  Given the location of the rash is on my right side where all of my other issues were located and the 6 week window of problems I have had, there is a high probability that the two are linked.

Now it is just a waiting game.  I have to let the shingles pass (up to a month) then see where things are. I can run but chose not to.  The location of the shingles with a shirt rubbing on them was not worth the benefit of the run itself.  Luckily the rash is in the later stages and is not inflamed anymore so I'll be back at it this week.

The puzzle seems to be coming together.

1st 50 mile week of the year. moving in a positive direction! I've done more miles in the last 10days than any one month total in 2013

— Travis Liles (@travisliles) March 11, 2013

Weekly miles were all road at a normal pace.  Ran a 25 miler on Sunday in the pouring rain. The normally dry creek beds were full of water and flowing fast!!  The kind of fast that if you slipped it would not kill you but your day would definitely go south. I felt decent given I have not gone that far all year.  For sure a tough day given all the climbing and slick ground.  If feels good to have sore muscles again.

My last post indicated how tired I have been and how I could not find a groove.  Well, it appears now that it may be a bit more than a mental thing and a tired body from a good 2012 season.  For months now, I've dealt with what felt like an abdominal strain.  After taking most of January off the pain localized itself to the lower right side of my chest cavity and really acted up after eating.  On top of that, I have been bloated and tired pretty much around the clock with the addition of being short of breath when I exercise.  Finally after symptoms getting worse as my training volume becoming less and of course countless hours researching the symptoms, I decided it was time to see the doctor.

I went in thinking it could be a gall bladder issue/stones but did not want to push that on my doctor so I just rattled off what has been going on and he says "that sounds like a gallbladder issue."  I had blood tests that Friday and an ultrasound of my abdomen today.  Results should be in on Friday and I can hopefully get to resolving all of this.

The positive side of things is I can run, it is just not as enjoyable as it should be.  Running at my top end and the pressure in my chest makes it so that I tend to keep things out of the high heart rate zones.  Muscularly, I feel good so it is frustrating.

The good news is that if it is my gallbladder, the surgery is fairly straight forward and does not have a ton of down time.  I'll find out more soon.  Ready to get this addressed and get back to it.

"Neat Travis, you tried a new diet, what the hell does that have to do with in race nutrition?"  Glad you asked! Once I figured that I have some mild food allergies I was able to diagnose and make some educated changes to my in-motion diet versus just reading some ad in Trail Runner Magazine and thinking "yes, this will solve all my issues!!!"  Settling on what worked took most of the year to figure out (in combination with the previous 6 years).  I had a few good races, then I'd tweak it and have a bad race, then I'd tweak again and have an awful race.  Finally I went bare bones.  I even cut caffeine way back in my regular diet as discovered that 1) I was not sleeping as well as I could be 2) caffeine also had a negative impact on my stomach.  I found that if I went with a simple caffeine free gel/shot combo, straight water, and low sodium Endurolytes pills that I could mostly avoid the stomach issues.  I would take a gel/hit of the shot every 30 minutes, water when I felt thirsty, and a salt pill when I felt like I needed it not on some schedule.  I did this in some really hot and humid temps and never had cramping (stomach or muscle) issues so my confidence was pretty high that I could tolerate this in most situations.  This was the formula that I used for Ozark Trail 100 and I had one of my most steady, consistent runs I've ever had.  I will note that I did take a Prilosec the evening before the race and at mile 68 during which I am certain helped with the indigestion issues but without doubt my emotional and energy levels were high throughout and I had no muscle cramping while only taking a maximum of 10 Endurolytes which clock in at 40MGs of sodium per pill.  Most salt pills on the market have almost as much sodium in one or two pills as I took in the entire 22+ hours.

I get it, if I just did regular fitness activities this would be a non-issues as they only seem to show up in the most extreme of conditions, say 60 miles into a 100 mile race.  I have tried everything imaginable to combat this stomach problem and I MAY have found what works for me.  Here is what sucks.  I love, love coffee and I like to eat whatever I feel like.  That is supposed to be a major benefit of training 8+ hours a week isn't it? However, I can't use those "benefits" if I want to keep doing the races I enjoy so much and perform how I know I am capable. Do I sacrifice eating gobs of my favorite foods and drinking massive quantifies of joe just so that a few times a year I can get though a race and not feel like a turd? Yep. It's pretty simple.

What a relief! After massive blowups in my last  two 100's, including a 80 mile puke fest DNF at Javelina and a less than stellar, lots of dry heaving, 27 hour performance at Tahoe in August, I was able to put it all together and run the race I wanted.  The goal was simple this time, run a complete race. To do that I wasn't going to go out too fast or too slow. I was going to eat and drink but not freak out and try to over compensate all at once if fell behind a bit. Lastly, I  was going to go light on salt and caffeine intake. I've had so many stomach issues over the last few years I needed to cut out the potential irritants as much as possible. My training leading up to the race was good but not great.  I knew that I was capable of running 100 miles as my training with Matt  has really helped me take it up a notch this year.  I was just not quite as primed as I would have liked.  I had a few nicks and bumps but was not fighting anything major.  I've had a really tight hip/groin that had moved itself into an slight abdominal strain that kept me from going full bore leading up to the race.  These things were not causing any specific problems, they were just there and noticeable throughout the race.  Luckily everything held up, I just had to stop and stretch things out a few times.

I was accompanied by a top notch crew including my good friends Jason and Dema as well as my mom who was in for her first time to be a part of a 100 miler.  These 3 would be with me the whole time.  My wife and daughter came in the morning of the race to hang out at a few of the aid stations along the way then go to bed in the evening and meet me back at the finish whenever that might be.

The weather was out-of-sight good the day before the race.  Clear skies and low 60's kept the attitude of all the runners upbeat as we all began to arrive and mill around the Bass River Resort main building awaiting the pre-race meeting to start.  Co-RD's Paul and Stuart along with the other aid station captains and volunteers were in high gear finalizing aid station supplies and checking runners in.  It's a great environment to be on your "home turf."  While this is not a St. Louis Ultrarunner's Group race, lots of our members either run it or are working at it since it is so close to the St. Louis area.  Familiar faces from Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas really makes it a fun experience before, during, and after the race.  Paul gave the pre-race speech and we were back to the cabin early to try and get wound down.  To combat the stomach issues I've had I decided to try an antacid and popped a Prilosec OTC.  I'm not big on taking medicine at all but seeing this video with Hal Koerner made me give it a try.

We woke up at 3:30 and met my buddy Tommy, who was also running, and his girlfriend Jen at 4am to head to the start of the race.  Tommy and Jen had a secret weapon.  They knew about a breakfast place on the way to the trail head where we could get massive breakfast burritos.  All of us chowed down on some variety of eggs, vegetables, and meats wrapped up tight then headed to the start of this point-to-point 103 miler.

I was mad relaxed.  I kept my mind very clear and knew I was not going to get caught up in anyone's race but mine.  I had my super comfortable Salomon XT Advanced Skin 5 S-Lab Set loaded up with some H2O, a few Clif Shot gels, and a flask of First Endurance Liquid Shot.  This would be more than enough to get me though the first 17 miles to the Sutton Bluff aid station, where I would meet my crew, especially with that 800 calorie burrito bomb in my gut.  We all worked our way toward the start line where we milled around a bit and chatted.  There is something really ludacris about just casually talking with friends and fellow runners before taking off into the darkness on a technical rocky trail covered in leaves where we all will be running for the next 32 hours or so.  It is so removed from normal life, I love it.

some of my favorite peeps! - Photo by Jason Eads

Paul yelled "Go!" and I found a nice little pace where I just chugged along.  The lead pack took off like a shot and I just let them go.  I found a pace that was comfortable and stayed there.  I promised my pacers that I would not work too hard before I saw them.  In fact I told Jason I did not want to get out of breath in the first 50 miles.  I stuck to this as well as I could.  I leisurely moved along sipping water and talking a gel or hit off the Liquid Shot ever 1/2 hour without fail.  I hooked up with another runner, Aaron Norman, who I ran with before at 3 Days of Syllamo earlier this year.  This was his first 100 but he is super talented and our paces even out.  He's faster than me but I'm really steady so it tended to even out for a lot of this race.  We rolled into mile 17 together around the 3 hour 20 mark. I met my crew, told them my food intake, filled my pack bladder up, took a hit of First Endurance Ultragen , grabbed a few extra gels, swapped out my buff for a hat and headed back out.  26 miles until the next crew accessible aid station so I grabbed my music to keep me company in case Aaron and I split up.

Back on the trail and settled in.  Very steady pace and eating schedule.  I think I popped an Endurolyte or 2 during this 26 mile section but overall my salt intake was really low compared to other races and my stomach was staying happy.  Happy guts = not having to be bent over with stomach pain and having my midsection be the reason for not performing.  Even with this, I still wanted to be very controlled and keep things in check.  The longer I could keep the calories flowing the better off I'd be if things went south later.  I had a few low spots though here but just kept clipping along trying to ignore it.  Just before the aid station I started feeling really really good.  A super random mix of songs came up featuring Five Finger Death Punch, Ke$sh, and LMFAO.  I was cruising effortlessly.  I may have even yelled "Party Rock!" as I was descending off the bluff into Brook Creek Aid Station. I finally hit the mile 43 aid station at Brooks Creek where I could pick up a pacer.  If I was smiling anymore, it would have hurt.  My crew was there, my wife and daughter had made it safely, and my boy John Cash came flying out on the trail to meet me and assist with this stop.  Jen had made up some pumpkin pie's and had a piece or should I say a 1/4 of the pie waiting for me.  I chowed down this whole piece and drank some more Ultragen.  I was so pumped right here. it was crazy!  The crew gathered, the aid station workers, the sun shining, the atmosphere, this is my church!  I wasted little time other than mass pie consumption then Jason and I headed up the hill out of the aid station.

Unfortunately I had a not so great section though here.  It was sluggish, moving but not optimal.  I remembered my major crash out a Tahoe that I think was sugar related and took a gel just to try to get things back on track.  It worked, back in the game!  We hit the 50 mile mark AS ran by my friend Coleen who had a snicker bar waiting for me.  The temps were dropping suddenly and I did not bring any extra clothes.  Fear not! Co-RD Stuart was there and lent me a pair of arm warmers.  I gave some high-fives, some hugs and got the hell out.  This next section continued to be a bit troublesome.  I was having some knee and groin pain that kept the pace a little slower than I would have liked, especially since this section was some of the most runnable of the course.  We worked thought it by being stubborn and just accepting that this was what I had to deal with.  I was rolling up on mile 68 where I was going to swap pacers and Dema was going to join me and give Jason a break.

We arrived at the Hazel Creek aid station at mile 68.  I decided on a sock change and to do a little work on my feet as they were getting a little chewed up.  All the rocks and loose off camber footing can take a toll on you out here.  I also grabbed some warmer clothes as the temps were going down into the 30.  After a relatively quick transition given the foot care, I was back on the trail.  Dema  decided it was time to take things up a notch.  We ran along until about mile 75 where the Aid Station folks let me know I was in 8th and that 6th and 7th were 11 and 9 minutes ahead of me respectively.  Dema said "let's go get them!"  We pressed this section HARD! I don't recall walking much of it.  The next aid station was the Berryman Campground at mile 81.  Dema would swap me back to Jason here.  We caught a glimpse of some headlamps and put the hammer down.  I was charging up hills and had caught 7th and 6th place just before getting into Berryman.  I was tired and my stomach was in knots but I was not going to hang around here long.  I grabbed some soup and some coke and walked out to let things settle.  One of the guys who I passed, passed me back but after 10 minutes or so I was back running again and regained the 6th spot again.  When we arrived at the mile 89 aid station Nick Lewis was sitting down, all bundled up.  He had hurt his ankle earlier but was still pressing on as much as he could.  Nick is a top notch runner so to see him still out there gutting it out after things went really south shows a lot of character.  I said a few quick words, grabbed a chicken quesadilla and kept moving.  I felt like I was fading so continuing to move seemed like the right choice versus hanging around at the aid station and thinking about it.  This next section seemed like I would never get though it.  Time felt like it was standing still.  I was still running the flats and downhills but was just not in it mentally.  We had rolled up on the 5th place runner but I did not think I had the sauce to stay in front of him at this point so I waived Jason back from passing him and we let him go.  I figured it would take 2 hours to cover this 7.5 miles then all of a sudden Jason said "we're here, you made great time!"  I almost cried as I was so relieved to be at the last aid station before the finish and it took about 20 minutes less than expected.  My mom and Dema were there and I needed little as it was just time to finish this thing off.  I saw the 5th place runner sitting in a chair and I said "let's get out of here" to Dema and we were out.

I threw down on this next section.  I don't know what pace I was running but it was fast for 97 miles into a race.  I was not letting up.  This trail was trending downhill for a few miles and I was not going to walk an inch of it.  I wanted to.  I kept hoping for a hill to walk up but there were none coming.  After about 30 minutes I finally got my hill.  I walked up it with a purpose.  If someone was going to catch me here, they would have to be flying.  And if they did catch me, I was at my top end so I don't know that I could have responded much.  I just kept my head down and giving everything my legs would give me.  Dema did not have to say much here as my motivation to finish was high. I had told Jason earlier in the day that 22:30 was the goal and I was going to be around it, the question was over or under?

We finally rolled off the trail and hit the campground area around the Bass River Resort where we had left from the morning before.  I was still running. 102+ miles down and I could still run.  I wouldn't win a 5k moving like this but it was fast enough to be considered at least a fast jog and above a shuffle.  Training paying off and realizing in the moment.  This is why you do it, why you train, why you sacrifice sleeping in on the weekends, why you pass up the night out having some beers.  All culminated in the last few steps of a run that started the day before.  I see the clock glowing in the distance, I thank Dema and we roll into the finish line.  RD Paul is there to congratulate me on my 4th place, 22:17 minutes finish along with the rest of the crew.  Hugs for everyone!  What a day.

Tommy had taken 2nd in a sick time of 20:07, Kyle Gibbs took 3rd nipping at his heels in 20:19.  Pierre Deragne broke the course record in 18:33.  Katie DeSplinter took the ladies crown and new course record also.

I can't even put in to words how it felt to run a decent 100.  It's just been this thing that I could not quite reach.  Was this my best 100?  Maybe.  If the courses ended at 100, I would have been under my previous best time on a much harder course, but with way better weather so it is hard to compare directly.  It was my most complete race.  I left a little out there by keeping things really conservative early on but this race was about finding some confidence and I found it.  Now I'm taking a little time off.  I need a break to heal up.  I'll hit the gym a little, get my diet back in check, do some yoga, sleep in, run a little here and there, no real plan.

I need to thank Paul and Stuart, the volunteers,  crews, and other runners.  Thanks for making the experience great!  Congrats to all the finishers and others who toed the line to dance in the leaves on Nov 3-4.

Monday: Abs and sprint workout. - 3.1 miles

Tuesday: rest day

Wednesday: Easy run with strides and interval bike ride - 9 miles

Thursday: Hill session and core - 8.5 miles

Friday: easy 4 pushing my daughter in the jogger

Saturday: 4 hours on the Green Rock trail with the boys. Great weather and felt like I could run forever. - 21 miles

Sunday: Negative split run for 1 hour.  8:14's out and 6:35's coming back with a 6:07 for my last mile of the week. Smokin!! some core work and a recovery ride - 8 miles

Total: 54 miles ran, 11:16 minutes of total training

The basics. This did not go as planned. I finished in 27:07. I'm not happy with my performance but I'm proud of my effort.

The details. This course is stunning.  As someone who grew up and lives in Illinois, I was in awe of the scenery the entire race.  When everything was going south I could always look in any direction and be inspired by the views around me.  This course is hard, no doubt.  It averages over 8,000 feet above sea level and there is 20K+ of climbing that has to be done.

As far as fitness goes, I was/am in the best shape I have ever been in.  Even with feeling low at the higher altitudes and hiking the climbs I was moving as well as I could have hoped.  I hit the 30 mile mark in under 5 and 1/2 hours and felt amazing.  Things started to go south from there.  Once you leave the Diamond Peak Ski Lodge at mile 30, the course shoots up a ski run.  I believe the stat was 1800 feet of climb in 2 miles. 1 mile of that is at a 40% grade.  Of course my heart rate was high though here so eating was hard.  Then you tend to hang out at the higher altitudes of the course where it reaches 9200 at Snow Peak in the 43 mile range.  This whole section was tough.  Not because of fitness but because food was not digesting.  I kept kicking along until finally I had a good old dry heave.  I actually felt better after this.  That plus I was descending down to the Start/Finish at 7200 feet.

Things seemed to have turned around when all of a sudden my right abdominal muscles seized up. It made breathing hard so I hiked it into the start/finish.  My time was still in good shape as I hit the 50 mark just under 10:30.  My thought was to hit the massage table and have them work this out then get back out there.  When I showed the people at the massage table my stomach and how it was cramped up on the right side there was a uniform "WHOA!" from those around.    Another problem was I was down weight so the aid station folks made me hang around until I could get back up a few pounds.  And here is where I made a huge mistake.  I was in a hurry and thirsty so I chugged an entire can of coke then left the aid station with my pacer John just over the 11 hour mark.  We did not get a mile before I had a sugar crash of epic proportion. Of course I did not realize what was happening in the moment only now that my head is clear can I see what I did wrong.

This was rough, I just shuffled along, foggy and slow for about 7 miles.  We hit an aid station and I ate as much food as I could then walked out hoping that things would turn around. If they hadn't I was fairly certain I was going to drop. They did turn around and we just started moving a little faster and a little faster.  After 3+ hours of walking (slow walking) I was finally moving again.  However this was short lived as my heart rate would get really high and I'd dry heave again.

I pretty much played this game of run a bit, dry heave, go back to walking before I finally settled with the fact that today was a "I'm going to finish and not hate myself" day.  I just told John, "this is going to take a little longer than planned"  He as good with it and just kept motivating me as needed.  John and I talked and power hiked for a long time and we'd try to squeeze in a little running here and there before I'd pull to the side of the trail and wretch a bit. Ah the life of an ultrarunner.  It was super dusty with all the runners and lack of rain out there so on top of dry heaves from altitude, I also had a few brought on by the dust.

Some where when the mileage hit the mid-upper 80's the sun starting coming up.  This was something I'd hope to avoid.  We hit the high point of the course at Snow Peak and the sun was coming up over our left shoulders casting a shadow of the mountain  on Lake Tahoe.  This is quite possibly the most beautiful scene I have witness personally.  That could be mixed with the fact that I had about 7 miles of mostly downhill or flat miles left to go too.  Either way, I was glad to have seen it.

I just did my best to keep plodding along and even fit in a few stretches of running here and in the final time on the course.  As we rounded the flat area around Spooner Lake before reaching the finish I heard my daughter yell for me and I just smiled.  Not the day I wanted but having my family awake and waiting at the end was a very good ending to a tough day.

This was a really nice race.  Well organized and very good aid.  I never came into an aid station and did not have someone there waiting on me.  In some cases an individual would just stay with me and help me exclusively until I left the aid station.  How's that for service?!  My crew of my wife, Jan and Dave (in-laws)  were great!  Very inspiring, had food ready and always there to help in any way they could.  My biggest thanks goes out to my pacer John Cash.  Along with crewing during the day he stuck it out with me for 16 hours on the trail.  Pacing sucks and it's hard, especially when you're not running.

What now?  I'm not satisfied with this one at all.  I'm always going to be hindered by altitude until I move somewhere where the air is a little thinner but I made some mistakes that could have been avoided.  I'm signed up for the Ozark Trail 100 in November.  Time to put this fitness and leanings to the test again and see what happens.

Below are some pics and even a few panoramas that I've taken in the last few day.

Tuesday - easy run with strides. 10.3 miles

Wednesday - Tabata bike and core

Thursday - rest

Friday - easy run and core - 6.58

Saturday - had 5 hours planned but only landed 3:40.  Busy day plus heat was over 100 when I stopped. - 20 miles

Sunday - Very good run on the Berryman Trail while we mapped out aid stations for Mark Twain 100 Good pace, fueling, and hydration made this an awesome day to hang on the trail with the boys - 25.5 miles

Total 69 miles and 12:53 of total training

The heat takes a lot out of me so I spent a fair amount of this weekend, post run, just laying around.  It seems to have worked as I feel excellent right now and ready to push though this last big week before Tahoe Rim 100! It's on!

And for your viewing enjoyment and my inspiration for my post title, The Eagles of Death Metal - Solid Gold.  Enjoy!!

Wednesday - Speed work on the road. Meetings ended at 8:30pm got in what I could before the park closed. 3.1 miles

Thursday - missed my 10ish mile trail run with time constraints.  Plus it was my 9 year wedding anniversary so decided missing an easy mid week run was ok. 4.1 miles

Friday - rest

Saturday - just a hair under 6 hours on the Green Rock with Tommy and John joining us for about 1/2. - 30 miles

Sunday - recovery run 10 miles

Total 69 miles and 12:37 of total training

A good week for sure. Several tough trail runs and never felt like I was worn out or lacking turnover.  However, two times this week I walked away from what could have been some nasty falls.  On Tuesday running on the trail, I caught a root with my toe and bent over at the waist so far that I had to have been below 90 degrees while still running.  I felt my core engage and pulled myself upright and just kept cruising.  The guys I was running with said they were not sure how I came out of that.  The second fall was Saturday and I did go down but not all the way.  We we coming down a rocky downhill section that requires some good footwork to navigate and I was not paying attention close enough, caught a rock and went down.  What was crazy was I never actually hit all the way. I was laid out, sideways on the trail, sliding downhill on my water bottle in my left hand and on my toes in the back just inches from the ground. I popped up in a cloud of dust and just finished the decent.  I gouged up my hand with some rocks that slid in between my handheld and the bottle but other than that and a few scrapes, I'm good.  My buddy Tommy described the fall as a "sliding plank."

I'm fortunate to have been guided to do so much core work this year.  I think if this would have happened last year, I could have been in worse shape. In both of these falls, I could feel my core engaging and holding strong as the event was happening.

 Wednesday - Speed work AM, easy run PM - 11.8

Thursday - missed my workouts. work and getting ready for a weekend away

Friday - travel to Big Horn 100 for pacing

Saturday - things did not go as planned only ended up with 10 miles pacing

Sunday - hard run in the heat after all day in the plane - 8.1 miles

Total: 37 miles and around 6 hours of training.

Not the training week I was hoping for but I think I needed a down week.  I've been feeling a little fatigued as of late.  I could already tell on my run yesterday that a few days of rest really helped.  I was thinking I'd grab a big mileage week with the pacing but my runner ended up dropping at 50.

Not 100% sure what happened to my friend John but the altitude really hit him hard.  He diplayed all the effects of altitude sickness and had problems right from the start of the day.  I ended up having to run into the aid station at mile 45 to get him as the AS workers were not letting him out by himself.  I kept talking to him and trying to gage his health but never felt like he was himself.  Lots of long pauses in speech, a headache, dizziness.  All a little scary to see.  I've seen some really beat up people at races and even crewed Ryan Dexter and a 200 mile race and he never displayed these types of symptoms.  Ryan showed massive amounts of fatigue but never the cognitive and vision issues that John displayed.  After looking back at it all we're thinking he may be low blood iron as he did Tahoe 100 last year at the same elevation profile and showed none of these effects.  He's going to get his blood tested to find out.  I hope that is what it is because that is a quick fix.

Big mileage coming this week and its going to be a scorcher around here.  Lots of running, eating, and sleeping coming up!

some pics from Big Horn below.

Total - 85.5 miles and 12.37 hours of total training

Felt really good all week, even up to my last mile of the week on Sunday.  Heading out to Sheridan, WY to pace my buddy John Cash at Big Horn.  Can't wait, he's lined up to throw down in mountains!

Wednesday - Negative split run. Felt like a bag of hot garbage - 15 miles

Thursday - speed work AM, easy run PM  - 11 miles

Friday - rest

Saturday - Negative split - WAYYYY better than Wed. 8:30's out 6:40's back

Sunday - easy trail run and Full Metal Jacked - 10 miles and messed up and tripled the ab work.  My stomach muscles are still sore

Total: 50 miles ran with 9:51 minutes total workout time

A solid week through the hot temps and high humidity.  Except for a junk run on Wednesday I've been feeling excellent in terms of fitness.  For my core/strength workout Sunday I decided to take to the sidewalk/street in front of my house.  I ended up with a few kids that decided to try to do the workout with me.  My daughter (green shirt) and the neighbor boy Tyler (white shirt) hung on the longest before becoming board and deciding to jump on another neighbors trampoline.

This year I have a coach who is pushing me to not only be built for the long haul but also to increase speed in the process.  Strength work, explosion, core, as well as  short sprints and up to mile repeats have been on the training calendar this year.  I'm faster, I've built more speed.  I returned to the same 5k one year later to see what had changed.  First off, the course was a little over a 1/2 of a city block longer.  In an ultra, that's literally nothing, in a 5k, that's 15 seconds.  Second, last year was cool enough that I put on a long sleeve shirt afterwards.  This year was 80 degrees and 80% humidity at the start.  Not ideal conditions but it would be over with quick.

Long story short, I ran an 18:35.  Good enough for 4th out of 551.  22 seconds faster than the year before with the course change and heat.  I call that a lot of improvement in my book. And for the record, I have no idea how to properly run a 5k. My splits were 5:56, 6:00, and 5:49.  I'm not 100% sure but I would think an 11 second per mile swing from 2-3 is a bit much.

UPDATE: JFK 50 record holder, David Riddle, says my 5k splits were good so that settles it. I guess I know how to run a 5k.

@travisliles Those splits look great to me. Especially since your last mile was fastest. It would be very hard to do much better.

— David Riddle (@rundavid1) May 29, 2012

On the training front:

Monday - Easy with strides + core, 8.1 miles

Tuesday - Tabata bike sprints + core

Wednesday - core + hill work,

Thursday - Easy trail run with strides at the end + core - 7.1 miles

Friday - Rest day

Saturday - 5k + 17 mile bike - 3.1 miles

Sunday - 3 hour trail run. Ran in the middle of the day for the heat.  By the end I was covered in bugs and very happy to have my daughter and wife stop by the trail and throw some water on me  - 17 miles

Total 44 miles ran, 8:24 of total training

It has been crazy hot here for May with records breaking almost every day. Times suffer but its a great opportunity to put nutritional plans to the test.  I'm currently tinkering with my GU Roctane drink mix to water ratio and just how little supplimental sodium I can get away with.  We'll see.....

Let's just say that was a bad call.  Given a 6:30AM start, I'd of needed to run about 8 hours to make all of this click (my buddy Chad won in just over 8). I'm sure I am capable of that but probably not in 90+ degree heat in May.  Long story short, I packed it up after one loop in 3:53 then headed home and still barely made it in time to get out the door.  If I did not have the day planned that I did, I would have just stuck it out and got it done, but I made the executive decision to call it and be home for the family.  Bad planning on my part, I should have just ran the marathon distance but figured "what the heck, lets see what happens."

Monday - Moderate pace run - 10.58 miles

Tuesday - light core and tabata sprints on the bike

Wednesday - Core and Negative split. Ran with my buddy Jason. First 4 miles @ 8:00's. Second 4 miles progressed a bit and landed 20:12 for the last 5k. - 8 miles

Thursday - core and no time for a run with work schedule

Friday - rest

Saturday - 1 loop at Berryman. 25.4 miles

Sunday - off

Total - 44 miles and 6:30 of total training.

A light week but 3 very solid runs.  The good news about stopping after one loop is no downtime to recover as Tahoe 100 approaches. Less than 2 months away now.  My wife and I worked out logistics and have our flights booked. Let get it!!

Check out the questions and comments under the original artilce for some really great insight into how others are getting along with the device. http://www.irunfar.com/2012/05/suunto-ambit-review.html

Total - 8:55 hours of training and 49 miles

Not a stellar week with mileage as I missed my long run on Sunday with Mother's Day activites, but had some pretty killer mile reapeats and sprint work. Love ya mom, thanks for the legs!

Wednesday - core, pair of easy runs - 16.39 miles

Thursday - core, 50 meter sprints - 3.1 miles

Friday - rest

Saturday - Hit the staple Green Rock trail. Felt good even with the temps climbing - 25 miles

Sunday - Core and two easy runs. One in the AM, one in the PM - 10 miles

Totals - 11.5 hours of training including 67.84 miles ran

Felt great after low miles and recovery last week.  My diet is back where it needs to be and have been experiencing some success using GU Roctane drink as my electrolyte and calorie supplement (plus gels) for the long stuff.   I'll keep tinkering with the in-run fueling a bit but I feel like I'm on to something by keeping it simple and avoiding too many different pieces of the puzzle.

Potowatomi Trail Runs is the renamed McNaughton Park Trail runs.  After an RD change a few years back, the current RD's gave a new name to the races but kept the course which runs though McNaughton Park in Pekin, IL.  Why do I call this out?  Mainly because it's a little confusing that there is currently another race in Vermont that has the McNaughton name.  I ran Potawatomi 50, in McNaughton Park, located in Pekin, IL, not Vermont. Cool?  Ok, let's do this. The course is a 10 mile loop that is either single track or wide grassy prairie.  There are a lot of hills that add up to about 1600 feet of climb per 10 miles.  None of these hills are very big.  150 feet of climbing would probably be the biggest of the bunch, but they are all really steep to going up and coming down.

I've run this course a lot. This was the place where I ran my first ultra (and trail race) back in 2006 when I limped my way though 30 miles.  The following year I decided to train to run longer trails races and took on my first 50 where I completed it in 11:24. This course is also where I ran my first 100 so to say I know my way around would be a fair statement.  My goal in this race was to really take a look at where I stand today versus my first 50 5 years prior.

Race conditions looked great.  There was a 150 mile race that kicked off on Friday at noon.  My friend Ryan Dexter was running in it so I arrived in Pekin a little early on Friday to cheer him on.  The trail was in awesome shape.  With the exception of the year before, when I went and paced for my buddy Tommy, I'd never seen it look this good.  After I chatted with Ryan a bit, picked up my packet, and said hello's to some fellow runners, I headed off to the hotel to eat and get to bed early.

I ended up sleeping a little more than usual the night before a race and felt good when I woke.  The weather still was holding up nicely.  It was about 60 degrees and overcast.  I chatted with my buddy John (who went on to win the 100) and some other runners before the gun went off.  I knew I was going to race, not just run, today so I started up towards the front just to make sure to stay out of the crowds on the we hit single track a mile in.

I settled into a mostly comfortable pace.  Pushing a little, but not over-doing it.  The trail was in even better shape than I could have hoped.  I had EFS drink and liquid shot along for the ride.  Drinking when thirsty and taking a shot of the EFS every 1/2 hour.  It had started raining around 7am.  I hoped it would be just a little or slow down.  That was not the case.  I hit my first lap around 1:32.  My wife had made up a 2nd bottle of EFS drink for me and laid out 3 Clif Shot Gels for me.  I grabbed those up quickly and got back out.

My second lap was almost identical to my first except it was pouring and I knew things were going to get ugly.  I crossed mile 20 at 3:06.  The third loop was getting a little sketchy.  See, there is not a lot of rock under trails in this part of the country.  The ground is made up of top soil layered upon clay.  Once water gets on it, it just turns to goop, then after that top soil is removed from foot traffic you get to the clay which is really slick when wet.  I just kept charging as well as I could on lap 3 and fell off a bit but was still feeling great.  30 miles down in about 4:46.

Lap 4 was a rough one.  The trail was a slop hole.  The flat spots were several inches deep with mud and the steep climbs were so slick it was like ice.  Imagine a 20% grade with no traction where you are pulling yourself up by grabbing roots and saplings on the side of the trail.  Because there were several spots like this the 150 miler were having a rough go since they'd been out there for 12+ hours already and the 100 milers were less than half done so I did my best not to complain and just get though it.

Mud like this is demoralizing.  It takes away your ability to move efficiently.  Hills that I had the legs to run up were now almost impossible to do anything more that walk up.  Even walking was a lot of energy.  Take a step and it would slide back a bit, take another step, same thing.  Downhills were sort of like skiing. Keep your knees together, sit back a little and "Pizza/French Fry" your way down.  Oh well, that's trail running right? Smile and get though it.  Lap 30-40 was a 1:52.  A major drop-off from the previous but mostly because of terrain.  I had a bit of a low spot somewhere during this lap but overall my legs still felt capable.  I came though the Start/Finish, high-fived my daughter, swapped bottles, and kept chugging away.

I knew my sub-8 hour goal was out the door but I had that in my mind as a "if everything was right" and with the mud that was not the case.  Nothing special here on this last lap.  I really just wanted to get it over with so I ran in all the spots that I could (not very many) and made sure to thank all the aid station workers for their help and support throughout the day.  Running in the rain and 60-70 degrees is not bad because you are moving and generating body heat.  Standing around and serving food and drink in that can be miserable and cold.  Thanks folks it was greatly appreciated!!

I crossed the finish line in 8:37 and some change and took 2nd (100 registered, not sure how many started).  This was the highest I've ever finished in race and it felt good to have run the time I did given the course conditions.  My legs felt good the whole time which is a testament to my training and investment in a coach this year.  Thank Matt Hart! (@thematthart).

I knocked 2 hours and 47 minutes off of my initial 50 mile time on the exact same course in a 5 year span.  I'm fairly certain that number would have been over 3 hours if not for the course conditions.  Why does that matter?  In terms of stats to the outside world it doesn't.  No one really cares about my times except me.  However, I can look back and see a huge leap in ability that has taken place by training consistently, working hard, pushing myself by training with runners more talented that I, and learning along the way.  I'm still smiling thinking about how far I've come and how much fun I have had doing it.

A BIG BIG BIG shoutout to my awesome wife Micaela who has supported me in this passion over the years.  I could not do this without her.

Wednesday -  Tabata run and core - 3 miles

Thursday - rest

Friday - negative split run first 52:30 @ 7:58, 2nd 52:30 @ 7:24.  13.75 miles

Saturday - Hit the Green Rock trail. 22 miles

Sunday - rest, peeps, and ham

Total - 46 miles and 7:49 of training

An okay week coming off of a big one.  Some runs were spot on, others were just blah.  Really jacked about the mile splits.  I can say for certain that I have not ran anything that fast since high school track in 97.  This week is taper time and a 50 miler on Saturday.  Going to get to bed early every night, along with keeping the quality calories and fluids up.  Ready to do this!

Tuesday - mile repeats.. not my favorite - 7.6 miles 

Wednesday - ran twice to get the time in. felt beat the whole time. 16.5 miles

Thursday - negative split run. 8:11 out 7:12's back - 13.6 miles

Friday - rest day

Saturday - nice and easy on the trail. 7 miles

Sunday - Hit the old Green Rock trail with some buddies.  Temps reached 90 - 25.5 miles

Total - 74.5 miles and 12.5 hours total training.

Thats a good week for this guy.  Good mileage, speed work, heat training in April.  Sizzle!

On the racing front, I have Potowatomi 50 next weekend then its up in the air a bit.  I was going to hit the Kettle Moraine 100k but I may just try to squeeze into a local 50 and save a few bucks especially with some travel a little later this year. 

On a super awesome note, I was supprised by a text from my training partner, John Cash, asking if someone could "pick me up from the airport in Reno on July 20th."  I pulled out the decoder ring and that means hes pacing for me at Tahoe Rim Trail 100!!! So in turn today I booked my flight so I can go out and pace him at Big Horn 100 in June.    Things are shaping up nicely!

Monday - was supposed to be a rest day but I got a new piece of shiny gear that I felt compelled to use so I snuck out for an easy 4 miles

Tuesday - Easy run with some accelerations at the end. Felt good to get the legs turning over. 8.5

Wednesday - cross training with some isometric stuff

Thursday - rest day

Friday - cross training and running. 7 miles

Saturday -  Negative split for 3 hours. First 11 miles around 8:50, second 11 a bit under 7:50 - 22 miles

Sunday - hill repeats at the bluff on Chubb Trail. 3.5 miles. The family went with me and hiked around a bit while I ran.  I attached some picutures below

Total - 46 miles and 7.5 hours total training.

Volume picks back up this week and I finally have a week where I am not traveling for work so looking forward to getting all my workouts fit in.

Potowatomi 50 mile is in 2 weeks. This is course is where I ran my first 50.  It took me 11:24 minutes.  Looking to chop about 3 hours off that time, weather permitting.

I met up with my friends, and cabin mates for the weekend, John and Dave over on the Missouri side of the river, thew all the race gear and whatnot for the weekend in my truck and headed down toward Mountain View, AK. It was a little cool and raining out on Thursday but with what the weather has done lately, it was anyones' guess as to what we would get over the weekend.

After about 5 hours in the truck we arrived at the Start/Finish of each days race, the Blanchard Springs Campground . We checked in, chatted a bit with some other runners, then headed to our cabin over at the Syllamore Lodges. We were lucky enough to snag the magical "Dreamcatcher" cabin. Exactly what 3 guys who would be our running in the woods for 3 days needs, a cabin tucked away in the Ozark Mountains with a jaccuzi tub and a giant dreamcatcher above one of the beds... mine. It was a pretty mystical setup. All kidding aside, the cabins down there are a good setup. They are priced well to split 3 ways and everyone gets their own bed to sleep in, clean towels, along with full kitchen and a hot shower. Its a heck of a lot better than running a 50k then a 50 mile then sleeping on the cold ground or in a car.

50k - The first day kicks off at 9am which is good for folks coming in that morning or who had been traveling all day on Thursday. It was chilly and I had frost on my windshield but not a cloud in the sky. The forecast called for 55 so I went with arm warmers, a sleeveless shirt, gloves, and shorts. I had the gloves off within 2 miles and the arm warmers down within 5. It heated up to close to 70 I would bet. I kept the fueling simple. I started with EFS drink in one hand and EFS  Liquid Shot in the other. I put down the EFS shot in 4 gulps over 2 hours then switched to just gels. I switched between straight water with Salt Stick pills or EFS in my bottle as I had a refill of it out at a drop bag spot. I ran medium hard the whole time then kicked it the last 5 miles to end the first day in 4:49. A solid effort on a tough course.

50 Mile - I ate two dinners and drank a lot of fluids after the 50k. This was needed to keep the calories up but I was paying for it the next morning. My stomach was in knots and just not digesting properly with the gun went off. I ran grumble guts for about the first 10 miles then things finally settled down. My intentions for the day were to run even, keep my stomach, and enjoy the day. No lolly-gagging, but not running out on the fringe all day and hating myself either. Diet for the day, just as the 50k, was a steady intake of EFS drink, Cliff Shot Gels, and a few bottles of EFS shot. I settled in at a good effort and just stayed in it for about 45 miles running with friends and chatting. I hit the last 5 hard and came in right at 9:51.

"20k" - I use quotes becuase this thing was every bit of 14 miles if not even a little more. Another 2 miles is no big deal in the grand scheme of the weekend, but an extra 25 minutes sure seemed like a long time. It was cool and pouring rain and my cold that I had been keeping at bay all weekend was hitting me hard. Anyway, nothing special here, just kept chugging along until it was over. 2:14

Overall - I ended up 5th overall behind some major talent. Nick Lewis, Ashley Nordell, and Darren all crushed it. Also, Aaron from KC who finished 4th had a really solid weekend. I can't complain about anything. I went with the idea of just taking each day as it came and ended up running well and not turning myslef inside out to do it. This is why I run.

Notes - This race is a lot of fun. Being able to interact with other runners for 3 straight days makes this event worth checking out. Each day after the run you hang out, cheer in the other runners, eat, and hang out some more. That is a really unique opportunity that you wont find at other runs. Usually you see you runner friends before the race then maybe out on the course later and potientially afterward, but that is usually it. This race you get to do that 3 times. It's very social and if you like that part of ultrarunning (and who doesn't?) then this should be on your calendar for next year. Just keep your head up as the marking on this course is a bit... loose.

Weekly Totals: 110 miles and 19:30 hours of running, 

Tuesday - 6x400's stayed really steady on these. between 1:11 - 1:13 and strength afterward

Wednesday - Easy 6.6 on the single track and core work

Thursday - Day Off - work and life got in the way

Friday - Planned Day off

Saturday - Negative Split 7.72 miles pace back was 7:22

Sunday - 12 miles laid back on the trail with my buddy John.

Total - 41 miles and about 6:30 hours of training.

Very happy with this week coming off of what was a high volume one the week before. I’m looking forward to 3 Days of Syllamo this weekend, especially after last year's bust. I had an allergic reaction to some NSAIDs that caused some breathing issues. I had to keep my effort really low so I would not hyperventilate. It was Super Lame! Luckily I’ve not had to mess with NSAID’s or the like this year so hopefully I will not be dealing with anything random like that episode. I’m really looking forward to putting this training and nutritional plan to the test.

A while back I threw in a "sweet piece of gear" note and I figured I'd share another one with you. Up top I have a "My Gear" section. I have the Rudy Project Ekynox SX called out already but I picked up some new lenses and I'm not sure why I did not have these before. They are called... get ready for it... IMPACTX PHOTOCHROMIC CLEAR. Yep, that’s the name of the lenses. Here's what it means. They are clear, change to dark when light hits them, and have a durable coating on them. I've been wearing them a lot lately. They are spot when trail running because sometimes you're back in the trees and don’t need dark lenses so they lighten up to almost clear. Other times your running out on a ridge or on a road section and the sun is beating down and they get dark. Of course they transition to everything between those 2 scenarios too.

Wednesday - 6 miles, 6x400's on the hotel treadmill and drills in parking lot (I was THAT guy)

Thursday - 19.5 miles, Climbing workout then an easy shake out.

Friday - 6.2 miles, super easy

Saturday - 11.2 miles, easy out, picked up the pace back

Sunday - 24 miles, steady run on the Green Rock trail with the sun shinning

Total: 83.5 miles and a little over 14 hours of total training.

This is on the high side in terms of volume for me, but man did I feel great. I was not just out slogging miles. I was running sprints, hill repeats, recovery runs.. you know a plan. Looking over the last 10 days puts me at 113.79 miles. Not 100% sure but that's got to be close to a 10 day high for me.

Onward and upward!

To put it lightly, I've been really busy with work the last few weeks.  The basics go like this:

Jan 23 - 28 - 42 miles, lots of strength work

Jan 29 - Feb 4 - 63 miles most while out in Seattle for work. Cranked out some fast ones this week.  Set my PR on a trail I run all the time. It's a 10 mile loop and I set the time during a 20 mile run on miles 10-20.  Pumped.

Feb 5 - 11 -  53 miles.  Should have been more but dinged up my quad on a bike ride and had to cut a hour off my long weekend run.  The good news is that even holding back I ran one of my faster times on my go-to weekend run on the Green Rock trai.  Disappointed that I had to cut it short but was encouraged that I ran what I did while holding back so much.

Feb 12 - 19 -  26 miles+.  Quad was pretty sore on Monday so I went to my chiro and she worked a serious knot out of my quad and poof, the issue was pretty much gone.  Still I talked with my coach and we decided on a rest week.  I kept stretching and foam rolling and things felt way better.  Good enough that I did a 32 story stair climb in Springfield, IL. 

It took me 2:59 seconds to get to the top which was good enough for 10th overall out of 600 or so.  It was a really cool event and there were some real deal climbers there that taught me a thing or two. Justin Stewart is a top flight guy in terms of US stairclimbing so it was really awesome to run into someone like this and have the chance to chat a bit.  He even paced me during my climb.  Amazing how much more fluid he was than me. I was like a bull in a china shop while this guy glided along.  Check out one of his workouts here  

On Sunday I had a 2 hour and 10 minute Negative Split run scheduled. The goal for these is keep it easy for the first half then pick it up for the second "half." The plan was 8 miles out in 1:10 followed by 8 miles back in 1 hour.  From a split persective, thats 8:45 out/7:30 back.  I eased in and felt great outbound really having to hold back to keep the pace in that 8:45 range.  I hit 8 miles at 1:10 on the nose then headed back.  Legs felt great despite the ass kicking stair climb the day before so I settled in to what felt like about 7:30 which was in fact a little closer to 7:05.  This pace got progressively faster and ended up landing my last 3 miles of the run in 19:42 with gas still in the tank and more turnover available. 

The quad feels great, my travel is slowing down a little and results are showing in terms of my speed.  Super excited for the upcoming race season to start! 

Monday- rest

Tuesday- easy bike, weights, core - 2 hours

Wednesday- 2 runs, sprints AM, easy short PM - 10.7 miles

Thursday- lunges, core, pushups, wrecked - 45 minutes

Friday- leg blasters, easy trail - 9 miles

Saturday- rest

Sunday- 9 mile hike with 30lb pack - 3 hours

Total - 29 miles, 9 hours training time This sort of week is hard on me mentally.  I have a rough time looking at 29 miles and feeling good, but I did some out of the box training this week that I know will be helpful for the long haul. I still hit 9 hours or training time which is about what I averaged last year, it was just all running as opposed to running and wieghts, core, etc.

Busy week ahead with work and some travel so I'm going to have to work on a strict schedule to get in what I need too.

I'm not in the hood by any stretch, but I did think this was a funny scene right at the trailhead

 Monday - short easy run and core work - 4 miles
Tuesday - Speed work in the AM, shake out in the PM - 11.8 miles
Wednesday - leg workout and easy run with accelerations at the end - 7 miles
Thursday - Treadmill progression run. Warm up and 9m/m then increase speed/effort every 10 minutes until 6:24m/m for last 2 minutes - 9 miles
Friday - active recovery run - 5.2 miles
Saturday - Easy trail with hard 20 minutes at the end. - 21 miles 4k climbing
Sunday -  Fat burning run. Kept it easy - 12.75 miles

 I ended up with a total of 71 miles for the week and right at 12 hours of training.  This type of volume for me has tended to come near peak training time so to hit it this early and still feel strong is a great sign.  That Saturday run is on my staple trail, the Green Rock, and I think I may have ran the last 2.5 miles as fast as I ever have.  Sunday was also a good indicator as I ran comfortable with hardly any soreness or major fatigue.  It seems like I am starting to adjust to the strength and core training and it is not having as much of an "negative" effect on my pace and effort as several weeks ago.

 Lastly, I'll call out a sweet new piece of gear that I picked up, the  Patagonia Wind Shield Jacket http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/mens-wind-shield-jacket?p=24982-0-791 . I wore this all weekend.  Saturday was about 12 degrees at the start of the run and this jacket paired with a silk-weight base layer long sleeve was perfect.  Plus when it warmed up the full legnth zipper and vented pockets allowed heat to escape.  Sunday warmed up but was really windy. I wore a sleeveless shirt and the jacket and again that was all I needed for 40 degrees and 25mph cold winds blowing across the open fields here in IL. 

 Hope you had a great week!

Monday - speed work and strength training - 5.5 miles

Tuesday - 1 hour easy bike and strength training

Wednesday - Tabata runs, these sucked! It's a 24 minute workout with 4 minutes of hell ~3 miles

Thursday - Easy trail run - 7.75 miles

Friday - strength training, leg specific

Saturday - off

Sunday - Anaerobic threshold for 2.5 hours on the Chubb Trail. Pretty solid outing with my buddy Tommy who kept me honest and pushing on some really tired legs from the day before. Hit the climbs hard -16.5 miles and around 2k of climb

Total - 33 miles ran, 1 hour bike and 3 leg/strenght workouts.

That Sunday run was a bear. My legs were trashed from the first step so to average a 9 minute pace on this trail with mutiple climbs between 200-400 feet is a good feeling. Sometimes its good to just see what you can grunt out.

Tuesday - sprints and leg work

Wednesday - 40 minutes super easy running to shake things out.

Thursday - 13.5 miles on Silver Lake Trail

Friday - weights at the gym

Saturday - 25 miles on the Berryman Trail with friends (running and scouting for Mark Twain 100)

Sunday - rest

Total - 48.11 ran/10.5 hours of run+cross training

A little lighter miles this week but starting to feel the positive effects of the strength training.  We turned it up a bit in the last 5 miles of the 25 on Saturday.  Running in the high 7's on the flats and mid 9's on the climbs was pretty great, especially after a leg workout the day before.

Also, I'm signed up for my "A" race for 2012.  Tahoe Rim 100, here I come!

Lastly.... I had a goal to hit 2400 miles for 2011 and I ended up with 2425 which is exactly a 20% gain in mileage over 2010 where I hit 2021.

The bottom 20% is not really affected by the competition. The assumption here is that these runners, are either slower and fighting cutoffs or just out enjoying the run with no regards toward finishing time. These types of runners are not in it to compete so higher competition means little to them to begin with. My gut tells me that their training will pretty much stay the same.

The middle 50% is a pretty large band. All type of folks exists here and of course make up the majority of finishers of any race distance. Where the "just jogging won't work" mentality starts to take hold is toward the top of the 50%. See someone that decides to take it up a notch can make that move into the 25% and that steady 25% guy or gals now finds themself fighting to not be middle of the pack.

The 25% again gets fun at the top. That top tier 25% individual can maybe move into that bottom 5% and again the bottom 5% person is fighting to not be 25%.

While most of this current talk is about the tops in the sport, the rest of the field won't just sit back and watch as the fast get faster. The majority of the spectrum will adjust their game to meet the new "expectation." Like to compete and are comfortable with your training? It might be time to start getting uncomfortable if you plan to hold on to your spot in the pack. Everyone's getting faster and the "just finish" mentaility is not what it's all about anymore, for better or for worse.

Tuesday - leg workout then 12 miles on the muddy wet trail (lots of fun)

Wednesday - 4 mile warm up and cool down with sprints. Run 2 was 5.1 miles on the treadmill at an easy pace

Thursday - Leg workout at the gym

Friday - rest

Saturday - 24 miles on the trail with my buddies to celebrate the 24th of December.  Great run and lots of laughing as we crusied in the bright sun and the cold air.

Sunday - Merry Christmas to you with Tabata Run for 2.77 miles.  Legs were not digging turnover after 5 hours on the trail Saturday,  I'll sneak in a core  workout at somepoint tonight.

Totals: 56 miles ran. 11:30 minutes of total training all with a cold. blah. My abs are super sore this week, but my wife said my stomach "looked more ab-by." I win.

I've decided that its going to be a time to focus in and get more serious about things.  I'll still run for the fun of it as that's why I do this, but it sure feels good to nail a race and that item has been sporadic at best.  So what have I done to get focused? A few things, first and most important is changed my mindset.  It is really easy to say "this is it......this time I'm going to...." then as a little bit of time goes on, revert back to those comfortable training methods.  I'm not going to just get in miles in 2012, I'm going to get focused training in for 2012.  Second, I changed my diet.  I'm paleo focused.  I'm not crazy specific about the diet but I do my best to stick to it and when I can't I do my best to be gluten free and low carb.  Lastly, I hired a coach.  Matt Hart (blog)  @thematthart (twitter) took me on as a client and I'm really excited about it.  In my first week, I've already done more speed work than all of 2011 combined.  I look forward to another great year on the trail with friends and unlocking some of that potential that I've yet to do on my own.

Moday - 9.5 miles of running to the gym and back. Legs, lower back, core workout at the gym

Tuesday - 3 miles - Sprint work on the hotel treadmill

Wednesday - 7 miles run. Easy first 50 minutes. Acceleration the last 10 minutes. Core

Thursday - leg workout

Friday - Off

Saturday - 21 miles - Green Rock trail 4k of climb

Sunday - 4.8 miles - super easy and slow recovery run

A nice "back to training week."  The leg workouts were still with me on Saturday and made cornering switchbacks and downhill running a little tougher.  I could feel that deep soreness hanging around, but its new training and I used to lift weights a lot so not much of a suprise. 

I'm not sure if it is mental, a lack of something in terms of day-to-day diet, too much of something on race day, a combo of those, I have yet to pin it down.  The one thing I can say for certain is "I'm doing something wrong."  I've tried several things. 

• Electrolyte drink plus salt pills and a gels every half hour. 
• Just water, higher concentration salt pills, chews or beans on a steady basis
• Water, higher concentration salt pills more frequency, Amino Acid supplement to help feed off of fat to hopefully reduce calories

These are all failed attempts to keep food down.  In the beginning of the season I would have a race, mess up my stomach, throw up once then come back.  At Javelina last week, I continued to throw up from about miles 47 on every hour or so with a brief break where I stopped eating and went close to 3 hours before stepping off the trail to empty my stomach again.  My ribs hurt, my abs were sore, my throat raw, and I had simply had enough of this routine to do it for another 6 hours.

So here I am after a failed last race of the season.  I'm not going to try to convince myself that I am happy with my decision to drop.  In fact some part of me wishes I would have just kept walking and dealt with it.  Another part of me knows that even if I would have finished, I would not be happy with how it played out.  I did not go out to just finish the race.  I went out there to run a fast 100.  Not Hal or Evan fast, but Travis fast.  That goal kept slipping and slipping, along with the stomach problems and low energy for the calorie deficit made me throw my hands up and say "no more" at mile 80.

The bright side?  I feel good.  I could go run right now if I wanted to.  I am really excited about that. A few years back, 80 miles would have laid me out for a while.  I don't have the desire to run right now so I'll probably hold off a few more days or even a week, whatever feels right.  I also am already thinking of next year. 

See, that's the thing with a race this long.  Lots of things can go wrong, or right.  Finding that formula is what keeps me coming back for more.  My muscles are continuing to adapt to the needs of this sport, now I have to put in the work to get my stomach to follow along.  I grossly overlooked how serious I needed to take this subject and it came back to bite me.  Back to the drawing board... which is kinda fun.

Long story short, Eric had an awesome day and put up the 3rd most miles ever in the event at 43.37.  I ran strong until just after the 50k mark then had some stomach troubles that slowed me down a bit before I bounced back and ended up with 41.68 which is now the 5th most miles in the 9 year history.  Not bad for a grinding trail runner.

The best thing from the event was that my wife also came out and ran some miles.  She has just started running and is training for her fist 1/2 marathon next month.  Her training plan called for 7 miles and she put in 12.6. She's awesome!  To me, that's the cool and inspiring stuff.  I've run 40+ miles before.  My buddies working super hard in the 12 hour race had covered whatever miles they would achieve for the day.  Micaela, she'd never gone over 6 and she more than doubled that.

Also, my parents brought our daughter out to watch.  I'm not sure what she put in but she racked up some miles on foot and on her bike!

You can find more of Mike's interviews and musings over at his podcast site.  http://dirtdawg.podbean.com/

The Setup My good friend and one of my training partners John Cash (not the singer) and I hit the road mid-morning on Friday to drive up to Le Grange, WI. I was running the 100 mile and John the 100k with the Tahoe 100 in his near future. It was hot heading out of the St. Louis area and it was not any cooler in Le Grange. The mercury was over 90 degrees in both place and while some of that heat was around the last two weeks in our neck of the woods, it was happening all of a sudden in Wisconsin. The problem for me was since I was tapering I was not really spending much time in it so by no stretch was I ready for it. Luckily, the forecast showed that it would not be much over 80 on Saturday and that there may be a bit of rain in the afternoon. This would be ideal... if it happened.

The Course The course is made up of 2 parts. The first is a 100k which is a 62 mile out and back. This is the Start/Finish of the race as well as the entire course for the 100k runners. The second part of the course is a 38 mile out and back. The course itself is almost all off road, made up of wide Nordic trails, rolling prairie, or winding single track. Due to how the trail winds along the area, aid stations are highly accessible via road by both crews and the volunteers. The longest distance traveled between aid stations over the entire 100 miles is 5 miles and most of the time you travel no longer than 3 miles to either a manned or unmanned location.

To say it was a hot day is a bit of an understatement. Now, I'm not talking Badwater hot but 77 degrees at 4:30 am in Madison, WI the first week of June is a bad sign. The forecast had called for 80, but with the sun yet to rise and that mark already approaching, 80 would be here and gone in no time. John and I got our stuff put together then headed out the door for a short 10 minute drive to the race start. When we arrived I could not believe how many people were out. 121 people were lined up for the 100 mile and 60 rolling in the 100k. I was able to meet up with my friend Ryan Dexter who was going to be crewing for me during the day, then pacing for me though part the night. It gave me great confidence to have such an experienced and talented runner in my corner, plus with my time crewing and pacing Ryan during the McNaughton in Vermont 200 the last 2 years, we've spent a fair amount of time together on the trail. Returning from my Leadville crew later on in the day would be Dema and Randy.

I did the normal stuff when we arrived, chatted, lined Ryan out with some simple directions of food. Basically, have Nuun ready to go in one bottle and water in the other. Hand me a few gels every time I see him, and if it gets hot, fill up my bandana with ice. Besides that it was pretty simple, eat from the aid stations and keep moving. We took off when the RD said "GO" at 6am.

 The Race

I always try going out nice and easy. I wanted to hit the 50k mark in about 5:30. I cruised along, chatting with others and we ran. I hit the first mile or so in 9:45 and pretty much held that effort for the next 30. The problem was it heating up fast. I was soaked so I finally took my shirt off to avoid chaffing from that wet heavy fabric rubbing on me. The prairie areas were rough. 100% exposed wide trail with tall grasses on each side. It was already hot in here and going to get worse the next time though. Ryan was there at every crew accessible spot to crew and the non-crew accessible to snap some pictures. I hit the 50k mark in about 5:18. Ahead of where I wanted to be but the temps were suffocating. I stood there for a bit, sponged off, and took in a lot of watermelon, bananas, and anything else that looked good. I shot back out of the aid station to work my way back toward the prairie sections again.

Luckily at some point, the sun sat back behind some clouds when I was on the single track. I was hoping it would hold on until I was though the prairie but it was short lived. I hit the exposed sections and I have to guess it was over 100 degree for the heat index. No shade, hardly any breeze, all the tall grasses seemed to hold the heat in. I was fading really fast. The next time Ryan saw me was around mile 37. He started pushing calories hard and I tried to put down as much as I could over the next 10 miles. I popped out of the prairie section around mile 47 and into the aid station. Everyone was talking about how bad everyone looked and I seemed to be doing well. I ate more food then took a salt pill and within 10 seconds, I stepped away from the aid station and just puked up everything that was in me. Not to be gross, but in terms of volume, I did not know my stomach could even hold the amount of liquid that came back out. I sat there a second then Ryan said "I'll give you 30 seconds then you need to get going" I just said, "nope, I'm going now" and stood up really quick to try to jolt myself going again. I drank a cup of water and got back on the trail. I had not gone 50 feet and it all came right back up. I decided I had to let things settle, so I told Ryan I was going to hold off on anything for a bit.

I was just sipping a little here and there to keep my mouth wet as I moved along. I actually felt better but knew I had to start getting calories and liquids going again soon. The temps were too high to wait anything out too long. I took one gel, one SaltSick pill and a mouthful of water in a 5 mile stretch. When I saw Ryan again he said "take these" and opened his hand. It was 2 SaltStick pills. He then told me “I want both of these gone by the next time I see you in 5 miles.” It was 2 water bottles; one with double Nuun and another with something he takes that had electrolyes in it (still don’t know what it was exactly from a product standpoint). All this worked and I started coming back. My electrolyte balance had been way off and I was too far under to get the fluids out of my stomach. This super push of fluids and salt was just what I needed.

Even with a renewed mental attitude, my legs were killing me. They took a beating with me messing up my fluid intake. I was cramping and just working way too hard. Everything hurt. As I was closing in on about mile 56 or so I hear "Travis!" I was my buddy John. He had some of the same issues I had early on in the race and had caught back up to me. We worked our way back in to the 100k mark together. Chatting and just trying to keep the motivation high. There are mile markers on the ground and since this is an out and back I could see where I sat in the overall. Surprisingly, I was not that far out. Zach Gingerich was about 7 miles up on me, followed 2 miles back by Mark Tanaka, then after another 1/2 mile or so by my friend Paul Shoenlaub, then Jacob Joseph, who I had been running with several times during the day. That was about it until the finish line. John and I crossed the 100k mark together. He could have picked up some time here but he held back with me to keep me motivated and help me though a really low spot. That’s a good friend and training partner right there!  John finished 7^thin the 100k!

When I arrived at the 100k mark I see Dema and Randy waiting for me. Earlier, Ryan has asked if I wanted them to bring anything and I said; "McDonalds hamburger with no onions, fries and a coke" and BOOM! they delivered. I was in a daze here, mentally very cloudy. I was just dreading the idea of going back out for 38 more miles. I sat down, had Dema massage my calves, and threw on my calf sleeves. I ate my burger and drank this coke. It was good, really good. Ryan was ready to get out there with me so I got my head right and got out of there. I was the 7th 100 miler through but 5th and 6th dropped so I was in 5th leaving at the 12 hour and 19 minute mark.

I ran down Jacob and took a hard pass on him. He tried to hang for a minute but I just pressed it to open a gap. I was not sure how much I really had in the tank, but figured if I could make a good showing here maybe he would back off. It either worked or he was just hurting as bad as everyone else as I opened this up and did not see his headlamp behind me again for the rest of the race. I was now in 4th and had some serious folks in front of me. Badwater champion and the course record holder, Zach Gingerich, previous winner and super solid runner Mark Tanaka, and my friend Paul who was 16th overall at Leadville last year along with being a Mountain and Grand Slammer who at 51 is running better than ever, which is saying a lot.

I just tried to keep working hard. I did not have much of anything left. My right quad was trashed and I could hardly lift my leg up, but somehow I was still moving forward so what the hell, keep going, what else did I have to do?  Ryan and I were leaving the Highway 12 aid station as Zach was coming in. He has about 8 miles on me.  This was a very positive moment for me. He looked bad.. really bad. Just like me and everyone else. Even though this was not playing out like I wanted it to, it was not for anyone else either and I was still in it. Not only that, but I was in the hunt! As we approached the aid station at mile 81 I saw the two guys in front of me. 1st was Mark who was hurting but still moving forward at what looked like a good clip. Next was Paul who had climbed up to just a minute or so behind Mark. Paul told me to keep working and he was glad to see me out there. His wife Cindy gave him an update on my puke explosion at mile 47 so he was not sure if I would be still out there or not.

This was again good for me. I was gaining confidence that I was running with a solid crowd and it was not over yet. I hit the Rice Lake aid station at 81 miles and sat down for a minute. I drank an entire can of coke and a full cup of soup. I was still not what I would call 100%. Even given the mileage I was moving really slowly to what I feel like I am capable of. The daytime had put the hurt on me. My quad was at the point where I could not run up even the slightest incline. For lack of a better term, it was not firing. However, I can do a mean power walk so when it was not flat or down hill, that’s what I did. Randy hopped in for this leg with me. We worked our way back and just tried to hold down a decent moving pace. Speed was out so consistency was in. Before I knew it, we were back at the Highway 12 Aid Station. Again, more coke, more soup and off we went. Ryan was trying to get me worked up. "You're in it, go get it!" I crossed over the timing mat leaving the aid station and the volunteers yelled "You are 6 minutes behind Mark!" It was actually more like 10 but hey, I liked the encouragement.

Randy and I just kept pressing ahead. As I came into the unmanned aid station on Duffin Road, I caught the reflective trim of Mark’s shorts as he was climbing the hill across the street. He was right there! Now, I get that he was way below his best time out here, but not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be within striking distance of someone of his caliber. We left the aid station and within 15 minutes or so, I had passed him. By the time I hit the Bluff Road aid station at 92.8 I was sitting in 3rd place. I again grabbed for the soup and soda and kept moving. It was a pretty great feeling to be sitting in 3rd place at this point. But it was far from over. Mark is a great runner and letting up was not an option no matter what type of shape I was in.

Dema was running with me now and we just talked and kept moving. He made me a deal to run the flats and downhills, and then walk the uphills. This is how I run pretty much every race so it was not much of a deal for me but at least we had a plan for the next 7 miles. The last 7 miles are a familiar place since it’s the first section of the out and back for each leg, meaning this was the 4th time I had ran this section today. The next aid station out of Bluff was less than 3 miles away then from there it was less than 5 to the finish. Since there were mile markers on the ground I decided I want to hit each one in 15 minutes. This broke it down really easy for me. Everything hurt bad, my right quad was so worthless I could hardly pick my leg up to get my foot higher than about 4 inches off the ground..... not the best thing for a trail race. Fortunately there was not a lot of technical footing left. We landed each of the next 3 mile markers out of the aid station at almost 15 minutes on the nose each time. I kept looking back to see if Mark was closing in on me. It was so hard to tell because there were still 100 mile relays and 38 mile fun runners on the course. However, Mark and I use the same headlamp so I can identify it. I turned to see a single bright headlamp in the distance and thought, "here we go, just hold on." I tried my best to move the pace up and just then I see the red glow of the clock just though the trees. I'd made it! I hear a huge scream of "TRAVIS!!!!!" from Ryan. I shuffled my way across the finish line exhausted in 21:39.44. Ryan, Randy, Dema, John, and my good friend Tommy (whose girlfriend won the women’s 100 in 23:30) were all there to celebrate with me. Hugs all the way around from me. Also, 2nd place finisher Paul Shoenlaub stuck around to see me finish, which was a fantastic gesture. Paul is a fellow SLUG, and someone who really gave me some great advice along with letting me tag along on some of his workouts out at Leadville last year. I have a ton of respect for him and to see him there really meant a lot. I sat down, ate some food and just took it all in.  It was a very unrealistic feeling to be done this close to the front.  I waited for Mark to come in a mere 13 minutes later and cheered as he crossed the mat.

Final Thoughts

Guts is what it took today.  Not just from the folks up front, but from everyone on that course.  Times were roughly 3 hours slower than most years (almost equal to 2010 due to severe storms.)  The Finishing rate was 38%.  I was truly amazed at the effort given at this race.  Tim-O and Jason were excellent RD’s.  At no point did an aid station not have what I was looking for.  Every place was loaded to the gills with ice which is hard to do with a running crowd of close to 200 for the 100 mile and 100k, plus the addition of the relays and the 38 mile fun run at night.  Well organized and off the charts in terms of service.  Along with that I had great friends and crew that were with me through the good and the bad and it made all the difference in the world on getting me to the finish line on a very hard day… and night.

The weather looks so-so but we'll deal.  Ryan is a mentally tough guy and far more prepared this year than last.  Again we have a good crew going with a few ultra runners along with some shorter distance runners to help pace.  John Dennis is coming back and should put on quite a show.  He's mad fast!  His brother Josh is also running.  I've ran into Josh and John (and others from The Animal Camp) several times thoughout 2010 so I'm looking forward to seeing those guys. The social part of running is pretty high on my list of "Reasons to Run Ultras"

200 miles is just stinking far.  All these guys can do it run their race and just make the right decisions as time passes to stay in the game.  Regardless of the outcome it is going to be a good weekend of being around and doing what I love most (besides family of course) running!  

 
I'll be tweeting along the way.  My account is linked in the upper right hand side of this page under my bio.  We'll also be tweeting Ryan's progress.  You can find that at http://twitter.com/dexterpunisher
 
To give you an idea of how things went last year, here is the video I put together.  I'll be doing the same thing again this year but getting more footage of all the runners.