It’s Back to the Drawing Board as they say. My recent, shall we say adventure that was the Zegama-Aizkorri Maraton was both an eye-opening defeat and a success at the same time. Just so you don’t have to read the whole post, because apparently according to some other high-profile Montrail athlete race reports are…well, boring, I’ll sum it up as the hardest 4:20 marathon I have ever done. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck and will save you a list of what hurts today except to say everything, my arms especially. That I used my upper body as much as my legs to get me through the race will give you some idea of what the course is like.

Did not know what I was in for!

Despite, or because of, the difficulties of the course it was a pretty awesome experience and one that I won’t soon forget. The course is beautiful, at least what I could see through the fog, mist, rain, and snow. It was harder than any course I’ve ever run/scrambled through, and also probably the first course that I thought I might actually have a good probability of breaking a bone on, and I still had a blast doing it. Actually I really enjoyed that I might break a bone, it means it was a properly hairy course. I did not like having to slow down because of it though. We’ll have to work on that.

ANIMO! ANIMO!

A brief recap of our (the American contingent) trip over to Europe: I arrived Sunday to La Palma, a Canary Island, to find out that Dakota “Gran Co” Jones (new Spanish nickname) had just singlehandedly made for a successful trip. Really, no one else needed to race and we should have quit while we were ahead (not really true, just sounded good cus he won). Dakota crushed the Transvulcania 50 miler and beat the unstoppable Killian Jornet in the process. It was awesome. We spent three days in La Palma running around the island and discussing the future of SkyRunning, a little known (in the U.S.) series of races around the world all centered on mountain running. Some of the most difficult races around the world have at one time or another been part of the SkyRunning series. High altitude, huge elevation gain, and technically challenging is the name of the game, and after Zegama I know they aren’t messing around.

Meeting of the SkyRunning Minds

This mini-conference was the main reason for being invited across the Pond and it was successful in getting us, as athletes, excited about trying to grow the SkyRunning Series in the United States. There was much fan fare around this event with media conducting interviews of athletes continually, and a web of excessive twittering, hashtagging, and Facebooking stretching far and wide across the Internet. That I’ll save for another post another time.

La Palma

La Palma is interesting by the way. Not at all what I expected, it’s a volcanic desert island with not much but some great black sand beaches, quaint beach kioskos, and miles of rugged hiking trails that, had we had more time, could be linked together into some epic long runs. For perspective, the 50 miler went from one end of the island to the other, a point-to-point all on one single trail. And there are tons of others just like it.

Zegama Start

On Thursday it was on to Zegama for my main event. If you see my irunfar interview, apparently I was one of the favorites going into that race. Not sure at all about the course, I studied the profile, the map, and even a 3D flyover of the course. Did it do me any good? Not at all. I am continually humbled and awed by how difficult the courses in Europe are and how these guys can run them so well. Both of my true SkyRunning experiences have resulted in fantastic and absolute defeats that leave me wondering whether I can actually run with the Euro’s or not. I will be back!!! (fist shaking in defeat) To be fair to myself I think I have to realize that both times I was udderly un-prepared for what awaited and both races will result in me re-evaluating and changing my training to be better prepared for my next ass-kicking, at which time I’ll shake my fist and go back to my plotting to take over the Euro mountain running scene one race at a time. Bwhaaa, haaa, haaa. (Sinister laugh)

Unfortunately, in the case of Zegama I don’t believe there is anything in the US that can prepare me for that kind of abuse. It is as if someone kicked me down a mountain lined with large sharp rocks, dunked me in freezing cold water, and beat me with a stick. Wait, that IS what happened. I fell down more times than I can count, slid about half of the second decent on my butt, (not so bad on the grass, only started to really hurt when I got into the rocks. My feet were out from under me before I knew what happened, I landed on my hands (they’re bruised pretty good) and instead of slowing down like you normally would on the ground, I was speeding up down the hill, it was amazing), and then rock scrambled for significant sections of the course over wet, slick rock rarely staying on my feet. Did I mention my body hurts today.

I ended up 15th overall, of which I’m not happy about losing to so many but also feel pretty good about getting through and still finishing strong. I’m most happy about staying comfortably with the leaders until the start of the uber technical sections after the first peak at 18km. I would like to think my climbing ability has improved quite a lot since last year, which means I still have the ability to adapt and improve in order to keep up with my Euro rivals.

Mike Wolfe had a great race and finished really strong over the final miles to wind up in 13th just ahead of me. Dakota, Nick, Joe, and Ian were just behind me and Nikki did great with an 8th place finish and 1st masters. She loved the course despite most likely breaking her hand on a slip and fall similar to mine and said she’d come back in a heart beat.

Basque Country

This is the easy part

Muy Bonito

Zegama and the Basque region of Spain reminds me a lot of New England/Adirondacks area and is very beautiful. It was the first time I’ve been able to really get to know some of the other American ultrarunners as well and it was great to have the opportunity to discuss ideas on how to improve our sport for the better in the future. Overall it was a great trip with a stark contrast from a sunny, hot, dry volcanic island to the wet and lush mountains of the Basque region. While out on a run Dakota and I came up with our fresh new competition idea of a paintball ultra event. Hopefully you can read about it in one of his future blogs. The gist of it would be a start on a wide half mile long starting line, everybody has a paintball gun, and you have no set course but must make it to a final finishing point some predetermined distance away. I’ve been dreaming of an event like this for years and I’m just glad that I’m not the only nut with hair-brained ideas like this. I’ve got a couple more too. I’d make a list of all of them but I don’t want someone ripping them off before I get a chance to put them on. Cus they’re great. Really.

Now on the flight home trying not to move any muscles that I don’t absolutely have to, thinking about where to go next with both training and racing. At times like these part of me never wants to go back to a race like that until some of the guys start moving over to races that I’m stronger in like flatter and faster trail races, and there’s another part of me that wants to move over and try to accept the new challenge of improving myself to compete on their field of battle. It’s a conundrum. I’ve got a lot of questions like: What should I do? Do I modify my training to get better at these races? As far as I’m concerned, it’s a whole other sport that takes totally different training. Do I stick with what I’m strongest at? How do I train for a race like Zegama, and will it even matter if I try? Should I really try to focus on the SkyRunning races rather than do everything? Why would I do that? Maybe I should just still do everything. It seems like more fun that way. So maybe I’ll do another steeplechase in two weeks.

Stick a fork in, I'm done!

iRunFar Race Report

Dakota Jones won the 2012 Transvulcania Ultramarathon in an upset over favorite Kilian Jornet. In the men’s race, practically the whole field led at the first checkpoint, the little village of Los Canarios on the southern end of La Palma. In reality, Dakota Jones came first through that initial checkpoint, setting the stage for what would be a world-class performance. In the rest of the race, Dakota was either the leader or within spitting distance of him. Continue reading.

 
In the following interview, he discusses how his race played out against Kilian and Andy Symonds, what happened with Kilian fainting after the race, what he thinks of the European race hype now that he’s been the center of attention, and whether he plans to alter his season’s racing schedule to compete in the Skyrunner World Series. Read the Interview Transcript here.

I don’t usually write race reports that delve into the actual events of a race, primarily because that’s what everyone else does and I think that’s boring. But this time I think the story of the race itself is exciting enough to tell. So bear with me.

The race started at the beach with enough energy to power Denver International Airport for at least three days. I did my best to lay low and immediately got swept up by the announcer, Depa, who asked me to say a few words en espanol (buenos dias, La Palma!) Then the race started and we all ran up the hill like it was the state cross country meet, elbowing and shoving each other to get ahead. I ended up at front and managed to stay there all the way….well, to the end actually, but that’s not the point. The course goes up and over a high point at 2000 meters, then runs along the crest of the island before launching up again to the top of the caldera at 2400 meters. And when I say caldera, I mean volcano. Like, magma and holes into the earth and great hellfire spewing forth from the mountainside. And while maybe we didn’t see any of those things on our run, we still saw some pretty cool stuff. The course was absolutely incredible, taking us along the spine of the island and over the top of its highest point, El Roque de Los Muchachos, which teeters ominously on the edge of a sheer cliff of….volcanic rock probably. From there you can see basically the entire island, as well as several other islands, lots of water, two or three towns and apparently a lot of stars, judging by the giant telescopes and whatnot. In short, the course was really cool.

I ran in front with Kilian all the way over the top of the caldera and then most of the way back down. From the Roque at about 50km, the course descends more than 7000 feet until your shoes are basically in the ocean. If you haven’t run 7000 feet downhill lately, there’s no need – I can tell you what it’s like. It’s like, hard. You know what I mean? It kind of hurts. But me and K-dog powered down the damn thing, slipping and sliding and cutting a tight switchback here and there because that’s what you do in Europe, and eventually we reached an aid station. Sweet, fill up on water. Good to go. But I looked back and who did I see charging in behind us but Andy Symonds – I didn’t even know this guy. What’s his deal? Apparently his deal is downhillin’, if I may, and he immediately launched ahead like somebody was chasing him, which makes sense because suddenly somebody was chasing him – Kilian. I guess captain ski-mo can’t stand the idea of running behind anyone English and so he took off into the distance as well. I was left alone, feeling used and unwanted.

In retrospect, those guys must have burned themselves out in a fit of enthusiasm. I just kept plodding along at my own pace, down down down to the ocean which just didn’t seem to be getting any closer, and all of a sudden they came back into view. Then, in a move that I didn’t trust whatsoever, Kilian dropped off of Andy’s pace and let me catch up, then stepped aside to let me pass. I asked if he was okay and was chagrined to learn that, “yes, yes” he was okay. I kept running downhill and soon realized I was catching Andy too. When I finally passed him he said, “second wind?” and I said, “Well, according to Plato’s theory of forms, if ultrarunning were to represent the perfect form of insanity ….” and so on in that vein until he became so sick of my late-race lunacy that I believe he leapt into the ocean for a reprieve. But somehow we still came into the final aid station, Tazacorte, together.

By the way, my intention in italicizing all the Spanish words is for the people reading this to say it with a certain Spanish flair, as if you’re the beautiful Spanish woman in the soap opera wearing the red dress who is denouncing your husband for cheating on her with….Tazacorte. So flip your hair around and kind of lisp the “z”.

Tazacorte had all the energy of the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. I don’t know if the people of La Palma love running or if they just love yelling, but they are really effective at combining the two for Transvulcania, and being a part of that is really fun. From Tazacorte we ran up a mostly flat road for nearly a mile before turning onto a cobblestone path and climbing the final thousand feet up to the finish. We were down at sea level and in a depression in the land that held the heat and humidity still and calm, baking us like very tired little muffins. To my surprise I managed to pull ahead of Andy on the road and then, even more incredible, put time on him on the climb. My legs were so tired that I hardly tried to run the final climb, but my hiking legs managed to be strong enough to get to the top of the hill with Andy still out of sight. And the rest was a blur – the final road, my police escort, and the generally increasing size and volume of the crowds until, at the actual finish line, drenched in sweat, exhausted and utterly done for, I broke the tape and walked into the waiting arms of the crowd.

Written by Amy Sproston

I’m not really sure how to put the 2012 IAU 100k World Championships experience into words. I’m still not sure that it actually happened. The month leading up to it had been trying, and had you told me at any point during that period what the final result would be, I would have laughed.

Lap 1: Meghan and I started off together, as planned, and lap 1 passed quickly (more so than intended) and fairly effortlessly. I felt good, Meghan felt good, life was good. My biggest fear going in was that I would have to make frequent bathroom stops, which would have caused me to break off from Meghan and just waste a lot of time, in general. An important lesson learned last year was that it’s hard to make forward progress when you’re squatting alongside the road with your shorts (huggers, in this case) around your ankles. I had taken one Imodium 30 minutes before the start, and it seemed to work. I didn’t need to dash into the bushes, nor did Meghan, and we were able to pace off each other as planned. The pace was quicker than intended (7:08/mile average for first 20K; we had intended closer to 7:15-20/mile) but was still conversational. Continue reading Amy’s IAU Ultramarathon Race Report.

iRunFar: Good evening from Italy. It’s about 9 pm local time here, and we’re at the finish line of the 2012 IAU 100k World Championships. I’m standing next to some very fast women right now. This is Team USA who just took gold as a team and finished (from left to right): first (Amy Sproston), fifth (Pam Smith), and fourth (Meghan Arbogast). Ladies, how the heck are you doing?

Team USA: YAAYYY! WHOOO WHOOOO! Excited!

iRF: Well, that’s the right answer. Probably shouldn’t say you’re upset with any of those performances.

Amy Sproston: A little bit shocked.

iRF: Shocked and happy?

Full interview here.

There has been some nice press on the race, and here are links to:
Runner’s World, Running Times, USATF, IAU, ClifBar, and the Daily Review Atlas (hometown paper).

Back in January I got over to Kauai for a little vacation and had the opportunity to run the 22 mile Kalulau Trail on Kauai’s Na Pali Coast. It was incredible. Check out the video. Another one of those “bucket list” trails that every trail runner has to do.

Kalulau Trail – Kauai's Na Pali Coast

I was really surprised to see Dakota rounding the same switchback I was on with 100m to go coming up the South Kaibab trail. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. Dakota and I ran the exact same time for our recent Double Crossing of the Grand Canyon, but we ended up at the same spot taking very different paths.
About two weeks ago we were asked to do a Mtn Hardwear/Montrail photo-shoot at the Grand Canyon. (the shots we got are pretty incredible by the way) Then the hamster wheels in my brain started to turn and I got to thinking that if I spent an extra day I might be able to pull off a Double Crossing. Then, well, I might as well see if the current record holder wanted to run it with me and sure enough, of course Dakota can’t turn down an epic run like that, so it was set, we would come in a day early, run the Double Crossing and then do two days of photos.

Heading up N. Kaibab

Neither of us were coming in with expectations of making a record run just coming off a weekend of 50miles of racing, Dakota at Lake Sonoma, and a 10mi road race 40mile Petersen Ridge double for me. Both of us were tired so we just wanted to have a good run. Of course with any true competitor, the fact that there is a record out there to be had isn’t far from the mind. And of course, the expectation from everyone in the Ultra community after seeing it go up on the Montrail blog was that there would be an attempt at the record. So, I’ll go on official record and say that “It was neither a record attempt or non-record attempt”. How’s that for vagueness. Allow me to explain.

The End

I arrived into PHX at 8:30pm Sunday evening. Picked Dakota up at baggage claim and took out of town with our rental car up toward the Ditch. A stop at Safeway, several attempts at nailing an Elk at high speeds, a cruise through Flag and we were at the Holiday Inn Express in Tusayan at 2am. Three hours sleep and we were back up at 5:30 heading to the South Kaibab Trailhead with the photographers for an impromptu session as we were sent down the trail.

S. Kaibab Trail

We started at 6:30am and with weather reports calling for record heat we knew we were in for a hot one. One of the main reasons the location was chosen for this shoot is for a yet to be disclosed technology being introduced by Mtn Hardwear later this year. Let’s just say that the record heat that we experienced gave us an opportunity to thoroughly test this new technology. With our slightly later than desired start time we would eventually hit temperatures of 95 – 100 degrees in the Canyon.

Dakota, being the young buck he is, charged off down the switchbacks that plunge you down the first steps of the canyon walls. I tried to keep pace while taking in new sights that were simply amazing and nab a few photos along the way. We hit Phantom Ranch (the bottom at 6.5 miles) at 53 min. We cruised easily in the still early morning temps that were starting to warm in the rising sun but very comfortable. Up through Phantom Ranch, up the box canyon on the North Kaibab Trail, and up toward the North Rim.

Bright Angel Canyon on N Kaibab

I was under the impression that the much longer North Kaibab Trail (14.5 miles) was an even grade all the way out. Man, I was wrong. It winds along the Bright Angel Canyon bottom for about 10 miles up to Roaring Springs where it then begins the big ascent to the North Rim. Both of us were still running comfortably and taking our time as we began the ascent. The heat became more intense as we climbed from the rising sun and Dakota started to feel the fatigue from the past week more than I was. After a couple stops, a chat with some park rangers, and a few photos we hit the rim at 3:36, 14min later than Dakota’s record last fall.

I have to admit to my mindset coming up North Kaibab was a little smug. I wanted to keep the pace easy and stick with Dakota because it was nice to run with someone and share the experience but I figured we would reach the North Rim just after the record split then, feeling good, I could make a solid run back to the South and finish with a great time regardless of whether I was a few minutes over or under the record. So with Dakota’s approval I split down the North Kaibab as he was trying to get his legs back under him. I made good time to Roaring Springs feeling good, charged the next 10 long miles to Phantom ranch in just over an hour at 61 min. The long hot canyon wore on me though and although I was doing well on hydration, nutrition and didn’t feel overly fatigued, I was certainly tired after running 5 ½ hrs. I don’t do that very often, so I was actually pretty surprised how good I was still feeling at this point, and happy to survive a difficult and now hot, 5 ½ hrs.

At Phantom Ranch I figured the record was now out of reach, ok, I’m cool with that, I can still get pretty close to 7hrs. Well, then I started up South Kaibab. Holy Crap that rim is a long way up. My plan of attack was to jog the “flatter” sections and hike the other stuff. Now it really started to get hot though. Although I shouldn’t have been, I was a bit worried about how Dakota was handling the heat since he’d been pretty worked at the top of the North Rim. I was handling myself pretty well, making steady progress to the top and still getting in some jogging about 2 miles from the top when I ran out of water. Not good, but hey, I only have two miles to go. No problem. Until it was. That’s when it hit, fatigue, a little dizziness, shakes. Now I wasn’t moving any more. I took a seat to regroup before moving on. Ate a very dry granola bar that felt somewhat like I would imagine eating dirt would feel like. I saw Tim, (Mtn Hardwear creative director, “you’re Fired”) Richardson perched above me waiting to get a shot of me rounding his switchback. Would have looked amazing had I actually been moving my feet. I took a break with him while I suffered for a bit then made the final stagger up to the finish.

Rounding my final switchback with 100m to go is where I catch a glimpse of another runner coming up the switchback below me. Holy crap, he made it back up and we’re finishing at the same time. I couldn’t believe it. What a way to finish. We grasped hands in an sardonic display of camaraderie between runners and ran past our photographers that made the trek back out to watch us finish (and hopefully get the record for a great story). They left 7 voicemails or texts between Dakota and I trying to figure out if they got there too late and we had already finished and were back lounging by the pool at the hotel. HA, that didn’t happen. We finished in 7:39. Short of the record, but an epic day none-the-less and an awesome coincidental finish for us making it that much cooler. Dakota had a rough patch in the middle, then one of his best runs up South Kaibab he’s ever had. I’ll let you read more about that on his blog. I felt great throughout the run until the last couple miles and then blew apart spectacularly.
Did I mention it was HOT.

Swiftwicks Post Run

This is the first time I’ve really had a chance to run with Dakota. Running is kind of like the quote from Fight Club, “you never really know someone until you fight (run with) them.” He’s awesome to run with. Comfortable to run alone in silence and enjoy the environment, but someone you can have a good conversation with that doesn’t always revolve around running too. We carried a good balance.
I went through 11 Hammer Gels, 1 Hammer Bar, a granola bar, about 12-15 electrolyte caps, and over 200 oz of water. The products we were able to test from Mtn Hardwear were actually pretty amazing. Both Dakota and I had had a chance to test the new technology in a heated controlled environment earlier in the year but this real world test blew away our expectations and any doubts that we had about it. The stuff just works.

Post Run Meal: Meatloaf and Chocolate Milk

Two days of awesome photo-shooting in an absolutely stunning landscape followed our Double Crossing. Long days of shooting from 5:30am to 7pm really wear on you after a hard 40 milers by the way. Not a lot of sleep. It’s not the glamorous lifestyle you think of when you think photo-shoot. It’s some hard work for us and even harder for the photography crew. The crew that Tim put together of Dave Clifford, Eric, and Seth were incredible and the product that comes out will attest to one of the most productive photo-shoots I’ve been on. Everyone worked hard and we had a great time. As an athlete and the subject, you always kind of wonder how other athletes are to work with. Snobby, demanding, cool, rad, I don’t know. I just try to make sure I’m real, inject a little humor into a long day, and hopefully the photogs have as good a time working with us as we do with them.

The Crew

Whooo, that’s a long one. Hopefully you’ve made it this far.

If you’re interested in what’s next: I’m considering a Steeplechase in two weeks. Not sure if I’m crazy, stupid, or both. Then it’s on to Spain for the Skyrunning Federation Seminar and the Zegama Trail Marathon with many of the best mountain runners and ultra runners in the world. Should be really tough.

Monday April 23, Max King and Dakota Jones hope to break Dakota’s R2R2R Grand Canyon, AZ record of 6h53min38s. “The rim to rim to rim, double crossing, out-n-back, or simply r2r2r is a substantial overnight hike for most people, who must already possess a level of fitness the average American will likely never attain. To run the r2r2r in a day takes the adventure to a new level, a goal that has been plunked into most trail runners’ bucket lists.” Continue reading Nov 2011 article featuring Dakota’s first record on Inside Trail Racing

 
Background via Fastest Known Time Pro Boards:

 
Cureton held the R2R2R record for 25 years at 7h51m23s, set in an actual race on 11/9/1981 (S to N to S Kaibab trails). Races have long been banned in the National Parks. The record was finally bested on 11/10/2006 by Kyle Skaggs, 7h37m. Kyle had to run a little extra due to a bridge being out. A year later (11/10/2007) Dave Mackey ran 6h59m56s. Mackey reported being held up for several minutes on his ascent back up the South Kaibab by a mule train. Mackey’s record held for about 4 years before being broken by Dakota Jones who ran 6h53m38s on Nov. 5, 2011.

 
Dakota Jones reported on his Blog as follows:

 
1.) Nobody goes into it rested. Everybody just runs the Grand Canyon as a training run, or in between races, or when getting back into shape. Nobody trains and tapers specifically for the Grand Canyon.
2.) You’re going to blow up on the ascent back to the South Rim. Stop deluding yourself – it’s going to happen. You can’t avoid it. However, I will stick my neck out and say that a fit and rested runner who finds the Canyon in good condition could significantly lower the time. My prediction is that within five years the men’s record will be under six hours. Go ahead – call me out on that. It will happen.” Jones also reported the following splits: River(49m), North Rim(3h22m), River(5h12m), South Rim(6h53m38s). Read the full Nov 2011 Grand Canyon report here.

250 runners entered this year’s Lake Sonoma 50. In muddy conditions with 12+ ‘stream’ crossings (some waist deep!) Dakota Jones and Joelle Vaught conquered all. Dakota placed 1st with a Course Record by 50 minutes, 6h17min. Joelle Vaught also placed 1st female with a Course Record time of 7h52m. While Erik Skaden and VP of Montrail, Topher Gaylord both took 17th place.

 

Via iRunfar

 

On Saturday, seven men broke Hal Koerner’s course record at the Lake Sonoma 50 Mile; however, only one owns the new course record – Montrail’s Dakota Jones. Not only did Dakota set a new course record by more than 50 minutes, he won by nearly 20 minutes in a time of 6:17:27. In the interview, Dakota discusses his race, his transition to working with a coach, and what he’ll be focusing on in the next couple months… among many topics.

 
Joelle Vaught led from start to finish, seemingly smiling the entire way. She reported slowing late in the race, but that didn’t stop her from taking more than half an hour off the course record in finishing in 7:52:44 (Old record: Devon Crosby-Helms ’10 8:26:53). She ran away from an amazingly talented field of women’s ultrarunners and bested Devon Crosby-Helms’ course record by more than half an hour at the 2012 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile. She shares how her race played out, her ill-advised race nutrition plan, and what races she might be running this season.

Montrail Shoes: Dakota – Rogue Racers, Joelle – Masochists

Canadian Ellie Greenwood repeated as women’s champ, besting her 2011 time by seven minutes. Greenwood decimated the field, beating all other women by more than an hour and finishing fifth overall! She clocked in at 6:18:29 while second place winner, Jenny Hitchings crossed the line with a time of 7:21:24. Read her post race report where she shares 10 thoughts on her second-straight American River 50 Mile win.

Lets not forget Erik Skaden who placed 8th overall with a time of 6h27m and Sean Meissner, 12th overall 6h42m. Full race results here.