Steven Tursi

Listserv Gold Part III - The cost of badwater

2009-12-18T10:00:00.001-05:00

Badwater, the 135-mile asphalt road race through Death Valley in the middle of summer (where it gets to 125°F), has a $900 entry fee, and the total cost of running it can approach $10,000. This topic came up on the ultra list, and somebody asked,

Am I the only one who finds the average cost insane?

"bbob" responds,

oh yeah... the cost of these races is just totally nuts. deranged. unhinged. demented. harebrained. crazy. etc.

everything else about them is completely rational, of course.

really, doctor, it's true.

b

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

knee update: i ran on it for the first time

2009-12-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

So, for the first time since I "tweaked" my knee, I went to the treadmill and ran on it on Tuesday night. There was a ten-day interval without me running a step.

It felt ok, for the most part. A little shaky at the very beginning, and I could tell something was funny in that knee, but it didn't seem to affect my running. It didn't get worse if I ran hard or slow, so I ran hard.

I intended to go out at 12 minutes per mile and take it super-easy for two miles. But when I got to the gym, the prospect of chugging along so slowly on a treadmill by myself did not seem appealing, so I figured I'd go for 10 MPM. I am glad I did, because everything went fine. In fact, I decided to push the pace aggressively in the last five minutes, chugging out that 19th minute at about 7 minutes per mile. The fact that normal people run entire marathons at that pace amazes me.

Anyway, I ran 20 minutes and started stretching that left leg. Stretching is not part of my normal routine, and i think that might be a mistake. A lot of runners don't stretch at all and do fine with it, and I was one of them. However, even if stretching makes no difference in regards of injury prevention, I like the idea of flexibility - so I'll do it. when i have time..

I was considering not starting the team slug fattest butt 50K in janaury because of this. Because of today's run, I'm not considering that anymore. I'll probably go and at least start it. I may not run ten laps, but I will show up and start and run at least few laps and see how it goes. It'll be a good time.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Chimera 100M

2009-12-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was the first annual Chimera 100-mile endurance run. With 48000' of elevation change (24K up and down), this race has an impressive elevation profile, and if there's a second (and third, etc.) annual event, this race will almost certainly build a reputation as being one of the more difficult 100-milers in the country. And, it doesn't hurt when it attracts a mega name, in ultrarunning circles, Karl Meltzer.

This course is near and dear to my heart because it is located only a 20-minute drive from where I grew up in San Juan Capistrano, CA. We lived in the shadow of Santiago Peak, locally known as Saddleback Mountain. This race climbs over the Santiago Peak.

Check out this thing I dug up from over ten years ago (!!). Santiago was the first non-trivial mountain I ever climbed. http://www.tursi.com/santiago.html.

Anyway, I was talking to my parents on the phone on Friday, and I brought up this race because it's still close to where they live. They suggested that it might be canceled due to weather. Yes, rain is unusual in Southern California, but come on - it takes more than a little (or even a lot) of rain to cancel a 100-mile ultra. There are only a few days per year when this peak gets snow (there are only a few peaks in Southern California high enough to get snow, and this is probably the lowest of them), and when I found out that there was snow up there this weekend, I got really excited.. and told my parents about how that wouldn't cancel it either. After all, I've seen (and been) races with truly nasty conditions that weren't canceled. And check out the weather/snow in some of the scenes from my favorite ultrarunning video:

(if you can't see the video above this line, please click here to view it.)

However, in an incredible event of bad luck, Chimera was indeed canceled but not due to rain or mud. Apparently, two aid stations set up along the ridge were torn apart by 50-mph wind. Given the climate of the area, it can't be more than a one or two-day per year event that would give sufficient reason to cancel this race. However, when Meltzer (who is in the above video in some of the nastier conditions) agrees with the decision to cancel, you know it must have been nasty as hell up there.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

The Dean K 50K!

2009-12-11T10:00:00.003-05:00

So, check this action out:

* There's a rock and roll marathon in arizona. The r&r marathons are pretty famous, they usually have people at marathon expos around the country, registering people into the various r&r races they run (there's over a dozen of 'em.) I personally have never run one, but all accounts indicate that they're a lot of fun.

* The arizona marathon, which is sponsored by PF Changs, last year had Josh Cox, a top US marathon runner, attempt (and succeed) in breaking the 50K USA record by running the marathon and tagging 5 miles on the end of it.

* This year, the arizona marathon is making the 50K an official race (calling it "The Ultimate Endurance Challenge"), putting Dean Karnazes' name on it, and opening the registration to all (who qualify, see below.)

* Here's where it goes from weird to downright bizarre. Unlike last year, they're adding the extra 5 miles to the beginning of the race, not the end. I'll just quote folks from the ultra list (you just know there's a conversation about this on the ultra list):

Tara Tulley points out the requirements

You must be in good health and physically prepared to take on the challenge of the 50k distance.
You must be able to complete the first 4.8 miles of the 50k in 48 minutes or less (10-minute per mile pace).
You must be able to complete the Marathon portion of the 50k within 7 hours and 15 minutes of the Official Marathon Start.

Huh? That's strange.. but wait, there's more!

Rick comes in and figures out that

- Ultra/50k participants will run the first 4.8 miles on an out-and-back
course along Washington Street prior to the official marathon start, and
then complete the remaining 26.2 miles along the marathon course.
- After the first 4.8 miles of the Ultra/50k are completed, ultra
participants will join marathon participants in the start line corrals,
specifically in corral #1 (behind the elite field and the preferred corral
starters).

Which also means that you are going to go for a 4.8 mile run then you go
stand in a corral and wait for the elites to go off and the other hoopla
before the regular marathon start, THEN you get to keep running and finish
your 50K.

Like I said, bizarre. Really bizarre.

Common sense, by Ray K

Now if we could just get DK to come to the National Championship 50K in March, and bring his press machine the sport and its accomplishments can be recognized by mainstream media.

That's right. The Caumsett 50K, held on Long Island every March, is the recognized by USA Track and Field as the 50K National Championship. I was there running it last year. Great race. Michael Wardian came and impressed all of us as he pwn3d the field, to the delight of zero spectators. Literally, zero. Just volunteers and friends/family of competitors.

The North Face gets its share of criticism for the way it runs its endurance challenges, trying to monetize the popularity boom of ultrarunning. But at least TNF tries to do it right. This PF Changs Dean Karnazes thing R&R thing is just embarrassing.

PS - The site is helpfully defines "ultra" for us. "“ULTRA” means “beyond” in Latin. The 50k distance is 4.8 miles beyond the 26.2 mile marathon."

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

MMT 100 and Day at the Fair

2009-12-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

I had some downtime at work on Monday afternoon, and, on an impulse, I decided to enter the lottery for the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 mile endurance run. This technical Virginia race is considered one of the most difficult 100-mile runs in the Eastern United States, and in fact is the only eastern race recognized as a qualifier for Hardrock.

The lottery process is unique, and as someone who normally isn't a fan of lotteries, I've gotta say I like this one. When you register, you are randomly assigned a number between 0 and 999. They publish everyone's name and number on their web site. Then you wait until 4PM EST the day after registration closes - they take a look at the closing price of the DOW Jones Industrial Average and line everyone up behind whatever that number is.

This year, I was assigned the number 039, and the DOW closed at 10285.97. It was a down day, so the first 180 entrants BELOW 597 got in. I was number 244 in this lineup, missing it by 64 spots. I would be likely to get in anyway, via the waiting list.

However, since the lottery gods decided to not rule in my favor (they never do), I might decide to go back to my original plan and run a much more local timed event in North Jersey that weekend. Rick over at the New Jersey Trail Series is hosting 6,12,24, and 48-hour runs in Sussex county. This event, called 3 Days at the Fair, is really intriguing to me as it's close to home and has that 48-hour option. A 48-hour race two months after Umstead definitely would be interesting - but I'm not 100% that it's a good idea.. However, I am definitely doing at least the 24-hour race that weekend, and perhaps the 48. Or maybe Massanutten.. I have time before I decide.

Knee update: (See original post) Better. Still tight. Not running yet. Stretching it a lot. Hopefully will do some short runs later this week to assess its condition.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

crack!

2009-12-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Friday evening, I was laying on the couch watching TV. Two hours earlier, I completed an 80-minute hard treadmill run. I was laying on my side such that in order to get up, my knees would come off the couch and rotate down to the floor. As I did so, my knee cracked. It was exactly the same kind of crack that you get when you crack your knuckles - and I a lot of my joints, including my knees, a lot. However, this crack was unusually dramatic. My wife, sitting next to me, heard it loud and clear, and there was about 10 seconds of intense pain.

For the next 24 hours, particularly when I was doing any sort of rotation motion, my knee always felt like it was going to pop again. To guard against this, my brain automatically tried to prevent it from happening. Also, there was a constant dull pain that would intensify whenever I got up from a seated position. I figured it best not to try to run on Saturday, and the situation didn't really improve on Sunday.

By Sunday night, I started noticing a distinct tightness in the back of this leg, particularly in the upper part of my calf, but also in my hamstring. Not sure if it's caused by the pop or by the compensation I've been doing. Either way, I like tightness because I always feel like I can stretch my way back to health - which is exactly what I did this morning for about ten minutes, and things did indeed feel better. Also on Sunday, I had to push a 4500-lb minivan about the distance of a football field (I don't want to talk about why.) Even though I slipped on the ice of few times, my knee didn't complain at all. I take that as good news.

Still, it seems prudent to take a few days or perhaps a week off from running. This bugs me because I've been doing so well. I have been doing lots of training runs in the 4-6 mile range at around 9-10 minutes per mile (which is fast for me.) My improvement in terms of speed has been dramatic and I was eager to spend a winter really hammering this kind of training and hopefully take an hour or two off my marathon time. If this turns out to be something that sidelines me for more than a couple of weeks, I'll have to start from scratch and that will sap my motivation.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

PSA - Quick internet security tip

2009-12-04T10:00:00.009-05:00

Hi everyone!

There's a guy. His name is mike and he lives in ohio. Mike knows a woman named Brittany. Brittany lives in Atlanta, and Mike wants to book one-way travel to Ohio for her. Priceline is as good a site as any to do this, so he logs on, and sets her up. Everything is hunky-dory, until Mike decides to do something rather stupid - presumably because he wants to avoid SPAM, he makes up an email address when creating his account. MY email address.

I immediately responded to the confirmation email when I got it, notifying priceline of the problem. They sent an automated message back saying that mailbox is not monitored. Fine. I took a few minutes, went to their online form and notified them again - and... I was ignored. After a few days, I figured priceline was going to continue to ignore me, so I decided to see what exactly the risk to them was, not to mention Mike from Ohio, and possibly even Brittany from Atlanta.

I found it very easy to reset Mike's password and log into his account. All I needed was his name and access to his email account, which was actually my email account, and his name was included in the trip confirmation.

Here's his account!!

Here's Brittany's flight information!!

Best of all, here's his saved credit card!!

There was nothing (credit card spending limits?) preventing me from booking him and Brittany a $10,000 flight to Siberia on his own credit card. Luckily for Mike, I'm no criminal so I won't do that, but especially since priceline ignored my message to them, I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to publish this example as a common-sense lesson to all - If you consider a company worthy of using your credit card information, they're probably also worthy of being trusted with your email address too.

.. Yes, I know people are concerned about SPAM and keeping their email addresses to themselves, but .. trust me, Priceline isn't the cause of email spam. You'll be ok.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

A computer in the kitchen?

2009-12-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry about missing monday's post.

My friend Courtney has a "million dollar idea."

From http://danceswithcorgis.com/2009/11/21/my-million-dollar-idea-someone-invent-this/:

Basically, I think it would be a great idea for someone to make a LARGE LCD screen which could mount on the wall in your kitchen, connect to the internet and display recipes which you can follow along while you cook. That way, you could pull up any recipe online (where there are zillions) and never have to deal with printing it out or the printed recipe getting covered in water, flour, oil, what have you as you toggle back between checking it and your cooking.

I had already done something like this a couple of years ago, and told her that I'd post pictures of it here. Hi Ceej!

Two years ago, I had an extra 17" LCD monitor, long-since replaced by 22" monitors. It was collecting dust under my desk. I didn't want to throw it away, so I picked up a $30 mounting bracket at MicroCenter and implemented the idea courtney would have two years later.

The bracket bends horizontally in three places so I had plenty of freedom to position it however I needed it, and it folded away neatly when not in use.

I had an extra laptop connected to it, and, as courtney suggested, typically used it to display recipes while cooking something. It worked ok. I also used it to play music in the kitchen using itunes or pandora.

The biggest problem with this setup was - where do I put the keyboard? It had been sitting on the counter most of the time, but I never liked it there. I sometimes thought about getting a mounting bracket and keyboard tray to put underneath the monitor, but never did it. After about a year, the novelty wore off and I "repurposed" that old computer - but the monitor stays where it is, usually folded back behind that wall, out of sight, disconnected.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Race Report: 2009 Turkey Trot 5-miler

2009-11-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm the blue shirt. Thanks to Carl for the photo.

Interesting race yesterday.

As I wrote in the previous post, I finished the race last year with about 60% of the field in front of me and 40% behind of me. My time was 49 minutes.. just under 10 minutes per mile.

So I walked up to the starting area for this race saw 99% of the 2000-strong field standing in front of the 10 minute per mile area. There was nobody - literally nobody - standing near the "walker" sign behind the 10mpm sign. I decided to take an informal survey of the field. The extreme front - the 5-minute-per-mile sign - looked like it had real competitors - and as I started walking back, by the time I saw the 6-minute per mile sign there were folks standing there who obviously can't run the race that fast. I lined up at the 9-minute-per-mile marker, it looked like that was at 60-70% back from the starting line.

Like last year, the race had 20 minutes of sentimental stage-stuff with honor guards and national anthems, all after the 8:30 scheduled start. When we finally did get under way, it was obvious I made a good choice with my position in the field, it appears that most of the people who lined up at 9mpm were actually capable of running 10mpm, like me. However, I was still shocked at who I passed. Not only were there walkers in front of me who were difficult to pass, but I saw strollers, and even a person with a dog on their leash - all lined up in the middle of a 2000-person field!

And, by the way, if you'd ever like to see a case where races are not limited but really should be, check this race out. The two-lane road is impossibly crowded for for first couple of miles, and when we turn onto the one-lane road, it gets pretty crowded again. Even in the last mile, the crowds made it difficult to pass. It must have been much worse in the main part of the pack. One particularly interesting thing was the police car, presumably there for traffic control, parked on the side of the road a few hundred feet in front of the start. In an already-crowded race, I wondered what the cop was thinking when he left his car there.

I also screwed up, and apparently missed the instruction where I'm supposed to pick up a timing chip at the race, even though they had race packet pickup two days before in a different location. I picked up my packet on Tuesday, and just showed up at the starting line on Thursday morning assuming they didn't have chip timing. Oddly enough, I did go through the packet enough to go through each of the ad fliers and throw most of them out, so I can't imagine how I missed it - but apparently I did.

Anyway, my race went well. My main goal was to finish in under 50 minutes, which I did in 49:47 (net, 50:50 gross). My time last year was 48:34, and my secondary goal was to beat that, which I didn't. Can't complain. I ran hard and did fine.

I make this race sound horrible. It's not. There are better races out there but this one isn't that bad and a lot of friends show up to run it, which always adds to the fun. I'll probably be back next year if I'm in town.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Race Preview: 2009 Rockland Lake 5-mile Turkey Trot

2009-11-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

The largest running event in Rockland County, every Thanksgiving morning, the Road Runners club here produces a five-mile road race at picturesque Rockland Lake. Offering runners a unique course with challenging hills in the first half and a pancake-flat second half, nearly 2000 folks line up at Rockland Lake's parking lot and run five miles before going home and stuffing themselves silly and sitting on the couch and watching football. It has become a tradition for many, and I've gotta say, it's a lot of fun.

Last year when I did this race, it was my first run after finishing the JFK 50-miler five days before. Any race where I average ten minutes per mile or better is good, and I did really well in 2008, finishing in about 49 minutes, much faster than I expected. My goal in 2009 is to meet or beat last year's time, and I honestly don't think it's going to be easy. Concentrating on long slow distances all year, I've found myself conditioned to slowly walk-run all day if necessary, but speed was gone - my ability to go fast had all but disappeared.

To compensate, for the last few weeks I've focused solely on faster, shorter workouts. Completely devoid of hill-work, I've been spending all of my time at the track or on a treadmill, hammering out sub-ten minute miles for as long as I can go or running 800-1200 meter intervals. Progress has been quick; I'm back to the point where I can maintain that pace for an hour, but that's on a treadmill at 0%. - there is a big difference between 6 miles on a treadmill and 5 miles at Rockland Lake.

Another factor, however, is the crowds. Apparently, most of the folks at this race are rather inexperienced - they simply don't know how to line up for a race. I lined up in 2008 as I always do, near the back of the pack with 10-minute per mile runners. I ended up running on the side of the road, in the grass, for the first half-mile as I passed hundreds of walkers and slower-than-me runners who lined up near the 8 and 9-minute per mile markers. I came in 1046th place out of 1726 finishers, but probably started in around 1700th place. It was really frustrating. In 2009, I will have to line up forward of where I normally go and hope I don't go forward too far. Based on the 2008 results, I guess I'll try to pick a spot with about 60% of the pack in front of me.

Have a great thanksgiving!

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Quick Tip - remembering treadmill workouts

2009-11-23T10:00:00.002-05:00

So one of the little interesting challenges I have is maintaining an accurate, up-to-date log of my runs. Distance, time, and pace. I go out, I do my run, then go home and enter the log on the web site. How do I remember what I did?

For trail runs, I use my forerunner. I get home, sync it with the computer, and it tells me. For track runs, I have some sort of stopwatch and just remember the number of laps I did. And for treadmill runs, I used the notes application on my phone.

I'd get home, look at the most recent run, and enter it in my log.

This worked, but was not without problems. After just finishing a hard run, I'm pretty tired. Entering stuff on an iphone's keyboard without fatfingering everything is hard under normal circumstances - doing it while I can't see straight makes it that much harder.

Last week, a simpler idea occurred to me.

I can just take a picture of the treadmill!

I always have my phone with me because, if I'm working out on a treadmill, I'm definitely listening to something. And it's a lot easier to hit the shutter button than it is to enter numbers on that keyboard. I've been doing this for a couple of weeks and it really works well. Give it a try sometime.

P.S. - Another advantage is, in the photo's meta data, the date and time of the workout is automatically saved for you. It's just there with the photo. And, if you use an iphone or other GPS-enabled device, you even have the location. Pretty nifty.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Just thinking - Calories per hour

2009-11-20T10:00:00.001-05:00

Just thinking..

A post on Amby Burfoot's Peak Performance blog (seen here) gives some very straightforward and interesting insight into the world of running and calorie burning.

For running and walking, your gross calorie burn/mile is directly related to your body weight, so we can produce simple formulas that you can use for your specific weight. In running, your gross calorie burn per mile = .75 x wt in lbs. For walking, it = .57 x wt in lbs.

So - let's take that little tidbit of info and translate it to me.

At 295 lbs, I can run a 10K (6.2 miles) in an hour. That is a 9:40 pace. Using Amby's formula, that burns about 1371 calories.

If I dropped my weight to 250 and tried to burn the same number of calories in that hour, I'd have to run a shade over 7.3 miles in that hour - 8:12 pace.

At 200lbs, I'd have to cover 9.14 miles in that hour. That sounds pretty fast, and at 6:35 minute miles, you'd have to be really fast to disagree.

Now I have no idea whether the calorie burn rate remains constant in the same person given the same level of fitness but different BMI. But, for the sake of stupid-self-indulgence, let's say it does. A 10K run at that 6:35 pace would mean a 40:40 finish time. According to Running Times, a person who runs a 40-minute 10K should be able to run a 3:07 marathon - and it only takes a 3:10:59 to BQ.

This is all meaningless, even without all those assumptions. As I said, I'm just thinking.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Self-Talk

2009-11-18T10:00:00.000-05:00

Steve: "You know, I can run a 10K in an hour now."
Me: "What's so special about that?"
Steve: "Well, I'm nearly 300 lbs."
Me: "Yeah, I guess that's pretty good for 300lbs."
Steve: "So here's the thing - if I can run a 60-minute 10K at 300lbs, how fast could I run it at 200?"
Me: "Interesting. Want to find out?"
Steve: "Definitely."
Me: "So what are you waiting for?"
Steve: "Better question: what the f is wrong with me that I haven't found out already?"
Me: "Yes, that is a better question."

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Race Report: Team Slug Russell B Cheney 50K

2009-11-16T10:00:00.002-05:00

This race report is a little late, a full 6 weeks after the event. My memory of what happened has started to fade already, and it's high-time I got this thing written or else there will be nothing to write.

(if you can't see the video, please click here)

This was my second Team Slug event, and I'm really glad I came. Got up at 3:30am, was the first customer at my bagel shop, and hit the turnpike two hours before dawn.

When I pulled into the swamps of Delaware, Race Director John was the only one there and for a few minutes it looked like this might be a solo race. I didn't say anything, but recognized something in John that was different than when I saw him previously - he seemed a little melancholy - I didn't think much of it and we hung out until, finally, a couple more people arrived. Three or four of us lined up and got started, and three others showed up 20 minutes after we started and they went ahead, too.

As far as the race itself, there isn't much to say. Weather was perfect, but I was unusually slow due to the Vermont 50 fiasco only 6 days prior. I went at a decent pace for the first 4 or 5 laps, but really slowed down in the second half as my tired legs started complaining. I walked entire laps.

I took the opportunity to experiment with using only perpetuem to fuel my run, but by lap 6 I had really bonked and was craving some real food. John makes no promises to bring food for the runners at his races, but I was really glad that he had a small spread, paid for out of his own pocket, of some junk food to keep us going.

The winner, who was one of the guys who started late, came in just shy of 5 hours (he was given no credit for his late start.) 3 hours later I had my first DFL (dead-last) - winning the "Crazy Horse Award" in Team Slug vernacular - in 7:55.

The wonderful thing about these Team Slug events are that they consider the last-place person just as important as the first, and everyone - all the runners including the winner, family of runners, and the race director - hung out, had a good time, waiting for the last place person - me in this case - to come in. When so many events are wrapping up by the time a guy like me comes in, it's really nice to see that kind of support from a group of guys who accept no money, just come for the fun of it.

That evening, when I got home, I saw this post on team slug's Facebook. John had something on his mind all day, which explained why I thought he was a little quiet in the morning.

On October 3rd, 2009, TSI Co-Founder and Lifetime President "The Hitman" announced the "Death of Team Slug." TSI was exactly twenty years old. The Slug-Dream began in the Spring of 1989 in the seething swamps of Southeastern Virginia near Virginia Beach. TSI was founded by Running Man and Hitman, in honor of T.J.Key and his former Flatlanders Running Club based out of San Diego. In the early years, as in the latter, TSI attracted few participants; often starting fields of 10-15 ultra-runners. The course would usually be lined with strategically placed pint bottles of ginger brandy, coconut-covered marshmallows for markings, and not start until the early evening/dusk hours. The park closed at dark, and the Slugs would be "out there" into the wee hours, not only running, but evading Ranger Rick along the way.

The Slugs, and their shenanigans thrived throughout the mid '90's sprouting informal clubs in PA with Peanut Petley, MD/DC with James Moore and Dan Grayson; teaming with the Runner's From Hell, and Claude Sinclair, in South Carolina, and the grandest club of all based out of Gulf Breeze, FL. The Florida-band of gypsies was led by one Pavvy "The Big Brown Pony" Polur, and survived for years underground; passing itself off as a UF0 Search and Rescue Team. Pavvy's 42-Mile Boggy Bayou Swamp Stomp was never more than a whisper, but has since become ultra-legend. Then in early 2002, the Running Man mysteriously disappeared into the hills of North Georgia, apparently detained along with an eighteen year old female accomplice, on an Indian Reservation for possession of several dozen gallons of illicit fire-water (corn liquor). He hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Sponsoring an average of three non-events per year, the Slugs saw many hundreds of ultra-runners finish a Slug Run ... earning the World-Famous Black, 100% Cotton, Team Slug T-Shirt (Made in USA). TSI was friendly for first-time ultra-runners; with no time limits and no fees. If you didn't quit, you'd be given the opportunity to finish. And finish they did. Over the past twenty years the sport of ultra-running has gone mainstream ... Entry fees for ultras now cost hundreds of dollars, and 100-Mile Runs fill up on-line in minutes. Yet, Team Slug has not changed ... No Entry Fee, No Time Limit, and The Same Olde Black T-Shirt ...

Though Team Slug is now Officially Defunct, the Slugs will continue to occasionally gather, and run. The Slug shirt will infrequently appear at obscure ultra/marathon events around the country, and memories of past events will linger in the hearts of those many hundreds of Slugs who've "earned" that shirt. The Slugs lined up for the very last time this morning, Seven-Strong, just like the old days. Ironically enough, The All-Nighter and Sluggette, were there to "toe the line." Slugs we've come full circle ...What a Wonderful Twenty Years it has been ... It is Done ... THANKS for ALL ...

Apparently, I was the last person to finish an official Team Slug event. If there was ever a time to DFL an event, that was it. That last paragraph "the Slugs will continue to occasionally gather, and run" suggested that this won't be the last time I see John and company, but I really didn't know what he had in mind.

However, the next morning, I saw this:

Fattest Butt 50K set for Jan 2, 2010 (Mourning the Death of Team Slug --- Please be Respectful, and Bring a Black T-Shirt) Multiple Loops through frozen tundra of Central Delaware, well into the heart of winter. If you come bring cold weather gear, 300 feet of rappelling rope, and some emergency alcohol (should you become lost/disoriented in the forest). No Aid, No Fees, No Whining, No Kyle Busch fans, etc,etc,etc...

A week later, a "new" team slug shirt was announced, to be distributed at the FB50K

So it's hard to say what will really become of TSI. My worst fear, that it will fade into oblivion, is hopefully inaccurate. Perhaps John will morph it into something else. Perhaps runs will happen several times per year, completely unofficially, under no banner - "team slug" or otherwise. I don't know - but just to be safe, if you've never done a Team Slug event, you might want to make sure you get to Fattest Butt - it may just be your last chance to participate in something really special.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Steve's bucket list: Hardrock 100

2009-11-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

This is part of a series of posts where I discuss items on my "bucket list." the introduction to the series is here.

The message from Blake Wood came through the ultra list yesterday. This one-line email likely sent a couple hundred people into immediate action, and a few hundred more (me) dreaming. It said,

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 12:09 PM, Blake P. Wood wrote:
The entry application for the 2010 Hardrock Hundred is now available at http://www.run100s.com/HR

- Blake

Hardrock, for me, is the ultimate goal. There simply is no other race that appeals to me like Hardrock does. I find it very hard to describe the combination of challenge and setting in regards to its appeal. The setting - the rugged mountains of Southwest Colorado - for me epitomizes the concept of mountains in general to which I feel a primal attraction. I visited the area once and was immediately taken by it. The late august drive we took from Durango to Ouray through Silverton was one of the most memorable of my life. Given the opportunity, I'd love to move to the area and spend my days there. The photography I've seen suggest that the course is even more impressive than the scenery of that day's drive.

And then, there's the difficulty.

"It's not enough that you run 100 miles. This race has to add 33 thousand feet of elevation to it, too?" - Foster (coworker), looking at the printed elevation profile:

Depending on what you'd consider "monster", there are at least 8 monster climbs on that profile, probably more.

Not that I can attest from personal experience, but it seems to me that there are very few races that an ultrarunner can honestly say will actually test the limits of a homo-sapien's physical endurance. Some of the exceptions are made obvious by their 1-2% completion rates - courses that are just stupid hard, where a sadistic race director throws anything he possibly can your way, just to get you to quit. They're probably beyond the limit for most people. Others with higher completion rates still manage to push people to the limit but are not out of the realm of possibility. Races like Arrowhead or Badwater do it through environmental extremes - cold or heat. Hardrock does it by just throwing a really really hard course at you.

This video gave me a powerful look at the course's difficulty:

(if you can't see the video, please click here.)

I have long been interested in finding out where my real limit is. I've not found it yet, I feel like my DNFs all happened before my real limit (regardless of what I thought at the time.) It seems to me that Hardrock, however, will finally test exactly where the actual limit of my endurance is. That excites me.

What does it take to get into Hardrock? Well, there's a weighted lottery and waiting list, so it takes a bit of luck, at least in the first year you enter. However, before they even let you enter the lottery, you have to have proven yourself capable of finishing, and for most participants, that means completing a real mountain 100-mile race. 100 mile races like Rocky Raccoon, Umstead, and even Vermont aren't considered difficult enough, they want to see something like Angelest Crest, Wasatch, HURT, or Bear to be considered. Since I love the Grand Teton 50 so much, my plan is to return to Targhee in 2010 and try to qualify by running Grand Teton 100, which is considered adequate.

Image credits: Steve and Deb Pero. Thanks for licensing them under Creative Commons, I really appreciate being able to use them here.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

cranberries without sugar experiments, part 1

2009-11-11T10:00:00.001-05:00

Walking through the vast halls of my local Costco the other day, I came across this 3-lb bag of fresh (not frozen) cranberries.

Intrigued (and without much thought), I grabbed it. I knew that cranberries are one of the healthiest foods around, and the opportunity to get them fresh only lasts a couple of months per year.

Now I have never cooked with cranberries before, but I knew from years of thanksgiving dinner experience that these little morsels of health were usually served in a super-sweet sugar glaze that makes them.. less healthy. A few internet searches confirmed this, recipes typically added a whole cup (8-oz) of sugar to a 12-oz package of berries. Wow!! And sugar-free recipes were usually sweetened anyway, just with sugar substitutes.

So, living by the rule to "approach love and cooking with reckless abandon," I did the unthinkable: cooked cranberries completely without sugar. I boiled them for ten minutes until most of them "popped", then let them cool for an hour. Then I force-fed the result to my wife and kid.

The water had turned into a thick glaze, but without sugar.

Steve, unusually tolerant of unsweetened bitter flavors (I eat 100% chocolate.. and prefer it to milk chocolate): "This is ok. I can learn to like this."
Alex, "It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Which isn't saying much."
Joe (5-years old), "Um, it's ok." do you want more? "No."

Verdict: too tart for most tongues.

I decided to add a little sweetener to what was left. The last time we made pancakes, we used half of one of those little cracker barrel bottles. The remaining half was sitting in our cabinets, waiting to become a science experiment.

It seemed to me, and I was hoping, that when it came to sweeteners, "a little bit goes a long way." So I added that little bit of maple syrup to that big bowl of cranberries, and repeated the force-fed taste-test.

Steve: "Cranberry taste and tart still present, but the overall flavor much more pleasant."
Alex: "Much better. I like it."
Joe: "Um, it's pretty good." Do you want more? "No."

Verdict: not inedible. would serve with dinner.

I have 3lbs of this stuff, so I will experiment more and report back here.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Ultra Listserv Gold Part II: Does running 100 miles ever get easy?

2009-11-09T10:00:00.001-05:00

The wisdom of Lazarus:

Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 12:31 AM

i dont know that it becomes easier, so much as you simply adapt.
as you extend your boundaries, distances get easier.
50 miles makes 50 k easier.
100 k makes 50 miles easier.
100 miles makes 100 k easier.
and the first time you are excited to have "only" 100 miles left,
nothing is the same any more.

i look back on my earlier ultras,
and some of the reasons i felt i had to slow down... or drop out,
and i am amazed that i gave in so easily
when i later discovered how much more i could survive.

you learn to take the pain
wall it off in a corner of your mind
and just keep moving.
it doesnt matter if you are having a good day, or a bad day.
the only difference in the two is your time.
you dont think about quitting
you dont think about finishing.
you just keep moving.
because that is what you do.
that is who you are.

it is a useful skill,
knowing how to simply endure.
it is the ultimate reward for running ultras.

i think some people come by it naturally.
but everyone can acquire the skill.
if i can, anyone can.
no one is less inherently tough than me.

laz

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

2009 is a wrap

2009-11-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

I seem to have caught a cold. It's been with me all week, and hasn't gotten any better. I waited until Thursday, but I reluctantly withdrew from this weekend's 50-mile race.

Which means - 2009 is probably finished, at least with marathons and ultras. The highlight of the year was the PR at Caumsett 50K, and the finish at Grand Teton 50M - I persevered in the latter, and had a really good solid run in the former.

As soon as I get over this cold, I want to dedicate a few months to running faster speeds and shorter distances, because I really feel like that kind of training makes me better at longer distances. Marathons and Ultras are "easy" after a few really hard efforts at sub-half-marathon, and all of my best performances have been in periods of short training runs.

Also, short intense training seems to be the best fat-loss strategy for me, as the "long slow burn" only seems to increase my appetite in compensation.

But for those of you who crave ultra content on this blog, don't fret! With the Umstead 100-mile a mere 4½ months away (crap!!), I'll be certain to be writing plenty about going long as that approaches!

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Meb is not an american?

2009-11-04T10:00:00.001-05:00

This is just an educated guess, but I'll bet that most the people who complain that Meb Keflezighi is not really american, have something in common - they're the ones who've never heard of Meb Keflegzighi before he won the NYC marathon. Letsrun.com cretins notwithstanding, they're not the running fans. Only running fans bothered to watch the 2008 olympic trials that were not televised, but were streamed over the internet. I don't think many fans who watched him struggle with the stress fracture he had and ultimately drop there said, "well, he's not american anyway."

This is what I'm talking about: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/sports/03runner.html

These people don't deserve to have their opinions printed any more than I'd deserve to have my opinions on Cricket printed. I don't know anything about Cricket. Why should my opinion matter?

Fortunately, at least the talking-head haters are getting what they deserve: http://www.businessinsider.com/cnbc-on-nyc-marathon-winner-of-course-he-is-an-american-2009-11.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

What I learned at the NYC marathon

2009-11-02T10:00:00.001-05:00

1. I'm fat
2. I'm hopelessly inconsistent in my training
3. The best way to make your legs feel like they ran a 50-miler without actually running a 50-miler is to run an ashpalt/concrete marathon in trail running shoes.

My official time was 6:10:53, a half-hour off my PR.

great race, btw. crowds were amazing, especially in brooklyn.

full race report later.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am EST and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Race Preview: NYC Marathon

2009-10-30T10:00:00.001-04:00

I'm finally in. I applied for the lottery 4 times, was turned down all 4 times. This may be the reason I hate race entry lotteries - I just have no luck with them. This year, I got in not in the lottery, but on a "three consecutive year loser" rule. At any rate, I finally get to run it.

There is an aura around NYC marathon unlike anything else. Oddly, most of my non-running friends acknowledge it as an enormous accomplishment, with greater reverence than any of my ultras, even the 50 milers. I find this fascinating.

Because of this reverence that people have, I won't bother with a race description, because everyone already knows all about it. It's the NYC marathon.

My plan for the last couple of months was to have a great time with it. My buddy Fraioli, also a fat Italian guy, and I were going to take the opportunity to have a slice of pizza in each boro during the race. How cool would that be? However, as of this writing, it seems that he's going to ditch the race for lack of training, meaning I might have no excuse to avoid actually having to run this thing..

Which, frankly, wouldn't be so bad. A 5:45 finish would allow me to experience the crowds that NYC is so famous for - crowds that would have dissipated for the 6:45 finish I probably would have had with Fraioli.

Either way, I really am looking forward to the whole NYC marathon experience. Come back next week for a report.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

People who think I shouldn't run marathons exist, get NYTimes ink

2009-10-28T10:00:00.003-04:00

(This is the 400th post I've written to this blog)

Years ago, I finally internalized the futility of arguing politics with people, especially on the internet, and thus almost never do it even though I retain very very strong opinions. I mostly keep them to myself and reluctantly tolerate others' political rants. Avoiding these arguments has helped me keep friends that I would have otherwise lost. It's a nice perk.

Having learned that lesson, in the past couple of years I have tried, and sometimes failed, to avoid online debates in particular. I'm getting better at it, I swear. But every now and then something comes up and I just can't resist writing about it, or at least spending some otherwise valuable productive time reading people's comments and getting emotionally vested in it.

So when this article in NYTimes came through my feed reader, I knew that if I wasn't careful, the ensuing conversation would descend into a rapidly-downward-spiraling argument that would accomplish nothing. The reason is, this article was talking squarely at me. The Times was printing opinions of people who'd prefer I NOT run marathons.

Stated simply, I have no patience for these people.

I have to leave it at that and resist writing a three-page angry rant here. It would just be a waste of time, as nobody would read it anyway. Instead, I am going to go right into light-hearted mode, and quote some of the funnier opinions of folks who happen to agree with me.

JMF: ...you know you're closer to being Joe Six-Pack that you ever will be to being Paul Tergat. You think Paul is cramped behind a pc someplace ranting about how he's a 'real runner' who can't stand that some people jog the whole way and can't finish in less than 3 hours? But for you 'Real Joggers" - in your little gel pak addled minds, walking it in six hours constitutes being a wooly mouse, and jogging it in 3.5 hours equates to racing through bomb craters and hailstones...

SG: If someone runs a 3:00 marathon, they are still 55 minutes (8 miles back) off the world record. Does that make them a slowpoke fatty?

Shawn D: I'm all for the back-of-the-packers. I say take 10-hours! That way my slow ass times appear all that more impressive :)

Mark: I'm going to have to stop telling people I "run" 100 milers.

legallyillegal: so when some fatf**k does something other than sit at home and have donuts, you're there telling them to go home and have another donut?

B: Shhh!!! If you eliminate the 'casual' or 'walker' marathoner, then you won't get an ego boost comparing yourself to pros & elites that ran past you like you were standing still. How will you feel coming in DFL at 3:10?

There were no shortage of less funny but very insightful comments, either.

Laz: an inherent desire to belittle less talented athletes is a sure sign of an athlete who does not respect his own performance. as a coach, you find that every athlete has their own particular needs. the athlete who belittles others needs to be taught the worth and value of his own performance. the athlete who believes in himself treats other athletes with respect.

Spurgeon Hendrick: Snobby runners can all bite me. Fast runners who complain about slow runners need a reality check. The lady at the end of the article who tells 6+ hour runners, "that’s fine, but you didn’t really run it" ... who does she think SHE is? She's snooty just because her 4:05 time beat somebody by two hours? The elites beat HER by two hours ... Does that mean she "didn't really run it?" And to say, "a six-hour marathoner is simply participating in the event, not racing in it" ... is just plain stupid. Is a four hour marathoner "racing it?" Uh ... no. Is a three hour? Hmmm ... let me think ... the elites will beat him by an hour ... so .. uh .. no. Although I would argue that ALL of the runners are racing against themselves, either against their old PR or against that little voice in their head telling them to quit.Do these elitist numb nuts realize that for some people running the race in 6+ hours requires more effort, more hard work, and more determination than it does for them to run a four hour marathon?

Ed Parrot: But exactly what is the point of saying that someone didn't really run it? I mean, is someone suffering from an insecurity complex or what?

Byron Lane: I've won races that I can't even remember doing, but I can tell you stories from each one of these days on the road with my dad, and so can he. It's my favorite race each year, and probably his, too. Other people can call it a run, a non-race, a fast shuffle--I don't care.

MN: I ran along with a guy who was well into his 80's and had finished every single TC marathon since it began. Started running in his late 50's to keep him off the bottle and from smoking. Hell I'm prayin I can pull that off in 40+ years too and I don't want some douche whose a "real runner" telling me that if I'm not sub 4 hours I shouldn't be there.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Fat people who exercise healthier than skinny people who don't

2009-10-27T10:00:00.001-04:00

(I just realized I made a typo in the publish date, so this is Monday's post on a Tuesday. Sorry.)

via Amby Burfoot's Peak Performance blog

Here's Why Exercise Counts, Even If You're Fat
More and more studies are finding evidence for the "fat by fit" finding, first uncovered by Steve Blair and his many studies at the Cooper Clinic. In case you've forgotten, this line of research has found that overweight individuals who exercise regularly have roughly the same health profile as lower weight people who exercise, and a better profile than thin people who don't exercise. In other words, exercise is the uber-health-enhancer. This review looks at the "how's" of fat-but-fit, and finds that the exercise has significant effects on inflammation, insulin sensitivity, visceral ("belly") fat, and cholesterol even if you don't lose weight. Powerful stuff. Source: Current Opinion In Lipidology.

Here's the study

having said that, i'd still rather be a thin runner than a fat runner.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

Ultrarunning Listserv Gold - How to run 50 miles in 12 hours

2009-10-23T10:00:00.002-04:00

A bit of wisdom from Joe Judd of Colorado, who writes,

You are more than ready. I think that 50 miles in 12 hours is very
attainable, especially if it is a flat course.

1) Focus on keeping moving for the whole 12 hours.
2) A run/walk startegy works well for most people. Something like run for 5 minutes, then walk for one minute. I just run at a comfortable pace for as long as I can, then walk when I feel I need to have a break. Getting exhausted is hard to come back from.
3) Don't stop for too long. Keep aid stops to a maximum of around 5 minutes, maybe 10 minutes around dinner time. Remember, if you stop for 5 minutes every hour, you've lost a total of an hour of the race.
4) Most of what you need to overcome is in your head. It's not terribly hard to run a pace of 14:30 per mile. Doing it for 12 hours is another issue.
5) Stay in the moment. It is not a good idea to think of how much longer you have to run. Focus on how you're doing at THAT moment. The hours and miles will take care of themselves. Relentless forward motion!
6) It will get bad. But, then it will get better. It's never a consistent downhill spiral. No matter how bad you feel, you WILL bounce back.

BTW, pretty much all of these things I have learned from the ultra list. Of course, I've had to wade through some bad jokes.

The signal-to-noise ratio on the listserv is pretty darn low, but when something great does come through, it really makes it worth reading.

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com

knee update and winter race plans

2009-10-21T10:00:00.006-04:00

The good news is that I think my knee will be ok for the NYC marathon, which is a week from Sunday, and then for Stone Cat 50M a week from that. The bad news is I'm not 100% sure.

* I haven't tried running on it yet
* I have not felt pain by walking on it since Monday night, including stairs
* I still feel pain when I touch it
* It feels "fragile" or "glassy", if that makes sense.

I have no idea what would have happened had I attempted to continue running on it at the 50K. My gut tells me the odds are 50/50 that it would have been fine or I would have made it worse. I would have been pulled from that race anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

After Stone Cat, the only thing on my calendar before Umstead is a 50K fatass in the new year. I am not sure what I'll do with the downtime. Tony and I are working on something fun for mid-november to early december but that's not set in stone. If I can get a killer airfare deal, I might head to las vegas for the marathon there to see some friends - that's also early december. I promised Rizzo that I'd go do Rocky Raccoon 100 if he'd man up and do the 50, but you should hear him cry on the phone. "I can't do that!"

"So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?"

Those three things notwithstanding, I pretty much have nothing going on for this winter - and I'm kind of happy about that, because that frees me up to spend lots of quality time with Joe on the ski slopes, and focusing on dropping some weight for umstead..

New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time and can be seen at http://www.tursi.com