Monday, March 18, 2013

The story so far...Part 3

My Running History - Part 3

(Part1Part2)

Post Leadville 2011 I had a few weeks of pretty good mileage because I was determined to come back in 2012 in very good shape. Of course, after a few weeks things began to wane and my motivation lessened. After all, Leadville 2012 was almost a full year away. I had plenty of time to slack off right? My first race of 2012 wouldn't be until the end of April and it would 'only' be a 50k. Easy peasy.

That seems to be one of my main problems with running. I don't generally 'like' the actual running. One of my main motivating factors for getting out the door is if I have a race coming up. That makes it easier to get out the door in the spring and summer because I have a race once a month generally. But over the winter there's nothing. If I'm out on a 8-mile training run on the flat Cherry Creek trail I'm fine for the first couple miles and then I just want it to be done and I slog through it. The only times I really really really enjoy running is when I'm out on a mountain trail and I can't see 20 yards down the trail because there's too many twists and turns; trees surrounding you; rocks to hop over, etc. Luckily I don't live too far from those types of areas here in Colorado but I have to drive to them. I can't just hop out my front door and run a mile or so to a trailhead.

So, the long and short of it was that I got lazy again over the winter and did most of my running on the Cherry Creek trail (a flat concrete bike/walk/run path behind my neighborhood). The end of April rolled around and the Cheyenne Mtn 50k (a hilly trail course) was on tap. I ended up DNF'ing in that race because at the halfway mark I got mentally deflated by running the exact same pace I had the previous year. I had run the whole way too and felt so much better than the previous year. In my mind I should have been a good 30 minutes faster to the halfway mark than last year. So I tried to tough it out for a few more miles and with the nonstop running my legs had gotten tired and once again my nutrition intake was all wrong so about a mile after the start/finish area (on the 2nd lap) I turned around and walked back and DNF'd.

I hated myself for it immediately afterwards. Started making plans for my next race. Met with my friend, Wyatt, who said that Cherry Creek really wasn't doing anything for me. He and I started meeting at the local high school track on Wednesday's to do repeats (400's, 800's, 1200's, 1600's). It was very motivating to get out of bed at 4:45 in the morning to go meet a friend and run together. The other days of the week I'd drive over to east Parker (which has hills) and do my 7 to 10 mile runs. I'd drive over to Deer Creek Canyon (very hilly trails) to do my long Saturday runs.

June 2, 2012 was the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty 50k just outside Golden, CO. It was a very hilly, very technical in places, course. I had no idea what my time would or should be. But I ran a smart race and I was ready for it. I finished with a time of 7:17 and I was pretty excited about it.

June 30, 2012 was the Leadville Marathon. Not all that technical but all trails and dirt roads with a massive climb up to Mosquito Pass at 13,200 feet elevation. This race is 'only' a marathon distance but feels like an ultra because of the altitude and climbs involved. I had the best race of my short career. For the first time ever I was actually looking at the people around me and racing against them. Normally, I go into races with a goal just to finish the course. I don't care about place or anything like that; just finishing. But this day I was locked into a great race and for the last 4 or 5 miles (all downhill) I passed people left and right. My fastest mile of the day was mile 26 as I'm racing to the finish line. Finished in 151st place out of 509 finishers.

With those races out of the way it was just a wait for August to roll around and get the Leadville 100 behind me. I had decent training through the summer. Found too many excuses to take days off again, but felt like this was my year. I was pumped.

As we lined up at the start I was excited to have a good race. Again, I was just focusing on finishing the race. I was racing against myself, my own body. I settled into a comfortable pace (which looking back was probably too fast) and I felt great. Over the course of the day issues started to arise (as they always do it seems in any ultra). My main problem that day was I kept having to pull over to urinate. Looking back it's possible I had an infection; that's how it felt). I came into Twin Lakes (40 mile mark) about 20 minutes slower than the previous year because of how many times I had to pull over. It was physically and mentally draining. Heading up Hope Pass (the big climb of the day) I got about halfway up and pulled over (once again) and passed out. Yep, fell straight forward passed out. Somehow my body turned onto my back as I fell so that nothing was injured. A couple of guys coming up behind me helped me out and said that I had been out for about a minute.

They got some water into me and made sure I was fine and continued on their way up the Pass. I laid down for a good hour or so and went back to the town of Twin Lakes and my race was over. Another disappointing year at the Leadville 100. Once again I just couldn't get my nutritional intake under control. It's a part of this whole ultra thing that I still haven't mastered (as if I've mastered any of it). I have a friend, Chris, who can take nothing but water and a Gel every 30 minutes for 24 to 28 hours. That's it! Water and Gels. In the ultra world everyone is 'an experiment of one' and so I still have a ways to go before I get it figured out.

I came back from Leadville wondering if I really wanted to continue with this whole running thing. A few days afterwards I decided NOT to do the Leadville 100 in 2013 but would attempt it again in 2014. Instead, I would be a pacer for my friend Wyatt in 2013.  I decided to take a few weeks completely off from running. A few weeks turned into a few months as the winter came. I finally got out the door for a few runs here or there but again found too many excuses to stay indoors. Over the winter I did mostly nothing.

And that puts us right up to the present where I'm at the end of a 'decent' week of training. Meaning I was able to get in a couple of moderate runs during the week and a fairly long run over the weekend. That's what I have to build off and I'm hoping to really ramp up the mileage as summer starts. The Cheyenne Mtn 50k is coming up in 6 weeks with the Greenland Trail 50k exactly 1 week later. I have 2 back-to-back 50k's coming up with precious little time to prepare for them but if I can stay consistent with training and start getting some good mileage on my legs I think I can do 'OK.'

You can see the rest of my schedule over to the right of the page. My focus this year will be to do as many 50-milers as I can. I want to go long long long so that I can start to figure out the nutrition intake game as I go farther. See, it's fairly easy to fake your way through 20 or 25 mile training runs on a weekend. But when you're going 50 miles (and eventually 100 miles) you can't fake it. You can't just push your body through it. You've got to have a handle on your calorie intake and that's what I want to focus on this year so that 2014 will finally be the year that I put a finish at the Leadville 100 behind me.

So, for this blog I'll be posting my weekly mileage along with race reports and any other running tidbits I feel like sharing. My thought is that it will help to keep me accountable and be a motivator to get me out the door for daily runs.

Thanks for reading this walk down memory lane. 


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