That’s what I was reassured by the hunter after I woke him in his tent around 4pm on Saturday, somewhere well off the trail and many miles from anything. I had been running since about 7:30am, up and down the Continental Divide, thousands of feet up and thousands of feet down, taking the reverse, clock-wise route of the loop I ran exactly 3 weeks prior. With an assortment of friends and strangers, I started the day with the intention of running a challenging but fairly straightforward 27-mile route called the Pawnee-Buchanan Pass Loop.
Photo: Silke
Most of the day had been perfect – sustained energy, favorable weather, post-card scenery, and great company – and I was just a few miles from the end. Our group had started with 11 runners, with 5 of us continuing on for the full loop (the others “only” running something like 18 miles). Though everyone in the group (everyone who I’ve run with in Colorado, actually) is strong and fairly experienced, on any given run there are some who are stronger overall and/or over specific stretches or types of terrain.
Photo: Silke
There was some leapfrogging all day long but the overall pecking order was pretty clear and two of my running buddies, Silke and Alfred, were clearly quicker and I was smart enough to let them pull ahead rather than running beyond my ability. [Side note: I have been having some serious running-and-blogging envy of Silke. She is remarkable, as much for her ability to capture the essence of her outdoors experiences on her blog as for her strength and boundless energy on the trails. Her own post about this run is along the lines of what I hope my blog can eventually be.]
Photo: Silke
Towards the end of the run they were up front, out of sight, and the other two in our group were running independently. On my own, maybe 24 miles in, I power-hiked up the final climb, knowing the parking lot couldn’t be far off. But after going up and up and up, I felt something was wrong. I was without a map (super dumb) but quite sure that we’d be only climbing about 1000 feet for that stretch. 1400, maybe 1500 feet up and still nothing/nobody in sight, I made a tough decision to double back down the mountain to see if one of the small side trails was the way to go. 17 minutes of hard running down and I did find a small offshoot and I took it for a while until it ended in a small seasonal hunting camp. That’s where I met TJ Williams, the kind of guy a slightly scared, embarrassingly lost, and woefully inexperienced mountain trail runner hopes to meet.
Photo: Silke
TJ is a real outdoorsman, even refers to the trickle of mountain water as a “crick” and has a man’s beard and seems to be a master of wherever he is in nature. All cammo-covered and mountain fit, he made it clear I was not at risk, there was plenty of daylight to get back, and even smart guys can get turned around. Then he gave me his map, filled my water, handed me some candy, and pointed me the right direction, which happened to be right back where I had been. Turns out I was going the right way all along, my big mistake being that I second-guessed myself. The idea of making that same 1000′ climb again, 27 miles and 7000′ of climbing into the day, was daunting but map in hand I knew it was time to make time. Surely my fellow runners would be worried (and possibly annoyed), and I knew that Alison would be concerned, too.
Photo: Silke
Much of my own worry could have been diminished with a bit of better planning. You see, my GPS watch power died halfway up my first shot at that final climb, giving me no indication of how far I’d still need to go or current elevation or anything else. I hadn’t brought a light, thinking I’d be well off the mountains by 4pm. I had no map, my phone was without service, and my food was running low. I’d even left my ID bracelet back home since I was to be running with others. For a stretch, I had thoughts of being out at 11-12k’ in the dark, by myself, without food, water, shelter, or light. I felt dumb. I was unprepared. I now know better.
Photo: Lara
I covered the remaining trail as efficiently as possible, bounding down the final descent, making myself smile (I do that regularly regardless of how I feel or the conditions), and eventually made it back about 10 hours after I started. Something like 8.5 hours of moving time covering about 31 rugged miles with over 8000′ of climbing (and 8000′ of descending, of course). My running companions were, in fact, quite concerned but totally understanding and they didn’t make me feel even a fraction as stupid as they could (and maybe should) have.
Even with my unplanned solo diversion, the day was all sorts of fun and incredibly satisfying. When tired and turned around, I remained calm and determined. My body held up great – I never worried that I’d have to stop from fatigue – and the only physical issue I had was some carsickness on the drive home.
In fact, I bounced back fast enough to run with Alison on Sunday at the Devil Dash, where we both did well on the legit obstacle-and-mud-course 5k, crossing the line together in 51 minutes.
I’m now in the thickest part of Cactus Rose 100 training, looking to see what sort of mileage I can handle in September, before tapering down in October. Mentally, I’m ready for the final push and my legs will just have to come along for the ride.
I’m considering following in George Zack’s blogging footsteps, opting for more frequent, quick, varied posts without an obsessive focus on prose. More a diary of what’s shaking in my life and elsewhere, less an attempt to create the next great running novel, one tediously long essay about myself at a time. Not to say I won’t blather on in depth when the topic warrants blathering but there are so many little tidbits of interest out there that I’ll try to keep things moving along instead of a race-report-like manuscript of every training run.
Starting now…
The last week has been another full one of running and hiking, having recovered well from the Leadville adventure. If the next couple days go as planned I’ll be pushing beyond 90 miles for the week, perhaps within striking distance of 100 if I stupidly go too far today.
Harry Hamilton, who I paced at Leadville this year, posted his race report. Despite immediate post-race comments along the lines of “I’m done with Leadville” and “Never again” it now looks like he will be back in 2013 to erase the ~8 minute of demons that kept him from getting the “big buckle” (awarded for sub-25 hour finishers; Harry crossed the line in 25:08:19). I hope to again be by his side for some of that race, though this time as a racer rather than a pacer.
The Randall household has weathered the storm of back-to-back-to-back-to-back house guests, with little recovery time, over the last month. It was great to have all 9 – Ceci, Cara, Louis, Jacques, Emile, Rosie, Farrah, Robby, and Sabine – rotate through in 4 shifts and I think September will feel a bit quiet around here. But, we’re looking forward to the fall and winter shifts so book soon to secure your spot!
Mom/Rosie/Ro-Ro and the grandkids:
People live in Boulder, in large part, for the natural surroundings and ever-present wildlife. But with bears and mountain lions making their way well into town, including some of my regular running spots, I’m thinking group and/or day-time training is the way to go if not being eaten is one of my short-term goals.
I have had a chance to rub elbows with some ultra-running greats over the last couple of weeks, including crossing paths with Scott Jurek out on the trail and brief chats with Geoff Roes at the Boulder farmer’s market and Dakota Jones at a breakfast spot in Leadville.
I have many accomplished running friends but a couple of them are in leagues of their own. Semi-buddy David Roche beat some of the fastest in the country last weekend when he won the U.S. Trail 10k National Championship!
Credit: Shannon Johnston
And new running friend, Silke Koester, went out to Aspen’s Backcountry Marathon for a training run and went ahead and won it just for fun. Huge congrats to Silke – now when I run with her I can now be proud to be dropped by a marathon winner.
Tomorrow morning I’m heading back out for another go at the Pawnee-Buchanan Pass loop. If all goes well, the 27-miler will take around 7.5 hours. Then Sunday Al and I are taking on the Devil Dash 5k obstacle course race in Lyons to showcase our mad skills.
My baby can crawl now. It is super cute. And my boy can climb doorways if they aren’t too slippery.
{NOTE: I just saw how the title of this post reads and I could be accused of being grossly misleading. I DID NOT RUN THE LEADVILLE 100 IN 13 HOURS. I paced for 13 hours at the Leadville 100, covering about 52 miles over the back half of the course. }
Harry Hamilton ran the Leadville 100 Trail “Race Across the Sky” in 25 hours and 8 minutes, in the process very much earning my respect, admiration, and a bit of envy. Though I was only with him for the second half of the race, I got to be part of a truly awe-inspiring feat of mental and physical toughness unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Harry kept running – I mean running hard enough I had to try to catch him – even 85, 90 miles into the event, each step resulting in a tiny grunt, every turn painful but deliberate, heavy breathing through unwavering determination hour after hour after hour. Congratulations, Harry, you really earned this one and you should be supremely proud of how you proved yourself yet again, this time in one of the most physically demanding events in the world.
While we had talked a bit over the last couple of months, I hadn’t met Harry until Thursday afternoon. He needed a pacer (everyone needs a pacer) for his first stab at running the Leadville 100. Despite his deep experience in running, including multiple prior 100-milers, he was just a few days removed from life at sea level and about to take on a race over terrain many can’t walk for more than a few minutes, due to the ruggedness and, more so, the oxygen-deprived air at the high elevation.
Harry and I talked a good bit on Thursday and Friday but we hadn’t yet run a step together before he got to the turnaround point for the race at a little non-town called Winfield. He had a super specific race plan, including goal times for each leg of the race and gear to exchange at precise intervals. His expectation was to meet me at halfway at 4pm, 12 hours into his race, and run with me for just under 13 hours back to the start. The timing was critical, as breaking 25 hours at Leadville is a major feat that earns the runner a coveted “big buckle” for the performance.
On the Tuesday of race week an exciting announcement came from the race organizers: a section of the race that has historically been on road was being re-routed to trail. This is a trail race, after all, and the slightly altered course made for a more scenic and, perhaps, safer route since it avoided a stretch that otherwise shares space with vehicles. The good news, however, meant that the race just got harder and longer, as the changed route included 800 feet more of elevation change (400 up, 400 down) and nearly 3 miles of added distance.
It was explained, reluctantly and only after public questioning, by a race official in a race briefing (with low level booing from the crowd) that the former course in use for 30 years was actually slightly less than 100 miles. The new course, by most estimations, is right about 102 miles. This fact turned out to be rather significant for Harry, who missed the coveted 25-hour finish time by a mere 8 minutes – a time difference of no more than a half mile.
Back to where my full-on Leadville experience started, right about 3:40pm. Harry made it halfway 20 minutes under his original goal of 12 hours but was dissatisfied, as he had really hoped to make it in about 11 hours to provide a bigger cushion. It almost goes without saying that one needs more time to run the second half of a very long race, as a runner is dealing with all kinds of fatigue, along with the slowing course conditions including nearly pitch black darkness. How much additional time is needed to make the return varies greatly on the runner and the particulars of the day but by the time we left together, after getting some food and drink in Harry and a bit of foot maintenance – his feet are a mangled mess in the best of times – we had just over 13 hours to make it back for his “A” goal. (His “B” goal, like most ultra-runners, was to finish under the time cut-off for the race, which is 30 hours for Leadville.)
It is worth mentioning that many people who try very, very hard don’t finish in ultra-marathons. 100 milers, in particular, are unsurprisingly difficult to finish even for fit, well-training, focused, and committed athletes. Leadville offers challenges not found at many other 100-milers and the high constant elevation is perhaps the greatest. Fewer than half of starters finish the Leadville 100 run, year after year. This year only 358 of 795 starters made it to the end.
Harry and I took off right from where he had just been, retracing his steps of the last nearly 12 hours. I was super eager to run well, both for my own training and to prove myself to be a competent pacer. Fellow Boulder friend and a pacer for another runner, Silke, wrote a great post of her own pacing experience, with terrific photos and descriptions of the Leadville course. You see some of the pics I took and I always fail when try to adequately describe mountains so I’ll stick to what comes naturally: talking about myself.
The long day taught me a lot about what I need to think more about for my own 100. Things that have crossed my mind but proved to be more important than I would have thought before spending over half a day on the move with an experienced 100-mile runner. What I learned includes:
- Every second counts. Harry wanted to finish in under 90,000 seconds but the race took him 90,499. Less than 500 seconds over more than a day-long activity. That’s not much of a difference. It is close to nothing. If you pee once an hour and each stop costs a total of only 20 seconds, that’s 500 seconds. I will not be wasting any extra time peeing by looking for an ideal spot just a handful of steps off of the trail. Instead, when I need to pee, I will coast to a stop, minimally adjust my shorts to allow for a stream, turn my genitals away from approaching runners, and go right where I am. Simple manuever can save me at least a handful of minutes.
- Carry as little as possible. I started my pacing day with a jam-packed race vest, including a water bladder, gels, three lights and extra batteries, safety and comfort supplies, an extra shirt, a jacket, warm hat, 2 pairs of gloves, a phone, and on and on. At some point I also was carrying a bunch of Harry’s stuff, including gloves, a bandana, and thick shirt stuffed in my shorts and his hip pack with dual hydration bottles around my waist. When I run my 100 I will wear as little as possible and carry almost nothing, perhaps just a hand bottle.
- Use the aid stations as much and as fast as possible. When, 12 hours in I almost threw up just thinking about another gel – not an exaggeration, I started to heave before I even opened the packet – I realized that I will be eating other things if I want to finish a 100 mile run. My plan was “gels and water only” for my 100 but I’ve found that I’ll have to take in whatever I can. New plan – eat a gel every 20 minutes no matter what, unless the what is imminent and certain vomiting, in which case eat a lot of anything else.
- A pacer really, really helps. This is not bragging, though I think I did help Harry get through the course quite a bit faster than he’d have done without me. He’d have finished, I’m certain, but it would have taken longer, been more difficult, and probably not have been as much fun. There are a ton of little things a pacer can and often should do that I only realized as I was doing it. There are basics, like reminding the runner to eat and drink and maybe take salt or medication or put on sunscreen or a hat. Or keeping the runner moving and on course. But there are countless little other things, like computing time to the next aid station or running on the non-trail rough terrain next to the single track the runner is on in order to help shine an extra beam of light for the runner to follow or taking the sticky trash from there hands and stowing their trash or heading first down the steep loose rocks to establish the best line or answering routine questions asked by other runners and pacers so your runner doesn’t have to waste energy talking when tired or following behind, silent for hours at a time just to give the runner a sense they aren’t all alone out there in the heat or the cold or the wind or the rain or even under a perfect starry night.
- Finishing a 100 depends on two things: not getting hurt and continuing to move. For the Leadville 100, that means hiking an average of about 18 minutes a mile to finish within 30 hours. That’s not very fast. Of course the climbs are slower than that for most who run Leadville but anyone who can walk at a leisurely pace for a day without stopping much can finish Leadville. That’s a big if but, barring injury, it is doable for most who would be willing to train for a year or so. For highly trained trail runners who have been at it for 5, 10, 25 years, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. If I ever DNF a race, I can only imagine it would be for an injury that physically prevents me from continuing. That could certainly happen. But, otherwise, as long as I just eat a lot, drink as necessary, and don’t stop for more than a minute or two at any aid station, there’s absolutely no excuse for me not to finish.
As I mentioned, I was Harry’s sole pacer covering half of the race plus some distance added due to doubling back for aid station necessities and scouting ahead to be sure where we were going and taking all the wide turns. We didn’t want him to stop for anything away from aid stations, but I had to quite often to get things for him from my bag, or change batteries, or adjust gear in one way or another. This meant fairly frequent 1-2 minute fartlek run-style efforts to catch up with him as quickly as possible. (Even with the “break” this sort of running is far more tiring that covering the same distance at a steady effort). And I was standing in as Harry’s entire crew to get him fed, hydrated, clothes on and off, drop bags searched and rearranged, medicine dispensed, and future needs anticipated. Just for fun, since Harry mentioned rarely having pictures from his races, I also tried to be his personal photographer, which meant sometimes scrambling off (usually up) trail to get in position for a shot.
[Above, Harry at 5:30am after race.]
All of this, along with trying to provide some humor and motivation and a positive attitude for so many hours, takes it’s toll. I finished tired, with heavy legs, wanting very much to sit and be taken care of. But, I didn’t feel done. I didn’t feel truly exhausted. I was able to pretty much go on with my day. There were very few points in my pacing experience where I was feeling really taxed. I had speed and endurance in reserve and nothing hurt. I knew, without question, that I could turn around and run some more. Now, I’m thinking that next year I’ll maybe go and run the other direction and find out if I can make it all the way back again. It is premature to plan that far ahead but, if I do take it on as a competing runner, I better start getting my plan together. Just to be sure I’m prepared for any contingency,the Mike Randall 2013 Leadville 100 Run Pacer Sign-up List starts here in the Comments section.
Saturday run: 26-27 miles in 7.5 hours, two mountain passes, most of day at 10,000+’ and topping out at 12,550′ with 7,000+’ climbing
After last Saturday’s 50k race, I put in a moderate 6 days of training, just about 45 miles with lots of climbing and hiking. Three of the week’s hikes were with Austin buddy, Louis, and we even coerced our three boys (Jacques, Emile, and Sagan) to trudge through the Hogback climb. That one can be tough for adults, with about 1000′ of climbing, but our group of 5 made it through, each under his own power.
I was right where I needed to be, at 76 miles for the week, heading into another big weekend. Up at 4am Saturday, I met up with Matt, globe-trotting, ultra adventure couple Ryan and Silke, and their buddy, fast-but-one-day-removed-from-sea-level-Ben. The 5 of us took on an interesting high mountain loop that includes climbs over the Buchanan and Pawnee passes, as described by Anton Krupicka.
Matt did a fantastic write-up about our shared experience that warrants a read for anyone who wants a real understanding of our long day. One of his spot-on quotes” “There are running adventures and then there are outdoor survival adventures. This was a hybrid. “. Within the first few minutes of the run Ryan and Ben were off in the distance, with Matt, Silke, and me running together, leapfrogging each other, running in changing pairs, and often stringing out by a few minutes, with whoever was stronger taking the lead.
With the exception of a few good stretches in the first half of the run, I often was in the back, which makes sense given my relatively weak climbing and tired legs heading into the day. No ego out there for me – Ryan and Ben are about to tackle the 200-mile, insane-even-for-most-ultra-runners Trans-Alpine Run across the Alps, Silke and Ryan recently spent 11 months running, climbing, and biking across the most remote areas in the world, and Matt shifts (seemingly) without effort from marathoning to swimming to the weight room to yoga and back to all-day trail masochism.
I was without a camera but luckily Silke and Matt grabbed a bunch of great shots as we hit a huge range of terrain. I’ve confused who took what but thanks to both, as all photos on this post are courtesy of Matt and Silke. It is nice having running buddies who can double as a camera crew. Since one mountain run description sounds much like any other(at least when I’m the author), I’ll skip the prose in favor of some highlights:
- On the ride out we had to briefly stop to let a portly black bear finish wandering across the road. It was my first Colorado bear encounter and it didn’t bother me at all that I had to experience it from the safety of the minivan.
- After finishing the run, again in the van, we came across two enormous bull mooses/meese. Even from the shelter of a 7-seater van they were imposing.
- Over the course of the run I saw some occassional human wildlife, including one in the form of Scott Jurek, perhaps the most impressive and accomplished ultra-runner in history, at least from America. He was friendly and all smiles, quite the contrast to my grumps and grimaces, but just crossing paths was a lift at a low point in my run.
- There was a stretch of about 15 minutes coming up the backside of Pawnee Pass where the temps were low 40s with sustained winds we estimated at about 60mph. I thought I might actually get some frostbite, followed almost immediately by a 40-degree spike in temps where I thought I might overheat if I pushed too hard.
- Total run time was within 75 minutes of my most recent 50m trail race and this 7hr30min effort wasn’t even 27 miles and I think it was harder.
Pics galore…
Flowers and trees and nothingness:
Me, trying to keep up:
Happy Matt and friends:
5 amigos:
Big mountains:
Scotty J:
Yesterday I did what has become my go-to 10ish miler from Ebin G. Fine Park to the Green Mt. summit. It has about 3400′ of climb, almost all in the first half, so this otherwise not-too-long run qualifies as a long run for time-on-feet purposes. I’ve run it as fast as about 2:15; yesterday, less than 24 hours after finishing the prior day’s 50k race, it took me 2:34. 20 minutes more over less than 10 miles shows just how much the fatigue was on my legs and brain.
But, this weekend was a success on all fronts. Two long efforts (6 hours Sat, 2.5 hours Sun) with right about 10,000′ of total climbing over about 41 miles. I followed up Run 2 with a gluttonous episode at Japango, where I set a new PR in the category of “Most Money Spent For A Single Sitting Of Sushi”.
I’m hoping to get at least 3-4 more long back-to-back days in August and September, plus the long day ahead for pacing up to 50 miles at Leadville. There’s no telling how my 100-miler will play out but I am pretty confident that I’m at least getting the training right.
With good friends from visiting from Austin, Cara, Louis, Jacques, and Emile, we have an active week on tap. We’re starting the day today with a boys’ Hogback hike, then I’m hoping to squeeze in a few miles of easy running sometime later before dinner.
6:02 for 16th overall, 6,300′ of gain, much of race at over 10,000′
Matt W., a marathoning veteran but ultra newbie, and I headed out to Steamboat Friday night, trudging through over 4 hours of un-air conditioned air and quite a stretch of bumper to bumper traffic. Once we rolled into town, there was only time to down some food, catch a bit of Olympic coverage, and crash out. We woke up to ideal race conditions – about 50 degrees and sunny at the start.
The race went just how both of us hoped it would. The field of 60-some very fit looking runners quickly stretched out over the initial 7-mile, 3,500’+ climb, which brought us to over 10,000′, where we’d run most of the race. There was everything you’d want in a mountain race: single track cutting through huge stands of Aspens, then massive pines, with long views and scurrying critters. And we avoided all the stuff that can make trail running less fun/more punishing/uncomfortable: cold water crossings, heat, rain, cold, overly-technical terrain. Matt was able to share some good pictures and do a solid write-up with stats on his blog post you can check out if you’d like to see/read more about the day. For the basics of the race, Matt’s Garmin readout gives a pretty close account of my day, as we finished just a handful of minutes apart.
In short, everything went right. The only hard goal was to get through the day feeling good. While I didn’t dawdle through aid stations and tried to be efficient throughout the race, I wasn’t exactly racing it. Fortunately, no injuries, no real falls, no bonk, fairly even energy and effort, and a strong finish. It was again a new milestone for most climbing in a single run – in fact, in just 31 miles there was about 85% (6,300′ vs. 7,400′) of the climbing that I’ll face over the entire 100-miler in October. I ran pretty hard the last few miles to try to break into the top 15 – once my Garmin unbreaks itself (it conks out and doesn’t like to charge after long days) I’ll be curious to see (and post) my mile splits.
Matt was impressive, seemingly running more easily than me and still able to finish just after me in his first time ever running more than 28 miles. We both felt so good, in fact, that we skipped the recovery night in Steamboat and just headed back to Boulder after the race.
The race was just another step in training so, though a bit sore today, I’ll be heading back out on the trails this afternoon for a couple hours to see how my legs respond. Mentally, I’m all over it. My body may or may not be too happy about it.
Splits:
1 11:32
2 13:05
3 13:51
4 11:23
5 13:46
6 11:27
7 10:07
8 17:00
9 15:24
10 13:22
11 12:04
12 11:05
13 10:42
14 12:18
15 10:20
16 10:23
17 12:41
18 12:25
19 11:08
20 12:06
21 14:02
22 11:27
23 11:33
24 9:53
25 10:15
26 9:34
27 11:32
28 12:00
29 10:34
30 8:20
31 7:30
Despite racking up big weekly mileage lately, it has been quite some time since my last legitimately long run. As I get closer to the CR100 I’m looking to shift my miles to longer single runs to better simulate the many, many consecutive hours on my feet at the race.
This weekend I’m starting the training shift, running a 50k at the Mt. Werner Classic in Steamboat Springs. There is a cool video fly over of the course so I have some idea of what to expect, which includes over 5,000′ of elevation gain on a route that spends a lot of time over 10,000′. My plan is to go easy, using my CR100 race gear and nutrition plan and push just a little on the flats and smoother downhills. We’ll see how that goes.
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Alison and Ceci had a triumphant Colorado race debut at the Diva Dash over the weekend. They powered through the heat and through the sand and over and around the many obstacles, covering the course in under an hour with smiles at the finish. Some pics from the day…
Ceci pulling Al through the weeds:
Looking forward to a celebration that undoubtedly will include cake:
Sagan found his dream machine:
Run 1: 11.04 miles, 2:00, Boulder Valley Ranch
Run 2: 5 miles, 0:47, foothills and Wonderland Lake trails
Total for the day: 16.04 miles, 2:47
—-
Today I hit a new “Mike-Randall-most miles in a 7-day period-other-than-the-TransRockies-Run” record. While that has a couple of mostly meaningless qualifiers, it is a milestone worth mentioning. Far more important than the exact number of miles logged is that I feel good. Nothing hurts, minimal soreness, mentally ready to get back at it tomorrow. Really, the biggest limiter of running even more during this stretch was the concern that I don’t want to push too hard too soon.
Tomorrow I’m out to support Alison and her buddy, Ceci, as they tackle the Diva Dash. Their custom uniforms include knee-high girlie socks and v-neck boob-hugging t-shirts, each with an ironed-on cupcake on the chest. Ceci has had strep throat and walking pneumonia in the last week; Alison last ran three consecutive miles in April 2011. Good luck, girls, this should be fun for everyone!
Quick notes:
- Huge congrats to Harry Hamilton, the runner I get to pace in next month’s Leadville 100. Harry ran a super impressive 18:55 at last weekend’s Vermont 100. His performance is a bit more incentive to train hard and often, as it will be more than embarrassing to get dropped by my runner after he has already gone 50+ miles.
- Nice running by Andres Capra, my frequent partner in suffering, for his 12th place in last weekend’s Cap’t Karl’s 60k race, where temps reached 107 degrees with 300 percent humidity. This was his second consecutive strong finish in the 4-race series – great prep for our mutual attempt to run well at Cactus Rose 100 this October.
- I am really enjoying the Talk Ultra podcast. If you like trails or hearing about insane human feats or just are a fan of British accents, give it a shot. Episodes come out every couple weeks but go 2-3 hours, perfect content and flow for long runs.
- I had a vague goal of logging 20-hour running weeks when I peak sometime in late September. I JUST looked at the relevant spreadsheet column for the last 7 days and it turns out I ran for 19 hours and 53 minutes. That’s kind of an “oops” but also interesting and pretty cool that essentially “running as much as seems reasonable” resulted in run time that was so bizarrely close to my goal.
Run 1 (starting 9am): 11 miles, 2:43, ~3,500′ of climbing
Run2 (starting 8:30pm): 13.4 miles, 3:00, ~3,250′ of climbing
Total for the day: 24.4 miles, 5:43, ~6,750′ of climbing
I’ve run more miles in a day quite a few times but never with this sort of vertical. The morning run included another summit of Green Mountain, along with some out-and-back pieces of intersecting trails off of the Flagstaff-to-Ute-to-Ranger-to-summit route that has quickly become a staple. Tonight I ran the entire Mesa Trail out-and-back, in the dark. Both of today’s runs were solo.
I’m feeling ok – no real aches or pains but the slow pace with all the hills and technical terrain over the last week have me mentally drained. I just noticed that I’ve covered more than 90 miles over the last 7 days, with moving time of over 19 hours and something in the neighborhood of 20k’ vertical. That’s enormous volume for me. I’m really happy that I’m continuing to hold up so well, really getting stronger with almost every run.
A shake, shower, more food, and some sleep will do me good. More adventure tomorrow!
For dinner last night, then lunch today, I had a meal that includes many of my staple foods: sweet potatoes, kale, and beans. Good, hearty stuff that fills me up and works well for left-overs. And, as a big eater, the dishes scale well – not much more work to make 10 servings than 4, which is good because I’ve had 4 full plates that look just like the photo below since last night.
Dish 1: Bean salad – Black beans, garbanzo beans, red beans, diced green chilies, red wine vinegar, mixed together. Topped with avocado.
Dish 2: Golden and sweet potatoes, half baked in microwave, chopped coarsely with skin kept on along with an onion, tossed with olive oil, diced garlic, and the Simon and Garfunkel Scarborough Fair spice blend, and baked until browned in the oven.
Dish 3: Kale, chopped and sauteed in olive oil and water until soft, then stewed for a bit with a can of Amy’s tomato bisque soup (which has a touch of cream so substitute for something else if strictly vegan).
This meal has it all, nutritionally. A mix of quality protein, carbs, fats, and all sorts of vitamins and minerals. More importantly (for most folks), it tastes good and the 3 components can be divvied up for other meals and in all sorts of configurations. For example, the bean salad could easily have corn or pinto beans or black eyed peas or lentils included, as well as just about any kind of spices. Instead of kale, that recipe works just as well with spinach or chopped broccoli or peas. And the potato dish can be just about any kind of root veggie and spice mix.
Kind of Like Fun 