SchlarBlog

Weekly Summary 27 Feb - 4 March

2012-03-06T10:49:00.002-08:00

One of my better weeks of training... Sub 40 on the middle route of Green, solid tempo, Boulder Basic 25K and Waterton Canyon revisited.

Monday- 14.68M, 2:00, 925Ft Climbing; Easy run from work up Boulder Creek, trail over to Sanitas, over to Wonderland and loop back to Boulder Creek. Felt pretty good and wanted a bit more climbing on this easy run.

Tuesday Time Trail Up Green Mtn "Middle Route"-15.24M, 2:37, 2,500Ft Climbing; After some frustration last week with a sub 40 minute effort crushed by drifting, I was ready for battle.
My first split to the lodge up Gregory was around 40 seconds slower than last week, but I was feeling good and didn't let it bother me. Past the lodge things were going well, despite some funky footing from the old drifts and off cantered angles. I kept things going and on the stairway, that has not trace of stairs, I was pretty sure I had my sub 40. I gave way more effort last week, but I still gave a good effort today and managed a 39:13. As I was pretty close to my 2 minute slower prediction on last week's TT, I am also confident that conditions right now are around 2ish minutes slower than dry or even a track with a little snow. I am happy to get in the low 39 range and ready to move my TT to the "front side" next week.

Wednesday-11.1M, 1:37; 550Ft Climbing; Easy run around Wonderland.

PM: 4.9M, :40, 150Ft Climbing; Easy run up to base of Chat, down bike path.

Thursday Tempo with Aaron-12.73M, 1:32, 400Ft Climbing; Ran a great tempo around Wonderland with Aaron Kennard this morning. We did a good warm up then started our 7.2 mile tempo. After last week's tempo, I wanted to pick up the pace and increase the mileage a touch. I usually average just under 6:30 for tempo efforts on the hills and trail fo Wonderland, but today I ran my fastest tempo effort. Here are the splits:

6:25

6:30

6:08

5:52

6:11

5:48

Avg: 6:06

Aaron and I ran the tempo together today, which was an awesome treat... we both had a great run.

PM:4.29M, :35, 150Ft Climbing; Up to EGF park down bike path.

Friday-14.49M, 1:53, 400Ft Climbing; I planned on running Mesa Trail today but yesterday I felt a little soreness on my lower right calve and things were more tender today. I kept things flat on the run. Despite my muscle ache, which went away after a few mile, I felt surprisingly good. I really hope the leg feels good in the AM so I can do a good climbing long run, but I'm a little nervous.

Saturday "Boulder Basic 25K"-26.2M, 4:44, 6,000Ft Climbing; Got up at around 5:20 to see how the right lower calf was feeling and was pleasently surpised to find it feeling relatively good. I packed up 5oz of EFS, my hand water bottle, glasses and camera phone. After pounding a litre of water and a banana, I was out the door to Chautauqua to start the long run. Started up to Gregory Canyon and accidently missed the turn-off to hit the trail to Flagstaff, ran down the road from Gregory and up I went enjoying the sunrise beauty.

Pre-sunrise on the way to Flagstaff

I took the slight detour to hit the pimple of a rock outcrop of the peak of Flagstaff 31 minutes into the run. Felt great.

Sunrise from Flagstaff Peak

Headed down, crossed the road and ran to Green Mtn Lodge where I administered my Microspikes. After the descent on Shadow 2 weeks ago, I was sure to be packing heat this time. I enjoyed a comfortable ascent up Greenman to make Green Mountain in 1:05.

Green Goodness

Despite the nice clear warmer weather, the west wind was fierce on the west facing exposures... my hands were numb and I was wishing I had more clothes.

Down to Bear Canyon and then as I was about to make the turn to head up Bear Peak I can accross this exciting news:

Hmmmm

Seeing a mountain lion in the wilderness is something I would really like. But yes, it certainly got my hear rate up seeing this sighn. Good or bad, I was headed up Bear Peak and not down the canyon.

I made the approach and then steep climb to Bear Peak feeling wonderful in 1:47, but a bit cold. Once on top of Bear I was able to enjoy the wind block and savored a minute or two looking out east in the calm warm sunshine.

Looking North East from Bear Peak

I re-entered the wind and mad my way over to South Boulder peak following a poorly routed trail requring a few post hole corrections. I made the quick ascent up to the final and highest peak of the day, South Boulder Peak in 1:59. The snow up to SoBo was noticeably dryer due to the cooler temps at the higher elevation.

A frigid fake smile on South Boulder Peak

Next came the most "dangerous" running descent I have made in Boulder. Shadow (and Fern) canyon are really steep direct ascents and descents. Shadow canyon, unlike Fern, has a bit of a south facing ascpect. The majority of the very steep top 2/3 of the trail was ice pack... solid, slick, shinny ice. It really wouldn't matter how sharp your spikes are on this descent, as it was just too icy and steep for running and even hiking was very difficult. I had to hike down and down climb steep snowy terrain and avoid a lot of the trail on the top. I was moving at a 15+ minute mile pace and was a bit upset that after the hard earned verticle, this is how I would descend.

I made Mesa trail and was happy to be taking off the spikes (for a while) and running down, not scrambling. I choose to add the 1.5 mile down and up (800-900ft) as I knew I wasn't going to get the mileage total I wanted staying on the Boulder Basic course. I made it to the end of the Mesa Trail in 2:37.

I was starting to get tired on the ascent back via mesa, but felt way better than two weekends prior when I opted for running the roads home. Enjoying the views of my day's ascents I ran easy back to the end of the loop and parking lot. Total time for the Boulder Basic route was 3:19, 3:44 with the extra 3 miles. From here I had the painful task of "adding on" to get my desired 26.2 marathon distance. Nothing was fun or enjoyable about the last hour on the roads with the wind. Was happy to be done and run 26.22 in 4:44 (only 2:17 slower than my PR!).

:31:20 to Flagstaff Peak
1:05:30 to Green Mountain
1:47:30 to Bear Peak
1:59:30 to South Boulder
2:37:20 to southern terminous of Mesa Trail
3:44:10 to Parking Lot (about 19 miles total with around 6,000ft climbing)
4:44:12 for 26.22 mile long run

3:19:55 for last year's Boulder Basic route (about 16 miles).

Recent Waterton Canyon (not my pic)

Sunday A Return to Waterton Canyon-16.6M, 2:14, 1,300Ft Climbing; Sunday after enjoying the Zoo with Maggie, Felix and our friend Jason and his daughter Rachel, we headed to the recently opened Wateton Canyon, which is just west of Chattfield Reservoir SW of Denver.

The Dam (and reason for the 1.5 year closure for dredging)

I used to hike, bike and run up Waterton ever now and then when coming to Denver from Colorado Springs. Back when I used to visit and run the canyon, I was much more of a road runner who loved getting off the trails when possible. I remember considering Waterton a pretty good climb... how things have changed. I pushed felix up the closed dirt road paralleilng the South Platte up river to the dam. Total distance was around 6.5 miles and around 800 feet of climbing. Even with Felix on the dirt road, the grade felt easy and flat. From here Jason took Felix back down the road to meet up with Maggie and Rachel and continued on to a snowy, slushy ascent of the ridge to the Colorado Trail. The east face was at some points thigh deep in snow along the trail, but once on top, I enjoyed a wonderful treat of running a little dry mountain single track... this made me VERY excited for the spring and summer trail running.
On the way down, I had a blast comfortably hitting 6:40-6:20 pace back to the parking lot.

End of the road and start of trail

Synopsis- One of my biggest and best training weeks, which followed two 100+ training weeks... this is good. Decent vert, leg turn over and mileage for the week. Feeling very ready for some racing in Washington in a few weeks.

Summary-

120.2 Miles
12,225 Feet Climbing
45 Miles Biking

Weekly Summary February 20-26

2012-02-27T20:35:00.001-08:00

Monday- 5M, :44; Easy run from home.

PM 9.5M, 1:14; 300Ft Climbing; Easy run on the bike path.

Tuesday "Green Mtn Middle Time Trial"- 14M, 2:07, 2,500Ft Climbing; After attending cadet PT at 6AM at the Balch field house, I did a 2 mile warm up as the cadets were stretching and headed to Gregory Canyon trailhead. I was excited and motivated to run a faster time than last weeks "med-hard" effort up Green Mtn. Things started well and I was going at around 80% up Gregory Canyon, then to Green Mtn Lodge. At the lodge I was about 90 seconds (16min and change) faster than last week. Heading up to the fork for Ranger and Greenman, I was confident a sub 40 was going to happen today. Just past the turn up Greenman, I ran into dense snow drifts on the trail. The drifting was from Monday night's heavy wind, but was relatively infrequent. A little annoyed, I still felt I could get a good time and be well under 40. Unfortunately, the drifting only got more consistent resulting in a slow, energy sucking battle to the final switchbacks. Although my effort level increased to 90%+, I wasn't going to get my ego boosting sub 40 ascent today. What I did get going up Green Mtn, is a great workout and a 41:19, which is actually a minute 26 faster than last week's jog up Green. I refuse to move on to another route up Green for my TT until I break 40 on this middle section.

Wednesday Hurricane Running- 4.8M, :40; Easy run from home. Right leg started to feel tight in the hip and groin area.

PM 8.25M, 1:12, 600Ft Climbing; I ran from work up to the Mesa trail and down Skunk canyon to the cemetery. Mesa and Skunk were super muddy, but fun. Once I reached the cemetery I experienced the strongest winds I have ever felt while running. The wind blew me off the trail and down part of a hill for 20-30 feet. I was amazed at the strength of the wind. I "miss out" not having a TV and hearing the facts and stories from wild weather days, but I am certain this was one of the windier days in a while. Back on campus I was literally stopped in my tracks, blown off the sidewalk, etc... I did hear a story from John Tribbia of a stick penetrating the wood siding of his house. My TFL muscle was sore and I could feel some bad tightness in my IT band. Back home my IT was screaming at me when I used a foam roller.

Thursday Tempoish Run with Aaron- 12.25M, 1:30, 300Ft Climbing; I ran with Aaron Kennard this morning (his birthday) for a 6.5 mile tempo run on the bike path. The bike path was slushy, snowy and wet, but footing was manageable. We hit splits around 6:15-20 while we chatted comfortably until we turned around. On the way back and up, things got a bit more challenging and I hit splits around 6:05-6:15. Overall, not a "hard" workout, but good leg turnover with great company. While it wasn't bad, my IT and TFL were certainly hurting.

PM 4M, :30; snuck a run in at lunch on the bike path. The IT was still talking to me.

We had Marcus over for dinner and he did a series of treatments to my IT and TFL. Very concerned the ramp up of mileage without enough stretching and visits to Marcus were going to result in a bum IT.

Friday- 10M, 1:40, 950Ft Climbing; Ran my hillier route of Wonderland this morning.

PM 6.5M, Easy run around town.

I could feel my IT/TFL, but still only at an annoyance level of pain.

Saturday Slush, Mud and Eldo- 14.5M, 2:08, 1,800Ft Climbing; Ran from the most southern trailhead on 93 over to the S. Boulder Creek diversion and into Eldorado Canyon. I looped back around with some off-trail running. Today was certainly very wet (as in water flowing down trails) with serious mud and shin deep slush due to temps breaking into the 50s for the first time this month. 30 minutes into the run I stopped making serious efforts to avoid the elements.

After Marcus' treatment Thursday, stretching and hitting the foam roller multiple times a day, the IT tightness issue was resolved!

Slush

Approaching Eldo

Eldo

Sunday Long Run with UROY Dave- 25M, 3:50, 2,000Ft Climbing; Met up with THEE Dave Mackey for a run from Hiel Ranch to Picture Rock trail and into Lyons then back. The run started with some unexpectedly cold winds, but things quickly became warmer as we got into the woods. Dave and I took it easy, talking about all sorts of pertinent things and random things running on mostly dry and snow free trail. The rocky climb up Heil was fun, followed by the awesome descent on Picture Rock trail. I love biking this route and running this route, but the Picture Rock section is really fun with its smooth trails and open views. Once in Lyons Dave and I filled up with water and headed back. Picture Rock's red dirt turned a bit muddy, but nothing terrible. We cruised and chatted the whole way back and both felt surprised to be back at the truck and done with a near 4 hour run. This was my first long run with someone else in almost a year... I think. I can't believe how quickly this long run went by.

UROY Dave Mackey

Dave's new car

Summary: This was really a fun week of running. While I managed to run a lot of miles have a medium effort tempo a fun long run and a good workout on Green, my energy levels running and muscle health seems to be very good right now. I did have a close call, thank you Marcus, with my IT, but overall very happy with my training and health.

Next week I hope to keep the mileage high, add some more climbing, keep up the TT and run the tempo faster. If all goes to plan, I will be in a good place entering the two week window before the Chuckanut 50k.

Weekly Totals

114 Miles

8,250 Ft Climbing

40 Miles Biking

Week Summary February 13-19

2012-02-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

A return to mountain trail running

Last weekend's race was a turning point for my running fitness, but this week was even more rewarding with a bit of a rekindling of my passion for running long miles in the mountains, albeit doing so in February. Everyone has doubts, ups and downs, etc... and on a run at the beginning of the week I questioned if I would rather be doing something else. Mainly I was questioning trail ultra vs shorter racing and training. Saturday, my doubts were turned around.

Monday- 12M, 1:51, 1,000Ft Climbing. Ran from campus to the mesa trail and out to shadow canyon and back. A bit tired from the weekend's race.

Tuesday- 13M, 2:22, 3,200Ft Climbing. Ran from home to Eben G Fine, up panorama point to Flagstaff mtn, to green mtn lodge, up greenman to Green Mtn (1:21); back down ranger to green mtn lodge and home the same way.

Totally Me

Wednesday "Triple Run with Fitness Test"- 8M, 1:04; 550Ft Climbing. Ran wonderland trail.

PM: 4M, :28. Quick run from work.

PM2: 4M :29. Another quick run, as I had to do a timed 1.5M under 9:24 for my fitness test. This was my last fitness test in the AF. I managed to gut out the max pushups (57) and sit-ups (54) in a minute to finish my career with a perfect 100% on my fitness tests. My pecs and abbs were sore until Sunday.

Thursday "First Green Time Trial of the Year"- 14.37M, 2:27, 3,000Ft Climbing. My first "Time Trial" workout up green since April. While I didn't jog, I didn't run this at maximum effort, more like a medium-hard effort. I ran the couple miles from North Boulder Park to Chataqua, up to Gregory Canyon TH and the start. I ran up Gregory Canyon to Greenman to the peak of Green Mountain in approximately 42:45. I could have run a few minutes faster, but still, I have some work to do to get back into 36:04 shape. I ran from the summit down bear canyon. The trail form the 4 way intersection to the power line ridge does not mirror the actual trail during summer and the route is "exciting", with the apex being two 30-40 foot straight down descents. Once down bear, I ran mesa trail then home. Fun.

Friday- 10M, 1:16, 400Ft Climbing. Ran on the Boulder Creek bike path with part of the run with the CU AFROTC Cadets doing their PT/Run.

PM: 4.5M, :35. Felt good on an easy loop around Boulder.

Saturday "Basic Boulder Marathon"???- 23M, 4:18 4,500Ft Climbing. Friday night I decided I would run up Flagstaff Peak (not exactly a prominent peak), Green Mountain, Bear Peak, South Boulder Peak and then down Shadow Canyon to the southern terminus of Mesa Trail and back home via the trails along S.Boulder Creek and Boulder Creek.

I got started on this run a little before 6AM. I ran with 4oz or so of Wilberry Liquid Shot EFS by 1st Endurance and my hand water bottle. My legs going up Panorama Point were less than spry, but warmed up and felt better by Flagstaff. Alpenglow is a drug, with the effects on my psyche immediate as soon as it illuminates the mountains I am running. I made the short detour to hit Flagstaff's "peak", then over to Green Mountain Lodge.

Flagstaff.
Just kidding.

I was blessed with a 1/2 inch dusting of snow overnight to improve traction on the solid snow and ice pack across all of Chataqua Park. All week I have run without my spikes, as I misplaced them in my recent move. No spikes has slowed a few runs down a bit, but overall the running has been pretty good on the dry snowpack as it has been staying pretty cool (40s).

Nearly every time I run up Green Mtn via Greenman, I get "Stairway to Heaven" in my head at the long staircase near the summit. I made Green Mtn in 1:28, about 7 minutes slower than earlier this week, but I was a bit tired and taking it easy for the long effort ahead.

Bear Peak

On the way to Beark Peak I hit my only "trusted" water stop, which is Bear Creek. With SO much snow and cold weather, I only had one realistic place to fill my hand water bottle and even then I had to lay completely down on the trail and reach down to the water. On my first attempt I managed to scoop tons of dirt, weeds and mud. Back down again on my second attempt I got a better fill, but got weeds in the the bottle. On my 3rd attempt I got what I thought was a good one. I looked at the water and saw a snake/worm like organism swimming around with a hairy body, not good. Finally, totally snowy and cold, I got a debris free fill. I had to make the creek water last for a while and I was a bit grossed out, so I put the bottle behind my back tucked into my pants for a while before I drank it.

As always, Bear Peak was awesome fun and the views from the top are truly wonderful. I made my way down and over to the final short climb to the tallest peak, South Boulder Peak. On my way to SoBo, I decided I would mark my time from Eben G Fine to South Boulder Peak and see if GZ would add this route to his “Fastest Known Time” listings. My split from Eben G Fine to SoBo was 2:10. 2:10 is nothing to brag about for the approximate 8.6 mile route. I am confident a lot of people could and have run faster, if anything it is a bit of a February benchmark for me for right now.

SoBo

The descent down Shadow Canyon was scary. I finally hit terrain, steep icy/slick snowpack, where I really "needed" spikes. It wasn't until Shadow Canyon that I saw another person... pretty cool. It took a lot of effort to actually keep a running pace and not fall. I managed to get down this steep canyon with only one full on fall to my butt, which luckily didn't hurt. Once down, I ran to the south east corner of the park via trails I usually never run. I started to head back north via mesa to blue stem which I took to Hwy 93. From the Hwy I planned on running S. Boulder and Boulder creek trails home, but at this point I was really getting tired and was happy to settle for a run on 93/Broadway home for about 23 vs at least 27 via the creeks. I did manage to turn a corner and start to recover once on the roads running the last 7 miles at 7:30ish pace.

After the long run, I ran into Adam Chase and was informed the route I chose, besides taking mesa all the way back vs Broadway, makes up "The Basic Boulder Marathon". Cool. I look forward to doing it again. I would also like to do this run and add Mt. Sanitas, which would cover pretty much all the peaks spanning the front range of Boulder.

Sunday- 14M, 2:07, 750Ft Climbing. Ran at 5:30AM on wonderland north to the tunnel under 36 and on the trails towards Boulder reservoir. I startled a horse by the trail, then stopped and gave him some petting and a taste of my salty, sweaty glove. Back home the same way.

PM: Did an 8 mile ski tour up to Ouzel falls in the south part of Rocky Mountain National Park with Maggie and Felix. It was great fun skiing down the trails with Felix on my back, he had a blast. Anyone looking for a 8-10 mile awesome trail run, I would highly recommend the trail to Ouzel falls and lake as it is packed out perfect for spiked running.

Weekly Summary-

Great week, felt good. I'll normally do a tempo once a week, but more of the same for the next month.

13,400 Feet Climbing

107.3 Miles

8 Miles Ski Touring

35 Miles Biking (to work and back and around town)

2012 USATF Cross Country Championship/Armed Forces Championships

2012-02-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome time at the USA XC Championships in St Louis Missouri this weekend. The Air Force team came away with wins for both the women and men's team (4th year in a row for both the men and women) at the Armed Forces Championships!

Great Bib #

After a rough last two months dealing with 2 colds, a stomach virus, a DNF at Bandera, moving and my head wound, this last weekend was truly a significant turning point. I ran 40:35 for 12K (7.5 miles) for an average pace of 5:25 per mile. The weather was cold, low 20s, and windy. The course was relatively flat with somewhere around 75 feet of climbing per 2K loop. The footing was a bit rough with frozen dirt, mud and grass with patches of sloppy mud and grass.

My goals for the race were to run as well or better than last year, be the AF's 5th runner (out of 8), and run sub 5:30 pace. More specifically on splits, I wanted to run sub 17 for 5K, sub 34 for 10K and speed up the last 2k. I ended up running 6th of 8 on our best team performance ever, 34 seconds behind our 5th guy (a 3:40 1500 meter runner). I ran 5:25 pace and came through the 5K in 16:52, the 10K at 33:56 and sped up the last 2K. I ran almost the same time as last year's San Diego race, on a more challenging course. So overall, I was very satisfied with my performance and exceeding nearly all my goals. Brian Dumm, 2010 JFK winner and AF teammate, ran a great race coming in at 39:35 as well! Watch for Brian this year as he plans on running more ultras…

Men's 1st Place AF Team

From the gun through the finish, I felt unbelievably "good". After a full year of ultra-trail specific training and racing combined with now being 33 years old (there was only one guy who was as old as me who placed higher... the next place up), I feared running sub 6 pace at a cross country 12k "sprint" might be a painful and potentially bad experience.

I ran an even paced race, stayed under control and never felt like I was in danger of slowing or hitting the wall. After the race I was a bit concerned I might have been too conservative, but after thinking about if for a day or two, I think I came pretty close to running my max... I just had a well planned and executed run. After 6 years of doing this race, despite the race being out of my focus areas, I guess I figured it out a bit.

Air Force Men's and Women's 1st Place Teams

Winning the Armed Forces Championship is awesome, but I am also very encouraged to see that I have a good base of speed endurance and strength. I will now focusing on hill climbing and long endurance (I've been really looking forward to this transition) in preparation for the Chuckanut 50K and the Leona Divide 50 Mile, which are "faster" trail ultras that will hopefully complement my current fitness.

Lastly, almost more valuable that the actual race itself, was hanging out with my AF running friends and teammates. There is something to be said about being part of a team that gets together a couple times a year to race. We had a very fun night celebrating and dancing after the race in St Louis.

2012 Tenative Race Calendar

2012-01-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

- February 11th USATF Cross Country 12K Championships, St Louis MO

-March 17th Chuckanut 50K, Bellingham WA

-April 28th Leona Divide 50M, Lake Hughes CA

-May 12th Quad Rock 50M, Fort Collins CO

-June 23rd Western States 100M, Auburn CA OR San Juan Solstice 50M, Lake City CO

-July 28th White River 50M, Crystal Mountain WA

-August 18th Pikes Peak Ascent/Marathon, Manitou Springs CO

-September 14th Run Rabbit Run 100M, Steamboat Springs CO

-October 20th Antelope Island 50k/100k, Syracuse UT OR November 3rd Mountain Masochist 50M, Lynchburg VA

-December 2nd Kepler Challenge 60K, New Zealand

Very excited for this year's racing!

I'm on the team for February's XC race in St Louis!

Besides the Kepler Challenge in New Zealand, I honestly look forward to running the San Juan Solstice more than any other race. Maggie Felix and I will be living down in the San Juan mountains June and July as the "Juans" are our favorite mountains in Colorado.

If I were to qualify for WS100 at Leona Divide, I might take that opportunity.

I'm also considering the Pike's Peak Ascent or Marathon. I have wanted to do the ascent race for a long time and rummor has it Anton and Killian may be running the marathon this year... a good year to be there!

In November, Maggie Felix and I will be bike touring the South Island of New Zealand for 3 or 4 months. While in New Zealand, I will do my best to run a number of their top trail races.

Bandera Bust and Ontario Beauty

2012-01-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

-Report on Bandera Bust-

Mark and Marcus Allen in Austin

The awesome thing about racing in Texas Hill Country is that I have an awesome close friend, Mark, who lives in Austin that is excited to come along for the racing adventure. This year, my massage therapist, Marcus Allen, also joined me to support as a friend and as my massage therapist for the trip to Hill Country. Lastly, another friend, Mike, who happend to be at his dad's ranch in Boerne also joined the party. So all in all, I had a great crew of friends to make the trip a party.

The Bandera 100K was a failure for me. I have been a bit in the dumps all week both consciously and sub-consciously. Starting at round an hour into the race and until now, 6 days later, I have considered and pondered over why I wasn't anywhere close to par on race day. Here are the top candiadtes in no certain order:

-A little bit too "authentic" Mexican fare the night before, resulting in 5 bowel movements (2 just before the race) before the 3hr point in the race
-Having cold symptoms (never terrible) for about 2 weeks before the race on and off
-Nick Clark's 6hr, 7K of climbing, snowy trailed 50K only 7 days after TNF50
-Too much volume/intensity with two 100+ mile weeks before my week and a half taper
-The whole mix of my deployment, training, racing TNF50, Nick's 50K, Canada, etc...

So how did it go down? Sleep was "average" for night before the race camping... on and off, not great. I woke up feeling pretty good, ate a normal pre race breakfast, hydrated, etc... At the start I felt good. I enjoyed saying hello to Nick Clark and a few others. A few minutes into the race things were checking out and going as planned.

The plan was to go out conservative, comfortable and aerobic. After an hour or so, I would then keep pace and start passing the "first half heros", or as my coach called it "seperating the pretenders from the contenders". I was a bit surpirsed, but very happy to be running with Dave Mackey a few miles into the race. We discussed race strategy and his was that he had to go out conservative at this point in with his current training situation, vice racing hard up front. Needless to say, Dave's approach went well!

I would end up running just in front of, behind and with Dave for a while over the first few hours. The flux in proximity to Dave was due to the 3 pit stops for bowell movements and then up and downs in how I felt. At about an hour and a half, I could tell my legs were flat and just overall tired feeling. My energy levels seemed OK, but I'm sure they corelated to how the legs were performing to some degree. Through 2 hours I was on track and not having issues drinking water or taking my EFS every 30 minutes, but discouragement due to my flat legs started to really sink in.

$50!!!

I tired to fight the mental lows and convince my legs that it was just a temporary "funk". At one point, and the last point, I felt really good I caught Yassine, Dave and Terranova and then put 10 seconds on them, but that was short lived. Dave and Yassine, who was wonderfuly kind and talkative, finally broke away from Terranova and I by around a minute or two.

Terranova and I would switch lead a couple of times around 2:30 into the race. I started to really fall into a mental low and became frustrated that for the first time in a 50 mile race and now a 100K, I was feeling mentally and physically like crap for an extended period of time in the first half. I fought hard to remember Geoff Roes' race report from UROC where he went through some horrible lows, slowed, got passed, but then came out of it and won. At 3hrs, I was still in the dumps and not only did my legs feel horribly flat, they started to catch small rocks. My stride then started to shorten both on the ups and down and then I found myself doing the bow legged hobble which only comes out when I am at the end of a race or particularly tough long run.

While the idea had already crossed the mind a few times during low points starting at 1:30, dropping out was the only thing I was thining about from about 2:45 on. What would I say to Marcus, my wife Maggie, should I man up and make it my mission to just finish regardless? I crossed a threshold where I knew my body was going to slow down to the point where walking and stumbling along would be more often than not at probably somwhere around 5hrs or 6hrs at the latest. The last straw was thinking about my 3 awesome friends waiting around an extra 2 or 3 hours later than I told them I would finish in and screwing our evening plans of seeing Mike's ranch in Boerne and then returning to Austin for some dinner and an evening out.

High Falls

I decided I wanted to be in front of Terranova at the end of the first 50K loop and my drop point. This carrot kept me going and I had to honestly race and push myself to stay in front of him. Besides hearing Terranova a few times from 3hrs to 4hrs, I felt very lonely and misserable. I knew I was going to drop and the body only got worse. Just before the 50K I saw that I wasn't that far away at all from what would be 2nd Dave Mackey (2 minutes) through 5th Nick Clark(90 seconds) and 6th place, Terranova, was behind me. Dave Mackey yelled to me encouragement and it hurt. I hate letting firends down who believe in me.

Canadian Winter Fun

Running into the 50K turn around I hated seeing Marcus with my EFS liquid shot bottle. I didn't want to drop and confront him. I looped around, crossed the mat and stopped where Marcus was standing. My biggest fan and supporter was shocked and the akwardness was unberable. Marcus did what he should have, "are you sure", "want to think about it" etc.. Life sucked. I wasn't delirious, broken, injured (would have been nice in a way) but I was doing the logical thing, I was not at all ready to run my race, come close to my goals and furthermore, able to finish this race in under 10hrs. Why whallow in the missery? My goals never inluded finishing a 100k no matter what the cost. My goals were to run fast, race, compete, win, be in the top 3, have a good experience, there were not, finish a 100k.

So there I sat, 4:02 at 50K... done. I wanted to and would have stuck around to support my friends and fellow racers, but I considered the 3 friends who went way out of there way to hang out with me. My firends were here to see me... Marcus was the only one who has an interest in or is a runner and his interest at Bandera was primarily me. The right thing to do in the situation was for us to take off, see the ranch and enjoy each other's company in Austin, not stay another 5hrs so I could see the race and hang with friends they don't know at a sport they don't follow or participate in. So we took off and we had a great time that afternoon and evening.

The front and rear props are motor powered....

Congrats to Tim Olson, Dave Mackey, Joe Uhan, Dylan Bowman, Paul Terranova Yassine and everyone else for a race well done.

Driving back to Boulder from the airport, I felt very excited to just spend quality time running for pleasure in the mountains. Training during my deployment sucked and then from mid November to January it has been very focused, stressfull and overall rushed feeling. A training restart is much needed.

Here is Felix's first solo sledding adventure (Mom has dibs on the first sledding overall) at 11 months old. He sure is adventurous. There were a few out takes... good thing mom wasn't there. :)

Weekly Summary 19-25 December

2011-12-27T14:33:00.001-08:00

-Weekly Summary 19-25 December-

The Trans Canada Trail is Awesome! Yes, my head is almost better.

Monday- 12.20 miles, 1:37, Boulder Creek bike path, 350ft

Tuesday AM- 11.03 miles, 1:13, 162Av Hr, 300ft 7 mile tempo on the bike path. Felt better than I thought I would on this workout. A little up and down for hills, some snow and ice on and off slowed things down a touch. Splits: 6:01, 6:07, 6:09, 5:54, 5:44, 5:50, 5:45

Tuesday PM- 4.32 miles, :33, 141Av Hr

Wednesday- 12.53 miles, 1:42, 138Av Hr, 550ft, Wonderalnd fun

Thursday- 8 miles, 200ft, 1:00, DIA Termincal A run. Ran into Brian Dumm (2010 JFK 1st) and Mtrunner2 saw me apparently. My 3rd airport terminal run ever. Not bad... Terminal A is the best with the sky bridge option.

Friday AM- 10.36 miles, 500ft, 138Av Hr, 8 X 600 Meter repeats with 600 meter jogs with general mobility. Ran a under dressed cold/breezy one way speed workout run with the help of my awesome father in law Patrick. Very scenic run along lake fronts and forest. Happy with the splits considering the less than flat terrain and being really cold for the first few: 5:55, 5:16, 5:12, 5:21, 5:08, 5:11, 5:01, 5:08.

Friday PM- 4.96 miles, :41, 200ft, epic trails through the hemlock, maple, pine, beech, birch forest along the muskoka river. I LOVE running the 20+ miles of trail at the door step of the Kernohan cabin along the Muskoka river in Bracebridge Ontario.

Saturday- 30.02 miles, 4:15, 134Av Hr, 1,500ft, long run adventure! Ran from the doorstep through the trails on the Muskoka river to the "Trans Canada Trail" system. It was an adventure. The Trans Canada Trail is awesome around Bracebridge. Great forests, creeks, wildlife and solitude. I did a sort of out and back with some mix-ups and challenges following the trail. Last 4 miles were rough. It was 2 degrees (Farenheight) at the start with about an hour of flashlight (yeah, no headlamp) running on trails and snow. I don't think it broke out of single digit temps for any of the 4+hrs. My Nathan water pack worked perfect withthe tube in my coat, but I wasn't motivated to drink much. My EFS was very cold and slow to come out of the bottle and I only had about 3ish oz, so maybe 350 calories for the run. Awesome run.

Sunday-12.28 miles, 1:40, 300ft, further exploration of the Trans Canada Trail into Bracebridge including running over a bridge with a 50+ft by 40 foot waterfall. Awesome.

Only In Canada

Synopsis- Success with both the tempo and speed workout, good volume, nice 30 mile long run, flat (Bandera is fast and flat, plus I have done more than enough climbing the last month) for the last solid week before Bandera. Would have squeezed in a longer run on Thursday, but with a 12"+ dump in Boulder on the day we flew, delays, the long flight, etc... 8 indoors was a blessing. Running on the trails from the cabin in Bracebridge has been EPIC. I need to get some better pictures though before I leave. Pine needle soft trails with a light snow cover.... sweet.

Summary-
105.7 Miles
3,900 Feet Climbing

Nick Clark's Chunky Cheeks, Bandera, Head Wound, Sumary of Runnign

2011-12-23T19:49:00.000-08:00

7 days after the North Face 50 mile in San Francisco, I couldn't say no to hanging out with a great group of guys and running 50K the awesome trails west of Fort Collins at Nick Clark's annual 2011 Chunky Cheeks 50K. While the weather was perfect, cool, but not cold, sunny (of course, it's Colorado) and perfectly calm. The only problem was the ton of snow on most all of the trail and 7,000 feet of climbing. Nick, Bowman, Burch, Vega and I ran the whole 31 mile awesome course together. From the start I was flat and still a little sore, at 12 I was feeling it and you can guess the rest of the story.

Perfect day and snow on the way up Green

I didn't drink that much water or hit the EFS at any regular interval, as I was sure I wouldn't do the whole run. With somewhere around 10 miles to go and 4 hours of pretty stout running I had only had about 300 calories and maybe 40 oz of water. I hit the awesome aid station provided in the parking lot and endulged in a honey milk bevarage (my first ever) and most of a delicious donut. The 1500-1700ft climb over 7 miles was brutal and I did some power hiking. I came close to giving an all I had/race effort push to finish this bad boy. I gorged on the awesome food and beer as soon as I finished with Nick, Bowman and Burch in 6:17 (5:43 moving), no ultragen, streching, etc...

Crazier that running this arduous run 7 days after TNF 50, was that somehow I wasn't that sore or tired afterwards, as apparent in my running summary below.

Saturday: 31 Miles, 5:43, 148Av Hr (pretty high), 7,000ft climbing, awesome time with great guys!

Sunday: 5.14 Miles, 128Av Hr pushing Felix in the Bob Stroller

Monday: 12.02 Miles easy on wonderland, 550ft climbing

Tuesday AM: 11.05 Miles, 6.5 Mile Tempo, 144 Av Hr, 500ft. Felt good on this tempo running around wonderland with some snow here and there and some up and down. 6:36, 6:24, 6:02, 6:03, 5:55, 5:42 (last half mile). Very happy with this workout after Saturday's beat down and 11 days after TNF 50.

I love winter trails around Boulder

Tuesday PM: 4.29 Miles Easy, 34 Minutes with a mile and a half barefoot on kitts.

Wednesday: 12.08 Miles Easy on wonderland, 1:41, 550ft climbing.

Thursday AM: 11 Miles Speed Workout, 400ft, 1:27, 138Av Hr. Had a good first speed session mostly before sunrise with some slick spots of snow on the bike path with Aaron Kennard. Did warm up, general mobility, strides then 8 X 600 meter repeats with 600 jog between, then cooled down. Pace for the 600s: 5:25, 5:16, 5:17, 5:09, 5:22, 5:18, 5:16, 5:25. Happy with this one as I gave a medium hard effort.

Thursday PM: 4.28 Miles, :33

Friday: 12.08 Miles easy on Wonderland, 1:42, 550Ft climbing.

Don't run on the sidewalk at night.... rest of the story is available in person.

Saturday: 12.29 Miles not easy run, 1:44, 300Ft climbing, 7.3 Miles pushing Felix in the Chariott. Could not see out of my eye AT ALL on this run. Depth preception was a big issue and I had a hard time in general. Planned on originally doing 20, but just couldn't do it.

Sunday: 23.21 Miles Long Run around Chatauqua, 3:50, 4,000Ft, 145Av Hr. I could see half the time on this run, but only if I strained and thus made a pretty scary face (based on people's reaction, then Maggie's confirmation). Ran up Flastaff, to Greenman, to Green, down Bear Canyon, South on Mesa Trail, back to Bear, all the way to Gregory, down and then over to Eben G. Fine for 4 more miles up the snowy west section of the Boulder Creek Trail and home. Good last big climb long run before Bandera. Snow, Slush, Mud and slow was everywhere.

My favorite section of trail in Chatauqua (Bear Canyon)

Synopsis:
Very, very happy I could recover after TNF 50, then Nick's event, a busted head and pull out a 100+ mile week with two solid speed sessions and a good long (time wise) run. Less climbing next week and the same speed sessions but in Bracebridge Ontario with the Canadian family.

Weekly Summary-

102.3 Miles
6,850 Ft Climbing

It has been chilly in Boulder this December

Bandera and the 100K USATF National Championships-

I am feeling great and thus decided Bandera would be well worth racing. Great news is that A) my massage therapist, friend and running partner, Marcus Allen, will be joining we on the trip B) I have two great friends down in that area of Texas that will be joining in for the weekend of racing and fun, Mike Devloo and Mark Shwitau C) There will be great competition at this well run (Joe is an awesome RD) event, to include THE Dave Mackey, Nick Clark, Tim Olson, Dillon Bowman, Dave James and for sure others that I don't know about.
I am ready and more than excited to be racing Bandera!

Race Report for the December 3, 2011 North Face 50 Mile Championships, San Francisco

2011-12-08T19:21:00.001-08:00

-Almost-

A Jamaican Bobsled Dream

Click here for Bryon Powell's world class race coverage on Irunfar.com

After 2 weeks back home from Iraq I decided to run the TNFchampionships again. A lot haschanged since I ran this, my début to ultra running, race last year. Last year I had a solid base ofmarathon training with about 3 weeks of specific training for hilly ultraracing before race day. This yearI came to TNF championships with a training base of running while deployed inthe Iraqi desert. My training hadthe mileage and enough leg turnover, but 100% of my climbing and descending (ameasly max of -3% grade) training came from running on a treadmill.

Might as well break up this long race report with some pictures from our trip to Telluride! (Bear Creek)

The hamstrings and quads were facing a bit of a “JamaicanBobsled” dream in showing up to a climbing and descending ultra like the TNFChampionships after training exclusively in the pancake flat desert. I believed in the dream and gave myall.

I had the proverbial pre-race challenges in the 2 weeksleading up to the race. Felix, myson, was sick and not sleeping well, I had a fever/flu for about a day, 9 hourtime change which all equated to horrible sleep. But again, everyone seems to have “challenges” the few weeksbefore the race.

I was feeling good on race day. My massage therapist, Marcus Allen, did some great work over3 sessions when I got home, working out some kinks in my right leg and hip. When the gun went off, I was ready toexecute my race strategy. My racestrategy, again, was to run as even and under control as possible through atleast mile 30, then give everything I have left to finish strong. My even paced strategy is bizarrelyone that literally no one in the top 70 felt would be a good idea. Looking at the results, there were only5 guys in the top 50 (that finished) that was behind me at 8.9 miles…. and Iwas running splits faster than the average pace of Mike Wolfe’ winningtime! It just really surprises methat in such a long race so many (everyone?) chooses to run the first 10-25miles so fast. So yeah, again thisyear I pretty much had a peaceful first half of the race running well behindpretty much everyone, which I don’t mind at all.

Felix's 1st Skiing Descent... on my back!

Countless times during the race I mentally paused from therace and enjoyed the scenery, smiled and even verbally wowed the beauty ofMarin county and the trails I traveled. After training in Iraq, I can say I have never enjoyed the beauty oftrail running as much as I was that Saturday. Things were clicking, I was feeling great passing runners,chatting with them for a bit, hitting my 1^st Endurance EFS liquidshots every 30 minutes, downing my 20oz water about every hour. The weather was great, nice and cool, especially after enduring 100-127F for so many days, windy at times and clearas can be.

After being in around 60^th place an hour in, buton faster than course record pace, I let the natural separation between“pretenders and contenders,” as my college coach used to say, take place and bythe half point I was no further backthan 20^th place. On the climb up to the out and back and the half point, it was excitingto see and pass such amazing athletes like Hal Kroener (22nd) and Karl Meltzer(13th).

I believe I was running just in front of Ian Sharman (11^that the finish) and Mike Foote (9^th) around the half point. In the brief interactions with Mike andIan, I could tell that they were great guys. Mike I spent a little more time with and can say that he isgenuinely humble and plain cool, I hope to run into him in the future.

Last year I ran down the long decent before Steep Ravine farto aggressively not wanting Mike Owen to pass me and I paid for it later in therace. This year, with nearly NOdown hill training, I was extra careful to take it easy on this stretch andwith that Ian passed me before I passed him on the climb out. I passed Tsuyoshi(6^th) andJason Wolfe (8^th) somewhere around mile 28-35. All thingswere going as planned and with 20 to go I was in about 8^th or sowith the leaders maybe 9-11 minutes out.

From the gun to mile 42 I held a relatively constant andeven up hill and downhill pace and subsequent effort. My goals for the race were to place in the top 5, top 3being ultimate goal and to break 7hrs (all though the course was 1.8 milesshorter this year).

I met up with Dave Mackey at around mile 39. I didn’t realize it at the time, butDave would be my saving grace to not completely falling apart at mile 43. A few miles after meeting Dave, maybeat mile 40 or so, I passed Mike Wardian (18^th) and was in 6^thplace cruising the flats approaching, at the time, 5^th place TimothyOlson who was around 2-3 minutes ahead. I told Dave, “I want to be top 5”. Dave assured me that if I kept pace there would be a great shot atcatching Timothy and Geoff Roes, who was just in front of Timothy and if thingswent real well, making that coveted top 3 (10 minutes ahead of me).

Bridal Veil Falls

I could seeTimothy at mile 43 and Geoff shortly after that, but then the climbing wheelsliterally fell off. The Jamaicanslipped on the ice and crawled down the course. I truly didn’t see it coming and all of a sudden I couldn’trun up the hills. Dave was awesomeand kept encouraging me asking me if I needed to take some gel or water orwhatever. Dave told me to keep upmy cadence, told me I was getting it done, to keep running. I was so done climbing like I havenever been before in a run or race. I power hiked, I shuffle ran, I walked hunched, up right, it didn’tmatter I was loosing huge time. Ataround mile 43 I had 9-10 minutes on Mike Foote (9^th) and JasonWolfe (8^th), 3 minutes on Tsuyoshi (6^th) and Jezz Bragg(7^th), but I lost it all in about 4 miles.

Me, Jacob and Joe Uhan

Dave had to turn around and join his family at around mile47 just before the end of the last climb. Had Dave not been there I am pretty sure I would have lost at least 5more minutes. I thank you Dave forsaving my top ten finish. I oweyou.

The last 2.5miles were down hill and while Jason Wolfe and Mike Foote increased there leadby maybe 20 seconds (30 without a missed turn by those two), I painfully heldpace on shot legs finishing 10^th at 6:53:43. I nearly passed out at the finish andcertainly noticed that I was having a bit more trouble moving around than mycompetitors.

Here are results.

It was great chatting with all the amazing athletes andespecially my friend Jacob Rydman who had a great race finishing 15^thoverall. This year’s race had anamazing field that surpassed last year’s in my opinion. There were around 30 sponsored“professional” level runners at the starting line. I have never run with so many amazing athletes, it was agreat privilege.

The Schlarb Family in the Gondola

I would love to have hung out longer, but I had a flightback at 4:45pm so that the following morning Maggie, Felix and I could head outto Telluride Colorado for an awesome vacation together.

Yes, it was and is frustrating to loose over 10 minutes and4 places all in about 4 miles of the last 7 of a 50 mile race, but even morefrustrating was that I am confident that with just a little more “real” hillwork, like a week more, I would have kept pace over those critical 4 miles andlanded a 4^th place finish. But regardless, I had an awesome time racing on thebeautiful trails of Marin County with spectacular international competition. I am so glad to be home.

Home

2011-12-01T08:16:00.001-08:00

I am home and it is wonderful to be back.

Being with Felix and Maggie is unbelievably awesome. I've been enjoying the family at home and not much else besides a morning run on the Boulder trails.

Flying from Iraqi to Qatar to Italy to Germany to Baltimore to Denver was challenging to say the least and I took two days totally off. I unfortunately continue to battle to get decent sleep and had a one day 100+ degree fever. Marcus Allen, my massage therapist, has put my muscles at ease from a long absence from his work. I've re-united with Green, Flagstaff, Bear Canyon and Mesa nearly a half dozen times. Besides how unbelievably amazing it feels to run on mountain trails, the quads desperately needed some last minute attention before 10,000ft of down hill racing this weekend.

I feel good now and I honestly can't wait to be on the spectacular trails around Marin County.

No matter what, I will enjoy my run Saturday.

My Two Favorite People

Weekly Summary 11/6-11/12

2011-11-14T06:00:00.001-08:00

UH-60 Blackhawk.... my ride to Baghdad this week

Monday, Afternoon Easy Run

2.5 miles up at 7%, 2.5 miles down at -3%, 924ft of climbing. One loop outside. HR nice and low, legs were sore though.

Total distance 11.02 Miles in 1:26:00 [7:48 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Tuesday, Morning Fartlek

My GPS watch died today. The battery has been slowly dying to the point where I can get a little less than 4 hours running before it starts beeping, but today it totally died and doesn't take a charge. Bummer.

New Workout! The ultimate "everything" run.

6 miles on the treadmill with a run back and forth to my room to get my other watch. 3 miles up at 7% grade, 3 miles down at -3% grade, 1,109ft climbing. I then went outside did a half mile of general mobility drills and 3 strides. Next I did 3 minutes at around 6 min/mile pace on the dirt, 1 minute jog, 30 seconds sprint, 1:30 jog and repeat 4 times. Good workout. I was hoping to get some speed, hills AND a little tempo work, but have the workout be a medium effort day as I transition to race prep. specific running and training.

Total distance 12.15 Miles in 1:33:00 [7:39 per mile]

Terrain Road

We had a gunner on each side with a 240B

Tuesday, Afternoon Easy Run

Did 2 miles outside followed by 1 mile up at 7%, 1 mile down at -3%, 370ft climbing. I’m getting more climbing in now. Tired.

Total distance 4.3 Miles in 33:00 [7:40 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Wednesday, Morning Easy Run

Ran 3 miles up at 7% grade, 3 miles down at -3% grade, 1,109ft climbing. Felt ok. Ran a loop outside and was for the first time legitametly cold. My hands were read and my ears numb. Could see the mountain range to the North East crystal clear!

Total distance 11.8 Miles in 1:30:00 [7:37 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Thursday, Morning Hill Training

Sweat splashing dry heavin good ol' time!

I woke up less than excited to run. I jogged a 2 mile warm up in the dark enjoying a setting full moon. Into the gym and on the treadmill I was having some serious negative thoughts about the workout today. Maybe postpone until the afternoon, just do a longer hill climb at an easy pace, etc... All of these bad thought were going through the head.

Today's game plan was to lengthen the duration of the hill time trial to 33 to 35 minutes, increase the climbing from 1,600ft and slow the pace slightly.

I set the treadmill to "Hill" on "Level 16" vice 15 last week and the pace at 8.1MPH (7:24min/mil), 8.4MPH last week.

Right off the bat I was climbing at 8.3% grade instead of 7.3%. I was very discouraged, but just did it. My confidence finally got better as the workout got rolling. Today's hills were 9.2, 6.5, 10.1, 6.5, 11, 6.5, 12 repeating. I held pace and grew more and more confident.

There was an army female on the treadmill next to me and I was determined to at least keep the workout on track as long as she was there. My sweat was splattering everywhere and I'm sure it must have gotten on her. I have no idea why she got on the treadmill next to me. After the third 12% hill maybe 28 minutes in, I had the dry heaves/cough. I slowed down to 8 something/mile and let it pass for about 30 seconds. I was most concerned for the lady next to me and if she would freak out. She luckily didn't say anything. I continued on and finished strong for 4.54 miles in 34 minutes with 2,012 feet of climbing. YESSSS!!! I did my obligatory 2 miles down at -3% at 6:27 min/mile pace. I was feeling great on the cool down. Unlike my last training cycle, I feel good on the cool down vs. barely able to complete it. Awesome.

Total distance 10.54 Miles in 1:21:00 [7:41 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Thursday, Afternoon Easy Run

Easy run with 1 mile up at 7%, 1 mile down at -3% for 370ft of climbing. Feeling great.

Total distance 4.3 Miles in 32:00 [7:26 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Friday, Morning Easy Run

Easy run on Veteran's Day. 3 miles up at 7% for 1,100ft of climbing, 3 miles down at -3%.

Total distance 11.8 Miles in 1:31:00 [7:42 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Friday, Afternoon Easy Run

General Information:

Easy afternoon run. 1 mile up at 7% on treadmill, 1 mile down at -3%. 370ft of climbing.

Total distance 4.25 Miles in 32:00 [7:31 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Saturday, Afternoon Easy Run

General Information:

I moved to Baghdad (Sather AB) today. Totally different vibe, facilities, running, etc.... only option for running is a .8 mile loop. I can stay on the dirt most of the time on the side of the paved bike path, but certainly boring and not ideal. Did just over 3 miles up on the treadmill at 7% for 1,240ft of climbing, but this model treadmill I got on does not have a downhill option. My GPS is broken, so it is taking some time to adjust to reverting back to the guessing game for mileage.

Total distance 12 Miles in 1:33:00 [7:45 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Sunday, Afternoon Long Run

Today’s long run wasn’t as enjoyable as the last few weeks. I didn't have time to do the whole run at once, so I was forced to break it up to two runs. First half I ran around the .8 mile loop and then on to the treadmill for 2,000ft of climbing. Second half I ran in the dark and did an additional 1,100ft of climbing. I felt good most of the run, but I was a zombie by the end. Sort of enjoyed the night running as it enabled me to really zone in on my body, form and cadence as there was nothing to look at really.

Total distance 31 Miles in 3:57:00 [7:38 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Summary

113 Miles
11,722 Feet of Climbing
14hr 28min of Runing

Synopsis
The week went just as I hoped. Over 10,000 ft of climbing, a bit more mileage and finally a shift in focus to more race specific preperation: lots of climbing, lots of miles and a touch of pace work to keep my speed up to par. Importantly, I am feeling good running with a slight exception for my long run due to traveling and transistioning to a new base.

Weekly Summary 10/31-11-6

2011-11-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

Taking the 25' on Oh Be Joyful Creek, Crested Butte

Monday, Morning Easy Run

First day of the new 2.5 miles up at 6.5%, 2.5 miles down at -3% followed

by one loop around base. 858ft of climbing.

Total distance 10.77 Miles in 1:22:00 [7:36 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 136 bpm

Tuesday, Morning Speed Training

2.5 miles up at 6.5%, 2.5 miles down at -3%,(858ft of climbing) followed by

a mile and a half run outside, half a mile of general mobility, then I did 8

x 210 meter/.13 mile repeats with about a 500 meter recovery jog. Splits in

mileage pace:

4:17

4:33 (partially on gravel)

4:35 (partially on gravel)

4:26

4:21

4:19

4:38 (on gravel)

4:20

Average split: 4:26

Total distance 12.92 Miles in 1:39:00 [7:39 per mile]

Terrain Road

Average HR 141 bpm

Tuesday, Afternoon Easy Run

Afternoon easy run outside.

Total distance 4.03 Miles in 30:00 [7:26 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 140 bpm

South American Climbing

Wednesday, Afternoon Easy Run

2.5 miles up at 6.5%, 858ft of climbing, 2.5 miles down at -3%, one loop

outside.

Total distance 11.06 Miles in 1:25:00 [7:41 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 138 bpm

Thursday, Morning Easy Run

I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I slept in and snuck a quick 4 mile

run in before work.

Total distance 4.02 Miles in 29:29 [7:20 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Good Times

Thursday, Afternoon Hill Training

I DID IT!!! Warmed up 2 miles, then jumped onto the treadmill for my weekly

hill time trial, if you will. Set the treadmill to hill workout, level 15

and 8.4 mph (7:08 minute mile) for 30 minutes. The last two weeks I've had

to back down the speed and running 4.16 and 4.18 miles, this week I hammered

through, kept the pace and ran 4.20 miles with a total of approximately

1,600ft climbing (grade ranged from 5.5% up to 11.3%). The 11.3% grade is

absolutely brutal, but I did feel in the last minute I had a little bit more

to give... but working on patience.

Today was the happiest I've ever felt while running on a treadmill. My

average HR was 168 during the 30 minutes with a max HR of 183, that is

probably the highest average I have ever had since I got the watch 10 months

ago.

Total distance 10.5 Miles in 1:22:00 [7:48 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 168 bpm

MAX HR 183 bpm

Friday, Afternoon Easy Run

Easy run, 2.5 up at 6.5% grade, down for 2.5 at -3%, 858 of climbing. One

loop outside.

Total distance 10.77 Miles in 1:19:29 [7:22 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 144 bpm

Friday, Afternoon Easy Run

Easy jog outside.

Total distance 4.15 Miles in 32:29 [7:49 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 137 bpm

Saturday, Morning Easy Run

2.5M up at 6.5%, 2.5 miles down at -3%, 858 of climbing, one loop outside.

I recovered nicely with my heart rate nice and low at 135 compared to

yesterday's 144.

Total distance 11.02 Miles in 1:25:00 [7:42 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 135 bpm

Sunday Morning Long Run

Woke up rested and ready to go for my long run today. Started with 3 miles

climbing at 7% grade, 2.5 miles at -3%. Outside for 2 loops around base.

Today was the first day my hands were cold on a run in Iraq, I could

actually see my breath. The Ugandan guards were wearing down coats, stocking

caps, gloves, etc... They are always entertained seeing me run by nearly

naked in what they consider arctic cold winter. 3 miles more climbing at

7.5% grade, 2.5 down at -3% as I watched #1 LSU and #2 Alabama battle it

out... great game. One more loop outside, felt good, but the legs were

getting tired this week despite a sub 7 mile split on this last loop.

My HR on the first treadmill section was 136, two loops outside was 142,

second treadmill session 150 and last loop 151. 2,300ft total climbing.

Total distance 28.17 Miles in 3:30:44 [7:28 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 142 bpm

Weekly Summary:

107 Miles

13hrs 35min Running

8,190Ft Climbing

Synopsis:

This week was satisfying with a good speed workout (4:26 mile pace on 8 x

210 meter), a new best on my hill time trial workout Thursday, over 8,000

hard earned feet climbing on the treadmill and my second biggest mileage

week in Iraq of 107. Importantly, I am not a walking zombie, having any

signs of injury or getting burnt out. I am also enjoying the cool weather

running and seeing the great sunrises and sunset while I run. The light at

the end of this desert vacation is getting brighter and closer every day.

Next week I will continue on my path to more climbing incorporated into my

training while following the crucially important virtue of patience. The

increase in climbing will also bring the more race specific training regime:

less speed and intensity, more climbing strength, endurance and aerobic

capacity. This last 5 months I have usually had two significant workouts

and a long run each week, now I will start to move towards one hard effort

climbing workout and a bigger long run or even back to back long runs on the

weekend.

Weekly Summary for 10/24-10/30

2011-10-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Having computer issues, so I'm putting up old pics. "Colorado Rocky Mountain High"

Week four of focused training. Goals were to first stay patient (not up intensity or mileage too quickly and to listen to my body), maintain about the same mileage, increase weekly climbing and down-hill running and also change Tuesday’s tempo workout to a longer easy day with some speed work.

Monday, Morning Easy Run

Comments 2 miles up at 5%, 525 ft of climbing, 2 miles down at -3%. One loop oustide for 5.85 miles. I took it slow on the treadmill, felt good outside, but my legs were sore from yesterday.

Total distance 10 Miles in 1:18:00 [7:48 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 132 bpm

Tuesday, Morning Speed Training

Hit the treadmill for 2 miles up at 6% for 660ft of climbing and 2 mile at -3%. I was pretty tired.

Hit the dirt for a warm up and general mobility followed by 8 x 200 meter repeats at around 4:40 mile pace with a 600 meter recovery jog.

This speed workout was a little more challenging than I expected/planned on, but it did the job.

Total distance 12.05 Miles in 1:35:00 [7:53 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Difficulty Somewhat Difficult [Rating: 6]

Tuesday, Afternoon Easy Run

Easy run outside. 128 Av Hr

Total distance 4.07 Miles in 32:00 [7:51 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 128 bpm

Wednesday, Afternoon Normal Run

Couldn't sleep well, got out of bed early (3:30) to possibly take advantage of "unbelievable" deal on a camper for next year’s North American mountain tour. Ended up being a total scam. Slept in and crammed my run at lunch. Feeling OK.

Total distance 10.02 Miles in 1:15:00 [7:29 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 142 bpm

The day and place I decided I wanted to marry Maggie

Thursday, Morning Hill Training

After my warm up outside in the dark, I was on the treadmill for my hard effort hill workout.

Today my goal was to set a new best on my 30 minute level 15 session. Week 1 I went 4.16 miles (slightly less climbing), and 4.11 miles last week.

Total climbing is about 1,600ft and my pace is around 8.3 MPH/7:15 minute miles.

I started the workout running 8.4 MPH. Running low 7 pace at 7%+ grade is exciting. I held the pace until my second of the steeps intervals clocking in at 11.3%. I went pretty much max effort trying to keep pace and had to slow down to 8.3MPH for the last 4 minutes. I did manage to set a new record of 4.18 miles today!

I did the standard 2 miles at around 6:30 minute mile pace at -3% afterwards. Av HR for the 6.18 mile workout was 164, max 180!!

I was dragging all morning after this workout.

Total distance 10.31 Miles in 1:17:00 [7:28 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Difficulty Hard [Rating: 9]

Average HR 164 bpm

Thursday, Afternoon Easy Run

Couldn't go back to the treadmill, had a nice run outside. I felt way better than I thought I would despite the slow pace.

Total distance 4.04 Miles in 31:00 [7:40 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Friday, Morning Easy Run

Easy run 2M up at 6% for 660ft climbing, 2M down at -3% followed by a 5.63 mile loop around the base. 132 Av Hr

Total distance 9.74 Miles in 1:16:00 [7:48 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 132 bpm

Friday, Afternoon Easy Run

Comments Rushed this second run after cramming lunch down in 25 minutes, so I could enjoy a few hours relaxing this afternoon.

Total distance 4.03 Miles in 31:00 [7:41 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 137 bpm

Saturday, Morning Easy Run

2 miles up at 6%, 2 miles down at -3%. One loop around base. Wasn't digging the treadmill, but enjoyed the nice cool loop around base.

660ft climbing.

Total distance 10 Miles in 1:17:00 [7:42 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 133 bpm

Sunday, Morning Long Run

Slept well and woke up ready to run. Jogged over to the gym for 3.5 miles of climbing at 7.5% grade, then 2.3 miles at -3% grade. I ran 2 loops around the base in the dirt feeling better than ever with a few miles at sub 7:00 mile pace. Inside again for 2 miles up at 7.5%, down 1 at -3% then one more loop, feeling great and hitiing sub 7:00 mile pace around the base to finish the 27 mile long run. 2178ft total climbing with a 147 Av Hr. I drank 60oz of EFS mixed water containing around 500 calories. This was the best I've felt on a long run yet. Could have certailny ran this pace with another 2k of climbing for another 23 miles.

Total distance 27.04 Miles in 3:20:00 [7:23 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 147 bpm

South Platte River, Bailey to Pine with Bones

Synopsis

Awesome, awesome week. Tuesday was more than I expected with the 200 repeats and Thursday was down-right brutal, but I ended up bouncing back for the best long run since I’ve been in Iraq (I know, last week I said this too). With the exception to the last two, I’ve always been spent at the end of my long runs, that includes last year and with marathon training. I like feeling OK at the end of the long run.

I logged almost 7K of climbing and broke into the hundred mile range WITHOUT running myself down and keeping the make-up of the week where I want it. I am a little nervous on how I should approach the next two months. Not sure if I should take an easier week this or next week, or just keep on trucking and pay attention to how I feel. I am in the best Ultra shape that I’ve ever been in and I’ve managed to keep injury free (flat desert and the treadmill vs steep mountain running) since late spring. Very excited to put the body to the test at a race this winter….

Summary

101 Miles

6,948 Feet Climbing

12 Hours and 52 Minutes of Running

Weekly Summary 10/17-10/23

2011-10-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

A week of great highs and challenging lows.

Monday, Morning Easy Run

Easy run. I was a bit flat from the long run, but nothing in particular was

really sore. Felt OK, but the last 2 or 3 miles I was pretty tired.

Total distance 9.02 Miles in 1:13:00 [8:05 per mile]

Tuesday, Morning Tempo

2 mile warm up, 8 mile tempo all on the dirt/sand. There was a little wind

and the footing was less than ideal. Never pushed the pace, just a cruise.

6:32

6:15

6:19

6:21

6:15

6:13

6:21

Total distance 12.18 Miles in 1:26:00 [7:03 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 151 bpm

Tuesday, Afternoon Easy Run

2 miles up 2 miles down 660ft of climbing.

Total distance 4 Miles in 29:00 [7:15 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 136 bpm

Wednesday, Morning Easy Run

Last run before the walls close in on my running world. Sad.

Total distance 10.1 Miles in 1:19:00 [7:49 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 135 bpm

Thursday, Morning Hill Training

Warmed up, did some general mobility and strides, then hit the gym for my

second treadmill hill workout. Started on level 14 then realized the

treadmill I was using had a different level 14 than the other treadmill I

used last week. I bumped up to level 15 and ran the 30 minute workout at

about 8,3-8.4 MPH (7:10 min/miles). Total climbing was 1,600ft, at 7:10

pace, for 30 minutes over 4.11 miles at a AV HR of 158 (including the down

hill 2 miles).

I did 2 miles at -3% at 6:20/mile pace and then a 2 mile cool down outside.

This was almost the exact same workout as last week, but this week I felt

much better during and after.

Total distance 10.48 Miles in 1:19:00 [7:32 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 158 bpm

Thursday, Afternoon Easy Run

2 miles up, 2 miles down (6% and -3%). 660 Ft of climbing131 Av Hr. Felt

much better than last week.

Total distance 4 Miles in 29:00 [7:15 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 131 bpm

Friday, Morning Easy Run

Watched my roommate and friends leave on a C-17 yesterday and the walls on

the new scaled down base close up for good. Sad, depressing, etc... rough

evening, enough said.

I accidently didn't turn on my alarm, but woke up in time to still get my

run in. Today was the slightly cold feeling run with temps around the mid

50s. Feeling down without my friends and having to run in a smaller space.

Good news is that I'm feeling good where after the same workouts last week,

I was dragging. 138 Av Hr.

Total distance 9.01 Miles in 1:09:00 [7:39 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 138 bpm

Saturday, Morning Easy Run

Today I started what I plan on doing most mornings in the future, jog over

to the gym for 2 miles climbing (6.5%/686 feet) 2 miles down hill (-3%)

followed by about 6 miles around the base. Av Hr 139

Total distance 10.02 Miles in 1:15:00 [7:29 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 139 bpm

Saturday, Afternoon Easy Run

Easy run outsdie. 132 Av Hr. Felt tired before the run, better after.

Total distance 4 Miles in 31:00 [7:45 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 132

Sunday, Morning Long Run

Started the long run with 4.5 miles up at 7% grade for 1,663 ft of climbing

followed by 3.5 miles of -3% grade. I then headed outside to to do 3 loops

of about 5.7 miles. THe weather was perfect, sunny and cool. I wore my fleet

feet visor, white compression sleeves, NB running shorts and my AF PT shirt.

I drank about a liter of water while on the treadmill along wit close to 3

oz (300 calories) of berry EFS. Outside I drank 20oz (200 calories) of EFS

Grape in my hand water bottle.

Things felt good today, I took it easy on the treadmill and followed suit on

my 3 outdoor loops in the dirt. I enjoyed a little company/hellos from the

KBR construction guys and Ugandans manning the guard towers and ECP.

Greatest thing about this run was that I was totally relaxed, comfortable

and finished feeling better than any other long run I've done in Iraq all

while running faster than I have on any long run. Av Hr was 140.

Total distance 25.88 Miles in 3:07:00 [7:13 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 140 bpm

Synopsis:

This week was very fulfilling for me running. I am more positive, happy and

excited to be running than I have been in over 2 months. While the week

began slow, being tired from last Sunday's long run it ended with some great

gains. Thursday's hill workout felt much better than last week, I recovered

well and had one of my best long runs since being in Iraq.

My world, Speicher (the base I'm at), completed transitioning down to a an

OSC-I Department of State ran site Thursday. Pretty much all of my good

friends, to include my roommate, flew out homebound. Basically the AF and

Army is gone with a very small contingency staying. Change is difficult and

this was a tough one. Maggie, Felix and my running really helped me through

that first day. I had some important small victories Friday and Saturday by

acquiring some cool furnishings from those who had departed. I have a

groozy hippy vine sort of doorway handing over my door, I now have my own

room, I've been biking on my mountain bike everywhere I have to go, I did

some re-organization and lastly I found a guitar. I can play 3 chords where

last week I could play zero.

Next week I am going to drop the tempo and replace it with some speed work

and continue to increase the climbing and descending.

Weekly Summary:

98.7 Miles

5,239 Ft Climbing

12hrs 17min of running

Weekly Summary 10/10-10/16

2011-10-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

Weekly Summary 10/10-10/16

The New Guard Towers

Monday, Morning Easy Run

Comments Easy run this morning. Happy with a 132 Hr.

Total distance 9.1 Miles in 1:10:00 [7:41 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 132 bpm

Monday Afternoon Easy Run

Comments I was tired, slow and flat on this second run around the base. I

went to bed early after the run and felt spent. Hr was low at 128

Total distance 4.59 Miles in 36:00 [7:50 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 128 bpm

Tuesday, Morning Tempo

Comments Warmed up to a beautiful sunset. Ran 8 miles at around marathon

effort pace. The first mile was on loose gravel into the wind, wasn't

totally warmed up and ran a 6:40, second mile was partially on gravel and at

6:30, mile 3: 6:15 and then the rest of the run was between 6:00-6:08. Felt

good on the 2 mile cool down. This was just a medium hard tempo like run to

keep up the endurance speed as reflected by the Av Hr of 145 (with warm

up/cool down).

Total distance 12.07 Miles in 1:24:00 [6:57 per mile]

Terrain Road

Average HR 145 bpm

Tuesday, Afternoon Easy Ran to the gym and did 2 miles up at 6%

grade, 633ft of climbing, 1.7 miles at -3%. Good HR of 137

Total distance 4 Miles in 29:00 [7:15 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 137 bpm

Wednesday, Morning Easy Run

Morning run with the full moon setting, sun rising. Nice and quiet on my run

with so many people leaving the base. Took the run slow and easy.

Total distance 10.07 Miles in 1:18:00 [7:44 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 142 bpm

My new work area.... and my new Stash

Thursday Morning Hill Training :

Comments I was looking forward to this hill workout. Did my warm-up and

general mobility and headed to the gym for the hill workout. Set the

treadmill to "Hill Workout" level 14, 6:58min/mile. Level 14 vs. 13 was a

BIG jump, with some climbing over 10% grade. I got 4.16 miles in 30 minutes

with 1,605ft of climbing. 2 miles at around 6:40 pace at -3% grade. 2 mile

cool down. I had to slow down to low 7 min/mile pace for the last 10 minutes

of the 30. This workout was very challenging.

Total distance 10.83 Miles in 1:23:00 [7:39 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 162 bpm

Thursday Easy Run:

2 miles climbing at 6%, 2 miles down at -3%.

Total distance 4 Miles in 29:00 [7:15 per mile]

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 137 bpm

Friday, Easy Run

Comments Felt very tired on this morning's run.

Total distance 9.27 Miles in 1:15:00 [8:05 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 134 bpm

Saturday, Morning Easy Run:

Last night I skipped my second run 20 seconds after starting... just felt tired. Still feeling a bit tired/slow today on this run. Forgot my HR monitor.

Total distance 9.16 Miles in 1:14:00 [8:04 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

My Mission

Sunday, Long Run:

Started this long run on the treadmill doing 4.5 miles of

climbing at 6.5% grade (1,544 feet) then 2.5 miles at a -3% grade. I took it

easy on the climb today as I felt flat and tired the last two days. On the

down hill running I still felt less than ideal and ran a little slower than

normal. Outside I didn't start off feeling great and was nervous that it was

going to be a painful long run. The weather was a little hotter than

previous days, but OK. At around mile 5 (12 total) I turned a corner and

found myself running good pace and feeling great.

Three unique things happened from here, a sotrm rolled in and I felt my

first rain drops ever in Iraq (4 months), followed by some wind and sand, I

found an enourmous "bullet" and last, I lost my favorite running hat of all

time. All three events made for great distractions and before I knew it I

only had 3 miles to go. Felt better at the end of this long run than I

usually do.

Total distance 24.02 Miles in 3:03:00 [7:37 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 145 bpm

Final Thoughts

Things are coming along. I got a good deal of running done this week and kept things under control. I stugle to accept doing a "tempo" that isn't sub 6 min pace, but that really is my old school running brain not accepting my new school running workout. I battle myself each week between the balance of ultra trail training and doing "fast" running for all my workouts. I'll stick with one more week of tempo next week and then consider options from there.

Thursday's hill workout was more challenging than I thought it would be going from "level 13 to 14" on the treadmill. This workout took a lot out of me resulting in one less afternoon run, being tired for a few days and a 7:37 avg pace insted of maybe 7:27 pace for the long run. I hope to repeat this week next week with less fatigue at the end of the week.

Summary

97.11 Miles

4,354 Feet Climbed

12 Hours 21 Minutes

Weekly Summary 10/3-10/9 October

2011-10-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Under control. After peaking during my training phase and the subsequent DNF on

my race, I've been thinking, focusing and taking action to ensure that I

don't run myself down and push too hard to quick.

I've been doing my best to listen to my body and not push to maximum effort during my harder days,

push to exhaustion on my long runs or beat myself down climbing on my

afternoon runs. I've caught and stopped myself this last week from going

longer on my tempo and hill workout. Both hard workouts this week weren't

as "hard" as they were back in July and August, by design. I want to cool down feeling

"ok" after a hard session, not struggling to complete cool downs at 8+

min/mile pace. This new startegy will hopefully prevent me from over training and enable a long gradual build up to racing in a few months.

Monday, Morning Easy Run

Comments My legs were tired and heavy from the long run yesterday.

Total distance 9.03 Miles in 1:11:00 [7:51 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Difficulty Normal [Rating: 3]

Average HR 139 bpm

Tuesday, Morning Tempo

After a 2 mile warm up, I ran 7.2 miles at around an average pace of

6:10/mile on the dirt. Felt good, could have kept going for more miles, but

going to ease into this weekly workout. Two miles cool down.

Total distance 11.03 Miles in 1:15:00 [6:47 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 149 bpm

Tuesday, Afternoon Easy Run

Easy run around the footprint. Not sure why my HR was so high.

Total distance 4.39 Miles in 33:00 [7:31 per mile]

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 150 bpm

Wednesday Afternoon Easy

Today was my last day running out into "Iraqi Land". My running world is

going to shrink from the 17 mile perimeter (4 ish mile by 4 ish mile cube)

to a 1.25 mile by 1.25 mile square. I really enjoyed the open fields, seeing

and hearing the birds, the foxes, etc...

Total distance 10.02 Miles in 1:17:00 [7:41 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 134 bpm

Thursday Morning Hill Training

DId my first treadmill hill workout today. No more Pit. 2 miles warm up

outside then jumped onto the treadmill. Set the treadmill to "hill" level 13

(of 20) at 6:58min/mile pace for 30 minutes. The average grade was about 6%

so approximately 1,500 ft of climbing in 4.8 miles. I ran 2 miles at

6min/mile at -3% grade. Overall a good first treadmill hill workout. 2 mile

cool down outside.

Total distance 10 Miles in 1:15:00 [7:30 per mile]

Course

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 157 bpm

Thursday Afternoon Easy Run

Afternoon run around the footprint.

Total distance 4.39 Miles in 34:00 [7:44 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 137 bpm

Friday Morning Easy Run

Easy run. HR higher than I thought it would be.

Total distance 9.05 Miles in 1:10:00 [7:44 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 152 bpm

Friday Afternoon Easy Run

2 miles at 5% grade, 520ft of climbing, 2 miles at -3% grade.

Total distance 4 Miles in 30:00 [7:30 per mile]

Course

Terrain Treadmill

Average HR 146 bpm

Saturday Afternoon Easy Run

Morning easy run.

Total distance 10.07 Miles in 1:17:00 [7:38 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 137 bpm

Sunday Morning Long Run

Started this long run with 4 miles at 5.5% grade (1,161ft climbing) followed

by -3% for 2 miles on the treadmill. After the treadmill, I hit the dirt

looping around base for 16 miles. I felt great today as shown by the 7:18

average pace and 142 average heart rate. Good stuff.

Total distance 22.06 Miles in 2:41:00 [7:17 per mile]

Course

Terrain X-Country

Average HR 142 bpm

In sticking with my plan, I kept the mileage in the 90s, only climbed 3,121ft

in 10 runs. Next week I plan on staying in the 90 range for mileage, but

upper 90s, with hopefully a little more climbing. I've got two more months

here in Iraq before I'm back in the mountains... I can see the light at the

end of the tunnel and I will do everything I can to reach my goal of returning

fit, not burned out, and a stronger runner than when I arrived.

Summary:

94 Miles

3121 Feet Climbing

11hr 45min time running

Weekly Summary for 9/26-10/2

2011-10-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

All Star Iraqi White River 50 Mile support crew, aid station workers and friends. SPC Liam Kelly, SPC Jason Driscoll and SSG Matt Spady (he is 6'4" or so, but is crowching to fit in!)

Weekly Summary for 9/26-10/2

This has been a big week for change. The weather has cooled off remarkably since July and Augsust. Overnight lows in the 100s, highs in the 120s, mandatory wake ups at 3:30-5:00am to avoid the worst tempatures has been replaced by highs in the low 90s and overnight lows down to the chilly high 60s(yes, it feels chilly) and waking up at 5:30-6:00 to run. After a week in 80s for mileage, I've moved up to the 90s. After a month of being in a physical and mental low point for running, I've continued to enjoy, savor and look forward to running more and more over the last two weeks. My running has improved both in quantity, average pace and intensity. Lastly, I've moved to a new job and office here at Tikrit Iraq.

Spady

Monday AM 1:09; 9.13M 139Av Hr; Awesome run in the mysterious sand fog... visibility down to maybe 100Ft. My eyelashes were covered in dust along with my hair, clothes and skin.

Tuesday AM 1:09, 8.96, 145Av Hr; Easy run. Didn't feel as good as yesterday.

PM :28, 4M, 500Ft, 138Av Hr; 2.5 miles up at 5%, 2.5 miles at -3% grade.

Wednesday AM 1:22, 9M; 1,500Ft, 154 (173Mx)Av Hr; Great first session back at the pit! 38:45 for 15 intervals. 1:09-1:15 was my range for intervals times. Surprised how much hill strength I mainted from the previous training block.

Battle Station for the 10 mile 5,000ft climb legs

PM Took the afternoon off, feeling a muscle below my calf after my first day back to the pit.

Thursday AM 1:09, 9.04M, 138Av Hr; Easy run.

PM :33, 4.34M, 139Av Hr; FIRST AFTERNOON RUN IN IRAQ!!!!

Friday AM 1:10; 9.47M, 140Av Hr; Warm-up then 8 x 1 minute fast, 2 minutes jog. Felt pretty good on this lighter speed workout.

After my 15 mile loop... DNFing

PM :33, 4.43M, 141Hr;

Saturday AM 1:17, 10.04M, 144Av Hr; Nice morning easy run.

PM :33, 4.43M, 131Av Hr; Nice outdoor afternoon run. Feeling good on this run, Hr 10 less than yesterday's run (same pace/distance)

Nice butt sweat

Sunday AM 2:28, 20.1M, 792Ft, 143Av Hr; Started this long run on the treadmill where I ran 2.5 miles at 6% grade then 2.5 miles at -3% grade before heading out for a 15 mile loop around the base. Once off the treadmill

Great week back at it. Had a few runs where I felt awesome. The workout at the Pit was way better than I thought it would be and I felt great on my long run. I have to be sure to be patient and keep next week in the 90s not 100+ mile range.

Weekly Summary:

93.3 Miles

2,792 Feet Climbed

11 Hours & 51 Minutes

Iraqi White River 50 Mile Race Report/Weekly Summary 9/19-9/25

2011-09-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Iraqi White River 50 Mile

First off... THANK YOU: Dave Mackey for you last minute donation for the race! Matt Lowe thank you. Matt donated $250 to the Wounded Warrior Project.

SSG Matt Spady, SPC Liam Kelly and SPC Jason Driscoll, your support and friendship was and is priceless. Thank you.

-Thank you Dave Mackey for your donation

-Thank you Matt Lowe for your unbelievable donation to the Wounded Warrior Project

-Thank you Gabriel Rodriguez & Under Armour for your generous donation to the troops out here!

-Thank you Fleet Feet Boulder Colorado for your support and donation!

-Thank you Marcus Allen Massage Therapy for your support, encouragement and getting me interviews with Runners World & Trail Runner!

-Thank you Levi Severson & Brian Dumm for your support and encouragement!

-And thank you Maggie Schlarb for all of your endless support, encouragement and love!

-Thank you for spreading the word and encouragement:

Lyle Weese

Jeremy Wolf

Ken Coop

Emily Thompson LaGiglia

Chris Zepeda

Krissy Moehl, 1st Endurance

LTC Fred Straka

OK.... a long overdue race report: I did not finish. For the first time in my life (pretty sure) I quit a race.

After a month, I have certainly had time to figure out what the heck happened.

My life for two months leading up to the race consisted of: get up, run, eat, work, eat, work, run, eat, talk to Maggie and Felix, bed. I put my heart into this schedule... maybe a little too much. My training built up to 100 mile weeks with 2 hard workouts (hills and speed) a long run and 10,000 feet of climbing. I peaked, or "burned out" in the training phase. My two week taper consisted of me being tired and flat and finally race day came and I didn't have it.

On my first 10 mile leg with 5,000ft of climbing on the treadmill (at midnight) I realized right away I was tired and the legs were heavy. I did my best to ignore my body's messages. By the time I hit 10 miles I was around 80% spent. My split of 1:27 was right on pace to get under 6:44 (Uli's time). With the help of SSG Spady, SPC Kelly and Driscoll, I was optimistic. These guys were staying up all night for ME, I didn't want to let THEM down or all the other people who were supporting me.

I was optimistic and pushed on to see if some flat faster running on my second dirt and sand leg of 15 miles would snap me out of it. Running out in the desert at 1:30am was a unique experience. I saw a scorpion and nearly stepped on it, I saw cats, foxes and some random people out and about. It was actually not a comfortable experience. I was hitting pace, faster than pace (running a bit scared) actually with sub 7:30 miles, but I could tell it was not to be. I felt like I should be on the last leg, not the 2nd of 4. I decided I'd wait until my pace dropped slower than 8 minute miles before I would accept my fate. I slowed a bit but, didn't go over 8 minute miles. Things were getting worse by the mile, but at this point I decided my new goal would be to at least run half the race. The last 4 miles felt like I was crawling and the pace slowed significantly, but I managed a 1:55 split for the 15 mile loop.

At 25 miles I quit. It sucked. I hated telling the guys that I was quitting. I felt awkward and defeated. I never want to feel that way.

My total time was 3:22 which is exactly pace for Ulis time. There was no way I could have climbed 5,000ft for 10 miles on the treadmill faster than 12 minute miles and that is being very optimistic.

I took a couple days off and then ran easy 4-7 mile runs the next week. Until about 8 days ago I have been both mentally and physically down and out with my running. 8 minute mile easy runs for 5-9 miles were tiring and I didn't feel like doing them. This was troublesome for my spirit. Funny how this last month has been so much more difficult than a month full of 100 mile weeks.

Well that is over. Lessons learned. Stronger and better.

Last Sunday, the Air Force's birthday, I ran a 35 minute 10K tempo out of the blue (nice pun). Since Sunday, I've enjoyed running. I can run through the fields for an easy 9 miles at 7 something pace and feel great... thank God.

My focus is set on my December return. This deployment has been a lot like an ultra... there have been slow long parts where I felt it would never end, other sections where time flew and even sections I really enjoyed. I can't wait to be back with Maggie and Felix and our way of life. I've got my sights set on returning to the states and nailing a good race.

Summary for the last week:

Sunday- AM 10 miles, 10K tempo (35:27)

Monday- AM 9.3 miles easy

Tuesday- AM 15 mile longer run

Wednesday- AM 9 miles easy

Thursday- AM 9.5 miles with 7 X 1 minute speed, 2 minutes jog recovery

PM 4 miles on treadmill with 1,250ft of climbing

Friday- AM 9.1 miles easy

Saturday- AM 4.3 miles easy

PM 4.3 miles easy

Sunday- AM 17.3 mile long run with 3 miles on the treadmill (1.5M 5.5% climb, 1.5M -3% downhill)

Summary:

81.8 Miles

1,650ft of climbing

Race Update and Weekly Summary for 8/15 - 8/21

2011-08-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Iraqi Goat Skin Art

-UPDATE ON IRAQI WHITE RIVE 50 MILE-

Product & Support:

-Thank you Gabriel Rodriguez & Under Armour for your generous donation to the troops out here!
-Thank you Fleet Feet Boulder Colorado for you support and donation!
-Thank you Marcus Allen Massage Therapy for your support, encouragement and getting me interviews with Runners World & Trail Runner!
-Thank you Levi Severson & Brian Dumm for your support and encouragement!
-And thank you Maggie Schlarb for all of your endless support, encouragement and love!

-Thank you for spreading the word and encouragement:

Lyle Weese
Jeremy Wolf
Ken Coop
Emily Thompson LaGiglia
Chris Zepeda
Krissy Moehl, 1st Endurance

More information on the race, how to support, etc... at the bottom of this post

Bradley

-Weekly Summary For 8/15 - 8/21- 25% Taper Week

Monday-
AM 1:00, 7.4M, 123Av Hr;
Felt nice to run a little shorter. Av Hr was 123!
PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft;
Afternoon Treadmill

Tuesday-

AM :56, 7.5M, 700Ft;
Decided to sleep in. Ran on treadmill.

PM :30, 4M, 844Ft;
Afternoon treadmill.

Wednesday-
AM 1:00, 7.55M, 130Av Hr;
Easy morning run.

PM :28, 4M;
Tired this afternoon, so I did a flat treadmill run instead of the regular climb.
Thursday-
AM 1:02, 8.3M, 1,000Ft, 149Av Hr;
Woke up well rested and felt good during my warm up and general mobility drills. Today I did 11 intervals vice the standard 15 as I am tapering for the big race just 9 days out. Ran an average split on the hill repeats of 1:12, 1:13. The first and last interval was 1:09 and after rolling my ankle on the 8th interval (had to take a minute and walk it off too) I ran a 1:16.

At the half point check (8) for the regular 15 interval day, I was 20 seconds faster than ever. My heart rate average was lower this week as well. Things are shaping up well!
PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft; 149Av Hr;
Regular 4 mile treadmill run, 1K of climbing.

Friday-
AM 1:00, 7.41M, 126Av Hr;
Cooler weather (high 80s) felt great this morning. Nice easy run with a low heart rate

PM :22, 3M, 400Ft, 132Av Hr;
Easy 3 at 2.5% grade 400ft climbing
Saturday-
AM 2:22, 18.38M, 1,700Ft,146/136Av Hr;
"Slept in" until 4am for this long run. Did 4 miles on the treadmill at 8% grade for 1,700ft of climbing at around 8:15-8:20 pace with an average heart rate of 146. I am confident I can hammer out 8:20 pace at 9.5% for two 10 mile sessions for the race.
Headed outside and did a 14.35 mile loop around base. Felt good, but thought my watch was broken as I felt as if I was running faster than it said for the first few miles. Heart rate was at an average of 136, average pace of 7:35 for the loop, which I'm happy with. I am confident I can run 7:40 pace for the two 15 mile loops next week.

Sunday-
AM 1:23; 10.16M, 130Av Hr;
Scoped out half my route for the first 15 mile portion of my race this morning. Felt good.

Picture I took last winter while on a long run in Laramie WY

This week went pretty much as I hoped. I wanted to reduce my mileage from last week's 111 by around 25%, which I did. What I didn't plan on was getting as much climbing as I did and having such a good workout at the Pit after last week's tiring week. I did decide to skip speed and just do one focused workout.
As normal, I feel a bit tired and off when I taper and I attribute this to the body finally recovering and rebuilding after working so hard for weeks and months before. Sleeping well, feeling well and confidence is building about my race in 6 days. The race, splits, fear and confidence about running all occupies my mind more and more.
The support for the race has been awesome and will make the difference. The donations, support and encouragement has been awesome. Marcus has really gone out of his way to get running publications like Trail Runner and Running World involved. Levi has been a real enabler with our "virtual training partnership" his emails and even letters. Finally, my wife is amazing... she has done the little things to keep me going and smiling, she is the best. I'm ready to meet my goal of running under 6:49 (Uli's winning time from this year's White River 50)

WEEKLY TOTALS:
85.7 Miles
6,744 Feet Climbed
11:03 Total Time Running

IRAQI WHITE RIVER 50 MILE

On Saturday the 27th of August I am going to run a 50 Mile race in Iraq.
The "course" will be based off the White River 50 Mile that took place on the 12th of June in Washington. I hope to get in a good race and remind people of the sacrifices US Service Members are still making daily for our country.

This is how the race will go down:
-12:00AM Iraqi Time/3:00PM Mountain Time Start
-10 Miles on a treadmill set at 9.5% grade for a total of just over 5,000 feet of climbing
-a 15 mile loop on the dirt and sand of Iraq
-another 10 Miles on the treadmill at a grade of 9.5% for 5,000 feet of climbing
-a second 15 mile loop on the dirt and sand

My goals and purpose in running the Iraqi White River 50 Mile:

-Get a 50 Mile race with 10,000ft of climbing under the belt this summer while in Iraqi

-Run faster than the winner, Uli 6:49, at The 2011 White River 50M
-See if I can help support troops/veterans or at least remind people of the sacrifices US service members are making for our country today

-SUPPORT- What YOU can do!!

Iraqi White River 50 Mile & Weekly Summary 8/8 - 8/14

2011-08-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

IRAQI WHITE RIVER 50 MILE

-Get a 50 Mile race with 10K of climbing under the belt this summer while in Iraqi

-Run faster than the winner, Uli 6:49, at The 2011 White River 50M
-See if I can help support troops/veterans or at least remind people of the sacrifices US service members are making for our country today

-SUPPORT- What YOU can do!!

-If you, your sponsor, or company would like to send Air Force and/or Army Enlisted troops deployed here in Iraq fitness product, contact me and I'll give you my APO address in Iraq. It is no more expensive shipping to an APO than shipping elsewhere in the US!
-Spread the word about the race/cause to other runners who might be interested in supporting the troops
-Donate to "Wounded Warrior Project" http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ , mention the race and feel free to post on my blog that you donated

-Weekly Summary For 8/8 - 8/14-

Monday-
AM 1:15, 9.46M, 139Av Hr;
Didn't sleep well last night and decided to risk running at 6:15 vice 5:15... It wasn't that hot, but the last two and a half miles were into a 20mph headwind. Still tired, heart rate a bit high too.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft, 147Av Hr;
One of my more tired days. First mile and a half went fast on the Treadmill then I had an epic battle fighting off a #2. There are no bathrooms at the gym. Usually I lose these battles and have to stop, but for once I managed to finish the run.

Tuesday- Fastest Speed Yet!
AM 1:34, 12.23M, 145Av Hr;
Had a decent night of sleep, but the wind was up so I decided to run my quarter mile repeats on the roads around my new residence.

The first 4 repeats were on the dirt and gravel roads, but the last 8 were on the pavement with the recovery jog on the dirt. The wind was around 12-20 mph. Most, with the exception of the second interval, was with the wind at my back.

Splits:

1) 4:57 on a gravel road
2) 4:59 into the wind on pavement
3) 4:53 on dirt
4) 4:47 on dirt mostly
5) 4:44 pavement for the remainder of W/O
6) 4:50
7) 4:45
8) 4:38
9) 4:37
10) 4:32
11) 4:22
12) 4:23

Average pace was 4:42 or 70 second quarters. Last two were 65s!

This was a good way to finish my speed training sessions: nice and fast. I certainly know I have re-developed my speed. I think it is essential to have a dedicated speed workout once a week for around 6 weeks every 6 months or so.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft;
Afternoon on the treadmill.

Wednesday-
AM 1:19, 9.49M, 125Av Hr;
The recovery run after my fastest speed workout of the year... VERY slow.
Only ran one mile under 8 min pace, but the heart rate was the lowest it has been too, 125 average. Hope the legs recover for tomorrows work at the Pit.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft;
Regular afternoon treadmill run.

Thursday-PR AT THE PIT!
AM 1:11, 9.1M, 1,450Ft, 154Av Hr;
Screwed up my alarm this morning, drove over to my start point a little late. Started at around 5:30am. Felt pretty good on the warm up and general mobility... a little nervous and anxious as I ultimately wanted to finish this last focus week with my best performance at both my speed workout (done!) and at the Pit. Being that I have been exhausted for the last 3 days, I didn't know how it would turn out.

Things started well with a 1:12 and I managed to maintain splits under 1:15 out and pretty much under 1:30 back, but it was no cake walk. At the half point I checked my watch and I was nearly 30 seconds ahead of last weeks times, but I was having to give a lot to keep things fast.

I managed to hold on and ran my last two intervals in 1:12 and a record 1:08 to finish with a new overall best of 38:47 for the workout... 16 seconds faster than my best time at The Pit. My average HR was 154 this week vs 150 last week, 171 last week for max, 175 max this week... I worked for the PR.

It felt great to kill this workout.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft;
Felt good on my afternoon run.

Friday-
AM 1:14, 9.44M, 131Av Hr;
Slow recovery run with a low heart rate.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft, 150Av Hr;
This afternoon's run was a little more challenging than normal with a AV HR of 150.

Saturday- The 10M Diving Board and Longest Long Run
AM 3:33, 27.9M, 3,086Ft, 145Av Hr;
Sleep was not great. Woke up confused a few times thinking I slept in and wouldn't be able to get in my long run. I also had a horrible dream about missing the pool and landing on the cement when I jumped off the 10 meter high dive. Both my ankles were broken, but I was OK. My parents then took me to check out apartments where I crawled around with my legs broken. Wow.

Got up at 3:30am and headed over to the USACE mini-gym where I set up my laptop and ran 7:30 pace at 6.5% grade for 9 miles and 3,086 feet of climbing. I enjoyed listening to music from my laptop and skyping with my wife. I decided to take off my shirt as no one was in the gym. My sweat was overwhelming... it got my laptop wet and eventual soaked my shoes like I had crossed a creek, good simulation!

I headed out for the sunrise and just short of 19 miles. Once again, I meant to run a bit shorter on the loop, but miscalculated. My legs were heavy, slow and stiff, but I managed to keep the pace around 7:30. The last 3 or 4 miles I was really hurting, I was feeling the last two workouts and the big mileage. Looking forward to a nice taper to the Iraqi White River 50 Mile. I wore the compression sleeves the rest of the day to help recover.

Drank 2 servings of EFS lemon lime with 30OZ of water on my treadmill portion of the run. Drank about 60 oz of water with 4oz of EFS Liquid Shot Berry on the trail loop. Finished with the daily Ultragen; you can't imagine how good it tastes after running a long run in August in Iraq.

Sunday- Efficiency
AM 1:17; 4.46M, 126Av Hr;
I felt different this morning running. The legs began stiff, but a few miles into it I felt no one muscle or area that was particularly un-happy... after such a long run yesterday and epic week? HR was at 126. My body is really adapting. Time to put the body to the test.

PM :30, 4M, 525Ft, 133 Av Hr;
A little afternoon jog on the Treadmill at 2.5% grade.

WEEKLY TOTALS:
111 Miles
10,311 Feet Climbed
14:23 Total Time Running

I'm ready for a solid 50 mile!

Weekly Summary 8/1- 8/7 & Support the Troops Via The Iraqi White River 50 Mile

2011-08-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

1920s Italian Tankette

Monday-
AM 1:11; 9.38M, 137Av Hr;
Felt good this morning. Sub 9 on the first mile and by the end of the run I was down to 7 pace. A couple beets per minute fast on the HR, but overall, I can tell my fitness is coming along.

PM :30; 4M, 1,050Ft, 145Av Hr;
Was tired from lack of sleep Sunday night.

Tuesday-Super Speed
AM 1:33, 12.63M, 148Av Hr;
Woke up this morning well rested and with morning temps a few degrees lower than the last two days (92 vs 97 or 98).
I was excited to do this workout.

The wind, unfortunately, was a bit up this morning, maybe 10mph.

12 X 400 meter repeats with a .37M jog recovery across the desert fields. 2 mile warm up, general mobility drills, 2.5 mile cool down.

Here are my splits (pace for the 400 meter intervals):

1) 5:20
2) 5:07
3) 5:00
4) 5:05
5) 5:08
6) 4:57
7) 4:35
8) 4:42
9) 4:48
10) 4:40
11) 4:43
12) 4:40

Average Pace: 4:53
Avg Hr was 149 (with cool down), 178 max.

I felt pretty good on the way out, but the wind was challenging. Felt really good on the way back, the best I've felt on the 4 speed workouts. The last two were pretty much all out. Great day!

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft,
Felt better than I expected after my morning speed.

Wednesday
AM 1:17, 9.37M, 128Av Hr
Certainly flat from yesterday's good speed session. Effort was super easy, but things went slow due to legs... my heart rate reflects this.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft, 146Av Hr
I moved to a new place and used the other gym today. Good news, the treadmills are in the middle of the gym and the gym is packed, thus entertaining. Bad thing, the treadmill I used was old. I think the % grade may be different as I was dying on 5%...

Thursday-New Best Pit Record

AM 1:13, 9M, 1,425Ft, 150Av Hr
Poor night of sleep in my new CHU. Contemplated going back to sleep, even stopped just after a I began my warm-up and thought of not doing the workout...

Good thing was that it was in the lower 80s for the first time in weeks this morning, so I went for it. Felt OK after doing general mobility.

Despite the rough start, today I fount that next gear at The Pit today!

I felt strong on every repeat, running between 1:11 to 1:17 on each interval for a total time and best of 39:03.
Things are coming along.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft
Found out the Treadmill I used yesterday is totally screwed up. I ran on a different treadmill and today's run went well and I felt great.

Friday-
AM 1:15, 9.79M, 134Av Hr
My first run from my new room. Did my regular loop backwards with a modification on start/finish. Felt pretty good, windy a bit but cooler than the last few weeks.

Forgot I usually do 11M today with 2 on the treadmill... just decided to run extra this afternoon.

PM :24, 3.2M, 845Ft

Great first run in the small gym located right next to my room. I am very happy to have found this magical spot... very nice Nautilus treadmill, AC right behind the treadmill, bathroom just feet away, combo lock on the door that only the few residents around me have, a fridge just a few feet away too and finally... an outlet for my laptop :)

This location will be where I do my treadmill running for my Iraqi White River 50.

Saturday-Long Run with Skype

AM 3:06, 25.27M, 2,566Ft, 146Av Hr

Essentials: EFS and Ultragen by 1st Endurance

I woke up at 3am having dreams about the morning long run... a little anxious I suupose.
I used the mini gym which is a stone's throw from my room. I set up my netbook, listened to Pandora and talked to my wife Maggie and son Felix WHILE I ran on the treadmill. I also used the toilette located right next to the treadmill and stored my Nathan water pack in the mini fridge right behind the treadmill. The mini gym is really just a converted trailer, but it is absolutely awesome for my situation.

Did 8.1 miles at 7:30 pace, 6% grade, 2,566ft of climbing. I drank 32oz of EFS lemon lime drink.

Went outside and rolled the dice on figuring out a 16 mile loop from my new location. Obviously it is the same area, but still I wasn't sure how the loop would work for mileage as I ended up running a bit further, 17.17M.

Felt pretty good on the treadmill, average heart rate was only 147 for the 8 miles with 2,566ft of climbing (6%).

Once out running the loop, the legs were a bit flat/tired and I thought it might be a slower run that the last few long runs. Low and behold, things turned out better than I thought they would and I kept a good pace.

Here are my splits:
1-8) 7:30
9) 7:48
10) 7:38
11) 7:35
12) 7:30
13) 7:47
14) 7:21
15) 7:15
16) 7:23
17) 7:06
18) 7:04
19) 6:59
20) 7:00
21) 7:10
22) 7:14
23) 7:21
24) 7:28
25) 7:30

Average Pace: 7:24

The last couple miles were rough and, again, I ran out of water a little over a mile out. I drank 82oz of water during this run, 2 servings of EFS lemon lime, 3.5 servings of EFS liquid shot berry.

Sunday-
AM 1:22, 11.23M, 633Ft
Woke up to a sandstorm. Joined the guys headed to the gym for a spin class and ran 11.23 miles on the treadmill.

Did a 20 minute warmup then 2 miles at 6% grade for 633ft of climbing at 7:30 pace followed by 15 minutes of 6:45 pace at a -3% grade to work the downhill running muscles, then the rest of the run at just under 7 pace.

-Weekly Summary and Iraqi White River 50 Mile Update-

My running came together this week. I managed to have a successful speed workout Tuesday, hill repeat workout Thursday, a good long run with 2.5K of climbing at a good pace and distance and lastly the weekly totals representative of a solid week of ultra training. The plan from here is to get one more solid week of training followed by a week and a half taper before "The Iraqi White River 50 Mile".

Every season of every year is dynamically different and as I mentioned last week, my last year has been all over the map. While I have a hard time comparing it to the last few seasons, I feel I have managed to get in shape, for this regiment and now it is time to test myself.

Mileage: 106
Feet Climbed: 9,669
Time Running: 13:21

THE IRAQI WHITE RIVER 50 MILE

The Iraqi White River 50 Mile will be Saturday the 27th of August!
I challenge all to support The Iraqi White River 50 by supporting the troops: Army and Air Force Enlisted or Iraqi Cadets at the Iraqi Air Force Academy here at Tikrit Iraq. Let me know if you, or your organization will help support.

"Supporting" can be all sorts of things:

-posting the race on your blog, facebook, twitter, website, etc...
-sending running product/stuff to give to enlisted Airmen, Army or Iraqi Air Force Cadets
-a skype call while I run the 20 mile treadmill portion of the race
-money donation to an organization supporting wounded warriors or veterans in need
-whatever you want

I'll make a post this week with more details on the race and opportunities to support.

LCD Soundsystem is one of my favorites. James Murphy kept me going strong 4am Saturday morning.

Weekly Summary 7/25 through 7/31

2011-07-31T05:28:00.000-07:00

M1s These guys can move... and will run you over

-A New Job and A New Focus for Training-

This week I started a new job where I work pretty much exclusively with Army Soldiers. My job is to make sure that the new entity moving on base has the supplies they need. More specifically, I'm working with communication, power and force protection equipment. The team of soldiers I am working with and for are awesome. I have learned more in one week about the Army than I have since I have been in the military. The work is tangible, it is working directly with people daily and we are getting things done. Needless to say, I'm enjoying the new job and it's challenges. I'll cover the changes with regards to running at the end of this post.

Monday-
AM 1:09; 9.1M, 138Av Hr;
Slept poorly last night due to napping too long Sunday and a little anxiety about working with the army this week.

Felt good on the run. The bottom of my foot was sore yesterday possibly from being bruised on some rocks during my long run Saturday. Great news was that it felt better today. Would hate to have to deal with an injury right now.

1:09 is the fastest I've done my morning 9 mile loop, I believe!

PM:30, 4M, 138Av Hr, 1,050Ft;
My afternoon treadmill run at 5.5% grade. My foot was bothering me again and I was feeling tired.

All day Tuesday and on and off Wednesday

Tuesday-
AM As has been the case recently, I woke up tired, unmotivated and flat not to mention the bottom of my left foot was bothering me. The icing on the cake was walking out the door to an unexpected sand storm. No Tempo, back to bed.

PM :53, 7.5M, 139Av Hr;
The foot wasn't hurting this afternoon... I think the morning off really helped. Ran a chill 2 mile warm up, then a 3.2 mile tempo at 5:40 pace and a 2 mile cool down. Needed a little break. Back at it tomorrow.

Wednesday-

AM :30, 4M, 1,050ft;
Sand storm continues along with the lack of get up and go I'm used to... Did my afternoon routine run on the T-mill.

PM 1:05; 9M, 475Ft;
Strangely I was sore today. My body has just been off. Luckily there was a strange movie about Oliver Twist on while I ran. 475ft of climbing at 1% grade at a decent clip, but still not myself.

Thursday-

AM 1:12, 9M, 1,425Ft, 153Av Hr;
Woke up this morning again not motivated, tired and contemplating "alternative" running ideas. I slowly got going, the warm up was rough and so was my general mobility routine. I felt totally off. I still headed into the Pit. Once moving and especially after a few intervals into it I woke up. My split at the halfway point was still pretty slow at 21 minutes.

As a reference point, 40, 39:30 and 41 are my times on the first 3 Pit sessions.

On the second half of the workout, I started to feel that extra gear I've been looking for over the last two weeks on this workout, go figure. Splits were all faster than 1:17 out 1:29 back and I finished with a total timeof 39:51!
This was great news. My second half average splits were faster than any other average splits for this workout. Average Heart Rate was 153 and 173 for my max.
Great end to a bad start!

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft;
Regular afternoon T-mill run.

Friday- Turning The Corner!!!

AM 1:27, 11.15M, 634Ft, 136Av Hr;
This morning was the first day since last Tuesday where I woke up and felt ready to run. It was a relief to get over whatever the heck was going on with my energy and body.
Ironically, this was the hottest morning in the 6 weeks I've been here with a reported overnight low of 97. I did 3 miles on the dirt, stopped at the gym and ran 2 miles at 6% grade for 634ft of climbing. I was tired from the Pit yesterday and my mouth was desert dry the last 3 miles, despite drinking a liter of water before and during my run.

Two tanks with a serious mount for a canon, one 1950s medical tank.

Saturday- Best Long Run Yet!

AM 2:50, 23.12M, 2,033Ft, 151Av Hr;
Didn't get to sleep until 9pm, but when I woke up a little after 3:30am, I was actually motivated, not to tired and ready to run... two days in a row now! Was running at 3:45am.
Ran to the stadium track and rounded off a mile warm-up in the dark at 9:02 pace, then hit the treadmill for 7 miles at 7:30 pace at 5.5% grade for a total of 2,033ft climbing.
This was the BEST I have felt on the treadmill since I have been here. The first 3 miles flew by no problem, which never happens. I was actually running on a treadmill looking out into the dark at 4am with no music, no TV and pretty much totally by myself at the gym. The last 4 miles went pretty well but not as mgaical as the first 3. I watched kids huck themselves off a skateboard ramp 9 stories tall at X Games... amazing.

Right at 5am I began the 15 mile section of my run on the dirt and sand looping around the base.
I felt great. Splits were good, my body felt good, my energy levels were good.
On the begining of my favorite section of the loop, I encountered tanks driving on a gravel road in front of me. This week the Army has been doing some live fire exercises with their tanks. I was nervous about crossing the road and furthermore being to close to where they exit the base and getting harassed... luckily it wasn't an issue, but it certainly was cool to see these awesome tanks.
Also pretty cool was finding a whole pile of recently shot aluminum (not brass) 30MM bullet shells while running through my favorite fields. I took a few for my desk, they would also be awesome "shot" glasses.

Last time I felt really good on my long run, two weeks ago, I had a killer tailwind for about 6 miles, today it was just slightly breezy, so the splits weren't quite as fast but I managed to keep pace right around 7 flat for a longer duration, 10 miles.

Here are my splits:
1) 9:02
2-8) 7:30 Treadmill 5.5% grade
9) 7:50
10) 7:36
11) 7:34
12) 7:20
13) 7:33
14) 7:16
15) 7:00
16) 7:07
17) 6:57
18) 6:54
19) 6:58
20) 7:05
21) 7:01
22) 7:07

Average pace: 7:21 with 2,033ft climbing.

While the whole run was very comfortable and came easy, the last 1.5 miles I started to get very hot and tired. I drank 30oz with 2 servigs of EFS Lemon Lime on the Treadmill, then 3.5 OZ of EFS Berry Liquid Shot and finished (on the last mile) my 50oz of water in my Nathan water pack, so a total of 80oz of water today in under 3hrs!

Next week I'll do 24 miles with 8 on the treadmill at 6% grade. Things are coming along.

Wild Iraqi Melons. I couldn't believe it... no, I didn't try one.

Sunday-

AM 1:26, 11.24M, 633Ft, 135Av Hr;
Easy recovery run. 3 miles on the dirt, 2 miles on the T-mill for 633ft climbing. Felt pretty good. Faster by about 3 minutes than the same run Friday with a slightly lower heart rate.

Weekly Summary & Status Check-

Due to the stomach bug, I lost nutrition, then energy which resulted in about a 7 or so day period of less than "on" training. It only resulted in not doing one harder workout, but I was flat and unmotivated the whole time. I turned the corner halfway through Thursday's workout and I'm running and feeling better than ever now.

Mileage: 92
Feet Climbed: 8,350
Total Time Running: 11:32

There are 3 kittens that live around my new office. Despite all sorts of warnings against stray animals, I enjoy their company.

After really thinking about it, I made a significant transition this week with my running... and it wasn't planned whatsoever!

WINTER-
This winter I was extraordinarily motivated and driven to train as hard as possible (often times TOO hard). I was motivated by the results of my first Ultra, TNF 50 in SF, to find out what my body could do running on trails and by the fact that winter running in Boulder is downright awesome largely in part due to Chataqua Park.
EARLY SPRING-
This spring motivation and focus was to race well at Nueces/USATF 50 Mile Championships. After meeting my goals at USATF, I was ready to test myself racing "for real"... the summer season, more competition and my first 100 mile.
LATE SPRING & EARLY SUMMER-
Then came word of my 6 month deployment to Iraq at the end of April. My focus then changed to getting time in the mountains running in CO and more importantly, spending quality time with Maggie and Felix. Then I was off to Spokane WA and NJ for military training. Out there, training was sporadic. I raced the Dirty German 50M and the Wachtung Trail Marahon within two weeks of each other without any real race specific lead up, I was out late with friends, doing military training all day and drinking. The races were fun, but my body was hurting before, during and after these races and training was as far from focused or planned.
RESET-
The last week in NJ, on my way to Iraq (in Arlington VA) and for the first week and a half in Iraq I only did a handful of runs and accomplished a mandatory re-set.
MID SUMMER-
After catching my breath and getting established in Iraq, I was on a mission to:
A)Begin, for the first time since April, a focused training block and more importantly:
B)Absolutely crush the idea that I couldn't train for Trail Ultras in Iraq
I did just that. In 5 weeks I got my mileage up to over 100 miles in a week, with two focused hard workouts/week and over 8K of climbing. Then came, rather I wanted it or not, the transition.
THE TRANSITION-
I had accomplished my goals and then my body mentally and physically was ready for a small breather and some new direction. I was tired, got a little stomach bug, my foot was bothering me and I didn't realize it at the time, but mentally, I needed some new focus and goals.
IRAQI WHITE RIVER 50 MILE-
I'm over my ailments and have a new focus: racing The Iraqi White River 50M either Sunday the 21st of August or Sunday the 27th of August. Over the last 5 weeks I've gotten my body pretty close to race shape and now it is time to start focusing on racing. I'll continue the training routine I have now for a week and a half to two and a half weeks depending on which date works best and then have a week and a half taper.

My pacer.

The race will mirror The White River 50 Mile in distance and total altitude climbed. I picked White River because it was a race I planned on doing this year. More details to come when I pick which Sunday to run the race.
Ready to Rock.

Iraqi Whiter River 50 Aid Station Volunteers

Weekly Summary 7/18 through 7/24

2011-07-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Everything you want: Full Fat, Great Taste and a Long Life

First 100 mile week in Iraq! This week had some great workouts and a few that didn't go as well as I wanted. Work was also a challenge, as I took on a new job for 4 days that was much more stressful.

Monday-
AM 1:12, 9.28M, 133Av Hr;

Felt pretty good this morning despite being up late. Was really, really bummed to see the US Women's Soccer team loose to Japan... the US was the better team. Ran a sub 9 min/mile on the first mile! Morning recovery run loop counter clockwise. HR was good at 133 for the average.

PM :29, 4M, 1,050ft, 139Av Hr;

Very rushed on this second run at 3pm. No stretching, no core/push ups or situps. Long night at work afterwards too... dinner after 8pm.

Tuesday- SPEED!
AM 1:38, 12.52M, 140 Av Hr;
Morning Speed Workout. Warmed up, did general mobility and was ready to roll on the desert dirt. Today I planned on doing 12 x 400 meter repeats vice the 10 I have done the last two weeks. Week one's average pace was 5:10, week two 4:59 and today I hoped to hit 5 pace for the average on 12.
Felt good and felt fast on the way out. On the way back it started to hurt and I began to question my choice in going for 12. The last 3 intervals were in the category of giving all I had.

Pace for the 12 x 400M:

1) 5:04
2) 5:00
3) 5:04
4) 5:02
5) 4:57
6) 5:00
7) 5:02
8) 4:50
9) 4:51
10) 4:48
11) 4:41
12) 4:46

Average pace 4:54

I was very happy to knock out 12 at a faster pace today. I hope next week it will come a bit easier for the last few. The cool down was a bit of a struggle home.

PM :30, 4M; 1,050ft, 137Av Hr;

Felt surprisingly OK on this 4 mile treadmill run. 3 sets of P-ups/S-ups.

One of two "bodies of water" on base I call Heart Lake (named after Heart Lake by Roger's Pass). A highlight of many runs. Yes, it used to be for sewage treatment.

Wednesday-
AM 1:16; 9.3M, 128 Av Hr;
Hottest morning yet. Overnight lows are now around 90. I was slow and tired from yesterday's great workout. A little concerned about a full recovery for the Pit tomorrow...
Good low Av Hr though.

PM :31, 4M, 143 Av Hr;
I was exhausted on this run. Had to get off the mill at 20 minutes for an emergency visit to the restroom. I had some stomach funk all day. At this point I knew The Pit wouldn't be visited at full strength, even the HR pointed to this conclusion.
Too tired for core or push up sit ups.

Thursday- THE PIT!
AM 1:15, 9.15M, 1,425ft, 147Av Hr;
As I mentioned already, yesterday was pretty rough. There was a stomach bug going around the office and I got a mild version of it (a few had it REAL bad). I hit the bathroom 6 times yesterday. By the time I did my second run yesterday I was really worn out from not absorbing my food.

Far exceeding the initial difficulty of getting out of bed, today I was really dragging. Once warming up, I was running very slow and felt weak. I considered taking the day, but I really didn't want to. I then considered trying the workout in the afternoon on the treadmill.... that would be horrible. So I concluded to just try and do the workout.

After general mobility and strides I still felt exhausted.

The first interval or two I was happy to see that I wasn't totally dead, but it was a bit slow. I pushed through the workout and was happy to complete all 15 intervals in just under 41 minutes. Last week I completed the 15 in 39 and change, first time just over 40 minutes, so not bad, feeling the way I did. I have another gear on this workout, as I mentioned last week and I will find it soon.

Next week, I'll be ready to hit this hill workout strong.

PM :30, 4M, 1,050Ft, 137Av Hr;
Easy treadmill 4 miler. Last ten minutes I was feeling real weak and tired, like I was bonking. At least my HR was back down a bit from yesterday's second run.

Friday-
AM 1:28, 11.2M, 525Ft, 133Av Hr;
Felt better today. Ran 2 miles, then hit the treadmill for 2 miles at 5% grade for 525ft of climbing in 15 minutes. Hit the dirt for another 7 miles. Feeling recovered from the funk of the last few days.

Saturday- Long Run

AM 2:46, 22.3M, 1,550ft, 146Av Hr;
Got a decent night of sleep and woke up at 3:45am, running at 4:00am. Warmed up a mile and then did 5.6 miles on the treadmill @ 7:35 min/mile pace at 5% grade for 1,478ft of climbing. I drank 25 oz of water with one serving of EFS lemon lime mixed in while on the treadmill. I prefer the EFS powdered drink mixed with a lot of water.

Headed out for the big loop at about 5AM. A little hotter today than previous weeks. Drank 40oz more of water, and 3oz of EFS liquid shot.
The loop went well, but I was pretty tired from the the big week and the extra mileage on the treadmill to start with. I wore my white hat to keep some of the sweat out of my eyes. No snakes today.

Here are my splits:

1) 9:24... dark, at 4AM shuffle!
2-7.5) 7:35
8)7:46
9) 7:39
10) 7:37
11) 7:22
12) 7:41 Crawled under an old fence and ran through some brush
13) 7:18
14) 7:12
15) 7:18
16) 7:19
17) 7:03
18) 7:03
19) 7:14
20) 7:17
21) 7:17
22) 7:15

Average pace 7:29, Average HR 146, 1,550ft total climbing

I was pretty happy with this long run after this challenging week. I am certainly more tired after the run than I was the last two weeks. HR was a touch higher and average pace a bit slower than I would like to see, but pretty good considering the climb, dark, and terrain (dirt/sand/gravel/brush) I ran on.

Sunday-
AM 1:26, 11.25M, 550Ft, 134Av Hr;

Got out of bed 30 minutes late today, but luckily it was breezy and dust clouds blocked the direct sun from becoming scorching hot.
Went from a 9:09 first mile to the treadmill for 2.1 miles of climbing at 5% grade at 7:30 pace, back to running on the dirt at 7:50 pace, :40, :30, :20, :10, :07 for the last mile.

CHUs... Containerized Housing Unit

Weekly Summary-

Miles: 101
Feet Climbed: 8,250
Time Running: 13:02

It was a diverse, but great week. The 12 x 400M repeats on the dirt with an average pace of 4:54 two days after a solid long run and solid week, was very encouraging. Getting a one day stomach bug the next day made for an uphill battle for pretty much the rest of the week. I made the 100 mile mark, but didn't have to add any miles outside of my original plan for the week. I'll stick with this week's framework for next week without any increases in climbing, mileage or repeats, but hopefully see average heart rates stay the same or lower, have a better day at The Pit and add a mile to my long run.

Felix Schlarb with his Mom and Grandparents

Days and weeks are clicking by. I'm amazed at my son Felix's growth and development... he is crawling all over the place now! My wife continues to get hotter, I swear and my friend's adventures in the mountains more wonderful sounding.
Congratulations to two of my better friends in the world having their first kids: Jeremy and Tiffany Wolf with baby Autumn and Rob and Kelly having baby Riley. Also cograts to Chris and Karl for completing the Trans Alp mountain bike race.

Lastly, looking to put a 50 mile race on the calendar for the weekend of the 20th or 27th of August out here in Iraq. All are welcome.

Weekly Summary 7/11 through 7/17

2011-07-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

MRAPs. Early AM is the only time I can get a pic without Army guys hassling me...

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. These bad boys are huge and make the old school Hummers look silly. That apparatus in the front is to defeat IDEs before the vehicle comes through. There are quite a few things the MRAPs do to prevent IDEs from killing our troops.

Monday-
AM 1:12, 9.17M;
Planned on running a few miles on the treadmill in adition to 7 on the dirt this morning, but both gyms had lines for the treadmills. I will have to run directly to the gym (at 5) to get a couple miles climbing in. I'll do some climbing on my second run today on the treadmil.
Nearly ran under 9 minutes for the first mile. I have promised myself to continue to run by feel, but still it bothers me to run that first mile so slow on the flat sea level dirt. My recovery runs are speeding up though overal.

PM :30, 4M, 1,090ft;
Easy run on the T-mill at 5% grade, 1090ft of climbing.

Felt really good this afternoon, but was tired and in bed at 8:30.

What I think I saw.... Scan Eagle UAV

Getting Snatched-Up... Still don't understand how this works!

Tuesday-
AM 1:24, 11.3M;
After a relatively good night of sleep, I felt pretty good warming up this morning.
On my warm-up I pass the flighline where I frequently see aircraft flying to include UAVs (unmanned air vehicles), this morning I saw a very unique UAV that I have never seen before. This UAV had no propeller (like a Preadator) and no landing gear. It's fuselage was similar to a Preadator with the bulbous front, but the wings were swept back and had winglets. The UAV approached the runway and made no noise what so ever. I was confused by how it was powered and also how it would land with no landing gear. I assumed it was either going to have the landing gear pop out late or just do a fly by. I looked away for just a moment and when I looked back, the UAV was dangling from some sort of line attached to a very tall crooked crane like a fish out of water. The crane proceeded to lower the UAV to the ground. This whole occurance stopped me in my tracks. I have no idea how the UAV was "caught" by this "hook" or rope or magnet. Crazy. The UAV, from my quick estimations, had to be at least 15' long by 15' wide, but it could have been smaller or bigger as it is hard to tell how large something is that is flying by you, but regardless, I can't understand how this landing scheme works out.

Anyways, I proceeded to warm up and do general mobility with three strides at the end. Just like my last speed workout 2 weeks ago, I did 400 meter repeats with 600 meter recovery jogs 10 times based off my Garmin's interval workout feature.
My goal today was to run a 5:05 to 5:07 average. Last time I had a 5:10 average.

Splits:
5:17
5:06
5:06
5:00
5:08
4:50
4:56
4:57
4:52
4:40

Average pace: 4:59

A little windy on the way out (as seen by the splits), at my back on the return.

Very happy with this workout on the mixed terrain. Next speed workout, I'll do 12 x 400 meters.

Cooled down 2.5 miles.

PM :29, 4M, 1,090ft;
A very rushed 4 mile easy run on the treadmill at 5% grade, 1,090ft of climbing.

Wednesday-
AM 1:15, 9.51M;
I didn't sleep to well as it was really hot in my room... as in sweating while laying in bed. Not sure what is up with my AC. Felt OK on the run, certainly flat from yesterdays two runs. Still working on the last part of my morning recovery run loop... I keep getting turned around.

PM :26, 3.5M, 924ft;
A very sweaty (gym was crowded and I had to run in the hotter room of the two rooms) 3.5 miles at 5% grade, 924 total feet climbed.

Thursday-
AM 1:14, 9M; 1,425ft;
It has been a stressful last few day for me combined with a great week of training thus far. My sleep was relatively good and I was excited to hit the pit, but I certainly was feeling grogy and I wasn't exactly feeling excited to get the workout started.

Did general mobility after warming up to the pit along with 3 strides. I stuck with the same format for the workout: start on top of the 30' steep hill, run down, up the 12ish foot hill, then the 50ish foot road out of the pit. I ran "harder" down on even intervals, doing 15 in total and finished the interval on top of the 30' steep hill.

My goal today was to run 15 intervals faster (40:05) than last time.

Splits "out" ranged between 1:11-1:18, running "back" splits were between 1:18- 1:33. 1,425 ft total climbing.

I made my goal with a total time for 15 intervals coming in at 39:42. On the longer up hill section of each interval I felt like a didn't have a gear I normally would have. The lack of the next gear at today's workout I blame partially on a big week and stress, but also that I'm only on week 3 of solid training. Hope to see that gear soon.

PM :29, 4M, 1,056ft;
Did this afternoon run at 12:30... 6hrs after my hill workout due to work schedule and a Shakra Khan (spelling?) concert in the gym that will close the treadmills at 3pm.

I felt surprisingly ok for only a 6hr recovery, this weeks training and doing a hard hill workout this morning. SOAKED head to toe from this run.

5% grade, 1056 ft of climbing.

Friday-
AM 1:20, 10.24M, 580ft;
This morning I did a 2 mile run over to the gym where I did a 2 mile run on the treadmill at 7:24 pace and at a 5.5% grade to get a little extra climbing in on this recovery run. I'll make this my regular routine for Fridays.
Did another 6 miles around Speicher for a total of 10.24. It was a bit windy out today. The legs were noticeably sore from the Pit yesterday, but my energy levels were pretty good.

Saturday-
AM 2:28, 21.47M, 1450ft, 146 AV HR;

Last night my neighbor was in his room and listening to music as I was trying to go to bed. 8pm is really not too late to be listening to music and in the note I left him, I told him I went to bed at 9pm. I turned on my clock radio to static, put in ear plugs and tried to fall asleep, I was close but couldn't pull it off. At 9pm, my neighbor courteously turned off the music and shorty there after, I fell asleep. 3:48am came quick and as usual, I hit the snooze once. I was in the dark and running with my Nathan water pack, reflective belt, sunglasses, 50oz of water, ID, 3.5oz of 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot and toilet paper at 4:05am.

The plan was to meander in the dark over to the gym, if it was open, and run 4 or so miles at 5.5% grade on the treadmill then make my perimeter loop run back to the start. Luckily the gym is indeed open 24hrs a day and after a mile warm-up, I did 4.56 miles at 7:42 pace at 5.5% grade with 1,355ft of climbing on the treadmill.

I then began my journey around the base at about 10 minutes to 5am. The legs were feeling flat, energy ok, but certainly not feeling peppy. As I got a few miles the energy levels were ok, but my legs felt "not there" as they did last Saturday.

I was a bit nervous about my estimations for this long run, the total time it would take and not being late for my ride to breakfast and work. The pace was pretty good, but it wasn't feeling as "easy" as last week.

I came to the transition point where I go from buildings, roads and fences to the open desert... my favorite. I was really looking forward to this. From here I had a cross wind for a few miles on the open plains then a 90 degree, turn and then the wind was at my back for about 5 miles where I effortlessly ran just under 7 min mile pace. On the final turn I was feeling great and decided to try and keep pace under 7min miles and inadvertently ran a 6:44. The last two miles I kept if more relaxed but the pace still was just under 7 pace. So the last 7 miles were sub 7... I received my heart rate monitor in the mail (thank you Maggie!) and wore it for the first time today. Average heart rate was 146, max 165, which is pretty good considering a little climbing, a big week, 6.5hrs of sleep and legs that felt heavy and a bit sore.

Splits:
1) 9:04
2-5) 7:40avg, 1,355ft climbing on treadmill
6) 7:40
7:) 7:40
8) 7:33
9) 7:20
10) 7:45
11) 7:11
12) 7:10
13) 7:12
14) 7:14
15) 6:57
16) 6:58
17) 6:54
18) 6:54
19) 6:59
20) 6:44
21) 6:59
22) 6:55 (.79M)

Average pace: 7:22
Climbing: 1,355 + 95 = 1,450ft
Avg HR: 146BPM

Sunday-
AM 1:25, 10.65M, 560ft, 127 AV HR;
After a good night of sleep, crazy dreams and forgetting to turn my alarm on, I was running through the desert a bit late at 5:40am.

The body was slow and tired, with a 9:23 first mile. Ran over to the gym after 7 miles for a couple miles of treadmill climbing: 2 miles at 7:30 pace, 5% grade, 560ft of climbing then back to my room. 127 average HR, 140 max... pretty happy to have my average under 130BPM. Looking forward to see where my heart rate is for all my runs next week.

What I call the "Pink Marshmallow Plant"

SUMMARY:

The end of week 3. Things are going well running, better than I would have expected actually. I'm running more miles, ran sub 5 min/mile pace for my speed workout on the dirt, reduced my total time for my 15 hill repeats, ran further, faster, with more climbing on the long run and did more climbing on my afternoon runs. Pretty happy.
I've been doing some goals setting with the help of my massage therapist, Marcus Allen, who placed in the top ten at a marathon in North Carolina last weekend. I plan on doing an ultra in mid to late August... in Iraq.
The family is doing well. My father in law and mother in law, Patrick and Ginny, are in Boulder visiting Felix and Maggie. The family is out hiking in the mountains, staying up in Vail and Aspen and having a great time.

Total Miles: 96.8
Total Feet Climbing: 8,175
Total Time Running: 12:22

Weekly Summary 7/4 through 7/10

2011-07-10T02:56:00.000-07:00

Diamond in the rough. One of two flowering plants I've found in Iraq.

Second focused week of training here in Tikrit Iraq:

4th Of July 10K Stars

Monday-
AM 1:14, 10.5M; Did a 10K tempo like run this morning. I put on a 5K and 10K for our office 4th of July party. We had an awesome mix of guys run the 10K, (from left to right) Marcus, an English teacher at the Iraqi College, Simon, an interpreter, Miller, Pacini and Cash, all advisors like myself and Josh, another english teacher. Times ranged from 46 to an 1:02 for the crew.
I set the course the night before, both races were out and back (only one lady, Steele, ran the 5k). I warmed up a mile and a half to the start where I directed the runners on the courses. After warming up I stood around for about 10-15 minutes and didn't finish my warm up routine, which resulted in a less than brisk pace for the first few miles.

My goal on this first tempo workout was to just run at least sub 6:20/mile pace, or no slower than 38 minutes... pretty conservative, but at this point, I'm shooting for a progressive build to my training.

I ran comfortably the first mile or two into a 10-15mph headwind. I felt like I was running faster than 6:17 pace, but I was comfortable. Second mile felt comfortable and then starting into the third mile I decided to push the pace to get under 6 pace. On the way back, I stayed under control, but pushed myself to maybe 75% effort. Each mile was steadily faster with the last mile around 5:30 something pace and the last .2 I ran in 5:00-5:05 pace.

Overall a great tempo. The run wasn't to taxing and an overall productive session and foundation to build from. I'll alternate this temop workout every other week.

Splits:
1) 6:17
2) 6:11
3) 5:56
4) 5:49
5) 5:37
6) 5:32
.2) 5:07

PM :23, 3.1M, 818ft climbing; Easy run on the treadmill at 5% grade.

Iraqi Sand Storm this week, yeah, I drive and take pictures.

Tuesday-
PM 1:35, 13M, 2,000ft climbing;
Last night I had a little bit of a sore throat and woke up with a sore throat as well. I also felt a little more groggy and even had a little flem. I got dressed, went outside and found that there was a mild dust storm with visibility down to maybe 600 meters. Apparently it is not healthy to run in a dust storm while in Iraq (a lot of toxins in the air from pollution...ALL of the electricity is from diesel generators outside the buildings), so I decided to hit the gym and do the treadmill. On the way there, I decided it would be best to just go back to bed for a nap instead.
All morning and early afternoon I felt tired and out of it. I took two 20+ minute naps and by 4pm was feeling better. I headed to the gym and decided to give the treadmil a go.
I wanted to get in a little climbing today since tomorrow will be an easy day. I warmed up for 3 miles at 7:30 pace at a 1% grade then ramped it up to 5% grade for 3 miles, followed by 2 miles at 7:00 pace at 1% grade, 3 miles at 7:18 pace at 6% grade and then 2 miles at 6:58 pace at 1% grade.

Overall I ended up climbing 2,000ft with an average pace of 7:18... pretty happy with the medium hard workout on the treadmill.

Wednesday-
AM 1:20, 9.85M; The legs were beat up this morning. 9:40 first mile, 8:30 second and then down to 7:30 by the end of the run. Took a wrong turn and had to run an extra .85 miles, which felt like a really big deal. Tired from two harder days in a row (13+ miles each run too). Need a true recovery day tomorrow.

PM :26, 2.6M, 680ft;
Short easy run on the treadmill, 680ft climbing at 5% grade.

The "PIT"

Thursday-
AM 1:18, 9.4m, 1365ft; Did the "Pit" workout for the first time today! Last week, after some investigating, running in The Pit, I probably won't have "deadly force" administered or get ran over by huge trucks.... and get a good hill workout in. So to The Pit I went.

With the help of Cashwell, I spent a half hour at the pit with a huge spool or rope trying to estimate the total climbing distance of running 3 separate pitches of dirt and road.

The Start and Finish of each hill interval....on top of this 30ish foot hill.

Warmed up and did some general mobility. The interval starts on top of a 30 foot or so dirt island in the middle of a large gravel pit. I run down the steep 45 degree slope across 20 feet of flat, up a 15 foot loose dirt embankment (where my shoes fill with dirt).

Part 2, 12ft+ loose dirt scramble

From here I begin the 150 meter 40 foot climb to the top of The Pit.

Out of The Pit road

From the top I jogged back down and then up the 30 foot island (climbing the island is a decent effort) to start the next interval. After finishing an even numbered interval, I pushed the recovery run to train the down hill running quad muscles.

I did 15 of these repeats in 40 minutes. Pretty solid workout that is fairly entertaining, especially for the Iraqi desert. Intervals ranged from 1:13 out, on the last one, to 1:20. For the return run I cocked between 1:18 to 1:34.

After about 10 intervals the short and steep loose dirt climb section began to become a little more "runable" with a bit of a path. Cool workout I look forward to doing next week.

PM :22, 3M, 718ft; Easy afternoon treadmill 3 miler at 4.5% grade, 713 ft climbing.

Friday-
AM 1:15, 9.12M; I'm finding my first mile is almost always 9:30ish in the morning here. Not sure if this is just from doing a lot of good running, not being awake, not quite adjusted to the consistent training regiment, or whatever. The second mile is usually right at 8:30 and then speeds up to eventually 7:20-40 pace on the last few miles.

My legs were sore and heavy the last half of the run from yesterdays run in the pit. 10-12 mile per hour wind from the north, north west slows me down on the way out.

Overall felt fine considering another big week.

Saturday-
AM 2:38, 20.4M, 100ft; Woke up at 3:50am, snoozed once and then was running at 4:08am. Unfortunately it was slightly hotter this morning than most mornings. Last night was really hot with temps over 115 and the sun was pretty much covered due to high winds kicking up sand... last night was the windiest sand/dust storm since I have been here (3 weeks).

It was dark for the the first 30 minutes, but I could see well enough with the lights around buildings and things. I decided to run the opposite direction as last week on the 18ish mile loop around COB Speicher. Running the opposite direction, I go through the more built up part of the loop first, leaving my favorite open desert running for the second half.

Iraqi Sunrise

I felt much better this morning than I have all this week. After the obligatory 9+ minute first mile, my splits got faster while keeping true to the sustained easy aerobic effort (I'm waiting for my heart rate monitor in the mail that I left at home).

Mile 2-4 = 8 something pace
Mile 5-7 = 7:40ish
Mile 8-20 = 7:29-7:08 pace

Anti-Aircraft artillery shell?

On my voyage across the desert plains, I found a huge anti-aircraft artillery shell laying in the sand. The shell's diameter was bigger than a small bottle of Advil, but a bit smaller than a bottle of pop and about 8" long. Also a bit exciting, while adding a few extra miles on at the end of the loop, at the last moment I spotted a small desert camouflaged snake... right as I stepped over it. Pretty sure the snake was some sort of viper. I stopped and tried to find it for a picture, but he had snuck away into the desert immediately.

Saturday-
AM 1:20; 10.05; Last night a new neighbor moved into my trailer complex that I share a wall with. This new neighbor enjoys listening to music. I try to get to bed at 9 so I can get close to 8hrs of sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep with the music. The walls are so thin and shoddy that I could actually see the light coming through a vertical crack in the paneling. I'm not a confrontational guy, so I tried to sleep with the ear plugs, but I could still hear the music loud a clear. I checked my email, moved my bed away from the wall on the floor, etc... At a little after 10:00pm I banged on the wall, no change, again and again and finally the music was turned down.

So sleep wasn't great last night. I think I'll have to leave a note on my neighbors door strongly recommending headphones after 9.

Anyways, the run was slow both from the 20.4 mile long run Saturday, but also a lack of sleep. By mile 4 I was feeling good and added an extra mile to get 10 vice the standard 9 I have been doing.

The best wife and son in the world on top of Green Mountain

Weekly Summary:
A great week of running for me. I ran more miles, more climbing, faster paces and felt better than I did overall compared to last week. Really missing Maggie and Felix. Maggie and Felix went and climbed Green Mountain on our anniversary this week, it was Felix's first ascent up Green. Nothing could make me happier than having my family enjoy an afternoon on top of such a special mountain, this meant a lot too me. I have the best wife and son.

Total Miles: 91
Total Feet Climbed: 5,681

Weekly Summary for 6/27 Though 7/3

2011-07-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

My Favorite "Trail" to Train on. Not exactly Green Mountain.

It felt great to nail my first training week in Iraq. My running world has transformed into a totaly different situation.In all honestly, I'm more focused now than ever on running.

My daily routine is to get up at 4:50AM, run, skype with Maggie and Felix for 20 minutes, eat, work for 12hrs with an hour and a half gym break where I run a second run and/or do strength work, eat dinner, skype Maggie and Felix for a hlaf hour and then go to bed (9:00PM). This is the set routine with Friday ending work after 6hrs (half day) and Sunday getting the morning off (half day).

My ride into Tikrit Iraq from Qatar. I was the only passenger on the flight.

Monday-
AM 1:13, 9M; Easy recovery run after an 18 mile long run Sunday. I was VERY slow from the start running nearly a 10 minute first mile. Yesterday's long run took it's toll. I got started too late on the long run yesterday (6:00AM), only drank 20oz of water in the 100+ degree weather and I didn't strech afterwards either. Didn't feel like I was "running" until around mile 4. By mile 6, I felt OK. I'm definetly at the begining of a training cycle too.
Saw 3 fox like coyotes and a jack rabit on my run today, pretty cool.
Did 3 sets of push-ups, sit-ups with general mobility drills and 3 strides.

The Stadium. Did 40 reps up the stadium.

Parade Stadium. 30 reps here with a dry-heave stop due to the excessive pigeon poop

Tueday-
AM 1:13, 8M, 1507ft; Hill Intervals. I did 40 reps up "stadium" stairs then jogged (3-4 minutes) over to the second "parade stadium" and did 30 reps. Cooled down 2 miles. I ran hard up the stairs and medium hard down (to build those muscles as well).
Stadium stairs are 19.6ft up and Parade stairs are 24.1ft up, therefore teh 1507ft of climbing today.
Total time of intervals was 33 minutes. Was considering doing a few more on the Stadium stairs on the way back, but decided to build into my training and not rush it. I have plenty of time, I don't want to rush it for all sorts of good reasons.
On the 17th interval at the Parade stairs the 2" thick pigeon poop covering the last 4 or 5 stairs got to me, I dry heaved and had to take a 3 minute break, before returning to finish the last 13 repeats.
PM :26, 3.5M, 740ft; Easy run on treadmill. With the temperature reaching over 100 everyday, yes, everyday, until September at least, my afternoon run will pretty much always be on a treadmill. I'll take the opportunity to do some steady climbing on my afternoon runs via the treadmill. Felt good on this run at a 4% grade my average heart rate was around 138.

Wednesday-
AM 1:15; 9.13M; Started the run at 5:10am. My legs were a bit stiff/slow from the stair repeats yesterday. My overall energy levels were high, but legs were not spry.

PM 23:11, 3.1M, 747ft; Easy run on treadmill. 7:30 pace at 4.5% grade so 747Ft climbing. Did 3 sets of push-ups and sit-ups.

Thursday-
AM 1:28, 11.01M; GREAT interval workout. I was pretty flat on the warm up, with my calves sore from the stair workout on Tuesday and maybe from the 4-4.5% grade 3 mile second runs, but after some general mobility and 3 strides I loosened up.

I ran my 400m repeats (with 600M jog recovery) out on the flat dirt... as seen in the first picture on this post. The dirt fields/desert prarie has good footing most of the time with some mavunvering for a couple dips, some weeds, etc... every once in a while.

I used my Garming GPS watch to do the 400/600 interval. At first I was disapointed I couldn't see the timer, just the distance to go with a beep countdown, but in hindsight this is awesome: RUNNING BY FEEL AND EFFORT ONLY! On a track or pavement I would have been at least 2-3 seconds faster/400.

Here were my splits (in mile pace), average was 77.5/5:10 pace. My goal was just to run under 80, on this first week back, so I was happy to exceed my goal and expectations.

1) 5:16
2) 5:16
3) 5:17
4) 5:23 ???
5) 5:17
6) 5:07
7) 5:01
8) 5:00
9) 4:57
10) 5:09 (obstacles)

PM 23:27, 3.1M, 743Ft; Easy run. A little flat from the morning workout. Ran at 4.5% grade for 743ft of climbing. Did 3 sets of push-ups and sit-ups and MSU core circuit.

Friday-
AM 1:15, 9.05M; It was a bit cooler (82?) and windy on this run. Legs sore and heavy, ran a bit slower today to ensure recovery for tomorrow's long run.

The unbelievabely powerfull Iraqi morning sun

Saturday-
AM 2:30, 19.25M; Awesome long run loop! Started running today at 4:18AM. Ran with my nathan water backpack, 3OZ of EFS 1st endurance liquid shot, 50oz of water, sunglasses and camera. Great loop around COB Speicher Iraq. This is the longest loop available, bascially I followed the permitter as closely as "I'm allowed". 1st 3 or 4 miles were slow running into the wind and waking up, then found my grove around 7:30 pace. I was glowing with satisfaction at work after this one. 3 sets of push-ups, sit-ups and MSU core circuit.

Yeah, I trespass from time to time, but no here... deadly

Sunday-
AM 1:15, 9M; Slow recovery run after yesterday's long run.

A great first full week of running and training in Iraq!! It felt so good to be back to a routine and focused in on my running. Iraq posses some serious challenges, but again, I have a lot less distractions and really not much to do but run, work, skype and email. I really miss my friends and the mountains and in just over two weeks, I've gained a new level of appreciation for both. Most of all I miss my wife Maggie and son Felix.
I've never been in a situation like this for such an extended period of time. I expect to come out of this deployment with some new found discipline, determincation and most importantly, a phenomenally strong appreciation for all the things I love about the USA. I'm pretty passionate about using the next 5.5 months to explore new levels of discipline and determination. Maybe it is a bit sick, but I get butterflies in my stomach and my hair stands up on the back of my neck when I think about this battle. Next week, I'll get into a bit more of what the heck I'm doing, with regards to work, here at COB Speicher, Iraq as well.

Weekly Totals:

84.15 Miles
3,739 feet of hard earned climbing

The Lowes & Running In Arlington Virginia

2011-06-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

Arilington Trail Running

Craig establishing an airway for me at my training

After finishing my training in New Jersey I had the opportunity to spend about 3 days with my best man Matt Lowe and his wife Ann Lowe at there beautiful house in Arlington Virginia (a couple miles from DC).

Ann enjoying some late night pizza

Matt being cool

I rolled into Arlington Saturday evening just in time to catch a nice run from Matt's house. We ran on some sweet single track along a few small tributaries to the Patomac river and then next to a branch of the Patomac looping back to Matt's house.

Minutes from Matt's house

Matt on his trail

Back at the Lowe pad, we quickly showered and headed just two blocks down from the house to the American Legion where we bartered down the admision to enjoy The Montana State Testy Fest. Arlington VA is the last place you would expect to see Montana cowboys dancing, boozing and eating bull balls, but it was perfectly welcome for three Montana State University Alumni. All you can drink and all the balls you can eat for one set price. Perfect.

Matt, Ann and I at the Montana Testy Fest

After a few half rum half coke beverages, food and some country dancing we were ready for a fine evening.

Matt and Ann swing dancing... somewhere

Sunday Matt and Ann gave me a further tour of the local trails and Monday I went for a longer 2hr voyage up the Patomac trail system. Overall I was really impressed by the quality trails, nice forest and the beautiful Patomac. These would be my last runs in the US of A.

Fun

You wouldn't think the Pentagon was 6 or 7 miles away

The Patomac... I had to break the rules and go for a swim

There were a lot of cool tributaries that came tumbling down the bluffs into the Patomac

Theodore Roosevelt Island is a must see for nature conservationalists, thanks Matt

Thank you Lowes. Thank you Virginia.

Watchtung Trail Marathon

2011-06-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the 5th of June, I traveled to the northern New Jersey to run the Watchtung Trail Marathon.

Watchtung was only 13 days after The Dirty German 50 Mile, but I really wanted to get in another trail long run/race before I left the east coast.
The Watchtung Trail Marathon was/is a small race, no doubt about it.  A small race has it's advantages and disadvantages and this was my first really small longer trail race.

The race had two 10.5-8 mile loops with a small half loop to finish the course at 26.31 miles. One reason I was excited to run this course is that it was almost exclusively on trail and it had some climbing to the tune of appx. 2,000 ft.

The marathon race start time was 9:00am with a 10k and 10m race at 9:15 and 10:00 I believe. Again, the race was small and was pretty much organized and ran by the race director, his wife and young daughter (the daughter did the count down to the start!).

Just before the race I found a "NJ trail" chat/blog site that mentioned I was racing and discussed rather I could break 3hrs on the course. I posted and defaulted to the fact that Iwould be running on flat legs and that sub 3hrs on trails is a pretty big feat. At the gun I was not on pace to break 3hrs but I was having fun and running.

The first few miles went well with classic east coast foliage to enjoy. The trails at Wachtung are diverse. There were wide rocky trails, single track that was smooth, climbing and meandering.  The trail went across creeks along creeks and around ponds... beautiful.

Much of the loop trail was marked with both white flower arrows on the ground, spray painted orange arrows on the ground, flour on tree trunks and east coast style paint stripes on trees. I did miss a turn early on as I was not familiar with how two paint stripes on a tree indicates either a left or right turn (the lower stripe gives direction apparently). My missed turn only cost a minute or so, no big deal.  I was up front in the lead from the get-go with one guy about 10 seconds back for the first maybe 5-6 miles until he got lost and popped up near the end of the first loop going the wrong direction.

On the last three or so miles someone, or a group of knuckle-heads, decided to smudge out the directional arrows on the course. Luckily I could still see the smudged arrow turns and many times the painted stripes kept me on track too, but it was challenging.

The weather was pretty average for NJ, mid 60s to 70s through the race with some cloud cover on and off and of course it was humid. I was carying my standard Amphipod 20oz hand waterbottle and 5oz 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot (used two for this race). I was told an "un-manned" water aid station would be out on the course along with the obvious aid station at the start and finish area where the race looped through each time. There was no water to be had on the first loop. I've done enough long runs with minimal water, so I wasn't freaked out, but yes, a bit concerned and thirsty.

I came through the 10.6ish loop in 1:20 (with missed turn), filled my water and told the RD about the arrow situation, or lack of. The RD responded with the fact that he had marked the course the night before... I felt bad for him that some punks sabotaged his makings.

I felt OK on the first loop, sort of like I would feel during a long run at the end of a big training week or similar to the middle of a 50 mile race, going, but not strong or fast.  The footing and climbing was more a factor here than at the Dirty German 50M, but I managed about the same pace.

-The goal for the second lap was to run faster than the first.-
I went into the second lap and found myself slowing a bit and feeling crapy. This low point luckily was followed by a good strech of faster running where I made up some ground and was feeling really strong even running a couple miles at sub 7 minute pace.   Afew miles before the end of the second loop I saw about 15 one gallon water jugs by the trail. At this point in the loop, I had planned on just doing 20oz of water a lap, so I kept going.  I'm blown away out how well my EFS keeps me going and cramp free, it has yet to fail me.

I managed a 1:19 second lap, got a short brief on where to go for the last lap by the RD and began the last 4.5 miles. I ran a bit faster this last loop to (for my watch running time) sneak in 3:19 for a a sub 3:20 trail marathon race with 2k of climbing.

The super small race scene has it's challenges: lack of water/aid stations, course markings being removed, no support staff to help at confusing sections or road crossings and of course running totally solo and winning by nearly 40 minutes in a marathon, but on the flip side I also enjoyed some ascpects of this small race. My "prize" was a beer from the cooler. Everyone was down to earth and fully interesed in hanging out and talking with each other regardless of ability level.  The RD, his wife and friends were totally cool and I enjoyed meeting them and talking about the local running.

I have friends that felt I was stupid to pay $50 to run on trails by myself, especially when I wasn't "race ready".  For me it was totally worth it and I'll enjoy thinking about running through the Wachtung reservation over the next 6 months.

My hat is off to those who run the Wachtung Winter Marathon... with snow and east coast cold, this course must certainly be brutal!

The Dirty German 50M Race Report

2011-05-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, the 20th of May, I stumbled accross "The Dirty German Endurance Fest" while looking for potential trail ultras to run while in NJ.

My month long training at McGuire AFB, NJ involves training six days a week for 10hrs a day, so my opportunities are limited to basically 3 Sundays. I had looked for a race a couple of times before, but somehow missed The Dirty German.

Unfotunately I had already done a pretty focused 40 minute tempo Thursday along with a few nights out late, so I wasn't physically in the best postition to race. Mentally, I was frankly a little nervous about just randomly jumping into a 50 mile race as well. Considering the fact that I won't be on the trails for the next 6 months, I decided to go for it though.

The race is located within the city limits of Philadelphia, but had suprisingly nice trails. The race would consist of one smaller loop followed by three 25K loops.

Yes... there was some pretty sweet single track.

I hijacked the 15 passenger van (felt rediculolus diriving the van solo) from my training flight early Sunday morning, drove to Philly and toed the line.

This was the inagural Dirty German Fest, which included a 25K, 50K and 50 Mile. All three races started together with the 50 Mile runners going off in a different direction to run a supposed 3.5 mile mini loop before jumping on the 25K figure 8 style loop for 3 laps.

-CHAOS START-

The lead pack took off and quickly jumped onto a bike path where we followed a guy on a mountain bike. After a mile or so, the lead bike stopped, as he believed he passed the turn possibly. The pack did a quick U-turn and was headed back. After a minute or two we did another U-turn and then another. People were upset and confused, the biker was on his cell and for the first time in my running life, a good chunk of the racers stood around for a few mintues wondering what was next. We then took off back the original direction until we took a flag marked right turn onto a single track trail.
Yeah, people were upset, but I honestly thought it humorous and a bit funny, but maybe that was partialy due to my last minute decision to run this race and that I wasn't overly concerned with pace or time for the race.

-Socializing-

At this point I was not leading the race, but instead about 20 seconds back behind 3 guys. I wasn't overly focused (at the begining), but rather very relaxed, stress free and actually talkative. At Nueces, North Face and even at the Cheyenee Mountain 50K I never had a conversation with anyone and didn't understand those who did. In college, road races, marathons, I've always felt talking is a total waste of energy and furthermore, I felt it still wastes energy when running an ultra.  At the Dirty German 50M, I was a social butterfly. If I was really focused on winning, running a particular time or setting a course record at a big name race, I'm not sure I would be chatting with other runners, but I sure enjoyed talking at this race.  The first hour flew by and I enjoyed talking to other people.

I met Joe Kulak, who knows some of the Boulder crew (Dave Mackey... Joe says hi!) and has run some awesome races over the years. I met a guy from the Inovate team, Ryan Jones, who got second and a recent Boise State college grad who just finished his track season.

From the gun we were running decent pace, sub 8 minute miles I'd guess, but we lost maybe 4-5 minutes on the back and forth and I stopped my watch for approximately 2 minutes while everyone stood around.  The clock read 37 minutes at the end of the 3.5 mile loop (watch said 35), so I'm pretty sure the loop was around a mile off.

Yes, it rained a lot before the race and the creek was much bigger than this picture!

-Sloppy-

Being from Boulder, I haven't run in the mud much at all and there was some pretty serious mud as it rained a lot the week before. My legs were covered in mud, there were numerous spots where it was very slick, a few spots where it was over ankle deep and a lot of places where you had to run around standing water and mud as well.

At around an hour I caught up with a group of 3 guys leading the race. The Inov8 guy, the Boise State guy and another taller runner who I overheard say he wanted to break 7 hours. We ran together for maybe 30 minutes until the Boise State guy and I started to pull away a bit. I felt good, the weather was overcast, cool, but a bitty muggy, so overall, things were going well and I was having fun.

-Course-
The main 25K loop was sort of a figure 8 up and back down the Pennypack Creek, which was bigger than most Colorado rivers. Maybe 11 or 12 of the 15.5 mile loop was trail that varied from bike path width to extremly narrow and windy single track that was borderline overgrown with foliage. The remaining 3.5 or 4 miles was on bike path. There were maybe 3 or four creek crossings if I remember correctly that required getting into the water, which was a blast.

-Fear-
Around 2hrs the Boise State guy and I were pushing the pace pretty good and the social conversation began to taper off. This was the first time I went into a less than confident slump and subsequently started to doubt my ability to run well. Along with the fact that I have been spotty with training, pretty stressed, traveling from Boulder, to Spokane, to NJ, to Boulder and back to NJ, I started to have flash backs of the Cheyenne Mtn 50K where I duked it out with a younger ultra rookie, fell apart at the end of the race and got second. I managed to keep my chin up and felt pretty confident that lightning wouldn't strike twice in the same month, so to speak.

Coming around to the end of the first 25K loop I started to sense and see that my competition was having a little bit of a rough time with the mud, hills, etc... and the pace. At the end of the 25K loop and aid station there I grabbed my second EFS liquid shot and filled my water bottle. The Boise State guy stopped as well but I left before him. My 25K split was 1:55 I believe, maybe a bit fast considering my situation, but I wasn't mentally confident enough to be patient and run from behind for an extended period so I gambled that we would slack the pace soon.

-Moment of Truth-
I kept the pace in hopes of breaking away, which was apparently working. 4 miles later I checked behnid me on a straight away and saw no one. Unlike Nueces, my legs, energy levels and body were letting me know that I was no where close to race ready. I kept running "in fear" for another maybe 5 miles, until I started to let myself believe I was alone. I was hydrating well and taking my standard race protocol of 3 sips of EFS liquid shot/1 ounce every 30 minutes and kept rolling.

I was deep into the mental gymnastics of staying positive via deriving statistics of progress, looking forward to scenic sections, creek crossings, etc... finishing less than desirebale paved sections, splits, sentiment of "my last trail 50" this year, etc... Sort of like setting my recent best time up Green Mtn I was running quite a bit with my heart/determination/emotion vice fitness.

-Last Lap-
I was pretty surprised to split a 1:58 on the second 25K loop for a 3:53 50K split (after the 4ish miles start too). Yes, the course was fast, no doubt, but it did have some mud, a bit of weaving, creek crossings and I was far from in race shape. Running off a big boost of positive energy of being on the last lap and clocking good splits I was on the last 25K. From here I had a hard time telling what my pace was as I was hurting energy wise and the legs were getting really tight. I know sometimes when it starts to really hurt like this I can keep pace on my long runs and even speed up despite how much slower it feels. I am pretty sure I kept pace halfway through the last 25K based on rough splits at aid stations and landmarks.

-Pain-
The last 9 miles wwere gruesome. I wasn't a disaster like I was for the finish of the Cheyenne Mtn 50K, but I was slowing down and really tightening up. I was also starting to feel queezy. After Cheyenne Mtn, I decided that if were to start to die in a race again, that I would try the stop and strech mentod. I stopped and pulled my knee to my stomach to strech my hamstrings... my knee didn't make it even to above my waiste before I nearly had a fall down on my face cramp. Forget streching. I pressed on and fought counting the seconds. I kept thinkgin about how Dakota passed Timmy Parr in the last 5 miles in Moab this year... I can't let that happen. All ambitions for running a certain time disapeared and I miserably dwelled on finishing, winning the first place Coo-Coo clock, how good it would feel to sit down, take my blistered feet out of these shoes, not move any more, stop. Yes, I was hurting.

As I finally saw the last turn, I felt it was nearly a miracle that I would finish under 6:40 and sudenly I broke out of the mental prison I had been captive in for to long and finished the race. My watch read 6:34, 6:37 on the official board. The people running the race didn't think I was finished and had another lap or was in the 50k, but after I promised them I ran all of the 50 mile race they congratulated me. I sat down got my Coo-Coo clock, brats, cake, kraut, potatoes and savored what I had been looking forward to for hours and hours, being done.

Ended up the Boise State guy dropped out along with the Inov8 guy. Ryan Jones finished second 16 minutes behind me (6:53) and Joe Kulak was 3rd (7:25). Joe did some awesome push ups at the finish line, awesome.

Ouch

I was more sore than I have been since my first marathon. I hobbled to my van after I was concerning a lot of people with my convulsive shaking from being cold (I didn't want to move, get my shirt or walk at all).

This was an AWESOME race. I had a blast and I am so gratefull that I got the opportunity to race one more 50 mile.

-Another RACE!-

Recovering now and planning on getting one more race in this weekend, a 26 mile trail race in the "mountains" of the Watchtung Reservation located in northern NJ. Yeah, stupid to race so soon, but it will truly be my last one this year.

Spokane River Long Run

2011-05-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

The Saturday night before I flew to Spokane WA (May 7th), Maggie, Felix and I enjoyed an impromptu dinner and party (I brought a pinata!) at our friends Brian and Renee's house. Along with awesome food, fun and Pinatas, there was a lot of alchohol... thanks Brian! After a 3.5hr nap Saturday night, I was up and on a shuttle at 5AM. Once in Spokane, I decided to spend the day running on trails (go figure).

Matt Lowe pointed me to Riverside State Park for my long run, which is just outside of Spokane. The park runs along the Spokane river on both banks. After a little back and forth guessing on a good starting point I found the ranger station. Both rangers at the ranger station had no idea trail lengths and furthermore even wehre the unpaved trails were. Luckily the trails were litterally just behind the ranger station not a half mile away and their lengths were impressively long (I never ran out of trail). Maybe I just had bad luck, but later, while running, I'd ask two more people basic questions (where does this trail go, distance, etc...) about the trails, the trail they were actually on, to find they were fully clueless like the rangers. It finally sunk in that I was no longer in Boulder.

Despite the discouraging start with regards to recon, the run turned out to be unbelievably awesome.

Delicious spring single track along the Spokane river

Right away I was running on smooth singletrack that was covered by a bed of pine needles ontop of dark spongy dirt. The trail would have been a barefoot runners dream come true. The surounding wilderness I was running through was just as wonderful as the trail. Spring was a few weeks ahead of Boulder along the Spokane river with small plants a few weeks out of the ground, trees with developed leafs, flowers and wildlife out and about.

Shooting Star Flowers

I started running up-river but accidently looped back to my start, but the trail was so awesome that I didn't mind covering my tracks for a while. On my initial loop I did a nice climb up to ledges where I could see Spokane, some lakes and beyond.

Overlook. Ended up running through the fields/forest in this valley

Initially, a few days before I left, I planned on running in Spokane for as long as possible, sort of as therapy for the loss of my summer of running in the mountains. Unfortunatley an all out massive long run wasn't very realistic Sunday with a throughly stressfull week prior, bad sleep and only a nap the evening before I traveled. In the rush to get the run going, I aslo forgot to get enough water for my new Gregory water backpack and had a little less than 20oz for the hand water bottle. I did have plenty of 1st Endurance EFS though, which was a good thing. Once running I decided I'd go for a goal distance of 20 miles.

Cool rock towers (columnar basalt?)

Deep Creek. The trail actually went across and up this cool gorge

Along the Spokane river was some really unique rock formations. The closest thing I have seen to this formation is in Hyalite canyon(MT) and driving through Idaho where there used to be some serious volcanic activity. I know the formation in MT was Columnar Basalt and the rock looked much the same along the spokane river in a few places.

Spring high water on the Spokane

Cool wooden bridge

The foliage, rock and sweet single track wasn't the only attractions on this run, the river was flowing fast and high. There was one rapid in particular that had a solid Class III+ wave train on one side and a stout IV- pour over on the other. I had a lot of stops on this run looking at great scenery.

The mighty Spokane

I couldn't resist continuing on further up the trail. Well past my 20 mile total run plan, I kept running enjoying diverse sights, forest and landscapes.

The turnaround point on my last western long run this year!

I needed to really turn around. I only had 5oz of EFS, eighteen ounces of H2O and my legs were starting to really scream. Ironically I ran into this sign off the side of the tral right at my turn around... fitting for my last real long run in the west!

Perfect. On the way home.

I was so happy to be out running this amazing trail. Earlier on I realized I had acutlaly run on this trail (Trail "25") once before at my Best Man's wedding, Matt Lowe, years before. The nostalgia was both cool and a little bit sad, as I wish the rest of the "Bros", 8-12 of them, were with me again on the trail... a lonely moment.
I was really hitting the wall the last 10K with my stride constricting, my hamstrings threatining to cramp and some serious dehydration kicking in as well. In the end I ran 27.4 miles with 2,600ft of climbing in 3:45.

An awesome day on the trails.

Green Mountain Frontside Personal Best and Run With Levi

2011-05-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

It really has been a while since I posted!

Much has happened in the last 3 or 4 weeks. I'll start with a personal best up the frontside of Green.

From my comment on GZ's FTK link from April 28th:

"The body has been a bit compromised due to sleep, stress and the Cheyenne 50K Saturday is still taking a bit of a toll on the legs. I wasn't sure I would time the run as I warmed up, but further realizing the opportunity I decided I would let emotions/sentiment and the heart lead this one!

This was my second time up the frontside (32:07 back in Jan was my first) and I totally wasted too much energy on the first mile running 16:48. I believe 30-40 seconds slower on this mile would have equated to 60-90 seconds faster on the second mile. I was thoroughly hurting once I reached the top in 30:49. I dry heaved up my fruit leather and some foam and stood hunched over for a few minutes. I'm very happy (could have cared less about the split while I was at the top!) to get under 31, but hungry to run the route smarter.

I REALLY enjoyed the run down more than ever today. I just love running in the mountains and I will miss it like crazy for the next 6 or so months while in Iraq. Probably my last TT until December."

I think I am 4 seonds behind Anton's best and 3rd overall. Wish I could have one more go on Green...

I did run up Green that Saturday from my house and then on my Brithday that following Tuesday (May 3rd) I treated myself to a birthdady run up green and and bear from eben g. fine and back with Levi. Running up Bear Pk. is always magnificent. Great day on trails.

The Birthday Boy on the top of Beark Peak

Levi scrambling up the tricky final ascent of Beark Pk

My Beautiful wife enjoying fragrant flowers on a blossoming tree in Boulder

We ended up logging 18 miles and 5k+ of climibing on this perfect day.