Hard Week

It appears the rain followed us from the previous weekend in Charleston SC and decided to stay. Last week I started my long run up at FATS with the sky incased with rain clouds. I got no further then one mile into my 30+ mile run on the trail and the deluge started. I thought to myself I should enjoy the coolness of the rain before it was over and it got hot and humid again. Well, the sky never cleared and it rained for the next 6 hours. When I realized this was going to be an all day deluge, I at first entertained the thought of turning back before it got too bad and just chalk it up as a bad day, but I couldn’t do that because it was too easy. What better way to get some practice with torrential rain.

After I accepted the fact I was going to gut this one out, it actually felt good to be running so well under the cool canopy of rain. I never got hot, and my body was craving food and handling liquids with no problems. On a few occasions I did get a little chilled and wished I had a poncho to help minimize the heat loss. With all the rain, there were also a few moments of thunder and lighting, high winds, and falling tree limbs to keep from being bored. The trail was extremely saturated and was like running in a shallow stream the entire time.

I was soaked to the bone, cold, hungry, and eaten up by deerflies (and I thought I was the only one in the woods), when I finally made my way back to the trail head when I found 3 small dogs camped-out under my Avalanche. They looked as bad as me, soaked, hungry, and looking for a dry place to go. At first I was just going to get them out of the way so I could get down the road, but I realized these dogs looked really hungry. There was a store 3 miles down the road so I went by there and got a large bag of dog food and brought it back for them. They were 3 happy campers and could hardly wait for the food to hit the ground. I felt better knowing they had a belly full of food and plenty of fresh water.

Last week was an 80 mile week with some good speed work (8X800 meter at 3:05 per repeat) and hill repeats (20 pound weight vest and 5 pound weights in each hand). The hill repeats were killer with the extra weights, and really challenged me with the last repeat feeling like my heart was jumping out my chest and legs extremely fatigued. I was thinking there was no way I was going to make the last repeat but dug in deep and pushed it as long as I could before realizing I was cresting the hill.
The only thing that didn’t go as planned was my long run today. I went out to Fort Gordon on the boring 3 mile dirt track and grinded out 36 miles. It was hot with about 10,000% humidity which did not help but needed the soup bowl conditions to get acclimated. I was really feeling it between miles 12 – 18 and just didn’t feel strong.

I was mentally not ready for this sluggish feeling and really struggled with it. I felt better after about 21 miles but never felt like I had control. It was a strange long run and hope it was only due to the high mileage and hard training from the week. I have one more long run and need it to be a good one for my confidence going into OH.

Buncombe 34M

It has been awhile sense posting anything due to my busy schedule so this may be on the long side. First let me say the Buncombe 34 mile race in SC was an awesome event with many thanks to Terri Hayes (Race Director) for all her hard work. Terri doesn’t play when it comes to making sure her runners have everything they need to ensure safe and successful results.

The aid stations were stocked with everything you could imagine along with water drops at appropriate points along the course. The course was in great shape with a few slick muddy sections to make it interesting but the Montrails MM performed well and kept me upright. The morning temps were very comfortable, and the daytime high stayed in the mid to high 80s, but the humidity was a killer.

Let me rewind a little and share events leading up to the weekend. My son had his spring formal dance Saturday night and what a show it was. He had his own cheering section and critics as we watched every graceful move on the dance floor. Josh and Clair were flawless and the spectators most surprised with how comfortable they glided around while performing dances like the foxtrot, twist, shag, waltz, and many more.

By the time the dance was over, drove home, some last minute packing, it was 1AM which would only give us 3 hours of sleep before the alarm would ring at 4AM for our 2 hour drive on race morning. Laura, the kids, and her sisters (Shari & Tammy) were running two of the aid stations. All was going well until about 18 miles into SC when we drove into a mine field of 5 gallon paint cans all over the interstate. With no place to go, and darkness disabling any warning of the dome, we helped paint the interstate and my gunmetal gray colored Avalanche with oil base white paint. What a mess it was and not the way to start the day. Maybe I can get a tax break for helping the state dept paint the interstate!

We arrived at the race just in time for the brief as Terri gave us a sign of relief knowing her two main AS would be covered. I did not taper for this event and was using it mainly as a training run. For such humid and muddy conditions, the Montrail MM held up great with no blisters or sore feet. The course is all on walking and horse trails and we had a few section which would such the shoes off your feet with the deep holes from the horses. The stream crossings were welcomed and the elevation change was no more then a couple hundred feet at any one time which made for very runnable trails. This year Terri had a max capacity race with a few on the waiting list. The field of runners consisted of all types along with some respectable fast runners. A small group of runners took off fairly fast at the beginning and I was thinking I might see them later when they realize they took off too fast. This was not the case and they stayed fast all day. I got to meet some great people along the way and it made for a great day on the trails. Most were new to Ultras and asked a lot of questions. Some like Walt were more experienced and we talked about things that didn’t go so well in previous races. He is running VT100 this summer as his first 100 miler and I gave him some tips on what not to do, and what worked well for me. I had a few runners compliment me on how fast I moved on the trails and my quick turnover speed. All that speed training must be paying off. I didn’t move this fast all day, just certain section where I wanted to hammer my quads on the downhill’s to get some training in. Overall, I finished in the middle of the pack which was good for me considering I didn’t taper and didn’t intend on pushing it real hard. With such a fast field, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with them anyway. Comparing my time to last year, I would have had a top 7 finish. I will be watching to see what these guys do down the road.

Work has been very demanding but I passed all my annual training exams for the week. This consumes so much of my time trying to get ready and maintaining my NRC license to operate a nuclear power plant.
This past weekend we went to Charleston SC for Mothers Day and what a rainy day it was. We made the best of it and had a great time anyway.

My training mileage has been low and I really need 3 strong hard weeks of solid training before going to OH in June. With a lot of my critical activities behind me, I will be able to be more focused. Before this week is over I should have close to 80 miles in the bank including speedwork and hill repeats (With a 20 pound vest to get a little extra burn). With my aggressive training schedule, I’m hoping for no injuries although my right leg hamstring has been a little tight the last couple of days. I’ve been taking the time to get in some good warm-ups and stretching as a precautionary measure, and not pushing it too much when it feels like its getting a little tight. This has been an exceptional cool week in the South and the heat training is lagging. I’m sure I will pay for that. The photo below is my wife and daughter catching a quick nap at the race.