After a 5 week layoff from training in December and January (and gaining 10 pounds) I sort of let myself get sucked into doing this Southwest Virginia Triple Crown series of three 50 k races that I was not planning on doing. I was thinking I would do 2 of those races, The Smith Mountain Lake Dam 50 k, and Promise Land 50k, but not the Holiday Lake 50k. Then this series became available. Amazing what we runners will put ourselves through for a Tee shirt! Anyway, doing Holiday Lake in February with little training was probably not a good thing for all these nagging pains I get that prevent me from training as hard as I want to. A month and a half later I finished the Dam 50k which included a good bit of road running which is good for my summer road marathon plans.
So, 4 weeks after the Dam 50k, now at Promise Land, the day started off with about 300 trail runners slogging uphill on the first ascent by headlamp in the rainy mist for the first 4 miles and I realized I was hiking uphill pretty good and was feeling ok. One never knows about how you will feel come race time until you are actually underway and moving along. As we started our rolling descents and ascents on the grassy horse trail road toward aid station 2 at Upper Reed Creek, I kept an ongoing check on how I felt, trying not to go too fast on the gravity aided down slopes and trying not to lose too much time on the short climbs. Alissa Kieth and I kept passing each other and tagging along together for a good bit all the way through aid station 3 at Sunset Field on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then on the descent down the upper part of Apple Orchard trail. I was checking my time to that point and it seemed I might be on pace for a PR (Personal Record) or close to it. Once we got on the grassy forest road headed toward Cornelius Creek trail, Alissa pulled ahead and I let her go. I had to stop for about 4 or 5 minutes along there to fertilize the trees. On down the Cornelius Creek trail I again was trying to be careful not to go too fast. The slight downhill road section between aid station 4 at Cornelius Creek and where the course turns onto Whitetail Trail, I know I ran too fast, like I always do, but I usually recover pretty quickly with a little hiking on the single track section there. That would not be the case on this day. I had blown up, I was shot, out of gas, bonked, or whatever you want to call that "out of energy / legs will not co-operate" feeling that happens when you burn the wick just a little too bright on the front end of a race. I think I was way too optimistic with how good I felt early in this race and it greatly affected my speed, or rather lack thereof, on the "dark side". The "dark side" is what Promise Land runners, and especially us local runners in the Lynchburg area, have come to call the part of the course that is to the west of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I think I first heard that "dark side" descriptor from David Horton on a training run on that section back in 2008 when he was still running. That is about from mile 13 to about mile 29 in this 34 mile race, and includes a three mile steep climb up Apple Orchard Falls trail...after you have already done a marathon distance...on trails...in the mountains!
After reaching Sunset Field the second time, I glanced at my watch and realized I might have just run the fastest time I had ever done during this race from the start to Sunset Field the first time, and the slowest time I had ever done the segment from there back to Sunset Field the second time. So much for a PR. Not going to happen. I would be hard pressed to finish an hour slower than my PR on this course of 6 hrs 49 min. I tried to make the most of the down hill from there to the finish but had to be careful not to hammer the down hill too hard while still on the single track section, as I could feel my legs were on the verge of muscle cramps. I have cramped baaaddd in that section before and sure did not want to now. Finally, back on the gravel of Overstreet Creek road, that will take me back to Promise Land Camp, I let gravity work and ease off the brakes. The last mile my watch says I ran in 7 min. 25 sec. and at some point had reached a 6:34 pace for a few seconds. After I crossed the finish line I forgot to stop my watch for a few minutes, so I will have to wait for the official results to be posted. I was somewhere close to 7 hrs 40 min.
One of my slower overall times on this course, but it hasn't discouraged me. My training the past few weeks has been gearing up for a down hill road marathon I plan to do in June. I have not been focusing on the monster climbs these mountain races have. I did well for about 19 or 20 miles. I completed the Southwest Virginia Triple Crown and got the tee shirt! I got a nice pair of Patagonia Nine Trails running shorts with zippered pockets as the finish award for the Promise Land race! I am not injured. I am going into the heart of my road marathon training with a good base. Hopefully I will be able to get a Boston Marathon Qualifying time. Looking forward to Track Tuesdays and a few downhill runs on Thunder Ridge in the near future! If you want to join in, hit me on face book.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
A new year, adjusting focus.
2016 is here. Hope for a better year from a running viewpoint. 2015 was not very good to me running and injury wise. I scaled back on training early in 2015 to recover from the beating my legs and feet took from training for, and running the Beast Series in 2014, and only had a few ultra marathon races targeted. I didn't do any local road races in 2015 except for the Peaks Christmas 5k this December in Bedford, VA. I managed to participate in the Promise Land 50k ++ in April. I "won" the 24 hour solo division at the Hat Creek Trail Races in May by just staying on the course after the heat had blown everyone else up. I ran two marathons in other states, one in Wisconsin that was a combined paved trail and dirt singletrack with a unique twist...a lookout tower to climb halfway through the course, and one in Maryland with very nice shoreline scenery. In early June I ran the Carvin's Cove Trail Marathon, then later in June and July I had to deal with some injuries that started from work and home project related things happening to me, not running injuries. But those injuries translated into not being able to train and then ramping up training probably too quickly during the recovery phase. I was able to do the 30 mile event at Iron Mountain in September, then just barely finish the Grindstone 100 miler in October. By December I was finally back in half decent trail ultra shape, but not as good as I was in 2014, looking back. I did manage to finish the 2015 Hellgate 100k ++ race in very warm weather an hour slower than I did in 2014. I have neglected core strength work and am currently recovering from a lower back injury that I somehow managed to inflict on myself over the Christmas Holiday weekend. I will need to make some adjustments this year to my training to regain core strength. When I look back on my most successful and injury free time periods of running I realize those were periods when I maintained good core strength training while staying focused on good training for running.
I will turn 60 in June this year. I age up into the 60-64 age group as far as running goes. The Boston Marathon qualification time is 3 hours 55 minutes for this age group. I have run several road marathons with a finish time of 3:45 to 3:55 over the past few years, but none in the past two years. I will be focusing on training to run a Boston qualifying time in a road marathon that is certified as a Boston qualifier course by the USA Track and Field organization. I know right now I am not in condition to run a road marathon at that speed mostly due to training primarily for long trail ultras in the mountains over the past two years. Those runs are much slower paced and are run primarily by effort not pace. Long uphill pulls from 2 to as much as 7 miles on rough rock strewn, root covered trails means power hiking up mostly. Then long downhill bombing runs over those same rooty, rocky trails at fast-as-you-dare speeds. That kind of racing and training just isn't conducive to running a road marathon at an even pace for 26 miles. It is vastly different training and vastly different running. I have tried to combine the two types of training and racing over several years but that has not allowed me to reach my goal of qualifying for Boston. My time for qualifying in the men's 55-59 age group was 3:40. The Boston Athletic Association has changed the qualification times over the years to kind of limit the field to faster runners as well as the fact that the course can only accommodate so many people. Anyway, I have a 3:45 at Richmond in 2007, a 3:46 at Rehoboth Beach I believe that was 2011 , and a 3:47 at Myrtle Beach in 2012. I would have been about 5 minutes faster at Myrtle Beach if not for a porta pot stop at mile 6. Too much food the night before. I ran real even splits of around 8:24 per mile until the last 4 miles, when I couldn't hold that pace and slowed to about a 9:00 minute per mile pace, but that was probably my best overall effort and even paced road marathon.
In June of 2016, Grattan Garbee and myself plan to chase a BQ run at a marathon near Denver, Colorado that will have a little over 4,000 feet of elevation decline over the 26.2 mile course. I have six months to get in condition to run that distance downhill. I plan to do quite a bit of training on the Blue Ridge Parkway, namely Thunder Ridge. It is exactly 13 miles from the Radar Ball driveway on Apple Orchard Mountain down Thunder Ridge to the James River Visitors Center. The elevation profile will be roughly descending from 4,000 feet above sea level to 650 feet above sea level. So about 3, 350 feet of descent in 13 miles. I will probably do some runs on Tobacco Row Mountain and Fleming Mountain as well. I will still be out on "Wild Wednesdays" for our runs on Candler's, but I will be doing less trail running, and more road running this spring and summer. Not that I will leave the trails all together. I love trail running too much for that. I will likely register for the Dam 50k to be held April 2nd, just to get the shirt and say I ran that Dam 50k (snickering).
So training will be a little different. Mixing in some core strength. Some faster cruise intervals and track intervals. Some flatter tempo runs. Some long downhill runs. Less in the way of long trail runs in the mountains and more road running. Oh, yeah one more thing...I will be training my new supervisor at my job, which should go pretty well, I hope. My former supervisor got promoted within the Fire Department from Logistics Captain to the position of Training Division Battalion Chief, so the new Logistics Captain will be taking his position as the shop supervisor. These guys are "good at heart" public servants who have the desire to help their fellow man. However their career has not been in the repair and maintenance of heavy trucks and automotive vehicles, so lots of times there are communications that have to take place about things that need to be done that takes more explanation than I would like...coming from my viewpoint of working under supervision, up till the last four years, that already understands this information from a whole career of repairing vehicles. So a few changes are in the making for me. Hopefully I will be able to make those changes work well. The world in general is changing around me, mostly not to my liking, but there is little I can do about that. I will be happy to just stick with the things I have some control of and effect those changes. As I raise my coffee cup...here is to change!
I will turn 60 in June this year. I age up into the 60-64 age group as far as running goes. The Boston Marathon qualification time is 3 hours 55 minutes for this age group. I have run several road marathons with a finish time of 3:45 to 3:55 over the past few years, but none in the past two years. I will be focusing on training to run a Boston qualifying time in a road marathon that is certified as a Boston qualifier course by the USA Track and Field organization. I know right now I am not in condition to run a road marathon at that speed mostly due to training primarily for long trail ultras in the mountains over the past two years. Those runs are much slower paced and are run primarily by effort not pace. Long uphill pulls from 2 to as much as 7 miles on rough rock strewn, root covered trails means power hiking up mostly. Then long downhill bombing runs over those same rooty, rocky trails at fast-as-you-dare speeds. That kind of racing and training just isn't conducive to running a road marathon at an even pace for 26 miles. It is vastly different training and vastly different running. I have tried to combine the two types of training and racing over several years but that has not allowed me to reach my goal of qualifying for Boston. My time for qualifying in the men's 55-59 age group was 3:40. The Boston Athletic Association has changed the qualification times over the years to kind of limit the field to faster runners as well as the fact that the course can only accommodate so many people. Anyway, I have a 3:45 at Richmond in 2007, a 3:46 at Rehoboth Beach I believe that was 2011 , and a 3:47 at Myrtle Beach in 2012. I would have been about 5 minutes faster at Myrtle Beach if not for a porta pot stop at mile 6. Too much food the night before. I ran real even splits of around 8:24 per mile until the last 4 miles, when I couldn't hold that pace and slowed to about a 9:00 minute per mile pace, but that was probably my best overall effort and even paced road marathon.
In June of 2016, Grattan Garbee and myself plan to chase a BQ run at a marathon near Denver, Colorado that will have a little over 4,000 feet of elevation decline over the 26.2 mile course. I have six months to get in condition to run that distance downhill. I plan to do quite a bit of training on the Blue Ridge Parkway, namely Thunder Ridge. It is exactly 13 miles from the Radar Ball driveway on Apple Orchard Mountain down Thunder Ridge to the James River Visitors Center. The elevation profile will be roughly descending from 4,000 feet above sea level to 650 feet above sea level. So about 3, 350 feet of descent in 13 miles. I will probably do some runs on Tobacco Row Mountain and Fleming Mountain as well. I will still be out on "Wild Wednesdays" for our runs on Candler's, but I will be doing less trail running, and more road running this spring and summer. Not that I will leave the trails all together. I love trail running too much for that. I will likely register for the Dam 50k to be held April 2nd, just to get the shirt and say I ran that Dam 50k (snickering).
So training will be a little different. Mixing in some core strength. Some faster cruise intervals and track intervals. Some flatter tempo runs. Some long downhill runs. Less in the way of long trail runs in the mountains and more road running. Oh, yeah one more thing...I will be training my new supervisor at my job, which should go pretty well, I hope. My former supervisor got promoted within the Fire Department from Logistics Captain to the position of Training Division Battalion Chief, so the new Logistics Captain will be taking his position as the shop supervisor. These guys are "good at heart" public servants who have the desire to help their fellow man. However their career has not been in the repair and maintenance of heavy trucks and automotive vehicles, so lots of times there are communications that have to take place about things that need to be done that takes more explanation than I would like...coming from my viewpoint of working under supervision, up till the last four years, that already understands this information from a whole career of repairing vehicles. So a few changes are in the making for me. Hopefully I will be able to make those changes work well. The world in general is changing around me, mostly not to my liking, but there is little I can do about that. I will be happy to just stick with the things I have some control of and effect those changes. As I raise my coffee cup...here is to change!
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