Red Hot 55K, Luckily Not so Hot.

Last Saturday I made my ultra debut at the Red Hot 55K in Moab.  Since moving to Boulder in 2005, I have transitioned away from road racing to jumping into a bunch of different events.  While training alot on trails the first two years in Boulder, I focused on racing Berlin and Chicago Marathons.  But with so much going on around me here in Colorado, it was easy to try new things.  I have done a bunch of Stroke n Stride events which eventually led me to finishing a few triathlons including the Boulder Half-Ironman in 2012.  I thought it would be fun to do a 100 mile bike race that took me up Lefthand Canyon twice.  I love doing the Nighthawk Snowshoe Series at Eldora and recently finished the 30K Sourdough Trail Snowshoe Race.  And I have done a bunch of trail racing, including Imogene Pass Run, Pike's Peak Ascent and Jungfrau Marathon.

All that left, of course, was one thing to do, Ultras.  While many of the events I raced took me over 4 and half hours to complete, I had not actually ran a race over a marathon.  Last year I had planned on doing an ultra, but groin sprain resulting from skiing or snowshoeing plagued me off and on for much of the year.

This year I have been healthy.  And since I didn't get a ski pass this year, I have gotten in alot more running this winter.  That being said, not enough 2 to 3 hour long runs to feel completely comfortable with the 55K distance (34 miles).  Still, I was done procrastinating.  Time to step up and see how things go.

So on Friday morning, I joined a few friends and drove to Moab.  Even leaving Boulder at 11 am still didn't guarantee we would miss ski traffic.  As it was President's Day weekend, there was quite a few folks who had skipped out on Friday and were headed to the mountains.  It was slow going thru the tunnel, but once pass Copper, had the highway to ourselves.

Rolled into Moab around 5ish and stopped at Eddie McStiff's to pick up packets.  The line was out the door.  I loved most everything about this race, but if there was one thing they could do better, it was the packet pick up.  It was slow.  Process could be better, but on the plus side, you could have a beer while waiting in line.  They also specifically stated there would be no race day pick up, hence why I took a day off work to show up in Moab by 7pm.  Lo and behold, there was race day pick up.   I think this sets bad precedent.  Do you believe what is on the website.  Should I expect other races who say there is no race day pick up to have race day pick up?  Not a big thing, just a little nitpicking.

The bigger problem was with my procrastination.  Since I wasn't leaving Boulder right away Friday morning, I didn't pack Thursday night.  I had to rack my current homebrew from the primary to the secondary and didn't feel like packing.  So Friday morning, when I go to pack, I can't find my arm warmers or my GPS watch.  I thought I had left my watch at work and didn't want to drive over there to pick it up.   As for the arm warmers, until I clean my room, I don't know where they are.  Well, come Saturday morning, I began fretting about not having the arm warmers.  It would be chilly at the start, around freezing.  But with a high predicted of 65, I didn't want to go with a long sleeve shirt underneath my singlet. Turns out the arm wamers weren't needed.  The GPS watch was the vital thing missing. 



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Race started at 8am, with temps in the 30's.  Overcast sky.  Race started with a mile climb.  This was perfect as I would take it real easy.  And I did.  The course is fantastic.  With great views throughout.  The first views coming at the top of this first climb.

The first mile climbed a few hundred feet.  I am in the middle of the pic on the right side of the road as you look down.

The descent began my first mistake.  I began to cruise a bit to fast.  I caught up to my friend Greg Lackey, who I drove out to the race with and began to run with him.  We ended up passing Kerrie Bruxvoort around 2 - 2.5 miles.  This was a mistake.  When possible run with the elite women.  They know what they are doing.  Then I passed another guy I have raced a bunch on the snowshoes, Neeraj.  Chatted a few minutes and kept on going.  He said I would do well.  I replied that he likely would pass me back later.  This ended up being true.  Why I didn't settle in with this group is a mystery.

The course during the early miles.

After about 7 miles, I realized hanging with Greg was not a good idea, and I was going a bit too quick.  I let him pull away (which was easy to do, during the climb from 8 to 10 miles) and found myself pretty much all alone.  Kerrie passed me around 10 miles.  I already felt that I was going a bit too hard and didn't really try to stay with her.  Instead, I got into a nice groove from 10 to 17 miles. 

I hit what I believe was mid-way point around 2:20. 8:15 mile pace.  In reality, that was 30-45 seconds per mile than I really should have run.  A GPS watch would have been good here.  While I was running relaxed and easy, I haven't done too many long runs lately, so I can't really feel the difference between 8:15 and 9:00 mile pace.  And because the first half the race was relatively easy terrain and good trails (mostly 4x4 dirt/sand roads), it was easy to be running 8 minute pace and it feel easy.  At halfway I was probably 25-30th place.

The 2nd half the race gets interesting.  It has a fairly good climb.  It has lots of slickrock.  It has lots of route finding.  It also has some fantastic views. 

Things were going well.  The clouds had not cleared.  It appeared that the forecast would be incorrect.  It was going to stay overcast.  Temps, I don't think, ever really even got into the 50s.  The big climb from 18 to 22.5 miles introduced the slickrock portion of the race.  It was here I started to power walk for the first time in the race.  A few folks passed me in the climb, but when I topped out, I didn't feel to bad.

The next 7 miles would feel endless.  I was beginning to feel tired.  I knew that my training was good for about 26 miles and I was coming up on that.  The slickrock on the descents was starting to take a toll on my legs.  Route finding always meant you had to be paying attention, couldn't just zone out.  With little around, the race director had to tie pink ribbons on whatever was available.  Be it a rock placed in the middle of the slickrock, or on a small bush, which if the wind blew the ribbon into the bush, it made it impossible to see.  (Especially those of us who are red/green colorblind).

Give you an idea of the desolation that one felt on the slickrock portions.

At one point, there were 2 people about 20 to 30 yards ahead of me.  We were climbing a small hill.  As they went over the rise at the top, they disappeared from view.  When I crested, I looked around and they were no where to be seen. Having followed them the past 15 minutes or so, I hadn't really been paying attention for the flagging.  So I spent a few moments off course, trying to figure out where to go.  I never could understand how I wasn't able to see those two runners.

Trail, We don't need no stinkin trail.  Route finding thru the slickrock sections required paying constant attention.

It was during this section of the course that I got passed by bunches of folks, including Neeraj.  I couldn't respond.  I wasn't able to really let loose on the downhills.  I just wanted off the slickrock.  There was a sign for the last aid station 1 mile out from it.  This was the first time in the race I was out of water and had no gels.  It was the only time I felt close to bonking.  The mile seemed endless.

I had run the last 5 miles of the course when I was in Moab over Thanksgiving.  Once I got to the aid station, I knew what was coming. We were pretty much done with the slickrock and would be back on 4x4 dirt/sand roads.  Knowing this section helped me believe I could keep running to the finish.  It was here where for the first time I walked on something that wasn't an uphill.  But these were short walks, maybe 50 meters.  And only a couple of times.  I was happy I never raised the white flag and surrendered.  I kept on plugging along.  And while I was tired and slow, it didn't materialize into a full on death march.

The finish felt great.  I made a good push at the end.  I was tired, but not destroyed.  I ran 5:32. Finished 77th out of 301. My second half took 3:10.  Looking at the pace it is obvious the first half was a little too fast.  I ran 8:15 mile pace the first half and 11:10 pace the 2nd.  My overall pace was 9:45.  If I had backed off 30 to 45 seconds per mile the first half, I really think I could have kept 9:15-9:30 for the 2nd half.  Which would have put me in close to under 5 hours, which was sort of a goal of mine.  I also would have finished about 30 spots higher.  This was the main lesson learned from my first 55K.

Positives from the race:
1)  I do believe my nutrition was on.  The overcast skies really helped as I didn't have to worry to much about dehydration and salt intake.  It was perfect weather for this race.

2) While I was a little quick, I think with a few more long runs, that early pace may not have been all that bad.

3)  February 15th and I just ran 34 miles.  At no point in my life would I have consider myself in shape to run 34 miles in mid-February.  Usually after November, I am deep in beer drinking and skiing shape not running shape.

4)  I recovered quickly.  The achilles were tight Sunday morning, but a day walking around Arches National Park (worked out well that it was free National Park weekend) helped them release.  By Sunday evening I was walking normally.  By Wednesday I was racing again at the Nighthawks series.

5)  I am looking forward to my next 50K.

This was also my debut as an Ambassador for the Boulder Track Club MUT (Mountain/Ultra/Trail) Team.  I did get quite a few compliments on the singlet.  Looking forward to representing BTC this year.

Pictures from Myke Hermsmeyer  and Derrick Lytle


Click on the picture below to see my pictures from Arches National Park, as we hiked around the day after the race.

Arches National Park

A Good Week

"70 Miles this week, no wonder why my legs feel so dead"  This thought had occurred to me as I was 6 miles into a 15 mile run on Mags.  Mags is reason enough to feel dead legged, but today was slightly worse than normal.   But as I was thinking back on my week and doing the math I realized I was going to hit 70 for this week.  (Actually 68 miles, but what's a couple of miles between friends).

The last time I did nearly 70 miles for a week had to be years ago.  And the funny thing is, I wasn't trying, which is why it happened.  Two solid workouts with the BTC MUTS group on Tuesday and Friday morning (with a lot of hill climbing), a sorta long run on Saturday (with a lot of hill climbing), Mags on Sunday (a lot of rolling hills), along with normal 10 mile Wednesday morning res run and couple of easy runs on Monday (Fleet Feet Fun Run) and Thursday, plus an easy 6 Friday evening for the Happy Hour Run, and it all adds up nearly to a 70 mile week and some pretty toasted legs.  Not so much the mileage (which is part of it), but there was a lot of hill climbing.

But that is good, for my race schedule this year looks like a lot of hill climbing.  Oddly this isn't my strength and most of the races I am planning don't have any downhill (my strength) or flat spots (which I can usually run better than others coming off a climb).   My groin injury changed my summer plans along with my decision to enter the Jungfrau Marathon.

So here is the fairly set in stone race schedule for the year.

May 27  Bolder Boulder 10K : Goal - Break my age for the first time ever in this race (or any 10K)
June 8-9  Go Pro Vail Summer Mountain Games : Goal - Complete triple, 1/2 marathon climb up Vail Pass on Saturday, 10K trail race Sunday morning, followed up with 5K Rocky Dog Trail Race with Brisco, Sunday afternoon.  This might be difficult but I must help defend Brisco's crown
July 21  Vail Half Marathon : Goal - New course for me.  Just want good effort.
August 17  Pike's Peak Ascent : Goal - Like to go under 2:50.  Went 2:59 last year without much high altitude exposure prior to the race
September 14 Jungfrau Marathon : Goal - Key race of year.  Looking forward to it.  Long way out but think I could run 3:45 there.
October 19-20 Bourbon Chase Relay : Goal - Run fast, drink bourbon, have a good time.  2 of the 3 are guaranteed with the Stonemill Streakers.  Actually all 3 are guaranteed when running with the Streakers.

It should be good year.  I am looking forward to the summer.  Right now I am enjoying a Brisco Genesis Dark Mild Ale.  Bottled on April 24.  Here's a look back at the bottling process.

Soaking old bottles (special thanks to Hungry Toad for access to their recycling bin)

Clean bottles ready to be sanitized.  Baked in oven for a couple of hours at 350 F.

Racking beer from secondary fermentor to bottling bucket.

Filling bottle from bottling bucket.

Filled bottles. Just a need a few weeks to condition and carbonate.

Capping bottles.

And in the end after letting set for nearly 3 weeks, the batch is ready to drink.  Chilled in fridge for a few hours and then poured and ready to drink on a great summery Boulder night.

Final Verdict :  Overall I am pleased with my first batch of homebrew.  It has a nice dark color to it and is quite clear.  Good taste, no bad after taste or yeasty taste.  Of course with brand new equipment this likely wasn't going to occur.  Next batches will show how well I cleaned up after this one.  A little too malty, caramelly (sweet) than I would have preferred, but now I know what these grains will give me in terms of taste.  I'll give it 3 tail wags (out of 5).

I'm Back, Somewhat Healthy, But Definitely Back

Back at the old cross country house in Dayton, the walls were full of all sorts of random stuff including many random newspaper clippings.  Some of them were humorous stories,  most of them were unintentionally funny.  And in the kitchen, near the back door, beneath the Foster Cans, was a clipping showing a sled dog, sitting morosely in the snow, with the saddest face.  I have tried to remember the caption, but can't recall it word for word, but it was something along the lines of "Sled dogs get very jealous when they see their friends go for a run without them."  I don't know how many people ever noticed it, but it was one of my favorite little oddities on the walls at 434 Stonemill.

It doesn't matter who you are, dog or human, if you are a runner at your core and can't run, you fundementally are not happy.  Oh you might think things are okay.  You go about your daily life, but there is a bit of a funk to your existence.  You think back on those days when you were healthy and could run, but dreaded heading out the door to do so.  How stupid you were.  Didn't you realize how blessed you were.  When you are healthy and just need to take time off, you can exist fairly well.  But when time off is forced on you, you can put on a good face, but deep down it slowly eats away at your core.

I had overdone it back in February.   I wasn't doing the little things to keep my body going and ended up straining my groin.  But initially it wasn't a big deal.  I had a great January and a few weeks off weren't going to kill me.  I could still ski and ended up having 4 wonderful days of beautiful powder in Jackson Hole.  A close encounter with a tree nearly sent home on crutches, but I got lucky and just ended up with a slightly swollen knee.  I could run if my groin got better.

Blue Sky Day in Jackson along with fresh powder.

But as a few days became a couple of weeks, I started to get anxious.  My initial rehab was to do nothing.  After a few weeks, I tried to do an easy 4 miles.  Couldn't finish it.  Another painful session with Heather at In Motion Rehab and things seemed to get better.  I ran 2 miles.  The next day I ran 3 miles.  By the end of the week I ran 6 miles.  Things were back on track.  And then I did something stupid.  I played for my work's co-ed rec league softball team.  First play of the game I re-aggravated the groin.  No more running for another week or so.  

By now, I had put on some lbs.  And began to realize my goals for the summer were not going to happen.  I was in a funk.  I had just started running with the BTC MUTs and really enjoyed having a group to do workout's with.  This was the first time I had a group to regularly work out with since I left Dayton in 2005.  I was really bummed I couldn't run with them.  I needed to break out of the funk.   I hadn't updated this blog.  I hadn't done anything really to get the groin better besides rest and a few dry needling sessions with Heather.  

I started going to the gym.  Started doing strength work for the groin and in general.  In a few days, I noticed I was mentally much happier.  And the groin felt better.  With nicer spring weather upon us here in Colorado, I got re-aquainted with my boy Blue.

I hadn't ridden my bike since probably last September.  Did a couple of rides with Bobby Stuckey and his Saturday group.  Last Saturday, rode up towards Ward.  Bonked about 2 miles from Ward, before turning around and heading back down.  Still for 3rd time on bike after 6-7 months off it, I was happy with the ride.  Those 3 rides within 8 days of each other, totaled nearly 90 miles.  

Another slight re-aggravation set me back a day or two, but now I knew I could get on the bike, stair master or elliptical and still get a workout in without any problem.  This slight setback didn't nearly upset me like the two before.  I was able to work thru it and get back to running.  Last Friday did 5 miles at North Table Mountain in Golden (a favorite of mine in the Golden area). Sun did 6.5 miles on S. Boulder Tr/Mesa Tr/Big Bluestem Tr.  Monday did 4 miles on treadmill, with 2-3 of that with a 10%+ on the incline.  And on Tuesday did an easy 5-6 miles in the snow.  It's slowly coming back.

I had two goals for this year. 

Goal #1: Run an ultra marathon.  Ideally finish a 50 miler.  That goal is probably out the window for now.  I'm not sure how the summer is going to go.  But I got a new running goal as I signed up for the Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland.   13.1 miles of relatively flat road running (only 500 ft gain over 1st half), followed by 13.1 miles of uphill trail running with a net 4300 vert ft gain, topping out at 7000 ft above sea level.  I'm excited about this race and the chance to go back to the Grindewald region of Switzerland.  I was there during an European tour right after high school and always wanted to get back.  Plus another chance to see Fio in Switzerland.

Goal #2:  To start homebrewing.  As a chemist this is right up my alley and I should have started doing this years ago.  Today my equipment arrived.

It's like Christmas without the wrapping paper.

When I got home from work, the lovely folks at FedEx had delivered my homebrew kit.  I quickly got to unpacking.

Your slightly more than basic homebrew setup

Everything I need is here.  Primary fermenter, Secondary fermentor, bottling bucket, malt extract, grains, hops, etc.  I already had picked up a 19L stock pot for boiling the wort, along with a few other odds and ends.  So I am ready to go.  Brisco's Homebrews is open for business.

Keeping a journal of your brewing process is very important.

So while I have neglected this blog in the past 6 weeks, I will be back to post regularly again.  I'm excited to be able to run again and excited to make my first batch of brew : Brisco's Genesis Dark Mild Ale.   Along with catching up on a number of fine local microbrews that I have visited the past few Fridays, the blog will have updates on my brewing process and my training.