Training on hold..........

8 days ago I was clumsy enough to take a spill on the hardwood stairs. Needless to say - the stairs won. Sadie saved the day by calling 911 and getting me a ride to the Williamson County Medical Center. It was a full moon ..that's my story, morning glory.

As you can see from the picture below it was a pretty nasty fall. Cracked a couple of my ribs - very painful and has left me unable to train for my up and coming race in San Fran, the 50 mile North Face Endurance Ultra. Next weekend was suppose to be a training weekend on the course in SF. Not looking too good right now. While I feel a little better 8 days post accident - still a long ways from being able to run. I went to Prairie Life Fitness yesterday to do calf raises and quad work. While there, I decided to step up on the treadmill - at a 15 degree incline and walk at 3 MPH. Not a good idea. So I stepped down off of the treadmill and decided that I simply need to take it easy for the next week - if I want to have any chance of racing on Dec 4....





So the young bull has the psychological advantage right now. I'm taking this as an opportunity to heal up my old bones and joints. Doing a lot of stretching of the achilles, calves & quads. Unfortunately the core will suffer - a critical component for finishing an race of this length. When I raced the Leadville Silver Rush 50 trail run, my core is what sustained me late in the race and kept me from doing a couple of face plants. Post mile 40 it's a little difficult to keep your feet up and if they catch a root or rock it's your core that saves you. So......gotta keep the feet up.

More to follow....very very hard not to train.....going CRAZY **#$!!

Big Wheels Keep on Turnin.......

My achilles is feeling better today. Instead of taking the day off I decided to put my bike back together and go for a ride. My Felt B2 Pro has been sitting in a box since skinning the ass of the young bull in Syracuse. Got the machine assembled in about 15 minutes this am. Like in typical Queen fashion.........i got on my by and ride!!

Above is a picture of the Big Ring...........as we all know it's about the run. If I can't run because of my achilles - I sure as hell can ride. So I dropped it into the big ring and let it stay there. A great quad burner today. Kept it in the big ring and let the quads burn. I love the way it hurts ....... Come NF 50 in 6 weeks my quads will appreciate the classes that I've taken them to.

Got a 2 hour "massage" today at ME - all I can say is .......W-E-A-K!! Got a talker when I simply needed my calves and achilles worked. They never seem to listen. My gal in Denver is OUTSTANDING. Against my better judgement I got a massage in Nashville, getting my massage lined up in Denver this week :)

Anyways - training hard for NF 50.....It's going to be a great day ....I'm certain.....


Cheers......


The Baker

6 Weeks till the Baker Delivers Some Humble Pie

Last night I ran with the Denver Trail Runners Club in the foothills of the Rockies. To warm up I ran 2 miles before the group arrived. The runners are usually divided up into several different groups. I try to run with the average running group not the fast group. Last night however, I managed to get with the fast runners. These cats like to run up hill at a 9:00/mile pace at 6,500-7,000 feet of altitude. Needless to say it was a real blood pumping run. During the first 5 miles I was anaerobic and then my endurance training kicked in and I was able to run very comfortably with the group.

Well, it's 6 weeks till the last race of the season. I'm getting anxious but enjoying the build up to the run. A 50 miler requires patience and lots of it. The tendency is to want to run this distance - when it requires walking every incline, no matter how slight. You can actually run the inclines during the last 6-7 miles as you'll know just how much gas you've got left in the tank. During the Leadville Silver Rush 50 I wanted to push it early, but waited till I got warmed up over the first miles of the race, which I never broke a 9 minute/mile pace. At mile 30-40 of the race I hit the proverbial wall. I walked for a very long time and was falling asleep due to a glycogen low. It took me an hour and sucking down water and hammer gels to recover. When I did I felt fine and finished, for the most part, pretty strong.

A 50 mile race is the equivalent to a full Ironman. While probably difficult to understand it is the real deal. It is challenging both mentally and physically. One has to go in prepared and very mindful of nutrition, hydration, pace and alert to what is happening to their overall physical and mental state throughout the race and respond accordingly.

Below is a picture of the Leadville 100 Trail Run at about mile 18-20. Sadly enough I never made it back to this part of the out and back course. This area of the course is between Fish Hatchery and Half Moon aid station. It was at Half Moon aid station that I DNF'd.....Mile 72 a big ass bummer.

Tomorrow I've got to get in 10-12 mile run. It'll bring my run mileage up to 40 miles for the week. I'm planning on getting a 2 hour massage on Sunday :)

Anyways ...... still lots of training to go. It's my white room.....

Cheers!

North Face Endurance 50 Ultra Run

The training continues ........ major focus is on the run. I've been nursing an "overuse" injury on my left achilles, so my training was more of a rest week, last week - only getting in 25 miles. Today was a very warm day to run mid 80's fall afternoon 12.6 mile run at an average speed of 8:45 mile. Walked all hills to take the strain off of the achilles. Felt really good, despite a very late night on the town with guests in town. Felt even better last night :).

I've got a busy week in front of me, travel, meetings, etc. the usual stuff. All is going well on the work and home front. Weight is 3-4 pounds over where I need to be come race day - but as they say - train heavy - race light. The interesting thing about 50 mile endurance races is that you actually want to go into the race a couple of pounds over a 70.3 IM. A 50 miler is like doing a full IM. The body takes one hell of a pounding.

Below is a picture of the Leadville Silver Rush 50 mile trail run. This was a very difficult track - at altitude. Hoping that San Fran track is easier. Thinking that it will be.







Gotta get my rest this week and goal is to get in 40-50 miles while working calves.

Cheers.....

Syracuse IM70.3 Results and North Face 50 ......

As predicted Syracuse IM 70.3 was a learning experience for the young bull. TP was able to put together a good race but not quite good enough to take down the old bull. It's all about the run.....


Out of 1,610 finishers on the day, I was able to place 442 overall. I had to dig out of a hole getting out of the water in 971st place with a time of 42:04 which is a 2:00 100M pace, my average in the pool. My PR is a 1:45 100M pace in Australia. I struggled during the T1 as I could not feel my hands or feet, numb from the swim. The water temps were lo 60's at best. I actually think that I was becoming hypothermic as my motor skills out of the water were lethargic.

On the bike I began climb back up the ranks with a 19.8 MPH pace on a hilly Syracuse landscape. It wasn't the hardest bike course, however it wasn't the easiest either. Top speed was a little over 52MPH on a misty 1/4 mile descent. With an overall time of 2:49 coming off the bike I was 476th overall and my T2 was brisk 1:46. Speaking of brisk, I never felt my toes on the bike as they did not thaw out from the swim. It actually was about at mile 4 or 5 on the run that I got back feeling in my feet, except for my last 4 toes on my left foot which remained numb the entire day.

With my ever unreliable spotter on the course attempting to provide me scouting advice on the young bull it looked like I was about about 35 minutes behind total time and clock time 23 minutes or so. Or at least that was my glycogen deficient calculation, which on my worst day is better than my ever unreliable spotter.

I came off the bike and ran the first 2 miles hot, which served me up a nice full abdomen set of cramps. This forced me to take very shallow breaths at which time I decided to walk and get my HR down and take deep breaths, pushing out my diaphragm to rid me of the cramps. It actually did the trick - a minute or two investment - paid dividends as I picked back up my pace. At mile 6ish my spotter told me that I was still 23 minutes behind the young bull - race time - not total time - which made no sense to me other than all I could think is that the young bull had decided to go for it early in the run. I was confident that if he was pursuing this strategy that he would inevitably blow up and be reduced to a slow walk at some point around mile 8 or 9 and I would surely catch him.

My strategy at mile 6 was simple - run as fast and as hard as I could without blowing up. 6 miles in the scheme of things was a 45 minute drill in my mind - and surely i could push it to the limit for 45 minutes. In the end I ran a 7:46 mile pace on a hilly run course that was touted as a flat or downhill course - which was absolute bullshit - Young bullshit!! My run place was 321 overall out of 1,610 finishers, top 20%, good but not great.

At the end of the day I finished at 5:22:47, while the young bull completed his first 70.3 in 5:38:45 - not bad for a swimmer. The weather conditions were overcast, light drizzle on the bike and overcast 60's low 70's on the run - perfect conditions for a good old fashion upstate NY ass whoopin!!

So like the song asks the question .......... Where do we go from here ..........? My answer San Francisco on another young bull hunt :)

Daley if you're reading this ........ you better be bringing you're A game to the North Face Endurance 50 mile Trail Race. This distance isn't for boys ......... there is a good deal of strategy involved. To boot, nutrition and mental discipline plays a major role. Go hard early, pay dearly for it late in the race ......... don't go hard enough you may not be able to make up the time to catch me ........... eat too little you'll create an unrecoverable glycogen deficit.............eat too much you'll get to see your nutrition on your shoes......a lot to consider. Having successfully completed the Silver Rush 50 Trail Race in Leadville at an average elevation of 11,000 feet I've gone the distance and have a good idea just how hard to push it.

Lot's to think about........and so little time.

Headed out for a run.......

Cheers!!!!

Youth vs Experience .......

In less than 5 days the inaugural Syracuse IM 70.3 will start. Based upon the wave start I'm expecting to be getting in the water about 25 minutes or so after TP, a young and inexperienced triathlete. This is TP's first go at this distance race. It'll be interesting to see how hard that he goes out on the swim and then on the bike. Fortunately I will know his time when he exits the water as well as at the mid point on the bike course as I will have my scouts keeping track of his pace so i know just how hard to push on the bike.

I'm expecting TP to go hard in the water and on the bike as this is the only place that he will have a prayer in putting any distance between us. My goal is not to beat his time but instead to catch him on the run. This means that I will most likely have to close a 35 minute gap coming out of the swim. I should be able to pick up 2 minutes in transition and 5-8 minutes on the bike, leaving me 25-28 minutes on the run to make up. With an expected 7 min/mile pace I should catch him in the last 2 miles of the run. My bet is that he pushes way too hard on the swim and even harder on the bike in the early stage that will create a glycogen deficit that will cost him dearly on the run. I'm thinking that he'll average a 9:30 mile on the run, with the lactic acid build up in his quads :)

Despite the fact that I am under trained on both the bike and swim I'm still most confident that my deliberate pace and careful attention to my nutrition and heart rate will deliver me to the tape before my young competitor. Last fall, In Canada, my 27 year old buddy that I train with thought that he could take me and I beat him by more than 30 minutes and he had a few races under his belt and was trained up for the course.

Sunday will be a very fun day................... for the old bull.

Cheers!

2 weeks till IM Syracuse 70.3

Since IM Lanzarote I've only been on the bike 3X and 4X in the water. With a focus on trail running, my legs are very strong from running at altitude long distances over very very hilly terrain. I had my first "long" bike ride yesterday, clicking out 50 miles in about 2:40 minutes on a tough track, steep climbs and windy conditions, as well as heat in the 80's. I wasn't the least bit fatigued when I got off of the bike, felt good. My HR averaged about 130BPM and my lungs were good, although I'm still a bit congested - not sure what the deal is there.

This morning I swam with my Excel triathlete training group in a 50 meter wave pool for 1.5 hours. I can say that I was a little tired from the swim - or maybe from all of the beer that I drank last night at Carla's gig - most likely the latter. It was a good way for me to start my day. I'm heading out shortly on my bike to Prairie life to work my core and hit the tread mill for a couple of miles. I haven't run but once since Leadville as I'm nursing a pretty serious IT band problem. I've been doing my stretches twice a day as well as hip strengthening exercises that Daley Ervin provided to me. The good news is that I did not feel it all on the bike yesterday. We'll see how it goes tonight. I'm not really planning on doing much running at all between now and IM Syracuse 70.3. Speed work may deliver me a set back with my IT band so i'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that I can put together a good run on race day. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do a 1:30 1/2 marathon, unless my IT band acts up.

With just two weeks to go I'm going to focus on the bike and swim. Need a 35 minute swim and be out of T1 in 40 minutes. Should be able to put up a 2:50 bike time and T2 transition of 2 minutes and with a 1:30 run I'll be cutting it close to a sub 5 hour time. The math always looks easy - however - it's a different computation on race day. A flat or drafting penalty could derail any plans and the bike ride is always a guess. Could be a 3 hour bike from the looks of the website.

Till then - I will train hard and will not have any meaningful taper going into the race. A taper seams rather silly after Leadville. A 5 hour day pales in comparison to 18+ hours of running 2 weeks ago. So as I always say......go big or stay home!!

Cheers!

PS - Enjo the pics from Leadville.