NorthFace 50 mile Trail Run - Bear Mt

Getting ready to run my way into "race shape" at Bear Mountain State Park, NY North Face 50 mile trail run. Looking like a mild day. Current temps at 46F. Sunny with a high of 70F. 

Life is good.

Cheers!!

Bandera 100k Results

They say that Bandera Texas is where all rocks go to die.  I can confirm that this is actually a fact.  If you could create the perfect environment for a reptile, then Bandera Texas would be the result.   They call this part of Texas "Hill Country", which i think is a misprint from its pioneer founders. The "i" used to be an "e" and for marketing purposes they simply created a typo.  It is a God forsaken place on earth, unless of course you are a snake, scorpion, lizard or an ultra runner looking to get your rocks off....which from the looks of it many have.

The course is a 50k, 2 loop track across a very rugged terrain that is designed to beat the average ultra runner down.   It is a Western States qualifying race if you can complete it in under 16 hours.  I'm guessing that there were about 200+ runners that lined up for the 7:30am start.  It was a chilly 45-50F but quickly warmed up as the sun climbed up over the hills and into the sky. 

Pre Race Pic Looking Fresh

Ken and Nancy Cales came in from CO and Francisco drove up from McAllen TX and was met by a friend, Deon Bez, that crewed for us...thankfully!  It was nice to see the fellow Leadville finishers for an early season race.   It was Ken's 50th birthday so I gave him the appropriate 50th smack on the ass as I ran by him. 

The course had 5 aid stations that were well manned and outfitted with great food.  As the sun was setting and the temperatures dropped, the aid stations fired up grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas along Ramon noodle soup.   The volunteers were outstanding and the race was really well run.  

How many Rocks Do You See?

Much of the course was a challenge to actually run due to the unstable footing.  After the first 10 or so miles I started to get use to terrain and was able to zig zag the trails avoiding the gazillion rocks on the course.  The competitors were very friendly and I found that most of them had run the course in prior years.   They all said that they swore off this race after they had finished but subsequently signed up again.  This is the sign of a really challenging course.  It keeps the crazies coming back for more.  

It was a blue sky day, not a cloud to be found.  The temps punctured the 70F ceiling which felt great.  It made for a very comfortable run.  After the sun had set the temps dropped like a rock into the high 30's and 40's.  Throughout the evening, there were warm and cold pockets of air to be found out on the trails.  Thankfully there were more warm than cold.  It was a 3/4 moon which lit up the desert landscape accompanied by a galaxy of stars.  My headlamp died with about 7 miles to go in the race which turned out to be pretty cool as the moon and stars provided more than ample light to see the trail and all of its traps. 

Tough Trails.......

I walked the last 5+ miles of the race by myself stopping occasionally to check out the landscape, moon and stars.  The owls were hooting and the coyotes were yipping and crying confusing their prey....which I was hoping that I was not. 

Cool Bad Ass Buckle!

At about 15 hours and 46 minutes I crossed the finish line to be greeted by the race organizer, Tom, along with some volunteers.  I was given a Bandera 100k belt buckle for finishing, which is pretty damn cool.  In addition, I qualified for the Western States for 2015 for finishing under 16 hours, despite the fact that I walked the last 5+ miles.  

Nancy and Ken crossed the finish line around 17 hours, while Francisco came in about 45 minutes later.  I was very proud that we all were able to finish this challenging course.




This race is officially in the record books and quite pleased with the overall results.  I'm working on the next early season race, which has yet to be determined.  I really enjoy the 50 mile distance and thinking that I'll try to focus on those in an attempt to build miles leading into the mid season 100 milers.

Cheers!

PT

Year End Review

Another racing season has come to an end. 2013 was a pretty busy and productive year.  While I never really raced with great speed, I did endure and managed to complete some very challenging races and distances.

The major races of 2013 were as follows:

1.  The Leadman

2.  Music City Marathon(actually 40 miles)

3.  Summer Death Race

4.  Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile Trail Run

5.  Ironman Lake Placid

6.  Leadville 100 Trail Run

7.  Cascade Crest - DNF at mile 63

8.  Javelina Jundred Mile Trail Run

These races by any standard are really hard and require a combination of being fit mentally and physically.  So what does 2014 have in store??

Here's what it looks like so far with races on the schedule in 2014:

1.  Bandera 100k
2.  Big Horn 100
3.  Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile Trail Run
4.  Leadville 100
5.  Ironman Louisville
6.  Ironman Florida

I've signed up for the Summer Death Race as well but most likely going to be taking a pass this year.  In addition, Daley and I have officially signed up for the Dec 2015 Atlantic Challenge which is going to require a significant amount of planning and work.

Tomorrow, meeting up with Fancisco, Ken and Nancy and giving the Bandera 100k some hell....Cheers!

PT

Javelina 100 Results

There is no such thing as an easy 100 mile trail run. Attempting this distance is considered by most to be off the hook.  Even if the entire distance was run downhill it would still probably only have a 50% finishing rate.  To date I have attempted Leadville 3 times and finished twice.  I was blanked at Rocky Raccoon as well as the Plain 100.  So going into the Javelina Jundred I was 2 for 5 which is a 40% finishing rate, about the average. The thought of being average is why I run the 100 mile distance, who wants to be average.  Hell, I'm 3 for 3 in the Spartan Death Races which is a spot reserved for those that are multiple standard deviations from the mean, which I don't consider myself either.  So my goal at the JJ 100 was to be anything but average.  Mission accomplished!

And that's all I have to say!!!

I arrived in Phoenix via Nashville on Friday morning to be greeted by Greg Unger, my crew for the race.   Greg suppose to have run but had to opt out due to a foot injury.  We rented an RV for the race and stayed at the race site, 50 yards from the race start/finish line....a smart move.  We got to bed at about 8PM and got up at 5:15AM.  This was probably the best/most rest that I've ever gotten before a race of this nature.  

The gun went off at 6AM and we had 30 hours to complete the 101.9 mile distance.  It was a 7 loop course through the desert, just north of Phoenix.  The weather was beautiful.  At the race start the temps were mild in the high 50's, low 60's.  The first loop was crowded and my goal was to just try to run a 9:30/mile which I did with relative ease.  The next couple of loops I managed to do the same, which set me up to be several hours in front of any of the generous cut off times.

The temperatures reached a heat index north of 100F during the afternoon, which caused me to load up with the camel bak 100 oz of water, which I was able to suck down and stayed hydrated throughout the afternoon during my run walk routine.  This was a pretty smart strategy as the body loses more than 30 oz of fluid during the periods of intense heat and you cannot replenish it any faster than that as the kidneys have a processing capacity constraint.  With that being said, I slowed down, took in a ton of water and was positioning myself for the nighttime.

At the junction point of the loop I would be greeted at the turnaround by Greg and his girlfriend, who kicked ass for me.  Without their support at the turnaround I would not have finished the race.  They loaded me up with gatorade at each turn as well as cheese sandwiches...yep cheese sandwiches...it did the trick...lots of fat and protein as well as carbs that offered a slow burn.  Surprisingly I did not have one hammer gel and only one shot block.  I tried to avoid surviving on the simple sugars, which create epic peaks as well as epic valleys.  At each aid station I would generally load up on water, potato chips (again high in fat and sodium) and chocolate chips cookies.  The key learning for this race was that a protein and fat rich nutrition carried the day

Another of Life's First.....

At Mile 60 I picked up Timmy as a pacer to take on the toughest miles of the course and during the toughest hours of the evening.  I think it must've been around 8PM ish before picking up Timmy at the beginning of loop 5. The temps had cooled down into the 70's and then 60's for most of the evening.  Not getting chilled was very beneficial.  The only real run in with any wild life during the race was a tarantula in the middle of the trail...yuk...do not like spiders.

Greg...You are the Man!

The course was sandy for the most part with some stretches that were a little more technical.  Timmy jacked up his ankle somewhere on the first loop which exacerbated  itself of the following loop.  On Sunday morning at about mile 88 I had to leave Timmy at the aid station while I pushed on to get to the turnaround and fuel up for the final 10 mile loop.  Timmy made into the turnaround while Greg and his girlfriend refueled.  She ended up pacing me for the final 10 miles.  Timmy got me through the most difficult stretch of the race, for which I am very thankful.  It is during that stretch of the race, mile 70-88, that is unbelievably difficult.  You are tired, sleep deprived, stumbling through the night just simply trying to make it to day break.  When the sun comes up and hits your face it breathes life back into your legs as well as your determined spirit.


The last loop I was forced to a walk only mode.  The miles had taken its toll on my left foot.  More specifically my left big toe, where it connects to your foot was beat up.  It felt like it was broken and I limped my way through the final miles to be greeted by Greg at mile 101 to be escorted in for the last .9 miles. 

BAM!!!  Got the Buckle....

It's always so hard to explain to people the rush and sense of accomplishment that you get when you complete a race of this distance so I wont even try.  I can only say that I am now 3 for 6 or batting 500 for the 100 mile distance.  It makes sense.  Each time I enter one of these races, it's always a toss of the coin as to whether you finish or not.  It's never guaranteed.  It's always about one simple word Perseverance.   I am a firm believer that if you just stick with it and NEVER GIVE UP that you will succeed.  This concept transcends all parts of life, which I try hard to practice.  But like a 100 mile race, there are no guarantees.

I am taking the rest of the year off to get ready for the 2014 racing season as well as begin getting organized for the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge in Dec 2015.

Cheers!

The Javelina Jundred

They say that it's not good to overtrain going into a big race, well I've got that box checked unless of course one considers spending the week before in New Orleans and getting 4-5 hours a sleep per night training.

After getting shut down at mile 63 at the Plain 100 four weeks ago in the Cascades I simply had to sign up for another race to redeem myself.  This will be my 3rd 100 miler this year.  So far I'm 1-1 and fully expect to exit the season 2-1.  

The weather in Phoenix will be 92F to 65F with clear skies and 0% chance of rain.  A hot race, which I prefer.  Not a fan of the cold, especially at night when you're fatigued and moving slowly. 

I've got a race veteran Greg Unger and race newby Timmy Picciott that will be my crew/pacing team.  It's going to be an interesting race in the desert, a 1st for me.  

I've got quite a few reasons to be racing this weekend.  Many reasons not to feel too sorry for myself when I hit the epic lows of a 100 mile trail run.  I look forward to the suffering and the mental games that will ensue, it is my medicine. I have many reasons to make it to the finish line on Sunday morning.  

The gun goes off at 6AM MST tomorrow, Saturday October 26, 2013. 

Cheers!

The Plain 100 Race Results....100k completed, not 100 Miles...

The Cascade Mountains

It's been quite some time since my last blog. I attempted the Plain 100 in The Cascade Mountains of Washington State.  The race was about 5 weeks after the Leadville 100 trail run.  I felt pretty good going into the race.  Arriving at 10PM the evening before to register was probably not the best way to prepare the day before such a race.

Race HQ - Night before start

Hmmm...which way?

This race I would characterize as an Ultra's "ultra" race course.  It's deceivingly difficult.   When you look at the course profile there are really no knock out punches like you have at Leadville or UTMB.  There is one major climb in the first 63 mile lollipop loop, however, it's not very steep, relatively speaking.  The layout of the course and trail surfaces are what slowly delivers continuous body blows.   You don't realize that it's happening during the first 10-20 miles.  However, when you reach the 30-40 mile stretch it dawns on you that the long descents and narrow concave trails are mercilessly punishing the legs.  By the time you reach around 50 miles you realize that this course was designed to break you down. 

Beautiful views....

Mountain Lakes...

At mile 50ish there was a long and very rocky descent.  I struggled to run as my quads were just simply shot.  I'm not sure if I had not recovered fully from Leadville or it was the trail design or probably the combination of both that left my legs unable to run the descents...even with my trekking poles.  

By mile 60 it was around midnight and I was deep in the Cascade mts, not having seen another one of the 27 runners for many many hours.  It was nearly a full moon and I thought that I was lost as by mile 60 I was suppose to have reached the end of the first lollipop loop where I had my drop bags.  The weather was perfect and the evening air temps were in the low 60's.  

Post race reboot of when garmin died

Nice trail...a minority

My Garmin watch was out of juice at mile 60 so I decided to sit down on the single track and lean up against the side of the mt with my legs outstretched across the trail.  I turned off my headlamp and moon came out from behind the clouds and lit up the sky.  Somewhere down below me I could hear the river roaring and I fell asleep.  It must've been 10 minutes before I awoke to the feeling that I wasn't alone.  My initial fear was that there was a mt lion somewhere in the darkness that had been tracking me as I walked the trails in the dark.  Big cats always feed around the cycle of a full moon.  To add to my paranoia the mountain area that I was in was nicknamed Cougar Pass, not good.   With my headlamp off and consciously not moving my head I  clicked my eyeballs to the left and right trying to survey the area without making any movements whatsoever.  To my right at about 30 paces was a very shiny black coat that I instantly recognized.   It was a black bear on the single track trail...not good.   

It's very interesting how you can go from being completely exhausted and passing out on the side of a mt trail with a heart rate of about 47BPM to 180BPM in the matter of about 2 seconds.  I slowly reached over and grabbed my trekking poles and clicked them together a fee times to let the bear know that I was there as I slowly stood up.  This big old black bear spun his big old fat ass around and scampered down the trail away from me.  Catastrophe averted!  

Now that I was fully awake I couldn't recall what direction that I was going in or had come from.  I flipped back on the headlamp and got down on all fours and crawled down the trail looking for foot prints.  I could see from the prints in the dirt trail that I had come from the direction in which the bear wasn't going. Yes, so this meant that I had to go in the same direction as the bear had gone.  At about this same time I saw a a headlamp coming through the woods so i bravely decided to wait.  It was a fellow ultra runner that was having a tough go as well.   We walked the trail for the next hour or so and then two more runners caught up with us.  They informed us that we were at mile 62 and only had about 1 mile to go before reaching and completing the first loop.   We were calculation that we would be arriving at mile 63 around 1-1:30AM. The race had begun at 6AM so we'd been going for about 21 hours by now.   I tried really hard to run the last mile which was a soft descent without much luck.  I had mentally thrown in the towel.  My plan was to get to mile 70, because from there it's mostly downhill to the finish at mile 107.  The problem was that I was physically unable to run the descents.  

Drop site the next am when I woke
up in my car after a few hours of sleep

At the drop bag site there was volunteers that were making the best damn grilled cheese sandwiches on the planet.  I sat down with 5 other runners, 2 of which had called it quits.  The volunteers urged me to rest up for 15 minutes and joking the 3 other runners that were going to head out on the second lollipop loop around 1:30AM. From my quick math I had computed that there was no way in hell that I could complete the remaining 44 miles before the cutoff.  I would easily make the next cutoff and potentially the following one but there was no way I could reach the 6PM cutoff on Sunday.  I had already badly punished my body and decided to live to fight another day.  

I chuckled at the 63 mile checkpoint knowing that the race organizers knew what this course does to ultra runners.  It's a very sneaky hard course.  By mid Sunday afternoon I was back in Seattle sitting at a restaurant overlooking the bay gulping down clam chowder and devouring oysters and salmon.  The rain had moved in and it confirmed my decision to drop.  By the second glass of wine I was pissed about dropping and getting beat by this course.  I made a vow that I'd be back next year to tackle this course.  I'll have the benefit of running the first loop and will prepare/train accordingly.  

Nice runners on the trail...he dnf'd
she finished!

Legs beat up....

I believe that there was 10 people that finished the Plain 100 this year, which is actually a high finishing rate, most likely due to the great weather for most of the race.  

Lots of good learnings from the race, most of which time has allowed me to forget until I am deep into my next 100 mile adventure....which is the Javelina 100 on 10/26 in the deserts outside of Phoenix, AZ.  

Living to fight another day.......selfie

Cheers!

The Plain 100...

The Plain 100 takes place up in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.  It's a 107 mile trail course, with about 21,000 feet of climb that has a 36 hour cut off.  This year there will be about 25-30 runners for the event.  It is 100% self supported.  No pacers.  No crew.  No aid stations.  We get a drop bag at mile 60 only.  The trails are not so well marked and navigating the course can be an issue.

More to follow......PT