Redefining the Grind

2012 JFK 50 Mile Race Report

Grinding down the towpath.

Perspective is a strange thing.  Case in point, I just ran 5:45 at this year's 50th running of the JFK 50 Mile. That is the 5th fastest time in race history.  It would have been a new course record in the first 48 editions of the race.  Sounds like I have a lot to be excited about right?  Well, I am - sort of - but my perspective tempers my excitement.  It just didn't feel like I ran very fast last Saturday.

First of all, I ran 5 minutes slower than last year.  Granted, that was one of those phenomenal races where everything just comes together perfectly.  It's not realistic to think every race could be that way, but it's hard to forget how that felt.  Secondly, I came in third place this year.  It's even more difficult to feel great when you watch 2 guys roll by you effortlessly and know you won't be seeing them again until the finish line.

So the best description of how I feel about my race is that it felt like a Grind.  I never felt particularly good or fast, I just gutted it out and never gave up even though I didn't feel smooth early.  But I am proud of myself for grinding it out.  Especially after a DNF at UROC six weeks ago and the ensuing injury that hampered my training since, I really needed a solid race.  I knew my training hadn't been perfect, and I wasn't quite in the same form as last year, but JFK gave me a chance to learn how strong I am - mentally as much or more than physically.  

Here are a few more highlights from the race:

Max and I ran relatively close together for a good portion of the Appalachian Trail.  I think he was content just to sit a few seconds back, being careful not to make a mistake, and just wait for the towpath.  My legs felt relatively good on the AT.  I was a minute or so faster hitting the towpath after being slower to the trailhead at the start, so I ran the technical section a good bit faster than last year.  It's fairly apparent where my training has been focused the last six months, and I was very strong on the rocky trail because of that focus.

The grinding really began when I hit the towpath.  Max passed me within a mile and was gone.  Last year I was consciously holding myself back to keep from running sub 6:30 pace early, whereas this year I didn't feel smooth running sub 6:40 and the legs began aching early.  My lack of fast, flat long runs over the last 6 months was very apparent.

My nutrition situation has been a problem most of the year, and this race was no exception.  I dropped out of UROC largely due to stomach problems, and because of my injury, I wasn't able to practice a new nutrition strategy between then and JFK.  But something had to change, so I went ahead with my untested strategy which consisted of only drinking GU Roctane...no gels.  I had the occasional pretzel, a couple swallows of Coke, and a few salt tabs, but other than that it was just the high-calorie Roctane drink.  Clearly I survived following this plan, but the stomach definitely could have felt better.  I need to continue tweaking and practicing my nutrition plan, but I imagine this will be my biggest weakness for some time to come.

Max King and Trent Briney just raised the bar and redefined what is humanly possible on that course.  I have my work cut out for me if I want to challenge their times next year.

That's a pretty solid top 10 group of guys.

So what now?  To be honest, I'm not sure.  I didn't earn an entry into Western States, so that doesn't look like a real high possibility for June.  I'm tossing around a few ideas though.  I know I'm going to focus on the World 100k that will be run in South Korea next October.  This spring I think I could go two ways.  I could train to run a fast, flat 100 miler.  Or I could go back to real road marathon training and see what I'm capable of now.  The road marathon speed would serve me well next fall at World 100k and if I decide to run JFK again.

First though, I'm going to take a few weeks, get everything healthy, and enjoy the holidays.  I hope you do the same.

King, Riddle and Clifton.  19 years of the JFK course record.

Uncharted Territory

I have been incredibly fortunate to have avoided a serious injury throughout my competitive running career. For the last month though, I have been struggling to keep a relatively minor injury from snowballing into something more serious.  The issue is a bit of tendonitis that I think was triggered by a stone bruise that I picked up at UROC.  

Stone bruise from UROC.

The strange thing is that the tendonitis is in a quite different spot than the bruise is the picture above.  The pain is actually on the front of my shin, just above the ankle.  My unprofessional opinion is that all symptoms point to anterior tibialis tendonitis.  That tendon attaches to a bone in the arch right where I got the stone bruise.  I ran for more than a week after UROC with zero pain.  The spot on my arch was tender to touch, but not to run.  But, I think the trauma to that attachment point caused the muscle and tendon to tighten down in an attempt to protect itself.  I ran way too long a week after UROC (but felt really good doing it), and then I felt the tendon above my ankle give way after a Tuesday night track workout a few days later.

Arrow shows where it  hurts now.

I didn't think much of it when it first happened.  I thought it would heal quickly like other nuisance injuries I've had before.  But this hurt pretty good - even just to walk.  I ran real easy and short on it for a few days, and when it started to feel better, I went longer and harder.  That was a mistake.  I made that mistake about 3 times before I figured out that I had to let it get all the way better.

You may have heard that I ran a consecutive day running streak.  I don't like talking about it anymore, because I don't think it's all that healthy, and I really wouldn't recommend starting one to anyone I was coaching.  In periods of low motivation, the streak can be very encouraging, but it's going to be very difficult for me to break off.  So of course, I still ran every day through this injury.  The sad part is that it most likely would have healed faster if I had taken just a week completely off.  Let that be a lesson if you're ever in a similar situation.

Anyway, I finally backed off enough that it got better.  I think I'm about 95% right now and running with no pain again.  I was able to go 20 miles at a nice clip yesterday.  That was the first time in a month I could have finished that run.  

I'm still planning to race JFK, and being less than 2 weeks out now, I don't have the time to hammer myself to make up for lost training (<<another thing I don't recommend).  The good news is that legs should be pretty fresh.  And while I don't think I lost a ton of fitness in the last month, I don't think I'm quite as tuned for JFK like I was last year when I spent all summer and fall training for flat an fast ultras (World 100k and JFK).  I'm most worried about the legs just being a little flat since I haven't been able to exercise them like I normally would.  

I just hope I can keep it interesting this year.  Max King should be the clear favorite to win.  Zach Bitter and myself will probably be duking it out for 2nd place.  I haven't heard of any other top men, but you never know who might show up.  Ellie Greenwood will be there and she'll overshadow us all.

In other news, I'll be heading to a trail running camp sponsored by Team RWB next weekend down in Texas. The camp is targeted at veterans and is aligned with Team RWB's goal of helping to re-integrate soldiers returning from deployment back into civilian life.  Endurance sports is one of the primary tools that the group uses to achieve that goal.  I will be there serving as a coach and mentor along with a bunch of other accomplished trail runners.  It's going to be a great way for me to give a little back to our veterans by sharing my passion for the trails.  I'm sure it will be a lot of fun as well.

That's all for now.  I'll try to keep you up-to-date over the next couple weeks via Twitter (@rundavid1), but I kind of doubt I'll have cell reception down in Texas.

UROC Not So Much

In some ways it's almost easier to blog about my bad races than my good ones. It's been especially tough just getting a post started lately. Although I don't really want to talk about it, I have plenty to say about UROC 100k. So let's get this over with.

It was a lonely day even when I was running with Mackey. (photo by Gill)

The short story is that I got sick to my stomach and puked around mile 18 for some unknown reason. Although I've struggled for the past year or so to get my gels down, I have actually never thrown up as a result of running. Pretty impressive since I've been racing at some level for 18 years. I got close at Western States, but recovered relatively well. The same can't be said about UROC. I felt better briefly after I got sick, but continued to feel that if I looked at another gel that I'd puke again. So I only ate one more gel the rest of the race. Pretzels and saltines tasted good and settled my stomach but I wasn't eating enough to keep me going. I was still drinking OK, but again, not enough calories. I kept moving forward hoping that I would turn the corner and start feeling better. But it never happened and the legs basically shut down around mile 40.  I dropped at mile 44.3 as recorded by my Suunto Ambit.

I was pretty content with my decision to drop at the time because I was in a good deal of pain and didn't want to risk tearing my body up. Of course, now that I feel better, I am second guessing myself. You always feel like you could pushed a little harder after the race don't you?

An early smile. Wish it had lasted. (photo by iRunFar.com)

My legs actually felt really good early in the race. I was pleasantly surprised as I felt like I was climbing well without over-extending myself. I have been working on my climbing lately. I wasn't well prepared for the downhills, however, and first three miles of the race were straight down. Although I was trailing off the lead pack of elites, I still probably went too hard. I latched onto Nick Clark for the first big climb and was pleased that I was beginning to get the hang of the short, choppy, climbing stride that just 6 months ago was not in my repertoire. But on the road descent out of Wintergreen I left Nick and descended too quickly trying to catch up to Dave Mackey.  I caught him, but then I got sick.

Elevation profile from my Suunto Ambit.

I was actually in the lead when I got sick, but only because Max King and Sage Canaday had missed a turn earlier and gone off course for a few minutes.  They caught Mackey and I around mile 20 I think.  The 4 of us ran together for a couple miles, but eventually I started to trail off.  And then when we got back on the road again, Max split the pack wide open.  Max ended up running an incredible race.  It probably won't happen because of what Olson ran at Western States, but his performance should be seriously considered for ultra performance of the year.

I came into the race mentally prepared for 7,000-7,500ft of climb and an equal amount of descent.  I heard there was more than that last year, but I assumed the course had been altered since that was the number reported on the race website.  When I stopped at mile 44, I had 7400ft of climb already on the Ambit which is very accurate because it uses a barometric altimeter.  My buddy Jorge Maravilla who finished the race (3rd) with an Ambit on his wrist recorded 10,600ft of climb.  Granted, some last minute course changes had to be made, but that amount of climb takes it out of the "race that favors no one" category.  Sure there was a lot of road, but hardly any flat road.  I definitely wasn't as prepared as I could have been for the descents.  I think my quads and IT bands took more abuse from UROC than Western States.  But, overall I am nowhere near as locked down as I was after WS100, and will recover much more quickly.

But, my main problem is my nutrition.  I have got to figure out how to eat in a race or there isn't much point in me going longer than 50k.  Unfortunately, it seems to be a problem that is getting worse and not better.  I've got some ideas that I'm planning to try, but I'm certainly open to suggestions.  I think gels are out of the question for the time being.  I found chicken noodle soup worked well at Western States, but it's slow, inconvenient, and probably impractical for anything less than 100 miles.

I don't mind making it hurt when I run, but it's just not fun when I feel sick.

Picked up a pretty nice stone bruise early in the race.

It's Fall and I'm Ready to ROC

I commented on twitter a few days ago that the summer to fall transition is my favorite change in seasons.  I think the actual fall season itself may be my favorite, but that one is a little harder to say for sure.  I love the way I feel when running as the temperatures start to drop, the air dries out, and the leaves begin to color.  It makes perfect sense then that I would be ready to return to serious ultra racing this fall after laying low for most of the summer.

I've been running consistently since Western States, but my mileage was down for a while and then I focused on regaining some leg speed.  In August I ran a 2:06 800m solo time trial on the track, a 15:37 5k on the roads, and then had a solid showing at the Hood to Coast relay.  I struggled for a short time as I tried to return to full ultra training too quickly and didn't allow my body enough time to adjust to the different workouts.  Much of that had to do with the late summer heat and humidity, but I've run much better the last couple weeks as the weather has moderated.  I touched 100 miles the last two weeks including a couple solid speed workouts and fast long runs.  Everything seems to be right now track now.

Now I'm doing a quick taper in preparation for the Ultra Race of Champions.  The race is a 100k this Saturday (September 29) near Charlottesville, VA.  The course has a good mix of trail and road sections, much of it on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.  I really like the setup of the race which is by design so that no one style of ultra runner if favored by the course.  The 100k distance will be a challenge for the faster 50k specialists, but a little short for the 100 mile pros.  With 7,500ft of elevation gain, it probably wouldn't be considered a mountain ultra, but it's enough to make it interesting for the mountain guys and gals.  The combination of road and technical single track trail will also further balance the field out.  I see it as a race that favors no one and it is really wide open.

The competition: I realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record.  It seems like every ultra I enter is the new most competitive event that I've been in, and this one is no different.  James Russell Gill and Francesca Conte have really worked hard to assemble a stellar field which will be competing for the $5000 first place prize.  Allow me a moment to name drop some of the entrants: Dave Mackey, Geoff Roes, Nick Clark, Max King, Sage Canaday, Ian Sharman, Dave James, Jordan McDougall, Jorge Maravilla, Shinji Nakadai, Dominic Grossman, Scott Jaime, Jason Loutitt and Todd Braje.  (I hear that Wardian and Adam Campbell are both out due to injury, and I don't believe Roes is healthy either.)  I don't know as much about the women's field, but Ellie Greenwood is entered and should be the one to beat.  Last year's winner Ragan Petrie, will be returning to defend her title from other contenders like Liza Howard, Joelle Vaught, Verity Breen and Tina Lewis.

I think there are 10 guys on the men's side that have a legitimate chance to win.  It just depends on who's in shape and who has their best day.  Everyone will have a weakness on this course and the guy who minimizes his losses will come out on top.

I'm excited about returning to racing and looking forward to running in the Appalachians this time of the year. I'm fit and confident, but so is the competition.  I'm also happy that our sport is growing and very few races are a foregone conclusion anymore.  I think this will make ultra running more exciting for the spectators and more of a challenge for the competitors.

One final note.  UROC is setting up some interviews with the elite runners on Friday afternoon and then a panel discussion Friday night.  If you have some questions for me or anyone else, you can submit them on UROC's facebook page.  

My Offseason

Hello again. I'm back. I know it's been a while. Since Western States, almost 2 months ago now, I've taken a little down time from running as well as blogging and twittering and such. The occasional mental and physical break from running is a good thing, and my online presence just kind of naturally followed suit.

So, yeah, I guess you could consider the last couple months my "offseason." I know that may sound odd to some of you, especially those who mostly stick to the mountain trails. It seems that many ultrarunners – in particular trail ultrarunners – view the summer as the heart of the racing season. This makes a lot of sense if you live at altitude or run up high in the mountains. The snow has melted, the temperatures are comfortable, the wild flowers are blooming, and the views are spectacular. But having lived in the South and Midwest all of my life, summer is not really the ideal time of year for racing on the trails. Most of our trails have become overgrown and irritating, the weather can be oppressively hot and humid, and so naturally, there just aren't many good races nearby this time of year. So while others are peaking for their prime races of the year, I’m resetting and looking forward to the start of a new racing season.

With the IAU World Championship 100k (race report) and Western States (race report) runs having taken place relatively close together, this summer was also just a logical place to take some time for recovery. Being my first 100 miler, I wasn’t sure how Western States would affect me, so I didn’t want to plan any big events races soon afterward. I still have been running every day, but the volume has been lower than normal, and there really wasn't a specific training plan. I took a little more than two weeks after WS100 of just easy running, but toward the end of that period, I began pushing my easy runs again simply because my legs wanted to run fast. This is how I know I’m recovered and ready to roll again. I have no problem taking more downtime if needed, but I feel recovered and the desire is there. I want to run, so why not?

So how do I restart a training cycle? Many of the training systems that I have read about and learned from coaches I’ve had in the past started with a high-volume base phase early in a training cycle. In subsequent phases, you would gradually run more faster workouts culminating with a sharpening or peak phase. Since I began focusing more on ultramarathons, I’ve sort of turned that idea on its head. I like to start a new training cycle with the short, fast stuff and then work into the longer stuff later. I spend so much time doing “base” work when preparing for a big ultra, I feel the need to touch up on my leg speed in between training cycles. Plus, it’s just fun to get on the track and crank out quarters occasionally when all you’ve been doing is running slow. Variety is a good thing. But you have to be careful when switching the focus. Jumping from a 100 mile race to 200s on the track can be tough on the body, so it may not be a good idea for everyone. And I always recommend listening to your body first and foremost.

As if I needed any more motivation, a friend of mine challenged me to an 800m race during my offseason speed phase. Long story short, he never was able to race me, but I was so set on doing it that I went ahead and ran the 800 solo as a time trial.  2:06.1. I'll admit it, I'm pretty proud that I can still run that fast when required. That was a couple of weeks ago now, and I have since moved on to longer intervals like mile repeats.

After a couple good track workouts of the longer intervals, I decided that I was ready to jump in a local 5k this weekend just for fun. Fun meaning no pressure, not that I wasn't going to run hard. So yesterday, I went 15:37 for 3rd place on a rolling road course with weather conditions being quite good for August. After a 10 minute break, I added a little more quality to the workout doing 2 more 5k's right around 17 minutes each with 5 minutes rest in between. All of that was followed by another 6 miles at JFK race pace. Today I returned to the trails and did 19 miles in 2:40. My legs were definitely a touch sore, but I could have felt a lot worse. My energy levels felt good for about 2 hours,  but then I started feeling a little weak ... kind of like how you feel toward the end of an ultra. And I'm really pleased to hit 95 miles this week with that kind of quality.

These guys actually make really good road racing flats. Ran the 5k and 800 in them.

So hopefully that gives you some idea of what I do in my "offseason" and what kind of shape I'm taking into this fall. I expect you'll be hearing from me more frequently as my racing season heats up. I'm starting it off next weekend with a really fun event, the Hood to Coast relay in Portland. I'll be running with the GE corporate team (GE Meatballs) like I did 2 years ago. This is just a super-fun event and a great opportunity to visit the West Coast even if it's not for an ultra. From there, I'll be setting my sights on UROC 100k in Virginia on September 29th. That's shaping up to be another hyper-competitive ultra and I'm really excited to see what I can do on the course that favors no one.