Old Man Still running

6 on the road and 10 on the South side of Lake Mountain.  Found yet another new road.  This one stayed on a south facing slope on top of ridges and was mostly dry from any snow or mud.  At 6,200 feet it looks like it disappears, probably a hunter's trail.  It was pretty steep towards the end.

Six on the pavement and seven on the treadmill.  Pretty nice outside this morning. Five more during lunch. p.m. five miles with the dog on pavement.

a.m. Treadmill. p.m. Treadmill

Treadmill with 5% incline.  Some big miles this week but feeling very good, not a big deal.  Thankful that I have no injuries right not that lets me train like this.  You really miss it when injuries get in the way.

p.m. 8 with the dog.   I'll probably go do the Antelope Island training run tomorrow.  Anyone else going?

Antelope Island today was like a Utah/Idaho trailrunner convention.  The trails were filled with runners, most who are getting some final training in on the Island before the Buffalo Run when 750+ runners will maroon themselves on the island in a couple weeks to run like crazy.

I was the first to arrive.  The automatic timer on the island gate swung open at 5:30 a.m. and I parked at the parking lot on the Great Salt Lake shore.   I wanted to get some extra miles in before most runner arrived so I ran across the long 7-mile causeway and back, and nice easy tempo run to get my feet moving.  It was great fun to see dawn arrive far out on the lake.  I returned at 7:45 a.m. with just enough time to change, eat, and get ready for some trail running.

Lots of runners showed up by 8:00 a.m. and we caravaned out to the Buffalo Run starting time.   Jim Skaggs explained the suggested route for the day and we took off.  After a mile or so, once we hit the single track, I told buddy Mike Place that it was time to kick it in.  We started to fly ahead of the pack.  My legs just loved to be running on soft single-track again.  Our pace for the rest of that first loop was pretty fast.  I stopped for a bathroom break and Mike took the lead.  He kept the pace going.  I kept him in my sights but at times we were doing sub 7-minute pace.  It was great fun.

Back at our cars, we prepared for the main event, the big 18-mile loop that will begin the real race in a few weeks.   We continued to push it pretty well.  I was feeling the miles and Mike stayed about 50 yards ahead.  But once we hit the soft sandy downhill toward Lone Tree, I kicked it into high gear, curious to see how fast I could run it.  I flew by Mike doing a 5:40 pace.  Great fun!  Near Lone Tree, I was surpised to see Karl Meltzer coming toward me.  He called out my name and we exchanged greetings as he flew by.

Once I hit the 25-mile mark for the morning, I backed off the pace.  I wasn't eating enough but that was OK.  Mike and I ran near each other.  He had a very impressive pace up the switch-backs, but I caught up to him at the Elephant Head trail junction.  His calf was bugging him so his fast pace was over. I hit the 50K mark for the day at about 5:15, so the pace was pretty good.

The rest of the run was enjoyable but uneventful. I brought it in slow, averaging 12:30 pace toward the end.   I just enjoyed the late morning and had ran by many buffalo.  I finished my run about 1 p.m. or so and enjoyed talking to many runners who were resting from their runs.   I had run out of food with three miles to go and ran out of water with a mile to go.  I had refilled my bottle a couple times using snow.  Glad it was there.  The trails were in pretty good shape, only on stretch of 100 yards of mud.  Lots of horse ruts, but hopefully those will get smoothed out by the bikes before race day.  I could tell that all the runners had packed down the trail pretty well.

Four more miles with the dog.  I think the dog went 24 miles with me this week.  She is getting into better shape.

128 miles this week.  That is the most miles I have trained in a week without a 100-mile race to boost the miles.  There were many times this week when I wanted to stop short, but over and over again, I made myself continue through boredom, tired legs, etc.  Should help when times get tough in a race.

Was lazy and slept in, got to love 9-hour sleep-ins, don't do that often.  I will probably do some running after work.   With the big mileage base done, tapering starts with focus on speed and heart rate.  Rex Lee 10K is on the schedule for Saturday with thousands of runners.  I've won my age group 2 out of the last 3 years, came in second in 2009.  Last year it was a 9K but this year it looks like they changed the course back to 10K.   PR could be possible.  It is a fair course, with hills, but few turns.   This year they are starting the 5K first, and the courses merge for the last 1K.  This means when I will merge, the 5K runners will really be slow, probably walkers.  That could be a problem.

p.m. Ran crazy fast on the treamill, three miles, each about 6:15 pace.  Hopefully by Friday 6:00 pace will feel more comfortable.  Not so right now, the old legs and heart don't like it.  The danger doing this is pulling a muscle or putting too much stress on the bad knee.  I'll watch out.  But this week it is about speed.    Next week probably hills.

More tempo running on the treadmill.  Felt easier today but still painful.  Four miles in 25:30. Backed off but brought in 10K at 40:25. Some step-offs along the way.  Average for nine miles, 6:53.  Seems like it is making a difference.

lunch: 5 easy miles.

p.m. Hill treadmill, 3x7:30x15%  Then easy mile.  machine thinks I climbed 2,500 feet.

Cooldown mile, 6:10 pace.

So much for tapering today.

Very similar workout to yesterday morning on the treadmill.  Tough, but I can tell is it helpful to the heart, lungs, and legs.  I'd rather be outside, but the crazy machine helps me do tempo runs.

p.m. 5 miles

Similar routine to the last couple days, tempo on the treadmill.  10K in 39:40, but stepped off about 8 times, so it was more like a series of speed sessions.   Left shin was sore and didn't go away, so I cut it short...don't want a shin splint. 

Sweatshirt lady was in again today.  Comes in, wraps the sweatshirt around her waist for her hike on the treadmill, about a half mile.  Then does funny lunges around the room for a couple minutes, and then ten minutes on the floor working on abs.  No sweat involved at anytime and then she's done.

Lunch: three easy

Slept in.  Got to rest up for the big 10K.  Actually, the shin still sore, so letting it heal up.

This is the fifth year I've run this 10K.  I like to run it because Rex Lee's wife grew up with my mom and she's always been kind to me when I've met her.

Last year this was sadly a 9K, but they got things fixed.  This distance was good.  This is a tough course to get a PR because of the hill.  It is about 200 feet of climbing.  This year the because of the start location, the hill was moved to mile 2 instead of 1.  That made it tougher.  I like to get that hill over with on very fresh legs.

I said hi to Mary Ann Schauerhamer at the start.   She asked what my target was, and I told her 42:00.  Turns out that she took it easy and ran a steady 42-minute pace the entire way.  That threw me off at first because I was keeping up with her for the first mile with a 100-foot climb.  The split was 6:41., which was too slow.  Not a good start, lost 20 seconds.  The hill mile split was 7:33.  OK, I knew I'd really have to go negative splits now on the steady long downhill starting at the MTC.  Mary Ann was less that 100 yards ahead.

For the next couple miles, I ran almost side-by-side with the third-place woman who had talked to me at the start.  She would catch up, I would surge ahead, she would catch up, and we would do this over and over again.   Good motivation.

Mile 3 was 6:19, and Mile 4 was 6:33.  Good work.  But than she surged ahead and I just couldn't find the push to keep up anymore.  Time to hang on.  Mile 5 was 7:02, still OK, but I lost the PR bringing it in at 7:16 pace.  I just didn't have the motivation to red-line it to the finish.

I crossed the finish line in 42:24, in 26th place out of about 480 runners.  I got secon in my age group.  Senator Mike Lee announced the awards and of course joked about my name.

I missed the PR by 20 seconds, but that is OK.  It is a tough course to PR on.  However, I set a course PR by almost a minute.

Afterwards I met Keith Barton who beat me. I always compete with with him in my age group but am always just behind.  We had a nice talk.  He is going to run Squaw Peak for the first time and is planning on doing a Grand Canyon R2R2R.  Its nice that my writings are inspiring road runners to give ultras a try.

p.m. four miles with the dog, Jimmer.  I'm renaming the dog to Jimmer.  I'm sure she will like the name.

OK, tempo training week is over, thank goodness.  Back to the miles.  It was good to avoid the treadmill this morning.  Instead I ran loops above my home.  There is a dirt road loop that goes around "rattlesnake ridge" and it is exactly one mile long.  To bad no sunrise to watch, stupid Daylight Saving time.

I'll probably keep the miles up this week, got to keep on top of the mileage board for the month.

p.m. six during lunch.

Slept in, was nice and lazy. 

Starting to have 100-mile race dreams again.  They are always frustrating and funny.  The typical dream is that I'm running Wasatch 100 and for some reason I lose the course even though I've run it many times.  The course flags disappear, and I'm almost always in some sort of large building, trying to figure out stairs, hallways, etc.  Eventually I realize that my race is ruined because I've spent too much time wandering around lost.

Four during lunch

p.m. 5 with the dog

Ten slow miles in the Lake Mountain foothills.  Just ran around with a little exploring. The trails were find until approaching into the mouths of canyons.  Then they were muddy and I turned around.  The trails are good on my lower legs.  I can tell I haven't had enough trail time to keep them strong.

Finally in the top ten on the mileage board for the year.  I used to be well down page two.  Last year I finished tenth.

5 miles at lunch

Six very easy

The Shamrock Half Marathon is a low-key half in my home town of Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.  It is a tough hilly course, lots of turns and about 900 feet of climbing along the way.  It even has a quarter mile of dirt.  Last year I ran in just under 1:38.  I hoped to improve that by at least a couple minutes this year.  But the wind this year had other ideas.  We had gusts of over 20 mph.  Some of the flats would feel like tough hills.  So I readjusted my expectations, hoping to at least beat my course PR by a minute.  It seemed like there were about 200-250 runners.

The race unfolding a lot like last year.  During the first couple miles I was with the front-runners but the eased back and was passed by a couple groups before mile 4.  Buddy Mark Ellison passed me at about the same place as last year, and just like last year, I kept him in my sights until the finish, but never passing him.

Splits for the first half of the race were: 6:25, 7:48 (hiill), 7:27 (wind), 8:26 (hill), 7:49, 7:28.  By mile five, I finally felt warmed up and felt more comfortable, able to push the speed up a little at times.  No one would pass me after about mile 4. 

For the next few miles, we continued to run in residental areas of the Ranches.  At about mile 8, I crossed the main road and the volunteers weren't really pointing which way to go, so I started to run up the wrong road.  But I no longer could see the guys in front of me, so I quickly turned around, realizing my mistake.  When I did turn on the right road, I was shocked to see a pretty large group of runners within view.  Where did they come from?  I finallhy concluded that they had missed the turn, they were runners who had passed me about five miles earlier.  I didn't feel too bad for them, they should have studied the course map, that is part of the game.

The toughest uphill is at mile 9.6 and then a nice fast dirt downhill.  My legs still had some good speed in them, and I was able to find some 6:15 pace speed.   My splits for miles 7-10 were: 7:33:, 7:12, 8:03, 7:43. 

With just three miles to go, mostly flat and downhill, it was time to reel in some runners.  I was able to pass three.  I finished the race with 6:56, 7:08, and 6:24.  Like last year, I wished the race had some more miles, because I was really gaining on runners ahead and didn't feel tired.  I finished in 1:36:44, beating my course PR by over a minute.  I again won my age group and finished 7th overall.

After finishing, I filled my bottle and immediately went out for more miles.  I ran those last downhill fast miles a couple more times, great fun pushing sub-7 pace.  Ended up doing six bonus miles.  Fun times.

Got to love race week, can sleep in, skip running and not feel at all guilty. 

Worked on my race pacing chart.  Weather is looking like it will be on the chilly side with some snow. Sounds great to me.  Just keep the stiff wind away.  For those who are local and not running in the Buffalo Run, you should come out to the island anyway, watch the fun, run around a bit.   I don't have any pacers, so if someone wants to come run some with me, you are welcome.

Five easy miles, in full taper/rest mode.

Easy five miles.  Taking a little different approach for this race, just doing power walking this week.  Seeing if that keeps the taper pains away.  So far, so good.  Getting plenty of sleep too.

Easy four, walking.

Spent last evening helping Jim Skaggs put 750+ packets together.  We had some good help but it still took about 2.5 hours.  My son Connor also came with me to help.

All systems go!  I'm excited about the poor weather because that usually helps me climb in the standings.  Although the field of runners who are faster than me are tough and I don't expect any of them to slow down.

My brother Bob was going to be in the 100, his first 100, but he's a big-wig LA lawyer, and has a big trial going on so he can't break free.

Son Kevin, will be running in the 25K.  He'll come out to camp Friday night along with son, Davy, and son-in-law Jon.  So I'll probably have a crew during the night.

But before all this, it is Jimmer time tonight!

Detailed report later.  I think about 50 runners started.  We started in a snow storm and I had my garbage bag on.  I took the lead going up the hill.  I heard, "There goes Davy."  The storm only lasted a few minutes. Tim Long caught up and went ahead an near the top Karl Meltzer passed me as I was taking off my bag and said, "the rabbit rarely wins."  On top of the ridge, I ran past Karl, how cool is that, passing Karl Meltzer?  Later near the top of the hill up to Elephant Head as I was trying to get my music turned on, Karl went on ahead.  We did the Elephant Head out-and-back first.  Tim started the loop first and got all confused when he looked up and saw us on the ridge high above.  We yelled at him to just continue, but later he climbed up a steep slope to get on the Elephant Head Trail.  I hit the turn-around in fourth place.   At that point I no longer tried ot stay with Karl and it was great to see so many happy friends on the way back.  There was a couple inches of snow on the trail but it was nice and soft.

My speed went away at the switch-backs.  Tom Remkes and another runner passed me and I just couldn't keep up on the flats back to the aid station.  The trail was very muddy and slushy.  During the last few miles of the loop the mud attached to the shoes and made them very heavy. There were also slippery sections, causing me to go off-road to find some traction. It was slow going.  I was just glad that I wasn't further behind. Each time a runner went through it got worse.

I finished the first 19-mile loop in 3:09, a little slower than last year.  The trail conditions were much worse.  I turned on my Garmin and it would help me keep my pace on the long out and back to the Ranch.  I really didn't care about my race position. The plan was to not worry about that until about mile 60.

My pace was good.  Ahead of me I could see a runner who would walk the small hills but run the flats fast.  I just couldn't quite catch up to him.  It turned out to be Tom Remkes. I noticed that Karl was now about six miles ahead of me (at mile 30).  Tim Long and Dan Vega were also way ahead.

I did pretty well and reached the Ranch exactly on schedule at 5:40.  Maurine mentioned that Tom and I were in 5th place.  That got my attention because I went into this race with a dream goal of a top-5 finish. At the start Cory Johnson had told me that he was betting on me to finish in the top five and he believed Tom and I would be the best bets after the elite runners.

I left the Ranch before Tom but he caught up within a mile or so and for the next ten miles we leap-frogged.  Tom is a much better runner than me.  Last year he beat me in every 100 we ran by several hours.  But I knew I had trained well for a flat course like this.  Could I beat him this time?  For the next couple hours I observed his running.   He was using walk breaks on the small hills and then would run at 9:30-10:00 pace.  I would on the other-hand run almost everything and keep a steady 11:00 pace.  At times I would even run the uphills faster than the flats just to show myself that I could do it.  If you can keep running uphills clear to mile 80 and beyond, you can place very high in the results.  I was glad that I could still easily run the hills.

My four sons met me at the aid station below the ridge.  It was fun to see them.  They made wise crack, but my mind was mushy at that point and I didn't have come-backs.

Tom kept a 50-yard lead on me when we arrived on top of the ridge on the pavement and he kept that lead for the rest of the first 50 miles.  The sun went down as I started the trail at the campground.  I couldn't see Tom's light ahead and wondered if he had a light.  But once the trail opened up I saw his light, he was still less than 100 yards ahead but picked up his pace and so did I.  I finished the first 50 in 9:02, just about right on schedule and an hour faster than last year.

My son told me that one of the front-runners dropped out (Tim), that Tom and I were in 4th place.  My aid station stop was very fast at my car.  All my aid station stops were less than four minutes for the entire race.   I left before Tom and started the crazy 19-mile loop again.  I told my sons that I wouldn't be back until 1 a.m. or later.

I was slow on that loop.  Way too slow.  I was surprised that Tom never caught up to me.  With all the mud, the velcro keeping my gaiters on came loose and I had to stop about ten times to pull them down, tie my shoe tighter, etc.  It was more challenging doing this loop in the dark.  However, I don't know why, but after mile 50, it seems like I can run the uphills much better than earlier in the race.  When I hit the bottom of the switch-backs, Mark Tanaka, the next runner ahead of me was already past the top.  I thought I would never catch him.  Tom was gaining on me, but I flew up that trail and increased me lead. 

After the aid station, I could see Mark's light ahead and it looked like I was gaining.  I decided that I would try to reel him in.  I couldn't quite do it.  I arrived back at the start after a slow 4:33 loop, somewhat discouraged because I was now 45 minutes behind my schedule to break 20 hours.

But Mark was still taking his sweet time at the aid station.  He told me that he was very impressed how I nearly caught up to him on the loop.  Well, I knew that third place was out there waiting for me to take for my own.  My sons were off snoozing in their tent, so I just made a quick 2-minute stop.   On the road up to the ridge I was now in 3rd place but could see Tom and Mark's lights chasing me.

On the out-and back to the trailhead, I could see that I was a half mile ahead of Tom and over a mile ahead of Mark who was now going slowly with a pretty heavy coat on.  I knew that if I wore all those clothes that I would be very slow.  For the entire race except the first mile, I wore a long-sleeve running shirt.  The jacket I had wrapped around my waist never went on even though it got below freezing.  If I kept up my pace, I stayed warm enough.  The wind was an issue at time.  It seemed like we had a head wind in both directions at times.

On the long out-and-back to the Ranch, the race leader, Dan Vega was about 20 miles ahead of me.  Next came Karl, who was 17 miles ahead.  Wow!  The next runner was me!  There would be some lonely aid stations ahead who wouldn't see runners for a long time.

My next big problem was painful chafing.  It became terrible.  I had treated it at last visit to my car, but that only helped for a few miles.  I could stop and try using tape, but Tom's headlamp less than a mile behind was haunting me.  I knew if he passed me, I would be in trouble, so I just sucked it up and tried to ignore the pain for the next 28 miles.  But over and over again I had to stop and walk to ease the terrible pain.

When I got to Lower Frary (mile 77), Charlie Vincent greeted me and congratulated me for being in third place.   He did warn me that Eric Storheim, an elite runner, had started 5 hours late and could still catch me.  All the way to the ranch, I thought I kept seeing Eric's light gaining on me fast.  (Turns out Eric dropped at mile 50).  It was just an illusion, Tom was still about a mile behind. 

I arrived at the Ranch at 4:45 a.m.  The volunteers had not seen another runner for almost four hours.  I was still 45 minutes behind schedule.   I didn't stay long, drank some warm broth and then was on my way.  For the entire race, I just ate gels, Ensure, Reeses, a little broth, and one quarter sandwich.  My stomach never really complained.

On the way back now, I could gage the competition.  The fifth place runner was almost two miles behind so that brought me some comfort about reaching my fifth place goal.  I never saw Eric, so by the time I returned to Lower Frary, I no longer worried about him.  Third place was still possible.  But when I left the aid station, Tom's light was not far behind.   I kicked it into gear on the next uphill and then could see that yet another light, Robbie Asbell's was within 50 yards of Tom.  That put fear into my pace.  I now could again find that 11-minute-mile pace, sometimes dipping toward nine minutes.

Dawn arrived.  I turned off my light quickly so the guys behind couldn't see me.  Matt Watts came toward me about 17 miles behind.  It was great to see him.  He commented that I was taking my sweet time.  The guys at the aid station said the same thing.  Yes, I should have been going faster.   As I left the station, going up the steep hill by the fence, I cried out, "Oh no!"  I could see a runner in black approaching the station.  I don't think it was Tom.  I concluded the runner behind him caught up and was moving very fast.

All I could do was push harder.  Up on the ridge I didn't even want to look behind me, expecting to see that runner reeling me in.  If he passed me, I would crumble.  Lots of cars coming for the 25K were on the road.  It felt good to think I only had about five miles to go. I didn't stop at the Bridger Bay aid station, just ran right by it.  I looked up. Where was that runner?  I stumbled through the rocky section at a pathetic 17-minute pace.  Once out of that mess on the next little ridge I stopped and looked back carefully.   As I looked back, a tiny runner came into view almost a mile behind.  Wow!   I could maybe do this.  I kicked in 11-minute pace again, looking behind me every few minutes.

When I finally reached the dirt road to the finish, I finally knew third place was mine, but I couldn't help looking behind me continually.  Lots of 25K runners were warming up on the road giving me strange looks.  Most of them didn't realize I was a 100-mile runner finishing.

I crossed the finish line in 20:27:10, nearly two hours better than last year when I was the only runner to do 100 miles. It was a 100-mile race PR by 26 minutes!  That elusive sub-20 finish is still out there somewhere.  Karl Melzer was there to greet me and congratulate me.  My sons missed my finish, they were looking at the hills as I ran by.  Tom crossed the finish eight minutes later, and Robbie Ashbell, came in less than three minutes after him.

I watched Kevin start his race and then went and sat by a heater with Dan, Karl, and others, feeling like a hot-shot runner rubbing shoulders with those truly fast guys.  I went out to watch a few 50-mile runners go by, hoping to see jun and Kelli, but then started to feel sick so went back to wash up and rest for awhile.

I stayed around for six hours after I finished to talk to lots of runners.  Wow, there were so many great people there who were so kind.   Congratulations to you all for your great races.   My son Kevin finished his first 25K race in 3:35.  He first said, "That sucked."  But ten minutes later he was talking about his next race, Bighorn 50K.

After watching all the excitement, my 14-year-old son Connor told me two days later that he was going to take up running and wanted to run the 25K next year.   Thanks Jim Skaggs for bringing such a great event to Utah.

Recovery going very well.  It seems that the faster I run a 100, the easier it is on my body.  The cool temperatures really helped too.  My quads are a little sore, still grabbing the hand rail going downstairs, but that is about it.  My appetite is still shot, but will be back tomorrow.  Next up is a Grand Canyon remote run in two weeks.

Six easy power walk miles with a little jogging.  Legs feel pretty good.  Recovery seems to go faster when I start using the legs again soon.

I've had no motivation to run, so I don't.  But its coming back, already looking at some new adventure runs.

Back to training!  Soreness all gone.  Started wimpy and ran on the treadmill to help the legs get moving.  Legs felt good, energy not yet all the way back.  This was a fast recovery.  It is always different. 

Looking forward to an adventure run, probably Friday late afternoon out on the salt flats.  Want to preview part of a course a guy is going to use for a 100-mile run in a few weeks.  He doesn't have anyone signed up yet, so I encouraged him to make the event free this year to test things out.  He's going to get aid stations set up.  Should be very interesting.  I may squeeze in yet another 100-miler.  April 29-30.  If anyone is interested, let me know.

Five at lunch.

Evening, one with the dog.