Old Man Still running

The alarm clock rang, but the bed won today.  What a slacker.

Plans are pretty much all set for Wasatch 100 in 9 days.  I have four pacers lined up for the last 60 miles.  It will be nice to have some company.   I've had mixed results using pacers and don't usually use them often, but this group has some good experience.   Pacers can actually distract my concentration.   I also tend to worry about them.  But this group is pretty self-sufficient and won't be offended if I don't talk much.   I enjoy trying to "drop" my pacers.  "Dropping" means when you run too fast for your pacer and leave him behind.   To me, that is great fun if the pacers don't care.   At Leadville 2007 I dropped my pacers twice and was running alone for almost a couple hours.  They both eventually caught up, but it is very embarassing to the pacer.   I doubt I'll be able to do this at Wastach.   With four pacers, they will be on fresh legs.  Downhills are my best bet.  Jun will need to watch out on the downhill into Lambs.  David will be in danger on the downhill into Millcreek.  Brad needs to watch the downhill into Brighton and Mark has to watch out for my kick during the last seven miles going into Midway.  Heh, heh, I'll have to make sure I eat well going up the hills before those section.   I've also learned how to shut up a pacer who is nagging on you too much.  You get a nice rest and the kick it into gear big-time on an uphill.  The poor pacer is gasping for breath so much that they can no longer say anything.  They also learn that prodding me too much means pain for them.   Ha, ha.  It is a great sport to abuse pacers. 

Out the door at 2:20 a.m.   This morning I again ran a huge loop around Eagle Mountain City.  This time I did it counter-clockwise, first running across the Church farm.  The full moon was out so I didn't need the flash light much.   It was a great morning working.

My work location moved this week from downtown Salt Lake City to Riverton, in what used to be the Intel building off of Bangerter Hwy.   I no longer ride the bus and my commute is now only 25 minutes one-way.   But the best news, it that it is within running distance.  This morning I ran into work, about 14.5 miles.   I ran up Redwood Road which is under construction, but now very wide with lanes closed down.   So there is plenty of room to run without traffic bothering me.   Once up to Camp Williams, I leave the road and jump on the Provo Reservoir Canal that swings around to the west of Buffdale.  Once I get to 134th South, I just run down the road to my building.

The morning run was wonderful.   I started at 4:30 a.m. The full moon was out and I really didn't need to use the flashlight.   Running on the canal road it great because there is plenty to see as it goes around ranches, developments, fields, etc.  The canal was full and flowing like a river.   Horses, cows, and dogs noticed me going by, but no humans.   I arrived at work a little before 7:00 a.m.   I plan to run home in the afternoon.  That will put me over 2,000 miles for 2009.

P.M.

Ran back home from work in 90+ degrees.  Especially warm on the new black pavement laid down a few days ago on Redwood Road.   It was good heat training.  It worked me pretty well.   I was going to go up Timp early in the morning, but I might instead just start tapering for Wasatch.

I ran up Timp early this morning, my 62nd career summit and 6th of the year.   I was on the trail about 2:45 a.m. with about 200 college kids.   I was planning on taking it easy, doing about a 4:20 round trip, but somehow a 3:42 came out the other end.   The weather was great, the moon partially obscurred by clouds but still casting an glow on the mountain.   Many of the kids were hiking by moonlight.  

With all the lights on the mountain, it was a great challenge to run hard and try to catch the lights.  It was funny how some of the young guys reacted as I caught up.  I think they just couldn't handle having someone pass them.  Some would kick it up a notch as I approached and made no movement to stop and let me pass. Too macho.  Finally I would be right on their tail and ask to pass.  They would look back surprised, but then move over.   Some would try to keep up, but within one minute they were far behind.  I should have told them: "I'm an old Please follow Fast Running Blog policy regarding vulgar language 51-year-old, aren't you in shape?"  But I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed being on the mountain with all the kids.  Most gave me great complements about my pace.

Once I reached the saddle (1:50), it looked like there were 30-40 kids trying to stay warm waiting for the sunrise.   I didn't slow down a bit and ran fast, dodging the bodies all over the ridge.  I heard comments that they had tracked my green light for miles and that I had an amazing pace.

It looked like no one was hiking up to the summit.  I ran at a steady pace, looked back and saw some kids had decided to follow me.   I was very pleased at how strong I felt above 11,000 feet.  I didn't feel any dizziness like last week on Lone Peak.  My pace was steady and strong and the legs felt great.  

I reached the top in 2:10, a good clip.   There were several guys sleeping in the summit hut.   I ignored them and went ahead and signed the register and then started to head down.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, but it felt like the temperature was in the upper 30s.  I did put gloves on, but didn't need a jacket.   I quickly returned to the saddle to some cheers.  I didn't stop to talk, ran fast through the bodies and continued on my way.

I kept a steady pace going for the rest of the run, making sure that I didn't trip and fall.  I passed another 100 kids on the way down.  Some had tracked my light clear up to the summit and back.   I was glad that I finished before sunrise, because it is easier to pass groups if they see my green light coming toward them.  Still, I almost plowed right into a young guy who wasn't paying attention.

Labor Day is the biggest day on Timp. I would guess more than 500 will be on the trail.  As I drove out the the parking lot I could still see dozens of hikers walking up the road because the parking lot was totally full.  Their long day, 10 hours plus was just beginning.  My Timp run was finished, time to go home for breakfast.   I returned home by 7:30 as the family was just getting up.

OK, I am now officially in my Wasatch 100 taper.  No more big runs before Friday, only little tune-up runs to keep the taper phantom pains away.   I'm very pleased with the readiness.  I feel strong and fast.  Minor injuries have healed and my problem ankle is behaving.   I'm about as ready as I can be.

I noticed that my 2009 miles are now only 5 miles behind 2008.

Lots of good sleep.  No running plans today.

I'm all packed and ready for Wasatch 100.  My four pacers are amusing themselves today making fun of me in a private email thread.   They laugh now, lets see how they feel on the trail!

Taper pains started last night.  Silly aches in muscles that make you worry that they will develop into serious pains during the rain.  They rarely do.  I should have done a few little short runs to keep these away.

The race begins at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning (Friday).  You can follow my progress at: http://www.wasatch100.com/updates.htm

To see if I'm doing well or poorly, you can compare my actual pace to my goal pace below:

	miles	Goal	Clock
Start	0	0:00	5:00 AM
Francis Peak Aid	17.7	4:05	9:05 AM
Bountiful B	24	5:35	10:35 AM
Session Lift-off	28.2	6:30	11:30 AM
Swallow Rocks	34.9	8:20	1:20 PM
Big Mt	39.4	9:20	2:20 PM
Alexander Rg	47.4	11:30	4:30 PM
Lambs Cyn	53.1	12:45	5:45 PM
Big Water	61.7	15:30	8:30 PM
Desolation	66.9	17:10	10:10 PM
Scotts Peak	70.8	18:30	11:30 PM
Brighton	75.6	19:45	12:45 AM
Ant Knolls	80.3	21:45	2:45 AM
Pole Line	83.4	22:55	3:55 AM
Rock Springs	87.4	24:25:00	5:25 AM
Pot Bottom	93.1	26:25:00	7:25 AM
Finish	100	28:30:00	9:30 AM

 

I will write my full race report in a couple days, but here is the "short" version.  244 runners started and 156 made it to the finish before 36 hours.

This was my focus 100-mile race of the season.    I really wanted do well at this home-town race.  In 2006 I struggled to a 34:15 finish and that has bugged me for three years.  This is a very tough 100 and any finish is great, any finish under 30 hours is super.   I set what I thought was a realistic goal of 28:30.

Pre-race: Matt Watts mocks my 28:30 goal. I start to doubt.  I spent the night at pacer David Hansen's uncles's home just a few block from the start.  Mark Swanson joined us. I only slept for about 3 hours.

Mile 0-10: Reached the top of Chinscrapper in only 2:19.  I was running with Dave Hunt and other runners who went on to finish in under 24 hours.  I was feeling great and hydrating well for a warm morning.

Mile 10-20: The dirt roads slowed me down, but then I picked it up on the rough trails. At mile 20, heard running buddy Phil Lowry below me.  I knew he would eventually catch up, so I decided to pull a prank on him.   I found a concealling tree near the trail, hid behind it for about a minute, and then jumped out and scared the wits out of him as he passed.  Tom Remkes was with him.  We had a great laugh.  Got to love 100-mile races when you have plenty of time to have some fun.

Mile 20-34: After running with Phil for 14 miles, I just couldn't keep up with him any longer.  The heat was slowing me down and Phil was running the downhills faster than me.  Previous to this, Phil and I had a great time pushing each other.  Sometimes I would run fast ahead and mock him for being behind.  He went on to finish in just under 26 hours.

Mile 34-35: The heat was becoming bad.   I went into defensive survival mode instead of offensive race mode.  Many runners would start passing me.   I just concentrated on staving of dehydration.

Mile 35-39: Met up with my first pacer, Craig (jun) at Big Mountain.  He was great to have along. I was feeling better and we had fun catching and passing a few other runners.

Mile 39-53:  The heat became terrible.   I ran out of water going into Alexander Ridge.  The next leg was among my worst.   I couldn't push it in the heat.  I had plenty of liquid with me but blundered and didn't drink enough.   By the time I came into Lambs, I was dehydrated and down about 5 pounds.

Mile  53-62: I ran the Lambs-Millcreek leg with David Hansen.  He did a super job in helping get me recovered.  The climb was tough, still dehydrated, but once over the top we flew and passed several runners.  I could also run hard up the Millcreek road.  My legs weren't tired, but my energy level was being stressed

Mile 62-67: Now running with Brad, I again felt a bonk coming on like I had at this exact point in 2006.  I took approriate measures and didn't crumble like 3 years ago, but I slowed down.  I knew I had a good race going, so I just held on and tried to get my body systems balanced.  I had a long stop at Desolation Lake to tape my thighs that were getting chafed.

Mile 67-76: At about mile 68, I finally recovered and was feeling great again. I pushed up the pace and could tell that I was working Brad as hewas doing his best to keep up.  We started to pick off runner lights one by one as caught up and passed runners who had passed me going up to Desolation Lake.   When we hit the paved road (about mile 73) that took us to Brighton, we noticed runners ahead who kept looking back at us with their headlamps shining, a sure sign of runners worried about being passed.   I grinned and told Brad that we were going to turn out our lights.   We then ran very hard in the dark.  We could see the glow of the center line on the road so never worried about falling off the road.   It was great fun to come up on runners unaware that we were coming.   We could also look far up the mountain and see many lights on the road near Scotts Peak.   I would blink my green light up to them and it was funny to see lots of them blink back.  Obviously I was feeling fantastic since I was fooling around.  Once at Brighton, three of my pacers were there to crew me in the parking lot.  I was determined to NOT spend any time in the warm Brighton building.

Mile 76-83:  Mark took over pacing duties. The climb up to Catherine's Pass wasn't anything to write home about.  No runners passed me, but my pace was pathetic.  By the time I got to Ant Knolls my energy level was very low and I was pretty incoherent.   I sat in a chair for several minutes, trying to recover.  At Pole Line pass, after eating two sausages, I started to feel better.

Mile 83-87:  The next leg to Rock Spring went very well.   I felt great again and could run fast again.  I was racing again. I noticed that the runners around me were not running the uphills any more, but my legs were ready and willing to run anything.   We passed a bunch of runners along this stretch and one guy thanked me for helping him really push the pace.

Mile 87-93:  I dreaded the next leg to Pot Bottom, but it went very well.  I really enjoyed it.  My spirits were high when I hit the "Dive" before dawn.   I had never been at this location in the dark so early, including the years I paced strong runners in 2004 and 2005.  Dawn arrived when we reached "The Plunge" and we came into Pot Bottom at 7:42 a.m.  Olaf gave me a happy greeting. Wow, at this time in 2006 I was about 16 miles back. 

To the finish: Mark pointed out that my last split time was just as planned in my goal pace.  I was now only 17 minutes behind my goal pace to finish in 28:30.   We discussed that 28:30 was still possible, but on the climb out of Pot Bottom I lost my motivation.  My thoughts started to turn to Bear 100 in only 13 days.   I decided to save something in the tank for that race.  I told Mark that the goal was now to break 29 hours.   I thought I was well ahead of any runners behind me so I started to take it easy.  With about four miles to go, Shane Martin flew by me.  Wow, he was going very fast.  With two miles to go, Eric Johnson passed me and Deanna McLaughlin also caught up.  That woke me up.  I was being lazy.   I hung with Eric for about a mile and Mark struggled to keep up.  We flew through the single-track by the golf course.   I finally lost sight of Eric, so slowed back down.  Once we hit the paved road, I could see that Eric was out of reach but we still ran hard to stay ahead of Deanna.

I crossed the finish line in 28:33 in 42nd place.  Only one runner older than me beat me in a very competitve race.   My recovery went well and 24 hours later I feel very little pain.  Bear 100 is in less than two weeks.

Below are my split times.  You can see that at one point I was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, then fell about 40 minutes behind schedule.  The strong finish brought it all back.

	miles	Goal	2009
Start	0	0:00
Fernwood Picnic	3.6	0:35	0:35
Chinscrapper Summit	9.6	2:20	2:19
Francis Peak Aid	17.7	4:05	4:01
Bountiful B	24	5:35	5:18
Session Lift-off	28.2	6:30	6:10
Swallow Rocks	34.9	8:20	7:56
Big Mt	39.4	9:20	9:09
Alexander Rg	47.4	11:30	11:16
Lambs Cyn	53.1	12:45	12:55
Big Water	61.7	15:30	15:23
Desolation	66.9	17:10	17:38
Scotts Peak	70.8	18:30	19:01
Brighton	75.6	19:45	20:10
Ant Knolls	80.3	21:45	22:09
Pole Line	83.4	22:55	23:23
Rock Springs	87.4	24:25:00	24:45:00
Pot Bottom	93.1	26:25:00	26:42:00
Finish	100	28:30:00	28:33:02

After four days without running, I'm back in the saddle again.   Since I was going less then ten, I took the dog with me.  We were out the door around 4:30 a.m.   We ran up into the Lake Mountain foothills clear over to the access road making a loop and came back.  It was a nice cool morning.  The temperatures are coming down.  Fall is on the way.   I'm pleased to already feel fully recovered from my 100-mile run in only 5 days.  This is probably my fastest recovery.  Nice news since I have Bear 100 in a week.  I can't feel any ill effects anywhere and the legs feel good and strong.   I'll kick up the training a little for a few days.

I'm registering for the Boston Marathon today.   My brother registered so we'll make it a brother-bonding thing.  It had been one of his goals to go there.  Looks like it is three weeks after Moab 100, so that should be fine.

I did publish my full Wasatch 100 race report with pictures and pacer/runner commentary at www.crockettclan.org/blog

Ran into work again this morning.  This time I took the "scenic" route, adding about five miles to the commute.  Love those bonus miles.  This time I avoided running up boring Redwood Road and instead ran along the Jordan River Parkway all the way from my house up to the Jordan Narrows.  Then I ran up to the canal road and took that all the way to my workplace.  The run took me 3:20.   I ran some of it without a light to practice my "sneek up on runners in the dark" technique.  (See my Wasatch 100 report).  Also slowed when I almost ran right over a skunk!  The freaked me out and made me be more careful.

Lehi main	4.9	0:46
9600 N	7.1	1:09
River crossing	10.5	1:44
Redwood Road	12.5	2:07
3200W	15.2	2:42
work	19	3:20

Just doing maintenance runs for the next week before Bear 100.   Ran in the foothills with the dog. I'm now only 13 miles behind mile 2008 mileage at this point in the year.   Funny how close it is. Weight 172, near  my ultrarunning low.   Keep it down for the Bear 100.

Looking forward to the Bear 100.  What a way to bring in the fall season.  The colors in Logan Canyon an on the the ridges wll be amazing as usual.   I love the cool temperatures.  The race will have twice and many runners this year so the runner won't be as spread out.   Usually I can run for hours without seeing another runner.   I expect to have a good race.   If sucesseful, this will be my 5th straight Bear 100 finish.   You get a special jacket for finishing 5 in a row and became a "Bear Streaker."   It will be my 6th year there.   In 2004 I didn't finish, ran out of gas at mile 87.

At Redondo Beach, Califonia.   Did an afternoon run along the beach with Steven King, and talented sub-3 marathoner.   We ran north to El Sugundo along the bike path and then ran fast back along the beach.   Great fun.  Feeling good.

Ran from Redondo Beach to Manhattan Beach, and then ran up the hill to Hermosa Beach finding a dirt/bark trail going through the town.   Tapering....just keeping loose.

The Bear 100 starts in the morning.  I flew back from California, missed the pre-race meeting but am now focusing on getting ready.   My pace chart is below.  This would be a three-hour improvement on last year.

	miles	clock goal	2009 goal
Start	0	6:00 AM	0:00
Logan Peak	10.5	8:35 AM	2:35
Leatham Hollow	19.7	10:10 AM	4:10
Richards Hollow	22.5	10:50 AM	4:50
Cowley Canyon	30	12:45 PM	6:45
Right Hand Fork	36.9	2:15 PM	8:15
Temple Fork	45.2	4:15 PM	10:15
Tony Grove	51.8	6:30 PM	12:30
Franklin TH	61.5	9:30 PM	15:30
Logan River	69.5	12:00 AM	18:00
Beaver Lodge	75.8	2:15 AM	20:15
Gibson Basin	81.2	4:10 AM	22:10
Beaver CG	85.3	5:20 AM	23:20
Ranger Dip	92.2	7:40 AM	25:40
Finish	100	9:30 AM	27:30

Detailed Bear 100 report with pictures at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=162

Finished my 5th straight Bear 100 in 28:21, 24th place out of about 135 starters.  There were about 94 finishes.   I will write up a race report later.   One of my pacers has written up a great report here.

I had a strong race but was slowed significantly by badly bruied right quad due to a fall at about mile 12, and a terrible set of blisters on the bottom of my right heel, probably due to wore-out shoes.   Having jon along to push me opened my eyes that I really can do much better in the second-half of 100-mile races.   Without the problems, if I would have had a perfect race, I believe I could have finished close to 26.5 hours.   But I am very happy with my 28.21 finish.  It was again a very tough Bear.

I'm still recovering from Bear 100.  Boy, do I still feel beat up!   Two weeks ago on Monday after Wasatch 100, I felt great, almost no pain, but boy oh boy, what a difference.   Last night sleeping was a second night of restless, painful sleep with lots of moaning.  Calfs and quads hurt.   I can't figure out why the recovery is harder for the Bear.  It always is.  I was on a faster pace than at Wasatch, that might have been the difference.  Oh well, I should be fine by the end of the week.

No more steep mountain training is needed for the rest of the season.  My last two 100s for the year are mostly flat.

My attention is now turning to the Pony Express Trail 50 and 100.   See:  http://www.ponyexpress100.org   18 days away.   I put on this no-fee race because I love running out in the west desert, but need some company because it is so remote.   Looks like we may have about 20 runners this year.  

If anyone wants to give it a try, let me know.   A crews (a driver) is needed to drive along with you to provide support (drink, food, rude comments).   We have a great time.

Well, I feel more like a living human today.  Last evening was rough.  I felt pretty sick.  Another restless night's sleep, but with less moaning and groaning.  So it took three days to bounce back this time.

Now that the soreness is disappearing, what remains is the soreness from the bad fall I took at mile 12.  I've discovered a painful bump on my head, a bruise on my shoulder, a sprained index finger, torn finger nail, and a deeply bruised upper quad.   Thank goodness the handheld water bottles took most of the impact.  I remember seeing both bottles squirting out fluid.  I fell as I was really trying to pound a steep technical downhill, passing two runners.  After I passed the second, down I went.   It took me another ten minutes to recover and pass him again, but from that point forward, running down hills was painful and I had to slow down or just block out the pain like I did during a fun stretch with Jon.

The windy dusty storm yesterday killed me.  Didn't sleep well and felt rotten by morning so worked from home and rested.   The cool rain cleaned out the air and I feel much better this afternoon.   Thoughts of running again are starting to enter into my mind.  I'm guessing that Friday might be the day to get back in the saddle.

I finished my Bear 100 race report.  See: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=162   Big thanks to Jon again for his amazing pacing job.  He found ways to push me fast.