Old Man Still running

Fast recovery.  Muscles aren't sore.  The main problem is the left knee, bruised underside of knee cap.  Been a lingering problem for months, probably for compensating for the other leg.  Really gets sore when keep knee bended.  It probably will limit upcoming training.   Then the blisters....they are healing up.  Love the Hokas but got to solve the blister issues.

I've bounced back from the Bear just fine.  Energy back, don't feel sick, and no sore muscles.  But I can't run yet.  I have a sore swollen bump in the ball of my foot.  I think it is just left over from the deep blister trama.  Sometimes that happens, feels like you are walking around on a little ball.   Hopefully that is it, and it will just take a couple of more days to go down.   If not, would be stress facture worry, but I think that is unlikely.  That area had some nasty blisters.

Time to get back to work.  The feet have healed from THe Bear.   Passed a Kidney stone on Sunday.  Boy, far more pain than running a 100.  I believe it started during The Bear at night.  No wonder the bad pain during the night slowed me down so much.

My focus will be trying to get my speed back up.  With the busted leg, I've lost all my speed, but not the endurance.  My leg will now let me run faster than 9:00 speed, but not faster than 7:30....still pain.  I notice muscles needed for speed are sadly out of shape.  So, I'll try to focus on that.  Unfortunately, the easiest way to improve is using the crazy treadmill.   Ran 13 on it this morning, most of it at 7:30 pace.  Did some drills trying to get the foot turnover at 200 steps per minute.   I have a long way to go, but this is a start.   The focus is getting ready for Across the Years on Dec 31.   Javalina Jundred in less than three weeks will be another 100-mile training run.

Bluffdale canal run.  Feeling old and slow.

Run up and down a small canyon above Midway toward the Wasatch course.  Headed back as the rain started.

Progress.  In Midway.  Run from near the Homestead up to the top of the ridge above Pot Bottom (Wasatch aid station).   Ran on the ridge road and down to Soldier Hollow, then are roads back to Midway and the house.   Felt pretty good.  Speed coming up a little.  Leg pain still there on the downhills but not as bad as a month ago.

25 for the  week.  Just really busy getting ready for the Pony Express race.

Pony Express Trail 50 and 100 went great.   76 starters and  60 finishers.  About half of the 100-milers didn't finish which was a disappointment.  The running conditions were perfect.  Wind in the right direction and not too hot, not rain.  Night was warmer than usual, very nice.   A couple beat up runners by mile 50, one had a gallbadder attack, didn't know what it was and his crew rushed him to the hospital.  Several others had rough recoveries but came out just fine.  The feast at the 50-mile mark was amazing.  We went through pounds and pounds of meat.   Lots of very happy runners and crew.  We probably had about 250 people total out there.  It was a ton of work with no sleep.  Glad it only happens once a year but looking forward to next year.

Oh, I have a race on Saturday.  I have hardly thought about it and my training the last couple weeks has been poor.  But, this morning, running on the treadmill I felt pretty good.  Leg pain very low while going at 7:30 pace.  I may be able to break 24 hours afterall at Javeline Jundred.   Heat training is what it is about this week.  I spent 30 minutes in the hot tub and will keep doing that this week.  I know it helps get the body used to heat.  High will be 84.  Not good.   Better go get in the hot tub some more.

Treadmill.  First time in more than 10 months that I ran pain-free going at 8:00 pace.  Perhaps the speed will come back.   I also spent 40 minutes doing heat training in the hot tub, boy is that uncomfortable.  Also drove to work with the heat blasting in my face.  Forecast for Javelina on Saturday is high of 83.   It will be nice to run at a low altitude of 1800 feet.

The streak of 32 100-finishes without a DNF is finished.  Gee, even Cal Ripken Jr. eventually sat down.  I'm kind of glad it is over so I don't try to finish when I shouldn't as happened at Rocky Raccoon 100 in February.

The short of it:  I ran this race in 2009 and had a nice sub-24 hour finish.  But I had forgotten that I just don't like this course.  I lived in the desert southwest for nine years and appreciate the beauty of the cacti, etc.  But I have seen it so much, this course just becomes boring to me, it all looks the same.  So, at mile 77, I just wasn't interested anymore to do another loop and a half.  It was 1:30 a.m. and I was ready to just clean up and get some sleep.   I was very happy about my DNF.   To finish 100s, you really need to go into it excited and ready to finish.  If not, you won't.

The race consists of 6 15.4-mile loops and one partial loop.  You change directions each loop.

Loop 1:  The best part of the race is watching the sunrise.  I loved that.  But compared to 2009 as I ran not too far from the frontrunners, it wasn't the cast this time.  I hoped to complete the first loop in 2:30, but it was 2:38.  My 2009 time was 2:16.  Wow, big difference.   I did feel pretty good, ran the last seven miles of the loop pretty hard.

Loop2:  Started out fine, running up the gradual climbing dirt road.  But generally many more people passed me, and that was a pattern for hours.   I just stuggled for speed and even quit caring about time.   I think I ran it in about 3 hours.  Still pretty good.

Loop 3:  This was the killer loop.  The heat slammed me, getting above 80 degrees.  I ran with a soaked bandana around my hat.  That helped a bunch.  But each time I reached an aid station, I had to sit for 5-10 minutes to bring the heart rate down and body temperature.  At one point I realized I was going into "survival mode" instead of "racing mode."   I was just trying to keep my body from shutting down.  Finally during the last five mile of the loop the temperature was going down and I felt fantastic, running 8:30 miles, passing people for the first time.  That loop took me 4.5 hours.  However, I still had hopes for a sub-24-hour finish.  If I could hold it together and enjoy the cooler tempertures.

Loop 4:  It just didn't cool down enough.   I ran the gradual uphill fine, passing more runners and catching up to some I hadn't been up with since Loop 2.   But it didn't last.  The heat had slammed me so bad, I started to become sleepy.   I also had to be careful about bonking at dusk, which I normally do.  I backed off the pace and did keep it going.  But toward the end of the loop, I kept thinking about quitting.   This crazy race allows you get a buckle for 100K.   I heard people talking about quitting.  It made sense.  I wasn't having fun.  I finished that loop in about 4:30, now behind 24-hour pace.

I needed to decide what to do.  A friend, David, from Gilbert who paced me here in 2009 greeted me.  I was very surprised to see him.  He would be pacing someone else.  He listed to me gripe and outwardly discuss whether to go on or not.  How could I quit with a witness around?  He could see that I was just fine.  So I packed up and continued on.

Loop 5:  Well, I was 2.5 hours behind me 2009 pace.  Going slowly just isn't fun.  Yes, I had some great spurts where I could crank it up to 8:30 pace and fly by startled runners, but I couldn't keep it up because I became very, very sleepy, I think from being slammed by the heat earlier.   During this loop I had to lie down well off the trail to close my eyes and take a 5-10 minute cat nap.  I did this four time.  I had to go well off the trail so people wouldn't keep asking me if I was OK.  Each time I would jump up and run with great speed, catching up to my former position, but I just couldn't keep it going.

So, I made up my mind to quit.  I still had plenty of time for a valid finish, still way ahead of cutoff times, but it would likely be a 26-26.5 hour finish.  I just didn't look forward to another seven hours of this.  I was bored with course and not having any fun.  I would save it for another day.  If I quit now, I wouldn't have to deal with that streak anymore and would bounce back fast to start training again for Across the Years.  It all made sense.

So, I ran 77 miles in 19:37.   Pre-injury last year, I could have come close to that for 100-mile.   Oh well.

So, what is weird it that I'm still very pleased with DNFing JJ100.  This time I'll remember that I really don't like that course.  The race directors and aid stations are top notch, but I hate the heat, and just low desert running without vistas. Also with the loops back and forth you have to deal with lights in the face all night.   The moon was amazing and I did run without lights for awhile.  Many would run the entire loop without lights.  If it was 20 degrees cooler, I would think about running it again.

So, as I hear family and friends talking about that it is too bad I DNFed, it just isn't much of a big deal to me.   I think you should learn something from every DNF.  What I learned was:

1. I hate running in the heat.  I shouldn't expect to perform well

2. Don't run a 100-mile race unless you really, really want to finish.  Looking back at my 6 career DNFs, there were 3 like this, just no interest in continuing.  One of them, Leadville 2008 really bugged me, and thus started the streak.  This one doesn't bug me, but I hope I haven't lost an edge.  I doubt it.  I think I just scaled it back from insanity to more rational thought.

After effects: 

• Even though I had about 3-4 hours of naps yesterday, I still slept 11 hours over the night.  Wow, I still hold to the theory that the heat slammed me bad. 
  
• Bad leg:  I felt very little pain, just on the downhills, but this course had very few steep downhills.  I suspect I'll be pain-free on all downhills in a few more months.  No pain today.
  
• No blisters at all.  The new Hoka Bondi model is great (with appropriate taping).
• Bruised left heel caused by a bad tape job under my insole to boost the heel up a bit.  Pretty painful.
• Sore quads.  To be expected on a flatter course

So, if the heel heals fast, I should be back training in a couple days.  Nice!  Will I ever get my 2010 speed back or has age finally pushed me back.  That is the question.

Plans for next two months:

• No Grand Canyon this year.  It keeps pulling me there, but the leg just isn't ready for the downhill yet.
• Interval training.  I could tell by mile 10 that my hips just aren't used to speed.
  
• Lose 10 pounds.  That should help a bunch.
  

Recovery from my silly 77-mile training run is going well.  Right calf still a little sore.  The nerve ending in my toes are waking up again....hate that, they sting and are annoying.  Numb feet are so much better.

Focus now on Across the Years at the end of December in Arizona.  I've decided to run the 48-hour race again.  I don't know why, that thing is punishing with its sleep deprivation.

In 2010 I won the race in ideal cold weather conditions for me with 187 miles.  It rained solid the first day.  I loved it.

In 2011, I was leading the race by 11 miles when unknown to me at the time, my tibia started to stress fracture.  I lost my lead to my buddy and came in second with 175 miles.  The heat was also a bother on day 2.

So, I'm excited to start true training again.  I believe my leg is finally healed enough to do real training, like I was doing a year ago.  It has been a very long year with only 1,200 miles running so far this year.