Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

AM:  59F.  17 @ 7:30 AP.  Stop the presses, slowjoe ran today!  Goal was to make it a harder aerobic effort, and 7:30 definitely did the trick...yikes.  Just flat out of shape at this point after basically a 3-week hiatus of sorts.  So, I'm going to do the mature, responsible thing, and sign up for the 50-miler that takes place in 3 weeks.  I've been thinking about that dang race all summer, so screw it...I'm running!

AM:  54F, 6 @ 8:33 AP.  Legs crushed...I already kinda regret signing up for that 50.  Never sign up for races in anger.

PM:  30 min TM jog

56F, fog.  6 @ 8:05 AP.  Doubles are going to be tough to work in, schedule-wise, from here until the race.  Earlier wake-up tomorrow...maybe do that every other day or so.

66F, 95%.  10 @ 7:23 AP.  4-mile pickup toward the end - 6:55, 6:38, 6:31, 6:16.  Felt ok, I guess.  It was humid and I got very little sleep.  Oh and I'm outa shape.  There...3 excuses is the sweet spot.

A good start, anyway, to my ultra 2-week ultra training plan for ultras.  Copyright pending.

4.5 moderate on the TM

6 @ 8:02 AP

I slept in this morning - was really tired, but got some great sleep.  Might hit the TM later, as I've got the kids on my own.  Long work week behind me - no human being should ever spend this much time at the office...lately I am pretty much only home for a few hours of sleep (and not sleeping too well).  Should be a few more brutal days next week and then it'll let up.  I'm actually pretty proud that I still knocked out a run every morning.

Sunday will be my last (semi) long run, and we should have decent temps, down to the mid 50s.

PM:  Ate half of a large pizza with all the meats, but then got in 4 @ 7:58.  Yes, that should completely counteract it.

55F.  18 @ 6:46 AP.  The goal with this one was to get in a longer aerobic effort.  It's too late for 30-milers and such so I figured I'd give the aerobic engine one last toke on the fitness pipe (that made no sense).  But this was really good.  I ran the same hilly roads as last weekend, but ~45 sec/mile faster.

Splits:  7:32, 7:00, 7:04, 6:53, 7:02, 6:45, 6:40, 6:55, 6:45, 7:00, 6:53, 6:48, 6:43, 6:53, 6:41, 6:22, 6:16, 5:43.

Hammered the last 3.  That last mile to my house is downhill, but to do be able to that at the end of this run almost makes no sense.  Maybe I'll be ok.

52F, 6 @ 8:32 AP.  Achilles hurts.  Should have known the running gods wouldn't let me get away with something for nothing.  Well, I figure the hay is in the barn anyway after 1 successful workout in 3 months.  I was going to do a 5k tuneup this week, but instead I think I'll do nothing.  Nothing fits nicely into my schedule.

turned around early, achilles...

a little better 

better again, without the bigfattrainers

I think I'll be ok...not feeling like I can run a very good 5k but probably ok on the achilles.

What a training cycle - work explodes, then vacation, then sick, then work explodes again, then achilles....sprinkle in some general apathy throughout, and you have my buildup to the longest race I've ever signed up for.

Alright, 5k tomorrow...hopefully no one good shows up.

57F, a little rainy.  Did the ol' work 5k again this year but got my butt kicked.  Surprisingly, I had the same AP on my Garmin as last year (5:49), but had a faster time - I think they moved the finish line up a bit, so it measured more like a real 5k (3.14 miles on my watch).

After the normal shakeout in the first mile (5:51) I was already way back from several people.  Mile 2 was 5:47 and I was still in 6th, but 3 guys were coming back to me.  Got two of them early on in the 3rd mile and sat behind the other guy until maybe the 2.7 mark or so...then put on a furious (uphill) sprint, which I knew I had absolutely no chance to sustain through the line, but it dissuaded the guy from trying to match it.  So mile 3 was 5:47 and the last 0.14 was only 5:57 pace on the watch...obviously I was completely destroyed by the early kick and flailing around wildly, but it worked, so I'm good with it.

Anyway, not bad!  But geez, I don't know if I'll do this one again next year...I mean, who wants to compete in a race if it's going to be competitive?

6 mile comfort plod in the neighborhood.  Busy day yesterday, pretty much gone all day with activities, including back-to-back basketball games for my oldest daughter, but the season is now over.  This was a 4-days-a-week commitment, so we're all a bit relieved...even my mini-hoopster!

67F, humid.  5 easy...just about needed the buttsweat towel.  Weather for Saturday is looking ok.  Heavy rains Monday and Tuesday but 3 full days to dry out.  The temperature will be an issue later in the race.  Starts in the low 50s but close to 70 by the time I'll be done.

Some other things I was too dumb to consider until now: the race starts at 5am so I need a headlamp.  Never used one; I'm wondering if I could get away with carrying a flashlight for a couple hours, then switching out for a handheld water bottle (which I also don't own) when it gets light outside.  I also don't own trail shoes.  I'm hoping this won't be an issue... I planned on wearing the fastwitch and hoping they held up.

Anyway, this is how it looks to be unprepared for a race...don't be me.

AM:  TM today, didn't feel like dealing with horizontal rain.  Picked it up to MP for ~15 minutes.

PM:  2.5 with the dog in the hood.  Felt good...kinda like I've been tapering for 2 months.

44F!  4 @ 8:12 AP.  Long sleeves for the first time this fall.  One day I'll have to find my gloves...so exciting!

Probably take a day off from running tomorrow...and hopefully get to the running store.

Weather for Saturday is looking interesting.  A cold front arrives Saturday morning, which looks like it will keep the temperature from ever going above 60 or so, but will bring heavy winds and probably some rain.  Overall, I think I like it.  Anything but hot is fine.

51F, 3 @ 7:48 AP.  Included about 1/2 mile on dirt - trail training complete!

Cleared the schedule and leaving work early to head to La Grange, where I booked a hotel.  I'll hit up the running store on the way out.  Probably.

Gonna be a little windy tomorrow:

Ok, got a headlamp, gu and glide.  No new shoes, no handheld bottle.  Got restless at work and left around lunchtime for La Grange...now I just need to find ZZ Top.  Actually, I looked up the Chicken Ranch (which is what that song is about) and they literally moved the building to Dallas (where it subsequently burned down), so I'm guessing there's nothing else to see or do here.  

Alright, it’s done.  Pretty fun day, when I look back on it.  Brutal.  But I had fun.

Weather:  It started at 63F/95%.  The temp would stay right there, maybe 62 degrees, the entire race.  I went shirtless after the first loop…it was pretty hot, especially when the sun came up.  The cold front arrived about halfway through the race.  This dropped the dew point but not the temps.  It also brought 20-35 mph winds.  That really sucked in several areas.

Course:  My hopes of having a dry course were dashed in the first mile.  It was really muddy.  Hit some unavoidable shin-deep water about 2 miles in and stayed fully waterlogged/mudlogged the rest of the way.  Some parts were really treacherous.  It’s a loop course, 7.8 mile loops.  To make the mileage work out, you do an add-on segment in the first loop, so the first time around is 11.3 miles, and the next 5 loops are 7.8 apiece.  2 aid stations in each 7.8 mile loop.  My 50-miler started at 5am, but there was a 50k @ 6am, a 25k @ 7am, and I think a 10k @ 8am.  All on the same course.

Loop 1:  Definitely a different kind of start than I’m used to, as a road runner.  Everyone kind of wandered into the horse barn where you start, about 3 minutes before the gun.  Then it goes off and everyone breaks into a nice slow jog.  Inside I was laughing.  Anyway, I was in 3rd by the time we got to the singletrack, which was fine.  The guy in front of me (Gabe) seemed to be setting a reasonable pace, but the first place guy (Matt) was pulling away.  I tried not to care, but it sorta bothered me.  Obviously I could have passed and caught up to Matt, but that just seemed stupid…there were 48 miles to go for crying out loud.  And Gabe seemed to know what he was doing, and I did not want to get lost in the dark so I stayed behind him.  Finished the long loop in 1:38:29, right behind Gabe.

Loop 2:  Gabe was not stopping at the aid stations at all – his wife? would just hand stuff to him.  So it always took me a mile or so to catch up, but it still seemed dumb to “make a move” with 35+ miles to go so I stuck with him, even though I could see Matt’s lead was growing, every time we’d hit an open section.  As a side note, Gabe was falling…a lot.  I’d always check on him, make sure he was ok, etc.  But dang, it was probably 5 or 6 times in the first 2 loops.  This loop was 1:10:12, still in 3rd, right behind him.

Loop 3:  More of the same.  I made up my mind to pick it up and pass him after this loop since we were probably now 3-4 minutes behind Matt.  This loop was 1:13:11.

Loop 4:   “The surge.” I probably took my longest break after Loop 3, having run roughly a marathon at this point.  I hit the PoP and guzzled a lot of Gatorade…and ate more PB&J.  Once again, Gabe ran right through and I found myself way behind.  I took my first big spill @ mile 27 – a total face plant, which really rung my bell for a few minutes.  Ended up being a good thing though – I picked it up more (after collecting myself) and just kinda ran my own pace; when I (eventually) caught up, I just kept it up, and actually hit the gas a little harder.  After a couple miles, we hit the pasture and it looked like I’d already put a good 2 minutes on Gabe.  Unfortunately, by the end of the loop, I was bonking.  Well, that was dumb.  This loop was 1:11:41, even though it felt like I was hammering it, guess it turned out to only be 90s faster than the previous loop.

Loop 5:  I’d say I ran these last 2 loops in a fully bonked state.  We all know how bad it sucks to feel like that…so to feel like that for 3 hours was not a lot of fun.  Still, I couldn’t even see Gabe – figured I had no less than a 3-4 minute lead on him.  And I didn’t really see Matt up ahead anymore either.  So I broke into my best plod.  No more running on the steeper uphill sections, no more ninja moves to avoid puddles and mud (just shuffled straight through), and a lot more grabbing trees to pull myself up.  1:18:55 for this one.

Loop 6:  So this last loop starts, and I’m dying, but pretty sure I’ll finish.  I stopped looking behind me and just plodded on… fat dumb and happy(ish).  With about 3 miles to go I hear a big KER-PLAT behind me.  I looked and it was Gabe, falling down again, but only about 10 seconds behind me.  Oh man, I was so pissed.  Obviously I took off at that point.  Frankly, I was surprised (and a little disappointed in myself) at how easy it was to all of a sudden drop my pace.  I’m guessing here, but I’d say I was running 90 sec/mile faster, instantaneously, and held it through the line.  The last 2 miles are the toughest ones, but I was (relatively speaking) screaming through them, compared to the previous loop.  I kept looking back and I’d put maybe 30-45 seconds on him in pretty short order.  Ended up about 80 seconds ahead of Gabe, and 4 minutes behind Matt.  Last loop was 1:17:02…2nd place overall.

Hindsight being 20/20, the main thing I would’ve done differently would be to stay up with Matt from the beginning.  I was just too scared of the unknown, I guess.  4 minutes over a distance of 50 miles is not exactly a huge difference in pace.  Can’t really blame myself though.  I had no idea how I was supposed to feel at various points in the race…or how hard I should be pushing – just a lack of experience.  Oh, I should have trained too.  These minor details add up!

Anyway, this won’t be my last ultra.  I found out from Matt that there’s a really good trail running group he belongs to, and they run at Govt. Canyon a lot, which is close to my house.  Once I regain use of my legs, I’ll focus on road running for awhile (if I can manage to focus on anything) but I can already see a possible shift in focus down the road.

hot & humid!  Ran 6 @ Memorial Park in Houston with my wife (1 was @ MP on my own).

Pretty happy with recovery.  It was different than a marathon recovery - in a marathon my muscles are usually all torn up, and that's what takes forever.  With this, my muscles were a little sore, but it was joints, tendons, etc, that took the beating from the race.  On Monday I could barely get my shoes on for work, because my feet and ankles were all swollen.  So I had a couple ouchies to work out this morning but felt great after that.

Last bit of wrapup from the 50 - equipment...  Headlamp went fine...even though I hadn't used one before the race, there's obviously not much to it.  Shoes - although they worked out well this time, I'd say no more Saucony road shoes in trail races.  I killed another pair:

So I'm shopping...might have settled on New Balance MT101 - they are ~7.5 oz but have a nice big 10mm heel-to-toe drop; they are also supposed to be good on all kinds of trails.  My Achilles/lower calves were getting sore toward the end, and I think less minimal might be better.  Also definitely getting a handheld water bottle, if for no other reason than to do the aid stations faster.

70F, 93%.  6 @ 8:43 AP.  Parents' house to downtown Houston and back along the completed bayou trail (finally!).  Running my own pace today, I felt a bit more dead than yesterday.  Still think it'll be a relatively fast recovery, just not the superman version I envisioned yesterday.

Followed that up with 18 holes with dad.  He still likes to walk the course, bag on shoulder.  Even so, we made it around in just over 3 hours, although neither one of us played well (he still kicks my butt).

53F, raining.  Still in Houston, headed back soon.  Flatlander was nice enough to drive into town (in the middle of his long run) to run a few loops at Memorial with me.  As usual, we had rainy/crappy weather for our run, and as usual, I still really enjoyed it.

My little one had some martial arts training before we left.

50F.  Mostly around 8-min pace, legs felt heavy and stuck, so I dropped in a 6:09 toward the end.  It actually felt good.  It's like my 8-9 minute muscles are tired but my 6 min muscles are fresh.

Right now I'm signed up for a half in January and Cowtown 50k at the end of February.  I kind of regret signing up for the half.  I want to do well at cowtown so I'm preserving the weeks leading up to that one.  But I'm also thinking about maybe a 50k @ Bandera on 1/9, which is 2 weeks before my January half...if I do, there's probably no chance for a HM PR.  Really feeling like I don't care about that though.  Or getting a marathon PR this season - might replace Providence with another trail ultra.  Always feels like the racing season is so short, so I'm trying to maximize my "fun."

46F.  7 @ 8:05 AP.  Legs still have some kinks and stiffness.