New Motivation - Attempting the 100 miler

As this gloomy mid-morning Monday continues on, I felt the urge to log a few thoughts on my progress and process of my 100 mile training. Since my last post, I was in the thralls of training for the Boston Marathon, and had my sights set on a postponement of that race. Over the coming weeks and months, that race; among others, began to cancel and I continued to train at a mediocre effort. The occasional time trial, or virtual race peaked my interested as it may have with so many other runners, but in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to complete a 100 miler this year. The main goal was the Javelina Jundred in October. However, with so many uncertainties, that race wasn't in the cards for me to attempt. I then shifted to another goal, which will lead me to the starting line of another 100 miler I found; expect this race will be in January.

The idea of completing a 100 miler seemed so appealing to me for nearly 10 years now. Many friends have done them and the sense I get from them is unworldly. They have that look of terror and humble satisfaction that only a few runners have accomplished. "They've seen things" is what I whisper to Arlene when we end a conversation and part ways. I feel compelled to inquiry more of every aspect they went through: from their training, to what race they did, the scenery, what hallucinations occurred, to any other words of wisdom. Yet, with a subtle look on their face, I can tell they want to cherish those memories for themselves. Or, elect to show me that there isn't a way to describe their experience and that you just have to venture into the darkness and find out for yourself.

As of now, I plan on running the Coldwater Rumble 100 miler in January. That race is put on by the same organizers as Javelina, and has a solid course that seems to be manageable for me. I'm not expecting to set any records or do anything wild out there, I just want to complete one and feel the anguish that comes from the process in training for a 100 miler. I want to be uncomfortable and keep pushing. I want to embrace everything the elements have to offer and still put one foot in front of the other. I know these 30 mile training runs are nothing compared to the actual 100 mile race, or even a 40 mile training run. However, I feel that this is a learning process, and if I can bare through the race, then I can reflect back on my training and see what needs to be changed for another attempt. Time can only tell. 

      

Getting ahead of myself - Injuries

We all tend to do this a lot - start planning for races before you are even ready to run.  Circling those far off race dates in the calendar, in hopes that you will be on the starting line, or just day dreaming about the possibility of crossing off one of your bucket list races.  Well, at least I do.  I tend to do this all too often, especially when I am not running.  The unknown of when I "will be training" seems to make the possibility of any race just a registration click away.  My wife can tell you that, when I am hurt, my race options seems to double throughout the season - "Honey, I want to do this race, oh, and then we can do this race.".  I guess the mind moves way faster than the body, but this seems to help with the mental aspect that I am not running.  The hope that I will be back training again is the light at the end of the dark and torturous tunnel.  And with the thought of races, comes the reality of training and getting stronger; running with your friends, and pushing each other to achieve a goal.  Those are definitely not occurring when you are cross-training by yourself, or sitting around waiting for your injury to heal.  Or thinking, "I'm not a competitive cross-training, why am I do this?".  But the fact of the matter is, that you, or I, will be able to run again, and enjoy all the aspects that it entails.  And know that these auxiliary workouts are going to get you healthy and running again.

As for me, I am still cross training with my trainer - Lawrence, twice a week.  My massage therapist - Laura, is continuously making my muscles and tendons feel like rubber, and I have seen a Dry Needling guy/Doctor, named Nick Speegle who will stab me a few more times this week while sending electrodes through those wonderful metal needles.  The goal of all of this is to heal my left achilles and test it out on Friday.  My achilles has been bugging me since forever ago, and it has really flared up recently after the marathon last month.  So I thought, it would be best to fully heal it and start off fresh this year.  I still have plenty of time left (the rest of my life, I guess) to figure out what races I really want to do, and until then, I will focus on the important aspect of recovering and healing.  Once that is accomplished, then I can break out the red marker and start circling all those races dates... or more importantly, all those sunday long run days with the Dukes Track Club.

2014 Mt. Taylor 50k Race Report

After only racing 2 official ultra marathons, both of which are on the same course, I will still contest that the Mt. Taylor 50k is one of the greatest races in the state of New Mexico.  This race in particular holds a sweet place in my heart as it was the first race I ran after coming back from my stress fractures this past spring.  I signed up for the race late in the summer, and started adding some actual hill climbing into my low mileage comeback routine.  I managed to get in around 50 miles a week, which included one mountain run up and down Pino in the Sandia mountains.  I figured that was enough compared to my last attempt at Mt. Taylor which entailed zero mountain runs.  Both scenarios produced two different outcomes.

This year our posse consisted of Chris Peverada, Aaron Padilla and myself.  Pev and I drove out to Grants Friday afternoon and hung around the popular venues that Grants has to offer... the hotel room.  Once Pev decided to get a new haircut, we took the long trek across the street to the Red Lion Hotel; otherwise known as the host hotel, for some dinner and to gather our racing packet.  After a delightful spaghetti dinner, Ken Gordon (the race director) made some announcements about the course and the two special guest: Craig Curly and Gordon Ainsleigh.  Craig is someone whom I knew from the road racing circuit and he owns a 2:15 marathon pr from Twin Cities.  And Gordon Ainsleigh is an Ultra Running pioneer and legend!  Here's his wikipedia page so I don't screw anything up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordy_Ainsleigh.  After a nice evening of chatting with other runners, we hiked back to our hotel and bunkered down for the night and were back up at 4:00am ready to go.  Like a blink of an eye.

Aaron drove us up to the start in his pick-up, since my Civic wouldn't be the wisest decision.  We parked, checked-in, gathered around and were off at 6:30am up the mountain!

Just before the Start

Only after a few hundred meters there was a pack of 5 guys in front of me lead by Pev and Craig.  I decided to stay comfortable in 6th and knew we had a lot of running to do before anything was actually secure.  After a few miles, the twilight from the sun was finally pronounced and you could start seeing the beauty of Mt. Taylor in the fall.  Hints of orange and yellow leaves were all around, and the wretched first climb up to the La Mosca lookout were waiting for us.  It was great running this event for the second time, since everything was much more recognizable.  It was also a bit daunting to know what lay ahead around each bend or after each descent.

Heading up La Mosca Lookout

Once I found a good rhythm, and the first major climb was over, I started to feel pretty good.  I was a little worried about my right leg, and I hoped nothing serious would happen to it while running for 31 miles.  Luckily for me, my leg felt fine the entire time, and still feel fine while I write this blog.  

After running with a few guys who either caught me, or I caught up to, things started to settle in for everyone.  I met a dude from Gallup, New Mexico - Andy.  I caught him going up La Mosca, then he dropped me, then I caught him again and kept moving along.  Another guy by the name of Josh also caught me just before the Spud Patch aid station.  We cruised in together and chatted for a bit trying to figure out if we could catch Pev and Craig.  At this point Josh and I were in 3rd and 4th place.  It would be a long path ahead before the next aid station.

Josh and I coming into Spud Patch

Leaving...

The next aid station was at Rock Tank Shelter, and that would mark mile 16 or so.  After running along with Josh for a few miles, I slowly separated myself from him and made it to Rock Tank alone.  I was told the leaders are nearly 10 minutes up, and of course we still had 16 more miles and two huge climbs.  I had a pretty good feeling I would not catch them, but I wanted to maintain my top 5 position so I refilled my water and bolted out of there.  I was starting to feel the pounding of 16 miles, and this next half was going to be even harder.

Next stop would be at Gooseberry Aid station at mile 21.  Ken Gordon and his son were there cheering me in.  Ken, being the experienced ultrarunner advised me to some S! Caps since I probably needed some electrolytes and my coke intake wasn't enough.  I managed to finish my water bottle before each aid station, and took in a gel every hour.  I made sure to drink enough, and treated myself to a coke at each stop.  Granted, that coke was only about 6 ounces, I still considered it a treat.  But I took down an S! Cap and took one more for the road/atop the mountain.  Ken informed me that Craig was 10 minutes up on Pev and Pev was about 10 minutes up on me.  I figured I would lose more ground climbing the summit, and would try to keep 3rd place secure.

Well, after climbing for quite-a-ways, I was being stalked by 4th place.  I was caught before I reached the summit and was now in 4th place.  I guess all that climbing up Pino is nothing compared to climbing Mt. Taylor.  I have some major work to do if I ever want to compete in more ultras, especially any 100 milers.  But anyways, I felt a lot better than the first year running this, and was determined to stay in the top 5.

Atop Mt. Taylor 11,301' above sea level.

Well, the rest of the race was a trek and I managed to keep my 4th place position to nearly the last 10 meters.  After climbing the summit my quads were wrecked!  I thought I could easily roll down those hills into Water Canyon and catch 3rd place.  But this year was completely different.  I hadn't run any workouts, and had zero strength in my quads.  Probably lack of tempo runs, and some speed workouts.  So, it was a struggle going down after Mt. Taylor, and I couldn't close the gap on 3rd place.  The last climb out of Water Canyon was also a tough one.  This last climb resulted in much self profanity.  I really wanted to be done at this point.  One last shot of Coke at the Caldera Rim Aid Station and I was off.  This last section is basically a 2 mile straight downhill to the finish.  It's brutal and not pleasant on the quads.  I was finally caught with about 1 mile to go, and put in a little surge on Michael.  He still rallied and suck with me to the final 400 meters and started kicking pretty hard.  I'm use to finishing hard, but this seemed a little strange being an ultra marathon where the winners usually stroll in without anything left in them.  At this point I figured I better not get out kicked, so I decided to hold him off and finish in 4th.  

The finish line party is my favorite get-together of all races I've run in New Mexico.  We had 2 kegs of Marble beer, burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and plenty of green chile and soda for all to enjoy.  Everyone is in good spirits and we all hobble around to chat and share stories of our 50k adventure.  Craig won the event in 4:19, and Pev was 2nd in 4:57.  I ran 5:08 and Aaron finished his first ever Ultra marathon in 5:55.  It was a great day with tons of support from family and friends!  If I could, I would do this race every year.  We shall see what next year has to offer as far as qualifying for the Olympic Trials in the marathon.  Thanks again to Ken and all the support on the mountain, from aid station crews to photographers, to rescue workers and volunteers!

Chris Peverada finishing strong

Jesse(4th), Pev(2nd), Craig(1st), Michael(5th), Mike(3rd)

Cheers!

Aaron finishing strong

More Cowbell and more beer!

Time off our feet...

  

Post Stress Fracture Running, Rehab, & Trail Running

Well, after a bitter summer of recovering and rehabbing my 3 stress fractures in my right tibia, I am now running confidently again.  This past week I spent the majority of my time lightly pounding on the softer dirt path of the North UNM Golf Course loop.  Once I had some free time to venture towards the foothills on the weekend, I decided to run up the Pino trail.  On Saturday I only managed to make it 45 minutes away from the Michael Emery parking lot, and Sunday morning I was able to run 1 hour out.  I have never been that far up the Pino trail, and from what I observed - it was pretty amazing.  Very lush and beautiful.  This weekend I plan on making up to the Crest and possibly even further...  Time will only tell, since I've been limited to "time" running during my rehab segment.

On another crazy and thought provoking topic; I've recently signed up for the Mt. Taylor 50k, which will take place on September 27th.  It seems a little crazy to run an Ultramarathon after coming back from a stress fracture, but I figured if I can make the La Luz trail run my longest run post stress fracture, then I should be fine...  Again, time will only tell, just so long as I don't do anything too stupid.

More Trail running post to come, and with pictures too!

The Weeks That Where

Another week, and another weekly log posted.  But this time, I've resorted to an electronic log that I found from Jack Daniels PhD.  And since I'm obsessed with his training methods and philosophy, this adapted running log is perfect for me and my somewhat busy schedule.  So, to shorten things up and summarize the past two weeks and a half marathon race - things are going well!

Rock and Roll Arizona:

All and all, it was a good rustbuster.  I wanted to find out where my fitness was, and I did so at this race.  A 1:08:16 puts things in perspective and shows me that with more consistent weeks I'll be in a good place for Boston.  And with each passing day, I get more and more excited for the most historical marathon EVER!  So, to get back to the half marathon, I knew that I had to start off conservative and not do anything stupid over the 13 miles.  Yet, the race momentum dragged me along to a 5:05 first mile, and made me think that this could be a tough and disappointing half marathon.  Luckily, I rallied my fitness and fortitude and kept some even splits that were not slower than 5:20, or faster than my first mile.

After catching the idiots that took off blazing, I realized that I would finish strong and in a respectable time considering the amount of training I had.  To add to the excitement, my buddy Kris Houghton set the WORLD RECORD in the half marathon while pushing a baby stroller, with a baby in it!  Alma Rose Montoya-Houghton and Kris are World Record holders!  What other running club in America can say that- NO ONE!

Last Week:

So, after being sore from an all-out effort in Arizona, I decided to get back into the full swing of things are post some good training sessions.  A workout Wednesday was in order, followed by an 8 mile tempo run on Saturday, and then a Boston Simulation Long Run on Sunday.  Pretty solid, right?  Well, it was and it felt great!  Now, add in some mixed variation and things should go pretty well.  Oh, and one 50 mile long run to make things a little exciting.  This is another topic we can get into, but in a little more than one month, I will run 50 miles at once.  I know this isn't common to do before an important marathon like BOSTON, but as the late and great Herb Brooks once told the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team before they won the Gold Medal, "You can't be common, the common man goes nowhere; you have to be uncommon."     

Mt. Taylor 50k Race Report

First off, I'm not sure how much you want to use this information for a "race report", as I've stolen that title from the more seasoned ultra runners out there.  Nevertheless, I will do my best at a recap from my perspective...

The Mt. Taylor 50k!  When the abbreviation of Mountain is included in any race, it would be wise to note that you'll be racing up a mountain, and in this case an 11,306' mountain.  I was completely aware of this, as I visited the website more often than I checked my email in a day, but it was hard not to as the website [http://mttaylor50k.com/] was gorgeously and simplistically made.  I must include that the race director, and lofty ultra runner himself - Ken Gordon, put together one of the greatest races I've run in New Mexico!  Every detail was taken care of, and all the runners had a remarkable time.  I couldn't have asked for a more well organized race.  Thank you Ken!

So let's talk a little bit about the race, or in this segment, the pre-race.  As usual, I had a wonderful amount of company going into this race.  My two roommates, Loren Wohletz and Chris Peverada were entered in the race, along with Dana Patton.  A new member to our club, was a youngster by the name of Alex Peterson.  I say new member to our club because we've had this approach that, "If you're not against us, you're with us" mentality, which I'm sticking to it.  It's kind of an absorption thing... Anyways, there were five of us and we were all ready to take on the mountain.  The course profile is something like this:

Where the first 3 miles is straight up, but in reality it wasn't that bad.  So, as the gun went off at 6:35, the race organizers planned it so that once we made it to La Mosca Lookout, we'd have a perfect view to the east of the Sun rising over the Sandia Mountains.  This view was surreal!  And before I even got there, one of the Navajo runners who was far ahead of me, yelped out an Indian War Cry, which got the race field excited to see the sun rise that laid ahead.  Also at this point of the race, Chris broke away from the field and took charge of the pace.  After about 5 miles, I never saw the top 2 runners until the finish.  I decided to run a more comfortable race since I wasn't use to this type of terrain or elevation change.  I was pretty comfortable in 8th place, but I could see the other runners gaping me as the downhill section to the second aid station was approaching.  Alex and I ran together for a little bit, but I couldn't keep up with him along the downhill sections.  Also, my Camelback was bugging me.  I think I was the only idiot in the top 10 to wear a hydration pack, but I didn't want to risk blowing up out there.  I was finally able to fix the comfortableness and plot along on the course.

As the fall season just hit New Mexico, the Aspen trees were already spouting off their bright yellow leaves. At some points of the course, it felt like it was raining large yellow droplets all around.  This was very hard to ignore, but I couldn't quite embrace the poetic beauty just yet.  I had to stay relaxed and keep hydrated so I could finish strong.  I also had a piddling thought that I could get top 5 for an "award" of some kind.  So, holding on to 6th place, and running with Alex, we ran on towards the 10 mile aid station at Spud Patch.  I started to realize that in the ultra running community the aid stations all have names of their actual location, unlike the road where they are just given mile marker numbers to make it easy and boring for the runners.  Anyways, I was excited to grab a quick energy GU to replace the Powerbar Gels I used for my pack.  At some points of the race; I found it very arousing to add another element to the race experience, which was the method in which you carried your fuel across the course.  I really got a kick out of literally unzipping something and eating on the go.  Very weird, I know, but it's a requirement for the even longer races.

Well, after 10 miles passed, and the course was more suited for my stride, I was able to get moving and catch some guys.  I eventually made it into the Rock Tank aid station; where the race starts, and got to see Arlene and Lauren hanging out waiting for us to come through.  I slipped off my pack, filled it up and got rid of some trash.  By that point, I was in 3rd place, but the other two guys that I just passed came into the station and one was able to take off before me.  I guess I wasn't too concerned at the moment as I was drinking a coke and attempting to get ready to leave.  This aid station was the halfway point of the race, with the hardest part yet to come.

Once you left Rock Tank, it was a nice gradual climb out on a single track trail until you hit a wide jeep trail. That portion of the race I was moving along fairly quickly towards Gooseberry (mile 21.2).  I came up on that station quickly, but for some stupid reason, I didn't stop to get anything.  And, as soon as you leave Gooseberry, it's all up-mountain from there.  Luckily, the tree cover hid some parts of Mt. Taylor Peak, but if you were sick enough to stare through the trees, you could spot the top of the mountain.  At that point, I had a doubt I could hold a top 5 finish.  And as soon as you got out of the tree cover and made a slight left north towards the peak, my heart fell into my already empty stomach.  This portion of the race I could only manage a slow hike/walk up the mountain.  It was nearly 1000' of climb over the course of a mile.  Not something I can do compared to these other veteran ultra runners.  Alex came up on me pretty quickly, then 2 more guys passed me.  But, once I summit the peak, I was running again and slowly catching the crew that passed me.

At the Caldera Rim aid station, I grabbed a quick coke and speed off after the 3 guys.  As soon as I caught up with Alex, his knee that he had surgery on started to bother him and he slowed down.  He eventually felt better and finished very strong.  But I was just plotting along at a good pace when I passed the other 2 guys who seemed to be working together.  I later found out they are both from Las Vegas, Nevada and train together.  The rest of the race had it's ups and downs, both literally and physically.  The last set of switchbacks were tough, but the last 2 miles were even tougher.  So, with only 2 miles to go, it became a downhill ski adventure.  Those miles were the steepest quad-killing miles I had ever run in my life.  Partly because I had just run 29 miles prior to it.  Nevertheless, the race was nearly over, and I was pretty happy to finish in 3rd with the award of a hand painted portrait of Mt. Taylor, which I will get it framed!

After running that race, and thinking about it compared to all the other races I've done, I would have to say that I am not only satisfied with how it went, but excited to do more of these events.  The community, the course, and the challenge of navigating that course made it one of the most amazing races I've done.  My roommates and friends always talk about Ultra's and how awesome they are, but until I did one, it was truly an experience worth suffering through.  I had a good idea of what to expect after having the opportunity to crew for Loren at Hardrock, and it's a whole different ballgame when comparing a 50k to a 100 miler, but I think I will venture into more of these races in the future.  Don't get me wrong, I still have New York City Marathon, which will only go well because of this race, but I think in the spring I want to attempt a 50 miler, just to see if I can do it...

At the finish.

The DTC crew! (From Left) Me, Loren, Chris, Dana, Alex