A long awaited post of the past and the present

Like many of my old posts, I usually start off with my favorite choice of phrases; "well, it's been a long time since my last post..."  And since it has been a long time, I guess I could sum up what has happened since that glorious day at Mt. Taylor.

After that ultra marathon, I attempted to get into shape and hit the roads.  I set my sights on the Rock and Roll San Antonio half marathon, which didn't go too well, but well enough for the shape I was actually in.  I would use that lousy time as a benchmark as to where I was at and what I needed to do leading up to another important race - USA Cross Country Championships.  From December till February, that seemed like plenty of time to get ready and get in good shape for my favorite event.  Cross Country is something that I pride myself at being good at, and a place where I love to grind.  And since it was coming up very quickly, I should've been training very hard for.  Unfortunately, I was struggling to get the workouts needed, and made a last minute decision to not race.  That decision made a lot of my teammates concerned and worried.  Hell, it made me worried why I didn't prepare myself for the 2 months leading to that race... Needless to say, I wasn't in shape and didn't want to run in a race that I always look forward to.  A race where I can usually grind it out with the best of them.  Instead, I chickened out and kept my scalp attached for another day.

That other day is coming around the corner.  And regardless of sickness or however "outta shape" I may think I am; I will be racing a 15k at the Mountain to Fountain 15k in Arizona.  This will be another "test" or "benchmark" of my already well known fact of where my fitness is.  And when this race is over, I can finally set my sights to everyday training.

I think I lost a bit of that get-up-and-go mentality over the last few months and after the idea I being healed from my stress fractures.  Someone told me that it would take almost a year to fully get over my injury, and after spring break, it will be a year since I got diagnosed with 3 stress fractures.  Since that year, I either lost something or became overly worried about something.  And if I don't put in the correct training and attempt making the Olympic Trials in the Marathon, I will just be, "a has been."  That is something I do not want to be labeled as, so something has to change.

First off, I have to be 100% healthy and ready to put in the work.  I need to know that I am capable of logging in the volume and intensity without any major setbacks.  At this point, my fractures are more than healed, so all that's left are minor ailments or any sickness that old man winter has in store for me.  After that, it's train, train, train.  Day in and day out!

I'm very excited to run another road race next month.  I am also excited that I am motivated to race a track race this spring and take a shot at a fast half marathon before our wedding!  And after the honeymoon... (cue the sexy music) all my focus will be lasered in on the Chicago Marathon and a sub 2:18 Olympic Trials Standard.  

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...

  

Getting over the mental anguish of the stress fracture - another week in the books

Well, I survived another week of decent running and a decent amount of numbness in my right tibia from those nasty stress fractures.  Once thing that I keep reminding myself is that my bone is completely healed and that I am doing the right thing by running a little on it.  This was the advice many people have given me over the summer; that there'll be some "weird" pain where the stress fracture use to be.  And like I've said before, that weird pain was also a thick and fat feeling that I didn't like having.  It was just a reminder that; "hey, I'm going to bug you and hopefully break you mentally before I actually break physically.".  That was not fun, but I still kept at it, and hopefully I'm right.

So, after some light trotting around during the week, a fun trip to Jemez Springs (elevation: 7900'), and 2 little mountain excursions; I would say I had a decent week of running, and I use the word running loosely.  I can honestly say that running up the Pino trail was quite difficult for me.  With the company of Chris and Tony, I made it up to the Crest Trail from the Spain Parking Lot in one hour and fifteen minutes, then blazed down for a total time of two hours and ten minutes.  I've never been up to the crest from that trail, and it was quite amazing and wet.  I would highly recommend that trail and hopefully in the future we will venture over to South Peak and back.  As you can tell, I really have the trail running bug and have my sights on Mt. Taylor 50k at the end of September.  After that, I will head back to the roads and attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the marathon, but before that I still want to get scuffed up in the mountains.

Here are some pictures from today's run up Embudito Trail.

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!

9 weeks until the Boston Marathon - Week in Review

With only a mere 10 weeks until the most anticipated marathon of the year, I am starting to feel excited and ready.  I've been wanting to run the Boston Marathon since I first attempted this crazy distance back in the fall of 2009 - Twin Cities Marathon.  After that race, I was looking for another marathon to improve on, and for some idiotic reason, I picked the Nashville Marathon in the Spring, as opposed to the Boston Marathon.  Luckily for me, I had a great 2010 spring season and set some amazing PR's on the track.  But, I should've entered in the foot race that starts in Hopkinton.

The Famous Boston Marathon Course

Last year I was entered in the Boston Marathon, but had the misfortune of catching pneumonia and getting injured.  If all goes well, I will be ecstatic to start and cross the Boston Marathon Finish line in one piece.  I will also be jumping out of my racing flats if I finish the race with a PR.  The number one goal is to run the Olympic Marathon Trials Standard of 2:18:00 or faster.  The second goal would be to PR, which is very likely since training is going well; but as all who know what it's like training for and racing a marathon, it is just as unlikely to not run a PR.

This week was a great week, when compared to last week.  I had a whooping 52 miles the previous week, since I was sick and took 2 days off, and came back slowly.  So, I finally feel like a "real" runner and completed a decent mileage week while racing in Boulder, CO for the USA Cross Country Championships.  I had one "speed" session on Wednesday, which wasn't that fast.  I'm not completely sure why I ran so slow, but I got the volume in - 8x1000m with 200m recovery jog.  I only averaged 3:09 (which probably was the slowest I've ever run that workout in), but I might've felt slow because it was so early in the morning.  I started warming up at 4:45am, and did some light drills and started the first interval at around 5:15am.  It was pretty dark at Highland High School, but the street lights and permaglo helped a little bit.  I think I haven't started a workout that early in awhile, so it was a little shock for me.  After a few more weeks, I'll feel more comfortable running that early again.  Besides, it's getting lighter, earlier as well...

So training and racing looked a little like this:

Mon - pm. 8 miles
Tue - am. 4 miles / pm. 12 miles
Wed - am. 2 mile warm-up 8x1000m (3:11, 3:08, 3:09, 3:08,
Thur - pm. Strength training + 8 miles
Fri - am. 6 miles
Sat -
Sun -