Happy New Year! and tapering.

The final blog post of 2010 and this year has been pretty good for the most part.

This year brought me to branching out to my own office mid-year which has turned out to be a good thing and something I have been waiting to do for a long, long time.

This year I also had an increase in running miles. In 2009, I ran 845 miles and this year, 1106 miles. That's a good increase but for some crazy reason I was looking for it to be higher! Oh well, 2011 right!

I have to say that 2010 also brought a great year with Dez even though the last quarter turned out to be a diagnosis of breast cancer for her and now with current chemo treatments, she has a great positive spirit and I am glad I can be here to support her, Love ya babe!

I am excited to bring in 2011 with the opening of HURT100 in 15 days! This will be an exciting way to open my run season as I have some great plans for this year in the run area, already applying for Wasatch 100 in Sept 2011, cant wait till Feb 5th! to find out!! I am also excited to advance to Level 2 of certification for stretch to win in February as well and of course this year I turn 40!!!! Yahoo!!

All will be fun and I will enjoy all the good, tough, fun and happy times that 2011 brings!

I have also officially entered Taper for HURT 100 and by my opinion a littler earlier than planned simply because of increased rain and crappy weather here in Vegas. The few short runs I have had I have felt pretty good and didn't push the pace simply because I knew I had been rested. With 14 days left there is nothing much more I can do but sauna-steam room train, keep my legs feeling good, rest and not get sick. I have been planning my trip, my mental plan and just overall preparing and am excited to get the show on the road!

see ya all next year!!!

Rockon'

Rainy dayz and Beauty.

For the past few days here in Vegas it has been rainy, colder, windy at times and just plain Yuk! But it is Winter and this is how it is around here, not always fun in the Sun in the desert. However, this type weather is certainly not working with My plan for my last push to taper for Hurt100.

My Plan was to have this week my last big week and than head to taper at Christmas time, which in the grand scheme of things tapering down from 70 miles + is still 50 miles-ish so with the weather rearranging things I am now basically playing with my run times and just trying to stay in the game. I mean, Okay, I could get out there and run in the rain, get all soaked up, freeze and basically not have a good time but since entering the long training days of ultra running I have told myself you have to enjoy being out there running or you will simply look for every excuse to cut the run short simply because you are not having fun and with the weather the way it is, for me, it's not fun! So I am basically just looking for my run windows and take advantage when I can.

According to weather reports, this Thursday the skies will part and for the next week after it will look to be good running times and with that I will be 15-20 days out and taper will have to commence, although if we are keeping track of numbers, I am basically on taper now with about 30-50 miles this week and probably next and if we translate that into hours somewhere between 8-14 hours. I think my main goal here is not to let my self get mentally beat in worrying about how much training I am getting or not getting in the next 3 weeks but simply take advantage of the rest on the legs while giving them just enough exercise to not lose site of the main job we are up against come Jan 15th!

If I have to say, overall I am feeling ready but being this far out still just seems a little too far ahead to be "ready" and wait, Ready? Are you really ever ready for a 100 miler? Honestly, I don't know because I have not attempted one but I do know I feel the same as when I did my first Ironman in terms of doubting my readiness! and I do know I feel more ready today than when I did the 100k back in October.

I will start planning all my aid stations, drops, logistics of the race and going over all my details in my head over the next couple of weeks and making sure my plan is in my head so come race day all I have to do is run and not worry about things and just take it as it comes. It's a lot to do in the short amount of time so I better get with it.

On a side note, my wonderful girlfriend Dez is doing great considering Chemo treatments but she made it through round 1 of 6, this week is 2 of 6. She has a great heart and positive outlook on all this and that keeps her strong. I will say this week seemed to be a little harder because her hair really started to thin and come out even after cutting her hair short from day 1. So with the strong heart she asked me to cut it all off for her last night. At first there was discussions about why and why not to cut it but finally it came down to she wanted to cut it. We broke out the clippers and as hard as it was to see her crying before I made the first pass, I was standing there with doubt in my mind she said "I can do this!" covered her eyes and said Go! When it was all done she had a nice buzz cut #4. She no longer cried and we laughed together about it, simply because she is as Beautiful with hair as without. You're the bestest Dez!

rockon'

My Tired Legs.

What a week!! I think... At the end of this week I was a little down on the way I have been feeling the last 3 runs simply because my legs have been really tired. I felt I had no snap, no push, barely a shuffle and mostly just out of gas.

I even complained to Sweet Baboo aka BIG B coming of some stellar running events but what am I supposed to say to guy with the one of the greatest license plates I've seen "Run Big". I even complained to this GUY and then thought, shoot, he hasnt even updated his blog since October! and must still be singing and dancing to the Buring Ring of Fire!

My thoughts about how my legs feel for the past couple of days have been all over the charts and with the calculations in my head on my run mileage I was definitely not impressed and left wondering why. Was it the increase in road mileage the last two weeks to increase my overall mileage? Was it the increase in road running pace per mile vs. trail running pace? Was it that I missed calculated a couple of my nutritional caloric needs and now I was paying the price? Was it a combination of all? I went back to my training log and here is the break down and the Answer!!!

• Sunday - 26 miles (trails)
• Monday - Off
• Tuesday - 3 miles (road)
• Wednesday - 16.5 miles (road)
• Thursday - Off
• Friday - 5 miles (road)
• Saturday - 26.2 miles (14 trail, 12.2 road)

Total 7 day mileage = 76.7 miles!

Now that's why my Legs are Tired!! Somewhere along the line I forgot I ran 26 miles on Sunday. After this I totally felt much relief and understanding of my tiredness and hungriness.

Today and yesterday I took off but tomorrow will be back on the road. I feel a little more rested and with the help of some extra stretching and Epsom salt bath relaxing. I basically have 12 days till Christmas and one of the best gifts of all, TAPER!!

rockon'

November recap, I suk!

Well as this month already closes out I was hoping to see a much bigger increase in my run numbers but it is, what it is.

Runs = 12 total (that's less than 1/2 the month, wtf!! Aren't you training for oh, say something like HURT100!!!!!)

144.77 miles in 33 hours 34 minutes. I did manage to start some CrossFit classes but actually over the last week I stopped them simply because they were killing me in the run department, AS YOU CAN SEE FROM 12 runs! ughhh...

So I increased 29.77 miles from last month in 1 hour 40 mins, HA I wish I was that fast! I guess that is a good thing overall that my pace is faster.

With 45 day left to Hurt100 and basically 3 weeks left of peak running before the 3 week taper I better nail all my runs and stay healthy! I have 70 mile weeks planned for the next 3 weeks and maybe even an 80 the last week, so we shall see how it goes. Wish me Luck!! I am gonna need it.

I am focused on the event being as it is so close now, the feeling of scared is more prevalent than ever before and more so than any Ironman but it's the same mental physical preparation that is going to get me there, ready or not!

rockon'

Part 2.. Santa Monica 50k.

First off here is the course profile from my Garmin. I was seriously pumped up to know I had made the 3:30pm cut off and even though I knew that the RD would have most likely let me start the last loop I wanted to be legit and stay on time. I quickly refueled my camelbak with water and my hand held and the aid station guy told me I still had plenty of time and to make sure I fueled up because I had a long hike to top. I was in and super fast and said, "nothing like cutting it close" to the guy directing me back up the trail. He said, "nothing like making it count and having fun!" Great words when I much needed it.

As I started back up the climb I even gave myself a fist pump for working to achieve the cut off. I knew I was last one through and I would most likely be DFL which really didn't bother me because I was still going to make the 8 hour 30 minute cut off time to complete this course. As I settled in to my power hike of 2.5 miles I would see others running down on there way to the finish line. At open point a guy passed me and then I heard him talking farther down the trail. I looked back to see and there was another girl coming up the trail below me but quite a ways back. I thought I was the last one but evidently I was not. I then recognized her as she was wearing some different clothing and was ahead of me and I must of passed her in the aid station, turns out I did because she was putting on warmer clothing and a hat so technically she was the last one still on Official time. I knew she was faster than me and would most likely chick me on the way down but really by this time I didn't care because I just wanted to make it.

As I neared the top and was greeted by a couple of other runners that I had passed and they passed me during the day they quickly told me I as less than 10 mins from the turn around which only hurt and motivated me more to get there as I knew it was all Down hill from there. I made the turn around and sure enough started running back down. I passed the girl and she was about 3-4 minutes behind me so I knew that if I didn't run she would catch me and by now, I didn't want to get passed. I ran pretty much all the way down and when I did stop to walk I could only think of her closing in on me so I would again. The two guys who I passed long ago on the Orange loop were on there way up and I said, "hey you guys made it!! awesome" The guy replied, "yea but just barely I think! and then after them I saw another girl and then Yolanda Holder who is just about to set the Guinness World Record for most marathons run in 365 days! and this was her 97.

About half way down there was a guy who I saw earlier running back up and turns out he was the boyfriend of the girl behind me. He ran up to her and I could hear them chatting and I knew she would be more motivated to catch me which only made me more motivated to run faster too. As I approached the bottom section and one last turn away I knew I was going to make it in and instead of easing up and continued to push till the line. I told myself no easing up just because you have 10 minutes till the cut off and I came running across the line in 8 hours 21 minutes! I was handed my finishers Coaster!!

I was so glad to have made the finish and Redemption came with a price of working and feeling that pinch of the cut off time. I enjoyed all the time out there and even when I started to doubt if I would make it I pushed harder to fight for the time line, Priceless for me in the confidence arena.

Overall thoughts: I needed to more in tune with my Hydration, as I was behind and at HURT this will not be acceptable. I like wearing my waist belt better than my camelbak. I need more food nutrition than just my drink calories, I did eat at the aid stations but simply was not enough. I got my ass kicked on those climbs and it was nice to feel the pain! I need more run time, or time on the legs as my current past weeks have been good runs, just not long enough. I need to post-pone CrossFit to ensure I complete my long runs and not be so wore out. My new Trabuco 13 shoes worked well and I now have 3 different types of shoes I am comfortable with for HURT.

I know I can do it!! Suffer and still come out alive!

Below are pictures that I copied from another run with a few of mine mixed in.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Redemption has a Timely Price. part 1

As I headed out on Saturday afternoon to Santa Monica, it was clearly going to be a drive and run full of rain. The drive was hit and miss on the rain but as I rolled into my hotel it was definitely raining. I had already planned and packed all my gear so there was no need to sort or think about things, it was basically get some food and off to bed.

During the early morning hours, about 4am, I was woken up from the sound of a freight train passing by only to come to my full senses and realize it was a torrential down pour. I jumped up to take a look outside and sure enough, Crazy raining! I thought it's going to be a fun long wet run. I had been hovering all over the weather channel and the reports showed this:

6 AM

Rain 55° FPrecip: 90%

Wind: WSW at 16 mph

7 AM

Rain 53° FPrecip: 90%

Wind: W at 16 mph

8 AM

Rain 54° FPrecip: 80%

Wind: W at 16 mph

9 AM

Showers 57° FPrecip: 60%

Wind: W at 16 mph

10 AM

Showers 59° FPrecip: 40%

Wind: W at 17 mph

11 AM

Showers 60° FPrecip: 40%

Wind: W at 18 mph

12 PM

Few Showers / Wind 60° FPrecip: 30%

Wind: W at 20 mph

1 PM

Few Showers / Wind 60° FPrecip: 30%

Wind: W at 20 mph

2 PM

Few Showers / Wind 60° FPrecip: 30%

Wind: W at 20 mph

3 PM

Partly Cloudy 60° FPrecip: 20%

Wind: W at 18 mph

4 PM

Partly Cloudy 59° FPrecip: 10%

Wind: W at 17 mph

So with an 8:30am start this was going to be a wet day. I was somewhat okay with this aspect as I wanted to try out my shoes in the rain and see how they worked as well as see how my feet would do. Upon waking up at my set time of 5:30am I quickly got dressed and headed down to the local IHOP that I had found the night before but all be shit if wasn't closed! damn!! Now what? I googled Dennys and it seemed too far, so I checked another Ihop which was down the road toward the race start so I went back to the hotel and got my things ready, changed and got dressed to go. I headed out but somewhere along the line I lost some time and now I was a little behind. As I headed towards the race site I realized I may be pushing it close so I decided not to go as I had some food things I could eat but overall I think this was not a good idea and I should have chosen better and more food options!

I arrived at the race site, parking along the Highway 1 with the ocean directly across the street. It was nice to get a few pictures of the morning and just before things got under way. I was wearing my InknBurn shirt and ran into Ed who was also at Coyote Springs 50k so it was nice to see a familiar face. After chatting with him for a few minutes I had all my gear, drop bag and camelbak ready to go. I chose to use my camelbak because I was carrying extra gear because it was to rain. As it turns out, the Rain dodged us all day long and it was great beautiful day!! Sunshine, some wind and great views from the top of the climbs.

All the 30ks and 50ks started at the same time and headed out on the same course. When the gun went off we all headed up a short 100 yard road and on to the trails but it quickly became a stand still because we all bottled neck on the single track tail and stayed this way for about 1.5 miles. Here is the course map and elevation profile.

The 50k course is the Orange, Pink, Orange and Yellow loop. The thing that really sucked was the last loop, of which had a cut off of 3:30pm, and was basically 2.5 miles up to the peak and back down to the finish!! Cruel!!

As the first loop on Orange began it was pretty technical and big rocks which just slowed everyone down and then it was a long grind it out climb/hike to the top of the Orange loop. Once up there the line of congested runners had been thinned out which was great because the trail was mostly single track. The view from the top of the loop was amazing! You could see the ocean for miles, the beach line and just overall awesome. After running along the edge of the Orange trail that paralleled the coast line it then turned inwards and a nice gradual downhill into some tall grass lands. I mean this stuff was 5-6 feet tall and single track and snaked around which was cool because at times you just see anyone running in front of you. Once at the bottom it opened into a huge prairie field and on this grass dirt road. It was pretty great but it was also muddy through here and the mud was just caking to the bottom of every one's shoes. I had to stop and knock it off a couple of times to make my shoes lighter. By the time I was heading back towards the start area and the end of the Orange loop the mud was completely gone heading back down the technical section of the rocks. I knew that on the second loop this was going to slow things down so I took good mental notes on where I could run and where I would have to take it slow. Once back at the starting area, basically 1 of 2 aid stations on the course.

I refueled my pack and noticed I had drank as much as I should have and would keep better track on this next loop. The Pink loop (also Yellow climb section) started off with a grueling hike up that 2.5 mile section. I could see other runners way ahead of me and up the side of the mountain where we were going and I actually stopped looking simply because it was discouraging to see how much we had to climb. I did enjoy the views as we kept getting higher. Finally I was at the top and started on the slow but later steeper section heading down on the pink course. This was basically an old fire road and went down back side of the mountain we just climbed up. At the bottom was the next aid station where I made sure I drank more, grabbed some food and moved out quickly. As I headed out I was walking and talking with some other runners and then the road turned to single track and UP we went on another trail that climbed back up to the top of the Yellow-Pink summit! This part was pretty freakn' hard especially about 1/2 way up where there was a nasty 200 yard straight up hike to get to back on the fire road. I mean this thing was eating runners up left and right as I was climbing up I could see others just stopping and taking a break trying to catch there breath. When I got there I had rested just short of this and was able to power up this section and rested back on the road. Once at the top of the fire road it was a nice recovery back down 2.5 miles to the main aid station.

Once back at the main aid station it was time to start Orange loop for the second time. I grabbed a can of Coke because my stomach was a little upset and I was hungry. I headed out and made my way back through technical section and started climbing back up the Orange loop. I noticed there was a couple of runners in front of me so I was working to catch up to them. I also noticed that no one was really behind me but I knew there were other runners behind me on the down section back to the main aid station. As I made the summit of the Orange loop I caught to guys and one seemed to be hurting pretty good. I ran with them for a short time and then I made the pass along the parallel section. I stayed ahead of them on the back side of the Orange loop because I was running faster than them and didn't want to get stuck behind them on the grass lands single track and I figured they may catch me on the open grass road but they never did. Matter of fact by this time I was keeping an eye on my pace and time and realized that if I didn't make up some time on this grass area I was going to miss the 3:30pm cut off. I ran as much as I could and every time I stopped I would tell myself to start running again. The mud was all dried and the only thing that was slowing me down was my tired legs from those 3 freakn' climbs! As I started narrowing down my time and distance back to the main aid station I knew that if I didn't run as much as possible I would lose more time on the technical rocky section and miss the cut off. In the back of my mind this was NOT something that was an option! I dug deep and kept telling myself I had to run because a DNF was on my terms but being pulled from the course because I didn't try harder was not an option. I knew if I ran as much as I could and as hard as I could and I missed it I could live with that, overall, maybe I should have ran faster during the day but not knowing the course this is where I was at. I made the technical rocky section and just about a 1/2 mile before the aid station there was two ladies walking through the trail and I basically pushed pasted them and hogged the trail so much so I basically ran over the second lady. I yelled out to her, Sorry!! I am about to miss the run cut off! She just replied, It's Okay. I made the last little section and came flying in looking at my watch. The aid station guy was looking at his watch and said, Dude, you got a couple minutes, You're Okay.

A couple of minutes. It was 3:27pm.

to be continued...

rockon'

DNF always Sucks! but Redemption could be Nice!

Heading into the Coyote Springs 50k I was super excited and ready to see these new trails that are privately owned and operated by Pardee Homes. As the master builder of this future community about 50 miles North of Las Vegas, they have built trails all around there property. Take a look at some of the pictures from DesertSky Adventures http://www.desertskyadventures.com/coyotesprings/

First off, this race was set up with Class Act Quality sponsorship. Let's talk about Schwag!! You get a great tech race shirt, a neck buff for all you runners, or it can be used as an old time hide your face bank robber cover (sorry, boots, chaps, and guns sold separately) then you got your choice of color of a fitted Under Armour baseball hat. Also great offers and deals from local businesses.

I had ordered a new pair of Asics Trabuco 13, Size 15!

I have still been playing around with different trail shoes for HURT. These shoes arrived Friday afternoon and my plan was to wear them on my training day run, although many would call this "race" day and as WE ALL KNOW, you are not supposed to wear or try new things on "race" day.

As I arrived at race start site it was quite the set up with the HUGE white double door tent, 2 chandlers, and a heater blowing through the back of it to heat the inside, nice and toasty!! as it was quite cool and windy.

The other awesome thing I noticed is the PortaJane

Along side the Jane was John and together they made a great addition to the bathroom line up. Have you seen these things before? There is a Sink inside them!! Flushing toliet, mirror, hand soap, etc!! They also had a trailer, that was set up with bathrooms on it as well so much nicer than any of your regular ole' out houses!!

I timed my arrive pretty good so I would not have to be standing around waiting long and sure enough it was time for the 50k'ers, all 10 of us registered, 9 showed up, to line up and the show on the trail! The gun went off and we took off down a dirt road for about 1.25 miles out/back to string us out before we hit the single track trails which the majority of this run was on, as well as for the 10k, and 1/2 marathoners. Soon I was on the single track trails and really enjoying the winding twisting and construction of these man made trails. There was a nice steep climb and the wind was blowing really good when I started power hiking up this little baby and soon enough I was at the top, supposedly told this was the toughest section of the whole course. Just after this we were dumped on to an old asphalt road and this sucker would take us on an out and back for about 3 miles.

Up until this road my shoes and I were rocking along and I was feeling great. Even the dang Bone Bruise I have been dealing with over the last several weeks was feel good and I was happy. As I started making my way down this long asphalt road I noticed that my quads were already starting to feel like the end of Javelina100k and I was wondering what the hell could have blown out my quads so early in the run but never really pin pointed anything to it. I started to noticed that the foot/bruise area was starting to wake up and not liking the road section. By the time I made the turn around there was a lot of down hill to be made up and I thought I would be making some good time on this but as the asphalt worn on back to mile 16 where I would get back on the trail my foot/bruise was no longer happy with any type of running and with ever step I could start to feel pain in that area and now because I was feeling this I started to do the limp on right (bruise foot) and power off with the left. Compensation!! and it didn't take long for my left foot to say What the *uck!!! and next thing I know I was walking. I was certainly Okay with walking the next 2 miles to the aid station/trail section and as I counted down my mileage, my foot/bruise counted down the time to DNF'ing!

I have never DNF'd anything I've participated in, training or racing and so when I felt the pain and irritation to my foot I immediately thought of stopping so I wouldn't fracture the foot and then I am really shit out of luck for HURT. I told myself I would absolutely walk the 2 miles and if it didn't feel any better with walking I would stop, and sure enough, the walking felt exactly the same and I was limping exactly the same as when I was running. I got to the aid station at mile 16 and they asked what I needed. I said a ride back to the start! What? they said... Yeah, I am done, my foot is bothering me and I can't risk a training run on it. Okay they said and told me it would be a 30 mins or so until the next car came by, I said no problem, sat down, unlaced my shoe and enjoyed the area and chatting with them.

Now as anyone and many have, argued with me on the use of a new shoes on "race" day was the SOLE reason my foot gave in and cost me my day but I really stand on a different view. The Trabuco 13 is a great tough trail shoe and while on the trails for 10 miles I really enjoyed the feel and comfort of it, however, with that being said, I also felt totally uncomfortable in it while running on the road. It's not a road shoe by any means and therefore, it was my fault for not studying the course and realizing there was that much road section on this trail course because otherwise I would not have used these shoes. I could also add that maybe if I didn't have an issue with foot/bruise thing going on even with the Trabuco's I may have been okay but the combination of the foot/bruise and trail shoes and asphalt I feel, did me in.

I was bummed to not be able to see the rest of the course and of course finish and get my medal but then again I enjoyed the food at the Dnf (Finish) line which was totally off the charts with Sliders, Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Lemonade, muffins, cakes, some other meat chicken stuff! All totally awesome! I hung around to see who won the 50k and sure enough the dude came in at 4 hours 43 mins!! nice pace.

So this week I have ran a 5miler and a 8 miler on the trails in the Trabuco's and love them. I loved them so much I decided to sign up for the Santa Monica Mountain 50k in Malibu, Ca. this Sunday and will be heading down Saturday afternoon. With the current weather rolling in to Cali, its sure to be wet and chilly. All is good because I want to see how these Trabuco's do in the wet and how my feet do being wet, the cold, ehhh, not so much looking forward to that but I am on a REDEMPTION!!!

rockon'

Moving forward.. still.

Recovering after JJ100 has been pretty good for the most part. Over the last couple of weeks I ran a short 4 miler and felt good just 4 days after 100k. I then took another 4 days off and then I ran 7 miles on back to back days and still felt good. I wanted to go 7-10 but on the second day I had some GI discomfort and I cut the run short. This weekend I ran 14 on the road of which 7 was a nice long down hill grade and I could feel my quads taking the beating on the road. I was nice and tired by the time I finished so I knew that I had not fully recovered, I was also happy to run down the Las Vegas Strip from Mandala Bay to downtown which was pretty cool early in the morning and not only got to enjoy running on the strip but also some great stair running as many of the street crossings are walk bridges and instead of using the escalator I took the stairs.

Sunday, I went out and ran a double loop at White Rock trail in Red Rock which was great too because I forgot how tough going clockwise is compared to counter-clockwise and now I know I will be using this loop for some serious uphill work over the next 67 days!

And speaking of that!! HFS!! 67 Days and counting! Scares the crap out of me. I mean this is HURT100!!! JJ100k was a good stretch but now add in 38 more miles, lots more climbing, crappier technical trails and TONS O Humidity!! and pressure to finish this thing and you guessed it, scared!

I started a couple of CrossFit sessions last week as well and quickly found out how weak I really am but although it was nice to change up the routines I also quickly found out that too much CrossFit will tank my running as I am just not used to this type of conditioning. I will continue to incorporate CrossFit over the next 50 days.

Since running at JJ100, I used a Amphipod hand held bottle and really liked it so I decided to try there waist belt, so I bought:

the Profile-Lite 32oz, which is two 16 oz bottles and then added the Snap-Flask 10.5oz, I have two of them but so far only using one. This brings my water carrying to 42 oz and 24oz with the hand held which I will continue to use Succeed in during the run. I most likely will add the other 10.5 oz snap flask simply because I think at HURT I will be drinking 25oz + per hour and most likely taking two hours between stations. So far I really like the waist pack.

Coming up this week will be a 50k called the Coyote Springs 50k put on by Desert Sky Adventures, can't wait!

In triathlon news, Macca showed up at the Silverman 70.3 and cranked out an win in 4:22!! Nice Job!!

Rockon'

October recap..

Well with all the crap I had going on it ended this way:

6 Runs = 115 miles in 31 hours 54 mins.

I guess I can't really complain too much being as my foot was jacked, my personal stuff and working but overall I just don't think that will get me to the end of HURT100! it will more likely End me in HURT!

This month has to be on the up and up!! or else I'm just screwed. Today, on a good note, I started CrossFit with a trainer, Brian W. who owns High Bar Fitness. I already can tell this is going to be great for conditioning so stay tuned.

rockon'

JJ100 Nutrition recap..

For my nutrition, I basically started bright and early when Form and I rolled out of bed at 3am and hit the Denny's next to the hotel. I basically scarfed down pancakes, scrambled eggs, grits, and hash browns, oh and some orange juice. I was pretty much stuffed but I was good to go and didn't start eating more solid food till about noon.

Once the race started I would be using my hand held and drink Succeed and being as I knew they were probably going to water it down a lot I carried some single packs to add to the bottle as I went throughout the day. I would pick 3 up for each loop. I did also use a couple of GU's but overall they just didn't work for me and I have the vomit button going off as soon as I took one!

I continuously filled my camelbak with 30-40oz of water at each aid station, approximately every 5 miles and that seemed to work out well. I do think by just drinking 1 20 oz bottle of Succeed every 5 miles or 75mins-ish was probably too low in drink calories as it was probably 200 calories with the added packet (150calories) I added. When I did start eating food from the aid stations I started eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pumpkin pie!!! Yeah, it was so good and actually worked for me all day that it was available. I later learned that Baboo had taken some late in the day, even after using it earlier in the day, and it upset his stomach but I had no problems. I Jeadquaters I did grab some of the Huge club sandwiches they had and that seemed to be okay too, they had pizza at one time but I took one look at it and my stomach was like, Don't Even Try It! I also had some pop-tarts but really only 2 because I forgot them while changing out my shoes and others things.

At night time, I tired some potato soup, which was okay but didn't really work for me so I switched to the chicken noodle soup which was good ole' Ramen Noodles! I love that on runs and always seems to hit the spot for me. I had slowed down on drinking Succeed and taking salts as the night rolled in but then I stated back on the last loop simply because I knew it had calories and would be good for me. When I left Jeadquaters for my last loop my quads were not happy by this point and so when I got to Jackass aid station I sat down and the great volunteer's got me some more chicken noodle soup and I think I ate a couple of chocolate chip cookies but I don't remember. I got my pack filled again because I was still drinking water at a good rate and off I went to Coyote aid station. When I got there it was a complete Buffet for me even knowing I only had 5 miles to finish. I ate 8 Oreo's, 3 cups of Coke, Chicken Noodles, 2 hand fulls of M&M's, some mixed peanuts, and a couple of potato's! I took a few minutes to hang out here and enjoy my 57 miles I had come and also GeekGirl was here so I was chatting with them as well.

As I said this was a great training event and I really learned some good lessons for HURT. Today, 75 days and counting!!

rockon'

Javelina Jundred recap..part 2

One thing I remember, in the heat of the day I was coming in at the end of loop 2, 31 miles and I saw everyone running with Popsicles!! Yeah, so yummy, cold, and full of life, I wanted one!! but not in 2-3 more miles, Now!! what a cruel thing and as I got to the Jeadquaters I kept telling myself to find them but I was in such a hurry to change and get going I totally forgot about them and I was about a mile down the road when I remembered!! DAMN IT!!! I was so bummed! I also remembered that coming back on the 2nd loop we hit the 26.2 marathon mark around 6 hours 30 mins and I gave a big YAHOO!! 1st marathon complete!! Sick I know, but exciting.

Back to the night time. As I left the for the night, again on the counter-clockwise loop, that sucks, I knew it would be just a long grind it out walk and I would attempt to run some being as it was not hot. I walked for a while and saw a few runners coming in, one runner, walking really slow was Form. I stopped to ask how he was doing, he replied, my feet are shot! Burning, aching, pain! Being as he had brought everything for his Garmin but the Garmin itself he had no idea how far he was from the Jeadquaters, which he was about 2 miles and at his current pace it would take him an hour or so to get there. In his current condition and explaining what he felt I told him it was not a good idea to keep going but that is only my advise, it would prove no good to him as he later pushed on from the Jeadquaters. As I approached jackass aid station, they had some chicken soup going on so I sat down with some other runners next to a heating lamp, ate my soup, ate some other things I had picked out.

The sitting down part had now become a task in itself. The famous last words were upon me, Don't blow out your Quads! and sure enough, as the day wore my quads started to give to the downhills and now that it was night I was having a tough time running period. I could walk with a 16 min pace and felt okay. As I finished up my food, the aid station crew had refilled my pack and hand held and I was off back in to the night. There were a couple of runners that had already left and although it didn't even cross my mind to try and stay with them or catch them I slowly started to reel them in on the trail and as I approached them I would quicken my pace and try and blast as fast as I could past them, my own little way of keeping me going without a pacer. By now I was just about on the back side of the uphill grind and many lights were heading my way. As they would pass we would exchange encouragement but the most thing I was sad about in the back of my mind was that I didn't have a pacer and I could really see the added benefit-value in that. This trail is not too technical so that made it just a little okay without one but overall it's a plus to have! As I hit the flatter part of the back side of the trail heading to coyote camp aid station I tried running but again my quads just didn't have it and now even the slightest downhill sections were making them achy and I was starting to twist my body to maneuver these grades. Once I was powering uphill I was okay, I was rockin', I was in the zone, my training for this type of stuff had paid off and I was happy with that. As I approached the next aid station I knew in the back of mind that the once thought of going for the 100 miler or anything about 100k mark was simply just that, a thought. I knew that based on my training and issues leading up to JJ100 that I was in the best position to stop and not push into the red zone and create recovery problems I just didn't need. This was my plan from way back when I signed up and I knew that I had to hold tight to it and not tank myself or my quads any more than they already were.

Once I reached the aid station, still 5 miles from the end, I took a quick look around to see what food I wanted because I was freakn' starving, again! There is only so much you can eat at one time when out on the trail so this time, I had 5 miles till the end and I needed some sugar. Surprisingly enough I had only taken about 4-5 cups of coke during this whole time and no red bulls or energy drinks and was feeling good. I wasn't tired but my quads were shot and my shoulders were also aching from carrying my pack for these 16 hours so far. I quickly hear a voice I recognized and it was Courtney, a crew/pacer member for GeekGirl and I looked at the runners sitting around and saw GG sitting on a chair. I went over to see how she was doing and she had said that her knee, stomach, and some things were hurting/bothering her. Courtney came over to ask how I was and I whined about my quads but then proceeded to enjoy the sugar buffet of 8 Oreo's, 2 cups of Coke, about 25 Peanut-M&M's, and 2 small brownies. No wonder I didn't need energy drinks! haha!! I also took some more chicken soup and sat down once again and ate it all up. Then as I was leaving so was GeekGirl so we all left at the same time. We walked together for a short distance and then I pressed on as GG was still having pain to her knee which was slowing her down. In the last couple of miles I could see the headlamps from a long way off and at some points it can seem discouraging but in others it's so cool to see where you are heading at night. This is the rocky section of the trail that earlier in the day I had passed Form on but now it was just a walking and don't bust your ass section of the trail. I finally cleared all the rocks and was texting in to Dez to let her know I was close and I would be finishing about 11:43 pm being as I was now on a 17min/mile pace.

As I got close I could feel the same familiar pull I felt each time coming in at the end of the loop. I was so excited to be there and this time be done! I told Dez to meet me at the timing mat so she could see me finish and turn in my chip. As I made the last few hundred yards I knew that this was it, that I was going to stop and part of me was sad and down but I dismissed that as I realized I just accomplished 62 miles, great training, didn't get hurt and I how much work I need to do for HURT. I crossed the finish line at 17 hours 42 mins. One thing I made certain was that I didn't go over mid-night and I kept my pace to accomplish that in the last loop. As I took my chip off and told the staff I was dropping at 100k, they marked me down, handed me my 100k Buckle and listed me as a DNF, but it was so not right because I did Finish! I finished exactly what I came to do on the day I signed up for this race!

After quickly grabbing some pizza and few more snacks, Dez and I made our way to the crew area and disassembled everything and packed up some things. At this point I really didn't know Form had went back out on the 4th loop and Dez informed me what time he left and based on calculations it was going to be a Long time before he was there. Looking back, we should have left to the hotel so I could change and shower, rest for a while then head back out but by the time I hit the passenger side seat I was out like a light. I fell asleep so fast and rested for about an hour. Then I had to use the bathroom so I went to the shower/bathroom at the camp site, taking my clothes to change and some shop towels I had to wash my face. When I walked in it was a single type shower and there was soap there so I quickly decided I was jumping in and using my shop towels to dry off with. The Best Shower Ever!! After cleaning up I walked outside the shower and there was S.Baboo standing by his car, Hey!! I said. I went over to chat with him on his race and GeekGirl had come out of the shower area and was ready to head to the hotel. They took off and I went back to the car where Dez was resting. We waited for a while longer, slept some and then Courtney came over to tell us Form had finished. We quickly found him or he found us, don't recall and we headed out to the hotel. By this time I was so tired and achy throbbing legs I just wanted to lay down in the bed.

On the ride to the hotel I would learn that Form took 6 hours 40 mins to walk that 15 mile-ish loop!! OMG I said.. it took us 6 hours 30 mins to run 26.2!!! I give it up to the guy as I cannot imagine taking that long to walk 15 miles with a bum foot, You da man Form! Once we got to the hotel I hit the bed and went right to sleep but it was restless as my legs were just throbbing and sore now. By morning time I was totally stiff and as I moved around it actually wasn't too bad. I mean the first few steps were tough but then once moving I was okay. As we packed up and headed out around 10:30am we stopped and grabbed food and headed back. It was great to have Dez drive simply because I just didn't want to have to think and pay attention to the road. When we hit Flagstaff I noticed that my feet had swollen up like sausage links!! I quickly put my compression socks and we headed back to Vegas.

Today, all the swelling has gone down and my feet are back and now I just have soreness to my lower legs and feet.

Now let's talk about my gear.

I purchased some 2XU compression shorts and calf sleeves to use and try for this run,

as well as get some insight if these would be good for HURT. Bottom line, No! Although the compression shorts felt good the seams in the crotch area rubbed, even with BodyGlide, luckily it wasn't bad but just enough to annoy me for part of the run. Now the Calf Sleeves. I was excited to use these as in the past on a training run I ran in my CEP Compression socks with my Injini's and it worked for a while but my toes just got to compressed, so using just the calf sleeves I was ready. After the 1st loop all was working well and they were fine but on the second loop, about 20 miles in, I notice something pinching or stinging the back of my right calf. As I investigated I notice the top of the sleeve was super tight as I had puffed up and now that damn thing was too tight, but the big thing was that these sleeves have some sort of plastic/rubber along the inside lining, most likely to prevent them from sliding down but either way this damn thing pinched my calf's and actually cut into my skin. I rolled down the sleeve to my ankle and ran that way till loop 3 and then I took them off. When I did take them off I noticed the left calf had been cut and pinched and a small pinch blister had formed!! WTF! I was kind of pissed as these are supposed to be awesome and in there defense maybe I should have got a bigger size but overall the inside plastic/rubber thing sucks no matter what size.

I did purchase a new hand held, Amphipod.

This hand held is actually pretty cool in the fact that it feel comfortable and works easy within the hand, I have a standard round bottle and it's annoying after a while, like it's work to hold on to but this Amphipod is pretty comfortable. The down side to this design is the rubber strap on the bottom, it simply falls off the bottom of the bottle if there is no pressure on the strap from your hand. I figured I would super glue the damn thing next time and get a thermal cover to help keep things cool but otherwise I liked how it worked and will be taking it to HURT.

At the race site Ink n Burn was there and I wanted to get one of there new shirts so as soon as I got there I actually went there first and I got this:

I actually ran in this shirt for a while but then I changed out simply because I had snagged the sleeve on a tree branch.

Nutrition recap to follow and other random stuff.

rockon'

Javelina Jundred recap..part 1

The short version: 100k, I made it!! and the javelina didn't get me! Time: 17 hours 42 mins (17:05/mile or 29 hour pace.

The Long version and the rest of the story.. My plan for going to JJ100 was to run 100k, work on nutrition, some running gear, my pacing, timing, and overall race strategy for Hurt100. Anything above 100k at JJ was going to be bonus, but simply because my last 2 weeks of training and even the 2 before that were not the best or on schedule I had to be realistic when I got there. As Dez and I packed the car I realized there is a lot that is goes into this in the terms of crewing and taking things from home and realized I am going to have to decrease my supplies when I go to Hawaii. We left Friday morning after picking up Formulaic and got to Fountain Hills, Az. about 2pmish, checked into the hotel and then headed to packet pick up.

The temperature was nice and overcast but called for more sun and high's in the 70's on race day. After packet pick up we just hung around the race site for a few minutes, I made sure to get me a shirt from Ink n Burn that is super cool!! I saw Catra and Andy and talked with them for a few minutes. We then met up with S. Baboo and GeekGirl as they were showing us there crew/camping area they had set up and we were welcome to leave things at there area for crewing, which turned out to be great because when I came in I went straight there and was out of the way of all the people and just doing my own thing.

After we got all we needed headed to go eat, and get the last minute things ready for the race. The next morning, the alarm went off early at 3am and it was off to Denny's to get some pancakes, eggs, grits, and hash browns down. Then back to the room to get moving to the race site. By the time we got there, Dez, dropped us off, as they have a drop off only area and a basic park n ride to the site as the parking is very limited. Dez would miss the start but it being dark, and 5:30am she was okay with it and went back to the hotel for a little more sleep. She would be back for the end of the 1st loop around 10:15 am. As Form and I unloaded our stuff and headed to the camp/crew area we quickly got it set and then it was only about 15 mins to go time. It went by really quickly, every one lined up behind the start/finish banner, I finally got to meet Karen from Las Vegas, and then all of a sudden it was 10, 9, 8, .....2, 1 Bang.. We all took off.

This is actually a photo of the last guy finishing the 100m but also the start/finish banner. So we all start and run over the timing mat just like an other race, off we went to the left. This is a 15 ish loop course and laps, 1,3,5,7 are run clockwise and 2,4,6 are counter-clockwise. In the start of the dark as a group we all stayed bunched together for about the first 2 miles, then the Sun started to come up and it quickly spread out. This is the only race I have not taken pictures in but I was able to borrow quite a few from other runners from facebook, so thanks to all of them. This race is also a costume dress up race and many runners are wearing all kinds of costumes, I choose at the last minute to wear random Halloween stuff, a big fuzzy spider attached to the back of my camelbak, Halloween socks which I cut the toes off of and used them as arm warmers for a while, and of course Dez bought me some bunny ears! check out his action picture wearing my bunny ears and run or die - ink n burn shirt.

Yes, that's S.Baboo behind me! I beating him!! haha, it was mile 2-ish and I think this was the ONLY time I was in front of him. As we all thinned out it was nice to see the trail that we were going to be on all day/night. The trail would change from rocky crappy footing areas to nice hard packed groomed trails. I was at one point attacking the short down hill whoop-ti-do's and Baboo quickly pointed out to not blow out my quads, words later that would be ringing in my head and the faint sound of Baboo laughing at me telling me I told you so! As the first aid station come and went all was working very well. I was drinking my Succeed, even though the race had watered this stuff down so much, I some how expected this and brought my own packets that I would dump in after a fill up and make it much more enjoyable and worthy of drinking, but I would drink every bottle between Coyote aid station and Jackass aid station, both about 5 miles apart. One thing I kept my eye on was the pace, simply because I had heard so much from everyone not to go too fast and sure enough, I was. Both Form and I were way ahead of the planned arrival at Jeadquaters, mile 15.5ish. As we approached the end of the loop a lot of the runners were already heading back out for there 2nd loop and it seemed like we were so far behind and I had to keep telling myself this is your race so don't worry about what others are doing. I mean Catra, Andy, Joyce, Karen, hell everyone was already on the 2nd and we still hadn't reached the end but again, my race. Finally when we got there we were about an Hour ahead of planned time which as I said was way to fast! I had some foot issues already going on simply because I tried this stuff

- TriSlide. Now I didn't particularly like how it worked on my feet as it made them way too slippery but I do think this has it's place for anti-chaffing so being as my foot was sliding around way too much I had to clean off my feet and try and settle them down more in my Injini's. I grabbed a few things I needed, went to the bathroom, food and off I went. Dez was crewing so she had a great fast learning experience when I came in and quickly got the hang of it.

As we left the sun was already warming up and the next 6.5 miles was a slow walking grind. The trail is a slow uphill grade for most of this part and with the warmer temperature I just couldn't find my rhythm to start running. Every time I did I quickly over heated so I just settled in and walked as fast I as I could. The good thing about this was it was slowing down the overall pace and that I didn't mind. By the time we reached the top of this grind it was now time to run. Feet were doing better but I knew I would be changing my shoes, from trail to road shoes on the next crew stop and so I started texting a few things I would need to Dez. Form was ahead of me for a while and as we started to make our way down the rocky section my run mojo came alive as I was very much at home on this section as the similarity of Vegas trails. I reeled Form in and made the pass and even used this section to see if I could put some distance on him, Yes, this is a race! haha!! His feet were taking a beating and he was having some problems so I will say in his defense that is what gave me the edge, ya right.. ! I am into the Jeadquaters and quickly made the shoe change, a few more things to grab, bathroom again!! and out I went. Form was there and said he would be coming but needed some time to get things in order. I headed out as this was probably my fast transition but still slow in comparison. The next 15 miles I would walk and run as much as I could as my goal was to try and make the next Jeadquaters before Sun down but I just missed it and I was running for about 30 mins in the dark but I had my light so all was okay. I had also again texted several things I would need for this loop at night and again Dez had it all laid out and ready to go. As I came in I made the change out and this stop took me several minutes but I was okay with it because I needed everything and I was just getting ready for the night loop. By this time I was actually thinking in my head that I could go for the 100 mile. As I grabbed everything and moved out for the night loop I managed to experience some new and different things.

part 2 to follow...

rockon'