Keep Moving Forward

I've moved to http://travisliles.blogspot.com/

2007-07-29T14:24:00.000-05:00

My blog will be at http://travisliles.blogspot.com/ from now on. I think its easier to remember and the name seems a lot less pretentious than this one :)

Update your favorites and RSS readers and to those who have a link to me on thier sites, sorry for the work, but thanks for following me along the way!!!

Travis

Mt. Hood 8 am

2007-07-27T10:40:00.000-05:00

Off to Mt. Hood

2007-07-25T10:10:00.001-05:00

I am pumped! Tomorrow I fly out to Portland then drive down to Mt. Hood for the Mt Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultramarathon Scott McQueeney Memorial Run - maybe the longest name for an ultra :) . I have to pack all of my camping gear in a suitcase for the flight, which just seems funny, but seems like the best way to get it all out there. I'll pick up a rental car and cruise down to the Clackamas Lake campground and get all set up. Then probably just relax for the night. I know there are other arriving tomorrow too, so I should have some company.

As far as how I feel, mentally I feel ready to take this on and really push hard. Physically, I have a small calf strain and an almost recovered sprained ankle, so I don't think either will hold me back from doing well. I could have done without the ankle being rolled, but it did keep me in check and forced me to rest.

I plan on a nice easy pace on the way out. I'll have my camera with me so I can get some pictures of what looks to be some beautiful views (like that pic below). Carrying a camera might be a bit of an annoyance, but with the baby on the way, I don't know the next time I will be able to travel somewhere like this for a race for a while, so I think it will be totally worth it. Once I get to the turn around, I will just drop the camera off for the returning drop bags. Then work on picking up the pace for a good finish.

I'll be doing a little mobile posting from my phone pre and post race so some small update here and there, so check back.

On a side note, Congrats to my friends that ran the Vermont 100 this past weekend. Way to go Julie, Ryan, and Sherpa John. You guys are awesome!!!

Enjoy your weekends!!!!

Ankle me this, ankle me that.

2007-07-15T21:37:00.001-05:00

Things are going well with the exception of this slight ankle sprain. I rolled it last Tuesday when I went out to a new trail (to me) in the Missouri area. I took my eyes off the trail for a second to check my watch and POW! So I took a few days off and did some icing and not much else. I then hit the trail again on Saturday for a medium distance trail run with Howard and was fine for the first 7 miles. We stopped in at a forest preserve area that had some vending machines for water. On our way back to the trail I stepped off the side of the sidewalk and rolled the same ankle again. It was not bad as I was able to run the rest of the way back without much discomfort. What luck huh? 7 miles at a decent pace on a root covered trail and nothing, 200 feet on sidewalk and I get hurt. One more reason to stay out of civilization when running!! It's was pretty swollen yesterday and some today, but ice and rest seem to be helping.

I'm 13 days from MT. Hoot PCT 50 so this will just be a forced taper. Plus, I've got some travel coming up for work, so getting in a lot of training won't happen due to my work schedule over the next 7 days... yes 7 days YUCK! I'm flying to Orlando (Monday-Friday) tomorrow for a conference then out to Seattle for training (Friday-Monday). Then taking off on Thursday to Portland for the run. I've contacted Olga (RD) about helping out for anything she might need the day before the race and it looks like I'll be able to help out somewhere. I don't have a lot planned other then just hanging out, so I figured I might as well lend a hand and maybe meet some of the folks that will be manning an aid station along the way. It never hurts to hear someone give you some words of encouragement or see a familiar face, even if it's a new face :)

On a totally unrelated note: Getting the updates on Hardrock this weekend was awesome. I found myself spending time refreshing and waiting on updates. Also seeing the finishers come across via Youtube was great too. I have to say, I really like that this is able to happen and hope to see this trend continue. Seeing the emotions that the elites have when they come across makes me love this sport even more. Well done Scott and Krissy!! It makes you know that these events mean as much to them as they do to the rest of us, it's not just another race. Of course the others attempting and finishing this is an unbelievable achievement too and much congratulations to you all!

What's on tap

2007-07-01T17:16:00.001-05:00

Ryan asked in the comments of my last post what I have coming up so here you go...

First off, I've had a good month as far as training goes. As of yet, I have not become someone who puts in big mileage months. Most of that comes from the ITB injury I had in February that continued until the beginning of April. April then brought McNaughton so I tapered and rested in April, then a month later was Ice Age so another month with a taper and a recovery. I played it a little cautious in June to make sure everything was going to hold up ok and it did, so I moved into July with a bit more aggressive outlook.

I logged just over 150 miles, hit the gym for weights at least once a week. I joined a yoga class that is once a week and have on a few occasions hopped in on the pregnancy Yoga DVD that my wife does. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and do what needs to be done, being more flexible and balanced is my need and Yoga helps me with that :) . I've also turned up the hill work. I'm a flatlander so as much as I wish I could knock out huge climbs and descents , I simply do not have that type of terrain here, so I find the biggest hills I can and just go up and down as long as I can. Also, on days where I do weights, I hit the stair climber and/or the treadmill on its biggest incline for an hour. I've made sure to get in speedwork once a week (a big thanks to Olga for the help there).

Next up is the Mt Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultramarathon on July 28th. I'll be running the 50 miler. It was going to be a little get-away for me and my wife, but some things came up and she will not be able to travel with me. I'll be going solo on this outing, camping for a few nights at Clackamas Lake. I feel good about this event. As of now I am going in healthy and feel prepared, two things I have not had going into an event yet. I'm shooting for a low-to-mid nine hour finishing time.

After that will be the Flatlanders' 12 Hour run on September 2nd. The event is put on by the SLUGS (which I joined), so I am excited to get out there and meet a lot of the members. My friend Howard will be running the event too. This will be the first time I will be doing a timed run. 1.4 mile loop over and over again. The event is really close to my 29th birthday so I will be shooting for 58 miles. Before I started in this long distance running I would put together little triathlons that would add up to my age, but since I've done well over 29 miles on lots of occasions, it seems silly to just go out and do 29, so I'll double it and maybe a little further..hopefully

It's a hot S.O.B. out there!

2007-06-18T15:53:00.001-05:00

It has warmed up here in the good ol' Midwest. We were headed to my parents to celebrate Father's Day and I decided that I would just take off, head towards our destination, and have my wife pick me up on the way. I left the house a little after 7 am and stuck to the local paved trails as long as I could before I got out on the road. I ran past a bank around 8 and the temp already read 90 degrees. I made my way to Old Route 66 and just kept chugging along, sweating profusely. I had a bandana unfolded on top of my head and my visor pulled over that to keep the sun off the top of my head and neck. People driving by had to think I was nuts....which I suppose makes sense when you look at the majority of people would do their best to avoid the situation I wanted to be in. I got in just over 19 miles before my wife came by honking. I would have liked to gone a bit further, but being that I have not done much heat training yet and I was 100% exposed to the sun with no shade in sight, I'd say it worked out just right.

a belated Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!!!

Review - Nathan Speed 2

2007-06-15T17:43:00.001-05:00

As you may have noticed from the end of my post a few weeks ago, I also picked up a Nathan Speed 2. I purchased the X Trainer Plus and had not so good results. Mainly the issue came down to how the pack fit or in this case did not fit around my waits. This is understandable considering the belt is said to fit waists from 42''-26'' I'm on the lower end of the waist measurements at about 29'' so finding a pack that conformed properly could be an issue overall. Or would it be? Enter the Nathan Speed 2. , so I though this might be the ticket. I picked up the size small and within a minute of putting it on knew that the fit issue of the former belt was not going to be the case here.

Part 1 - Design

This pack comes in several colors, pink, blue, and the standard Nathan colors of gray and yellow. It also comes in 3 sizes; SM 26-32", MED 32-36" & LG 36-42. The belt is made of stretchy fabric and it attached together by Velcro. It has 2 - 10oz. bottle cages that are directly attached to each side of the belt. The cages are fixed in their position and cannot be moved. 2-10oz. flask like bottles are included. Between the bottle cages is a pocket. that measures about 5 inches across the top and tapers to the deepest point of about 3 inches. The pocket is made of a mesh webbing and has a thin fabric divider the give it a front and a back section.

Top View - Bottle Cage view. The bottle cage is build specifically for the Nathan bottle or at least one of the exact shape. They are made from a flexible plastic. The cage is sewn directly to the belt by way of elastic straps. The bottom strap keeps the bottle from falling out the bottom. The sides are attached by 2 short elastic straps on each side of the cage that have 4 strips of a rubber-like thread that give extra grip to the bottle to keep it in place.

Top View - Pocket. The pocket pictured above is the only pocket on the Speed 2 that measures about 5 inches across the top and tapers to the deepest point of about 3 inches. The outer facing part of the pocket is made of a mesh webbing and has a thin nylon fabric divider with a Velcro tab that give it a front and a back section. The back section of the pocket contains a key holder. The beauty of this pocket is the mesh. Since the mesh used has larger then average holes in it, irregular shaped items can be squeezed in better. If the item has a corner on it, it can simply push out of one of the holes instead of poking you in the back. The pocket is divided into 2 sections. Though I'm not 100% sure this is useful, it does allow you to put items that you don't want exposed or for a marginal bit or organization.

Front View - Full pocket. Here is an example of how much can fit in the pocket. As you can see, I have 2-1.25oz Gels, a larger then normal cell phone and my pill case for my S! Caps and my car key. Though not all of those are items I would carry on race day, I could easily fit a few more gels, or some anti-chafing stuff, a few bandaids even a baggie of electrolyte drink. As a side note.. this waistpack came in a combo pack with a Nathan Quick Draw Plus so some additional storage is found on the handheld.

Part 2 - Performance

I put on the pack the first time for some easy road running and was happy with how it held up. I was able to get my whole workout in without having to be angry at the pack for bouncing around or being uncomfortable. The second time I wore it was for my long trail run and had the same results as the road run. The 2 smaller bottles may be a turn off for some. I found them to be nice because unlike a singe bottle pack that may shift from side to side (at least on me) it was for the most part balanced and did not shift around at all. For me I only carry water in the small bottles and use my handheld for my electrolyte drink. Not that you could not use the packs bottles for mixing drinks in. The opening of the bottle with the lid is surprising large and easy to fill. The divided pocked actually comes in quite handy on the run as it give you a feel of where you are after as opposed to everything being piled in one spot. If 20oz is not enough, you can step up to the Speed 4 which also adds a small zippered pocket on the front of the belt. It would also be possible to add an extra flask and zippered pocket to the Speed 2 for a more customized solution, which is what I plan to do. I am going to add one more 10oz flask and a small zippered pocket. I wont need them for everyday use, but will add and remove them as necessary.

Final Thoughts

This pack has performed great. It has an excellent, no bounce fit. I found it to be extremely comfortable and easy to adjust on the fly. The fact that it comes in 3 different sizes is a plus for those with smaller waists or those looking for a more custom fit. Lastly, the ability to add/remove flasks, pockets, music carriers.. etc make it a flexible choice.

*Note - I have no affiliation with Nathan or any other products mentioned or shown in this post. These are merely my opinions and preferences.

I'm a SLUG

2007-06-06T10:02:00.001-05:00

Training has been going well since Ice Age 50. I decided to actually take some time off and rest up my legs. I was coming off of an injury going into McNaughton 50 in April and was not 100% how I was going to hold up over the 50 miles. I came away feeling pretty good and not hurting. I took one week off then started training up again. 3 weeks later I ran Ice Age and was sore, but not in an injured way, just the way someone who had never run a 50 before might feel after running 2 of them in a months time.

So here I am back at it. I'm easing into things. 2 weeks ago was easy, low mileage runs and a some time on the bike. Last week I put in 40 miles along with some cross training and some speed work. I got the workout from Olga who was gracious enough to share it with me, Thank Olga!!!. Once again a testament to how great the ultrarunning community is.

2 mile warm up

4x800 meters at 6:20 mile/pace

2 mile cool down..

whoo!! I forgot what it was like to run like that. I really enjoyed picking it up for a while. I also had some mid distance road and trail running in the mix as well.

This week starts my full on training schedule.

Monday - Easy run and Yoga

Tuesday - Weights and stair climber/hill workout

Wednesday - Speed workout

Thursday - medium distance run, weights, and stair climber

Friday - Off or active recovery (easy bike or swim)

Saturday - Long run

Sunday - Medium run

Well, that's what I'm up to for the next 7 weeks until I taper for PCT50 on July 28th.

On another note, I've joined the St. Louis Ultrarunners Group (SLUGS). I look forward to reaching a little farther into the ultra scene, making some new friends, and learning from those who have more experience than I do. I'm also signed up for the Flatlanders 12 hour run in Fenton, MO on September 2nd which is a race put on by the SLUGS. This should answer that burning question of "how far can I run in 12 hours?" :)

Until next time...

Review - Nathan X Trainer Plus

2007-05-31T20:33:00.001-05:00

I've been looking for a new waist pack for a month or so now to replace my aging and short on storage Ultimate Direction Groove. I tried The North Face Xenon 2 bottle pack. However, because of my relatively small waist (28''-29") the pack wrapped too far around and my elbows were always hitting the bottles. I don't know if the same would happen with other two bottle packs, but my guess is there's a good chance it would. Given that and the fact that I don't mind a handheld, I decided to seek out a single bottle pack with some extra storage for things like, carbo gels, salt pills, band-aids and the other little essentials I take on my long runs and the events I participate in. I came across the Nathan X Trainer Plus. Nathan has a good following and presence in the ultrarunning community so I threw some questions out to the Ultralist about it and looked for existing reviews or even multiple views of the product and came up empty. (Nathan, please put pictures of your products from different angles and more detailed product descriptions) From what I could tell by the limited information out there it seemed as if it was what I was looking for in a waist pack, so I went ahead and ordered one. Also, since I could not find a review or pictures other then the stock one from Nathan I decided I'd write my own review and post some pics to shed some light on this pack.

Part 1 - Design

The X Trainer Plus follows the standard Nathan colors of gray and yellow. The 22oz. water bottle is held horizontally and has a lip on both sides and is supposed to keep the bottle from sliding out. The X Trainer Plus includes 2 pockets, a pouch containing a 5 oz. flask, and a shock cord.

side view, pocket #1. The pocket pictured above can be found on the regular X Trainer as well. It's big enough to fit a small digital camera like a Olympia FE-210 (3.5" W x 2.5" H x 1.2" D), a normal sized men's wallet or a hand full of carbo gels. It could expand to be a bit larger, but would depend on what was in the flask pocket. If you kept the flask or anything hard in there, expansion is minimal. In addition, a key clip is located in this pocket.

- The rest of the features below are what separates The X Trainer Plus from the standard X Trainer as far as I can tell -

Top view, pocket #2. This is the largest pocket that spans almost the entire width of the pack (approx 8'') and has a depth of about 5'' in the deepest spot tapering down to 2'' in the corners, see the picture directly above. It will hold a good amount of small gear, but since the back of the pocket is the part of the pack that will be touching your back, flatter items will probably ride better and keep bounce down. Though given that the back is well padded, you could get away with stashing some bulging items in it. I was able to shove an Ultimate Direction 20oz. bottle (without the lid on) in it and zip it up. Obviously not a practical application, since the main bottle will not fit properly anymore, but I wanted to give an idea of size.

Front view, pocket #3. A 5oz. flask is included with this pack and can be filled with carbo gel if you happen to buy gel in the bulk bottles. Another thought would be to fill this with some sort powdered mix since the opening on the flask is pretty large and would be easy to fill and pour out. I don't buy gel in bulk and would usually have mixes at drop bag locations therefore I decided to see what else I could get in the pouch. It will expand a bit because of its' mesh panel down the front. There is also a cinch cord at the top of the pouch to hold the items in. I was able to get 5 Hammer Gels (1.25 oz each) into the pouch, so if you use GU (1 oz each) getting 6 in there should work. As you can see from the picture above, a hard drive based music player will fit as well as pushing the extra cord from your headphones to keep them from tangling. I use a Zune which is slightly bigger then an Ipod. It slid right in and the cinch cord was tightened to secure it in place. This pouch could accommodate cell phones ranging from small to large. One thing to note about this pocket is that it does not close completely. The cinch cord leaves about a 1'' round gap at the top, but given the angle it sits most items will not come spilling out very easily.

Front Bottom view, shock cord. A nice addition to the pack is the shock cord on the bottom. You could easily attach a super light shell, extra shirt, socks, arm warmers or whatever else you take off or put on (I'm thinking summer weight items here).

Part 2 - Performance

After really studying this waist pack and looking at what it had to offer, I was ready to put it to the test. I filled up the bottle, stufffed a few gels, threw my MP3 player in the pouch, and headed out the door. I warmed up with a short 1/4 mile walk with my wife. We then parted ways and I took to the paved trail. I ran a few steps and had to tighten the belt a little more. Within 2 minutes or so, I pulled the bottle out for a drink. It was not that easy to get back in place, but I managed to get it. A few minutes later and I noticed the pack was bouncing a lot. I reached back and the bottle was 1/2 way out. I pushed it back in, tightened up the belt again and continued my run. Once again the bouncing became noticeable and the bottle was coming out. After about a mile, I'd had enough. I turned around and headed home to get this thing off.

I would guess that the problems I had with this belt is the same issue I had with The North Face pack mentioned above, my waist The body of the pack takes up most of my back. Because of that, the area where the belt connects to the holster is right on the far outside part of my hip and creates a gap on each side where the belt it not touching my waist , thus causing bounce. I tried to wear the belt high, low and in the middle, but none of it seemed to work for me no matter how tight I got the belt.

Final thoughts

I was really wanting this to work out. I had high expectations for this belt, but unfortunately it did not work out for me. I don't know how it would fair on someone with a larger waist, but I assume that if the area where the belt attaches was on the person's back as opposed to the "corner" of the hip, bounce would be reduced. So my recommendation (for what it's worth) would be if you have a waist under 30'' you may want to look elsewhere then the Nathan X Trainer or X Trainer Plus, maybe the Nathan Elite 1 Plus since the bottle sits at an angle and allows the pack to conform better. At a minimum, if you can, double-check and make sure the belt fits tightly all the way around (no gaps). I could not find this item local so I bought on-line without trying on first. Oh well, on to the next piece of gear, which is the Nathan Speed 2 (I finished the run mentioned above wearing this one)

Just a quick laugh

2007-05-25T21:03:00.001-05:00

I was watching The Office the other night and thought this was funny little piece about blogging...

..and if you are a fan of The Office, there actually is a blog for Creed that can be found here.

Enjoy!

Gear recap and pics from IceAge 50

2007-05-20T08:17:00.001-05:00

I always like to hear what products people are using, so here is a quick gear recap of what I wore/used for Ice Age 50 mile trail run.

Shoes - Montrail Hardrocks

Socks - Smartwool UltraLight Mini Crew

Shorts - Race Ready LD

Shirt - North Face Flight Tank

Nike running cap

Perl Izumi Arm Warmers

Hydration/Nutrition - Ultimate Direction Access and Fast Draw Plus

Just Plain GU's

Perpetuem

Endurolytes

Start Line

Looks like I have my game face on

I always throw in a thumbs up

Closing in on the finish

Crossing the finish

Post race sit-down

Stupid Lawnmower... and Ice Age 50 Race Report

2007-05-13T22:38:00.000-05:00

My wife and I left the house around noon on Thursday. Packet pickup was at Old World Wisconsin. It was a very beautiful area with lots of tall pine trees. While there I saw Jason Dorgan, Jason had just finished running the entire 1000+ miles of the Ice Age trail. Not only was he walking around just fine.. he was going to be running the 50 on Saturday!!! We did not hang around very long since we had been in the car for 5 hours. We went and grabbed some food then headed to the hotel. I laid all my clothes out for the morning. I had made up my drop bags at home with an extra pair of shoes and socks just in case, but forgot them on my kitchen counter. Luckily I was able to buy some Perpetuem and some GU's at the packet pickup, so I remade my bags. I also had a spare pair of socks in my backpack, so even though I would not have the option to change shoes, I did not think I was going to need to anyway. It was more of a just in case. I decided it was time hit the pillow and wait for that 4 am alarm.

We got to the Start/Finish area and it was chilly out, in the 40's, which is perfect as far as I am concerned. I placed my drop bags in the appropriately labeled areas where I saw Julie . I also met Dennis We talked a bit then made our way to the start line. We were all hoping to go under 10 hours for the day. It was really exciting here. Lots of great energy all balled up by 238 runners underneath the Start Banner (I'll post pics later). The race started and we were off. The ground was relatively flat so I went out a little harder then I should have for the first 9. I was just moving on thinking "it's flat, you have to take advantage of the course when you can." I was running with a good group of guys and just doing my thing. I heard one of them say they were planning on a 8:40 finish. Crap, I'm looking to break 10 and I'm crusing along with these guys looking to finish 1.5 hours sooner?!?! I took it back a click as my calves were starting to hurt. What was going on? I thinking; "Why do my calves hurt so soon?" "Was I recovered from McNaughton?" "It will go away." Will this go away?" "Shit, what if this does not go away, can I push though this all day?" I hit the 9 mile mark at 1:26! roughly 20 minutes faster then I had planned. Oh well, besides my calves being really tight, I'm ok so keep going.

The first 9 of the race was mostly open field with grass, after that we hopped on the Ice Age trail. The trail was really rocky. I had to keep my eyes on the ground, which was unfortunate because the scenery was really great. Lost of green trees, wild flowers and tall pine trees. I was trying my best to stay hydrated but not to over-hydrate, which I failed at. Around 17 miles, my stomach was sloshing around. I needed to get this in check before my stomach started bothering me. I took a few Endurolytes and cut my liquids back to sips until my stomach calmed down. I met another runner and we shared some miles together. We were talking back and forth for a while and he finally asked where I was from. I told him and he said "Are you Travis Liles?" I replied "yep, that's me." It was Dave Cameron from the ultralist. He had sent an email to the list on Friday and I replied. What are the chances that we'd meet up? I just chugged along until about the aid station at 26.2 miles. I hit this mark at 4:40. I compared that to my pace chart and was more than an hour ahead of the 12 hour cutoff. Everything was going good. Just keep moving forward at a pace I could sustain and I should be continually getting closer to getting ahead of a 10 hour finish.

I hit the aid station at mile 33.9. My calves were still killing me and so were the rest of my legs. I think that because of my calves being the way they were, I was compensating in other places and was just causing everything to hurt. The aid station has a Jimmy Buffet theme. Music playing, inflatable parrots... I hated it. Nothing towards the volunteers at the aid station, they were great! I was just in a state of annoyed and this was really icing on my "negative attitude" cake. I left the aid station and crossed the street. After that was the big hill of the day. It just kept going and going. Ugh!! Finally I got to the top and ran when I could. There was a lot of sand and rocks out here on this part of the course. I was feeling pretty crappy. I'm sure that this was the longest damn 4.1 miles I have EVER run. It just kept going and going. I started to fall apart here. My legs were trashed. I did not give a damn about 10 hours. I knew I was on pace to hit it but though "I could walk and hit a 10:15 or so..." and "I'm really just wanting to break 11 so I could put myself in the WS100 loto... I'll hit that easy, just cruise." I had to shake this. I just put my head down and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

The great thing was that this out and back section was pretty active. A lot of people were coming back and always giving words of encouragement. Though the single track was crowded with 2 people going opposite directions, it was way better then feeling like this and not seeing anyone. The thing that kept me going was I was going to get to change socks at the aid station at 37 miles and that Lora was going to be out at the 40 mile aid station. It was going to be good to see a familiar face.

I hit the 37 mile aid station and was really wishing I had a pair of shoes to change into, but I had to deal. I grabbed my drop bag and my spare socks. I took a seat on the picnic table and washed off my feet with some water. Man did it feel good!! I threw on my clean socks, put my shoes back on and headed back out to the next 3 mile section. I would be back here in 6 miles, then I'd only have 7 miles to go. This next 3 mile section was not too bad and went by pretty quick, I actually made up some time here. I hit the 40 mile aid station and saw Lora there. Lora was the first person ever to comment on my blog. She was full of positive things to say and was a real mental pick up for me. We snapped a picture together and I was off. THANK YOU Lora!!!!! I turned around and headed back on the 3 mile section and saw Julie. She yelled "GO TRAVIS" as we passed. I also saw Dennis and we high-fived and exchanged some encouragement. Back to the aid station. I filled up only one water bottle before I went back on to the longest 4.1 miles on earth. Luckily going back was easier then coming in. My mental state was also much better. I ran out of water right as I approached the Jimmy Buffet aid station. This time I was so happy to hear that music playing because I knew that I only had 2.4 miles to finish. They filled me up with ice water in both bottles and I was off.

I took my last GU and charged on. My watch read 9:18. I knew I was going to get 10 hours, but now it was "how far under 10 can I do this?" It's funny how fast your mental state can change. I picked it up when I could and just gave it my all. I ran right through the last aid station and just yelled "Thanks for your help today, I just need to get done!" They all clapped and cheered. I ran a bit further and heard a beeping in the distance. It was the timing mat at the finish line. What a great sound, a beautiful, digital, chirp. I could see my wife, Micaela, sitting there with the camera and cheering. I crossed in 9:44:06. Hells yea!!

Micaela asked me how I felt and I said my calves has hurt all day long. She replied with "I bet it had to do with the self propelled thing going out of the mower." Oh yea the mower!!! No wonder my calves hurt. My house is on a slight incline so I spent about an hour plus pushing the mower fast to avoid the rain. Basically I did a stair climber workout 36 hours before a trail race... HAHA suburb life :)

I got back to the finish line to watch some of the folks I know come across. Dave Cameron ran a great race and crossed in 9:57:29. I knew Julie was not far behind, so I grabbed some food and headed back to the finish line. Here she came at 9:59, she did it, broke 10 hours!! Dennis was just behind her in 10:01:15. Well done everyone! It was a pleasure to share some trail with you.

pics to follow. I left the camera at my parents house.

Leav'n it on the table

2007-05-07T17:10:00.001-05:00

How about that new banner? I made it myself, can you tell? Or did a hire a 6 year old to do it? You'll never know...

Ice Age 50 is almost here. This will be my 2nd 50 miler. I'm pretty excited. To put it in technical terms, I am ultra, mega pumped. Looking at the times it seems like it is a faster course then McNaughton. Though there could just be more high caliber folks running it, especially when there are about 3 times as many signed up. I'm going to make the assumption that it is a faster course and try to throw down a good time. That is not a dig on anyone that has run McNaughton or Ice Age, just something I am going to use for my mental game.

I will be taking a bit more aggressive approach to this course. I've got a few 50k's and the one 50 mile under my belt, all with negative splits for my last lap (loop courses) so I've been holding back a bit. It is time to see what I am made of and quit holding back so much. If I blow up, so be it. I'm not going to walk away wondering what I could have done.

Until next time.

just throwing some stuff out there

2007-04-27T10:51:00.001-05:00

I have not posted since my race report and thought I needed to get something out. There's lots on my mind after McNaughton. Just a few things to say and report on. I could probably do 3 short post or so, but I'll go ahead and just throw down on this post.

1. The big news first... I'm going to be a dad! Whoohoo!! The due date is October 16th. We are really excited. Not sure if its a boy or a girl yet. We'll be finding out in about a month and then I get to start painting the nursery. We've been married almost 4 years and dated for quite a while before that (High school sweethearts.. don't puke. LOL!!). I think my parents and hers were beginning to think we were not going to have any, so needless to say there were very excited when we told them. They never saw it coming!

2. Post McNaughton... Mileage has been low since then. I wanted to make sure to get some good rest in before hitting too hard. I did that after Psycho Wyco and ended up injured. I always learn something new at these things and lessons from this one are..

Go out faster. I ran a negative split on my last lap and need to be going out a little faster up front. I'm not looking to blaze anything, just a bit faster out of the gate.
More electrolytes. I'm pretty sure I was hyponatremic I was going to the bathroom way too much and my hands were puffy. I'll be adding E-caps to my arsenal at IceAge 50. Its supposed to be warm this weekend, so that will good testing ground for them.
Continue having fun, meeting new people and enjoying the experience. These events are awesome. The community is great and I am really lucky to be a part of it. Thanks to everyone out there that keeps up their blog and comments on mine! It really helps push me.

3. Getting ready for IceAge 50. As I mentioned above, no huge mileage for the month, but I've got in some quality runs and plan on some good one for the weekend. I put in a 10 miler at about a 9 minute pace last Saturday, then headed to Redmond, WA for work on Sunday through Wednesday night. The weather was beautiful, but unfortunately I did not have any time to get anything in except for some weights on Monday. AND I had a blow out in my shoes and never made it to the local Montrail dealer. I was able to get 4 in last night after work with Augie (picture below) We had a good faster paced run together in the rain. He set a 4 mile PR - 30 minutes!!! and that included a few bathroom breaks for him!

Augie after our run. Still a little tired, but always ready to go again

Enjoy your weekend. I don't know what its looking like in your area, but here in the mid-west it's sunny skies and warm temps. Get out there and enjoy it if you can.

With just 2 miles to go I could see Karl Meltzer starting to catch me....

2007-04-16T15:56:00.001-05:00

then he passed me for the second time in my 50 miles :) . He went on to win and set the new record for the 100 at McNaughton in 17:40:13

Did that title catch your eye? :)

UPDATE: I have added my official time/splits/and place

The weather was looking rough all week. Rain and snow flurries were on the radar when I checked Noaa.gov on Friday night. I don't mind cold, I don't even mind snow that much as long as it's not accumulating, but rain and cold.... that's a combo I did not want to see. I arrived around 6:45 PM on Friday to pick up my packet and mingle with folks at the pre-race dinner. I met up with my virtual training partner Howard and some of his real running buddies from the Decatur, IL area. The temp had started to drop noticeably and everyone around the start/finish was starting to layer up and put on warmer clothes. The 150 was already started and there was a good amount of buzz around this whole weekend of ultras. Karl Meltzer was just a few feet away talking with people. It's still very surreal to me how the best of the best start at the same time and run the same course as everyone else. It's not like the Boston Marathon, Chicago Triathlon or any other event where elite athletes get starting privileges over the rest of the field. I met Sherpa John and talked with him a while, discussed the course a little and then headed towards start/finish to see the 150 milers come around. The first guy finished his first 10 mile loop in 1:25!!! David Goggins and Ryan Dexter Came across roughly 10 minutes later. Those seemed like some fast times to put up this early in a 150 mile race, but these cats know what they're doing.

I headed back to the hotel to try to relax and get my baggies of Heed and Perpetum put together. I was so pumped seeing the 150 milers going that I was wishing that I could have just started at 6 PM too... well maybe not, but at least I would not have to worry about over sleeping or my alarm or.... I finally got to sleep around 12:30 and was up again in 4 hours. Time to get ready. I met Howard in the lobby at 5:15. I normally would have got to the start line a little earlier, but since it was around 30 degrees, I did not want to mill around in the cold too long. I got my bag into the drop bag area, stripped down to my shorts, laced up my shoes and got ready for the start. At 6 AM we were off. The initial decent of the race was a sloppy mess. Roughly 175 folks all headed down to the trail, slipping and sliding the whole way. This was a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come.

I took it easy the first lap, nothing special here, just following the rest of running and slopping through the mud. It was really slick and lap 2 was even worse. It had started raining. Pair that with the 50 runners in the 150 that had been up all night, add the 175 that had just put 10 miles on the trail and you've got a recipe for a mess. The down hills were a wreck. It was almost impossible to have any traction going down them. Basically you just centered your gravity and tried to manage the speed at which you slid down... maybe grabbing a sapling or two along the way to slow you down or to adjust your direction to the right or left. I was feeling good at 20. I was staying hydrated and making sure to keep my calories up. Lap 3 was a different story.

photo by Michael Siltman

The beginning of my 3rd lap was fine. No major problems to speak of. I passed the first water crossing and met up with Julie. She was great to run with. We talked about, gear, her Inov-8 sponsorship, the ultrarunning community, blogs and just general stuff. It was excellent to run with her. I have followed her blog for about a year now so it was neat to finally meet her in person. We ran pretty close for a majority of lap 3. She said "you're approaching unknown territory" close to the end of my 3rd lap. She was right. I've never gone over a 50k, so after that every step was a new PR!! I had to keep that in mind because, around 28 miles I started to get down on myself. Instead of getting to stop at 30, I had to keep pressing on. I had hit a wall. I was at that point of thinking; "What the hell am I doing? How am I going to spend another 5 or so hours out here? I am not running Ice Age in 4 week, hell, I may not ever do one of these again!"

I got to the aid station at the Start/Finish and Howard's wife Lisa was there. She was great. Lisa asked how I was doing, was giving me some encouragement and was in a good enough mood to get me to smile for a picture even though I was down.

She was wondering how far behind Howard was. Not far at all!! Here he came into the drop bag area, all smiles. He was doing great. He had put in some high mileage weeks in the last few months and it was obvious that it was paying off. I was fumbling around with my powders and changing shoes and sock. She snapped a picture of the both of us and it was obvious (see below) who was in better spirits at this point. Not only was I at the wall, but this time in the aid station was not going well. Howard took off and I was still trying to get out of the aid station with all my gear.

I caught up with Howard about 3/4 of a mile into the 4th loop. It was actually good to pick up the pace for a bit. I needed a change of pace. I finally pushed though my funk around mile 35. The course had actually started to dry out pretty well and was pack down quite a bit. The down hills were at the point where I could actually run down them instead of slide. I decided to try to get after it. I crossed the Start/Finish for the 4th time. Grabbed a baggie of Perpetum and filled up my spare water bottle and took off without much wasted time.

I picked up the pace considerably for the last loop or at least the effort that I was putting forth. I can't say that my pace increased too much, but I had legs under me so I went with it. I made up 4 or so places over the last loop. I actually felt better now then I had most of the day. I just stayed in a straight line an followed the trail. Because of how sloppy it was, there were several places where I could have gone around the mess, but decided that since the end was near, I was just going to power though the sludge. Karl Meltzer was going to pass me for a second time. I tried to hang on to a good pace but it was futile, even at sub 9's he was going to get me, and for sure pass as soon as we hit a hill.. and he did. It was amazing seeing how he maneuvered up a hill. Almost effortlessly, he bounded up and then disappeared. The end of the event was getting near. I crossed the last water crossing, headed up the last few big hill and there was the Finish.

I crossed at in 11 hours,24 minutes. My wife was at a wedding so my parents were there for support at the end (and to drive me home in case of leg failure). It was great to have them come to one of these events so they could see what it was all about. We waited around for Howard to finish and he came across the line a little more than 15 minutes after me with arms in the air and totally pumped. He put together a great day and has a lot to be proud of. He never let the weather or trail conditions get him down.

I was 18th Overall in the 50. (registered field of 122, 100 showed up, and 77 finished). Not bad for my first 50. I was about 8 seconds a mile slower then my 30 mile pace at McNaughton last year. 20 more miles with lots of mud and only 8 seconds slower, no blisters and a "50 mile Finisher" buckle...I'll take it! All in all, I had a good day.

Oh yea.. and just to let you know, I'm running Ice Age.

Lap 1- 2:16:34.5

Lap 2 - 2:14:09.0

Lap 3 - 2:18:36.1

Lap 4 - 2:19:45.5

Lap 5 - 2:15:36.1

Total 11:24:41.3 pace 13:42/M

McNaughton Park Trail Conditions, T-minus 1 week

2007-04-09T11:28:00.001-05:00

I headed up to Pekin, IL to McNaughton Park on Saturday morning to get a look at the trail and remind myself what I am in for on the 14th. I met my friend Howard, who will also be running the 50, at Starbucks around 8:30. It was 28 degrees outside. We drank some coffee, talked a bit about our training a bit, then headed out.

We got to McNaughton Park and stepped out of the car and got blasted with about 25 MPH wind. We hurried up getting ready and took to the trail to get out of the wind. The trail is in pretty good shape. Most of the trail is dried out and packed down. There are a few very muddy spots, some very slick down hills with little or no traction, and a few spots of standing water in various parts of the trail.

Below are some pics I took along the way, just to give an idea of what to expect this weekend. I hope it sheds a little light on the course for those who have not traveled to the great mid-west!! :)

Start/Finish

initial decent into trail

Flat area around a field

early climb

first water crossing (looking back across). you would be running the opposite direction this pic was taken.

this climb will have a rope to assist race day

part 2 of the rope climb, once you are at the top of hill using the rope, you move to this section for a little more gain

what goes up must come down, this is the backside of the rope climb

some flat area to make up some time

Howard "surfing" down a very slick section

Second water crossing

climb after water crossing

The weather is supposed to be in the 50's this weekend, which will be a welcome change over last years records heat and the record lows we experienced this weekend. I have posted more pictures which can be seen here. Also on the McNaughton site, they have been tracking trail conditions for the last few month from the perspective of Courage the dog, who's been giving frequent updates.

Have a great week and I look forward to meeting some new folks and seeing some familiar faces!

A Man and His IT Band... the saga continues

2007-03-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

Everything is looking up. Last week I got in 38 miles, so not a mega mileage week, but a lot better then the 6 mile week I had to close February. My long run was 13 miles on the trail. I'm excited to see how well I have responded to the treatment that my chiropractor provided. I also got some great advice from my blog friends that I have used. Below is my current strategy to work through my ITB issues.

Take 1 NSAID (aspirin) about 20 minutes before I run and usually take 1 with each meal to help reduce the inflammation that is already there. Once I am over the injury I will cut the out or only use as needed.
Warm up - I will walk/jog or ride my bike slow for about 10 minutes.
Start my run out slow and get in a mile or 2 before I pick up the pace
Ice immediately afterwards for 20-30 minutes and potentially later that night while watching TV. I've done 1 ice bath... thanks Ben!
Stretch out. General stretching (quads, hamstrings, calves, hips..). I do not concentrate too much on the ITB area. For me, spending too much on the ITB area tends to feel worse
Roll it out on a foam roller. I cut rolling into 4 segments; Upper (Hip to middle thigh) Middle (middle thigh), Lower (middle thigh to just above the bony part of my knee, no direct contact on the side of the knee), Combined (slow roll from upper thigh to just above the knee)
Resistance training. One legged exercises, squats, leg curls, extensions, lunges.

I'm not a doctor and don't really know more then what I have been told or that I have found from on-line resources so take the above with a grain of salt. It's whats working for me and is a work in progress. Thanks to everybody for the great feedback and resources.

Now on to even better the news. I'm heading to San Diego for the week for a conference. I plan to get some miles in and enjoy the scenery. Anyone know of any good spots to run?

Enjoy the weekend, I'm out!!!

Road to recovery

2007-03-13T13:15:00.000-05:00

I was athletically depressed. I looked at the calendar and McNaughton was 6 weeks away and my aching ITband was only letting me get in minimal miles before I came to a hault. What to do? Rest? Call off the event? Push though and risk injury? I hated being in this position. I searched the web for as many ITB resources as I could find and came up with a plan to stretch, ice, and slow down and cut mileage.

The latest copy of Ultrarunning Magazine showed up in my mailbox and within the first few pages there was some information on training while injured. Take an NSAID (aspirin) and ice before the run. Go out and put in some miles going slower and cutting down on the amount of time on my feet. Then ice again afterward. I tried this and was able to get in a good 5 slow miles without too much discomfort, but this issue was still there and had I gone much further or faster I would have had to stop.

I also took a trip to the Chiropractor, something I had never done before. First off when I told her that I run ultras, she was really interested and excited to help. I told her my symptoms and she immediately went to work on me. Pulling on my legs, twisting me around and so on. She said that my right hip was higher then the other and that because of that my left leg was traveling farther and potentially causing the issue. So she worked on me for a while longer, doing some "needle less acupuncture" and some other things that seemed like smoke and mirrors to me. She thought that I was "curable" and gave me hope that I would be in shape to run mid-April. I got looked over again and was told that my hips were equal and to get some miles in over the next few days to see how things felt. She also has a massage therapist and a physical therapist on staff that might get involved to correct the issues that are causing the ITB strain if needed. I was told to take the night off and drink lots of water because I would be sore. I must have given her a funny look, because she said "Trust me, I did a lot." Sure enough, I am sore. I feel like I would a few days after I did a hard run with lots of hills. Not sore to the touch, but just recovering muscles kind of tired.

This morning, I got up early, ate a bit, did some work stuff, iced and took off for a short 4 miler at just under an 8 minutes pace. I felt great. There were no signs of the normal issues I would have with my ITB early in the run. There was a slight feeling in that area around the end of the run, but less then what I usually experience. I'm sure there is still some swelling in that area from before, so I know it will not just magically go away, but this gave me some hope that was not there on Sunday!!!! I am traveling today, so I will hit the treadmill for 6 or so tonight to see how things are holding up and to be able to report back to the dr. on Friday with how things went to see what the next steps are.

Keep hope alive!!!!

Update

2007-03-04T09:16:00.000-06:00

I wish I could say that I had a blow out training month in February, not the case. After Psycho Wyco, I had a pretty easy week of about 27 miles. No speed work or anything like that, just easy miles. My ITband is a little sore and I have not wanted to push too much. I think running in the 5 inch deep snow may have aggravated my ITB since the terrain was so varied. Add that to the 20+ MPH winds we have had here and my Feb was a bust. I guess I'll call it a resting month. The weather looks good today so I am headed out to get in some miles on the trail.

McNaughton is about 6 weeks out. I'm nervous because I have not been able to get in the mileage that I wanted, so I'm going to try to have a strong March and go into the event healthy. Over trained and injured or under trained and healthy?? A question for the times.

Psyco Wyco 50k Race Report

2007-02-11T19:23:00.000-06:00

My wife (Micaela) and I drove over to KC on Friday afternoon to pick up my race packet and to check in to the hotel room. We went to the packet pickup location where I met Ben for the first time in person. We talked a bit and noticed that he had a shoe sitting on the table with screws in the out sole. That made me a bit nervous. I had seen his recent post discussing doing this to your shoes, but was it really that bad out there? So I asked "How does it look out on the trail?" Ben quickly replied "Like a slalom." I was sort of taken back by this. Did I really need to put screws in my shoes. With less then 30 more seconds of talking to Ben, I was convinced. I mean, this guy runs 100's and is the RD, why should this newbie not take his advice? He told me that they would be screwing shoes at the start/finish before the start in the morning. Micaela and I left, checked into the hotel, got some dinner, and hit the bed early.

Screws in my shoes. This is post race and I had lost quite a few.

It was COLD out. I headed over to the start/finish and grabbed a screw gun and started putting 3/8 inch sheet metal screws into my out soles for traction. At this point I had a wave of realization coming over me.."what the hell am I doing? I'm out here in the freezing cold getting ready to run 31 miles on a trail so bad that I have to put screws in the bottom of my trail shoes?!?!" I looked around and there were lots of others doing the same, so if I was crazy, at least I was not alone.

Lap 1 - 8:00 was approaching and Ben started giving the race instructions which were basically "be careful not to fall." Ben shouted "Go" and we were off. I have this habit of going out to fast pretty much every time I run, so I decided to ease up for the first lap and get a feel for what laps 2 and 3 would hold for me. There was also a 10 and 20 mile run going on at the same time, so the trail was pretty crowded and the slowest runner on the single-track sections, set the pace for everyone behind them. This was fine for me, it kept me in check and from going out too fast. Everything went as planned for the first lap, except the ice. Ice was everywhere. I was really glad I put the screws in my shoes. I'm positive that I would have not been able to make some of the climbs in double the time without the head of those screws gripping the ground. There were a lot of climbs covered in ice and not much flat ground. 22% flat or something like that so moving at a fast pace was not happening very often and when it did, you could pretty much count on a patch of ice or a log to pop up out of no where and slow you down. I finished my first loop in 2:11.55

Thumb's up

Lap 2- I was sitting down on a picnic table in the aid station at the start/finish. People were filling up water bottles and another guy was with a screw gun, popping screws into my shoes as I drank some Heed and threw down some Hammer Gels. It was pretty awesome to see all this going on, while I sat on my butt. It was like I had my own pit crew. I threw on my headphones and I took off ready for another loop. I was feeling good with no issues to speak of. ITband was feeling good and that was a great thing. The course was cleared out for the most part. I ran most of this lap by myself, so I was glad to have some tunes along. I kept pretty much the same strategy as the first loop. Run when I could, walk with a purpose on the climbs, and stay as sure footed as I could on the ice. The aid station at mile 8 was AWESOME!! The people there were incredible. They clapped as I came up the hill to the pavilion, then ran out to meet me and grab my water bottle to fill it up. I have never strayed much from simple combo of Heed, Perpetum, and Hammer Gels, but I decided that I was going to try some new foods. I threw down on some chicken noodle soup, peanut M&M's and a square of a PB&J. All tasted great. I left the aid station with some well wishes from the crew there for 2 more miles before the completion of the 2nd lap. I hit loop 2 in 4:21.56 (2:10:01 lap).

heading the aid station after lap 2

Lap 3 - As I came down over the hill towards the aid station I heard my wife cheering. Ben was also cheering and asked me if I needed anything. I told him I had stuff in my bag and figured that I would get my Perpetum mix ready, but as I looked up Ben was jogging over to me to assist. He grabbed my water bottle and my mix asked me how things were going. I told him this course was nuts and he smiled. My wife was there too cheering me on and giving me good vibes by saying things like "you look way better then you did last year at McNaughton at this time." She was right, I felt good. I did not want to waste much more time at the aid station, so I grabbed a gel, ate some more M&M's and headed out for one last lap. I had a feel for the course now and knew that if I wanted to get a good lap in, I was going to have to push it early while there was more flat areas to make up time. I ran when I could and just concentrated on putting together a solid last loop. The course had become slicker in a couple of ways. One, the icy uphills were like polished granite from everyone else using the similar paths. Two, the sun had come out and the areas where the ice was thin became muddy, it had melted from rising temps and from all the foot traffic. I was cruising along and I hit several really icy spots. I'm sure if there was a camera out there filming when I slipped that a few of them would make some sort of highlight film, I never fell from the ice, but there was some sever flailing. I did however fall due to mud. I was running a slight downhill around mile 28. There was a trench area in the middle and I was running on the lip, switching from side to side depending on the best footing, or what I though was the best footing. My foot came out from under me and I crumbled to the ground, sliding on my right side until I stopped and my head bounced a little off the ground. I was not hurt at all, I sort of grinned as I pushed myself up thinking "well, that could have been a lot worse." I took off again and headed for the finish. I rounded the last corner and heard the cowbell, Micaela, Ben, and the others at the finish line cheering. Done. 6:29:26 (2:07.30 lap)

Micaela bundled up at the finish line waiting for me.. Is she great or what?!?!

crossing the finish, see the mud on my right leg and on my hat? :)

Ben and I at the finish

I talked with some people after the race, including new course record holder Caleb Chatfield, great job on a awesome time and a sweet beard, I can't go more than a week before it drives me nuts :) This was a hard race with lots of ice and lots of elevation change. I'm pretty happy with my overall time and how I handled myself over the course. If you look at my lap times, they get faster with each loop, not exactly the best way to do things. I will take some confidence away from this. Knowing that I can run 3, 10 mile loops (on a crazy course) in a row at a faster pace each time tells me I could have gone faster. I'm not looking back though, I'll take it for my 2nd official ultra and use what I learned and apply that to training and my next race. Thanks Ben for putting together a great race. Your course lived up to the name and the race volunteers were excellent. It's going to take something pretty special to top the folks at the Amos Family Aid station.

Taper... sort of and some other stuff

2007-02-05T09:36:00.000-06:00

Its been a good 2007 so far. I'm on a pace to cover just under 2000 miles on foot this year assuming in the next 11 months everything is still running smooth. A tall order I know, but I'm optimistic. My frequency of runs will drop after McNaughton 50 to move my concentration towards triathlon, but I'll extend my runs throughout the week and a long run on Sunday to keep the mileage up. I'm still trying to find what my threshold is for mileage. I'm right at a year for this long distance running, so I'm still figuring out how much and how often without injury or huge impact on family life. 150 miles in January worked well. No huge issues with the exception of some ITB soreness. That ITB thing maps back to me experimenting with different shoes, so I should have just stayed with what has been working. I've just got this thing about new shoes!!!

It's been COLD here and from the looks of it, its been cold everywhere except in the west. Of my 150 miles last month only about 15 were on a treadmill. I feel good that I am stepping outside of my comfort zone and getting the miles in regardless of the elements. I was listening to a podcast of Ironman great Peter Reid on EndurancePlanet.com (October 26th) and there was a quote he stated that really stuck out. I don't remember it exactly, but it went something like...."when you are out on that 112 mile bike leg and you start questioning yourself if you can go on, you better have answered that question in training already." That is a great thing to think about and why I have been getting outside whenever I can. When I'm out on a course during the 2007 year, dragging and hitting that mental wall, I can think back and say to myself, "remember when it was 4 degrees out and your headphones froze to your stocking cap? You've been in worse then this, now get moving"

icicle that formed on my hat during my Saturday run

I'm going to "taper" a bit this week for Psycho Wyco. Im still looking to get in some miles early this week, then take a few days (Thursday/Friday) off before Saturday. I'll hit the gym today and pilates tonight. I know general recommendations say to avoid weights the week of a race, but It always makes my legs feel better and seems to remove stress from my ITB, so one workout early this week should allow for ample recovery time as well as a better mental state knowing I got some weights in.

With that, I've got some travel this week with work so probably my last post until my race report from Psycho Wyco. Enjoy your week and try to stay warm!

Month in review

2007-01-29T06:45:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since my last post so I figured I better get an update on my first month of training. I've been working on getting my mileage up specifically in the running department. Last year was about laying down a base. I read a lot of different books and articles on triathlon training and the general statement that always came through was to go out and get in the miles and not to concentrate too much on the speed, intervals and so on. I'm sure others may disagree, but that's the route I went. While I have not shifted my focus entirely from triathlon to ultras, I have for sure put in more miles on foot this month then ever before. Instead of using my short run days for bike and pool work, I have opted to run on those days. This will change around the March/April time frame to accommodate for my 1/2 Ironman in September.

AS of today (today's run not included) I am at 134.65 miles. With the remainder of this month's mileage, I will be just over 160. I looked back and even at my peak running of 2006, I barely went over 100 miles a month more then a couple of times. I feel good, no major pains to speak of. I am putting the miles in but not jumping up too much in weekly miles. I did that once before last year before McNaughton. I had never run anything over a 10k and decided to run a 30 mile with around 3 months of training. My ITband has never forgave me. :)

Along with the running, I have been making sure to get in some cross training. I have logged about 6 hours of strength training that comes from weight routines and pilates (yes, I'm THE guy in the class). On a side note if you get a chance to go to pilates, I highly recommend it. It is a great core workout with some mild stretching. My wife convinced me to go with her. I go on Monday's which is usually a rest day, but it fits in well as it gives me some active recovery after my long runs which usually fall on Sunday. I've also hit the pool a couple of times on Tuesday mornings. Nothing huge there, just trying to get my form in some sort of shape so when pool workouts start, I'm not starting over again on my form.

That about sums it up for the month. I've got the Psycho Wyco 50k in 2 weekends that I am excited about. I'm looking forward to getting in a real event that is not just me running around in the woods for 6 hour by myself... though that is still possible. Ben makes it sound like a great event and it will be good to connect with some other mid-western located runners and try out my new Inov-8 Terrocs. Hopefully the ground will cooperate with that shoe choice, if not, I've got other's. I'm just really enjoying the fit of these shoes, but that's another post.

Now, time to bundle up and log some miles!!

I got tagged!!!

2007-01-14T19:09:00.001-06:00

Sorry Ryan, I meant to get this done earlier.

1) Find nearest book
2) Name book and author
3) Turn to page 123
4) Go to 5th sentence and copy the next three to blog
5) tag 3 others

1)This is not my book, its my wife, but it says "closest"

2)Broadway Musicals - The 100 Greatest Shows of All Time by Ken Bloom & Frank Vlastnik

3)done

4)"Kay Medford (here with Jack Carter) replaced Pat Marshall shortly after the opening of Mr. Wonderful, also staring future Bye, Bye, Birdie start Chita Rivera

5) I hate to call anyone out, so if you happen to read this post and have not done this before... give it a whirl. If you're one of the first 3 to post, you win something from somewhere :)

Where are you planning on competing in 2007?

2007-01-02T10:09:00.000-06:00

I created a shared map (collection) on Local.Live.com of the events I plan on competing in for the 2007 calendar year. Each of the blue push pins have;

a link to the race site

a picture

small amount of info about the race

ability to map driving directions to and from

add any of my locations to your collection.

I will be updating this calendar as new events come up.

Check it out at http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=A9B6CFBF1C9F0219!154

Below is a pic of the page

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

2006-12-24T14:36:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone is enjoying some time off or at least a little down time from the daily grind! Enjoy the holiday season.

-Keep Moving Forward

Travis

Where to start...?

2006-12-14T21:48:00.000-06:00

The last few weeks have been worthless as far as training goes. After my 50k, I have only ran 1 time and that was today. I decided to take a week rest after the 50k since I have been training for triathlon/ultras pretty consistently for the last 10 months or so with out many breaks. I have had a few stretches of 3 or so days when I did not train, but that was about it.

The first part of the week I took off actually worked out well. I just took it easy. I went the gym a few times and did some weights, but nothing too exhausting. The second part of the first week was a little different. The St. Louis area got hit pretty hard with an ice storm and my power was out for 6 days!!! How terrible is that? My wife and I have a gas fireplace in our living room, so we brought our mattress downstairs and slept by the fire. We played board games by candle light and went to bed pretty early since its dark by 5. There's only so many games of Jenga you can play in a cold house before you decide to hit the hay. :) I was also traveling a bit so that week was pretty booked anyway.

The second week started with still no power. I was had an entire week of travel ahead of me. The power was still not on Tuesday night and I was leaving on Wednesday morning to fly out to Kansas City. I had to pack my suitcase in the dark. I wore my headlamp to find a shirt and pants that I thought matched, though the blue-ish light from my headlamp made it tough. My travel was stopped short by the passing of my grandmother that had me back at my parents house from Thursday-Sunday. It was sad to see her go, but she's been sick and she's in a better place now. The one good thing that always comes from things like that is that family comes together.

Then I hit the road for work again leaving Monday night and getting back late yesterday night. So here I am. A bit of a whirlwind over the last few weeks, but things are settling down now.. wait.. Christmas is right around the corner so I guess I will be busy for a bit longer. That 6 miles I put in today was not much, but it was good to get out there and clear my head. Plus it was 60+ degrees. I wish it would have been this warm when the power was out!

Tryptophan 50k results

2006-11-27T15:00:00.000-06:00

Location:SIU Edwardsville Trail System
Distance: 50k (31 miles)
surface: single track
Elevation gain: 1860 ft
Temp at Start time: 37

Overall Winner: Travis Liles 6:06:57

Overall Male Winner : Travis Liles 6:06:57

Youngest Finisher : Travis Liles 6:06:57

Oldest Finisher : Travis Liles 6:06:57

Top Quote: "So will someone fill this up for me (long pause).. Ok, I'll do it myself." - Travis Liles

Yesterday marked the first ever Tryptophan 50k. The weather was perfect for late November. The temperature topped out at 68 right around the time the final runner crossed the finish line. The trail was in good shape, not too wet to cause muddy shoes, not too dry to be dusty.

The run was supposed to start at 7:30, but apparently the RD did not have the aid station set up. Things finally got moving 7:46. It was cool out, but not cold, so I went with shorts and a long sleeved shirt. Each loop was a little over 5 miles. Since I had only been to the course one other time on a walk with my wife and the dog, I was not sure how the path flowed. It did not really matter that much since I had 31 miles to cover. I ran a few laps before I settled on a loop that would work out so that by the time I hit 31, I would be close to the car and not out in the middle of nowhere.

I felt really good for most of the day. The hills were decent. There were no huge climbs, but plenty of short climbs and descents. I think that the weights and stair climber I have been doing a few times a week over the last few months have really helped. My wife came out with Augie (our dog) to see how I was doing and to go for a walk. I was at mile 18.8 and was still feeling good, but it was nice to talk to someone for a few minutes. It broke up my run a little.

The aid station at mile 18.8 (also my transportation to the run and home)

Leaving the aid station, a little over 12 miles to go.

I was moving along pretty well. I did not have any down times yet and I was over 20 miles. I made sure to keep up on my nutrition. I used this run today as some experimentation for my diet. I used Perpetum, Hammer Gel, pretzel sticks, and bananas all which seemed to work for me without any feelings of nausea. Around mile 23, I started to feel the wall coming on. I had tripped over a root and hit the ground. No major or even minor damage, but it was enough to slow me down and take me out of "the zone." I pushed on for the next few miles until I came around.

26+ into the run (I took this on the move with my camera phone, not bad huh?)

I hit the marathon mark and was in good shape. My feet hurt, but my quads, calves, and knees were still underneath me, so I decided to pick it up a little for the last bit of the run. I hit the 31 mile mark in 6 hours, 6 minutes and 57 seconds. Not too bad. I was at the 1/2 way mark in 3 hours and was able to get close to repeating that time for the second half.

The first Tryptophan 50k is in the books. Maybe next year I can convince my family and friends to participate. I doubt many of them will do 50k, but a loop or 2 cant hurt, especially around the holidays.

Change of plans...

2006-11-25T22:20:00.000-06:00

I had originally plannned on running in the "Dude, Where's the Trail?" 50k fun run in Blue Springs, MO tomorrow. My cousin who was going to run it with me had something come up and was unable to go. I decided since he was out that I was going to skip 7 hours of driving and a night in a hotel by myself. However, I will be running my planned mileage tomorrow in the "Tryptophan 50k." I'll be the lone runner in this self created run. It will take place on and around the Cross Country trail at SIUE. Its going to be roughly 5 miles per loops, so I will use my trunk as the aid station.

Results and pictures to be posted after all runners have finished. :)

Zune it up!

2006-11-16T11:36:00.000-06:00

If you follow this blog at all, I generally focus on the running/triathlon side of things, but occasionally I will focus on a device or technology of some sort that I use during training.

I've had several MP3 players over the years, including hard drive based (think standard Ipod) to flash based (think Ipod shuffle). Both have their strengths and weaknesses which I will outline below.

*for comparison sake, let's assume a 30GB hard drive based player (roughly..7,500 music files, 25,000 pictures, OR 100 hours of video) and a 2GB( roughly 500 songs, video and pictures may or may not be an option) flash based player. There are also a lot of variable when talking battery life and total capacity, so I am using general estimates.

Hard drive based players hold a lot of stuff ; songs, pictures, even movies. They suffer by being bigger. Since a hard drive has moving parts, potential skipping and more damage could occur if dropped as well as generally shorter battery life, averaging about 12 hours. Once again because of moving parts and the higher power consumption to move those parts.

Flash based players are basically the opposite. Still hold a lot of content, but you have to be more conservative with what you put in it since storage capacity is much less then hard drive based (for our example 15x less). They have no moving parts which contributes to less (or no) skipping and increased battery life of 24+ hours.

I've owned both types and will say that for general running, gym work, cycling, etc. that flash players fit the bill. The biggest issue I have is that I have to juggle content all the time. If my player is close to being full and I get a new CD, I have to remove some music to put on the new music. This issue exists with hard drive players, but far less often and only with users with huge collections. The other side of that is, sometimes I am going along and think "it would be good to listen to..." and I can't because I did not think to load it up before I headed out the door.

Now on to what sparked this post. I bought a Zune. Its a hard drive based player by Microsoft. I'm not looking to compare to Ipod or make arguments that is better/worse.. whatever. I really like this device. Its got a great screen, holds all my music and pictures. I even have a few videos on it. I put my podcasts on there for a change of pace from music, plug it into my car stereo. My favorite feature is the wireless piece. If someone else has a Zune, we can exchange files wirelessly. The Zune store (think Itunes) is great too.You pay a subscription fee and can download as much music as you want and transfer it to your device. If you decide you like a certain album you can opt to purchase it. Seems like you are paying for it twice right... sort of. Look at it this way. I can pay 14.99 a month for a many songs as I want to download. Lets assume I download and listen to 1000 albums but only like one albums and want to keep it forever, then I just buy that album for around 10 bucks. Think of it as an unlimited test drive as long as you pay the monthly fee. This is not mandatory, you can use your existing music that you have, buy CD's to rip to the device and do the standard "pay as you go" type service where you pay .99 a song.

Zune in brown playing my current favorite album

Yep, it works

2006-11-13T18:24:00.000-06:00

I have a stick shift and was stuck in some serious stop and go traffic for hours the other day. Apparently my dress shoes don't bend so well just above my toes. My foot was for sure getting tired from all the clutch work, but I did not pay much attention to it until today. The top of my left foot is sore from all that shifting, but I can't use that as a reason not to go run. So I looked all over for some sort of pad to lay over it to relieve some of the pressure. I could not find anything and asked my wife if we had any foam or another item that might work. She looked and could not find anything, then all of a sudden I hear, "wait, I know!!" She comes back with a box of, for lack of a better term, "nipple covers" It's a silicone pad that sticks on to keep the cold for being noticeable... (I think you see where I am going here) I peeled one off and stuck it to the top of my foot. PERFECT!! It worked great. It stayed in place and did the job. One more reason why my wife is great and will be good crewing me in long races down the road.

ABC News: Research: Humans Are Born to Run

2006-10-30T13:33:00.001-06:00

This is a bit old, but worth a read.....

Link to ABC News: Research: Humans Are Born to Run

The Great Pumpkin Patch

2006-10-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

I was out running my long run today, an out and back on a paved bike trail, and was really enjoying the scenery. Trees line a majority of the trail. It's great to see all the colors the leaves are changing and to every now and then have some leaves slowly falling to the ground around me. At the half way point, I opened up my hydo pack and pulled out a HammerGel. While I was stopped, I looked over and there was a huge pumpkin patch. I have never seem so many pumpkins before still on the ground. I got out my camera phone and snapped a shot then headed back.

It was a nice run, cool weather and good things to look at. It's a shame that this won't last long. Before too long, it will be cold and the trees will be bare. Better enjoy it while I can.

A good month...

2006-10-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

This last week of training has been good. My mileage is adding up and I should have one of my top total milage months to date. My base is far better then it was a year ago, which is expected, but looking back at logs from this time last year, I'm at a good spot especially this early in my training.

I found another nice off-road trail off of one of the paved trails I usually run on. Its about 1.5 miles long with some rolling hills and a few climbs. I ran up on a Cyote who had just caught a mole. We were both super suprised to see each other and quickly went our seperate dictions. I also ran across a HUGE groundhog who seemed interested in what I was doing and then 3 deer who ran across the path about 20 feet in front of me. Running places where I can see things like that make me want to get out there more. It's way more exciting then seeing car after car drive by.

Now on to the best part... I had to work on Saturday in Omaha, NE. I was doing a presentation on Windows Vista for a partner company and I had some pictures of me running and some of the blogs I read up on the screen (picture below). Someone asked if I did triathlon and ran. I said yes and a few other questions got asked about it and I moved on. Then yesterday I saw one of the guys from the presentation on Saturday. He came up to me and said that he had not run in years and after talking to me a seeing what I was doing, he decided to go out and get a few miles in. Man was I pumped to hear that!!! It was just a great feeling to know that my "silly little addiction" can make an effect like that. I'm going to be high on that comment for a while.

-Keep Moving Forward

Now What?

2006-10-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

I've completed my first full season as a endurance athlete "type". I've ran a 30 mile trail race, competed in a sprint distance and a international distance triathlon, achieved a 10k goal I set for myself over a year ago and ran a marathon. It may not sound like much, but coming from virtually no aerobic activity 20 months ago to where I am now makes me really happy. Not only does it make me happy, but it makes me think "what will I be able to do this year?" With that question in mind I decided I better get down in writing what the next steps are for me.

Through all of my training, running holds the #1 spot for me. I will be actively perusing the ultra distance events from here on out. Mainly 50 milers, but I’m keeping an eye on the 100's down the road. Most of this reasoning comes from building up my base to be ready for a race of that distance/time...yet. I will be trying for a spot at the WS100 in 2008.

I am going to be spending the next 6 months concentrating on building myself up for the McNaughton Trail 50 mile run I ran the 30 there last year and was undertrained for the hills. I finished pretty well for a newbie but know I can do better this year with some real concentration on hill work and overall increase in endurance.

First up on the schedule is the Dude, Where's the Trail 50K on Nov. 26th. This is a 50k fun run in Blue Springs, MO. My 20 year old cousin is getting into ultra running and we are going to run together, not as a team, just for the support and the fun of it. No real details as I don't know them and won't until I show up for the run, hence the "where's the trail" name!! I do not have any scheduled races after that for 2006, but will continue training hard. I will be joining the SLUGS and hopefully meeting some great people and finding out about some good routes in the St. Louis area. McNaughton 50 miler is April 13th,(it's also got a 150 miler, so anyone out there looking to get some really long distance in, check it out) then my friend Howard wants to run the JFK 50 in mid November for his 50th birthday and has asked me to join him and I gladly accepted.

I guess that sums up what I've got going on the next year. There will of course be additions, but those are the top line items. Thanks for checking in! I'll be updating with my training plans, mileage and pictures along the way. Now go outside and enjoy it!!

-Keep moving forward
Travis

Lewis & Clark Marathon

2006-09-19T11:26:00.000-05:00

I looked over at the clock Sunday morning and it said 3:50... guess its time to get up and get ready. I heard my father-in-law (Ron) milling around and figured I better go downstairs and start the coffee. We had put our gear together and filled up the water bottles with various sports drinks the night before. We ate some breakfast, drank some coffee and headed out the door at 5.

The drive to the course was about 40 minutes. We parked, hit the restrooms and stretched out. My wife (Micaela) came along with a cooler of snacks and extra sports drinks for the both of us. Since the course was an odd shape, we actually ran past the finish line 3 before we crossed the finish line. Micaela set up camp near the Start/Finish for some pics and to hand out round 2 of the drinks.

It was the start of the Endurance50 and a good crowd was over by the NorthFace tent getting books signed and talking to Dean Karnazes. I decided to wait until the end to do that. We met up with my cousin Jennifer who was running her first 1/2 marathon and headed to the start line My friend Howard, his wife and some of their friends were running the 1/2 also. I had not been able to get a hold of him to meet up and just by chance we lined up about 8 feet from each other. We talked for a bit and decided to run together for a while. He's faster then me in the marathon distance, but he's coming off an injury, so he was easing back in with the half.

The gun sounded at 7:00 and we were off. Howard and I ran together for a while then I separated from his group and ran my own race. The sun was coming out, there were no clouds in the sky and no shade to see for a while. It was heating up fast. My goal was to maintain a 10:00 min/mile pace. I was wearing my Polar 625x so I was able to keep a watch on my pace and my HR.

The course was an odd shape. It was a 12 mile out and back from the Start/Finish then a loop out past the Start/Finish then repeat for the marathon. I knew what I was getting into, it was just funny running by the finish line so many time and not getting to stop. I was charging alongand ran my 1/2 in a little under 2:05 and was feeling good. My ITband was holding well. I spotted Micaela and she helped me swap out water bottles and I was off for round 2. I met up with some runners from the local running club (BiPod) of the town I just moved to. I ran with them for a while and got some great words of encouragement then let then go as they were using the run as training and were only looking to go another 4 miles before they called it a day.
The sun was really beating down and the pounding was getting to me. I kept telling myself, "get to mile 20.." I don?t know why that was what I was after, but that's what was getting me through. I got to 20 and was still going so I pushed on. I first walked at the water stops at mile 21. I had a hard time getting going again, but was able to. I pushed on and walked through the water stops for the next 2 miles.

Then I hit the wall a little after mile marker 24. I was really having a hard time. My legs were killing me. I walked with another gentleman for about .2 of a mile and discussed the event with each other. I told him this was my first marathon and he said "Just finish, that's all this is about" I agreed, but I have a hard time with that. I wanted to average 10 minute miles and it was slipping away, but he was right. I was not there to do anything more than finish. We walked for a little longer, then he took off. I walked a few more steps then picked up the pace too. I was so close, no more walking.

The area I was in was shaded and on a crushed lime stone trail, so it was cool and softer then the road to run in. I knew there was a big hill coming up at the end of mile 24 so I mentally prepared myself and charged up it. This hill was hard, but nothing compared to the ones at McNaughton, so I kept that in my head and went for it. I passed mile marker 25 as the ground started to level out. I was so close. The rest of the race was literally down hill with the exception on one small incline. I got through it an approached the parking lot where the chute started. I was almost done. Def Leopard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was blaring out of the speakers as I ran by. I was thinking "pour some water on me would be way better." I crossed in 4:22.15.. 10 minute miles on the nose. *The clock in the picture below is total running time, not chip time.

This was rough. I had trained hard for my international distance triathlon all summer, but it was more concentration on all 3 events as opposed to running exclusively. My body was feeling it, but I was finished. I grabbed some water. Thanked Micaela for her help and then made my way toward the Endurance50 bus. I staggered around for bit then saw Dean come out. I did not have my book or a pen or even a camera, but I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello. Just then my cousin Jennifer came over to talk and snapped a picture of Dean an I.

Now we had to wait for Ron to finish and it was really starting to cloud up. We saw him at the mile 24 marker walking. He said he was going to have to walk because his knees were killing him. I cheered him on and said "give it what you got left" he gave me a nod and kept going. Not long after he rounded the corner, it started pouring!! It was coming down in buckets. How miserable it must have felt to be that tired and sore and getting just drenched, but he continued on. The aid staff recommended that everyone go inside due to the lightning. We did and tried to guess when he would get done. We got in the car and drove as close to the finish line as possible until we saw him down the road. He was running again and on the home stretch. He crossed the finish line in 5:52 on his 55th birthday. Happy Birthday Ron!!

We all talked for a minute and he wanted to get his bib signed by Dean so we headed over to the bus. The whole event had basically shut down after the rain, but he was determined to meet Dean. One of the guys from the bus let him on and when they all heard he had just finished in the downpour, the whole bus started cheering and clapping for him. He got his bib and my book signed and we headed home for some watch some football and relax.

It was a great race. The course route was a little crazy, but the staff was great. It was really awesome to meet Dean. He was a super nice guy and I wish him the best as the Endurance50 continues.

-Keep Moving Forward

Endurance 50 begins tomorrow

2006-09-16T12:21:00.000-05:00

50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days has been done by Sam Thompson already, so to think that 2 people would want to do this is crazy (or highly motivated depending on your point of view). Sam ran for Katrina awareness and Dean Karnazes is running for Karno's Kids, a charity to encourage youth to get outside and be active. Both are good causes so I'm not going to pit one against the other or anything like that. I just think its great that people are using fittnes as a way to bring attention to good causes. I know there is a lot of negativity around Dean out there in the Ultrarunning community(I am a fan though) and Im not writing any of this to convience anyone one way or another. I'm just glad that ultrarunners are using their skills to get the word out about something positive. Huge credit goes to Sam and his crew for completing the task and good luck to Dean and his crew as your journey begins!!!!

Since the Endurance 50 kicks off right down the road from my house, I decided to get in on it. I am running in the Lewis & Clark marathon. This will be my first marathon and 2nd longest run next to McNaughton. I have not really been training out-right for a marathon, but I trained pretty hard all summer for my international distance trialthon and ran a 20 miler as a measuring stick last weekend so I should be good. My Itband has been a bit of an issue, but I'm not out there to set records, just to finish and use this as a long workout for my ultra training. It's going to hurt, no doubt, but that's what it's all about!!

My father-in-law is running too. This is his first marathon and a warm-up for Chicago in October. I'll get some pictures pre and post race and maybe my wife can snap one of me and my father-in-law during the race. I won't be moving too fast so she should be able to get it done. :)

-Keep Moving Forward!

Mark Your Trails

2006-09-14T07:39:00.000-05:00

This is pretty awesome!! I was on Windows Local and noticed that now you can map out custom routes. This is really great because now you and your friends can share locations of running trails that are not on the map. Check out the link to the School House Trail below. I mapped that one out yesterday.

School House Trail

Chicago Triathlon Pics

2006-09-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

Here's a collection of pics from the race.

10 minutes before my wave starts

That's me in the pink cap.. had a rough start Im back on track here.

Staying Aero. Averaged close to 21 mph for the bike leg.

averaged 7:32 minutes/mile

Big Finish!! 2:48:04

Post race photo with some friends. From the left Bob, Tim, me, Dan
Bob and Tim did the sprint distance, Dan and I were in the International.

Trail running

2006-09-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

I finally found an off road trail 'close' to my place. There are plenty of paved ones all over the place, but I could not seem to find anything made of dirt.

My cousin and I were out for a 20 miler the other day and saw a trail coming off of the one we were on. I said 'great now I know where to go to get in some trail work.' Problem was this was my first long run in a while and I quickly lost track of where exactly it was and just focused one finishing.

So today I decided to go hit the dirt trail thinking it was not that far to run to. I started on my way at a decent pace thinking I would come up on it sooner or later, well later was the answer. I put in 5 and had just found it and I had dinner plans for my birthday, but the whole reason I came out was to run the trail. I called my wife and she said to hit the trail and she would come pick up at one at one of the parking areas close to the trail (she's the best). Long story short, I got in a longer run then expected and some trail work. Let the ultra training begin!!!

*note: Im not mad in that picture, I took it with my camera phone. I felt kind of goofey smiling for the camera in the middle of the woods by myslef :)

Lessons Leaned at the Chicago Triathlon

2006-08-29T17:38:00.000-05:00

Where to start? Let's begin by saying I learned a lot at this race.

Items to note for my next race:
1. My open water swim needs work, specifically the start in a crowd.
2. Pull the leg of my wetsuit over my chip to keep it from getting pulled off.
3. Make sure my chip is still on before leaving the transition area.
4. In the event of a 'mistake' just remember why I am there and what I put in to get there.

I had an awesome time. It's crazy how big this event is. I had some issues with my timing chip, so I only have a few of my splits available and a total time of 2:48:04.

I'll post my race report and some pics soon.

Chicago Tri Start Line

2006-08-27T06:30:00.000-05:00

Time: 6:00 am
Water temp: 72
Weather: mid-70's and light rain

Ready to go

2006-08-25T09:40:00.000-05:00

Last year I ran the Chicago Triathlon super sprint because at that time my triathlon 'career' was only a few months along. In all actuality my total time swimming was only a few months. I had never ridden a bike for any reason except to ride it and my running had been on hiatus since 97.

The Super Sprint was on Saturday. My good friend Dan was in the Olympic distance race on Sunday so I stayed to cheer him on. I saw some awesome things that day. People of all ages and abilities giving it all they could and I made a promise that day that I would be there in 06. So here I am, 2 days away from a one year project and ready to go.

Race Day Goals:
-good transitions
-relax on the swim and stay efficient
-average 19 mph on the bike
-give it my all in the run and pace under 9 min/miles
-finish under 3 hours
-take it all in and enjoy every second!

I'll be posting via my mobile device over the next few days.

-Keep Moving Forward-

10k Goal Achieved!

2006-08-20T17:49:00.000-05:00

I shifted my exercising lifestyle a little more then a year ago from power lifting to more cardio based activities. I never imagined I would have run a 30 mile trail race or be 1 week out from a olympic distance tri. When I made this switch I wrote down some goals for shorter distance races with no idea that I was going to enjoy the longer races better. There goals have been hanging out there and I could not just let them go. So I ran a 10k as my last hard workout before I taper.
My goal was 48:00 and since I rarely go out and run fast for 6 miles without having rode my bike first, I was not 100% what I was going to be able to do. Well long story short.... I ran a 44:41! Guess all this training is paying off.

Cool new blogging tool.

2006-08-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

For those out there that have multiple blogs like me (this one and my Windows Live Blog) or want to use somthing to post with other then the web page itself, you should check out the Windows Live Writer. It works with lost of different blog providers and has some nice tools built in like Spell Check and some good formatting tools for fonts, colors, bullets, etc... Its free and woth a look. Happy blogging!

Wetsuit Training

2006-08-13T22:06:00.000-05:00

With Chicago Triathlon just right around the corner I figured I needed to get some more open water training in. I also figured that I needed to get some time in my wetsuit just in case water temperatures are low enough. It went really well. Its crazy to me how boyant those things make you.

I swam at the lake at my mother-in-law's house. My wife, nephew and a few of the dogs came down to watch and play in the water.

Once I got used to the feeling of the suit and how it "floats" the lower 1/2 of my body I swam for around an hour non-stop.

There was a group of people docked at the nearby beach who talked to my wife about what I was doing and she explained. Once I finished my workout and was coming out of the water they all cheered and wished me good luck. Now, if I could figure out a way to get people to cheer for me after every workout....

25 Days until Chicago Tri!!

2006-08-02T18:03:00.000-05:00

The Chicago Triathlon is less than a month away. July flew by with buying/settling into the new house as well as being sick for about a week, so training was a bust. Even with all of that I think I am ready. The swim is my worst event, but hopefully the water temp is below 78 and I can wear my wetsuit. The cutoff to place in Age Groupers is 78 degrees, but you can wear one up to 84 degrees and the penalty is no prizes or awards. Given that it is highly unlikely that I will be even close to the tops in my age division, I may wear it if it is below 84, but that will be a decision I make in the next few weeks based on how my swim workouts go. I am confident on the bike, not fast, but confident. Under the right conditions I can average 20 mph, which would be my goal for the course. The run is where I am the least worried. After running the 30 mile trail run back in April, I know that I can push through just about anything.

This is my first Olympic distance triathlon (swim - 1500m, bike - 26.2, run - 10k) and the main goal is to run a smart race and do my best. My secondary goal is to finish at the 3 hour mark. If I can hit 40 minutes in the swim, 1:20 on the bike that leaves me an hour to get through my 10K. I have to take the transitions into account, but this is completely possible. Keep your fingers crossed!

-Keep Moving Forward

I'm in Seattle

2006-07-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

I'm in Seattle all week for a conference and wanted to know if anyone knows of some good places to run. Groomed trail or paved... not too extreeme, I left my Cascadia's at home :)

What do you think about when you are on the road?

2006-07-06T19:45:00.000-05:00

One question I get a lot is "When you are out for a long run (or bike), what do you think about?" I guess the answer is everything and nothing. Sometimes I will be really focused on climbing up the next hill or keeping a constant pace. Other times, I think about family that has passed, especially my grandpa (the reason for my bull tattoo on my bicep). I think about my wife and our life together. Sometimes I find that 20-30 minutes have passed and I don’t remember thinking about anything at all. One thing I do my best not to think about is work. That is why I do what I do; its to get away from my cubicle "ecosystem" and escape to a place that is my own.

So I pose the question - "What do you think about during you long excursions?"

A Little Inspiration

2006-07-05T09:23:00.000-05:00

Every so often you run across something that really gets to you. It makes you truely appreciate what you have and how far others are willing to go to make someone else happy. While looking on some other blogs I follow I found a link to "Touching Triathlon" It's a story about a father who has taken on marathons, triathlons and other races all while pushing, towing, and carrying his disabled son. It all started when his son's school put on a 5 mile race and the son decided he wanted to do it. Considering the fact that his son was bound to a wheelchair and has little or no control of his limbs it was going to be a team effort. From there it has grown, they've competed in over 85 marathons and 8 Ironman distance triathlons .

Western States 100

2006-06-23T10:38:00.000-05:00

This weekend marks the 33rd annual Western States 1oo. The WS100 is one of the oldest ultra's in the world and is a big event in the ultra running scene. To quailify you have to meet one of the requirements below, so you can't just sign up for this one.

a) 50 miles in under 11 hours
b) 100 kilometers in under 14 hours
c) completion of any OFFICIAL 100-mile trail race

My ultimate goal is to complete the WS100 in 24 hours. After I finished the 30 at McNaughton in April, I decided that I would step up next year to the 50 miler and try to complete it in the 11 hour time frame. Even if I quailify for WS100, I most likely will not run there in 2007. I just do not think I will be ready for that event in a years time, but finishing McNaughton in less then 11 hours is a top sports related item for me.

If you are interested in "watching" the progress of any of the runners at the event this year, go to the Start List and click on a runners bib number to follow their progress. Just a few names to watch with links to thier bibs as well as thier blogs or websites;
Catra Corbett - 140
Dean Karnazes - M7
Tim Twietmeyer - 11

Good luck to all the runner!!!

-Keep Moving Forward

Wolf Creek Results

2006-06-15T14:13:00.000-05:00

I arrived at the race location around 6:45. I got my clothes changed, aired-up my tires, set up my transition area then went for a quick bike, followed by a short run. streching, then off to the water to get in a few strokes.
The water was a bit chilly at 74 degrees, but compared to the air temp of 65, it felt great. Everyone was asked to get out of the water to start the race. It was decided that it would be a mass start from the beach. The race director yelled "GO" and all 80 of us ran into the water. There is a lot going on when 80 people jump into a small space and try to swim at the same time. I never really got going on the swim, it was actually one of the worse swims I can recall lately, but I got through it. I'm not sure if I was actually faster this year or not. Overall the swim times for the event were minutes lower on average, but there were a lot better athletets too, so the swim may have been a little shorter then 400 meters, but who knows.

10:38.4 Not what I was hoping for, but I did not drown so I'll take it.

My T1 was so-so also. I was a little frustrated after the swim so I did not have a clear head going in and I took a little longer then I should have. I'll continue to practice my transitions and get better. Once I was out of T1 I got clipped in and took off. I knew I had a lot of time to make up from the swim so I decided that since I had the best chance to make up ground here that I would just go for it. There was one small problem, it was a little windy most of the way out on the bike course. I had to really smash the gears and burn some engergy to get up to a good pace. I got to the turn around and was averaging right around 17.5 MPH, the wind had got me a little. I knew that I would have the wind at my back so I was not too concerned. I got to the turn around and passed some friends there, got some words of encouragement, gave some encouragement, then put my head down and got moving. I saw my cousing Jenn coming from the other direction, she was going great!!! Once I got on the level ground I started hitting my stride and was averaging over 20MPH the whole way back. I was approaching the transition area and started to remove my bike shoes. I've been working on this little time saving trick for a while now and finally got it!!

Approaching T2.. pedaling on top of my shoes so I could get my running shoes on faster.. success!! 28.45.7 for 9.2 miles 19.2 MPH

I got into T2, threw on my socks and shoes and got out in what I felt was a good time with not a lot of extra effort. My legs felt like they'd never been used before, the general feeling triathletes get after getting off the bike. I tried not to think about how they felt and concentrated on good running form. The first 1/4 mile out of transition was a gradual uphill, so it was a struggle to get going, but once I got to where the road leveled out I settled it in. I made up a lot of ground on the run too. I was feeling good and decided I better kick it in and finsih hard. I was not sure what pace I was running, but I knew it was better the 8 min/mile. I saw the turn to get back to the start/finish and got after it. I finished in 1:01:18. 4th in my age group and 33/80 overall.

I'm pumped!! best 3 mile run ever. 20:17, 6:46 min/mile

post race, just relaxing.

Some friends from Beginnertriathlete.com. "oneslowdoc" finished 25/80 and 5th in a really hard age group of 35-39. The female in the picture is my cousin Jenn that I mentioned above. She had an awesome race and finished in 1:17:26, 2nd in the 30-34 group and "Writebrained" who won the Clydesdale division and was 47/80 overall

Overall, it was a good race to start the season. It definitely put some reality around where I need improvement. In my age group I finished Swim-7th, Bike-3rd, Run-2nd, so as I know, the swim is my worst event, but that's why I am in classes.

Swim Class

2006-06-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’ve completed my first week of triathlon swim class. I swam on Tuesday and Thursday. We jumped right in on Tuesday and swam 2400 yards in an hour. To a experienced swimmer that’s not a lot, to me… it’s a lot and fast. The instructor is an Olympic qualifier for triathlon, which is great, because she knows how to wrap it all together. That’s not to say that a swim coach who had not done triathlons could not coach the class, but having someone who has “been there, done that” adds some credibility. The coaching that I did get was welcome. I was told I have a good base, but I need to finish out my pull. Apparently I was stopping short on my pull through, which was making me less efficient. Check out the super high tech picture I found that displays the “proper” way to do it.

In Thursday’s class, I took it easier than I did on Tuesday. I was still a little sore from the previous class and since I have a race this weekend, I needed to just get some laps in and work on my stroke. I only swam about 2/3 of the scheduled workout but still felt like I had improved over the previous session.

I’m really excited about the race this week. My ITband has finally started cooperating consistently and my run times have all been under that 8 min/mile pace even on bricks, so hopefully I can pull it all together for a good start to the season.

10 days until first tri of the season

2006-05-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since I posted last so I figured I would get something out here so that my loyal readers (all 2 of you) would not think I was missing :)

Wolf Creek Sprint Triathlon is coming up June 10th - .25 Mile Swim, 10 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run. Wolf Creek was the first triathlon I ever did and I am returning to see how I have improved. Plus, its a nice event with good scenery and it's was well organized. Last year I finished in 1:23:18. I'm hoping to improve on all the times this time around. Ideally, I'd like to finish the swim portion in under 10 minutes, average 18+MPH on the bike and under 8 minute/mile on the run. I am considering this a "C" race, so if I dont hit those I won't be too upset, but I think they are reasonable goals.

My "B" race is the IronAbe in mid-July and my "A" race is the Chicago Triathlon in the end of August.

Below are some pics from the 2005 race. I'll update after the 2006 event with some new ones.

After the swim.. I'm not in last, but close :)

Made up some ground on the bike. This year's
bike portion is 10 miles, last year's was 11.

blogcasts

2006-05-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

Exercising is a very primal act. It's you running down a road, swimming in a pool/lake, or riding down the road on a very simple mode or self-propelled transportation. Of course you can make it very technical by; wearing a GPS enabled watch, have super high-tech wicking garments, motion control shoes, aero bars, the list goes on and on. The basics of it are that it is you and your body out to make itself better. I use exercise to get away from the day-to-day grind, the so-called "Cubical Ecosystem," but I use a lot of technology when I do it. My job title is "Technical Specialist" so you know I love that stuff.

So what's the new technical stuff I found that has to do with endurance sports? I recently started listening to Blogcasts. You may have heard them called "podcasts." You don't have to have an Ipod to listen to them, it can be any portalbe media device, or even just listen to them on your computer, so I will refer to them as Blogcasts to keep it generic. A Blogcast is basically a recorded blog entry that you can download and listen to on a MP3 player.. I found one the other day when I was looking to register for a local triathlon. The site is http://zentri.blogspot.com/ its got some great stuff on there for training, eating, and all kinds of triathlon related information. Through thier blogcast, I found http://www.enduranceradio.com/. So check them out!! Great stuff for listening to on the run..literally!!

The Endurance 50

2006-05-08T19:55:00.000-05:00

For those that do not know who Dean Karnazes is, I recommend that you check out the book Ultramarathon Man. To put Dean in a class of "endurance athlete" would probably not do his accomplishments justice. To name a few, he has run 260 and 350 miles non-stop! His next "quest" is the Endurance 50. The goal is to run 50 marathons in 50 different states, in 50 days. This will be quite a feat. Looking at the race calendar, adding up the mileage, and factoring in travel got me thinking about how huge this will be to complete.

After reading Dean's book, I really got into running and pushing myself again, so I am excited any time he ups the ante. My blog title actually comes from something his father said to him when he ran his first Western States 100. Check out the Endurance 50 website, it's going to be intense. Good luck Dean and the rest of The North Face Endurance 50 team!!!!! See you in St. Charles, MO on day 1.

-Keep moving forward

New Wheels!!

2006-05-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

I went to the bike shop to get some new components for my road bike to make it a little more aero. I picked up a bullhorn handlebars, shifters to mount on the aero bars, new brake levers and an angled seat post to make up for the longer top bar on my raod bike. All together with labor was going to cost over $400, which I was expecting. The plan for me was since I bought a road bike last year, to get parts this year then move those over to a tri bike next year, but....

while they were writing up the bill for parts and labor I saw hanging on the wall a 2004 Cannondale Ironman 2000 tri bike. It was cut over $700 over original price. I of course was interested and had them take it down. I took it for a spin then decided to have them fit me for it to make sure it was right. I spent about an hour on and off the bike, checking my fit and how it shifted and proper leg extension.... Long story short I bought it! It had all the components I was looking at to put on my current bike (now and future), but better, plus it was an actual tri bike, not a road bike that I was trying to convert. I weighted my costs of the $400 that I was going to spend, plus what I had planned for next year and decided the deal was too good to pass up. I had them put the stuff I was going to get and got back on the trainer to adjust everything, seat, pedals, aerobars... and off I went. I have a pic below. I took it with my cell phone so its not the best, but it works.

- Keep moving forward

It's a boy!

2006-05-02T07:43:00.000-05:00

My sister had her first baby on Saturday... Welcome Ayden Dixon Daniel. How long until I can take him out for a run? :)

Back at it

2006-04-25T13:27:00.000-05:00

It's time to get back at it again. I've taken roughly a week off since McNaughton. Whatever that knee injury is that was acting up during the race is still with me. It is not near as bad as it was, I dont even notice it when I am walking, only when I run and its not too bad unless I am going down hill. I need to let it heel up, so I will put the brakes on running for the next few weeks and concentrate on swimming, biking and weights/streching. I hit the pool for about 45 minutes this morning and the gym during my lunch break. I feel good, I'm ready to tackle the Wolf Creek Sprint Triathlon for the 2nd time. It will be my 1 year anniversary to multi sports.

McNaughton Results

2006-04-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Pekin a little after 6PM on Friday night. I met my friend and virtual training partner (we communicated over IM) Howard at the hotel and headed over to the race site to pick up our packets. The race shirts were great, they were Brooks long sleeve wicking T's. I knew from that we were in for a good race environment. Most of the Sprint Tri's, 5k's and 10k's I have done give away cheap normal T-shirts, so this was a great start. We talked with several people that had run the race before and some that had done many other ultras all over world as well as some elite athletes that were friends of the race director who were there to help out. We ate the dinner and talked to some other folks who had traveled from all over to attend. After a couple of hours we decided to head home and start winding down. Winding down was not easy. I was pretty excited about my run and there was a band playing next door. Around 12:30 I finally got to sleep, but was up again at 3:30 and decided that I might as well say awake and get ready for the day. I threw on my running short, shoes, and a long sleeve shirt and went out for a short jog to get moving. It was really stuffy out and warm, not good since the sun was not even out yet. I doulbe checked all of my gear and headed out the door to meet Howard to leave for the run.

We arrived around 5. We talked and tired to relax the last few minutes before the start. The clock reached 6 and we were off!! A stampeed of 200+ runners headed down a slighly muddy hill, ready to be on thier feet for the next 4 - 36 hours. The first few miles were realatively flat, especailly in comparison to what I was about to find as the course weaved around the woods. This run was very different for me. I was not used to walking, but that seemed to be how you do a run like this. You jogged when you could and when you got to a hill, you walked up it. In the beginning, it was hard to set your own pace. You would get caught up in a group of people walking up the hills and since it was single track most of the time, passing was not easy to do. It was actually a great thing that I did not pass or I would have gone out way too hard and had a hard time finishing.

We weaved all around the woods and came out into an open field. At the top of the field was the first aid station, 2.78 miles in. I grabbed a little water, but not much else and charged on. From this point, the course got rough. The down hills got steeper and so did the climbs. I just followed the people infront of me, walking up hills and joging when it was "flat". Out of the woods we came again to the next aid station. I had them fill up my water bottle and I headed on. We looped around and came back out by the same aid station then out into an open field. I met up with a few guys running my same pace and we continued on together until the end of the first loop. I came in 2 hours 5 minutes and was winded, but not feeling too bad. I headed over to my bag where I ate a Gu, swapped my water bottle for my PowerBar mixture and headed down the hill for miles 11-20.

Loop 2 was starting off great. My legs felt good and my feet were doing well even though they were a little wet from the creek crossings. After the 1st aid station of the loop, my knee started to bother me, I tired to shake it off and not pay attenetion to it. The pain would come and go. I mostly noticed it when I was decending, which happened a lot during the middle part of the course. Luckily I met some great people to run with and talking kept my mind off of it. I finished the 2nd lap in about the same time as the first 2 hours and some change. As I came up over the last hill of the loop, I could see the Start/Finish. My wife and father-in-law had arrived to cheer me on, it was just what I needed. They followed me to my bag where they asked how I was doing, what I needed and so on. We talked for a minute or so then I was off again. "See you in a few hours" my wife yelled and I disappeared down the hill.

Lap 3 was going to be hard. My quads were tired, my feet had some blisters from being on them all day and they were wet from creek crossings, my left knee was making it almost impossible to sustain any type of speed going downhill. I pressed on to the first aid station. I had got there, I was in the single digits now, less then 8 to go. The problem is that the middle section of the race had the most climbs and decents, but I had got this far. By this time most of the runners had thinned out and I "ran" the majority of the last leg alone. The hills seemed a lot bigger then before and the downhill parts were killer. I went down sideways and hopped on my right leg and did as little as I could with the left, sort of draggin it behind me, I had to look rediculous. I arrived at the 2nd aid station, caught my breath, ate some grapes, a piece of a banana, filled up my water bottle and took off. I was super tired and it was getting really hot out. Over the next mile I drank most of my water, luckily the course loops back around to the 2nd aid station. I filled up my bottle again and headed out. From here there was only a little over 3 miles left, "just a 5k" I said to myself.

The last few miles were all mental. I just kept telling myself "don't stop!" I quit looking at my watch because at this point, it did not matter. All that mattered was that I was going to finish. The ground was leveling out and I tried to run as much as possilbe. I ran past a log that someone had carved in it "1.00 miles." I was going as fast as I could (which at this point was not fast at all) just trying to get to the end. I rounded a corner and was out of the woods, 1 last hill and I was out. I climed to the top of the hill and saw the Start/Finish. I yelled out my bib number. I looked over and saw my wife and father-in-law cheering. I just tried to finish strong. I crossed the finish line in 6 hours 46 minutes. The race director high-fived me, handed me a big silver belt buckle that said "30 mile Finisher." and that is all it needed to say.

A study of how bee's fly

2006-04-10T19:20:00.000-05:00

One question I get a lot is "why do you do that?" "That" being run, bike, or swim.. or a combination of the three.. I always had some answer to that. There's lots of reason; obsession, health, because I can, self image, time to myself.. the list goes on.

When I took on ultra running I started putting in a lot of miles*. I would get "how can you run that long?" This was not a question I could answer very easy. It's one thing to say that; you train hard, put in a lot of miles or have a high threshold of pain, but there's more to it then that..or is there? I was reading Joe Friel's book (A Triathlete's Training Bible). There was a comment in there about a study of bumble bees and how as far a science was concerned they should not be able to fly, they are not aerodynamic, they have small wings, but somehow they fly quite well. They fly because they dont know they are not supposed to! I guess I will take that approach. I endure long runs where everything hurts, because I don't know that there is a reason not to.

*I know "a lot" is a relative term. In comparison to others' runs, mine are just a blip in a log book, but in my circle a 30 mile run is not common.

McNaughton Trail Run - 30 miles on my mind

2006-04-10T18:06:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about it since I woke up this morning. I am really excited, but my mind is full of questions like: How long will it take me? Am I ready? What is the weather going to like?.. to list a few.

This Saturday I am competing in my first ultra distance race. Actually this is my first race, (triathlons included)that is over 15 miles. My longest foot race has been a 10k. I made a committment to train hard, but smart for this event and I think I did. From Mid-January to the end of March I ran 300 miles and put some time in on my bike to give my body a rest from the pounding of running. Considering about a year ago, a 5k was pretty tough for me, I am happy with where I am today.

I have been having some trouble with my IT-Band, but I think some rest and streching have done me well and I will be ready to go bright and early on Saturday morning.