Wasatch Back 2010: An Awesome Experience

I must start out with saying my pictures are en route. There aren't enough words to describe this event. It is the epitome of the celebration of running. As awesome as the running was that wasn't the best thing about this weekend. What was the best thing is how runners are. Fun, polite (for the most part), energetic, silly, smart, and did I say fun? Just about every team out there (and when I say team I mean one team=12 runners and there was around 1500 teams) was out there for those reasons. There were a few that were too competitive but overall most were fun. There is no chips. Only overall time and there is no results page. Here is how it went for me:

We begin friday morning bright and early at 5:30. The overall pace of the teams was pre-determined and Ragnar tries to have the teams finish at the same time. We had a safety meeting and then race was off. We saw our runner #1 off and went out to meet her at exchange #1. Little did we know there would lots and lots of exchanges. Each exchange was met with excitement. Little finish lines all over the place. Some teams were super excited some didn't say a word. The start was in Logan.UT. Logan is about 2 hours from Salt Lake City. It is a small community and eventually we went from asphalt to dirt and back and forth. I was runner #5 and I didn't run until 11:30ish on the first day. I received my bracelet on the bottom of avon pass and I gained about 1200 ft. Rated "VERY HARD." Gained and gained elevation. This is the leg I have been training for. Unfortunately, there is no 7 mile straight up road around. It was gorgeous. The road paralleled a river. There were a lot of birds, cows, squirrels, and the wind whisked through the trees. There was also tons of rocks. I wondered if I would need my trail runners. I would love to have used them. My feet were very sore from the side-to-side hopping and running on heavy rocks and dirt. Some climbs I had to walk. Overall, 7.3 miles 12:01 pace in 1:28:25. Max HR of 177 bpm and ave 165 bpm. I wore my Marathon bar gear and had some comments from runners passing by. I wish I had some to eat for me and to give away. The gear ended up working very nice.

Runner #6 gives Van #2 its first go. The first major exchange was buzzing with life. Lots and lots of teams we haven't seen yet were there. A little food, some live music, and lots of runners. It was hot. We have the next few hours of to travel to the next major exchange. We stopped at Snow Basin and waited for Van #2 to finish. We had a light lunch and some naps. I love a nap when the breeze keeps you cool in the shade. It was nice. When we get the bracelet back the sun is coming down. By the time my leg starts it is getting pretty dark. Running vest, blinkie, and head lamp required. It was fun to NEED that gear. My second leg was rated "easy." It was. Awfully flat but dark. My R knee hurt some and my pace suffered but it was nice. Prefect weather for a run. Cool enough for non-runners to be cold but while running nice and comfy. Gorgeous. This leg began at 9:15ish at night. It was 4.24 miles in 43:53. My knee affected my pace. I think I was trying to get away from the blisters on my feet and my knee got aggravated. After my leg our anchor pounded out a very hard leg to get us to half way. About midnight we made our way to find some food and shut eye. The race had arranged pancakes and eggs at a local high school for us. Free reign any place we could find to sleep and use the locker room for showers. I was able to get about 4 hours of sleep. There were thousands of runners in various stages of sleep. Waking up and leaving, getting to bed, or sound asleep. There is not another community around that would have been so courteous. Quiet, respectful, and courteous. It was like a disaster area. I walked out of there shaking my head and what a fun thing this was. Here I am exhausted, hungry, and smiling. What's wrong with me I thought? My answer is runners do funny things. Oh and we paid for this, lol.

Van #1 begins our next leg around 4:45 or so. I started my last leg at around 10:00 am. Another "easy" route. However, the hill in the second mile was not easy. They listed it as 3 miles but my watch said 3.3. Total time 32:09. 9:42 pace, but my last mile of the whole thing was 8:40. Overall I hoped to be faster over all my routes but a funny thing happens with no sleep, no nutrition, sitting in a van, and stress of navigating a completely new area. The finish line was one big party and a blast. I got to ride the lift to the top of a ski resort. Very cool.

This race was a great experience. Lots of fun times in the van, lots of beautiful runs, and lots of very fun interesting people. I am looking forward to las Vegas. I had another glimpse of the "saints and sinners" medal and boy is it cool.

In other news, I had a little down time and I was able to read a couple of articles. They will be the subject of future posts. Here is the other days this week:

Monday-Short fast swim. 800 m in 17 min. 4X200 m in about 4:00-15 each.

Tuesday-Pushed my hill repeats to watch the Lakers force game seven, then win another championship. Yeah baby.

Wednesday-Long swim. 1500m swim. I wanted to stay slow and long this swim. Under 6:45. It is so hard to do. 250 m splits are: 5:55, 6:27, 6:29, 6:35, 6:30, and 6:35, ave 6:25 for a total of 38:34. HOLDING BACK. Quote:

"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable."

-Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub-4 minute mile

The LA Marathon: A Diary entry

The LA Marathon had 25,000 runners. That sounds like a lot and then you actually see them. WOW. 50,000 people at the expo at one of the my most favorite places on the planet. Dodger stadium. I walked around the stadium and walked around the concourse. Right before the race some got to "warm-up" for the marathon on the outfield grass. I didnt find that out until it was too late. I have been on the grass and I dont warm-up for a really long run like this. So I passed.

The non-race stuff:

Had an issue getting a room close to the finish line. The race started at Dodger stadium and ended at Santa Monica Pier. I found a place that was cheap and close to the finish. One word Skeeve. Yeah after my wife and I left for the race my sister found a roach in my bed. We got our money back and found a new room that ended up having ants in the bathroom. 2 rooms at half-price what a deal! Spring time in California, wohoo! Traffic did not disappoint it was LA style, but the people were a buzz with the marathon. That made it fun. Found a couple trishops where my sister got a wetsuit at 40% off and I found some jerseys half off. SCORE!

The Expo:

There must have been 50,000 people there. Lots and lots of free stuff and interesting booths. Got some answers at the garmin tent finally. I may need to get the tri watch. Lots of recovery socks and new juice products. USTF was there in force. The race poster was awesome. It is the 25th anniversary of LA Marathon and I cannot wait to frame it and put it up in my house. I will pst pics later this week.

The Race:

We parked in the participants garage and walked to a bus that took us to dodger stadium. A normally 20-30 min ride turned into an hour. REALLY LA TRAFFIC? shock. What was interesting is people running on the freeway to get to the start of the race. They actually post-poned the start of the race to allow for the people to get there who were stuck in traffic. CRAZY. I loved it. It was a bit chilly yet I was warm on the bus. people walked an extra few miles yet I was sitting on the bus. I arrived with plenty of time and no stress. A good start so far.

I was through my morning routine before a long run with no issues. This is going to be a good day, I thought. No issues. My wife and I arrived at the start line and the closest we could get was the 13 min per mile corral. OK so there is A TON of people here we are going to have to weave a bit. Lets just say that bob and weave was something I did ALL DAY LONG. Interestingly enough it was LA when sean austin is a few feet in front of us. My wifes favorite movie is RUDY and she wouldnt yell RUUUUUUUDDDDDY. He ended up finishing 15 min ahead of us.

The race begins with a lap around dodger stadium. Hilly. Actually the first 8 miles were very hilly. Ups and downs. LOTS OF PEOPLE. A sea of people in front and behind. It was crazy. My wifes ankle begins to hurt at the 3 mile mark. After some encouragement and some tweaking we are back to running. Characters along the way were awesome. Elvis, marylyn monroe, blue haired guy, banana guy, cross carrying guy, mexican flag outfit, and there were a ton of kids. The LA area used the race as a way to get kids more active and there was a lot of kids who ran. That was awesome.

It was hot. 80 degrees or so. I havent had a single run here in Las Vegas where I wore shorts or a short sleeve shirt. I wasnt ready for it. I never felt a groove. Id say 15 degrees hotter than my hottest run here. I began to cramp at 13. My first big cramp at 15. Survival mode until I finished. It was crazy. I marveled at the people on the side of the road stretching, laying, throwing up, eating, drinking, peeing, etc. I had a small cramping issue on my first 20 miler but the second was no issue. I feel strong about my nourishment plan, I just dont think I was ready for the heat. I am proud I finished. It was a battle. My wife ended up pushing me like a star. She was amazing. Cardiovascularly I felt strong, My brain was intact, my training was on point, my muscles did not cooperate.

The aftermath:

I earned every bit of that medal. I wore the HELL out of my finisher shirt on monday. It took us 45 min to get out of the garage. It took us over an hour to get to the skeeve motel once we left the garage. Absolutely frustrating. Just is what it is about LA/Santa Monica.

I do not have any injuries. Am I sore as hell, yeah. Everything is sore. My neck, scapular stabilzers, lower back, hips add/abd, gluts, quads, hamstrings, calves, and especially the 5th metatarsel on my left foot. Julie is very sore and her ankle is not any worse than usual after a long run. We pieced her back together well.

I am still processing my 1st marathon. I will post more as the week goes on and I will get some pics posted ASAP.

"The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals."

LOL. Yeah 2 days of walking like I raked over the coals!

2 more working weekends until the big race..

2 weeks in a row without a midweek entry. Last week was family time and this week was sick (oh and there was that dodger game too). Sorry but the training is going well. My last few weeks have been strange. I am putting in the time and effort and I am still a little ambivalent towards the training. It is long, slow, and hard. I was wondering too if somewhere in my mind I was expecting it to be easy. I have this way of gaining success and continuing to look up. Compare myself to people who are fitter and more experienced than me and checking my progress to how they perform. It is not fair to me to do that. I cannot help it I want to be the best I can be. Here is how my week went:

Monday-Rest
Tuesday-Easy run. 3 miles done before softball, then softball. Easy, no watch, just run.
Wednesday-I wanted to do something new. So the plan was a brick brick. I wanted to do 8 mile bike, 2 mile run X 2. I wanted to go as fast as I can on each with fast transitions. Work those quads very fast. My bike on the first leg was 32:48, T1 4:35, and run 17:35.....total 54:59. What was unfortunate was I used my stop watch instead of the Garmin. I had 3 or so lights to wait at and having the automatic timer stop would have showed how truly fast I was. The second trip through the workout didn't happen. As the night went on I felt my head getting gooped up, my throat getting sore, and I thought I was starting to run a fever. Umm I think I will stop here.
Thursday- I had 2500 meter swim planned. SICK.
Friday-Rest.
Saturday-Long bike. Feeling about 95% recovered i wondered if working long would be a bad idea. I actually felt better as the ride went on. Good idea. I went 60.24 miles in 4:10:49. I got off the bike 3 times to stretch my back. Good ole pressups. I still averaged 14.4 mph. Not that fast but I will take it. This is my longest ride to date. I wanted to go very long and I didn't want to ride those damn hills again. I rode somewhere different. My legs felt strong and fresh. No fatigue, no pain. My back never hurt like last week but did get stiff and tired. I guess the core strengthening is helping. I should do that more. Overall, I am very happy with my ride. Funny note: I burned approximately 4167 calories.
Sunday (today)-Long run. SCRATCH THAT. Long swim. SInce I skipped my swim on Thursday and as I analyzed the rest of my training I thought may be I need a long swim more than I need a long run. Including this race it will be 6th half marathon and the water temperature is definitely cold enough for a wet suit. How about if I go long in an open swim? I will say about 2300-2500 yards or so (it isn't exactly marked) in 56:25. My 2000 meter split was 45 min or so. No fatigue no soreness (except for wet suit burn on my neck). I felt great. I got into a rhythm and felt strong. I definitely felt like I could do a lot more after that swim. After yesterdays ride could I so more after that? hmmm it would have been tough. Very happy with my swim right now.

I feel ready. Can I do it all in 1 day? That is the ultimate question. I suppose that is triathlon at its core. All 3 back-to-back-back. I have swam longer than race distance, I have biked longer than race distance, and I have ran this run distance many many times. I have had some long bricks and i still have some longer ones too. My mind is active. Up until Wednesday night, I haven't been sleeping very well. I think about the race all the time. It is going to be a huge thing for me. I am curious to see what I feel during and after this race. QUOTE:

“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.”
Antoine de Saint-French Pilot, Writer, and Author

I think this is what I am feeling lately....the stranger within me growing.....