Welsh 1000m peaks (DNS)

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to get up very early in the morning on race day, not even have to look through the window to know that the weather is horrendous, and then (bailing out obviously being out of the question) have the divine/demonic intervention that the weak and negative side of you has been hoping for all along? Well, it happened to me today, and it sucks! 

I hit a road closure just a few miles into my drive to Llanberis early this morning. Incredulous, I opened the road atlas, looked at the long detour that I would need to take and calculated that I would definitely miss the bus to the start, quite possibly the start as well. So I turned around and drove back home. Now I can definitely relate to the images of crying runners after the cancellation of the 2010 UTMB, even if the scale of my disappointment is obviously quite different. So it goes…

On the positive side, I was definitely a bit worried about having to run an undoubtedly gruelling 4-5-hour race only two weeks before the Vitosha 100K, with the Lakeland 100M only a month later. And I am kind of curious to see how the involuntary long taper will work out.

Running with the Bulls (Cader Idris 2012)

No, not the one in Pamplona. This one takes place in Dolgellau (N Wales), and the ‘bulls’ are actually quite agile:

 Matt Roberts (top) and the Jones brothers (Andrés - middle and Felipe - bottom). I am not quite ready to hang with these guys, but have halved the gap relative to last year.

This was much less of a kick in the teeth relative to 2011. 

 But it still hurt and highlighted my lack of
specific training for fast hill running. 

 I did, however, manage to hold my position on the downhill,
and even passed one runner.

10th overall in 1:39. Not bad, but maybe I should
take this more seriously next year…?

In case you were following Zegama and are wondering who Lauren Jeska is. Six days after running an amazing race in the Pyrenees, she said she was tired,
but I couldn't really tell.

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Welsh 1000m peaks tomorrow, and more running with the bulls. This time over a longer distance and rougher terrain. Course knowledge is apparently key for this one, and mine is limited to the last 800 m. Not a good sign, but I am still looking forward to it. Should be a half-decent day too, after a week of ‘unsettled’ weather, even by British standards.

Brecon Beacons 40M, 2012

Fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five … relax and run efficiently … fifty-six, fifty-seven … don’t blow this excellent run like you’ve done so many times before… fifty-eight … keep this up and it would be pretty tough for people behind to catch you… fifty-nine, sixty … get to a hundred and maybe you could walk for a while and enjoy the view.

Those of you born and bred east of the Iron Curtain might be reminded of Anatoly Kashpirovsky, but this is actually not one of his sessions. It is me talking to myself on the ascent of Cribyn, the last major climb of the Brecon Beacons summer 40-mile race (see my race report from 2011 for an elevation profile). I am having a very good race indeed, and it has been a long time coming. At least about a year, to be more precise.

The talking-to-myself part is something I do in long races, when things get tough. I start making little deals with myself, such as “run 200 steps, then walk for two minutes.” I am not sure if this helps with anything, except for distracting me from the pain and breaking the overwhelming distance left to be covered into small, manageable pieces. If you don’t think this works, you have to see “Touching the void,” one of the best movies ever.

The start of the race, after a social first mile, was just about as quick as last year. But unlike last year, by the top of the first climb, about an hour in, I knew I would be running well that day. Only, there were others, who were running just as well, or even better. Jim Mann and I set the pace for the first couple of hours, and I quite enjoyed how we pushed each other (he even put me back on course at one point – thanks Jim!). But then the long, boggy second climb came, and it quickly became clear that nobody had done their hill homework as well as Piers Stockwell. He passed by us as if we were standing still, without even looking like he was working hard, and he was out of sight within minutes. Impressive stuff!

Well, running for second it is then. I pulled away from Jim slightly at the halfway point, and by the top of Cribyn I had a cushion of maybe 7-8 minutes and was feeling reasonably good. I knew that it was possible that someone else had run the first half of the race more conservatively and would come flying past both of us in the last few miles. But I decided not to worry about this because there was nothing I could do to prevent it at that point. Except for continuing to run as smoothly as possible with 30+ miles and 8000+ ft of vertical in my legs, drinking as much as possible (it was a warm day), and trying to somehow swallow and digest another gel. 

Finally, the seemingly endless section of ridge running is over, I drop down to the reservoir, run the last few flat miles fairly well, but somehow get lost for a few minutes (AGAIN!!!), before getting my act together and finishing a pretty satisfying race in 6h39. People at the finish line seem a bit startled when I show up (Piers is already taking a nap, I think), and I ask where the first guy is, so that I could congratulate him. “What first guy?” they respond “YOU are the first guy” …

It turns out Piers got off the ridge too early and lost almost an hour to finish fourth. To say this is ironic would be an understatement. Navigation errors had ruined pretty much my entire racing season last year, including my previous attempt of this race, and now I was benefiting from one. Uh well, a win is a win, and I will take it, even if it didn’t come quite in the way I would have liked (I don’t have that many, so I can’t be too picky about style). 

In any case, a great race, and I am very happy with my progress on running both up and down hills. One focus race down, three more to go.

Cader Idris tomorrow, with no particular expectations. 

And here are the race results and a few pictures from the beautiful day out in the Brecon Beacons:

 Proudly sporting my WVMTR shirt, which was given to me by
the Morgantown S&T folks.

Photo by Jon Philips (Meun Photography).

The early miles, not as fast as last year, but that changed soon enough.

Photo by Darren Ross.

Feeling good and in the lead at the top of the first climb.
Photo by Darren Ross.

Jim Mann, right behind me at the top of the first climb. 
He soon caught me and opened a small gap. 
This guy can run in the mud, let me tell you!
Photo by Darren Ross.

Piers Stockwell: “You call these hills?”

Photo by Jon Philips (Meun Photography).

 Ready to call it a day, but there are 10+ miles and a major climb left.

Time for a Kashpirovsky moment?

Photo by Jon Philips (Meun Photography).

Final Tune-up

My race season starts in earnest tomorrow with the Brecon Beacons 40M. After an eight-month break from racing ultramarathons, I have been feeling a bit rusty and anxious, so last weekend I decided to let some of the nervous energy out. 

On Saturday, I raced the train up and down Snowdon, mostly providing entertainment for my family, but also getting a good effort in, especially on the climb.

 

 Snowdon is stunningly beautiful in good weather.

 

 I was running fairly well but my splits were still embarrassing, compared to Kenny Stuart’s incomprehensible 1h02 for the return trip.

On Sunday, I entered the low-key 17-miler Ras Y Diafol, which traditionally follows the much more competitive Red Kite Challenge. My goal was to run hard for a couple of hours, but avoid getting too wrapped up in racing. 

Gareth Green (running on tired legs after finishing 8^th on Saturday), Dylan Lewis, and I stayed close together and pushed each other throughout the race, with each of us making a move at some point. Dylan was clearly the strongest among us that day and eventually managed to pull away with 3-4 miles to go. I gave him a bit of a chase (especially after seeing him walk a gradual climb and inferring that he was cramping). But although I was gaining on him and cut his lead to maybe 20-30 seconds, I was not willing (or able?) to work any harder than this, so I eased up a bit and cruised in to finish in 2h04, about a minute behind Dylan and a minute ahead of Gareth. 

Overall a pretty nice day: good race, very enjoyable finish-line chatter, and even prizes (a bottle of wine for Aberystwyth AC winning the club competition and a check for £30 for finishing second overall - so much for my amateur status).

 

Dylan (white vest) and I, obviously not running hard enough. Gareth is about 30 m ahead at this point.

The three of us (Gareth on the left), happy to be done.

Now, let’s see if I can stay on course (in many ways) and give myself a chance to compete in the Brecon Beacons.

Race Plans for 2012

After some deliberation, I have solidified my race schedule for 2012. While I am still going to run a few of the local short fell races (mostly to remind myself how poor my strength and speed are), my focus will be on these four:

Brecon Beacons 40M (May 12, 2012)

This is once again part of the Runfurter Ultra-running Championships, so I expect it to be fairly competitive. I don’t usually return to races I have done (the Vitosha 100K being the only exception so far), but this one is too close to pass, and I actually do want to try it again after last year’s navigation debacle.

Welsh 1000m Peaks 20M (June 9, 2012)

What can be better than a short fell race? A long one, of course. I am looking forward to this one, but I will have to be very careful, if I want to run well at the Vitosha 100K.

Vitosha 100K (June 23, 2012)

This one will always be special for me, even when/if I eventually ‘get it right.’

Lakeland 100M (Ultra Tour of the Lake District) (July 27, 2012) 
By all measures, the big one this year. I don’t dare plan much or any running in August. Then, we’ll see.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures from a 10M fell race (Ras Yr Aran) that I ran this weekend. I was too tired from traveling and field work to compete, but how do you pass on this weather and scenery?

2011 Recap

Continuing the retrospection from my last post:

Frozen Sasquatch 50K (January 8, 2011, 4h46, 2nd OA)

I started 2011 pretty much the way I ended 2010 – doing much more running and racing than I ever had, with the snowy winter just making that even more fun. Fun is probably the best word to describe my experience at this race, but not in the sense that it was easy or even enjoyable the entire time. I wanted to run one more WVMTR race before leaving West Virginia, and the 2011 FS50 was an easy choice. Several people from our Coopers Rock training group had signed up, but by the time a pretty serious snow storm hit the day before the race, it was just Jason Balko and myself. Jason handled the tricky drive down to Charleston without a blink (literally), and we got there just in time and in perfect mood for racing. The trail was marked really well, and everything else was impeccably organized by Mark Dolin, so we just had to worry about staying warm and moving fast on the snow (but not too fast, especially on the downhills). In the weeks leading up to the race, I had been looking forward to racing Adam Casseday. But Adam had already started preparing for his AT attempt, which he later completed successfully, and was not really interested in racing that day (or year, for that matter). Selfishly, I thought this was too bad, but then again, another runner in the race was Michael Owen, a top 10 finisher at the 2010 San Francisco TNF 50M, and a guy who apparently could run just as fast and free as another Michael Owen, only for a lot longer. So I still had all the competitive challenge I wanted, and then some. At the end of the day, Michael was clearly faster and stronger than I was. But I was happy to be able to stay close to him for as long as I did, and even catch him at one point after he had gapped me by a few minutes. This was probably only because my Carpenter-style screw-shoes gave me much better traction than what Michael was getting out of his NBs, but I will take it anyway.

Here is Michael. I think ultrarunners will be hearing his 

name a lot, especially if he can stay healthy.

And here is me finishing, without 

having to try hard for the smile.

Good times!

Running with Phil

I took some time off after the FS50K, or at least I intended to. But that did not quite work because I started running with Phil Turk on a regular basis. Phil is one inspiring runner, as well as a great guy, and we always seemed to have a lot to talk about during our long runs and hill rep sessions. Still recovering from an ACL reconstruction, Phil was training very hard for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, where he eventually ran a huge PB and qualified for Boston, a dream of his for a long time that is about to materialize! So how does one resist the road running bug while watching this guy? It had been a good 14 years since my last road marathon, and I really thought I wouldn’t do another one of these for a while (or ever), but before I knew it, I was signed up for the National Marathon in Washington DC and doing a bunch of long runs on the Morgantown rail-trail.

National Marathon (March 26, 2011, 2h51, 31st OA)

Training for this was actually more fun than I had expected. For one thing, a niggle in my right Achilles was preventing me from training at target race pace (6:20-6:30), so I got to discover that doing most of one’s marathon training at [target pace + 30-40 s] really does work. Not only was I able to run much faster than in training on race day, but I even managed to mess up my negative split goal by starting a bit too fast (the lousy/lacking mile markers didn’t help). In any case I thought my 1h23/1h27 splits for the two halves were quite good, given that I am a hopeless optimist when it comes to pacing. But without Phil’s contagious enthusiasm for road running around me, I doubt I will be doing too many of these.

Big Bear Lake 20K (April 30, 2011, 1h27, 1st OA)

My race tactics are usually pretty simple - go as fast as I can for as long as I can, and then deal with the inevitable crisis. This time was different because I had to work very hard to just stay with Brent Lopick (blue sleeveless shirt). But somehow I kept thinking that I had a chance to beat him, probably because I noticed that he was only gapping me on the smoother terrain, and that took some effort, whereas I was catching him very quickly on the more technical trails, especially going downhill. So when a long rocky descent finally came with about 2-3 miles to go, I went for it and ran as fast as I could for maybe 10-15 min. When I looked behind, I could not see anybody, so I slowed down a bit (I was cramping severely) and cruised it in. Winning a race is obviously pretty special, but doing this in front of your son is hard to beat!

Brecon Beacons 40M (May 21, 2011, 6h45, 4th OA; 7h11, 5th OA, after penalty for going off course)

Aberystwyth, Wales, I ran my first ultra in the Brecon Beacons. I had a good time and ran well, but I was disappointed with my navigational errors that made it impossible to compete with a strong group of runners at the front. Read my race report for more details.

Cadair Idris Fell Race 10.5M (May 28, 2011, 1h41, 20th OA)

Two weeks after arriving to Aberystwyth, I had found a great athletic club, a bunch of excellent trails, and a whole new dimension of running. I will be doing a lot more fell running in the future, but I need to work on my weaknesses, especially running downhill.

This is is how I need to run the downhills during 

these races, if I want to be competitive.

Vitosha 100K (July 2, 2011, 9h48, 2nd OA)

Probably my best long run ever, but marred by another simple navigational error. In hindsight, I also made a few other minor mistakes: (1) chasing the lead group too hard and catching it a bit too early, (2) worrying about my time too much (I really wanted to break nine hours), (3) not taking enough electrolytes (it was a cool night and I didn’t start taking Nuun/S-caps until I noticed some pretty serious cramping), and (4) not eating and drinking while being lost and trying to find my way. "And so it goes…"

Ridgeway Challenge 85M (August 27, 2011, 16h05, 3rd OA)

This is where the story ended, in many ways. Ten races of marathon distance or longer over 14 months was apparently too much for me. Or maybe next time I should take some time to recover after running hard for 100+ km?

In any case, six months later and after a great winter build-up, I am ready to go again.  

2010 Recap

I have been meaning to write up a summary of 2011 for some time now, but there always seemed to be something more urgent than blogging. Now that I am stuck at home, sick, without e-mail access or any desire to work, the time has finally come.

To really put things in perspective though, I need to start a little further back, in the summer of 2010, when I began a long streak of racing and completely changed the way I train (or did I just start training?) and think about running.

Highlands Sky 40M (June 19, 2010, 8h18, 32th OA)

This is one the best ultrarunning events I have seen (beautiful and very diverse course, super friendly and competent aid station volunteers, excellent organization orchestrated with deceptive ease by race director Dan Lehmann), but I had one of my roughest days of running ever. My training leading up to it was quite good, with a few memorable long runs at Coopers Rock, chasing Steve DiFazio on his mountainbike. But some stress at work right before the race, possibly combined with being rusty after not having raced an ultra for a good five years, resulted in not having my head in the right place on race day. So I missed a turn driving up to the race headquarters, nearly missing the busses to the start line, and then took the advice of fellow Morgantown runner (and eventual good training partner and friend) Phil Turk a bit too seriously by starting way too fast. But the real disaster started when I was running on the infamous stretch of trail covered by stinging nettle and took a tumble on a log that I didn’t see, severely smashing my right quadriceps. I knew my racing was over right then, but I really didn’t want to quit less than five miles into the race, or at any time. So the rest of this long day was all about managing the pain and trying to somehow motivate myself to finish, after all other goals had slipped away. Eventually, I somehow got off course, which is really ironic because Dan Lehmann takes course marking very, very seriously and does it extremely well, and I capitulated mentally, death-marching the remaining ~10 miles. Overall, a very disappointing and tough experience, but for reasons I can’t quite formulate, I am glad I didn’t take a DNF that day. The only amusing thing was my interaction with what I later realized was quite a stacked field by East Coast US standards. I specifically remember sitting in a chair next to Sean Andrish at the halfway-point aid station and commiserating with him (he had also fallen off the fast pace at the front), without having a clue who he was.

Starting way too fast (I am the left orange guy, sporting my favorite 2003
Waldo 100K finisher’s shirt). Photo by Joel Wolpert.

Finishing in a rather pathetic state of body and mind. 

Not quite sure how I managed that smile. Photo by Dan Lehmann.

Morgantown Stumble and Tumble (S&T) Group (July 2010)

Once I had stopped limping after the Highlands Sky debacle, I decided to join JL Brown, Jim Fisher, and Jason Balko for one of their crazy Wednesday night runs at Coopers Rock, and I quickly became an S&T regular. More than six years after I had left Corvallis, OR, I had forgotten how much fun it can be to run with other people, and I learned a lot from these guys. Most importantly, their ambitious running schedules inspired me to finally try some proper high-volume training, with my weekly mileage quickly increasing from 20-30 to 60+. And their company (plus that of Dave Hopkinson, who joined later) made running as enjoyable as it’s ever been.

Cheat Mountain Moonshine Madness (CMMM) 50M (August 27, 2010, 7h57, 3rd OA)

What a difference two months of focused training can make! Although I had come down with a sinus infection the week before the race and was still congested and taking antibiotics, I ran fairly well, especially the road sections. I think I even managed to give eventual winner Jeremy Ramsey a bit of a scare early on, but that only lasted until we hit the more technical terrain. This guy can run trails! With better race tactics, I think I could have placed second, but this did not upset me much at all. I was pleased with the way I ran and with the improvement in my fitness and confidence. Another perfectly organized WVMTR race, this time put together by Adam Casseday.

Waiting for the start of the race in characteristically diverse company.

West Virginia Trilogy 50K/50M/13.1M (October 8-10, 2010, 4h50, 1st OA/9h03, 2nd OA/1h45, 3rd OA; Cumulative 15h39, 1st OA)

Winning a race obviously feels good, but I don’ t think this was the only reason I enjoyed the Trilogy so much. This race is just special, and I would recommend it to anyone who has a chance to run it.

This is how it went for three days. Spectacular scenery, brutal climbs, 

and John Logar right behind me. Photo by Joel Wolpert.

 

 And here is Joel himself (middle), by far one of the most talented runners 

I have met and raced. Photo by Dan Lehmann.

Mason-Dixon Madness 50K (December 11, 2010, 3h35, 2^nd OA)

After a bit of a break to heal a hawthorn puncture of my right Achilles, I was back to racing. Running 50K on flat pavement/crushed limestone would have not been my first choice, but I had long given up on Hellgate and I wanted to support the efforts of race co-directors Phil Turk and Dannielle Ripper to put together a local ultra. This turned out to be another race that I ran while being sick. But this time I did not go to get antibiotics until after the race. My plan was pretty simple - to run this as hard as I could, from start to end. I did not bother adjusting my target splits even after realizing that more than half of the race was going to be run on snow. In the end, the logical thing happened. I blew up badly and got caught and passed by Dave Frazier with only about two miles to go. I was happy with the way I gave it all I had, without being afraid of crashing and burning, which I knew was likely to happen. But I knew I had some work to do on my pacing. Most importantly, the race was a big success – I hope they manage to keep it up after missing a year.

 Still feeling strong and running fast at the halfway point. 

But I saw the writing on the wall soon after. Photo by Phil Turk.

Bitter-sweet finish with my son Velko. Photo by Dannielle Ripper.