Marathon Tempo 2

Sat- 19 miles 2.5wu, 3 at 6:35, 60min at 8:00, 3 at 6:35, c down

Tough workout! The 2nd of this type I have done recently, and I must say I like them. After a good warm up I ran on the treadmill watching the movie HERO on my laptop (which turned out to be tough with the subtitles and all, but very cool movie) was fun. Anyway, I did 1.5miles at 6:35 pace then jogged 90sec and did it again, both feeling quite easy. I am very surprised how smooth and fluid I felt on the mill all day. A very good sign my efficiency is improving. Then you run for an hour....I finished the movie and then put in the animated movie ANTZ. Which was good too, but much different. HERO had incredible cinematography with wide shots using great color and was more ART than entertainment. Beautiful picture. Then you get ANTZ...which is another in the great recent trend of feel good, lesson- oriented animated flicks. I happen to like those and have seen MANY in the last year.

So then time rolls around to do the lactate threshold paced running again, and MAN! I still felt smooth but the effort level to hold that pace shoots way up when tired. I actually looked at the grade and speed a few times to make sure it had not gone up. I did 3 x mile at 6:35 with 60 sec rest, and then cooled down. Which even that felt tough. I did about 19 total in 2:26. I took one an a half gels so did not bonk, just felt the fatigue. I had tired hamstrings all evening, and then woke up this morning feeling completely fine. That is the beauty of the Jack Daniel's workouts. They are tough...train you adequately, but don't kill the muscle fibers with structural damage. Recovery is quick and improvement optimized.

The big news of the day was the wretched windy and 20 degree weather at the MAD CITY 100K. Sucks as I know several folks dropped out at 50K to save themselves for a better day. It had a good field and some good performances turned in despite the weather:
1 GREG CROWTHER 1 M-OPEN 7:14:31
2 SCOTT JUREK Y 2 M-OPEN 7:32:05
3 KEVIN SETNES Y 1 M50-54 7:51:49
4 JULIE UDCHACHON Y 1 F-OPEN 8:09:04
5 DEVON CROSBY-HELMS Y 2 F-OPEN 8:16:41
6 CAROLYN SMITH Y 1 F40-44 8:36:39
7 ANN HEASLETT Y 2 F40-44 8:45:27

Gotta love Crowther toughing it out after splits of 3:22 at the half and 4:44 at 70k. Very strong runner and on a better weather day a 6:40 guy. Then you have one of my heros of the sport, Kevin Setnes. Man this guy is tough. Still running well despite being 15 years past his prime. On the distaff side, The Alaskan must have been in her element as an 8:09 is a SUPER time for the women on a great weather day! Congrats to all that took part on a tough day.

I wonder what things will be like next year? I hope to run it and be in decent enough shape to be competitive. Maybe they should push the date back a couple weeks though?

A Day Off

Wed- ZERO!

Yes that is right, a day completely off, not even an hour walk. First time since I have been back in Egypt that I have done that. Hopefully it will be good for me! I miss the spring in my step, feeling strong, and being EAGER for the days run.

I just lost the entire post I wrote and thus this is a re-write...that has happened 3-4 times now since I started the blog. Sucks, cause now I don't feel like retyping everything.

Anyway, I am excited about the Mad City 100k coming up that will be the USATF 100K national championships. It has a loaded men's field of former 100k national team members Chad Ricklefs, Greg crowther, Patrick Russell, and recent trail ultra superstar Phil Kochik, and not to be left out, Ultra legend Scott Jurek. Scott has won every "focus" ultra he has entered in the last 9 years including 7 Western states 100s, two Badwater 135's, and the Spartathon in 2006. But, I am not betting on him in this race. The other guys are faster! And 100K is pretty short for Scott. Should be great competition and I guarantee who ever is leading at the 50K mark WILL NOT WIN!

The 100k is an interesting distance and I hope the Mad City run goes well and continues as an annual event. I hope to run it next year as I have never raced the 100k distance in the 8 years I have been doing ultras. I also want to branch out and run a 24hour event and believe it or not, I am planning on going after the Loomis family record of 2:34 in the marathon. I debuted at the Wineglass marathon 10 years ago this year and am seriously considering going back in September. I came in to that race in great shape and went through 19 miles on 6:02 mile pace before cramping in the hamstrings and slowing miserably. My final 10K took over 52minutes and I finished in a pathetic 2:54:31. Even more pathetic is I have never seriously run a marathon since then. I am more afraid of the marathon than I am of ultras!

Tough Dudes

I wanted to write and give congrats to some tough dudes on their runs this weekend.

First great job to Greg Crowther on his 50K National title and taking the $500 bucks for winning and the course record bonus.

Great job to Dick Beardsley who after 12 (or so) serious spinal surgeries, knee surgeries, car accidents, and farm machinery mishaps ran a solid 2:45 at the napa valley marathon at the age of 50.

Good work to Patrick Russell on this weekends 37 miler at 6:26 pace. Man, April's 100K National Championships is going to be a super heavyweight fight with Greg, Patrick, and Scott Jurek all set to battle.