33 posts tagged “ultramarathons”
Bad news #1 is that as of December 2008 my right hamstring was still bothering me. For a quick recap... In December 2007 my doctor diagnosed a "grade 1" hamstring strain. Six weeks of PT I still had pain but was cleared to run. It never quite healed. My goal to run the Wild West 100K in August 2008 was nixed.
What can I say... It's been eons since I last posted here and this will only be a "here's what I've been doing" update, but I figured it's better than remaining off the radar.
I'm still setting up my "new" blog. With Amanda and I moving our old Why Dogs? blog to 2 Feet 4 Paws, I was left with just Why Run? and Vox. One problem with Vox is that it's more of a "social" service than a "publishing" one, and Facebook works better as the former. Vox is still cool as a personal blog for stuff like I'm doing right here, so I'm going to re-start my original havybeaks blog on Blogger as a platform for my "articles" on various topics like running, flying, etc. Problem is, I'm having trouble finding time to write good articles...
Last week I went on a business trip to Cincinnati on short notice and I still don't have a company laptop yet so during my three days in Cincy I had no email access. Ten years ago that would be no big deal but next time I'm sent somewhere, I better be connected with more than a pad of paper! Not only did it limit my contributions during the meetings, it also prevented me from keeping pace with my outside-of-work life...
Mach League, the fantasy baseball league that I run, is way behind schedule. Three weeks ago was our monthly stat update that happens every four weeks, so I'm close to getting lapped by my own procrastination. Unfortunately, my title of "League President" is by definition a *fantasy* job, which means that my real jobs of "engineer" and "pet store owner" take precedence...
2 Feet 4 Paws is still chugging along thanks to Amanda and we're *still* trying to re-arrange the store layout to fit more products. Finding a means to display items that a) is attractive, b) is cheap, and c) can use the odd-shaped and small space that we have has been a challenge. I think we know what to do now, though...
However, I don't know what to do about running, specifically my long-time goal of running the 100K in early August. Believe it or not my right hamstring is STILL not 100% and I'm having doubts that a) I can put in enough training to do more than hike 100K, or b) my hamstring can last for 100K. It's not that I can't run on it, in fact I can maintain a 9:00 pace without problems, but going under 8:00 per mile is too fast for the hammy. Running on back-to-back days is not feasible yet so my training consists of a weekend long run plus one mid-week short run; that's it. Plus, the long runs tend to wear out the hamstring so I've replaced a couple long runs with long bike rides...
Cycling is a lot more fun with a bike computer - simply having a way to track distance and time is such a luxury! It's better than using mapmyrun every time, especially when my two long rides were 37 and 40 miles each. Ever since middle school I've wanted a pair of inline skates and I may have convinced Amanda to finally let me buy some. Now I'm going to hear more of her begging for a new digital SLR but I've still got that kayak up my sleeve that I've been pining for so I can match her beg-for-beg. :) Right now I'm leaning towards the K2 Moto 90...
My hope is that they'll be an effective cross-training tool. Cycling is great but it's hard to get my HR above 150 without burning out the quads in short order. One odd thing about the hamstring is that heavy impact makes it sore, e.g. stomping on a shovel to dig dirt. Running downhill also stresses the hammy, perhaps due to impact, perhaps due to higher turnover? I don't get it, but hopefully skating falls aerobically between cycling and running...
Viruses can affect aerobic performance; after my bad case of the flu in February I somehow caught a fever in April - rarely have I ever been sick twice a year. Both times my resting HR went up to around 64 from it's usual 54; in fact it had only gone back to 58 by the time I got sick a second time. Right now I'm at 59...
Viruses also afflict computers and I spent countless hours the past two nights fixing Amanda's computer. Some kind of spyware got on board and fooled SBC/Yahoo/AT&T/insert-dot-com-merger-name-here (they provide our DSL service which includes anti-spy and anti-virus). The anti-spy found most of the evil files but not all (yes, the definitions were up to date) and one would remain hidden and re-install the malware just minutes after deleting it. I finally killed it by downloading Microsoft's "malicious software tool" which found just one file, but it was that pesky installer that the others couldn't nab. So far so good...
I didn't want to end on a sickly note so I saved the best for last. While in Cincinnati I got to visit our friends Kim and Tony who live just minutes from the hotel where I stayed. They treated me to a home-grilled dinner and even some fancy ice cream (it's a famous Cincinnati brand but I forgot the name). I got to meet their new daughter Kate for the first time, who only likes wearing winter boots inside the house during summer. :) After Kate went to bed we shared some great conversation about baseball, airplanes, and of course dogs...
I also met for the first time their two golden retrievers, Zeke and Nellie, who are apparently cut from the same nutty cloth as Haven and Beacon. Nellie is the boss and likes to play-fight with Zeke by literally sitting on his head! I brought a couple toys for them from our store and Nellie promptly stole Zeke's toy but once he got it back he didn't set it down again, not for one second! By the time I left a few hours later he was falling asleep with the plush salamander still safely in his mouth.
Trail runner Paul Charteris wrote a meme-type blog entry (discovered via Scott Dunlap) to recap 2007. I'll play along; however since I'm simply a "runner" and not a die-hard "trail runner" I'm going to be liberal in my interpretation of the term "trails".
1. Most memorable moment on the trails…
When Haven and Beacon encountered a fawn! They chased it to a standoff; Beacon got head-butted and ran away while Haven tried to make friends with Bambi.
2. Best new trail I discovered in 2007…
Sleeping Bear Dunes bluff - perhaps the highest torture:distance ratio of any trail!
3. My best performance of the year was…
...thanks to Haven pulling me at the Doggie Dash. However, "fastest" does not equal "best" since I allowed Haven to do too much work in the second mile, causing her to fade badly in the last mile while I still had some energy. Not only was that unfair to her, it also cost us a shot at a sub-20 time. My best strategic performance was at the Harvest Hustle when I launched my "kick" with a half mile to go, risking total blowup to set a 5K PR.
4. I do not know how I previously survived without…
A canicross-style leash setup that includes a bungee cord:
5. The person I would most like to meet on a trail in 2008...
The meeting would last but a split second as Matt Carpenter zooms past my plodding, gasping self.
6. The race I am most excited/scared about in 2008 is…
The Wild West 100K. Excited because it would be my longest race ever and it takes place in my hometown. Scared because I need to recover from my hamstring injury before I can even start building up a base.
I'd like to tag any runners who feel like answering these six quick questions whether you prefer trails or roads.
...that I went for another long run! Focusing on 5Ks this year has allowed me to neglect the weekend long run a bit too much. Since I'm signed up for a trail marathon in two weeks, I decided I better find out today if I'm still in shape.
Before that, I had a very busy schedule this weekend. Friday afternoon I left work early to drive two hours to my middle brother Eric's bachelor party where his buddies had rented a cottage on a lake. We fished for bluegill and smallmouth off the dock, tried out the canoe, enjoyed the sunset from a pontoon boat, and I learned to play poker.
I got home a little after midnight and six hours later I was awake and driving to the Critter Cottage with Amanda to open shop early for the expected crowds of the Ada Criterium cycling race. Unfortunately the crowds weren't nearly what we'd hoped due to a course change, but it was still fun to hang out with Vicky and watch some of the racing.
However we had to leave early to drive over to the West Michigan Whitecaps ballpark where my company co-ed softball team got to play an exhibition game on the professional playing field! My company bought 3,300 tickets plus BBQ passes at the 10,000-seat stadium and the Whitecaps rolled out the red carpet to ensure we come back next year. First at-bat I hit a 3-run HR over the outfielder's head! Rounding 3rd I saw that the cutoff man didn't have the ball yet and I was going to score easily, so I made the most of my opportunity to dirty my "uniform" with a head-first slide into home plate! Woo hoo!!! We won the game 6-1.
After our exhibition was the real baseball game, where we watched the Whitecaps lose to "Mantis Boy" quite badly. Amanda and I called the opposing starter "Mantis Boy" because during pre-game warm-ups he spent about 15 minutes repeating an exercise where he squatted, arched his hands like Mr. Burns and then walked sideways for about 30-40 feet. Being tall and lanky made it look even funnier, but apparently it worked. After the game we watched the fireworks before heading home, barely making it to bed before midnight.
Up at 7am this morning and two hours later Amanda and I were out the door for our long workouts. Amanda walked 7 miles in two hours while I ran 16.6 miles in 3 hours. It was my first double-digit run since a 10-mile trail run with Haven and Beacon six weeks ago, and my second since running 16 miles in the countryside back in April! Luckily it appears that I still have my endurance since I felt good the entire run; well, as good as "good" can feel while running for three hours but I was really enjoying the cool, misty weather. Hopefully this means I'm fit enough to survive a spontaneous marathon!
Finally after our workouts and some shopping errands Amanda and I were finally "free", so we plopped on the couch to watch Indiana Jones on DVD while I played my weekly baseball games for my fantasy simulation league. I also finally wrote a new article on Why Run about two runners of the Badwater Ultramarathon, so hopefully those of you who read that blog weren't getting too bored!
97 degrees was the air this evening when Haven and I went for a run! Due to the heat, and due to my double workout yesterday (4 mile easy run at work, then 2 miles after work at 5K pace), Haven and I took it easy today. I carried a water bottle that was used as much for Haven as it was for me! We also stopped at the river twice and a small lake twice within our 3.5 miles to give Haven a cooling dip in the water each time.
This past week I've been slacking off with the blogging (although I did manage to compose an article about rental dogs yesterday) but I wasn't slacking with the race planning. I signed up for three events recently:
August 11 - The Legend (5 mile trail run)
August 18 - Fallsburg Marathon (26.2 mile trail run)
September 15 - Bridge Run (5K road run)
The Legend is just going to be for fun; I'll run it hard but not all-out race it, and see how it compares to my previous 5 mile trail run in April, the Road Ends Trail Run.
I signed up for the Fallsburg Marathon on a whim, so I have no idea how that's going to turn out. I haven't done any double-digit long runs in quite a while so I'm counting on my base of 750 miles so far this year to carry me through in somewhere between 5 and 6 hours. The reason I'm doing this event is because the course uses the very same North Country Trail sections and nearby roads that I regularly run - the race is in my backyard, so to speak. In fact, I ran the entire paved portion of the course by coincidence when I explored the countryside near home. Plus, the race director is planning to put on a 100K ultra here next year and I want to see how well this guy delivers as an organizer.
It looks like the Bridge Run could be my last attempt at setting a lifelong PR in the 5K. In October I'm doing the Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K but I don't want to do-or-die target a PR in that race since I'll have Haven and/or Beacon with me. The week after that I'm thinking of volunteering for the Grand Rapids Marathon instead of running it, so it'll be November before I get another shot at a fast and flat road 5K... if I need it (fingers crossed).
The 2007 Tour de France is here! Even though I'm not a hardcore cyclist, as an endurance athlete I can identify somewhat with the sport and it's exciting racing regardless of one's background. One of my favorite aspects to the race is that I can follow it live... while I'm at work! VeloNews provides live coverage of the TdF every day; thanks to the time zone differential each stage lasts for the bulk of my work day. Whenever I need a break from tedious work at my desk, I click over to see how the stage is progressing.
Speaking of breaks, I always wondered why an escape group would gain time on the peloton due to a "natural break". A natural break in traffic? Weather conditions? Then I saw that photo on VeloNews and it all made sense... in a way. I can't imagine this happening in a marathon!
I wonder, though... why can't they just "go on the go" like ultramarathoners?
One of the interesting facts about land mammals is that their life expectancy is the same - if you measure it in terms of heartbeats. All land mammals will live for about 1 billion heartbeats. A shrew has a heart rate of 600 bpm (beats per minute) and a life expectancy of just three years. An elephant with their 30 bpm heart rate can expect to live over 60 years. The hearts of each animal will beat 1 billion times in their expected lifetime.
Humans, of course, are the exception - we can last for about 3 billion heartbeats. I'm not sure why - maybe medical technology, nutrition, who knows. Marine mammals don't follow the pattern either, but let's stick with ourselves and our 3 billion heartbeats. There are 525,600 minutes in a year, and the average human has a resting heart rate of 72 bpm, so divide that into 3 billion and you get a life expectancy of 79.3 years.
I was talking about this topic with a co-worker when he asked me "So how many days of your life did you burn up by running that ultramarathon?" Holy cow. My heart rate was probably around 150 bpm for the 12-hours it took me to run 50 miles, so in half a day I used up just over a day's worth of heartbeats! More than that, I ran for 180 hours total in 2006 - that's 7.5 days of extra heartbeats spent on running! Is it really worth it?
Before I started running three years ago, my resting heart rate happened to be the average 72 bpm. Let's assume that I lived my first 28 years at that heart rate, which means I used up 1.06 billion of my life's heartbeats in that span. Now let's assume that I keep running (or cycling or otherwise keeping in good shape) for the rest of my life. My current resting heart rate is about 56 bpm, so if I keep that up for my remaining 1.94 billion heart beats, I would live another 69 years... to the age of 94!
By getting into (and staying in) good shape, I increased my life expectancy by 15 years! Each year I spend as a runner costs me one week of heartbeats, but the improved fitness adds 13 weeks to my life expectancy for a net of +12 weeks. Another way to look at it: Every month of regular running adds one week to my life! Diving deeper yet... assuming I run 3.5 times per week, that means that each run adds 12 hours to my life. How's that for a good investment?
Yes, it's worth it. Assuming, of course, that my clock will tick 3 billion times...
The weather was mild (40 degrees), it was raining, and Haven was begging me to run so off we went into the wild, wet yonder of sidewalks around downtown Lowell. I kept it slow and was having so much fun that I lost track of time! I had told Amanda that we'd be back in 30 minutes but the first time I looked at my watch it read 26:00 and we were roughtly two miles from home! We finally made it back in an easy 43:26, covering 4.5 miles.
One funny quirk with Haven... usually she is rather prissy about keeping her feet out of puddles, often going well out of her way (and pulling me along) to avoid soaking her paws. Today, however, she deliberately ran through the first big puddle she saw and continued to aim for most of them throughout the run! Silly dog. It's another instance where I wish I could understand what they're thinking!
Being the last run of the year, now is a good time to look back at those miles and see how far I've come. I started running three years ago (not counting 1.5 years of track and cross country in high school), going 1.25 miles in 13 minutes and feeling like I was about to pass out! Sometime that year I also started running with my dogs Haven and Beacon. Here's a summary of the miles with some notable highlights / dates:
2004
Andrew: 284.5 miles, Haven: 10.0 miles, Beacon: 8.0 miles
26 April -- Ran 5.5 miles on the North Country Trail, the longest run of the year
26 & 27 August -- First ever runs with my dogs (2.0 miles with each)
2005
Andrew: 625.3 miles, Haven: 84.7 miles, Beacon: 65.8 miles
01 April -- Ran 11.5 miles for the longest run of my life (at the time), eclipsing a 10-mile run in high school
30 April -- Finished my first adventure race, the 8-hour Spring Fury
13 May -- Finished the 8-hour Spring Warm-Up adventure race
30 July -- Suffered my first and only DNF in an endurance event, the 15-hour Summer Groove adventure race
22 October -- Raced with Haven in the Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K in 24:39
30 October -- Finished the Grand Rapids Marathon in 5:34 for my first marathon
2006
Andrew: 1055.6 miles, Haven: 236.1 miles, Beacon: 71.6 miles
11 March -- Ran with Dean Karnazes after attending his book signing
01 April -- Finished the Martian Marathon in 4:42
23 April -- Ran 13.7 miles with Haven, the longest run for either dog (both have frequently done 11.6 mile runs)
16 September -- Finished the North Country Trail 50-mile ultramarathon in 12:11, my first ultra (my race report)
21 October -- Raced with Haven in the Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K in 22:42 (my race report)
29 October -- Finished the Grand Rapids Marathon in 4:12 (my race report)
Haven and Beacon actually have more miles under their paws when you add in their workouts with Amanda. I wonder how many miles I'll run in 2007? I don't plan to increase my mileage forever; in fact, my focus for next year is to improve my speed rather than distance.
I'm surprised with how much my dogs have run - I had no idea that Haven was over 200 miles! It's so much fun to run with them and they love it, too, so we're looking forward to many miles together in 2007!
Each year Amanda and I write out a list of goals for the coming year. I'm a big believer in writing down my goals and beyond that, making sure that each goal is definitively measurable. While it's nice to say, for example, "I want to run a good marathon", how do I know that I did it? How good is "good"? That's why I prefer to say "I want to finish a marathon" or "I want to run a marathon under 4:30".
I wrote down 27 goals for 2006, knowing full well at the time that I'd probably be lucky to accomplish even half of them. Some might simply fade out of my life; for example, for 2005 I had several cycling goals that I never got close to because I became more focused on running, and thus totally obliterated the meager running goals that I had. Other goals, no matter how hard I tried, I just am not able to achieve. In 2005 I had a goal of "hitting a fence-clearing home run in softball" - I hit a few inside-the-park HRs (they're easier in rec softball) but I never got one over the fence. I tried, I failed, but I was happy to have tried. I kept that goal for 2006 and did indeed hit one over this year!
All that said, here are some selected goals from among those 27 that might interest some of you:
Finish a 50-mile race
I did it!!! When I wrote that goal I wasn't even sure I could prepare for that within just a year; it was one of those goals that really challenged my belief in what was possible. As a result this was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done because right up to race day, I was at best only 75% confident that I could finish. Nevertheless, I believed. I tried. I succeeded; although, had I failed I still would've been pretty proud of the attempt. That's why we dream.
Finish a marathon under 4:30
My first try at this in April was a bummer. I finished a marathon in 4:42 and felt crummy at mile 19, where I told myself that I would never do this again and only run 5Ks from now on! Then in October, almost on a whim, I took a shot at this and finished a marathon in 4:12!
Run a race with one of my dogs
Haven and I ran a 5K for the second year in a row, with marked improvement this time!
Volunteer at an adventure race
In March Amanda and I helped out at GRAAR's Spring Adventure Challenge, supporting GRAAR's first ever race! We worked at the canoe put-in/take-out, directing racers and loading/unloading canoes.
Take a photograph that we frame and display in the house
A bummer... I really wanted to do this but for whatever reason, I didn't. I suppose I could go back through some of the photos I took this year and see if any are worthy of going up on a wall, and then get it framed. It'd be too late for this goal, but better late than never. This will be a goal again for 2007.
Train Haven and Beacon to come when called off-leash
They used to be terrible at this, but I'm happy to say that when I'm out with just one of them, they come almost every time. Sometimes even when chasing an animal, they skid to a stop upon hearing my command and return to me! When they're out together, however, it's only 50/50 that they'll pay attention; often they will start to return but then look at each other and decide to keep playing! Those stinkers. :) I'll have to keep working on this, but I'm quite pleased with where they are. FYI, I use two commands: one is the word "come!" and the other is a succession of three whistles "tweet tweet tweet". The whistle seems to work more effectively.
No caffeine whatsoever
I made good on this, but with the exception that I can use caffeine during very long endurance activities. I discovered early this year that some of the gels I'd been using have caffeine, which I wasn't aware of at the time. Later I learned that caffeine can help endurance by improving oxygen delivery to the muscles (by dilating blood vessels) so I allowed myself to experiment a bit on a few of my long training runs. It has its benefits in those situations so I used caffeine in the second half of my ultramarathon and my second marathon.
Some goals I didn't even attempt
- Paint the living room
- Redecorate the computer room
- Redecorate the guest room
- Replace the carpet in our house
Some goals I created later that weren't on my original list
- Run 1000 miles on the year (passed that mark recently; sitting at 1048 right now)
- Remodel the kitchen cabinets (did that recently, too)
- Create a website for my simulation baseball league (almost there, racing to finish the last few pages and announce the site to the league members before the end of the year)
So there's a sampling of some of my goals for 2006. Sometime within the next few days I'll write about my 2007 goals, so stay tuned!
While my injured ribs are feeling better, I'm not about to start running yet - I may even have to take next week off as well. I wasn't about to miss some nice weather so today I hopped on my bike and went for a ride.
It felt very good. My ribs didn't hurt, my lungs still felt strong... however, my legs weren't as strong as they could've been. This is mostly due to today being just my second bike ride since September! As I'm pedaling along enjoying the sunshine I thought how the last time I was on this road, I was running it. Further, today's 19-mile ride is shorter than several of my runs. Then it occurred to me that my longest ever run (50-mile ultramarathon - the North Country Trail Run) is just as long as my longest ever ride (50-mile training ride (posted on my old blog) on the White Pine Trail)!
So I have to wonder, what I could be capable of on a bike in terms of ultra-distance? Given 12 hours on a bike (assuming my butt could handle that!) could I go 150 miles? It seems feasible. That would be enough to cross the state of Michigan in some places! Dang, now that's tempting, a ride across Michigan... Actually, there already is one, the ODRAM - One Day Ride Across Michigan! It's pitched as 152 miles.
Of course if I were a serious ultramarathoner, I'd consider running those 152 miles across the state. A boy can dream, can't he? ;)
