2024 Advanced Training and Racing Thread (still competitive jerks) (Read 209 times)

Regarding my motivation for increasing mileage for the next couple months, there are two main factors. First is that my busy schedule before had been holding me back on increasing my mileage overall so I want to be able to take advantage while I have the extra time. April is always when I have the hardest time keeping up with miles because Baseball and Track are in full swing and spring yard projects end up sucking up time and energy.

The other main motivation is that I am going to need running to help me mentally over the coming weeks/months. This will be the first time since I was 16 which I didn't have a job and while I know my temporary job is going to be job hunting, there is only so much you can do because you have to wait on external factors like jobs being posted, interviews getting set up, etc. I have never had any issues with depression so I am not worried about that but my personality says I have to stay busy and productive at all times and I am concerned about boredom. If I invest some of this spare time into more miles each week, it will help me feel more productive/accomplished.

As for the suggestions of just adding some easy miles on all the runs I would have done anyway, I like that approach. I likely won't have any meetings or anything critical forcing me to limit my runs and I certainly won't have the need to go for any 4:30am runs before the kids get up.

AndyTN Don’t forget to plan out meals so you can slow cook everything, or delay timer everything.  This allows runs to start whenever and dinner still kinda gets made.  Just don’t go do a hard workout after eating tomato soup leftovers.

Spend money for the privilege of running with me knowing I could cancel our date long run last minute and leave you exploring New York City on your own. I'm going to run MY race so you'd better do your homework and read my race reports. I'll expect a prompt water supply at the snap of my fingers, and will have you replacement along the course on standby.

I'll let you know how the lottery goes on Friday. Also, I can promise something original and entertaining/meaningful for a Strava title to encapsulate that time you and I ran together. Just figure out if you want arms raised/christ redeemer/"FCUK YEAH"/exhausted/flamingo/star gazer/imaginary high fives/lifts in the lake finisher pose.

EDIT: Maybe I'll wear one of those "green screen" costumes so you can crop me out of the finisher photos.

Pulse Endurance 48 hour race report is finally here. I hope you are happy that its not 4 lines this time.

When I first decided I wanted to do a 48 hour race, I had no idea how to train for it. I kind of made it up as I went. I took the principles of training for a 100 miler and put it on steroids. It was a 4 month slow build to run 2 marathons in one week and then a 50k plus the next week. I ran more miles than I ever have in 2 months (700 miles). I always did 2 long runs a week. As I got closer to the race I did 3 long runs one week and did a peak week of 97 miles with 8k vert.

I ran my first 24 hour loop race on this course Back in 2017. So I thought it would be awesome if I could run 115 miles the first day and then 85 more the next to make it 200 miles. Little did I know it's not that easy. The race was in Eagle Island State Park. Just outside of Boise ID. The course is a flat 2.5 mile dirt loop through trees, over bridges, with about .2 of a mile asphalt.

The weather started out great with a slight breeze in the mid 50s. The nights were bitter cold. With all the water near by helped it hit low 20s and frosted the ground. When I was running more than walking the first night I stayed warm. But the 2nd night I did more walking and running. It got cold enough to freeze my water bottles a bit at night. During the day it got up to 60 degrees and I started using some cooling techniques.

Race day

The race started at 6 pm on a Thursday. Most races I have run start in the morning and then you get a good night sleep. Before the race started I was already up for 10 hours. I slept a bit on the 5 hour drive north to Boise. I got to the State park with plenty of time to set up my aid station and relax. My daughter and her friend were my crew chefs. I had a simple setup for my aid station. A  table, chair, cooler full of Dew, and snacks. On the table I put strips of duck-tap with numbers 1 to 6. On each number, I could put enough food and fluids that I needed for the hour. This worked great for the night hours when I sent my crew to sleep. They are no good to me during the day if they are too tired. After a few laps, my daughter came back and my aid station got a makeover. My little strips of duck-tap turned into labeled organizer buckets. Then Bright green signs showed up labeled "Chris Krash Crew" and "Let's go Krash". She is one of the best crew chefs. She kept me so organized.

I ran the first lap a bit faster to get it out of my system. There were a few others that went with me. After a few miles I back off to my planned pace. In training I would run 2 miles and then walk for 2 min. That would put me at an average mile pace of 9:30-10:30. I knew I needed to slow down the pace even more to be consistent for 2 days or be able to keep moving. I sent my crew to head back to the house to sleep at about 10 pm. I knew I could manage things alone and I did. What should I drink? Mt. Dew!! Best stuff ever.

Fueling plan

I plan to eat 200-300 cal an hour and drink 16 oz of water or other fluids. I also looked at maximizing the amount of carbs I could consume a hour. I was shooting for 50-90 carbs an hour. I didn't track the carbs as much as I did the cal. I wanted to eat as much real food as possible. I ate from my aid station or main aid station to fill in between my bigger meals. The fillers snackes were fruit snacks (45 cal), granola bars (100), Chocolate pandas (shortbread filled with chocolate, 110 cal), grapes, watermelon, fig bars (200 cal), and pop tarts (175 each). For many hours during the first night I ate a Chalupa and 2 chicken, cheese and rice burritos from Taco Bell. They were so good and hit the spot. When morning came the main aid station was cooking bacon, cheese and egg burritos. I had 2 of them in the first 3 hours. During the night I at least drink 3 cans of Dew. Throughout the whole race I drank 13 cans of Dew and one Redbull. I think that's a record for me. When my daughter came back in the morning she brought me donuts. I think I ate 2 but only remember one of them. Boston cream pie filled, with chocolate on top. ohhhhh yaaa!!

During the day I still ate some of the things from my aid station. I got a few ham sandwiches from the main aid. I had them put some bacon on them. Amazing. Later in the day, I sent my daughter to In-and-Out for a Double Double. I had them cut it in half to make it easier to take with me down the trail to eat on the go. Any time you can eat and run or walk you are moving forward. Burgers are super food. I remember eating a quesadilla that I also put bacon inside. Bacon is amazing trail food.

I hit my 100 miles in 21:23 and then finished the first day with 110 miles. I was still hitting my set paces and felt like I could keep that pace for another day. But I hadn't had any sleep now for 36 hours. I did a pace check to see if I was on pace for my goal. I was hoping to run 200 miles in 2 days. With some quick math AKA internet pace calculator, I had to hold a 16 min pace the rest of the race to make it. That meant I didn't have time to take a nap and I know that was a bad idea. I started picking up the pace. I dropped my back down to 11-12 min pace. I did this for miles until I had a 52 min buffer. I also consulted a friend that runs 6 day loop races on what a good sleep plan was. He advised me to do it early. Get ready for bed with all your warm cloths you will wear when you will get up. Drink a Redbull and sleep for no more than 29 min. If you sleep longer you will be groggy. I had never heard of this way before. I was willing to give it a try.

Guess what? It didn't work. I lay awake hearing everyone around me talk for 20 min. I bagged the plan and got back up to run more. Banking miles and planning sleep were terrible ideas for me. But I didn't know that at the time. Halfway through the race you can have pacers. That's when I picked up Gary. He would stick with me all night. After a few more hours about 30 hours in, I started to fall asleep while walking. Some of my friends have had success with dirt naps. You lie down on the side of the trail wherever you are and sleep. I tried that too. Guess what? It didn't work. I found a sandbag to use as a pillow. Everyone would ask as they passed if I was ok.

The nighttime is when the demons come out. You are tired and sore. Your defenses are down. If you feed that demon it may consume you and you will quit. You are tired, you hear yourself say in your head "Just call it quits now, pack up and go home." "Call your buddy that is coming up the next day to not come, you can't do this." As I walked, my demon got louder and meaner the longer I went on. Then It started to talk out loud. It never has anything good to say. My buddy Gary even reassured me that the demon will go away and things will get better. "You will overcome this" he told me. I wasn't listening. The Demon lashes out with the most negative things I have ever heard them say. I hated the demon for what he was saying to me and my friend Gary. And that Demon is ME! I am my worst nightmare and enemy. I heard more negative and doubtful things come out of my mouth than I ever had. There wasn't much hope and I could hear myself putting me down. I couldn't fix it.

If the demon is left unchecked he will destroy you and you will quit. If you know me, I am always upbeat. I boost others to boost myself. When I start to slip I know what to do to turn it around. I sing a song, I shout, I laugh, I skip, I make airplane arms. I do something to change my attitude. Mtn Dew helps too. But this time, it was much harder to change my way of thinking. Sleep deprivation was part of my problem. I needed to sleep and couldn't. Gary wasn't listening to me and my demon. He always had a comeback for the negative things that came out my mouth. Couldn't have gotten through it without him.

About 2 am I decided to lay down for about 3 hours. I told Gary to wake me up in 3 hours. I felt like I kind of slept and was very warm. I got up and I was still tired. The internal thoughts came back. Part of my head would tell me "don't get up" and the other half is screaming at me "I am not a quitter, why start now?"  Every time I stop, it takes about half a mile to get my legs to run again. Partway through a lap I started to fall asleep walking again. I know I needed to try and sleep some more or I would be a zombie for the rest of the day. So this time I will get when the sun comes up. I wont set an alarm. Just wait till I wake up.

This time when I put my head down I was out. I didn't even roll over. Finally got the sleep I needed. It was only 1.5 hours more. Around 7:30 the sun was starting some come up. My eyes opened and I saw light. I started to stretch and then texted Gary. "It's time to go." Being morning that meant more breakfast burritos. Mmmmm so good.

Sometime around 9 am My buddy Jeff showed up. I changed pacers and was doing some more running. The goal now was to walk at a 15 min pace and then run here and there to drop the pace closer to 13-14 min pace. I wasn't much in a hurry because I thought I was 10-15 miles ahead of the next guy. My pacer promptly informed me that I was only 5 miles ahead of the next guy. That lite a fire in me and I started to push the pace a bit. If you know ultra runners, Math is not their strong suite when tired. Many times I would do the math and say to Jeff. "We are not going to make it." He would look at me like I was crazy and laugh at me. Then corrected my math. Jeff didn't take my crap. I would joke around with him and he would fire shots back. He even threatened to beat me with a stick. I may have deserved it.

Besides the 48 hour race, they had a 24, 12 and 6 hour race. It was great to see new people out running and sometimes fast. Every time a runner or group of runners would start to pass me, I would pick up the pace to chat with them for a bit. Sometimes it was a little faster and others it was a 7-8 min pace. It's amazing what you can do for a short period of time when you are motivated to keep up with someone. You know you don't have to hold it long. On my last full loop, my daughter came with me. We took it easy and ran a bit. Four high school boys came running past me and I thought to myself, "let's see if I can keep up for a bit." Around this time I was at mile 171. I picked up the pace to chat with them. When I looked down at my watch I was running a 6:30 pace. Only ran about a tenth of a mile with them. Any longer I thought I might wear me out too much. Still hoping to hit 175 miles, can't crash and burn yet.

The last hour of every race they open a shorter loop to help you get more miles. The loop was .28 of a mile. If you can't finish the 2.5 mile loop in time, it wont count. The shorter loop is the safer bet for the last hour. I figured that I would need to do about 10 small loops to get my 175 miles. My body was tired, sore and ready to be done. I would run one lap and then walk the next. I had plenty of time to get my goal. Another runner tried to get me to run every lap. I was stubborn and didn't want to. Finally I gave in and ran most of the small loop to keep up with him. I finished 175 with 15 min left. I sat down and called it a day. The same guy pushed me again. "Come walk one more lap with me". I buckled again and had my crew help me get out of my chair. We slowly walk a victory lap Chatting about the good times.

I finished 1st overall by 7 miles and with Many PRs

Most miles ever run - 175.3

Most time running -48 hours

Most Mt. Dews drank during a race - 13 cans (12 oz)

Most sleep during an ultra marathon - 5 hours. It's a guess. I have never slept during an ultra.

Ave pace for race 16:00

My Crew and pacers rock. Couldn't have done it without them.

BTW, I posted some info in the NYCM thread on qualifying times. I won’t repost here, but head over if you’re interested.

I know I'm skipping over a lot of other things I want to reply to, but I just needed to get it out there. Thanks for the report, Krash (yes, I, for one, am very happy it's more than 4 lines!) You did a great job describing the worst parts of the race, but it sounds like you got a good amount of great moments too (6:30mpm 36+ hours into a race? uh... okay :-)) How has the recovery been? Is it worse than the shorter ultras you've done?

Krash—I can’t even come up with enough adjectives to describe how mind-bogglingly, amazingly, otherworldly, unfathomable that performance was. Most of all, the 13 cans of Dew. I think Bob Hearn has called the 48 hr the toughest ultra distance because of the sleep factor. For a 100 miler or 24 hr, you know you won’t sleep. For something like a 6 day race, you know you’ll have to build it in. But a 48—you can’t go without, and you can’t get too much if you have a big mileage goal. And until you’ve done one, you have no idea what your body will need or allow you to get. Making it hard to plan, which I guess you found out. Of course it’s all just theoretical to me, since I’ve never run more than 26.2, and so far have not required a nap in any of them.