Low HR Training

"Race Report & Upcoming Races" Thread (Read 7775 times)

npaden


    Great job Clay and Eric!

     

    I'm really starting to get excited about my upcoming 50K trail race on May 17th.  My last hard workout before the race tonight.  Going to have to do it on the treadmill, but I've got some hills calling my name!

    Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

    Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)

      congrats!

      runnerclay


      Consistently Slow

        Run until the trail runs out.

         SCHEDULE 2016--

         The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

        unsolicited chatter

        http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

          More congrats to Eric and Clay !!

          npaden


            I'm cross posting this race report a few different places.  Not very happy with the result, but for sure was a learning experience and most importantly I didn't end up being quite stupid enough to re-break my collarbone although in retrospect it's pretty amazing that I didn't!

             

            Well, I've been slow getting this updated, but I ended up with my first ever DNF on Saturday.

             

            The weather actually turned out close to perfect for mid May in east Texas.  58 degrees and moderate humidity at the start, climbing to mid 70's and a slight breeze when I finished.  It had rained earlier in the week but the trails were in great shape and from that perspective I couldn't have asked for better conditions.

             

            I did have a little bout with a stomach bug on Thursday before the race, everything was going right through me and that wasn't helping the old carbo loading very much at all.  I was feeling poor enough that I broke my running streak of 50+ days and decided to take a break that day.  Friday had me feeling better, but still not 100%, but I was going to be racing pretty much regardless.  Friday turned out to be a pretty hectic day and I ended up not being able to get in a run that day as well.  After a little over a 6 hour drive we got checked into the hotel and were in bed just after 10, but I was wired and couldn't seem to get to sleep.

             

            My training hadn't been perfect with the 3 weeks off completely with the broken collarbone, but I felt like I had pretty much gotten back on track and was still thinking I might actually be competitive even though I was supposed to be focused on not falling more than running fast.  5:30 rolled around way too soon and ate a couple bagels and a banana and headed to the race.  Actually got started a little later than we wanted from the hotel, but made it to the race in plenty of time and packet pickup went really smooth and had about 30 minutes to spare before the race started at 7:00.  Got my drop bag ready and put it on the tarp provided and just tried to relax and enjoy it.  It was a beautiful morning and before you know it the race was ready to start.

             

             

            The 50K and 20 milers start 30 minutes before the 10 milers and 7K'ers so there were about 125 runners or so going off the line.  I was thinking about just keeping an easy pace, but I was still also thinking that I might be able to run right around 5 hours so didn't want to go out too easy.  That was just under a 10:00 pace and I just couldn't comprehend how I could run much slower than that, even walking up some of the steeper hills.

             

            Right off the bat the course goes up a small hill, drops back down, up another hill, drops, back down, repeat, then down a big hill and up a big hill, lots of ups and downs.  It is single track so we all kind of got into a spot right at the start and then just kind of held our spot in line for better or worse.  I really felt like I was doing a pretty good pace for me, it felt like a little more effort than I was wanting, but not too bad.  I was hoping that the fact that we were running about 2,500' lower in elevation than where we live would help offset the higher humidity.  I had my phone set to just tell me the time and distance every 5 minutes instead of average pace, split pace and all that fun stuff and as I suspected it was lost as a goose and the GPS was shorting the course about 25% due to the heavy tree cover.  10 minutes in and it said that I had not even gone .75 miles and I knew I was running faster than 10:00 pace.

             

            The trail was in good shape and the tree cover was so thick that it was shaded about 95% of the time.  There were tree roots everywhere and at first I seemed to be doing a fine job not tripping on them.  Just over a mile or so in people started to spread out a little and get some space between us and I started to relax a little and sure enough, I tripped hard and went down.  It happened very fast, and I reached to brace myself with both arms, not able to keep my reactions from working faster than my mind which would have said "don't brace yourself with your left arm!".  I popped back up and was running down the trail before really even thinking about it, but doing a mental inventory for pain, everything seemed fine.  I could still move my shoulder fine, I reached over and felt where the break in my collarbone was and it felt fine, I seemed to have averted total disaster barely a mile into the race.  I pledged to myself to pay more attention and focus on those tree roots even harder.

             

            Here's a picture that I took off the race website that I think shows what most of the course was like.

             

             

            Maybe another 1/2 mile or so I think I glanced over at some cows in a nice pasture that we were running by and bam, I was on the ground again.  Again, my reactions were quicker than my brain and I reached out with both arms.  Again, somehow I ended up okay and I didn't re-break my collarbone.

             

            This was getting borderline ridiculous now, surely I can run without falling on a nice trail through the woods!  There weren't hardly any rocks or anything, just those tree roots everywhere.  With renewed focus and a big sigh of relief I continued on.  Maybe another mile down the road and I was on the ground again.  No idea what happened that time.  I don't think I was able to even reach out to brace myself before I was on the ground, but again somehow my collarbone was still intact and other than a growing number of scrapes and scratches, I was no worse for wear.

             

            About this time I really started thinking whether I needed to continue or not.  The first aid station was at 3 miles and there was a shortcut back to the start on an old road there.  If I continued to fall at this rate it wasn't a matter of "if" I was going to re-break my collarbone, it was a matter of how far I was going to make it before I "did" re-break my collarbone.  The trail actually seemed to be getting a little better and I decided I would continue on, but just focus even harder on not falling.

             

            I seemed to finally get into a groove and really started making some progress.  My effort level still seemed a little higher than I would have expected, but I was running a pretty comfortable pace and walking on the steeper hills and I felt like I could maintain this level for a long time.  Weather was close to perfect still.  Before I knew it I was making my way toward the 2nd aid station at the 7 mile mark.  I had tripped a few times, but really nothing even close to a fall.  I was getting pretty confident.

             

            In and out of the 2nd aid station, some nice downhill running on a fairly smooth section of the course and I was feeling even better.  I actually caught up to some of the 7K runners that had made a shorter loop and felt very smooth and things were really feeling good here.  Maybe the best I felt the entire race.  The trail got hilly again and the tree roots showed back up, but I was able to make it back to the start line to finish the first loop without falling again and went through in 1:41 which was just 1 minute slower than I was planning.  3 1 hour and 40 minute loops would put me right at 5 hours.

             

            I hit the hilly section at the start of the 2nd loop again and really focused on my feet and not tripping.  Made it through the first couple miles really well, didn't trip at all.  The hills were all much bigger the second time around and some of the smaller ones that I ran up the first time I walked up this time.  I was slowing down, but I was also focusing on not falling so I still felt pretty good about things.  Right about the time that I was feeling really confident again I went down hard.  Ended up skidding down a hill on my back a little bit.  Okay, that wasn't fun, but guess what?  I still hadn't re-broken my collarbone!!!  I went on with renewed focus on my feet placement and made it into the 1st aid station with just that one fall where I had fallen 3 times in that section the previous time through.  I was getting better!

             

            Just some quick water and a GU and back down the trail.  This goes on a long uphill section for a little over a mile almost and I was starting to feel it.  I did a little bit of walking in here on some areas where the hill wasn't very steep at all.  I ended up matching up with another runner who was wearing sandals and I we chatted back and forth quite a bit over the next several miles.  I had forgotten to put any body glide on and my nipples were starting to rub me pretty good so somewhere in here I ended up taking my singlet off and tucking it into my race belt.  Somewhere around mile 15 or 16 a runner up ahead of us fell and called out to warn us not to trip over something, so of course I immediately proceeded to trip and fall for the 5th time.  It wasn't a bad fall though and I still felt okay about my improvement in my not falling ability.  Continued on to the 2nd aid station at the 17 mile mark and was starting to get tired, but actually pulled away from the guy wearing the sandals and was making a pretty decent pace.

             

            I was taking GU every 45 minutes or so and drinking plenty of water.  In one of my falls I had landed on one of my water bottles though and the cap that only opens up when you squeeze on it was broken and it splashed water out with every step.  That essentially left me with one working 8oz water bottle for the distance between aid stations, then I would use the broken one to drink at the aid stations.  It was working fairly decently but I was getting a little worried about how that was going to work on the last lap with the temperatures were getting a little higher.

             

            I left the 2nd aid station and started to enjoy the nice downhill section with the smooth trail for a bit, right up until I fell hard for the 6th time during the race.  Again, I reacted quicker than I thought and braced myself with both arms as I fell.  Again, somehow I didn't re-break my collarbone.  I was starting to get depressed with my continued falling and I was starting to get tired as well.  Renewed focus and kept going down the trail, but it seemed like I lost some of my energy and the little uphills were getting harder and harder and I was walking just about any uphill I came to.  I was starting to think that maybe I was really pushing my luck and the next time I fell might be the end of my lucky streak.  I was also thinking that as I got more and more tired, the chances of me tripping and falling were probably going to go up.

             

            I was trying to enjoy the trail, the scenery was really nice and trees are just something we don't have many of in Lubbock.  Sure enough I started feeling good again and then found myself looking around and quickly found myself hitting the ground again for the 7th time.  Again my reactions were faster than my mind and I found myself bracing my fall with both arms.  Again I was lucky and didn't re-break my collarbone.

             

            If this is starting to sound like a broken record to you, it was really starting to sound like it to me.  I was running with no music, just my phone telling me the time and distance every 5 minutes and the sounds of nature around me.  I had plenty of time to think and the more I thought the more I realized that I was really pushing the envelope here and not being very intelligent about this.  The whole reason why I took up running in the first place was to get into better shape for hunting and I was lucky enough to draw a once in a lifetime hunting tag this fall and here I was risking re-breaking my collarbone which could put me out for 3 - 6 more months by running this trail race.  I slowed down some more and really decided to just get back to the starting line without falling and call it a day.  I finished the 2nd loop in 2:03 for a total of 3:44 for 20.6 miles for an average pace of 10:54.

             

            That would have put me in 21st place out of 74 people who ran the 20.6 mile distance, but the race director of this trail race series doesn't allow you to drop down from the distance that you signed up for, so my official results are a DNF.  It was tough to stop, but really the smart thing to do, even though it still wears on me.  I could have just walked that last loop and still would have finished in the middle of the pack for the 50K runners, but I didn't sign up for a trail walk, I signed up for a trail run and I didn't want to spend 3 hours walking that last loop just to say I finished it.  In my mind I would have had to tell everyone, yeah I finished a 50K trail run, but I had to walk the last 10 miles.  Another possibility was that I would start out planning on walking the last loop, but get out there and start trying to run some of the smoother areas and risk falling more and that could have been even worse.

             

            So that's pretty much my race report.  A big DNF.  Here's a picture of me sitting down after I finished.  Not the most flattering picture of me, but I think it really does a good job of showing in a picture how my day ended up.

             

             

            I was more sore after this race than my marathon last year by quite a bit.  Just got my first run in yesterday and am probably going to just keep running some easy miles for now before I figure out any kind of a training plan.  I really enjoy the trail running, but I'm second guessing myself a little on how poorly I seem to do at it.  Not sure if I just don't pick my feet up enough or exactly what the problem is, but I seem to be better at falling than I am at running when it comes to trails.

             

            My wife ran the 10.3 miler and finished 36th out of 109 finishers.  She didn't fall one time!

             

            Well, I guess that's my official race report.  For sure a learning experience for me.  The course was MUCH harder than I expected.  I really think I was in 3:40ish shape for a marathon and it took me longer than that to run 20.6 miles on the trail.

            Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

            Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)

            BeeRunB


              Wow, what a great report, NP! Man, falling that much sucks. I've done that on trails hiking a little fast and it's always a surprise and unpredictable as to where you're going to end up. I think it was smart for you to DNF. The trees in that forest were straight out of OZ, and were out to get you. When I got to your 4th trip  I was "Oh, my God!", then louder each subsequent trip. Glad you're okay. Recover well.

              (p.s. coincidentally, my latest comic is about anti-chafing--the link is in my signature).

               

              I'm cross posting this race report a few different places.  Not very happy with the result, but for sure was a learning experience and most importantly I didn't end up being quite stupid enough to re-break my collarbone although in retrospect it's pretty amazing that I didn't!

               

              Well, I've been slow getting this updated, but I ended up with my first ever DNF on Saturday.

               

              The weather actually turned out close to perfect for mid May in east Texas.  58 degrees and moderate humidity at the start, climbing to mid 70's and a slight breeze when I finished.  It had rained earlier in the week but the trails were in great shape and from that perspective I couldn't have asked for better conditions.

               

              I did have a little bout with a stomach bug on Thursday before the race, everything was going right through me and that wasn't helping the old carbo loading very much at all.  I was feeling poor enough that I broke my running streak of 50+ days and decided to take a break that day.  Friday had me feeling better, but still not 100%, but I was going to be racing pretty much regardless.  Friday turned out to be a pretty hectic day and I ended up not being able to get in a run that day as well.  After a little over a 6 hour drive we got checked into the hotel and were in bed just after 10, but I was wired and couldn't seem to get to sleep.

               

              My training hadn't been perfect with the 3 weeks off completely with the broken collarbone, but I felt like I had pretty much gotten back on track and was still thinking I might actually be competitive even though I was supposed to be focused on not falling more than running fast.  5:30 rolled around way too soon and ate a couple bagels and a banana and headed to the race.  Actually got started a little later than we wanted from the hotel, but made it to the race in plenty of time and packet pickup went really smooth and had about 30 minutes to spare before the race started at 7:00.  Got my drop bag ready and put it on the tarp provided and just tried to relax and enjoy it.  It was a beautiful morning and before you know it the race was ready to start.

               

               

              The 50K and 20 milers start 30 minutes before the 10 milers and 7K'ers so there were about 125 runners or so going off the line.  I was thinking about just keeping an easy pace, but I was still also thinking that I might be able to run right around 5 hours so didn't want to go out too easy.  That was just under a 10:00 pace and I just couldn't comprehend how I could run much slower than that, even walking up some of the steeper hills.

               

              Right off the bat the course goes up a small hill, drops back down, up another hill, drops, back down, repeat, then down a big hill and up a big hill, lots of ups and downs.  It is single track so we all kind of got into a spot right at the start and then just kind of held our spot in line for better or worse.  I really felt like I was doing a pretty good pace for me, it felt like a little more effort than I was wanting, but not too bad.  I was hoping that the fact that we were running about 2,500' lower in elevation than where we live would help offset the higher humidity.  I had my phone set to just tell me the time and distance every 5 minutes instead of average pace, split pace and all that fun stuff and as I suspected it was lost as a goose and the GPS was shorting the course about 25% due to the heavy tree cover.  10 minutes in and it said that I had not even gone .75 miles and I knew I was running faster than 10:00 pace.

               

              The trail was in good shape and the tree cover was so thick that it was shaded about 95% of the time.  There were tree roots everywhere and at first I seemed to be doing a fine job not tripping on them.  Just over a mile or so in people started to spread out a little and get some space between us and I started to relax a little and sure enough, I tripped hard and went down.  It happened very fast, and I reached to brace myself with both arms, not able to keep my reactions from working faster than my mind which would have said "don't brace yourself with your left arm!".  I popped back up and was running down the trail before really even thinking about it, but doing a mental inventory for pain, everything seemed fine.  I could still move my shoulder fine, I reached over and felt where the break in my collarbone was and it felt fine, I seemed to have averted total disaster barely a mile into the race.  I pledged to myself to pay more attention and focus on those tree roots even harder.

               

              Here's a picture that I took off the race website that I think shows what most of the course was like.

               

               

              Maybe another 1/2 mile or so I think I glanced over at some cows in a nice pasture that we were running by and bam, I was on the ground again.  Again, my reactions were quicker than my brain and I reached out with both arms.  Again, somehow I ended up okay and I didn't re-break my collarbone.

               

              This was getting borderline ridiculous now, surely I can run without falling on a nice trail through the woods!  There weren't hardly any rocks or anything, just those tree roots everywhere.  With renewed focus and a big sigh of relief I continued on.  Maybe another mile down the road and I was on the ground again.  No idea what happened that time.  I don't think I was able to even reach out to brace myself before I was on the ground, but again somehow my collarbone was still intact and other than a growing number of scrapes and scratches, I was no worse for wear.

               

              About this time I really started thinking whether I needed to continue or not.  The first aid station was at 3 miles and there was a shortcut back to the start on an old road there.  If I continued to fall at this rate it wasn't a matter of "if" I was going to re-break my collarbone, it was a matter of how far I was going to make it before I "did" re-break my collarbone.  The trail actually seemed to be getting a little better and I decided I would continue on, but just focus even harder on not falling.

               

              I seemed to finally get into a groove and really started making some progress.  My effort level still seemed a little higher than I would have expected, but I was running a pretty comfortable pace and walking on the steeper hills and I felt like I could maintain this level for a long time.  Weather was close to perfect still.  Before I knew it I was making my way toward the 2nd aid station at the 7 mile mark.  I had tripped a few times, but really nothing even close to a fall.  I was getting pretty confident.

               

              In and out of the 2nd aid station, some nice downhill running on a fairly smooth section of the course and I was feeling even better.  I actually caught up to some of the 7K runners that had made a shorter loop and felt very smooth and things were really feeling good here.  Maybe the best I felt the entire race.  The trail got hilly again and the tree roots showed back up, but I was able to make it back to the start line to finish the first loop without falling again and went through in 1:41 which was just 1 minute slower than I was planning.  3 1 hour and 40 minute loops would put me right at 5 hours.

               

              I hit the hilly section at the start of the 2nd loop again and really focused on my feet and not tripping.  Made it through the first couple miles really well, didn't trip at all.  The hills were all much bigger the second time around and some of the smaller ones that I ran up the first time I walked up this time.  I was slowing down, but I was also focusing on not falling so I still felt pretty good about things.  Right about the time that I was feeling really confident again I went down hard.  Ended up skidding down a hill on my back a little bit.  Okay, that wasn't fun, but guess what?  I still hadn't re-broken my collarbone!!!  I went on with renewed focus on my feet placement and made it into the 1st aid station with just that one fall where I had fallen 3 times in that section the previous time through.  I was getting better!

               

              Just some quick water and a GU and back down the trail.  This goes on a long uphill section for a little over a mile almost and I was starting to feel it.  I did a little bit of walking in here on some areas where the hill wasn't very steep at all.  I ended up matching up with another runner who was wearing sandals and I we chatted back and forth quite a bit over the next several miles.  I had forgotten to put any body glide on and my nipples were starting to rub me pretty good so somewhere in here I ended up taking my singlet off and tucking it into my race belt.  Somewhere around mile 15 or 16 a runner up ahead of us fell and called out to warn us not to trip over something, so of course I immediately proceeded to trip and fall for the 5th time.  It wasn't a bad fall though and I still felt okay about my improvement in my not falling ability.  Continued on to the 2nd aid station at the 17 mile mark and was starting to get tired, but actually pulled away from the guy wearing the sandals and was making a pretty decent pace.

               

              I was taking GU every 45 minutes or so and drinking plenty of water.  In one of my falls I had landed on one of my water bottles though and the cap that only opens up when you squeeze on it was broken and it splashed water out with every step.  That essentially left me with one working 8oz water bottle for the distance between aid stations, then I would use the broken one to drink at the aid stations.  It was working fairly decently but I was getting a little worried about how that was going to work on the last lap with the temperatures were getting a little higher.

               

              I left the 2nd aid station and started to enjoy the nice downhill section with the smooth trail for a bit, right up until I fell hard for the 6th time during the race.  Again, I reacted quicker than I thought and braced myself with both arms as I fell.  Again, somehow I didn't re-break my collarbone.  I was starting to get depressed with my continued falling and I was starting to get tired as well.  Renewed focus and kept going down the trail, but it seemed like I lost some of my energy and the little uphills were getting harder and harder and I was walking just about any uphill I came to.  I was starting to think that maybe I was really pushing my luck and the next time I fell might be the end of my lucky streak.  I was also thinking that as I got more and more tired, the chances of me tripping and falling were probably going to go up.

               

              I was trying to enjoy the trail, the scenery was really nice and trees are just something we don't have many of in Lubbock.  Sure enough I started feeling good again and then found myself looking around and quickly found myself hitting the ground again for the 7th time.  Again my reactions were faster than my mind and I found myself bracing my fall with both arms.  Again I was lucky and didn't re-break my collarbone.

               

              If this is starting to sound like a broken record to you, it was really starting to sound like it to me.  I was running with no music, just my phone telling me the time and distance every 5 minutes and the sounds of nature around me.  I had plenty of time to think and the more I thought the more I realized that I was really pushing the envelope here and not being very intelligent about this.  The whole reason why I took up running in the first place was to get into better shape for hunting and I was lucky enough to draw a once in a lifetime hunting tag this fall and here I was risking re-breaking my collarbone which could put me out for 3 - 6 more months by running this trail race.  I slowed down some more and really decided to just get back to the starting line without falling and call it a day.  I finished the 2nd loop in 2:03 for a total of 3:44 for 20.6 miles for an average pace of 10:54.

               

              That would have put me in 21st place out of 74 people who ran the 20.6 mile distance, but the race director of this trail race series doesn't allow you to drop down from the distance that you signed up for, so my official results are a DNF.  It was tough to stop, but really the smart thing to do, even though it still wears on me.  I could have just walked that last loop and still would have finished in the middle of the pack for the 50K runners, but I didn't sign up for a trail walk, I signed up for a trail run and I didn't want to spend 3 hours walking that last loop just to say I finished it.  In my mind I would have had to tell everyone, yeah I finished a 50K trail run, but I had to walk the last 10 miles.  Another possibility was that I would start out planning on walking the last loop, but get out there and start trying to run some of the smoother areas and risk falling more and that could have been even worse.

               

              So that's pretty much my race report.  A big DNF.  Here's a picture of me sitting down after I finished.  Not the most flattering picture of me, but I think it really does a good job of showing in a picture how my day ended up.

               

               

              I was more sore after this race than my marathon last year by quite a bit.  Just got my first run in yesterday and am probably going to just keep running some easy miles for now before I figure out any kind of a training plan.  I really enjoy the trail running, but I'm second guessing myself a little on how poorly I seem to do at it.  Not sure if I just don't pick my feet up enough or exactly what the problem is, but I seem to be better at falling than I am at running when it comes to trails.

               

              My wife ran the 10.3 miler and finished 36th out of 109 finishers.  She didn't fall one time!

               

              Well, I guess that's my official race report.  For sure a learning experience for me.  The course was MUCH harder than I expected.  I really think I was in 3:40ish shape for a marathon and it took me longer than that to run 20.6 miles on the trail.

              runnerclay


              Consistently Slow

                Run until the trail runs out.

                 SCHEDULE 2016--

                 The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                unsolicited chatter

                http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

                runnerclay


                Consistently Slow

                  Rogue Yeti 12 Hour: Started 20 minutes late(8 pm). I ran the 1st loop in 1:35. The fire flies did a light show for me in a section of the trail.Stayed at the station about 15:00 wait to see if I could run with some one. The course was a 6 mile loop.

                  Loop 2. A mile into the loop something crosses in front of me. I could not see what it was. Time to call it a night. After a very minutes a couple came by and I walk the loop with them. We get to a clearing. It must be close to the water. Half way is a fog pops up. I can not see 5 feet. The mind starts thing" Hounds of Bakersfield."There are always creatures out to do you in when there is fog.  A 2:15 minute loop.The goal was 35-40 miles in 10 hours.A late start and a 2+ hour loop killed that plan. 12:15 amLoop 3. A quart mile out I see a headlight. Great someone to run with ,maybe. I am slow so pace could be an issue. I am thinking why are they going off the trail. A nature call. They just left the aid station an porta potty. The closer I get the stranger the lights appear. OK, it is not a headlamp. It is the eyes of a deer. I reach the section of the 1st creature encounter and everything is fine. The only real sounds are crickets.To calm my fears I find a decent branch. It is probably more security blanket than weapon. Time to re-think the 100 miler in December. Trails,pitch darkness, creatures seen and unseen are not in my comfort zone. 1:40 for the loop. 2:30 am

                   

                  Loop 4. I need to finish by 6AM. Volunteering at 7:30. A hours drive to the race site. Need to run more. About 2 miles into the loop.Nature calls. Find a friendly looking tree and fertilize it. Off I go. Back on pace. Pacing by feel.Garmin would not have lasted the 10 hours. The  stick  getting a little a annoying. There is noway I am dropping it. I just keep changing hands with it and the water bottle. Walking all the uphills at this point. I reach the clearing at about mile 4.5 and decide to run it in. It takes 22 minutes to get to the aid station. I run none stop. This was the longest run section all night. 4:20 am

                   

                  Loop 5. Ok, I need a 50K to count the race on MM status. It's dark, I'm sleepy and there are unseen beast in the woods.Why am I out here. Just about everyone else has called it a night. I need to get this done for the Bartram 100 in December.This is a training run! Get moving. Man, I am a good motivator. I have 2 hours until I need to call it a night. The plan is to walk the last loop. Two miles in an nature calls,again. I look for a nice spot. I some how manged to found the some tree. It must have been a friendly tree. 1:40 minutes past. Another runner catches up to me. I let him past. I notice he is walking the hills. I run to stay close to him. We reach the clearing. I beside him . We talk and run together. His plan is to do another loop. It is 5:47 am. He will need to run a 1:45~ loop. His brain kicks in gear. He decides to not do another loop.He legs are cramping. He did Cruel Jewel last week( 50 or 100 miler) I do not remember the distance.

                   

                  It was a leaning experience. Night running on trails is a different beast. My hat is of to  those that do it .

                  Run until the trail runs out.

                   SCHEDULE 2016--

                   The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                  unsolicited chatter

                  http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

                    @npaden

                     

                    sorry to see you DNF'd and that you fell so many times. I wouldn't have decided on DNF myself but I understand.

                     

                    it's interesting really that your wife didn't have that falling//tripping problem. I guess I'm like her, the first time I went to run on a trail, I went with a trail runner friend and he said I ran like I'd been doing this forever. I don't trip because my mind automatically and effortlessly keeps checking the road in front of me. e.g. if I was watching cows, I would only watch for a short time before checking the road again..then perhaps continue looking at the cows. automatic task switching Smile so my advice is you should try doing it this way, only look away for a short period at a time. if say, your last check covered 10meters of the road/trail in front of you and you run 10m in 3 seconds then only look away from the road for 3 seconds at most. hope this advice helps. but I think if you practice trail running, you'll learn all this timing etc stuff without even thinking. btw yes trail running especially with elevation is harder than running on asphalt roads. it sounds realistic to me that 20.6miles it took you as long as a marathon on first try. if you practice, you'll get stronger and faster on trails too!

                     

                    I hope you won't give up on trail running, it's awesome stuff.

                      @runnerclay

                       

                      cool run! crazy going in the dark. fun I'm sure. I've done the carrying stick stuff in the woods myself hehe Smile I've never tried running in the dark alone for more than half an hour though.

                        OK my race reports Smile

                         

                         

                        1. 5K in 20:16.. not an all-out 5K, I did not rest for it so decided to make it a tempo run but it was decent effort at 95%. So it was a bit harder than normal tempo run. PR in any case.  Weather was pretty forgiving for May.

                         

                        HR profile per km: 175, 185, 191, 195, 197. Avg HR for race: 188 (max 199). Pretty low for a 5K for me. I kept a 6:30 pace for first 2000m then let up a bit to 6:40 then finally I got rid of the throttle for last ~600m and I ran that part significantly under 6 min/mile pace. 6th place overall female, not so many people run the race but elites/subelites traditionally like to run here. In an average local 5K I would get 1st place no problem but this one isn't average :P

                         

                         

                        2. Then the hill run that I do every year, ran hard, PR!! 7.2miles, 2200feet elevation, did it in 1:08:06. previous PR was 1:12:40.

                         

                        HR profile per km: 178, 187, 191, 191, 193, 194, 192, 194, 194, 194, 196, 197. Avg HR for race: 192 (max 199). This was close to perfect.

                         

                        The weather much less perfect, hot sunny weather, I survived by keeping myself cool by a lot of water. A lot of girls went past me at the start but I left them one by one later in the race. That was great, staying strong. I think I only slowed a bit in the last mile, or maybe not, hard to tell with slightly changing elevation. I know that one was hard but I didn't give up Smile the PR was worth the effort! If I had watched time during the race, I could've got sub-1:08 just fine. I placed sixth female again in a strong race again with some elites/subelites. 

                        BeeRunB


                          Awesome report, Ron. Sounds like a challenge. 50k in 10:00 in the dark and fog is damn good.

                          100 miler on the horizon for you--wow. It seems you're getting younger, man.

                           

                           

                          Rogue Yeti 12 Hour: Started 20 minutes late(8 pm). I ran the 1st loop in 1:35. The fire flies did a light show for me in a section of the trail.Stayed at the station about 15:00 wait to see if I could run with some one. The course was a 6 mile loop.

                          Loop 2. A mile into the loop something crosses in front of me. I could not see what it was. Time to call it a night. After a very minutes a couple came by and I walk the loop with them. We get to a clearing. It must be close to the water. Half way is a fog pops up. I can not see 5 feet. The mind starts thing" Hounds of Bakersfield."There are always creatures out to do you in when there is fog.  A 2:15 minute loop.The goal was 35-40 miles in 10 hours.A late start and a 2+ hour loop killed that plan. 12:15 amLoop 3. A quart mile out I see a headlight. Great someone to run with ,maybe. I am slow so pace could be an issue. I am thinking why are they going off the trail. A nature call. They just left the aid station an porta potty. The closer I get the stranger the lights appear. OK, it is not a headlamp. It is the eyes of a deer. I reach the section of the 1st creature encounter and everything is fine. The only real sounds are crickets.To calm my fears I find a decent branch. It is probably more security blanket than weapon. Time to re-think the 100 miler in December. Trails,pitch darkness, creatures seen and unseen are not in my comfort zone. 1:40 for the loop. 2:30 am

                           

                          Loop 4. I need to finish by 6AM. Volunteering at 7:30. A hours drive to the race site. Need to run more. About 2 miles into the loop.Nature calls. Find a friendly looking tree and fertilize it. Off I go. Back on pace. Pacing by feel.Garmin would not have lasted the 10 hours. The  stick  getting a little a annoying. There is noway I am dropping it. I just keep changing hands with it and the water bottle. Walking all the uphills at this point. I reach the clearing at about mile 4.5 and decide to run it in. It takes 22 minutes to get to the aid station. I run none stop. This was the longest run section all night. 4:20 am

                           

                          Loop 5. Ok, I need a 50K to count the race on MM status. It's dark, I'm sleepy and there are unseen beast in the woods.Why am I out here. Just about everyone else has called it a night. I need to get this done for the Bartram 100 in December.This is a training run! Get moving. Man, I am a good motivator. I have 2 hours until I need to call it a night. The plan is to walk the last loop. Two miles in an nature calls,again. I look for a nice spot. I some how manged to found the some tree. It must have been a friendly tree. 1:40 minutes past. Another runner catches up to me. I let him past. I notice he is walking the hills. I run to stay close to him. We reach the clearing. I beside him . We talk and run together. His plan is to do another loop. It is 5:47 am. He will need to run a 1:45~ loop. His brain kicks in gear. He decides to not do another loop.He legs are cramping. He did Cruel Jewel last week( 50 or 100 miler) I do not remember the distance.

                           

                          It was a leaning experience. Night running on trails is a different beast. My hat is of to  those that do it .

                          BeeRunB


                            Good runs, C. You're getting awfully quick these days. Keep going!

                            OK my race reports Smile

                             

                             

                            1. 5K in 20:16.. not an all-out 5K, I did not rest for it so decided to make it a tempo run but it was decent effort at 95%. So it was a bit harder than normal tempo run. PR in any case.  Weather was pretty forgiving for May.

                             

                            HR profile per km: 175, 185, 191, 195, 197. Avg HR for race: 188 (max 199). Pretty low for a 5K for me. I kept a 6:30 pace for first 2000m then let up a bit to 6:40 then finally I got rid of the throttle for last ~600m and I ran that part significantly under 6 min/mile pace. 6th place, not so many people run the race but elites/subelites traditionally like to run here. In an average local 5K I would get 1st place no problem but this one isn't average :P

                             

                             

                            2. Then the hill run that I do every year, ran hard, PR!! 7.2miles, 2200feet elevation, did it in 1:08:06. previous PR was 1:12:40.

                             

                            HR profile per km: 178, 187, 191, 191, 193, 194, 192, 194, 194, 194, 196, 197. Avg HR for race: 192 (max 199). This was close to perfect.

                             

                            The weather much less perfect, hot sunny weather, I survived by keeping myself cool by a lot of water. A lot of girls went past me at the start but I left them one by one later in the race. That was great, staying strong. I think I only slowed a bit in the last mile, or maybe not, hard to tell with slightly changing elevation. I know that one was hard but I didn't give up Smile the PR was worth the effort! If I had watched time during the race, I could've got sub-1:08 just fine. I placed sixth female again in a strong race again with some elites/subelites. 

                            runnerclay


                            Consistently Slow

                              Cmon, Wow great  racing. The hill race sounds like a major challenge and fun! You have come along way BABY!

                               

                              Memorial Day marathon at 7:00. Legs a little sore. Will skip the race and  rest.

                              Run until the trail runs out.

                               SCHEDULE 2016--

                               The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                              unsolicited chatter

                              http://bkclay.blogspot.com/

                                thanks to everyone Smile

                                 

                                runnerclay, sorry to hear you need to skip this marathon, hope you enjoy the rest though. yes the hill run was a lot of fun, one of my fav races Smile