Are we there, yet?
Technically it's December now since it's after midnight. Let's get the month kicked off with a good start. As bhearn reminded us, Western States and Hardrock lotteries are this weekend. Desert Solstice and ATY are also this month. And we should be starting to fill in our 2018 race calendars which I will try to keep updated here.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
I'm running a 5K tomorrow (ugh why) and then taking a planned 2 week break from running. I am SO EXCITED to take a break that is of my own choosing (rather than due to illness or scheduling or burnout). It's liberating! And also will be the only fall running goal I'll officially meet. I'll be doing yoga/strength training and working on my diet a bit instead of running, and also enjoying more flexibility in the evenings (I'm not a morning runner).
Bert-o, replying to you here. I have several races I want to run, I just don't plan on putting them on the calendar until I'm signed up. Right now my plans are Zumbro 50 mi (April), Superior Spring 25K (May), FANS 24 Hour (June), Superior Fall Marathon (September, if I get in via lottery), and Surf the Murph 50 mi (October).
I am possibly moving back to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in the spring. Not sure yet. If I don't, I will run Wild Duluth instead of Surf the Murph.
Duke Of Bad Judgment
It was pretty quiet here when I looked a few days ago. Lots of posts in the Nov thread since then - nice to see.
Drock: I signed up for Squamish 50/50 also. After everyone's experiences last year, I'm going to approach it as a 100 mile race with a nice break in the middle.
Strength Training: I think body stuff gets more important as we get older. For a while I had the typical frequent injuries. Then I went to a really good PT place where they gave me a set of stretch/strength things to do to recover from my issues and keep me healthy. I've been doing them fairly consistently for 2+ years now and have been pretty healthy in spite of overdoing basically everything. I tend to slack off around races but I try to get back on it after things slow down (e.g. I started again this week after 1 week of recovery from too many races this summer/fall). Maybe sometime I'll write a really long blog post and try to describe what I do. It's mostly body weight stuff plus a heavy single-leg romanian deadlift.
Speaking of really long blog posts, here's the report for my November races.
Thanks for starting us off WC. Insomnia? Night owl?
RWD, fleet feet tomorrow. Enjoy your break. Since I've done nothing but rest, I'm kind of in the opposite boat...
SeattleMax, just a few comments on your busy November: (1) I want a Sir Runsalot medal, (2) interesting shorts, and (3) a wee banjo!
I'm excited to start running again and pop in here more often after an extended break due to various ailments. I finished November with a whopping 45 miles of running & walking (i.e., a SeattleMax training run). My couch-to-50k in 10 weeks plan is underway. 3 miles today!
Good luck to everyone in this weekend's lotteries.
5/11/24 Grizzly Peak Marathon, Berkeley, CA
7/20/24 Tahoe Rim Trail 56 miler, NV
9/21/24 Mountain Lakes 100, OR
Night owl. I sleep in until 7 or 8 am, stay up until midnight or 1 pm. Needless to say I'm not a morning runner.
king of the non-sequitur
hey everyone, ive been spending too much time on fb but should keep up here too.
Seamax, glad to see you're doing the 50/50. wait until you see those bike trails! i was thinking about whether to sign up for Chuckanut today and thought: "what would Seamax do?" so ive got a 50k in Jan (bridle trails), a 100k in feb (BC), and now a 50k in March (Chuck). thanks for all the inspiration! i know you might not see it that way but it really is inspiring to see what you have survived lately! really thinking about 100 prep. hoping for a miss in the lottery tomorrow and a number at mt lakes.
Drock, i looked at the 100k. i think you might like that distance, i mean there is time to recover in a 100k. it's not like you have to repeat what its like at the end of a 50k. you have a lot more time. your training looks perfect to me = not too many miles and lots of vert. i need to work on that more
i had a great November running. 227 miles just basically doing whatever i want. i think a coach would fire me immediately. got some new shoes i love = hoka speed instincts and speed instinct 2's. never had trail shoes i liked until now. they are light! suddenly i have 4 pairs! not sure if they are ultra material but perfect for muddy trails around here
Bridle Trails 50k 1-13-24 5:39
Cottontail 6 Hour 4-13-24
Cougar Long Series (May,June,July,Aug 2024)
Carkeek 6 Hour 10-19-24
Slower but happier
RWD good work on the 5k. I have been taking a break from formal training and can say it is reinvigorating
and I enjoy the extra time and no sense of urgency to get the run in no matter what.
Lottery I am blown away some people have 64 tickets and don't get in! I thought 7-8 pretty much get you in. I guess that is one thing about the obscurity of most of the Midwest races, I can pretty much sign up a week ahead of time if I want (of course they mostly not gonna be qualifiers).
Though there is a winter 50K I would like to do January 13th, but I am not sure the advisability of doing this when I have no solid plans to run long until after the new year. Maybe I will look for one later in the winter but the Jan 13th is close by. Winter is a special time on the trails, there is hardly anyone and if there is fresh snow it is beautiful and peaceful. We'll see.
2020 goal: couch to 5K, currently working on the couch block
I lost my rama
Finished my first 50k - BUS Half Ass Trail Mix-Up - 5:06 (unofficial). I will post a RR and the official times / placements later.
Now that I've been reading about you folks for some time now doing 50M, 100K, 100M, 240.... whaaaat?!?!.... you're all cray cray..... but I seem to bee in good company.
Good luck to all in the WS lottery!
3/17 - NYC Half
4/28 - Big Sur Marathon DNS
6/29 - Forbidden Forest 30 Hour
8/29 - A Race for the Ages - will be given 47 hours
Seattlemax - awesome! I think the 50/50 won't be that tough for you, some interesting trails, it's a well run race
fnkyhd - most of the 50ks here take me 8-9 hours, so hopefully the course isn't all hard for the 100k. I did part of it in the 15k race I did a couple months ago, the climb is steeper than the first Squamish climb up to Alice Lake, some of the other trails are fireroads, or gently rolling around the lakes, so should make up time there. Don't get a ton of vert during the week, but get a lot if I run the North Shore trails
Bert-o - congrats on the first 50k! That's a great time! Lots of great races here, usually lots of vert and technical trails. 50k races usually have over 7000' of vert
258km/160mi with 3997m/13,310' of elevation gain for November, ran a 24k trail race, then hurt my back just measuring for some shelves, and had to take 4 days off. Took some time off at the start of the month after the Trail Marathon in October too, so not a bad month
Ran on some easy trails today, did the stairs from the beach 3x, so that was a good workout in the middle of a 13 mile run
Weekly SummaryMonday, Nov 27, 2017 thru Sunday, Dec 03, 2017
Club Fat Ass New Years Day 50k - Jan 1 - 6h13m
First Half HM (road) - Feb. 9
Chuckanut 50k - Mar. 21
Sun Run 10k - Apr. 19
BMO Vancouver Marathon - May 3
Vancouver 100k (Club Fat Ass) - 32h07m 2 runs, pacing 100 miler friends
Whistler Alpine Meadows 100 miler - September 25
Gatsby: Yeah, I agree, those shorts are really sweet. The speed holes didn't have as much benefit as I'd hoped though.
Drock: Do you do Club Fat Ass stuff? Someone told me about the Van 100 yesterday and it's ... interesting to me.
TrailHound: I'll keep entering the HR and WS lotteries just because, but there are a lot of great races out there. The ones east of us left coast people don't necessarily have the mountains but from my Nov races they have their own charm and are definitely not inferior in any way. And besides races, there are all these great self-organized things to do.
Bert: Congratulations! Welcome to the slippery slope. 5:06 is a great time for 50k. My best 50k time is something like 4:45 on pancake flat roads. Well done!
WC: It's fun seeing you in the RATs group. I didn't know about that until after Crooked Road.
Fnky: I forgot to register for Chuckanut - sold out in when I looked in the evening. I might volunteer though - I owe that after 5 years of running.
OMR/Fnky, I did register for Black Canyon 100k before it sold out. The band is getting back together.
I just registered for Ouray 100 and IMTUF 100. Ouray is my HR consolation prize - same altitude issues, 40000 feet of climbing, 52 hour cutoff, and no lottery. IMTUF has been on my list for 4 years. Mid-Sept has so many races. Tahoe 200, Plain, IMTUF, Superior, stuff in Yurp, Barkley Fall Classic, Pine To Palm, etc.. Each year I try to check one off but the list is long.
More and more I'm focusing on fixed time races because I don't like DNFs due to missing cutoffs. Most of my other race options are shorter distances with essentially the same cutoff as the longer premier race. That's one of the reasons why I'm looking at Black Canyon 60K. Only the 100K is sold out.
Berto congrats, nice job on your first 50k!
Seamax - I've only done the New Year's 50k Fatass, saw a couple other interesting ones but never got around to doing them. Vancouver 100 is on the Knee Knacker route (Baden Powell trail) both directions. Knee Knacker is the oldest ultra here, started in 89, it's a lottery, trying to get in that one. It's 48k, so people add a bit on to get it up to 100k or not, it's Fatass, so you can do what you want, even just so one direction. Good combination of trails, some technical, some gravel and fast, and big climbs, goes up to the bottom of the lifts on Cypress Mountain. Starts at Horseshoe Bay and ends at Deep Cove, so all the way across the West and North Vancouver. Would like to do it one day, want to do a supported 100k first though
Rick
Monthly, weekly, and daily in one post.
November: A good month with 194 miles. Ran every day. No huge weeks or distances, just what I wanted. Lots of elevation change. One Ultra distance run (barely) and 2 more outings in the 5-6 hour range.
Week: 84 miles, 14,200 gain
Day: 38 miles, 5500 gain. 7 miles of trail marking before the race and then the Capstone 50k (noon start). Got my goal of a beer every lap, Made some mistakes, but had a great day. Pushed the first two laps way too hard trying to stay with my brothers, cramps started on lap 3. Run/walk strategy for laps 3 and 4. Felt good on lap 5 but took it easy enjoying the moonlight. Finished just under 8 hours.
FNKYHD - nice month.
Berto - congrats on your first 50k. Speedy.
12-22 Last One Standing - dnf 37 miles
1-23 Sun Marathon - 3:53
3-4-23 Red Mountain 55k - 7:02
4-15-23 Zion 100 - 27:59
Nice job, Bert-o! Looking forward to the RR.
Beryl, congrats on reaching your lofty goal of a beer every lap! That's one creative way of making a non-time-related goal for a race.
My 5K sucked AGAIN. It confirmed that my running break is NECESSARY. I did end up running yesterday because it was 40F and there's a polar vortex coming, so I decided it was stupid to waste what might be one of the last warm weekend days for a LONG time. Running break officially starts today.
I officially have no races on the calendar and it's so weird. I don't want to spend the money right now, and my only two FOR SURE races aren't in their lottery periods yet.