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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Marine Corps Tattoo
I guess better late than never, but many years later I finally get my Eagle, Globe and Anchor!
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thirsty Thursday
Cheers! I hope everyone has a great weekend! Time to start the long runs!
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, August 16, 2010
Capt n Karls 30k
OK, this was supposed to be a fun race as it was only 18.6 miles and from what I heard the terrain wasn't too bad. My friend Nicole was looking to do her first nighttime trail run so we signed up and were going to run it together. Here we are before the race and we already look pretty hot. We had chairs and a place to sit in the shade, but still when it's 100 degrees it's hard to stay cool.
My running has been steady as of late but not with a lot of long runs. This summer has been blistery hot and I just didn't have the MOJO to get out there for the past few months. I guess I had a big let down after not finishing Rocky that I kind of let my running go and tried to decide if I really want to try it again. Well within the past month or so I've been feeling like it's time to get back into the training and my legs feel good so it's full speed ahead on training for the 100 miler in 6 months.
Now back to this race. It was a nice course with some rolling hills, some waist high grass, and some pretty rocky areas. From the map there would be aid stations at 5 miles, another at 8.5, make a loop and hit the last one at 12.7. This seemed reasonable even though I was worried about the last one being about 6 miles from the finish. We started out and ran through some tall grasses, went down to the river and ran through some big rocks and then made our way along the fence line that had some good rolling hills with what seemed like a general up hill tone. Made it too the first aid station and refilled my 2 hand held bottles and off we went. The next 3-4 miles were my favorite. We had some good rollers with quite a few switch backs on some nice soft dirt trails. The sun was setting and it seemed to get cooler at the sun set. We made it to the next aid station just in time as my bottles were now empty. Head out on what would be considered the loop as we would make our way back to this aid station before heading home. On this leg it got dark and it had some fun and challenging terrain. It seemed like the last couple of miles was a slight incline back to the aid station and I was ready to fill my bottles, grab a snack and head to the finish.
Only there was NO Fluids of any kind when we got there. OK, I have a little HEED in one water bottle and Nicole is completely out. What do we do now. The poor guy at the aid station was trying to use someones cell phone and call in that he was completely out of everything. Now we have 6 miles to go, we are already dehydrated and very little fluids and we know that we have 6 miles to the finish line and it would take us at least 1:20 to get there. I was sweating heavily and knew that if I tried to run it in I would be getting over heated and probably would be in pretty bad shape if i made it.
So we decide to just walk in in and conserve our few drops of liquid and try and not over do it. I must say it was hard and we just kept putting one foot in front of the other. We passed a couple of guys that I was worried about but they said they were doing OK. I knew we would make it to the finish line, but I also knew it was going to be a long slow process and wouldn't be very much fun. The next 4 miles were some of the longest I've ever spent out on a trail. Next thing we know we come upon a table with water with 2 miles to go. Still not sure if it was put there after the start knowing that the previous aid station had run out or if it was planned because of the heat, but for whatever reason it was a life saver. I drank a whole bottle of water, which probably wasn't very smart but I was so thirsty. Without any calories or anything to eat the water made me feel a little nauseous so that made the next few miles not so much fun either. Anyway, we were able to make it to the finish right at 5 hours. I got my medal, got some Gatorade and some food and sat down. After about 10 minutes of drinking and eating I felt great again. This race was a great learning experience about making sure I take what I need on the trail just in case something like this happens again. I now know what my body feels like when it needs more calories or needs more fluids. What it feels like to have too much water without any thing to eat. Not something I want to do again so I'll learn from it. Here is a picture in my hotel room after the race, nice and dirty. Nothing better than a shower after a race like these to make you feel better.
My running has been steady as of late but not with a lot of long runs. This summer has been blistery hot and I just didn't have the MOJO to get out there for the past few months. I guess I had a big let down after not finishing Rocky that I kind of let my running go and tried to decide if I really want to try it again. Well within the past month or so I've been feeling like it's time to get back into the training and my legs feel good so it's full speed ahead on training for the 100 miler in 6 months.
Now back to this race. It was a nice course with some rolling hills, some waist high grass, and some pretty rocky areas. From the map there would be aid stations at 5 miles, another at 8.5, make a loop and hit the last one at 12.7. This seemed reasonable even though I was worried about the last one being about 6 miles from the finish. We started out and ran through some tall grasses, went down to the river and ran through some big rocks and then made our way along the fence line that had some good rolling hills with what seemed like a general up hill tone. Made it too the first aid station and refilled my 2 hand held bottles and off we went. The next 3-4 miles were my favorite. We had some good rollers with quite a few switch backs on some nice soft dirt trails. The sun was setting and it seemed to get cooler at the sun set. We made it to the next aid station just in time as my bottles were now empty. Head out on what would be considered the loop as we would make our way back to this aid station before heading home. On this leg it got dark and it had some fun and challenging terrain. It seemed like the last couple of miles was a slight incline back to the aid station and I was ready to fill my bottles, grab a snack and head to the finish.
Only there was NO Fluids of any kind when we got there. OK, I have a little HEED in one water bottle and Nicole is completely out. What do we do now. The poor guy at the aid station was trying to use someones cell phone and call in that he was completely out of everything. Now we have 6 miles to go, we are already dehydrated and very little fluids and we know that we have 6 miles to the finish line and it would take us at least 1:20 to get there. I was sweating heavily and knew that if I tried to run it in I would be getting over heated and probably would be in pretty bad shape if i made it.
So we decide to just walk in in and conserve our few drops of liquid and try and not over do it. I must say it was hard and we just kept putting one foot in front of the other. We passed a couple of guys that I was worried about but they said they were doing OK. I knew we would make it to the finish line, but I also knew it was going to be a long slow process and wouldn't be very much fun. The next 4 miles were some of the longest I've ever spent out on a trail. Next thing we know we come upon a table with water with 2 miles to go. Still not sure if it was put there after the start knowing that the previous aid station had run out or if it was planned because of the heat, but for whatever reason it was a life saver. I drank a whole bottle of water, which probably wasn't very smart but I was so thirsty. Without any calories or anything to eat the water made me feel a little nauseous so that made the next few miles not so much fun either. Anyway, we were able to make it to the finish right at 5 hours. I got my medal, got some Gatorade and some food and sat down. After about 10 minutes of drinking and eating I felt great again. This race was a great learning experience about making sure I take what I need on the trail just in case something like this happens again. I now know what my body feels like when it needs more calories or needs more fluids. What it feels like to have too much water without any thing to eat. Not something I want to do again so I'll learn from it. Here is a picture in my hotel room after the race, nice and dirty. Nothing better than a shower after a race like these to make you feel better.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Trail Race
Getting ready to head down to Central Texas for a little trail race. With the heat we are having here in Texas I'm glad it's a 7pm start time which is usually about the time I start my evening runs around here. There is something I love about running as the sun sets on the horizon. I think I also like that the temperature starts going down and the humidity level is fairly low at that time of day as well. Tonight I'll be running the 30k and I'll be running with a friend Nicole as she runs her first night trail run. She is signed up for Rocky Raccoon 50 miler next year so this will be a good first for her.
I'll post pictures of the race tomorrow and give a report of how it goes.
I'll post pictures of the race tomorrow and give a report of how it goes.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Legs
Wow, it's been a while since I have posted. I guess I had better catch up a little about the summer. I've spent too much time eating, drinking and doing just enough running to keep my self in shape! Lol
The title of this post is legs so I guess I guess I should explain. Last summer while playing on a local softball team I had a myriad of injuries. I strained a quad muscle, pulled my left hamstring pretty bad and I ended the season by breaking 4 ribs in a collision with another player. The injuries put a damper on last years training and my hamstring injuries was bothersome all through last years training and racing. It was always tight, and felt odd on just about all my runs, which kept me from putting in the training I wanted too last year. I was able to get my long runs in but I usually took it easy during the week and never did any kind of speed work, as that was a sure fire way to irritate it.
Well a couple of weeks ago was the first time in about 12 months that I was able to put in a weeks worth of running with no difference in the legs. It was odd because I've been paying special attention to it for so long that I figured it would become a way of life, and that I would always have to spend more time stretching it out, laying off the speed work, and keeping my mid-week mileage down. Now that I've been running about 3 weeks with no problems I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of training and racing I can do this fall and winter.
I was supposed to run El Scorcho last week but had a conflict so I signed up to run a 30k trail run down around the Austin area in a couple of week. I'm really looking forward to it as I love running on the trails. Hopefully this will be a good kick start to the fall and winter with Rocky Raccoon 100 being the finale.
The title of this post is legs so I guess I guess I should explain. Last summer while playing on a local softball team I had a myriad of injuries. I strained a quad muscle, pulled my left hamstring pretty bad and I ended the season by breaking 4 ribs in a collision with another player. The injuries put a damper on last years training and my hamstring injuries was bothersome all through last years training and racing. It was always tight, and felt odd on just about all my runs, which kept me from putting in the training I wanted too last year. I was able to get my long runs in but I usually took it easy during the week and never did any kind of speed work, as that was a sure fire way to irritate it.
Well a couple of weeks ago was the first time in about 12 months that I was able to put in a weeks worth of running with no difference in the legs. It was odd because I've been paying special attention to it for so long that I figured it would become a way of life, and that I would always have to spend more time stretching it out, laying off the speed work, and keeping my mid-week mileage down. Now that I've been running about 3 weeks with no problems I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of training and racing I can do this fall and winter.
I was supposed to run El Scorcho last week but had a conflict so I signed up to run a 30k trail run down around the Austin area in a couple of week. I'm really looking forward to it as I love running on the trails. Hopefully this will be a good kick start to the fall and winter with Rocky Raccoon 100 being the finale.
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