The right dose

Its official, the perfect weekend is a three day weekend. One day to get stuff done around the house, one day to get out and have fun and do something you really want to do (thats maybe not exactly relaxing) and one day to just relax and recover from a busy weekend (best served by a Monday off, Friday off just doesn't quite measure up). That was my long weekend to a T.

Saturday I spent the day working on the house, replacing molding in the upstairs hallway and bedroom. Satisfying work that immediately adds to the decor but is still tough to find the time for amongst the usual daily grind and short but stacked weekends.

Sunday, I rode the famed Sky-Mass loop with Wheaton and Leland for the first time. Quite the ride. logging both my and Leland's longest rides mileage wise and probably logging the most vertical I've even hit before on a single ride as well. Better yet, I had enough left in the legs afterwards to kick out a couple of (very) brief sprints in the last mile or so of the ride. Encouraging to say the least and it has me feeling pretty decent going into next weekends' Stoopid 50 race up near State College, PA.

Monday was, in my eyes the perfect holiday Monday. Aimee and I got up late and drove out to Markham, VA to meet up with Matthew for a relaxing day at some local wineries. We stopped by Philip Carter first, were not that impressed and went on to Rappahannock Cellars where we spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting at a picnic table in the shade drinking 2 bottles of white wine, eating cheese and crackers and some pulled pork sandwiches. So perfect. After that, back at Matthew's place, we spent an hour or two sitting on the dock, toes dangling in the pond, just enjoying the evening breeze as the light slowly began to fade. Incredible.

Still hard to come back to work today, but knowing how amazing the weekend was certainly helps to dampen the blow.

A few extra miles

Yesterday as I was riding home from work I remembered Wednesdays are Greenbelt Training series race days. I don't really think much about the GTS races much since I decided 3 seasons ago road racing maybe wasn't my thing after getting crashed out of one of the Greenbelt B races when a rider went down in the middle of the pack. But, I've been talking to a few people here and there lately and with it being 2 miles from my front door I figured I kind of had to get out and race it at least a few times this year, if nothing else then just for the hard efforts and the extra miles.

So, I stopped by, not expecting to get in last night since I was late and had no cash or license. They took an IOU though and with 5 minutes to spare I was standing on the line in the 6pm C race (no license, no B race and no I'm really not sandbagging here anyway).

I rode somewhat aggressively from the start hoping to keep the pace somewhat high and see what would happen. Didn't really do much though other then wear my already tired legs out. Felt like I was moving around easily in the pack but on the final ramp up to the finish I lost my nerve a couple times while trying to move up gave up a lot of spots well before the park exit road and seeing I was well out of contention soft pedaled in to the finish line. No sense in being the guy sprinting for 15th.

It was definitely fun to be out there and really aside from one especially squirrelly rider it was a pretty good group out there. One guy named Rob on a single speed was especially impressive I thought. Should be pretty strong when he gets his hands on a geared bike.

So, now that I've got the first one under the belt for the year I plan to try and get out as often as possible to my neighborhood crit. As usual a big thank you to Route 1 Velo for putting on such a cool and laid back series.

North Face 50 - PHT section scouting trip

Around 23 miles yesterday on the Potomac Heritage Trail portion of the upcoming North Face 50k trail race. Needed a good long trail run as I've been slacking off a bit lately on long runs and getting out on the trails in general though I have been riding a bit more instead. Also wanted to see what the course will be like which from what I saw yesterday it should be pretty fast!

It looks like it begins with around a mile of paved path (which I skipped yesterday) followed by a mile of crushed gravel path before it hits the single track. That'll make it hard not to go out fast, though also means it'll be a good idea to hit this part fast so as not to get stuck too far back once we hit the single track.

The majority of the PHT section is basically flat with the very distinct possibility of being very muddy should it be wet and rainy leading up to race day. There were 3 or 4 very abrupt and steep sections where the trail was rerouted due to the Potomac river washing away old sections of trail or for other reasons. Should be mostly runable, especially early on but probably will be a good idea not to expend to much energy on these steeps.

Somewhere, likely along the way where I ran the course will leave the PHT though the runner's guide description wasn't clear enough for me to fingure it out so I just stuck to the trail down a bit past the dam near/in Great Falls park.

Slightly disturbingly, my garmin reported just over 650 feet of elevation gain for this 23 mile section of trail while the 50k runners guide states over 3000 feet for the course. Either one of these is way wrong (and the garmin has been known to be well off the mark, though Garmin Connect now has topographical map corrections included) or the 10 or so miles in Great Falls will produce 2500 + feet of elevation gain to really kill us mid-race. Hopefully next weekend I'll manage to get out and check out some of that section to see what that's like.

My 23 miles took around 4.5 hours, though I spent a good bit of time stopped, either taking pictures of/watching wildlife, trying to figure out if I was going the right way based on the course description or just generally putzing along. The goal Matthew and I have set for this race is a sub 5 hour time which based on the sections I ran yesterday and our times at the Seneca Greenway Trail 50k should be well within reach. We just need to average 9:40 for the course which should be doable on this course.

Yesterday my average was just under 12 overall but just over 10:30 "moving time" according to the garmin. That was self supported (aka with backpack filled with water and other stuff) and getting dehydrated after running completely out of water with 5 or 6 miles to go. So, there you have it, a publicly stated time goal. Now its time to live up to it.

Otherwise the run was pretty scenic with a good bit of unexpected wildlife. I caught a bunch in pictures after rigging up my cell phone to my pack strap. Unfortunately I didn't catch the huge red fox (probably 40 or 50 lbs, by far the largest fox I've ever seen), the giant red headed woodpecker, the deer, the lizards or the big turtle that scuttled into the creek as I ran over a bridge. Also should have a grabbed a picture of the guy that nearly punched me when he didn't hear me coming as he stood on the trail talking to his buddy (who saw me and I figured wwould warn his friend). He then proceeded to cuss me out. Nice. He looked like an unhealthy version of Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec so I suppose a heart attack was a real danger there.

Enjoy the rest below!

Baby frogs all over the trail near the golf course and swamp like (though likely man made) area.

A swarm of butterflies that found something tasty.

Great blue herron that was talking to me as I tried to get closer for a picture.

Great North American trailious runnerous in a typical confused pose.

The mighty Potomac River.

A very large black snake (non-poisonous I now know thanks to Matthew) plastered to the side of a big tree along the trail.

A large millipede stuck to the side of a bridge. Took this one for Aimee and I even managed not to step on any of these guys along the trail.

BTWD 2010

Great day for riding and lots of people on the roads. Met a few cool folks and forced myself to actually go to work in the end. Should have grabbed a pic before I left when the freedom plaza crowds had grown but this one is from about 7:30 when I first got there.

2010 12 Hours of Lodi Farms

I've been putting off this race report, though really I have no good reason why. I wasn't entirely stoked with the outcome I suppose, though it was essentially what was expected. I also, and probably more importantly wasn't all that stoked about my own performance. Enough of that already though, on to the words you've all been waiting for! Dry race reporting from an amateur sport racer!

Jonathon Wheaton, Darren Biggs and I were teamed up on a three man single-speed team, with our main competition being against another DCMTB team comprised of "Cargo" Mike Pearce, Joel Gwadz(illa) and Kent "Solar" Baake (ok I made that last one up but it seemed wrong not to include a nickname for Kent and of course, solar fits!). On paper, they had us beat, just a bit on a head to head basis. Pearce is blazingly fast, and has a history of setting the fastest laps at races like this, Kent is just wily and fit and can just always ride a bike fast, and Joel is usually found standing atop the podium in the Clydesdale class.

We took hope in the poor condition of Joel's spare bike being used by Kent riding SS off road for the first time in his life and Pearce coming in late, feeling sick and nearly pulling out of the race. But, then Kent got the bike issues sorted out and Pearce showed up so, the cards were on the table.

Jon gave us a good solid starting lap, coming in as one of the first riders, behind Mike K riding first for the DCMTB 3 person expert team also consisting of Leland and Ilana and a few minutes ahead of Kent and I was up second with Joel hard on my heels. That first lap I rode my ass off and really stuck to it the whole way through. It was hot and I was drinking a lot of water but still I could feel my head over heating in the mid-nineties temperatures. A few miles in I managed to catch Leland when he misjudged a sharp downhill left and he dropped back a bit later after hitting a root he never saw as he followed close behind me.

The one place I really felt bad about on my first lap was down in a really twisty and tight but flat and smooth section where I was able to get up a lot speed but then entered the turns too hot. This was the one place and one time during the entire race that was actually passed by anyone, so it hurt that much worse, but I was so choppy here on the first lap I was probably wasting a lot of energy while still losing time on other rider.

I freaked a bit when I got back to the start finish and Darren wasn't there to take the baton, but really in the grand scheme of things it meant nothing; just a few seconds really before he showed up. Darren, unfortunately had the unenviable task of trying to hold off a hard charging Pearce and when Pearce caught him, it was going to be tough for us to mount a comeback.

Recovery was tough after that first lap and I (along with everyone else) was showing the signs of dehydration. Getting out on my second lap I worked to ride more smoothly then my first lap. I was also noticeably riding a bit slower and struggling just a bit more on some of the climbs. I still only walked one and that was due to a poor line over rooty terrain but still I could feel the fatigue from the first lap.

I rode the tight and twisty flat section much smoother this time and really came in feeling decent about my lap time though in the end I dropped a few minutes on my first lap time here. The third lap though was where the sh*t really hit the fan.

I was struggling everywhere now and turning the cranks was way harder then it should have been. Joel had started his lap ahead of me after Cargo Mike put in another blazing lap and combined with my own physical struggles I basically imploded. The lap was still in daylight and the temperature had even dropped off a bit but the way I was struggling simply compounded my dying drive. I think here I started to get into my head a bit too much which worked against my energy as well. I lost another 5 minutes from my second lap time.

My fourth lap I had started to feel better and thought I was riding pretty well, but I suppose the damage was already done. I wasn't blazing along in the night, but I was riding much more smoothly then my 3rd lap and thought I should be coming in around the same time as my third, though the darkness seemed to take more out of my lap then I realized.

There is a lesson for me in this race, though sorting out exactly what it is isn't something I've done yet. It may simply be to not go out quite as hard on my first lap of a 12+ hour relay so I save some energy for later though I think its more then that. I do think this course provided ample opportunities for me to waste energy trying to go hard in the wrong places due to the super tight and twisty nature of it.

I also swapped cogs after my first lap going from my 32x18 to 32x20. Maybe I would have actually been better off starting with the 32x20 and not killing my legs on my first lap with the harder gearing... Who knows.

It was fun riding with Jonathon and Darren no-less and as usual a pleasure listening to the antics of the various DCMTB regulars. MK's kids are a hoot and at least Emma has taken to calling me Paperclip permanently so this one seems to be here to stay.

12 Hours of Lodi Farms Results

Pictures

Hint: go to the creek crossing gallery and check out pictures 266 and 267. Awesome!

See Darren's report here.

Paradise found (almost...)

Al...most...there!!!

In a mere 24 hours, Aimee and I will be well on our way to San Jose, Costa Rica. Needless to say, the past few days have been pretty excruciating. I tend to fall into the "night before Christmas kid" category for big things like this; likely at this point my coworkers are sick and tired of hearing about my trip, and it hasn't even happened yet!

Everything is all set up though; flights confirmed, bags (mostly) packed, new goodies picked up and passports at the ready. We've got a list of things to look into but no solid plans aside from lodging and transportation and that's just how like it (though really I think we'd be fine without even the lodging set up!)

The view that will hopefully greet us into Arenal/La Fortuna tomorrow afternoon.

The first two days in Arenal will be action packed with beauty all around while it's looking like Jaco will be filled with more relaxation and beech time. Here's to cooperative weather and friendly faces! WeatherUnderground.com shows what looks like a central Florida forecast of a 30% chance of rain and t-storms every afternoon. Should keep things exciting!

Jaco Beach.

In other news, we'll be finding out tonight (hopefully) weather I'll be having a niece or a nephew! Here's hoping I get a nephew (or at least a tomboy) that I can drag into crazy mountain biking and outdoor adventures!

Another local 5k and some fun riding.

Another fun filled weekend. Friday, Aimee and I had massages scheduled for 5pm though Aimee was rear ended by an older couple from NJ on 495 who proceeded to continue driving and ignoring Aimee who was following/flashing lights/etc... at them for the next few miles. Information written down and police called reporting the hit and run and 5:01 she walks into the massage shop. Ah well, a guess thats a decent way to follow up a minor car accident... Right?

Aimee's stiff neck the next morning kept her home while I went and ran in a local 5k being held down around Greenbelt Lake. Unfortunately I found out the Turkey Trot course was not quite 5k distance, missing maybe one or two tenths, so my sub-twenty minute 5k still eludes me! This race on the other hand was a USATF certified 5k course. I ran in my Montrail Mountain Masochists, since they were pretty much the only option I had around and definitely felt like I was running in some clunkers. Could also feel some lingering hot spots from the BRR race, namely my heal and pinky on my right foot.

Other then that I felt alright; not super speedy or fresh but not necessarily sluggish. I started out around 6th or 7th after one guy went out hard for his spectating daughter and wife to see him lead the way to the lake followed by some other front runners. I managed to keep my cool early there and run a more comfortable pace to the lake where I quickly caught and passed the folks who jumped the start. Worked into 4th which I held up until about a mile to go when I caught a fellow Runner's World Forum guy, Josh who was running in his VFF's! I really only caught him because his legs were starting to wear down, this being his longest VFF run to date.

From there I held on to the finish in 3rd for a 20:15 finishing time. Amazingly, this small race had nice tech shirts for all participants AND top 3 + age group prizes! I won a free personal trainer session for my third though we were all jealous of the overall winner who earned a free pair of shoes for his efforts! Wow! I really hope these guys managed to make a little money of their fundraiser for the Greenbelt Nursery School!

After the race I headed down to Rosaryville for a couple hours of trail work followed by a post work ride with Eric B during which I found myself pretty spent. I barely ate anything during the day so when 7pm rolled around Aimee and I began an emergency dinner prep as I was crashing hard.

Sunday I met Darren, Pooch, Tyler and Jamie for some spirited laps at Fountainhead as preparatory riding for the 12 Hours of Lodi Farms in 2 weeks. First lap I rode 32x18 (mostly because I showed up late) and swapped out to a 32x20 for the second. Thinking I'll probably at least start Lodi with a 32x18 since I felt like I spun out too much at FH on the 20 and climbed everything just fine on the 18. Considering FH has much tougher hills then the Lodi course I should be good to go on the 18, though we'll see if I find myself needing to spin up faster out of the tight turns found throughout Lodi.

Earth Week Trail Gear ReUseAPalooza 2010!

Earth Week Trail Gear ReUseAPalooza 2010!

Another cool giveaway from iRunFar! Last time I won a small black diamond backpack and a couple of water bottles. I use the backpack almost everyday!

BRR Photos: Round 1

A few pics have surfaced from a few spots along the course by Aaron Schwartzbard. Thanks Aaron for being out there all day! Pretty fun to see the pictures of everyone.

These are at mile 2. A lot of focus and we're probably still a little unsure about what the day will bring...

I'm probably attempting to smile here; its just that the runners high hasn't kicked in yet!

Mile 9: I'm "high" now! We had a good group going for a couple of miles in this first out and back section.





Mile 26: Moving along, Matthew feeling a bit playful sticking out the tongue there, dropping me as was the theme of the day!

And, this is probably one of the best "running" pictures of me I've ever seen... Actually looks like I'm running strong and moving light on me feet as opposed to just shuffling along! Plus, you can't really tell there are blood stains on my shirt.

2010 Bull Run Run 50 Miler

And there it was.

The waiting seemed to take forever. Matthew and I decided on running the Bull Run Run 50 Miler sometime shortly after finishing the Potomac Heritage Trail 50k back in October last year. First it seemed like forever till the January 25th opening of registration. The wait from then till the lottery selection was then an even more excruciating wait, not sure if I'd get in or not and definitely fretting over it. Then, with the knowledge that I really was attempting this, came the wait for April 10th to finally arrive; to put myself to the test and see just what I was made of. Could I really do this? Would I crack at the mid-point? Did I stand a chance of breaking 10 hours? Much less the 9 hours that Matthew and I had been discussing?

Well the day finally arrived, and my questions could finally be answered. Going into race day I knew deep down I hadn't done quite enough in the final weeks leading up to the race. Since the March 6th Seneca Greenway 50k, my sole long run was a slow and painful slog home from work that provided me my first bruised toenail and a couple of blisters thanks to what I've come to realize were ill fitted shoes. My focus began the shift to mountain biking as the weather turned nicer and I struggled to find the time and motivation to get out for a couple of final 20 milers on the weekends leading up to the race; opting instead to get out for some fun mtb rides as the trails and weather finally permitted.

So, while I wouldn't have outright admitted any of it, I was a bit scared at what the day might reveal.

At the start Matthew and I caught up just before the send off and settled in with the group of 336 starters. We found a good tempo, targeting an 9 minute mile as an average on the flats with a similar effort level on the ups and downs and did well keeping it. We alternated the lead between us, occasionally cruising with other folks before jumping out ahead, keeping our consistent pace. I'd started the day with a long sleeve shirt over top of my short sleeve tech shirt from the Cherry Blossom 10 miler last year and ditched that around mile 16. I kept my lightweight gloves on, but that really had more to do with my lack of interest in doing the work to get them off and the fact that they were the best thing I had for wiping my nose that was draining as steadily as our pace.

We chatted with some great folks out there, many of whom were returning BRR runners. The atmosphere was great, between the cheery runners and the amazing volunteers. (I really can't stress enough how great all the support for this race was!) Everyone seemed to be having a blast!

We took our first prolonged aid stop at Rob's aid station to chat until Rob yelled at us to get a move on. From there we hit the "Do Loop" which was probably my least favorite part of the course with the continuous short but steep ups and downs that never seemed to allow any rest. It was amazing and a bit surprising though to get a view of the Occoquan River, and the boat house hosting a small race on a beautiful day.

With about 7 or 8 miles to go I was really dieing off while Matthew was feeling amazingly strong, pacing off another strong runner. He dropped back to let me know he was going to blaze through the final aid station and go hard to the finish. I told him to get going and the next thing I knew he was long gone.

From there on it was a battle of the mind and the feet, which were sore from the roots and rocks. The strategy of one foot in front of the other set in and I actually caught Matthew's "pacer" a bit after the aid station. I passed him and then he took a pit stop and for a while I thought he was gone. But he, along with another runner ended up catching and passing me (soundly) with maybe 2 miles to go and I slowly made my way in solo, getting the occasional pick me up from a random hiker or bystander.

Coming into the finish felt amazing. Folks cheered me in, as was the case at every aid station, and I cruised/stumbled up the road to the finish. I got my 1st time veteran's finishers pin, a finishers fleece and the greatest thing of all time, a green Popsicle! Chatted with Quatro and a guy who lives up the road from me in Beltsville for a few minutes before topping off my water bottle with ice water and heading for the bench to swap tales with Matthew and watch the runners come in.

My finishing time of 8 hours and 37 minutes basically smashed the goal finishing time of 9 hours and most amazingly, I felt great through at least mile 40 of this race! Meanwhile at Seneca the final 6 to 8 miles of 31 were pretty rough. Here though we hit the 50k mark within minutes of our Seneca finish times, still felt strong and were running significantly slower (though steadier) miles to begin with. Obviously, one lesson learned here is to not go out quite so hard to begin the race!

I think another lesson, which I'd say I already knew, was to not drop the mileage as hard and early as I did before the big race. Just a couple of weekend 20 milers probably would've done the trick for my finishing strength, though my base certainly served me well. Next time though, my goal will be to actually finish fast, strong and feeling good. Getting dropped was tough, and so far I have not finished an Ultra with any kick left in the legs. I want to be able to be competitive at the end, even if it's just for breaking some time barrier, like that ever so slightly elusive 8:30 mark.

Congrats to everyone out there that raced; especially Matthew for kicking my a** in those final 7 or 8 miles. Gaining 30+ seconds per mile in the final few is no small feat for sure. Also, to both the new Male and Female course record holders. It was great to share a course with these super fast runners, and even get to see them streaming by on a beautiful day.

I'll post up some pictures once they start to appear but for now you should click on the image of my shirt above for a quick lesson on why Vaseline and band aids are good things.

Results