Thursday, October 24, 2019

Suffering from Big's Backyard Ultra Withdraw?

The feat at this years Big's Backyard Ultra (BBYU) was awesome. Are you suffering update withdraw? Well you are probably not alone! The epic battle the last 2 years out there on that farm has been very exciting for us ultra fans to follow along with every 45-59 mins refreshing and clicking our various feeds to follow along, wondering who made it, who dropped out, and who is left. The simple concept of endless loops where speed really doesn't matter has become a very addicting thing to follow especially when Laz puts on the main event each year at his farm where we all tune in and read his poetic hourly updates as the story unfolds.
2019 BBYU Champion Maggie Guterl who became Last Man Woman Human Standing after 60 loops, 60 hours, 250 miles
Photo: @do_your_impossible

I can not wait for my chance to run some loops…again. Come join me in April 2020 at The Game put on by Spectrum Trail Racing, for a chance at a golden ticket for the Last Human Standing on Earth (next October back in Tennessee).  Spectrum puts on great events. I ran with them the past 2 years in this format. Last year they were an affiliate for BBYU but we collectively didn’t run enough loops to be one of the golden tickets winners for the event. Check out my blog write up on it here for 2019 event.
The Game Backyard Ultra by Spectrum Trail Racing (2020-Apr-18 | Columbus, TX)

Spectrum’s Race Directors (Mallory & Jason Brooks) were on top of it now and got onto the golden ticket list for 2020. You can see the popularity of this format by the sheer number of golden ticket races and subsequent affiliates for next year’s Big’s event in Bell Buckle, Tennessee (see picture below). I foresee unless you have one of the coveted ultra-resume that gets you an invite or are a winner of one of these golden ticket entries you may not even have a chance to get to the event on Laz’s farm. I think the general lottery format may be drastically reduced if not gone all together. He has generally capped the event around 70-ish runners which I read somewhere has more to do with the size of the event and his yard, which makes complete sense.

Check out the google doc for all things BBYU: Backyard Stats (by Rich Cranswick) - you can also find this on the Big's Backyard Ultra Facebook Group Page which is where it is linked from. The visual below we be updated and show the progress for the 2020 BBYU entry process which actually began as of August of 2019. 
2020 BBYU golden ticket (yellow: 38) & affiliate races (red: 36). Updated as of 2019-10-21
So if you are suffering from withdraw, no worries, there is still a lot of backyard ultras to follow. Check in with the Facebook group as each of these races often update progress on here, and often Laz himself shouts out praise to the winner and the assist runners.

Thank you Gary "Laz" Cantrell for creating a captivating concept. 
I hope to see you on your farm one day and meet Big himself.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

An Unexpected 100 Mi PR

A Jog in the Ouachita Woods 

AT100 | Ultramarathon #046

Well I set off to Arkansas this weekend in hopes of somewhat redeeming myself from my last couple race performances. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't disappointed per say in how things went, it was just a combination of bad luck and conditions that made it so they were not my best runs (check out my prior blog on it here).  The Arkansas Traveller 100 was my fall A-race as it was my Western States qualifier for 2020. I did not have a backup plan for this, so it was all or none in that regards. With that I set off to Arkansas on a solo trip because sadly we could not make it logistically for my family to come and crew and cheer. Arkansas was to be my 13th state to run in thus far (check out my heatmap in my data section for more nerd stats like this).

Friday was a mandatory per-race meeting and so i had planned ahead and booked off work on Thursday for travel. This means i could take my time, which is a rarity in my normal planning of things. So later on Thursday morning after getting my 2 oldest daughters to school I took off and headed out on the drive north to Arkansas. I made to Lake Sylvia campground safely and set up my tent for the weekend. The campground was nearly exactly 1 mile from the start line, which was perfect logistically. At the check in we actually had to weigh in - which is extremely old school method of tracking runners. This might be the only race left in the country doing this.
When i travel solo i use this convenient 1-man tent. Better than sleeping in my car, which i used to do.
Right before race start. (L to R: Trevor Meding- rabbit, TROT, Victory | 
Sean Nakamura,- rabbit, altra | Martin Schneekloth- altra)
The night went fairly smoothly as I slept well and only woke around 04:15 when all the other tenting runners around me started to get ready (my alarm wasn't scheduled to go off till 04:30).  I got up and put on my rabbit attire and double checked i had all my gear in my Victory Sportdesign drop bags and my Nathan pack. I flung on my headlamp and started to trek towards the start line. A nice little 1.1 mi walk to the start area in the cool Arkansas morning. Arrived and got my bid...#120. Met a couple fellow ultrarunners I knew including my rabbitELITEtrail teammate Sean Nakamura who was about to complete the "Great 8" of 100s (check out that story here). And just like that the race director called us all outside and lined up on the road.

Saturday | The Race

The course is an old school course that consists of only 2 miles of pavement (1 at the start, and the incoming mile at the finish). The remainder of the course is made of up mostly double track unmaintained jeep roads and old gravel roads that appeared to rarely be used save the odd hunters and campers with ATVs. For a full detailed description on the course the AT100 website provides all the details you need. Basics it a large 18 mi figure 8 loop (that nearly returns to the start) and then is a long 41 mi ish out & back.

Chasing runners on the singletrack of the Ouahita Trail
Knowing my own stupidity and previous record in races i purposely held back on the start and was not near the front. I just casually started off and did a medium pace for the first mile as we got to the first turn and veered off onto some side gravel road. From there i just settled into a comfortable pace for the remainder of the first 9 miles which brought us to the 2 aid station. Here was where the course dove into Ouachita Trail for the next 8 miles which was some awesome singletrack section through the woods. This was by far my favorite part of the course as i really enjoy singletrack trails. It was also fairly condensed with runners at this point and i found myself at the back of a 6-8 person congo line for the entire section. This was good as it kept my pace in check and i didn't go to fast but yet had people to pace with. Those 8 miles flew by quickly as it was scenic and nice and cool still as the sun rose through the Ozark woods. At the very end of this section we emerged by Lake Sylvia aid station in the campground parking (near where my tent was, and only 1 mi from the start). Coming out of the woods into the parking lot there was like 75-100 people there cheering and yelling. It was really cool, and something i had not witnessed before in a 100 miler like this. It was the first crew opportunity and easily located to get to, but i was not expecting it just under 3 hours into our run. The large crew/crowds at the crew accessible aid stations would be a theme in this race which was pretty neat to experience.

I came into the aid grabbed minimal food, including a nice grilled cheese, and refilled my fluids and took
AT100 trail cam Crossroads (outbound mile 18) | photo: David Turner
off again in about 30 seconds. This was where i separated from the other 8 ish people i had been following on the Ouachita Trail. I was still feeling good from a relaxed pace and the boost of the crowd was awesome so i just kept on trucking. The next 2 miles was all gravel road uphill where we then ventured off into more wilderness off road ATV style roads (the trail cam grabbed the outbound picture). Not the most technical trails ever, but you definitely need to pay attention or you will roll and ankle or kick a unmovable rock in no time. Some sections were fast and others required you to look down and ensure careful foot placement. Arkansas Traveller presented a unique challenge in the fact in was not super steep climbing and descending but it was a fair amount of it. In fact the course was an overall 12,000 ft of gain and descent (24,000 ft of elevation change overall). But the nice fact was a lot of the uphills were gradual enough to power hike/ light jog and as you regained your heart rate you could then bomb the downhills which would inevitably follow soon after. I continued this pattern as it was working very well for me this day.

The next major crew spot was at mile 31 (50 km): Lake Winona. I came into this spot still running well and not really aware of what position i was in. I figured I was positioned in the top 15% at this point.  Again the cheering from the crews and spectators was something unique and I really enjoyed the boost again. From here I just kept on cruisin' doing my power hike ups and running the downs. This momentum made it so i could continue to run the flats as well as I had not tired myself out at all at this point.  The heat of the day was starting to show its prowl but the Arkansas heat was no match to the current Texas heat my body was used to the past few weeks. Everything was still clicking nicely until the next major crew spot at mile 48: Powerline. Here I stopped briefly at my Victory drop bag, switched out my buffs and then grabbed a singe pack of my Trail Toes to reapply my anti-friction to help prevent the chaffing issues. Again I continued on still feeling fairly strong considering the mileage covered thus far.
Powerline aid station outbound | just about half way done

Powerline to Turn Around was long road sections all gravel roads but very scenic. When i was
approaching the final few miles getting to the end of the course i figured i would start seeing the leaders doubling back in no time. But as i got closer i still had no idea what position i was in and still had not seen anyone. Could i really be that close to the front? Did i miss someone passing me already? I was not quite sure. As I was playing this thought game in my head i finally saw someone approaching from the other direction. Then i started to wonder exactly how many more were ahead of me. I was hoping i would be in top 10 and have a chance at making a run at good placement going into the last 40 ish miles.
...2...
...3....(fellow rabbit teammate, Ashley Nordell | rabbitPRO, who was crushing the women's race)...
....and well that was it. I only saw 3 people in front of me before I finally approached the Turn Around aid station. I literally could not believe it and now i was wondering if I could hold on now that i had this confirmed information of where I stood currently in 4th place. I filled my fluids, downed some coke, ate some more fruit, and thanked the volunteers. With that I headed back out towards the long inward 41 mile push to the finish line.
Turn Around aid station | furthest point on the out & back

My next mini goal was to get back to the Powerline aid and get my headlamp, which would also be that  nice round number of 100 km done. I was still running all the downs and flats at this point. I was starting to wonder how long I could hold onto the pace I was setting for the race. I just kept truckin' forward and eventually I saw someone in front of me....did i just catch up to 3rd? Then i realized that it was a single runner (both 2nd and 3rd place had pacers when we passed just before the Turn Around aid). This person then looked back at some point and saw me. They slowed down and let me catch and at this point I realized I knew this person: it was Heather Gothard. She was out running just getting in some training miles as she was at the Powerline aid waiting for another friend she was supporting. She waited for me and impromptu paced/ran with me into the Powerline as we chatted for the next 3 miles. It was a nice break and gave me a chance to get out of my own head for a little bit. Heather was asking me how it was going thus far and it was here when i realized exactly what pace I was on and headed for (I run with a buff over my watch so i don't fixate on time, distance, etc.). My pace had me on track for like a 17.5 hr finish which is just bonkers to me, but I was still feeling well so had not slowed my pace as of yet. Coming back up the slight hill into the aid I thanked Heather for the couple miles and remembered to head directly to my Victory drop bag and grab my headlamp and battery for my watch. Downed some more coke, grabbed some quesadillas and fruit and headed out to the cheer of the crowd again (so cool for the support)!
Powerline aid station inbound | nearly 70 miles done

Now my goal was to remain as strong as I could and maintain pace before the sunset and darkness crept in. I was doing fairly well but began to slow around mile 73. I recall coming into the Bahama Mama aid and not feeling 100%. But then i realized I should try and go to the bathroom, the thought didn't really occur to me naturally more of a decision point, but it helped a lot as I felt much better after this. I guess all the calories I was consuming had some much needed blood flow assisting with some digestion.

After some more fluids and this little bathroom break relief I got back up and headed out now turning on my headlamp for the first time as the tunnel of trees and branches made it nearly complete darkness. At this point despite feeling better my legs started to get heavy and I could feel my pace slowing. The walk breaks finally started to creep in. However I was super proud of myself lasting 70+ miles of not walking on the flats to this point, so I was not down on myself at all. I just wanted to keep it going so as to not get caught from behind and loose position as I was in the middle of a race. I kept my forward progress going and slogged my way back to Lake Winona. My right foot pad was starting to bug me and I thought I might have a blister  forming there. So I got there and asked the medic to pop & tape it up for me. Turns out it was just raw and not a blister yet, so he managed to add a moleskin on there just for cushioning to help with the impact. I spent probably 10 minutes in this aid station which was my largest break yet. It was worth it as I got in some broth and noodles while get my foot worked on. I placed my sock back on and laced up my shoe again and stood up and noticed a slight difference, to the good, already. I headed up the hill out of the aid station and again the crews and spectators cheered me as I left running. Pretty cool to have that happen in the dark out at an aid station late into the evening.
Lake Winona aid station inbound | Slight break here for foot (right) repair

My foot was much better although my legs kept getting heavier with only about 15 miles to go. I just kept convincing myself to run when I could and take minimal walk breaks. I had no idea how far or who was behind me, but I did not want to give up position as I am a competitive person once the race is on.  My new realistic goal at this point was to try and get a sub-20 hr finish. I made it to the second last aid station just after mile 90 and utilized a chair. I sat down and got some potato soup from the volunteers there. This got some energy back for sure! As I was being lazy in the chair enjoying that amazing soup a couple headlights appeared coming into the aid station. Just like that I had been caught....and passed....the runner basically didn't stop. His pacer filled his bottle and they kept going within seconds. With that I got up made sure I had everything and headed back out now chasing 4th place with approximately 9 miles to go.
Electric Tower aid station inbound

I ran out seeing the headlamps about 0.5 mi in front. I just kept a constant pace, not really gaining but not losing either. Then all of a sudden they stopped and I saw one headlamp shining back at me. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it until I got slightly closer and saw that the runner was bent over having a little puke section on the side of the road. This allowed me to pass them and regain 4th place again. I probably got about 0.5 mi in front of them when they started back out. The race was on again. I maintained a better pace now and we rolled into the last aid Station at mile 95. I came in had my bottle lids off already and refilled them before the volunteers could get me anything else. "No thanks!" I said when they asked what they could get me to eat, "I have to stay ahead...." and with that I took off, and the runner behind rolled in separated less than 200 m now with 10 km to run.
Pumpkin Patch aid station | last top till the finish

With the realization of a full on race now I pushed my pace as much as I could. It felt like 7 min/mi but of
The last 10 km was a full on race for 4th overall.
Screen grab from STRAVA.
AT100 trail cam Crossroads (inbound mile 99) | photo: David Turner
course it was more like 8.5-9 min/mi, but relatively speaking that is pretty fast considering I was 95 miles in at this point. The next section back was 4 miles of double track jeep road with multiple puddles to sidestep in the low lying spots and avoiding the large rocks to kick. This part consisted of me running on the side of the trail hiding close to the side as to somewhat hide my headlamp to provide the illusion I was further ahead, along with me looking back every few minutes to view where their headlamps were. There was little break in pace and I kept pushing on. Finally I popped out of the jeep road and came back to the gravel road....2.5 miles to go as the volunteer did a bib check-in here so the race HQ knew who was coming in. This last part was 2 miles all downhill on gravel, I pushed my legs as fast as I could go while still glancing back. By the time I got to the pavement I thought I was somewhat safe as I had not seen their headlamp shining at me, but then a final glance and I saw they had hit the bottom of the hill as well and were now coming onto the pavement. With less than 0.5 mi to go it was now down to a kick finish at a 100 miler....oh and there was a nice 300 ft incline on the pavement road at this point back up to the lodge where the finish was. I stopped looking back. I put my head down and ran as fast as I could which included the uphill. At this point many people's car are parked there and I started getting a few claps, but also some weird looks as I don't think they realized why I was running so hard. Once at the top of the hill running down the last 0.2 mi passing all the parked cars I saw the finish banner. I turned the corner into the lodge and finished still in my sprint, and just collapsed. The race director and finish volunteers weren't quite sure what to make of it at first, but I managed to mutter that "he's right behind me" as I lie there in the grass trying to regain my breath. With that sure enough, they came down under the banner about 1 minute behind me. I got up and went over and thanked him for an awesome race and congratulated him on his finish.

Results

102.39 mi | 11,627 ft+ | 19:40:23 | 4th overall (M3)
STRAVA summary here: https://www.strava.com/activities/2767638834/overview

  • Achieved my 2020 Western States qualifier -- this will be year 2 in the lottery for me
  • Achieved my initial goal of sub-24hr
  • Achieved my 100 mi PR by 27 mins (previous was 2017 Brazos Bend 20:07:28 | 931 ft+)
  • Ran my 46th ultramarathon
Arkansas Traveller 100 | sub-24 hour buckle is colored just to add bit more flare.
AT100 buckle award presentation 2019-10-06 | Video: Heather Gothard 
Post race with my rabbit teammates after receiving our buckles on Sunday's award presentation.
(L) Ashley Nordell | rabbitPRO | F1 (3rd overall) | 18:12:20
(R) Sean Nakamura | rabbitELITEtrail | 60th overall | 26:39:48 -- completion of the "Great 8" of 100s

Thank you

A big shout out to my 2019 supporters:
rabbit | rabbitELITEtrail Team
Trail Racing Over Texas | Team TROT
Victory Sportdesign | Team Victory
Nathan Sports Inc | Team Nathan

Gear Used

Gear Bags: VictorySportdesign
Drop Bag: VictorySportdesign Coyote II (x2: one at Lake Winona, one at Powerline)
Shirtsrabbit short sleeve
Shortsrabbit FKT 3"
ShoesAltraRunning TIMP 1.5
SocksDrymax Socks 1 pair
Headwearrabbit (BOCO gear), TeamTROT cap
Sunglassesgoodr
Watch: Garmin Fenix 3 HR
HeadlampNathanSports Inc Halo Fire (x2)
HydrationNathan Sports Inc VaporKrar 2.0 12L
NutritionGU energy, fruit, Gatorade, coca-cola, potatoes

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

It Doesn't Always Get Worse (Does It?)

1 Step Back. 2 Steps Forward.

As a runner, you have probably heard the saying "Relentless Forward Progress" which happens to be a well known book title by Bryan Powell. This book title is cited many times over in the podcasts and writings of ultrarunners these days. It conjures up the idea that as long as you are moving forward everything will turn out in your favor in the end. Well I'm here to say sometimes that is bullshit. At times you will step backwards and sometimes progress is not always in the direction you want. I am not trying to be pessimist but more portray the idea of reality.

I have a total of 45 ultramarathons now: a couple great, some good, and yes a few that I would call bad ones. Most runners, if you ask them, won't dive deep into the bad runs or the bad races they have had, but i am here to help show that these backward steps are not only inevitable but can keep you grounded in reality. I have never been coached and so all of the knowledge of my running career has been self taught. In this journey of learning how to run and train for long distances I have made a lot of mistakes.

My inspiration for this post is the fact my last 2 races have been less than ideal. But first let me go back and explain some of the other experiences I've had that made me reflect on this idea of how progress doesn't always feel like moving forward.

During my first ever trail race experience at River Valley Revenge (RVR).
The expression sums it up. | 2016- 06-18
As I mentioned when i first started running i was self-taught and did not have any high school running, college running or any other run experience to rely on. I simply started running and happened to fall into running trails very soon after. In fact, my first trail race (River Valley Revenge 25 km) I learned that trail running distance is always an "ish" and never exact when we ended up with 28.07 km. Those last 3 km were a huge surprise as this was my longest run ever to date already. Secondly this run actually taught me how hard trail running could be (as well as fun!).

My first few ultras I did not understand hydration nor nutrition. This led to a multitude of issues and tough times. I think back now and realize how stupid i was. I would often cramp up and thought it was just part of doing ultramarathons. Being a true introvert I didn't really engage with my fellow trail runners to find out that i was basically just not providing myself the proper care during races (i.e. calories and hydration). It took time for me to learn that I was simply doing it wrong, thanks to experience, listening to various podcasts, and finally discussing issues with other ultra runners. 3.5 years into running, and 3 years into ultra running, I now fully understand what a bonk is all about.

River Valley Revenge 100 mi | 2018-Jun-16

My first true bonk lesson, also resulted in my first and only DNF to date. You can read the detailed blog post on that here, but essentially I got severely behind in caloric intake and simply could not catch up. The nature of this course was minimal aid stations throughout the loop and so by the time I got to where my crew (wife) could meet me I had to take a long break just to even comprehend how bad of shape i was in. The result of this was bad leg cramping for miles and my mind being completely foggy and feeling like i just wanted to lie down and sleep (which may have been a great option in retrospect!). At this point in my ultra running i thought that since this was a 100 mi run that this was just how hard it was supposed to be. I was oblivious to the fact i was simply just not taking care of myself to the extent i should be. Eventually the thoughts of quitting got into my mind and after half way i pulled the plug.

Colorado Crossing 50 mi | 2019-Sep-14

After moving to Texas I had learned a lot about slowing down in the heat and just taking whatever pace came to me on that day. But last month at Colorado Crossing I was not expecting the summer heatwave in Texas to be lingering for so long.  That is not my excuse though I was ready for the heat and knew it was going to be hot and somewhat exposed on this course, as i had run it in 2018 as well. I went into this run hoping for a good chance at an fast-ish 50 mi run pace for me (for reference i finished CC50 in 2018 in 09:13:01).  So how hard was 2019 version in that Texas 100f heat...? Turns out, Damn hard for me!!
The expressions say it all. I also thought this quote was perfect for how my run went.
Photos:  JJustis Photography / Trail Racing Over Texas
I had gone out on loops 1&2 in good pace and was feeling well and ready for a good race with a group of 4 of us at the lead. Then..pow...during loop 3 everything came to a halt and the heat and conditions smacked me in the face. I was unable to run without muscles starting to cramp and spasm and I was having harder time getting calories in than usual. This reduced me to a hike walk pace that I had to maintain for the last 25 mi of this 46 mi effort. I had to puke and rally 2 separate times. Ultramarathons are hard, even if you run a lot of them. In the end my mind beat my body and I was able to grind out a finish, but it was anything but easy.
Getting checked out and cooled down after literally snail pace to the end, but I finished.
Photos:  JJustis Photography / Trail Racing Over Texas

Mission Tejas 50 km | 2019-Sep-28

Last weekend was going to be my 3rd time running this 50 km out at Mission Tejas State Park. I was looking forward to it as a fast effort and a little redemption from my prior CC50, as mentioned above.  I love this course as it is beautiful trails within the tall pines north of Houston. I had the aim of running sub-5 hr (as I had done the prior 2 years), and with hopes of even dipping closer to that 4 hr 30 min mark. Texas humidity would be the culprit today as it was ~80 f at the start line in the dark at 06:00 am, and we all knew it would only just get warmer as the day progressed. The day was very humid and made it nearly impossible to shed body heat. I slowed down and took my time, packed my buff with ice each loop placing it around my neck - it definitely helped. The nature of this course is 2 short 5 km loops that return to the same main aid station, which is then repeated 5 times to accumulate the 50 km distance. With all the other various distances also sharing the course and staggered start times, once we were out on loop 2 and 3 I really had no idea what place i was in nor did i really care as the humidity was slowing my pace drastically. I knew i would not have a great time, but i was hoping for a decent effort as my body felt great i just couldn't move in that sauna like humidity out there. I could tell everyone else was feeling the exact same effects. Realizing my goals were out of reach mid race i used my experience to put this aside and just try to make the most of my day based on the conditions (this is were i am taking a step backward). I proceeded to continue on and finished the race in a slow time...relative to my prior 2 runs here. In fact, my time of 05:45:29 was over 1 hour slower than last year, but i somehow still managed to sneak onto the podium as 3rd overall. The day was hard for everyone, I could not lose sight of that fact (the winning time from this year was also nearly 1 hour slower than 2018).
Feeling as good as I look, but luckily a few bottles of fluid and i was fine in no time. My daughters don't seem phased.
Photo: Katie Meding

-----
It has taken me time in ultrarunning to understand that the process of improvement is not always race to race, but sometimes year to year (or perhaps longer). The fact that my 2 previous races have not gone to plan, so to speak, does not deter me from moving forward. I get that a misstep here does not even matter in the grand scheme. I feel fit and am looking forward to my upcoming 100 miler in Arkansas. I'm just having to learn that a bad race is progress forward in it's own way, teaching me how to be better when i meet those similar obstacles next time.