The Tour (part ii: The Hay is in the Barn)

 The Hay is in the Barn

"The hay is in the barn” is a sports expression that means that preparations are over and the athlete (or team) is ready for the event. The expression first became popular among college football coaches. “All the hay Is in the barn now” was said by the California Bears football head coach and “The hay is in the barn” was said by the Nebraska Cornhuskers football head coach in November 1950. The term became used by runners (especially marathoners) in the late 1990s. “The hay is in the barn” means that the runner is ready for the race; practice runs can be tapered until race day. [source: https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_hay_is_in_the_barn]

5 days to go…

Tour de los Tejas, by Trail Racing OverTexas, is literally within sight now. There is truly nothing left to do except dial in my plan, or rather, what I expect I might be able to control. As any ultrarunner I may craft a plan ahead of time, but I must be ready to throw it out the minute the run starts.

Training Update

I just finished a 13.8 mi run this morning marking my last long effort before the race day this upcoming

My final 8 weeks of training, including my 5 peak weeks.

Friday. In my prior blog I outlined how I wanted to accomplish my final few peak training weeks. So how did it all shake out? I completed my prior 100 mile race at the beginning of December (Loup Garou Trail Run). From there a took a down week of ~40ish miles & then followed up with a 100 km (~62 mile) week. With this ramp I went straight into my final 5 weeks of peak mileage averaging 93.7 miles per week. The final week of this was with an effort at one of my favorite TROT races: Running the Rose 108km (Jan 23rd). I managed to put forth a great effort here to pull off another victory and lower the course record. This helped build my confidence in my own fitness and validated my prior weeks of training effort I have put in. I am highlighting my current final block of training, but I have been building up mileage ever since the summer and knowing this race was on my calendar. Looking back in my training logs on STRAVA this maybe close to my peak fitness I have ever been to date, at least according the STRAVA fitness & freshness metrics. 

STRAVA Fitness & Freshness metric graph. For what it is worth....at least it gives me some confidence my body is ready as I will ever be. 

2021-01-23 Running The Rose 108km in Tyler State Park. Love these trails as I have run this race the last 4 years we have lived in Texas. I used this hard effort as my last big tune up for my fitness leading into Tour De Los Tejas. My recovery has gone well. Photo Credit: JJustisPhotography | Trail Racing OverTexas

Today's Logistics Planning

As this weekend draws to a close and I have to put in a couple more days of work I am taking the opportunity to plan out what I can now. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

• familiarizing myself with the map and potential stops along the route. I will be printing off a small copy of stops to carry with me (for reference), and also provide my family with this information.
• uploading the .gpx file to my Garmin fēnix® 6X Pro Solar
• Starting to organize the essential items that I will be placing in my NATHAN Trailmix 12 L race pack that I will have on me the entire time
• Setting aside my optional gear and spare clothing for my crew support vehicle. (Note: my family may only be able to visit me once per day – if that. I am really relying upon myself this race as almost 100% self-supported, and am treating it as such. Bonus stops and help from my family and/or road angels will just be a bonus).
• ordering some last-minute items on Amazon Prime to ensure I have what I need. This includes some of my favorite snacks and a spare small portable battery pack.

Shoe Update

I have settled on my journey run shoe of choice as the Altra Paradigm 5. I even got a nice Red, White, and Blue color scheme to represent the Texas colors. I thought it was only appropriate for a giant loop in the state.

the Altra Paradigm 5.

The Race

Photo: UltraSignup

Start Time: Friday 10:00 AM February 5th

Start Location: Texas State Capitol (1100 Congress Ave, Austin, TX)

Registered Runners: UltraSignup

Route Distance: listed at 600 km; .gpx file show ~614 km (~382 mi); actual distance: t.b.d.

State Parks: we visit 7 State Parks along the route! (1. McKinney Falls State Park, 2. Lockhart State Park, 3. Palmetto State Park, 4. Brazos Bend State Park, 5. Stephen F. Austin State Park, 6. Buescher State Park, 7. Bastrop State Park)

Live Tracking: link to be shared on race day, also on UltraSignup too. Live updates from every runner must occur each day to the race director at 07:00 & 19:00 to ensure runner safety and just general status. Follow along on TROT social media feeds.

Final cutoff: Monday 10:00 AM February 15th

A Journey Run style race brought to you by Trail Racing Over Texas

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I will try and post regularly on my Instagram this week leading up to the race and with any luck I will continue to post a long string of stories during my journey to keep everyone up-to-date. Honestly this is more for myself for documentation and for my wife & kids to follow along. But I am happy if you want to join in the fun and see how I progress. Thank you everyone whom has wished me encouragement thus far.

...tick...

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...tock...

...the journey continues soon....

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The Tour (part i: Preparation)

The Tour is Coming...

24 days to go…

I am sitting here today on a cold South Texas morning thinking about how I am going to tackle this monumental challenge of 380+ miles around the Central-Southeast Texas region. The Tour de los Tejas, put on by Trail Racing OverTexas, is nearly here and am I tired and a bit achy after yesterday’s miles. Right now I should be working but I am taking a break to note down some of my thoughts. The Tour is starting to take a lot thought space in mind lately as the event creeps ever closer. This often happens to me, as I tend to obsess over a certain race until I get it done. I will research all the details ahead of time, crunching the numbers, knowing all the ins and outs. Often I don’t always write a ton of things down, but I will go back to the website or the reference material again and again until I just know and basically memorize the data prior to the race. These attributes show my obsessive compulsive side of my personality that I know exists in a lot of ultrarunners, and definitely has a space in my personality. I have learned to embrace this.

Tour de los Tejas. It's a trip around the state of Texas, primarily covering the areas surrounding Austin, Gonzales, Bastrop and Houston. We are stopping at all things Texas including Texas State Parks, Torchy’s Tacos, Whataburger, Shiner Brewery, The Texas Independence Trail and Buc-ees!!
Credit Trail Racing Over Texas.

My Training:

My legs are achy as I have been building up my mileage throughout the last quarter of 2020. Currently I am in my last couple weeks of my peak training and will finish off my “training” with my Running The Rose 108 km effort on Jan-23^rd in Tyler, TX (I love this race and am going for the 3-peat victory). After this race it will give me a full 12 day taper period where I’ll run very easy and light mileage prior to the start of the Tour. Working remotely from home I will just casually get my runs in and stay active by walking with my family during the days. My goal is to have peak here in the last 6-8 weeks leading into February. I have been a relatively low mileage ultrarunner (*during training) compared to a lot of our community. So for me trying to peak with 5 weeks of 90+ miles has been a challenge. This is the first time I’ve really attempted this type of mileage in training alone and for such a sustained period, so I am hoping this pays off during the event and feel strong into the later days of the event.

• All my running data and training is available for public view on STRAVA.
• Below in my training logs the last couple weeks for reference:

My training log for the lead up weeks to Tour de los Tejas 600 km. Race starts on Feb-05th.

 

My Gear:

In terms of the technical side of my readiness for Tour de los Tejas I am basically done very little yet. But here is a summary of my technical prep in terms of my gear thus far:

• Pack: I have just recently been adding in my training runs with my fully loaded NATHAN Trailmix 12 L race pack to get used to running miles with that all the time. I have used it exclusively the last 10 or so runs and plan and doing so for the next couple weeks as well leading up to the event.
• Shoes: I have not settled on a perfect pair yet for the event: I will need to purchase a brand new pair (possibly 2 so I have a backup). I will go with mot likely the Altra Torin 4.5 Plush or perhaps the HOKA ONE ONE Cliffton 7 or HOKA ONE ONE Bondi 7  – I am still trying to decide and weigh my options.
• Apparel: no questions here…wearing all my rabbit gear as this is essentially all I own as I have been in love and using their gear even before I was affiliated with them. Some of my favorite outer wear during the cooler Texas weather include the podium jacket, let ’er zip hoodie, and let ‘er zip vest. For the long sleeves I wear the super sleeves or the ever comfy EZ tee LS editions. I also utilize the BOCO/rabbit cold weather gear with their performance beanie and run gloves to keep me at the right temperature in the colder months. I will be using most if not all of this during the Tour for sure.
• GPS Watch: I will be using my trusty Garmin fēnix® 6X - Pro Solar Edition. I have owned this for 1 year now (upgraded from a fēnix® 3HR). The watch is a beast and is perfect for my ultrarunning needs. I wrote an initial blog review on this when I first got it, but essentially it lasts the advertised 66 hours and thus I don’t even need to worry about charging until well into day 3 of the event. Garmin watches can be charged while using and so I end up with 1 .gpx file for the entire event, even if I have to charge my watch more then once. Pretty cool feature and functionality to be able to do this.
• Others: I’ll be using Drymax socks, and my trusty Trail Toes for all my antifriction needs. In terms of eyewear I’ll have a pair of my favorite goodr with me for sure! For my night running I have NATHAN headlamps (Halo Fire), some clip on NATHAN strobe lights and a reflective NATHAN bandolier safety vest for on these roads. I will also carry a Anker battery pack for recharging my watch and/or headlamps. Any of my spare clothes and gadgets will be in my Victory Sportdesign gear bags in our van (which my family will meet up with me with occasionally). 

 

Nutrition:

A staple Texas road-trip stop.

I am not super picky in what I eat and drink during my ultra events. This is a good thing in terms of adaptability I feel. For this event being a solo type journey run I will be relying on what I can carry in my race pack and then relying on stores along the way. I will most definitely be stopping at all the Buc-ee's along the route (a true Texas staple stop). So one of my main key items will be my debit card. For some of my carrying food I will also stock up on some gels and bars I enjoy.

Another strategy I am exploring in stocking a large YETI Tundra 45 cooler in the back of our family van. Tentatively we are thinking that my wife and kids will come and visit me periodically during the event, so if I have all my favorite foods in a mobile aid station in the back of the vehicle it will be a nice bonus, especially in the middle of some of these roads between towns and stores. (I will also carry spare clothing, socks, jackets, and shoes in the van to be a mobile changing station as needed).

 

Sleep Strategy:

I have done two 200 milers thus far and this is my limited experience with sleeping during ultra events. During both these 200s I slept around 3 hours total during ~63 hour efforts (that about 4% of the total time for sleep in a 2.5 day event). I’ve run a lot of 100 milers at this point and am comfortable with one-day events, but this is reaching into the unknown. I listen to all the ultrarunning podcasts and read the various research articles, and well sleep is still a little well known and defined area of the human potential during ultra endurance events. I think sleep is fairly highly individual. We will see what pans out, but I’ll aim for maybe 90 minutes each 24-hr period. The goal is to time these best I can for early morning to coincide with natural circadian rhythms. Secondly, I will incorporate short 10-20 minute dirt naps as needed, hoping to avoid these (but we all know these will happen). In general my goal is to sleep minimally each day in order to function and keep moving forward relatively efficiently still. Where and how I sleep is still t.b.d..

Sleep - a crucial part of multi-day ultras. Taken during 2020 Franklins 200, a TROT event.
Photo Credit: Trail Racing Over Texas | Let's Wander Photography

Goals:

I am not going to lay out a specific number here of what I am aiming for. I have a coupe thoughts of what I might be capable of, but this being basically twice as far as I have ever run before I really have no idea to be able to accurately predict a certain time. I have researched some of the other ultra events such as 6-day events and other journey style runs like Vol State to see what distances/times have been runs to give me a ball park, but again I am not going to put a number out there just yet.

 

Anything else you what to know about my build up and preparation? 

Shoot me a message in the comment box below or reach out on STRAVA or Instagram (those are best spots to reach me). Registration is still open till Jan-15th if you want to join us!

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Thank you for following along and I look forward to the challenge ahead. I will write a race/journey recap after the event. Trail Racing Over Texas (TROT) has secured live tracking for the event so all the runners will have live tracking throughout the event – for all you bubble watchers out there! I will post the link to this closer to the event for people to follow along, also follow TROT webpage and on their social media.

Official map of the Tour de los Tejas 600 km (which naturally is slightly more).

Stats as provided by the most up-to-date .gpx file from TROT.