Rose Pedals

Anatomy of A Rose

How My Crazy Analytical Mind Works Sometimes

Here I am two sleeps away from another ultramarathon...my 85th in fact. Just 100 km I say to myself, no sweat, I guess I better start worrying about what I might what to pack tomorrow since the race start is about 36 hours away. I just finished up my daily run this evening, a nice short 3.1 Mi (5 km) run around the neighborhood to loosen up my legs. While out on my run I my mind was wondering about what my game plan for the weekend. I have been through this 84 times before now, heading into my 85th ultramarathon, so I don’t sweat the small things. But as a data geek and a spreadsheet numbers guy I got to thinking how my time might stack up this year.

Now I don’t look ahead at the entrants list, I don’t know whom will be there (Note: Bryan McKenney & Matt Zmolek I know will make an appearance as we are the only 2 other people, besides me searching for the 5th and final white rose since TROT has been in charge of this race. Secondly, I did notice another ultra friend Brad Taylor mentioned something about the race as well on social media last week, so I guess I know 3 other names in total). Honestly though I don’t know the number or people nor anything else about the list.

Having run this race the last 4 years I know the course, I know the park and I know exactly how I need to execute the run itself. But what exactly can I do on the day? Will I be able to continue to improve my times? Can I set another course record or have I peaked out having run a great race last year? Has my build up over this holidays been enough? Did I get enough elevation in during my annual California holiday visit? These are all the thoughts running through my mind as I enjoyed my slow miles and then a post run warm shower. I do not think this is normal way of thinking, but to me this is how it is. My mind is always racing with numbers and ways of tracking things. It has served me well over the years as it is now a good portion of my day job in IT Project Management and the scheduling and active scheduling management of multiple global projects we have juggling right now.

Instead of just looking at my numbers and starring at my screen I thought I’d take the extra few minutes and compile them with this blog post in order to share my thought process. Maybe it will be helpful for some, maybe not….either way. Hopefully at least one person may get a nugget of information out of it. The process itself is more for myself, I just have never written it down per say in this format. But here we go…

In October 2017 I found Trail Racing Over Texas (TROT) in a small park known as Mission Tejas after moving to Texas for work. I became part of the TROT tribe right after that as an ambassador in 2018, and part of Team TROT elite for 2019, 2020, & 2021. Each of those 4 years I have kicked off the calendar year by running the first event: Running The Rose 108 km at Tyler State Park. I have improved my time every year as I have continued to get better overall as an ultrarunner. So here is my breakdown in all the numbers. The the tables and graphs below, I just spent 2 hours peering into my data and then organizing it as such. Why? Well this is how my mind works when I get fixated on something. It can be a curse and a blessing depending on the circumstance.

Breakdown of the 6 loops for each year of Running The Rose, 24 loops in total over the last 4 years.

Yearly Stat Summary

The 24 loops I have run out at Tyler State Park. MIN= 1:32:43, MAX= 2:22:13, AVG= 1:49:58.

Same data different way to visualize it. I often play around with visual representations and different graphs as I worked with infographics and find the visual stimulation of data a great way to represent your story if you can present it neatly and organized.

What about the buildup prior to the event? I wonder how may affect my performance. Lets examine this side of it:

The build up mileage & vertical gain in the prior 10 weeks to Running The Rose.

So as you can see I love to analyze and look over my data. This is just how my mind works. But what does it all mean? Not a a lot really. You can go over the trends and prior numbers which will give you a good idea of what you are capable of. With the sport of ultrarunning though there is so many variables and what happens on race day is a nice surprise mix of everything. So am I aiming for a specific time? Will I be going to lower my own course record again? Can I pull off the 4-peat win out there in Tyler, TX? These are all questions I ponder as I enjoy my warm shower after my short run.

I am heading to Tyler super late after my usual family Friday movie night and dinner with my wife & kids. I'll get a nice little nap, wake up and drive the 4 hours around midnight to the park out in Tyler and then get another short nap (hopefully). I will then be ready to roll nice and early in the Texas cold front winter air. Time to show up and see what I can do. I am there to improve on my own times, but as a competitive person I will be going for the podium spot as my goal. Lets get that sparkling white rose to complete the bouquet.

Hope to see you on the trails in Tyler, if not soon. Let's roll!

Time to get the 5th and final TROT rose: sparkling white.


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