Thoughts - February 20, Cherry Tree 10 Miler Report

Last night I went to sleep with the howl of the wind.

This morning, well, the howl of the wind was still there. Oh, and the thermometer was at 22F.

Aw crap, another cold race to run.

The Cherry Tree 10 Mile Run, put on by the Prospect Park Track Club, is run entirely within Prospect Park.

Since I have run in Prospect Park on occasion, I was familiar with the course. The loop there runs around 3.5 miles, give or take a couple of tenths. So a 10 mile course would be just about, but not quite, 3 loops of the park.

Turned out that I was right. The start of the race was down a bit from the finish.

I also know about the one hill on the course (click here to see general pics of the course). The one I was about to climb 3 times. Yes, the hill is a molehill compared to some trail ultras, but I really don't push the pace in ultras. A short 10 mile race is a different story.

The race also had a relay element. The 3 loops made a 3 person relay possible, with the first two people running 3.5 miles and the last person running 3 miles.

3.5 miles is but a trifle! I am a relay of one! I'll do the whole 10 miles, thank you.

With the temp about 25 degrees at the start, I did dress differently than in the ultra last week. I dressed in shorts and a thin long sleeve shirt last week. This week? Long pants and a heavy long sleeve sweater.

The reason? Last week I was promised a high of 46F down in Virginia. This week I was just promised a cold, windy day.

The start was not too bad. We were going downhill and the wind was sort of at our back. It was good to have that time to warm up before heading into the teeth of the wind on the backside of the loop.

The hill did surprise me on the first loop. I took it a bit too strongly and wound up pretty much sucking wind as I neared the top.

The second and third time around, I was a bit more systematic. I also passed oodles of people struggling up this hill. It's definitely good to have stamina!

The pace was quite consistent. I did record a 7:20 pace on a downhill mile and a 8:10 pace on the uphill time, but most of the other miles settled at around a 7:40 pace.

The result? 1 hour, 17 minutes, 34 seconds. I was expecting 1:20. So, I was happy with the result.

I wasn't in danger of fading either. That's the best part. It was only a week after my 50k, and my legs were just about recovered. I cannot say that with any of my previous marathons.

I keep reiterating that point...recovering from an ultra is generally faster than recovering from a marathon. I know it sounds backwards, but it is definitely true. And there are valid reasons behind it.

I'll list my reasons tomorrow, for fear that this post will get too long. And I have a shower and a nap waiting for me in the near future.

Have a great Sunday and President's Day everyone.

Thoughts - February 19 - Massanutten Toughness

The cold winds replace the warmer temperatures last night, with some lightning and thunder in the mix.

I guess Mother Nature is still reminding us that it is still February.

After a wild and snowy December and January, people were ready to put their heavy coats away for the season and declare spring. Heck, even the groundhogs were anxious to end winter too.

I didn't declare winter over yet. I had my winter running clothes at the ready all along. With temps nosediving back into the 20's tonight, it looks like they will be seeing some action this week.

This morning, I was cheering and helping out a little with the Febapple 50k race. I met an extraordinary woman, EC, who had some inside information on the upcoming Massanutten 100 race.

She did this race last year. First, she told me what everyone else told me. The race is much tougher than Vermont.

But then she gave me some good inside information on the course itself. The last 30 miles of the course is so technical that it dwarfs the Vermont course in terms of difficulty.

Dang, she got me worried. A LOT.

With just cause. This is coming from a woman that excels in these races. So I take her advice with a lot more weight than a casual ultramarathoner telling me these things.

My training has been improving a lot over the course of a month, but I feel that I can do a bit more. Especially in the weight category.

My weight has been trending a bit lower, but I think I need to accelerate that trend to make sure I'm race ready in May. In my opinion, I think that would be the highest priority and the best way to improve my performance in this race.

I'm about 190 pounds now. I did lose about 10 pounds in the last 2 months, which is OK. What if I were to make my goal 170 pounds by the time I toe the line at Massanutten?

I figure, with a lot less weight to carry over 100 miles, I should be able to handle the mileage a lot better than at 190, right?

It looks like I have a secondary goal folks. 170 pounds at Massanutten. My Paleo diet will be ramped up even more. :-)

Tomorrow is the Cherry Tree 10 Miler in Prospect Park. Wish me luck.

Thoughts - February 18 - Doing so few triathlons lately?

With all the ultramarathon stuff on the calendar, one athlete asked me whether I was going to do any triathlons this year.

The answer is yes. I originally intended to do about 3-4 triathlons down the NJ shore this year along with the Virginia Double Ironman in October. 

Both the Sandy Hookers and Jersey Shore Triathlon Clubs have nice local races down there. I'll be picking which races to attend as the summer approaches.

Now, the Double Ironman is in question. The Grindstone 100 is the same weekend. So a choice has to be made.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Grindstone 100. Yes, it is a risky choice. Picking the Grindstone (wiki) would mean three 100 mile races in the same year. This might border on insanity.

Then again, I would love to do the Grand Slam of Ultras one of these years. The Grand Slam involves four 100 mile races in 4 months. Doing three this year might actually help me prepare for that eventuality.

As for the other triathlons? Only 3-4? Yes. Have you seen the race entry fees for triathlons? They are insane!

Entry into the New York City Triathlon, which is ONLY an Olympic Distance race, was $245. Yikes! 

Yes, they did sell out this year, but what happens when they raise prices next year and the year after that and the economic situation in this country gets worse?

Sooner or later, triathlon is going to hit the brick wall of reality. A lot of people these days are struggling to make ends meet. If the triathlon race directors and the townships that charge these race directors for the permits continue the rampant runaway price increases, they will price out the new people interested in the sport.

We might actually see this happening now. Unlike triathlons which cater to those who spend on high-end equipment, ultramarathons share a philosophy of racing on the cheap.

There is an increase of Fat-Ass races (informal races with no entry fees), most venues allow camping, which is much cheaper than a hotel room, and the entry fees of ultras that DO charge are a lot more reasonable than triathlon entry fees.

The result? More newcomers trying out ultras instead of triathlons. At the Holiday Lake 50k last week, about half the people entered for the race were newbies. That is amazing! Just read some of the reports sent in by the newbies!

Participation in ultras has gone way up these past couple of years. These are people who used to go into triathlon. A lot of newbies in ultras also came from a triathlon background. The exodus from triathlon has already begun, in my opinion.

As for ultras, tomorrow is the Febapple 50k. As I stated before, I opted out of this race. I will be there cheering the runners on instead. I will however, race the Cherry Tree 10 Miler in Propsect Park, Brooklyn as a consolation prize, running for the Staten Island Athletic Club.

Next Thursday is the Thursday Night at the Races at the Armory. I'll be in a 10 person 10,000 meter relay. I will actually be SPRINTING around an indoor track. I'll be dusting off those track spikes I haven't used in a while.

Wish me luck in both the Cherry Tree and the Armory relay races. :-)

Thoughts - February 17

I decided not to run in the Febapple 50k this weekend. The conditions were, as I can say elegantly, not good. As a matter of fact, if the warm days today and tomorrow don't melt a significant amount of snow off the trails, the conditions would be actually worse than Watchung in January.

It's sad too. I really wanted to do two consecutive 50k ultras in as many weeks. I guess February is just not a good month to try to do it.

As I was "running" in South Mountain yesterday, I realized how dangerous things were. Not that I don't welcome a challenge, but with both Massanutten and Leadville trips already committed and paid for, I was not going to risk my health in a minor race like this.

There is an outside chance that I may try a 50k run of my own this Sunday. I have to see if it works for me though. The sudden absence of a 50k run on Saturday really throws my running training scheule into chaos and I need to set that right today.

My mind is still on The Beast Series. Namely, how to get to Terrapin Mountain for their 50k next month without all that driving?

Amtrak does have direct service to Lynchburg from Penn Station. Their schedules though leave much to be desired.

The earliest train from Penn Station arrives in Lynchburg arrives at 8:36PM. That's not a whole lot of time if I come in a day before the race.

Secondly, the venue, Sedalia Center, is about 25 miles away from the train station. I'll need to either try to get a ride over there or rent a car for a day.

The return schedules are even worse. Most of the trains from Lynchburg go in the morning or early afternoon, well before the time I finish the race. That might mean an extra day, and, of course, extra cost. Still, the first train on Sunday leaves at 6:00AM so I can camp a few hours overnight somewhere, right?

Either way, I don't want to drive long hours the way I did for the Holiday Lake race. I'm sure my companion in the car for Holiday Lake would think the same way also.

I might have a pacer for Leadville! He just e-mailed me saying that race weekend (August 20-21) is actually open in his schedule and that he would be willing to fly there. Well, misery loves company, and I would be sure glad to have him pacing me in the nighttime hours at Leadville.

In the wake of last year's registration process, in which it only took 8 hours to completely fill the Boston Marathon, the BAA came out with its new registration process. It calls for rolling admissions, with the faster people in each age group invited to register first. The slower people who qualified would wait a couple of days before registering. Right now, the way I see it, it actually looks quite fair.

Yes, Watson did beat two great competitors in Jeopardy last night, but I am still amazed at the human brain and its ability to process information. Whereas Watson needed a large room and millions of processors to "reason" out a question, our brains can do that and a lot more and can fit into a small space between 2 ears. Although we might not have the entire knowledge of the Library of Congress stored into our brains like Watson, our brains still have the info processing beat, by a large margin.

Ken Jennings came out with his own article on his experience. Quite an interesting read.

OK, time to go outside and have fun with this gorgeous day. Until tomorrow.

Comments on the South Mountain Trails

I have some time to write some comments about the course. If anybody has any further questions, let me know via ironpete@ironpete.com and I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability.

The photos are here... http://gofarthersports.blogspot.com/2011/02/south-mountain-trails-pictures-ahead-of.html

1) I only ran on part of the eastern 10 mile loop of the course, which is much more frequently traveled by people in the park. The western course is less frequently traveled, and could be different in terms of snow and ice.

2) The temperature at the beginning of my run was 30 degrees.

3) I initially was going to run the whole eastern loop, but had to cut the loop in the middle because of time constraints. I was going very slow out there due to the conditions. I did not photograph the middle part of the eastern loop. I only photographed the initial 3 miles and the last 3 miles of the loop.

4) I wore XC shoes with a 1/4 inch spike on the trails. Even though the spikes worked to some extent, I did come close to slipping several times out there, especially the downhill at the end of the eastern loop.

5) The trails that I encountered were HARD PACKED with ice and snow. And it was still very deep. My guess is that two warm days on Thursday and Friday will *not* clear the trails of the snow and ice. I would highly suggest anyone running to take Microspikes, Yaktrax, screw shoes, XC spikes, etc. with him/her to this race. You might need them.

6) There are DEEP RUTS in the ice that can potentially injure an ankle. I did run in 30 degree temps, so this *can* change for the better with warmer weather conditions on Saturday. Hopefully the slushier snow will squash the ruts during the race.

7) There were some sporadic spots on the trails that were devoid of snow. That was because of running water through those spots. Although better than ice, they were very muddy.

8) The downhill at the end of the eastern loop going into the start/finish area is partially paved on the upper part by a bulldozer (was parked there when I went by it). The lower part however was slick with ice. Please be careful going down that hill! I almost fell a couple of times despite running with the spikes.

That's about it. To all those people who are running, I wish you well. I will be down there to either volunteer/spectate/cheer you on on Saturday!

See you then. :-)

South Mountain Trails - Pictures - February 16, 2011

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I'll fully comment on the course later.

There is still a LOT of snow on the trails...

The above picture shows a lot of deep ruts in the snow. Have to be very careful where to place your foot. The below picture shows the trail on the first loop on the return trip back to the start.

The next four below is the path along the road. This is along the return trip back on the eastern lap of the ultra. A section to really cruise on during warmer months. Ruts pretty much line the trail now. Watch those ankles.

Below is the loop road. You'll be on this road for a short bit before taking the downhill to the start/finish area. Notice how deep the snow still is compared to the road.

The last downhill of the eastern loop back to the start/finish (below). It's actually been paved...

Paved...at least part way. The rest of the way? Well...snow of course (below).

Below are two pictures of the start/finish area. I was literally surprised to see this usually sunny area still deep with snow.

I'm a bit time constrained now...some comments will be posted here later.

Thoughts - February 15

Ultramarathons are much quicker to recover from than marathons.

Just the mention of the Massanutten 100 had people I didn't know patting me on the back and wishing me luck in that race while I was in Virginia this past weekend. This race must be extremely difficult.

The Beast Series is seriously calling out to me. The problem is, the Grindstone 100, the premier race of this series, is the same weekend as the Virginia Double Ironman. Should I change the schedule?

At the end of every day I have to remember always to organize for the next day. If I don't roll out of bed and into my running shoes, I start to procrastinate.

As of Tuesday, one small section in my hamstring is a bit tight from the Holiday Lake Ultra. Everything else is fine.

I've never done two marathons in 2 consecutive weekends. Yet, I am poised to do 2 50k ultras in as many weekends. Another test of my training methods, of course.

The SIAC wants me to do The Cherry Tree 10 race in Prospect Park the day after the Febapple 50k ultra this weekend. Is it crazy to even entertain this thought?

That IBM computer Watson held its own against two of the most celebrated Jeopardy champs of all time last night. Does this mean humanity is becoming obsolete now?