8 November Wine and Dine Half Marathon aka Tutu Time

Well, it was a fun race last night at my first Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, but it didn't go quite as expected.  Ended up with slower time than hoped for and can't can't blame the corral start location.  When registering for the race you can submit a verifiable half marathon time which would have put me in corral B.  I did that, but the mistake was accidentally typing 2:45 as the expected finish time instead of 1:45.  That landed me back in Corral "I", or as the t-shirt in the expo that my friends sent me a picture of...

They actually have t-shirts about corral location?  Yep!

The race started at 10PM and my buddy and I drove up in the morning, walked around the expo for a while, then went to Downtown Disney and met some of our other WeBe Running friends for lunch who got there Friday afternoon.  We then went to the hotel, checked in and grabbed a quick nap, because it was going to be a long night!

We arrived at the race site about 7:30 and did the bag check, saw some other friends there and eventually made our way into the corrals.  It turns out that there were about 14,000 runners signed up for the half marathon.  The weather was perfect at first, in the 60s with no rain and even when the rain started it wasn't a bad night to run.  It was pretty neat when each of the starting corrals began, they shot off fireworks, so people who started farther back got to see the fireworks several times and they were playing musing and pumping up the crowd.

Each corral got fireworks when they started.

It rained for the duration of the race at a pretty steady clip, but never really a downpour so it wasn't too bad.  My goal was to keep the pace as close to 8 minute miles as possible and speed up the second half of the race but that didn't happen.  It was very crowded at first and I was running in the grass and on the edge of the street passing a bunch of people.  The goal was not to get passed because I was starting so far back, and it was working but some dude passed me at about mile 2 and there was no way I could keep up with him, but I actually caught and passed him around mile 8  :)  Even though I was passing people it was a struggle to go fast at all, I just had no energy or kick.  The splits were in the 9:00 range and my legs couldn't go much faster.  It usually takes a bit to get warmed up, but the only sub 8 minute miles were miles 10 and 11 and they were just barely under 8 minutes.

The poncho was a lifesaver waiting for the start of the race!

The course left Disney's Wide World of Sports, then went through Animal Kingom and MGM Studios.  There were tons of volunteers encouraging people in the rain and handing out powerade and water.  There were Disney characters along the course that you could stop and take pictures with if you chose to do so.  At the end of the course at Epcot there were loads of cheering people and when you crossed the finish line they gave you a really cool medal.

After the race was over, the temperature dropped a bit more and the rain continued so it did put a little bit of a damper on the after party at Epcot, especially for people who traveled from out of state for the event.  We did enjoy some of the food and rode Mission Space, the boat ride in the Mexico section, and Soarin, so it was a good time although damp and chilly!

As far as the race goes there were 2 big mistakes leading up to it and they were both tactical and both in the last week of training.  They were both completely stupid and unnecessary, but you live and learn.  They won't happen again and I'm sure I'll make other mistakes to learn more lessons from!

Mistake 1: I didn't follow my plan.  I found a plan online that seemed to work with my pace, schedule, goals, and cross training efforts.  The plan called for the last long run to be Saturday before the half marathon, which I did.  It was a solid run averaging below an 8 minute mile pace for 11 miles, but was a little bit tired at the end.  That would have been fine had that been the last long run.

For some unknown and stupid reason I decided to run 9 more miles Monday and push it the last couple of miles, then do a some 400 meter repeats on Wednesday.  The only thing the plan called for was a short 30 minute tempo run on Tuesday.
 
I was out of completely out of gas on Monday after that run.  The repeats for this training round have been at a 6:18 pace on a treadmill, maintaining good form and have been doing up to 10 with no issues.  On Wednesday I was struggling to maintain good running form just with 4 repeats so stopped.  It was at that point I felt I had made a mistake and would pay the price on Saturday.

Lesson learned: Follow your plan.  If you are using the Jack Daniels Plan, or Hal Higdon, or Galloway, or whatever, don't deviate at the very end.  If you are paying a coach to train you, and you deviate from your coaches plan, you are probably wasting your money and your coaches time.  Don't do that!

Mistake 2: Don't walk around all day if you are doing a night run.  Sometimes you can't help it with the schedule, but between parking far away from the running expo and Downtown Disney and walking around to and from hotels it was just too much.

Lesson learned:  If possible I will get there the day before, or just chill out and skip the 3-5 miles of walking took place prior to the race.  The walking around likely burned off some of the energy that should have been used for the race.

Final outcome: The time was 1:51 and the goal time was between 1:35 and 1:45.  The fun part was that if I hit my fast goal time, my buddy had to wear a tutu in an upcoming race, and if I didn't get less than 1:45, I would be the one stuck in the tutu.  As a result, I'll be pacing the Coral Springs half marathon in a tutu... should be fun, for everyone else that is ;)

Which one do you like?

Next year I will be back hoping for not only a faster time, but better weather and a non cold and wet after party.  On a positive note, since Sunday is my diet cheat day we were able to have a nice breakfast on the way home....

There aren't enough of these in my area!

Next weekend I'll be pacing a friend for the second half of her first 100 at Wild Sebastian and up next for me is 50 at the Skydive Ultramarathon at the end of January.  Hope to see you at one of those events and now it's time to bump up the mileage a little bit!  Until next time...

San Lorenzo River 50K 21 June 2014

Last year I went to the bay area probably 15 times for work and not once stayed the weekend.  My co-worker and I were out there for a project and ended up having to stay into the next week.  What else is there to do besides find a local trail run?  After a quick search online the San Lorenzo River 50K made the most sense.  It was in Santa Cruz about 45 minutes away from San Jose where we were staying.  We drove out there and my buddy stayed for the start of the race, then decided it would be more fun to go down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and ride the roller coasters while Florida boy learned what hills were, and these aren't even big hills, but much more than the old dumps and overpasses that we run in back home in South Florida.

My co-worker and chauffeur home before the race started.

The course was absolutely beautiful compared to anything I've run on before. 5100 feet of elevation gain in for the 50K and it was 60% single track, 40% dirt road.  The race was extremely well run, the race director was great, and everyone was friendly as is normal for the course for all the ultra runs I've done thus far.

From what people were telling me they filmed the old vampire movie "The Lost Boys" with Kiefer Sutherland all around there.  The humongous redwood trees were absolutely beautiful and I should have taken more pictures especially in the woods.  It started out in the 60 degree range and didn't get up past the 70's and the humidity was non existent compared to the muck we have in Florida around that time of year.

I was a little worried when the race started and was single track switch backs up the mountain for a while, but then it leveled out some.  You had to walk at first because there were so many people on the trail, then it opened up into some fields, then into the deep redwood forests.  There was a river the San Lorenzo River that you crossed 4 times during the 50K.  It was about 20 yards wide at the crossing and not too deep.  You definitely couldn't run through it, but you could walk across.  There were people who were taking off their shoes to cross, which I thought was a little bit of a waste of time especially after the wet running we've been doing back home.

After the crossing the trail went up and steep for what seemed like forever then back down a and around to the turn around for the half marathon.  The 50K folks had an additional little piece to do that went up to the top of another hill in the area.  After doing Wild Sebastian Marathon (and 50 and 75 and 100 Mile) back in the spring I thought I was done with the sugar sand.

You can tell by the look on my face I wasn't expecting to be running in sugar sand along with the almost mile of gain...

  

I felt like it was unfair and just mean that someone would bring the sand from Wild Sebastian and put it up on top of a mountain.  At the turnaround you had to grab a colored rubber band so they would know you made it up and back.

I think my only goal there was to not completely embarrass all the Florida Ultra Runners by falling apart in the hills.  The final result was 16th overall out of 40 something starters and 37 finishers.  The only bad part about the race was that I usually wear a compression shirt to avoid chafing, and didn't think to apply band aids, and I ruined my favorite shirt.  Yes, ouch!

If I happen to be in the area next year I will definitely try and stay the weekend again and do this race or any of the Coastal Trail Runs, it was a really fun day!

Lake 2 Ocean 100K 7 June 2014

In the last blog post about the JW Corbett 50 Miler that ended up being a DNF, I mentioned being on the waiting list for a 100K on the same course.  Well the race director sent me a note and I was able to gain an entry into the first annual Lake 2 Ocean 100K.  The trail run that started in Port Mayaka, Florida on the east side of Lake Okechobee and ran point to point to Hobe Sound Beach.  After the disaster that happened on the previous 50 mile event along the same course, I really wanted to make sure that I had run the entire course prior to the actual race.  Over a few weekends, a group of us went and ran different sections of the course to reduce the chance of getting lost like last time to familiarize ourselves with the entire course.

There was a requirement for each runner to have their own crew so one of my good ultra-friends crewed for the run.  The starting point was in a small parking lot by the lake, and the runners then crossed a road, went over a fence, and on to single track trail.  The crew access areas were between 6 and 14 miles apart for the runners, but because of the remote locations for Florida, it took the crew a good 45 minutes to caravan from one station to the next at times.  I honestly believe that the crew had more fun hanging out and waiting for the runners to come through than the runners had on the course!

Most of the people in the race are members of the Florida Ultra Runner (FUR) Facebook group, and the race turned into a little bit of an East Coast vs. West Coast (of Florida) competition complete with old school east and west coast rap references and perhaps a couple of mildly inappropriate pictures posted on the Facebook event page.  The West Coast folks even had t-shirts made so they definitely won the team spirit award!

The race was also stacked with talent.  There were 3 or 4 race directors of other Florida ultras and the only 3 folks who finished the 200 miles at the crazy Wickham Park Marathon run a week and a half prior where the prize for the 100 mile male and female winners are fake pebbles, and the 200 mile winner gets a fake rock...

The race was close enough to home that we could get there without having to get a hotel room the night before.  We rolled up to the packed parking at 5:30 in the morning to hear Snoop Dog and other various west coast rap artists being played loudly in the parking lot.  After greeting friends and meeting a few new ones it was time to get going.  The race director had a pre-race meeting to talk about the course and safety issues.  It was required that all the runners carry a whistle in case they got off course.  If you got lost, you were to blow your whistle 3 times.  Anyone within earshot was supposed to blow their whistle one time in response, and then you could find each other out on the trail.  There were rumors of a recent runner getting lost out there and then found at 11:00PM up in a tree in a deer stand he found and where he figured he would have to hunker down for the evening until the sun came up the next day.  I definitely understood after getting lost on the course the last time I ran it, and was relieved to have ran the entire course over the last month or so.

After the safety briefing, the race got started and we were off.  The plan was to push a little harder on the easier course sections, and take it easy on the wet and hard sections, which were mile 20-30 (wet) and 50-60 (sandy+hills).  The biggest areas of concern were mainly the wet section followed by the longer sections without aid due to the heat.  The temperature got up to the mid 90's and the heat index was even hotter.

The first section of the course was relatively easy running with conversation and groups together.  There was a spot that was a little confusing and you could make a left or right.  When a group of us got to that intersection, we actually heard someone sound their whistle 3 times.  A couple of us sounded back but no response.  I hung back for a few minutes, and then saw a couple of other runners headed my direction who had run the course before.  If the person sounded again, they could pick him or her up.  Turns out that one of the runners got off course and ended up back at the starting point.

 The first crew area was 14 miles in.  Aside from a whistle and a crew, there was a requirement to carry between 70 and 100 ounces of water due to the heat and distance between crew access.  After running out of water on the first section I was very happy to get to the crew spot.

The next 7 miles to the crew spot was relatively uneventful, no major issues except that it was getting hotter out. The biggest mistake of the race for me was not taking in enough water at the first and second aid stations because of the heat.

I rolled out of the second crew area for a 9 mile run which had some water, and it was the section that had me worried the most.  The water wasn't too horrible but it was there, and this time no water moccasins.

 About 2 miles before reaching the 30 mile mark and main crew area at JW Corbett Wildlife Management Area, I had to stop, stretch, and take a rest on the trail and about 5 people passed me.  Arriving at the crew area was a huge relief.  I took a long break there to rehydrate and gather myself.  A couple of people had gotten off course and ended up passing the spot all together, and others had dropped there.

After a good half hour at the crew area it was time to head out.  I was able to pick up the pace for a while to get to the next two stops.  15 miles later we passed through Riverbend Park and arrived at a crew stop.  It was time to bring out the headlamp, and get ready for the last section because it was starting to get dark.  A few people had recently left the crew area so I was going to try and catch them.

For a comparison, the my last 100K trail time was 12:37 and if not for a few minor fueling errors it could have been closer to a sub 12 hour 100K.  The finish time for this one was exactly 4 hours longer, 16:37.  It was about 65 degrees warmer and the heat and humidity took it's toll.

To sum it up it was the hardest race for me to date and I was lucky to be one of the 7 official finishers.  The East vs West Coast rivalry was not settled, but next year I'm sure it will be just as fun and we will finally have a winner, I'm calling East Coast as of right now!

Andrew Barret won the race, he's a super fast West Coast guy and here is his amazing report also!

http://www.a2ultra.blogspot.com/2014/06/lake-to-ocean-100k-june-7-2014.html

DNF Report... JW Corbett 50 Mile Trail run

"How much time do I have to get to the next aid station?"  I asked.  The race director looks at me, tells me 2 hours, and asks if I have a headlamp.  One of my way more experienced buddies gave me the “it ain’t happening” look and head shake.

Calculations begin in my head as I walk to the car to grab another pair of shoes, wash the mud and sand out of my feet and get ready to head back out on the trail. 10 miles, 2 hours,  that's just a 12 minute mile, no problem.  Normally.  Only problem is that the last 4 that I just completed miles were 20 minute per mile death marches.

DNF.  Welcome to the JW Corbett 50 Miler!

It's better to be in the game than on the sidelines.  I was hoping to actually do OK in the race.  In February I'd completed my first 100K somehow managing 6th place and had been putting in the long runs every other weekend since then and was looking at this as a way to work on hydration/fueling strategy, and do a nice 50 miler.  Prior to the race I was playing around with time and distance between aid stations and posted a spreadsheet with distance/times between aid stations from 12 minute miles down to 9 minute miles on their Facebook page.  One of the guys who is really fast and runs there regularly said I need to put one out that has 15 minute splits.  Boy was he ever right. 

Should have gone up to 20 minute splits!

The course was 15 miles out and back, followed by 10 miles out and back on part of the Ocean to Lake Trail that goes from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean.  The 50K started at the trail head straight out and back. The 50 mile started with a 1 mile lollipop type loop before hitting the trail head then doing the out and backs.

Course map

I was the second closest to the starting point when we started so I ended up in second place for the first mile.  Once we got done with the lollipop, I pulled over to the side and let the pack pass me because I knew that it was going to be a long day and judging by the looks of the other folks out there I didn't want to be a bother when they passed me on the single track.  There were some really good runners there, some who had finished the Leadville 100 and others I had seen or met at other races previously. 

We are cruising down the single track trail at 70 degrees of a beautiful day for a couple of miles and then things get interesting.  The course opens up and there is about 100-200 yards of water.  Not deep, not too bad, just muddy.  I make it through that and back onto singletrack.  A while later I come up on some friends who are doing the 50K, so far so good.  Hit the second patch of water this time on the single track trail through the woods, about 50 yards or so not bad.  Walking through and see one water moccasin that fortunately heads the other direction.  Pass that water and back onto single track.

Note for people running this race in the future… If you find yourself running on a dirt road for more than say 25 yards, you are probably off course. I think the race director made a comment at one point that if you are looking for an easy 50K or 50M race, this ain't it!  I got off the course 4 times and knew I was off course when I no longer saw footprints or orange course markers.  Let me take that back, when I no longer saw human footprints.  There were plenty of animal footprints when I got off course for sure… mostly hog and small animal tracks probably raccoons, armadillos, etc.

Off course diversions!

I want to make it very clear that it wasn’t that the course was poorly marked. You just had to pay attention to detail and not get distracted.  Get into a conversation, or into a song on headphones (not a good idea for this one), you will get off course.  One of the times I got off course, then back on I caught up with this lady in front of me and she hit the dirt, there were lots  and lots of roots, and just about everyone hit the dirt at one time or another.  I tripped several times but was very lucky not to faceplant.  As I’m talking to her and ask her name, she says, “Jennifer”.  We are friends on Facebook from when I volunteered at the Skydive Ultra in February.  The thing that went through my head was the scene in Top Gun where they are flying with Viper…

Viper: Good morning gentlemen, the temperature is 110 degrees.

Wolfman: Holy shit, it's Viper! Goose: Viper's up here, great. Oh, shit.

Maverick: Great, he's probably saying, "Holy shit, it's Maverick and Goose."
Goose: Yeah, I'm sure he's saying.

Why would I think that?  Well Jennifer is an amazing runner and recently came in second in a 118 mile race beating some of the best runners in the state and top five in a really big 100K.  I immediately felt like I was in over my head!  We chatted a bit and then I think I went on ahead for a while.  I was happy to even be running with someone like that.  I can be competitive in my brain even though I'm not actually competitive...  It’s also one of the things that I really like about ultra-marathons and the community.  Normal people like me get to toe the line with some really good athletes.  Another thing I like about the ultra-marathons is that guys and gals in their 40's and 50's seem to be able to do pretty well and actually win them.  Not that I will ever win one but I can dream about it!

After getting off course and seeing some friends I finally made it to the turnaround point and my GPS said 17.8 miles.  I asked how many people were ahead of me, and only 5 people had come to the aid station.  Many of them had turned around at a sign on the trail that looked like the turnaround sign but actually wasn’t at 13.9 miles.  Kudos to the RD for making a rapid adjustment with the lollipop portion of the course at the end that got people to finish the distance.  He really kept it together when it could have gone really south!

Heading back to the previous aid station I started going along at a pretty good clip for the trail, 11-13 minute mile range, and then just ran out of gas, which seems to be a recurring theme for me.  I think this is where it gets back to my fuel/hydration strategy. 

Prior to the race I went over the Hammer Fueling Handbook (link at bottom of article), which is a series of articles that aside from promoting their own Hammer products, has some great information on the what and how much fuel, water, etc. to take in during a race.  Based on my weight, it recommended 20-25 oz. of water per hour and if you weigh more and its hot more water.  I was carrying two 20oz. handheld bottles one with water and the other with Hammer Perpetuem blended thick that I was planning on using as my calorie intake for the first 30 miles.  The plan was drink a bottle of water per hour, and at the aid stations drink some extra fluids to make up the difference.  It was 90 degrees out and I think the biggest mistake was not drinking enough extra fluids at the aid stations.  I should have downed an extra bottle each time, and taken in a few more calories I think I would have fared better.  I realized I was dehydrated around mile 23 when I went to the restroom and was peeing brown. 

It seemed like forever until the next aid station.  I was passed by a couple of people and Jennifer caught up with me again and I ended up keeping up with her for a couple of miles then slowed down.  She pulled ahead, and not surprisingly would end up one of the people who would finish the 50 mile race.

I pulled up to the unmanned aid station about 4 miles from the start line and had to try and gather myself.  I sat down and stretched, ate, drank, and think I knew at that point I was done, just had to get back to the start/finish.  The last 4 miles wasn’t fun, back through the mud and water this time with blisters, and knowing in the back of my mind that I was done.  Here are a few lessons learned:

1. Pay attention to detail.  Had I focused more and not got off course I believe I would have finished the race.   My GPS when it died shows 29.75 miles and still had 5 miles to go to get back to the start/finish.

2. Hydration strategy was flawed.  I should have been drinking much more water at the aid stations because it was 90 degrees out.

3. Should have planned the footwear strategy a bit better.  I got lots of mud in my shoes and didn’t take it out until about mile 22 and had about 10 blisters total on both feet in different spots.  For scale, the folks in my “normal” running group would probably freak out, but the folks in the ultra-running group wouldn’t really bat an eye and they are just normal blistering for a wet and muddy trail run. 

4. Don’t EVER underestimate the difficulty of a run.  I never imagined that a DNF would happen on a 50 mile race.  That tells me I should have taken it way more seriously and will definitely pay better attention next time.

5. I will prepare better before taking this on next year for sure!

It was great to participate in this event, and I love seeing my friends in the Florida Ultra Runner community.  Christian the Race Director did a phenomenal job.  If you are interested in a challenging, beautiful, different, swampy race you should definitely do this one! There is another one called Lake 2 Ocean 100K which crosses the course that we ran this past weekend but as of right now is sold out and has a wait list.  I think I’m number 6!

One mile in of what was a long day!

http://jwcorbett50.com/

http://www.hammernutrition.com/downloads/fuelinghandbook.pdf

Dear Hoka One One....

I love you.

You complete my feet.

Even though you didn't last very long the first time and I had to get a new pair of you, 

I still love you.

That is all.

Love,

My ankles

First overnight training run

This weekend we had planned on running 26 miles on the Broward Levee on Saturday with friends. On Thursday prior, the weather forecast went from 60% chance of rain to 100% chance so we cancelled.  Of course shortly after cancelling the report went down to 20% chance of rain and there were just a few sprinkles.

Now with no running plans I get the brilliant idea to run home from work in South Miami to the far end of North Broward or around 60 miles.  I asked my co-worker who lives right down the street to give me a ride in to work, and didn't need a ride home.  The second part of the brilliant idea was to do Bikram Yoga (105 degree yoga) right before the run home.

Well here's what happened and some lessons learned:
Meetings ran late and my ride to yoga had to leave so I decided to run 6 miles to the studio.  Did about a 9:10 pace and got there literally 5 minutes prior to class starting.  No time to catch my breath just straight into the 105 degree room.
It wasn't pretty.  I probably did about 30-40% of the poses and just laid there trying to slow my breathing the rest of the time.
Once class was over, I jumped in a cold shower to regulate my body heat and then hit the road.

Leaving from Coconut Grove running up the bike trail on Federal was nice, and cool, and easy going.  I then went up Brickell Avenue and towards downtown to the Ultra Music Festival.  It was about 10:00 or 10:30 at this point and the people watching was definitely worth running through the crowded streets.  There were people selling T-shirts that said "I heart Molly" and I imagine that there were one or two people in the area who were taking it.

After passing through downtown I ran under 395 and out the venetian causeway to South Beach.  I headed north on Collins and stopped at Primo's cafe and store and met up with another Florida Ultra Runner (FUR is a group on Facebook with 1600 or so Ultra Running folks) named Thomas who happened to be in town for spring break with his family.  He met me around Midnight and ran with me for about 2 hours.  It was nice to have company and  we ran from there to 163rd where he made a left to cross back over the intercoastal and head back to where he was staying.

I started feeling sore in the groin area and one of my ankles and stopped to stretch several times, and even took a 15 or 20 minute break stretching.  After that I started running again and picked up the pace a little but was still feeling pain.

Finally it was time to call it a night.  I stopped at a Marriott, hit the ATM and got a cab to the Tri-Rail station and took the first Tri-Rail from Hollywood to Deerfield Beach and another one of my FUR friends ended up taking me home at 6:45 or so in the morning.

All in all it was 33 miles and an hour and a half of 105 degree yoga which is the heat training I'm doing to get ready for the Keys50 in May.  Here is the RunKeeper map:

Lessons learned:
Don't eat like crap.  The burger at lunch didn't help things at yoga or on the run.  I've done that 2 or 3 times prior to long runs and it bit me in the rear each time.

If you are going to run 6 miles to yoga with no break before class starts, it may not be a good idea to try and run 54 more miles after that.

Perpetuem tastes horrible when there is still a bit of soap in your hydration pack.  I almost threw the thing away.

Aside from only getting 33 miles in, I'm happy that I stayed up all night to get used to the overnight running, and also glad to have done the yoga even though it sucked, and it was awesome to have company in the middle of the night.