Two days to go!

Wow! I can not believe it is only 2 days until my first 100 mile race! As you know the weather for this weekend looks to be cold and rainy. This will add another element of challenge, especially if it rains through the night. Not only will the trail be soggy, but running through the night can also make the spirit "soggy".
All week I have been gearing up mentally. My taper has felt good and my legs could not feel any better (well maybe a little). Today I set out to run just 2 miles, but couldn't help myself and ended up closer to 3 miles. Lately, anything shorter than 6 -7 miles feels like a walk to the mail box.
Now with the element of rain and pretty chilly weather, I really need to make sure I am mentally fit. Part of being mentally fit is being physically prepared with gear and food. I seem to go through my list of things needed every day and I add to it. One item I had to add to the list was a real rain jacket. Normally I run in the rain with either a running vest or no jacket at all. Since it will be cold, I decided it was time to purchase a rain jacket. So, going through the list now, I know I have everything I will or may need. (Or at least I think I know I do....shhhhhh, don't tell Buddy!)
Last thoughts before.........
Have I trained enough? Hope so, maybe, maybe not, oh well we'll see.
Bottom line is that I have done all that I have done. I don't think I have ever gone into a race feeling like I trained enough or prepared enough and more times than not, everything has worked out fine. Come Saturday morning at 6:01am, all my fears will be gone and I will be doing it. 

Mountain Bikers 1, Buddy 1

Well, I am supposed to be tapering starting last week and going through this week, which means taking it easy. This morning though, I felt like a puppy that wanted to chase anything that moved. I started out my run at the entrance to Chino Hills State park and saw a mountain biker take off up the hill. In normal training, I make it a point to try and catch mountain bikers up the hills, but right now I supposed to be taking it easy. This morning for some reason, I just couldn't resist. I took off after him. It looked like he was making it a point to stay ahead of me, which made me salivate even more. I finally over-took him and kept on pushing it up the 1/2 mile climb. By the top I had put a good distance between me and him, but knew he would be coming up strong on the down hill. Feeling winded from the effort, I decided that I would take the rest of my 12 mile run easy. I continued down Lower Aliso Canyon and turned around at my halfway point to head back out. Once I reached the main road out, I saw a mountain biker coming down the main trail to head out of the park. I tried to resist, but couldn't. I started the chase up the road. He had a good lead on me with his momentum from the downhill, but I knew he would slow down on the steeper sections. Once the road turned back to dirt again, I began to make up some distance. I could tell he heard me coming because he started looking over his shoulder. Now the chase was really on! He knew I was there and he didn't want me to catch him. The flat sections, he would pull away a bit, but on the hills, I would gain again. The last section was the steepest and about 1/2 mile to the top. He was about 60-75 yards ahead. I knew I needed to kick it up to catch him now. I picked up the pace even more and started to close some serious ground. He looked back and picked it up too. At the top, he got me by about 5 yards. The final 1/2 mile out of the park was all down hill. He slowed down as if to let me catch up, but I wasn't going to push it on the down hill. It felt really good to get my heart rate up, and cadence up. I am really feeling in shape. Still I question; am I fit enough for 100 miles? We'll see.

Saturday's run was much more leisurely. I did about 13 miles with the majority on single-track. I even took some time to stop and take pictures! It was really cool to be back on the trails I used to train on with my mountain bike. The only not-so-leisurely part was the downhills. I took these opportunities to practice my downhill running. Yes, I actually have to practice running down hill. This is my week point, because I  just don't like running down hill. For me, I run more on my toes/forefoot. Running downhill like this will cause injuries and pains that can be avoided by running them correctly. I have really had to train my body to lean back some and land towards the heal of my foot. This has given me the ability to run the down hills much, much faster, and with less pain to my lower legs and knees. It has also helped me build stronger quads. In some of my first posts, I had talked about this, and I am finally getting the form down. Saturday's run just really cemented it in.
Everything really seems to be coming together and with less than two weeks to go, I am glad it is!


Speaking of everything coming together, I am still in need of 1 more pacer and 1-2 more crew members. If you are interested, please either send me an email, message me on FB, or post a reply here. I would really appreciate any help and I am sure you will have an interesting and good time.

The countdown has begun.

This past week began my recovery/taper period. A taper is when you start to cut back on weekly mileage to allow your body to fully recover from the weeks of vigorous training. For the last 5 weeks, I have felt as though I have been verge of being sick and getting injured. This feeling gave me confidence that I had been training properly and to the maximum my body would allow.
This past Saturday I decided to take a nice easy run into Chino Hills State park and explore some single-track. After the rains, the hills have become beautifully green and the once dry streams are now babbling again. The single-track I eventually ended up on was awesome. With the sound of the stream running next to the trail, not a sight of civilization anywhere, and critters frolicking all around, I felt like I was hundreds of miles from home. I had so much fun running this trail and was delighted at the occasional wet and muddy section. I finished up my run at about 10 miles and felt very refreshed. Sometimes when I am training, the focus is so much on the end goal that I forget about the fun runs and that is the big reason for a taper.
Sunday I took the day off. I actually felt strange to not have run a marathon or further, but my body needs to rebuild. Monday I ran an easy 6 miles. My legs, knees, lungs, everything felt great. I will continue with my recovery and taper until race day. I look forward to posting stories on some fun runs coming up.

I may be a little obssesive! New Balance MT101 review, La Sportiva Skylite review.

Since I have started training for ultras, shoes have become somewhat of an obsession for me. The picture above depicts my current quiver of shoes. Starting with the Black/Red and heading clockwise are:
Nike Air Pegasus+ 26 TR
Saucony Kinvara (Street Shoe)
Adidas Marathon 10 (Street Shoe)
Brooks Cascadia 5
La Sportiva Skylite
New Balance MT101
Why such the obsession? When my long runs started getting over 3-4 hours, my feet began to suffer. From giant blisters to blisters under my toenails, to black toenails, etc., I began to get serious about what I was putting my feet into. Then, when some of my runs hit the 8-9 hour mark, the little things that I ignored before became very hard to ignore past 4 hours. 
My first foray into trail shoes were the Nike Air Pegasus+ TR. These were everything I thought I wanted. Nikes were my favorite shoes when I ran cross country in school. They were also nice and cushiony. I found two problems though. First, I was running in a half size too small, and second, they had too much cushion. I was able to get about 350 miles out of these shoes before they broke down.
My next trail shoe was the Brooks Cascadia. A trail shoe that is known in the ultra world and a successful trail shoe. From the start I liked this shoe. A fairly low profile sole and a much lower and compact heal. While I had logged some big training runs of up to 52 miles, I felt as though these shoes had a little too much support. They didn't seem to let my feet move through their normal motion. Durability has been good though. I have about 350+ miles on them and they still have life.
The next shoe I picked up was the minimalist shoe from New Balance called the MT101. I read several reviews on these and many were saying that they were good for up to a half marathon (13.1 miles), but anything over that, there was just not enough cushion. I ran two runs in these of about six miles each and then ran 30 rough trail miles. These shoes were like wearing a comfy pair of house slippers. I am extremely impressed with the wear of these shoes. I now have over 100 miles on these shoes and the tread has shown little wear.
Lastly, I searched for a shoe for the RR100 coming up. I chose the La Sportiva because the course is all on well groomed horse trails. A ton of traction is not necessary and neither is a lot of cushion. The Skylites feature a build in scree guard which is helpful for keeping the gravel-like clay out of the shoes. These shoes were a little tight to start with. I did a couple of street 6 milers and the balls of my feet were sore. Regardless, I decided to use them last weekend. I ran 40 miles in them on the dirt and they felt great. These shoes are definitely a trail shoe and not a street shoe.
So you can see why there is such an obsession. Each shoe is different and has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. I have found the fewer "bells and whistles", the better. As of now, I will take 2 pairs of shoes to the Rocky Road 100; the La Sportiva Skylites and the New Balance MT101s.

Am I Ready????

Just under 25 days until the Rocky Road 100 and the typical doubts start to come into my mind.
Have I trained enough? Have I prepared myself mentally. Do I have the right shoes? Will I have the drive to finish? What if I get sick?
These are questions that start to rattle around inside my head as I begin to think of the upcoming race day. With less than a month to go, there is no amount of  "extra" training that I can do to help. If I try to "cram" training in, I will only be going backwards. Over the last 6 weeks, I have done a double marathon (52 miles) and 4 marathons on 4 consecutive weekends. I certainly feel I have put in the long miles, however, my weekly mileage total is less than where I wanted it to be.
Last Saturday, I had plans to do another double marathon. I began on the Rocky Road 100 course and completed my first marathon at 4:17:15. My legs felt surprisingly good and I had none of the muscle aches I normally have after completing a marathon. I started the second marathon strong and was pacing to complete it in 4 hours. At about mile 12 I stepped wrong on a downhill and had a sharp pain zing from behind my kneecap and up my quad. I nearly hit the ground! I was able to keep running, but every little uneven ground or downhill made it zing again. I kept the pace up though and virtually walked the downhills. I came through the start/finish (half way point) area and decided to stop and evaluate. Things seemed fine after a minute, so I started back out, but my knee was really tight. I ran another mile and decided with the advice of Charlie, the race director, to call it a day. My fear in stopping was that I would mess myself up mentally by not finishing what I set out to do. The only thing that kept me from going on was the thought that I could seriously injure my knee by continuing. So after a total of 40 miles in 6 hours and 19 minutes, I felt ok about my decision. On the drive home, the normal leg cramping did not occur that usually does. Where my legs tired? Yes, but not like usual. I think this has helped me get through the mental doubt of being in shape.
So, as I ponder the questions rattling around in my brain:

Have I trained enough? I believe I have trained enough to finish, and that is my #1 goal.
Have I prepared myself mentally? Well, I have 24 days to work on that.
Do I have the right shoes? I am a little obsessed with this one so I have a couple that I will take with me.
Will I have the drive to finish? That will be determined on race day. Right now, I believe I do.
What happens if I get sick? DON'T!