enginerd's geek heaven - FULL (Page 25)

Sure, got my first 100-miler on halloween

I am hoping that the 100 miler refers to a bike ride and not a run right?

sorry to disappoint   the 100 miles will be on my feet only (unless I'm crawling!).

How many days will that take and do you get to nap along the way?

i'll be pacing donato for probably 30 miles (or 40 if i can get into better shape)... the worst thing about it is that i don't get a tshirt or medal!

furiousferret, wow you have a full slate of races for the end of year... that's great! vineman was my A-race this year and its been hard to get motivated to race anything else after it. its like eating dessert first... who wants to eat meatloaf after already eating ice cream?

Very cool that you will be helping out Donato! I've always wondered about the pacing thing... Do you just run with that person and help them keep their head in the game? Are you actually trying to get them to hold a certain pace, or is it just more about keep moving keep moving keep moving? Cool for you and 30-40 miles will be a great training run for sure.

Donato, how is your training coming along? How on earth do you train for a 100-mile race? Surely your training runs don't top out around 95 miles!! LOL!

Yay my Swimspa will be officially 100 % functional for tonight!  No more 100 mile drives to the pool all winter.  Now to figure out how to swim faster.

100 mile run..... that is still a long bike ride.  Even a 50k trail run is something I am not quite ready to wrap my mind around.  I guess I will just work on the shorter 30k trail and marathon distances until I get my speed up some 8). 

Steve, enjoy the swimspa!

Bryan will pace me to keep me going.  It will be through the middle of the night, assuming I'm on a 20-something hour pace.  No way I'm trying to set any expectations for pace, just to finish.  On this course, it won't necessarily be as critical since it is a loop course in a park, unlike other 100 milers (e.g. Western States 100) that are point to point races in the middle of very remote areas.  But I'll definitely appreciate the moral support.

What does everyone else have planned for the rest of the year?

I know what you mean about motivation, these aren't A races but more prep races for my early events next year, but I'm right on course to have a good result for IMSG and Baker 2 Vegas.

Good luck on that run guys, there's nothing I can really add, encouragement only works for 5k's or shorter, past that its up to you!

Last week running to work my achilles became really sore, running home it was in pain.  It was black and blue with a deep cut on it and I have no clue if I hit something or if the tendon is sore.  I don't know if I'm the only one but I always end up with cuts and bruises I can't explain. 

 I've since taken time off the run and I'm going to try it out tonight.  If its good to go, I'll do the sprint this weekend, if not, I'll shut it down and save my legs for the other 2 races.  

Edited by furiousferret 2009-09-30 6:08 PM

Chris, hope your achilles is okay and you can race this weekend, but yeah, better safe than sorry-due-to-aggravating-an-injury.

Bryan bought a pair of Vibram five fingers (bright red ones nonetheless!).  I haven't yet heard if he's run in them yet, how they worked out, and if he was self conscious about it.

i'm gonna be pacing donato just so he finishes... although the first time i paced him at angel island 50k, i was running behind him trying to keep up. the 2nd time at the 12 hour run, he died as soon as i went home (coincidence?). hopefully at javelina i'll be pacing him and not vice versa.

d, i finally ran a mile today in my vibrams. felt good but my left foot is weak. i already knew it was weak so wearing these shoes just made it obvious. but that's the whole idea, to strengthen my feet and supporting calf muscles, and improve my stride. looking dorky and weird, well that's just a side effect. although my 13 year old nephew thought it was cool and wanted to borrow them to run his 1 mile run in PE class.

furiousferret, what's wrong with your achilles? is it aggravated? for me the solution is to keep the calves loose. running hills really tightens my calves which really screws up my achilles. i go for ART (active release therapy?). works wonders.

There's no real smoking gun as to why its hurts or what it is.  Either a tendon pull or a bruise.  I have theories but after reading about achilles injuries it seems rest and RICE are important.   I'd like to know more about ART, it sounds interesting and if it helps I'm all for it.

The tendon area was really sore after my 10 mile roundtrip run commute.  I also noticed the area was scratched and bruised (this is common as I run through bushes) and I'm not sure if that's causing the numb pain or if its the tendon.  Feeling the tendon, it doesn't have any symptoms of a tendon injury.

My chiropractor has been working on my hips and they're finally aligned perfectly after many years; the side effect is my right (the one that was slightly higher) seems to be hurting and it never has in the past.  This may or may not have anything to do with it.  For years the misalignment caused my left to get hurt almost on a monthly basis. 

*Update* I took 3 days off even walking, and 5 days off the run.  My 3 mile run last night went well, and I should be good to race for this weekend.  I'm still going to probably focus on the bike and swim for another week or two and slowly work my way back into the run.

Go easy in those 5 finger shoes.  They tend to tighten your calves and you need new calouses for them.  I tend to only go 1-2  miles in mine bacause I get blisters in odd places on my feet from them.  They will definately make you run differently if you are a heal striker that is for sure.  But, it takes a long time to change your running style if you are not already fairly flat to forefoot strike.  I hear that the new ones are more run friendly and my not cause the same bliste issues.  They were originally designed as watershoes like Tiva's for rafters or some such.  You definately feel the ground a lot more that is for sure. 

Oh races, 30k trail race 10/24, 30k trail race 11/22, mary 1/17 and then CDA unless I throw something in before it in the spring.  I haven't thought that far ahead yet, just want to ge to the end of the mary.

Edited by Baowolf 2009-10-01 12:11 PM

Steve - let's see those swimspa pics!
Chris - good luck with the sprint this weekend!
Kyla - run strong at the Portland marathon Sunday!
Donato - as usual, I'm in awe
PBF - I'm in awe of you, too - pacing Donato for 30-40 mi, as if it's no big thing!

I'm laying low and recovering from apparent IT band issues, but hope to be out there running again soon. In the meantime, I'll be putting in my time at the pool. Have fun, everyone!

Swim Spa Picture

Steve, that looks pretty sweet!  How is it swimming in it?

Very cool!

Thanks Jules!!Happy to report I broke that 4:00 barrier with a 3:57:44. Had a good race, I think, but the last 4 miles were pretty brutal. Had to dig deep, very deep. Part of my problem was the Garmin clocking longer miles than the race. We were about .1 behind around 8 miles (EVERYONE was -- you'd hear everyone's Garmin beeping the mile split then we'd come up on it later!). By the end of the race my Garmin had me running 26.54 miles, which really *$%&)#$ with me mentally. I *knew* I'd be running longer than 26.2 and it was killing me!!! Ran the race with my college bestest friend, who shared my previous PR of 4:11 (done at the North Olympic Discovery Marathon 2+ years back). She was strong and stuck with me even though she could have easily gone 2 minutes faster. I would have done the same for her -- we are on this journey together and that's one of the most important things for us. Anyway, will d/l the splits and do a RR later. Still recovering from major gastric upset -- ugh. My stomach takes awhile to recover after these big efforts!

Nice race with a nearly 15 min PR!  Hopefully I can make similar gains from my first mary this January.  I was actually hoping that with more training that those last 4 miles would be easier this go round..  On my first mary those last 4 miles were totally a mental effort to not walk.  Intersetingly, the last 4 miles of the IM marathon were not as bad mentally, although there was the dark temptation to walk around mile 15 instead.  

What did you do for nutrition during the mary?  I usually just do GU every 30 minutes starting at 45 minutes into the race. 

And yes the garmin lies on distance.. and in the wrong direction.

How do you make it beep every mile?  

Edited by Baowolf 2009-10-05 10:53 AM

kkcbelle, congrats on breaking the elusive 4 hour barrier. Did you hear the sonic boom when that happened? That's awesome that you and your college buddy run together like that.

Baowolf, what happens if you stop swimming all of a sudden? Do you get sucked into the pump and get ground into hamburger? That would be great motivation to swim faster. Man that looks really cool... I have pool envy. Especially now that I'm quitting my job so no pool access anymore.

Furiousferret, hopefully your achilles behaved for your race this weekend. Ask your chiropractor about ART. Actually I had never been to a chiropractor before, except for ART. For me, my calves were chronically tight so they pulled on my achilles. Its interesting that everything in the body is interconnected. BTW there's an interesting story about barefoot running http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/04/health/1247464987589/bare...

There is a sloped portion at the back of the pool that you can use to run against the current (like if you are recovering from an injury).  So if you find that you are losing ground you just put your feet down.  If you have ever played in a river you can walk into a current of 2.5 mph, but it is harder to swim into it.  There is a positioning arrow on the bottom to show you the ideal spot to swim and if you see it getting farther away that is not good 8).   

There is an emergency cut off along the back of the pool, so you can hit that and turn it off immediately.  There is also a metal grid along the back that is about 2 1/2 feet deep and 7 1/2 feet wide that if you actually pin yourself to it at full speed you can get off it, but it is a little awkward to do so.  My kids were um testing that this weekend. 

We had the whole family except my daughter in there (4 kids 2 adults).  We gave some brief swim lessons.  The pool is interesting in that you can have that many people in it and still swim in the middle, although they do draw the current speed down a touch.  If they hang out at the sides and the back you can still swim.  For workouts though, I boot them out.     

I think it is harder to swim into a current than to just swim laps, but it could be that I just am out of swim fitness because I haven't gotten many days in over the past 2 months while I was waiting for this thing to get functional. 

Grats again on breaking 4:00:00 on the mary, 3 anything means you are fast 8). 

Thanks for the congrats. Yes, I have always wanted to be a sub-4:00 marathoner, and now no one can ever take that away from me. So <phew>... check that one off of life's lists!!

I eat Shotbloks for the run. I did 1-2 at nearly every water stop after the 2nd or 3rd one. My stomach always shuts down after a long race, so that is typical for me. I try to force calories in after to aid recovery but it is such a miserable feeling. I also cry after every long race -- total emotional release (happy, sad, painful, pain-free, it matters not!). A volunteer was so sweet when she saw me breaking down, she tied up my space blanket for me and told me I needed a hug. It was really cute.

Coveting your pool, Baowolf!! Can you change the flow of the current for more resistance? Very cool that you can use it for running as well. And yes! I hope you take 15 minutes off your mary time too. The end of a mary will be painful no matter what, I think. I wonder if the 2:15 marathoners hurt the last 4 miles, though? I feel FINE at 2:15... LOL!

That's an interesting video, and sometimes I wonder about the cushioning (like what they mentioned in the Oregon study).  If my leg is like a hammer, and I hit a mattress, the thing flies back with more force, but if I hit wood it tends to just dull without the return force.  Seems like the return force would cause more harm than good.

I decided to skip it at the last minute.  Part to do with the achilles, part to do with getting home at 2 am the night before, but mainly because the $130 fee was too pricey for a poor performance.  I'll definately do my next 2 and I had a discussion with the wife about scheduling my time before and after my races.

kkcbelle, grats on the sub 4! That's a very respectable time and I'm definately happy for you.  Hopefully you can build on this and BQ.  I'm not sure what your time would be but it has to be within 30 minutes.

Good luck next week Donato / Poweredbyfear.  Does the race have an online tracker?  Between
Kona and the NFL I'll be checking my iPhone constantly. 

With everyone doing these massive endurance races, I do feel somewhat out of my league right now, everyone is doing some very impressive stuff. 

Jules, hope your IT is doing better.  What are you doing to treat it?  My left side is way tighter than my right, so I've been try to foam roller it every day.

Kyla, congrats on your sub 4:00!  That's a big milestone in running.

I only have a 50-mile race this weekend.  The big 100 miler is halloween weekend.  Of course, Bryan needs to get cracking on his run training...