Solitude on the Chippewa

Last weekend, I find myself back in Wisconsin visiting family with only

three weeks to go before the North Coast 24-hour National Championship.  I am a little bit stressed because I have gotten way behind on my training.... oh well, I end up having a few hours to kill and so go exploring on the Chippewa River State Trail.  The name is a bit misleading because it is not exactly a "trail," but a very nice asphalt bike path.  From the looks of things, it is quite new and very well maintained.  The west end of the trail starts in Durand, Wisconsin and ends up in the east at Eau Claire, for a total of 30 miles one-way of paved trail.

I start in Durand on a bright and sunny day.  The temperatures increase throughout my 20 mile run to the point of being downright hot.  What's up with that?  It is only mid-April.  It still should be snowing!!  The trail is completely flat. Apparently it is converted from an unused railway corridor.  Early on, the views are of fields and farmland.  Even though it is mid-afternoon on a Saturday, I see only two runners, a handful of bikers, two fishermen and one snake.  It is very quiet and peaceful.

After about seven miles of running, I see my first real glimpse of water - the Chippewa River.  The Chippewa eventually drains into the Mississippi River.  It was used heavily in the 1800s for logging.  Now, it's a popular river for canoeing.  Although I would like to keep going, I have to turn around at the ten-mile mark and head for my car.  Unfortunately there are no drinking fountains on the trail and I have brought no water with me.  I am parched.  I am tempted to jump in the river but decide to keep plodding along the path.  When I eventually get back to the trail head, my car is a welcome sight as I drive off in search of drinkable water!  Definitely though a nice way to spend an afternoon.  I will be back to see the rest of the trail as I missed the sandstone buffs that are further east.

Purple Day is Coming

Yes, I know there are lots of colors being bandied about to support popular causes.... but purple is a color dear to my heart.... as it signifies Epilepsy Awareness.

Purple Day was conceived by a young girl, Cassidy Megan, in Nova Scotia, Canada.    She chose the name Purple Day because lavender is the international color for epilepsy. The lavender flower is associated with solitude, which is representative of the feelings of isolation many people affected by epilepsy often feel.    Purple Day is celebrated worldwide to raise global epilepsy awareness and to show those with epilepsy they are not alone.

Support epilepsy awareness by wearing purple on March 26th!

Lavender growing in my garden.

US 24-Hour Nationals Springing Foward

Due to the 24-Hour World competition taking place in September this year, the 2012 US National 24-Hour Championship has been scheduled by USATF to the Spring.... May 5-6, 2012 in Cleveland.  The venue for the race is exactly the same as the Fall North Coast 24-hour race - Edgewater Park, approximately a .9 mile loop. 

Having run the race three times, I can testify that the course can't be beat.  Super fast times are for the taking... and while this race will not automatically qualify anyone to run at the 2012 Worlds, you can still qualify for the World race if you run lots of miles!  At this point, according to USATF representatives, race results from the Spring 2012 National Championship could qualify a runner for BOTH the 2012 Worlds (in Poland this September) AND the 2013 Worlds (in the Netherlands in May 2013).  I think that is an excellent incentive to run this race!!  I will be there.

Following the Philosophy of Yiannis

             A surprising benefit of running the Desert Solstice race a few weeks ago was the goodie bag, which had a copy of the DVD “Forever Running,” featuring Yiannis Kouros.  For anyone who hasn’t heard of Yiannis, he is the best ultrarunner ever, holding many records including the World’s 24-hour record at 188 miles.  He set that record in 1997 and many believe it is untouchable.

            After returning from the race, while procrastinating over writing out holiday cards, I decided to distract myself and popped in the DVD to check it out.  Not knowing what to expect, I quickly became engrossed in this seemingly low-budget movie shot in Greek with English subtitles. Most of the DVD is Yiannis either running or providing insights into his philosophy of running and training, etc.

            It is hard to compare myself to Yiannis. I require more that 2 ½ hours of sleep a night.  I also do not run marathons in sub-3 hours.  I also do not have 150-plus World records! 

            It turns out, however, that Yiannis and I do have a few things in common.  Unwittingly, over the years, I have subscribed to some of his training philosophy.  I wholeheartedly agree with Yiannis’ observation that “some runners worship the body, simply run all day.  If I am to do this, I shall become inhuman and will not find inspiration in the race.  I practice a couple of hours morning and evening with many breaks.  Run too much, where is time for something else? … I disagree with speed and quantities; I do quality training with rhythm depending on the race’s needs.”

             I am also in the less is more camp.  Unlike many runners I know who spend their entire weekend running, I spend very little time running but instead enjoy time with family, friends and other hobbies.  Then, when I actually run a 24-hour race, the experience is very fresh since going into the race I haven’t run for more than 4-5 hours at a time.  For my preparation for my last 24-hour race at the North Coast 24 in September, I concentrated on speed work and running twice a day and had my best race ever!

            Yiannis also comments on the concept of patience in an ultra race.  “The verb ‘endure’ is not a physical verb, it’s a spiritual one. Endure means to withstand…you must be patient and then do solid training. Without patience, you will never conquer endurance.”   Also, “No one completes a race via his body but with his mind.”

            I too think of the 24-hour race as more of a spiritual experience than a physical one.  I find it to be a form a meditation.  In a 24-hour race, there are no physical obstacles, no need to pay attention to rocks, roots or see if you’re still on the course.  It is just running and, at its best, I tune out everything and just concentrate on running.  I ignore other runners since, as Yiannis also says, “we are not racing against co-runners but we are racing against nature, clock, time, distance.”  Those are the only thoughts that cross my mind as well.  I know that at the end of the race many runners who are faster and much more talented than me will have faltered so I do not pay any attention to them but only to the clock, time and distance….  You can be well trained but if your mind is not focused – a certain mental toughness – your body will not cooperate.

            Finally Yiannis sums up why ultrarunners run.  “The rational in doing such a sport is to experience the extraordinary moments of ‘exceeding.’ You cannot experience them in normal life.”  Ultras are truly extraordinary events and it is for this reason that we all keep returning to run them again and again.

Desert Solstice - Breaking Records on a Track

            A few months ago, I received an e-mail from Nick Coury inviting me to a track 24-hour race in Phoenix called the Desert Solstice.  The purpose of the race was for record setting and as a qualifier for the 2012 U.S. 24-Hour team.  The idea of running a track race has always intrigued me.  Running at its purest.  Nothing to think about, just running.

            I had been fortunate to actually qualify for the U.S. Team at the North Coast 24-hour Nationals in Cleveland this past September.  I looked at the American age group track records, though, and the longer distances seemed beatable so I signed up to try to get at least one age group record.

            While having the best of intentions, since the North Coast race, my training has been a bit thin.  Curling 3-4 times a week cuts into the running hours.  As the race approached, I realized that I had done no long training runs since the Chicago marathon in early October.  This made me a little nervous so, the week before the race, I ran 20 miles on Saturday and then again on Sunday.  That would have to do.

            Before race day, the race entrants ebbed and flowed but at the starting line nine individuals were ready to run.  There were three women, Carilyn Johnson, Suzanna Bon and me.  We joked that we should all place in the race.  Both were trying to qualify for the U.S. team, Carilyn having been on the team in 2009 and Suzanna in 2010.  Three of the men were “only” running 100 miles and were lightning fast the entire time they were on the track.

Suzanne, me and Carilyn before the race.

            The 400 meter track was a rubberized surface at a local high school.  The straight-away surface was only a year old and the turn surface was four years old so the course was in excellent shape.  The track, however, was quite open with only some aluminum bleachers around part of it so nothing to block any wind.

            We started running at 8:00 a.m. under cloudy skies.  Weather initially looked promising but a fairly stiff breeze started blowing early on, hitting us in the face on one of the turns.  Then the clouds blew away, the sun poked out and it started getting plenty warm for a Clevelander used to GRAY skies and COLD weather!!! The aid station workers were awesome, however.  They had everything and so I bummed sun screen from them and also put a bag of ice on my head to try and keep me cool.  Regrettably, I had forgotten sun glasses since the forecast was for clouds and rain but I did remember a hat.  I originally was planning a fairly aggressive pace (at least for me) but decided because of the warmer temperature to run a little slower in the early part of the race.

My good luck charm watching the race.

            We switched directions every four hours so we could use some different muscles.  Every time I passed the clock, my pace per lap was displayed.  This was awesome as I could know every 400 meters what my pace was.  This kept me occupied for most of the race and believe it or not I did not get bored at all!  I really didn’t pay attention to much else.  By 12 hours, I was close to 72 miles, a very good pace for me.  I was shooting for 133 miles for 24 hours (American age group record) and that seemed doable if I had no major catastrophe!

            After the sun set, temps were cooler and downright pleasant.  Intermittently, a few sprinkles kept us cool, but nothing major.  Phoenix definitely has a dry climate.  I was drinking plenty of fluids or so I thought.  The first time I had to go to the bathroom, however, was 8 hours into the race!

            From the turning motion, I did develop some blisters on my feet.  I also think I had a small rock in my shoe that I didn’t want to stop to address, causing a blister on the bottom of my foot.  I probably should have stopped early on to fix my feet but I just kept going and started calculating what my time would be at the 100 mile mark.  There was a fairly soft age group record of 19 hours and 25 minutes.  I thought I should be able to beat that, no problem.  That became my goal and my fixation.  Round I went until I hit 100 miles, about 17 hours and 14 minutes.  Hooray!  I had a new record…. and I then promptly went to check on my foot situation.  By then it was raining, I popped a few blisters and then pondered whether to continue and try for the 133 mile age group record.  Based on my 100 mile split, I definitely had enough time to hit those miles… but I was not feeling confident that I could maintain a steady pace without a lot of discomfort, started thinking I was really not in great shape to continue strong for another 6 ½ hours and so decided to stop at that point.  I was very happy getting my age group 100 mile record, however, and now I have something to shoot for when I run another track 24-hour!

            Congrats to Suzanna for getting an American age group record for 100 miles (around 16:02) and to Carilyn for running almost 131 miles.  Also the super fast guys had a good day.  Mike Arnstein ran a 13:46 for 100 miles and Jay Aldous ran a 13:52, which was a new World record for his age group!

            Nick and his crew did an excellent job with the race.  Everything was spot on and I could not have asked for anything more.  Looking forward to trying it again!!

Trials, Tribulations and Chi-Town

As scheduling would have it, right after the North Coast 24-hour race, work went crazy.  The timing from a running standpoint was just pure luck because after September 18^th, I didn’t have time to even run a few miles a day.  My forced recovery period actually was pretty good for me.  I really feel totally recovered now and ready for another running challenge.

My work commitments culminated in a 4-day jury trial starting on October 3rd.  When those happen – most cases settle so this is not too often – you feel like you’re in a black hole.  You live and breathe the case and of course no running.  The jury deliberations were pretty quick and ended with a unanimous verdict in favor of my client.  We went for a celebratory lunch and drink.  I then headed to my bee hives since I had neglected them too.  I needed to remove the honey frames and harvest honey before it got too cold.  Well, I was almost finished with my harvest when I got nailed on my outer thigh (through thick blue jeans) by a honey bee.  This was quite painful and I hobbled into the house to assess the damage.  The stinger was still implanted so I quickly removed it and downed a few Benadryl.  Over the course of the next day, the sting spread until I had an 8-inch round, red swollen welt on my thigh and it hurt!  This happened on Thursday.  On Friday I flew to Chicago to run the marathon on Sunday….  Again, good timing as if I had been stung before the NC24, it could have been real trouble.

As it was, the swelling started migrating in my leg down to my knee and was not so fun on Sunday….  Before the marathon, however, I was able to squeeze in a few fun things....

Dinner with friends Sharon & Meg

My first Big-10 game, Michigan/Northwestern

For the marathon, I was running incognito (with someone else’s bib) so I was really planning to make this a “fun run” anyway….  But as I plodded along the streets of Chicago after starting in the “open” corral area, I was constantly being elbowed, tripped, and generally trying to dodge slower runners.  Then at aid stations, it was a battle to get to the water and Gatorade (UGH) not to mention the million cups and sponges that runners threw in the middle of the road.  I had not run a “big” marathon for a LONG time… and with this experience fresh in my mind I can’t say I would run another one.  It was fun being with friends and the free beer at the end was a nice touch…. Otherwise I’m sticking with the smaller marathon…

312 Beer tastes better than Gatorade any day! With friend, Karen at the finish.

North Coast 24-Hour - PR's Are Possible At 50-Plus!

A confluence of events came together at the North Coast 24-Hour race (Sept. 17-18, 2011) in order for me to reach a long-held goal of hitting 130 miles in a 24-hour race – excellent weather, a fantastic crew and a little bit of luck.

Training for this 24-hour race has been interesting.  I typically am not a high mileage runner.  I usually though run at least a few "faster" marathons and at least one 5-6 hour training run before a 24-hour event.  For the NC24 race, due to other time commitments, I wasn’t able to get in any long runs.  After the 48-Hour race I ran in early May, my longest training run up to the NC24 has been 20 miles.  Since I didn’t have time for longer runs, I tried to double up, running 10 miles in the morning before work and 10 miles at night.  I never was able to hit 100 miles in any given week, but came close a few weeks.  I can also say it was a first for me to get out the door at 4:00 a.m. to squeeze in a number of 20-milers before work.  Just to mix things up, I also met my friend, Karen, at the high school track once a week  for some speedwork to try and energize my running since I felt I was getting way too slow.



Jamie Donaldson & me before the race

With my somewhat low training miles, I was a bit nervous going into the NC24.  The field of women runners was very strong and only the top two women were guaranteed a spot on the 2012 national team.  My only goal going in to the race was to hit my elusive “130.”  I really didn’t see a second place finish as a possibility.

Race day dawned and indeed the weather forecast was right!  Perfect running weather. At the start, I even resorted to gloves and arm warmers, which I peeled after a few hours.  My original plan was to start about a 9:30 minute per mile pace for the first three hours and then go right to a 10:00 pace for hours 3-6, and then every 3 hours adding 15 seconds to my pace.  Because the weather was so good, I abandoned that plan when I started running and hoped my exuberance would not be costly.  I started at a faster 9:15 pace and then dropped to a 9:30 pace for hours 3-6.

Everything was going like clockwork until about 4:00 PM when I started feeling kind of sick.  This coincided with the sun coming out and actually getting somewhat warm.  The way the course is configured, the northern side (by Lake Erie) was breezy and cool.  As soon as you turned the corner on the south side, the wind stopped and it was HOT.  Courtney, my crew chief extraordinaire, was on top of things and dug out some anti-nauseous pills and tons of ginger ale.  I also started increasing electrolytes.  Something worked and after an hour or two, I recovered.  From that point on, I felt remarkably well the rest of the race. 

I have been tweaking what combination of calories to consume during a race.  This time, I mixed 1 1/2 scoops of Perpetuem to fit into a small flask that I drank every hour.  I supplemented this with water as needed and hammer gels and hammer solids.  I can now say definitively that the solids are not anything I can use over very long periods of time.  Also the Perpetuem strawberry and coffee flavors were pretty good while the unflavored and orange got pretty nasty.  I was able to keep consuming this mix for most of the race.  I also ate oatmeal, oranges, peanut butter sandwiches and bananas and my friend’s special “long run cake.”  Courtney was excellent monitoring my calorie intake and kept shoving stuff in my mouth!!

Mission Control.... with crew chief Courtney

One new product I tried were these caffeine strips called “Sheets.”  I saw them advertised in a magazine a few weeks ago and thought I’d give them a try.  They actually had a strong bitter taste but dissolve on your tongue so they are convenient to consume and easier on the stomach than coffee, Red Bull, etc.

I don’t know if it was the “Sheets," cooler weather, almost stepping on a rat, or something else, but once midnight hit, I felt energized and was able to run at about a 10:15 minute mile pace from midnight to about 3 a.m.  I felt like I was "flying" because most people are either trudging or off the course at this point. 

This year the race had a leader board that I didn’t pay too much attention to during the first half of the race.  As is typical, most of the runners on the leader board go out too fast and fade before the race is over.  That certainly happened at this race… for different reasons both Jamie Donaldson and Anna Piskorska dropped.  Connie was her phenomenal self and unstoppable.  Lisa Bliss was running very strong.  I don’t think it was until the middle of the night before I caught up with her and got a lead.  Every time I saw Lisa she looked so strong so I knew I had to keep running once I moved into the number 2 spot.

There were a few glitches in the timing system during the first half of the race.  I was pretty sure that some of my laps were missed.  According to the official count, I hit the “130” mark with about 15 minutes to spare.  I wanted to quit then but Courtney wisely said, "Keep running…. You need one more lap for extra measure.”  I trudged on for one more lap.  With 5 minutes left, I kept running for a few minutes and then called it a day.  Final mileage, I thought, was 131.75, a little over 2 miles better than my previous PR.  After getting the laps splits and comparing them to my watch splits, I could easily see that some of my laps were indeed missed.  Bonus now for me is that I am getting"credit" for 3 additional laps so my actual mileage was 134!!!!

The end.... with Courtney!

When all the dust settled, Phil McCarthy ran a solid race and was the men’s champ with 153 miles and Connie Gardner was the women’s champ with 144 miles, just missing the women's American Record by about 1 mile.  I fully expect to Connie to break that record one of these days and I hope I am there to witness it!!  Jonathan Savage was 2^nd with 146 miles and he earned a spot on the national team.  Still in shock over this, I also am now guaranteed a spot on the 2012 national team as the 2^nd place female.  Lisa Bliss was 3^rd female with just shy of 126 miles and could possibly qualify for one of the open spots on the national team.

Lessons learned? 

1. Expect the unexpected.  I’m feeling a little creaky and old at 52 to be on the national team but I guess that gives me incentive to stay as fit as possible for another year!

2. Stay out of the medical tent!  In my typical 24-hour races, I have to make at least one stop at the medical tent to get something fixed!  I love Dr. Andy and his medical students but this year I got to chat with them AFTER the race, which saved me a lot of time during the race.

3. Don’t overestimate the value of a well-organized crew.  This race, I thought absolutely about nothing…. To the point that I didn’t know who had won the men’s race until after the race was over….

4. Maybe my haphazard training program wasn’t so bad after all.

5. Comfort is key.  No chaffing or blisters this race.  My Epilepsy Association tech shirt worked perfectly.  And of course, Drymax socks were on my feet the entire race.  Thank you Drymax for your continued support of the National 24-hour Championship!!