UNBREAKABLE Review; 2010 Western States 100 Miler Documentary

I was fortunate enough (and smart enough to buy a ticket early) to attend the world premier screening of Unbreakable, the documentary of the 2010 Western States Endurance Run. Unbreakable follows (literally) 4 of the worlds top Ultrarunners during what turned out to be one of the most epic ultrarunning races we've seen yet; the 2010 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run.

In 2010, Geoff Roes, Anton Krupicka, Killian Jornet and Hal Koerner were the talk of the ultrarunning community for their individual accomplishments. Geoff Roes was crushing 100 milers like they were half marathons including the Hurt 100 and Wasatch Front 100. Anton Krupicka was becoming the "poster-runner" of ultrarunning and was undefeated in all of his races including the Leadville 100 and the Miwok 100K. Hal Koerner was the two time defending champ of the race, long time ultrarunner and well known as the owner of Rogue Valley Runners in Ashland, OR. Killian Jornet at the time, was emerging as somewhat of an urban legend type of runner (at least in the US). He had won the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc twice but hadn't made much of a mark in the US... yet. He was known for being young and fast, really really fast. I think he seemed to be the scariest competitor because he was somewhat of an unknown. If you followed ultrarunning at the time, you knew these guys were going to push themselves to their breaking points. I remember staying home that day and following the race updates online.

I'm grateful that the Director, JB Benna decided to make this film and I hope there will be more films and live coverage of these ultramarathon races in the future. At the screening on Friday, JB had a great quote, he said he made this film because he wanted to see it. The screening was sold out and packed with 300 people, a keg of sierra nevada, a nice crew of recognizable ultrarunners many of whom were competing in the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship the next day and 3 of the four featured runners in the film, Geoff, Anton and Hal who did a Q&A with JB at the end.

The film was excellent. It captured the emotions, high points, low points and beauty of ultrarunning. JB and his crew did a great job of showing how these guys live day-to-day which was interesting as most of us just know them as the guys who are winning races. The cinematography of the race was a fantastic composition of long range shots, running along with the runners (which was surprisingly smooth) and scenic shots which painted a portrait of the environment of the race. The story of Gordy Ainsleigh, the founder of the race, as told by Gordy himself while standing shirtless over the American River Canyon, was woven throughout the film and provided a great background to the race and it's grueling conditions.

Check out the trailer! Here's a link to the screening SCHEDULE.

Running to Strained Calf to Biking to Swimming to Triathlons

Since pulling my calf in June I have sadly not been able to run much. I am somewhat of a (well actually a big) self "diagnoser" and I definitely made my strain worse than it was when it happened. Numerous times I thought it was healed and I tried to run it out only to limp back home. I tried to find respite in heavy rides on the spin bike and strength training, including my legs, figuring that I could rehab the injury as long as I wasn't running... another bad idea. Finally, I dove into some reading and found that compression and rest would be the best options. So for two solid weeks, I wrapped my calf very tightly and did nothing. That sucked. BUT it worked. Now I am wearing a compression sleeve, swimming and and just started doing some light rehab leg exercises. The unintentional additional exposure to swimming and biking has helped me build a training base to take on some triathlons. I have always had my eye on the Ironman.  

Being a runner, triathlons have long been on my radar. My endurance on the bike is pretty solid (for a non-cyclist) and the only struggle is usually with comfort after being on the bike for a long time. So, biking basics, check! ...Meaning, I feel that I have a solid base on the bike from which I can train up from. Since I have been (effectively) rehabbing my calf, I have found swimming... I've been in the pool a few times before but was never able to put the pieces together and really enjoy or get into it. Swimming has always been difficult... most likely because I have never done it consistently until now. Just breathing was tough let alone coordinate the strokes and feeling like I was actually moving properly through the water. Being a self-diagnoser, I am also a self-teacher, so naturally I just struggled my way through the water for the first couple weeks and learned by trial and error and watching others. A few days ago, I found this video:     

That video helped me tremendously and now I have the feeling as though I am gliding through the water. I am now more focused than ever on maintaining my swimming and biking endurance and building up to an ironman.

Secret Love Affair with Running and Endurance Sports

This part of my life (roughly the past 4 yrs) has been one of transitions. As we know from our triathlete friends and high school soccer coaches, "it's all about the transitions".

I am 31 now and as I've reached my late twenties and moved into my 30's, whether I am training for a race or just training for the sake of training, it has seemed to take the roll of my secret lover. It seems as though I am sneaking off to "lunch" which might include a main dish of swimming laps in the pool with a side of core work. Instead of hitting happy hour, I often have to "work late" which might include a 20 miler or, lately, because of an annoying and lingering calf pull, it might be a strength training session and some time on the spin bike.

I don't want training to be a secret (and believe me, it's far from it) but it seems like many people who do not participate in endurance sports do not understand my love for it. For now, I have been enjoying my "secret" training missions... even though there is no glory in training (unless you blab about it to people and think they actually care) there is something that feels good knowing that you chose to throw down some miles as opposed to some beers. Anyway, onward my friends! 

Marathon World Record

So as you probably know there is a new world record marathon time. And no, it was not set by Haile Gebreselassie... It was set by 26 yr old Kenyan runner, Patrick Makau. Patrick blew everyone out the water and won by 4 minutes in a time of 2:03:38... that is an average pace of 4:43/mile. Fire!!! It should also be noted that a UK record was set at the 2011 Berlin Marathon as well. Scott Overall ran blazing 2:10:55 to finish fifth and become the fastest british marathoner.

Finally, here's a pretty cool video from the 2011 Berlin Marathon. This end is particularly good with Makau flying along with no one around. He even throws in a little fancy jump over the chute divider to get into the proper lane...