Dick Collins FIRETRAILS 50 MILER Race Review

On October 13, 2012 I ran the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 Miler (I fell off the blogging wagon for a bit so I'm writing this at a later date)... "Firetrails" is an awesome ultramarathon that is run on an out and back course through the East Bay Hills in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I live in San Francisco so I woke up at about 5am and sped out to the East Bay to check in and make the 6:30am start. It was totally dark out so the starting/parking area was a bit messy... I decided to go without a flashlight because dawn was breaking around that time and didn't want to carry the extra weight.  I didn't realize that this would limit my toilet options to one bathroom... the park has other port-o-potty style bathrooms but no lights. There was a huge line for restroom and luckily I got in and out just in time. A few unlucky runners started a bit late.

As I made my toward the start, I heard the count down and as I reached the start we were off! Oops... i forgot to tie my shoelaces :) ...ok now we were off. The first few miles are alongside the Lake Chabot bike trail before the course climbs up into the hills for a few rolling miles before dropping into the valley. "Firetrails" is one of those legendary races that attracts true ultrarunners; it is an ultra marathoners ultramarathon. Many seasoned runners made for a great day on the trails. People were friendly, competitive, respectful and working hard.

We pressed on through magnificent redwood groves in Redwood Regional Park and started back into the hills. The aid stations are great at this race. They are well stocked, manned by great volunteers and nice distances from each other. I ran w two 12 oz Amphipod handheld water bottles. One for h2o and one for GU sports drink. I also carried my own GU's and Picky Bars. I started fueling early and felt good through the first half of the race. I definitely felt like I had energy to burn. My race strategy was to pace myself through the first half, hit the turnaround somewhere between 4:30 and 5hrs and then go back hard for a negative split. I was hoping to finish as close to 9hrs30min as possible. I hit the turn around at 4:55 and started back up the long climb to Grizzly Peak. I felt very strong through the climb but once I got to the top indigestion hit (this was about mile 30 or so).... i need a port-o-potty something fierce! This slowed my roll for about 5 minutes coming into the aid station which had a restroom. Spent a few more minutes in there and then got back out on the trail but not feeling much better. I think I over did it with the Picky Bars early in the first half. They are solid food and have about 200 cal per bar. I pushed on at a slow pace trying to get my system right. Finally after another 8 miles or so I started to come back to life. I grabbed my headphones from my crew and started the descent into Redwood Regional Park. All of a sudden I was back! With about 12 miles to go I kicked into gear running about a 9 min/mile pace. I was feeling great. I motored on through the last 10 miles, rocking out and enjoying my comeback. I crossed the finish line in 10:03. I was pretty spent, a little bummed about the indigestion but feeling good about the comeback in the end.

Overall Dick Collins Firetrails 50 was an awesome race! Julie Fingar (race director) does a great job putting this one together. Thanks Julie and to everyone who volunteered their time.  

Tamalpa Runners HEADLANDS 50K Race Review

As I was running downhill to Stinson Beach on the Matt Davis Trail my foot caught an old steel peg that used to hold a wooden stair in place. I was airborne going head first towards a tree. Everything slowed down. Was this my life flashing before my eyes? If so, I wasn't seeing anything? I had time to contemplate how this was either going to end. Result A) me unconscious on the trail of the trail or B) couple broken bones. I somehow turned my body a bit and ended up giving the tree a body check (hockey style) with my left shoulder. Naturally, the tree did not budge and I let out a huge unintentional grunt as my body crumpled around the trunk of the tree. I hit the ground and began to slide down the hill. Luckily, I was still conscious and a pleasant fern lent me a hand to stop my downhill slide. I scrambled back up to the trail and up onto my feet. I ran a quick diagnostics test over my body and to my surprise everything felt in tact. I was able to carry on, amble along, hobble on downhill the hill. Eventually my hobble turned into a trot and into a real stride.

Now, let's rewind about 25 miles.... It was a fantastically foggy morning at Santos Meadow just up the road from Muir Beach. Great running weather. Everyone was shivering as they picked up their bibs, chatted it up with old and new running buddies and prepped for the 31.5 hilly (7,300' up and 7,300' down) miles that lay ahead... even Dean Karnazes was shivering. 

Off we went at 8am heading south towards San Francisco. We ran along alongside highway 1 until about where we started our first big climb out of Muir Beach. This section of trail is phenomenal. The views are exceptional and it is just flat out excellent single track along the coastal cliffs. The average pace was decent and people were cool with passing and sharing the trail. We wound our way up and down towards Rodeo Beach where we encountered the aid station 1. All of the aid stations were really well stocked and manned. The volunteers in this race were fantastic!! (Seriously, Thank you!) I was able to easily navigate each aid station which in some races can be harder than navigating the trail. Prior to the race, I armed myself with some GU Roctanes and my new favorite running fuel, PICKY BARS!!! These things are seriously awesome, dude (you'll get that joke later). They have a great carb to protein ratio (4:1 yo!), go down easily and taste good too (No Gluten sucka!). They provide excellent sustained energy (no highs and lows). I highly recommend them. I was really diligent about my fueling on this race and it paid off. I felt really good the whole time (well most of the time). 

(That's me running up out of Muir Beach.)

After the Rodeo aid station I pressed on up the Miwok trail (a trail that I train on a lot) heading north towards Mt. Tamalpais. It's always fun racing a course that you're familiar because among other things you know how to use every inch of it to your advantage. This stretch of trail is challenging but I know where I can really push myself but I tried to remember to save some energy for the last two steep technical sections. I loved flying down the Old Springs Trail into Tennessee Valley (always a fun one) where you could hear the cheers of the volunteers and spectators at the aid station. We climbed out of Tennessee Valley back on up the steep Miwok trail. For some reason this where I began to pass most of the people I passed during the race. After you make it up to the ridge it is sort of rolling hills that turn into downhill to Muir Woods where you connect with the Dipsea Trail to climb Cardiac Hill. I think knowing this part of the trail helped me push through the rolling and keep a solid but comfortable pace. Cardiac Hill took its toll on me and I was happy to reach the aid station at the top. I snagged a couple PB&J squares, chugged two cups of water, re-upped my GU brew supply and took off on this relatively flat couple of miles to the steep technical downhill section of the Matt Davis trail which takes you to Stinson Beach. I was eating my Picky Bars towards the top of most major climbs or during the rolling hill sections to recover from a climb and to fuel the larger muscles you use when going downhill. I waited to the half way point to have my first Roctane which gave me a great kick because I am not a regular coffee drinker (anymore). I had a very small cup of coffee the day before to get my digestive system used to the caffeine (this helps!). 

As I pressed on the rolling trail and was feeling really strong. I was pushing my pace, starting to play with that redline zone. The trail turned into its steep technical downhill through the trees towards Stinson Beach and I was moving with it well... or so I thought. I had a few passing conversations with fellow runners as we whipped through the turns and then BOOM! I hit the tree. I was back on my feet but moving along again at now a much slower pace. I tried to shake off the blow. I made it down to Stinson a bit rattled but moving ok. I turned back up the Dipsea trail to start the last steep technical stairy (with one 10ft ladder) ascent up Steep Ravine Trail. I really started to feel the mental affect of the crash on this part. My race mentality got knocked out of me and was laying there somewhere back up on the Matt Davis trail. With a little help from some motivating fellow ultrarunners I made it to the top of Steep Ravine in no kind of record time. At this point my back was tightening up a bit (something I have never really felt before while running so I attributed it to the "tree-check") and the feet were ready to stop. I cruised down the last 3 miles to the finish. 5:44 was my official time which I felt pretty good about considering the crash and I'm training through this race for the Dick Collins Firetrails 50. Overall, I had a fantastic day and really enjoyed running the Headlands 50K. I will be back to do it again! Thanks Tamalpa Runners!

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Tahoe Rim Trail Thru-Hike 2012; 165 Miles Around Lake Tahoe

This post is not about running. It is about endurance. June 30 - July 13th, 2012 my girlfriend and I thru-hiked the 165+ mile (29,500' +/- of elevation gain and descent) TAHOE RIM TRAIL. This is a truly sensational trail that weaves through the mountain peaks that surround Lake Tahoe. I have a background in endurance races particularly on trails. I am a runner that mostly runs trail races ranging in distance from 10 to 50 milers (hoping to throw down a few 100 milers in the future). My gf however is not a runner but she is tough! :)

The Tahoe Rim Trail is a true test of endurance. It was really tough; mentally and physically. First of all, this was my first real backpacking trip. Being a runner I am used to ticking off the miles fairly quick so it was a tough adjustment for me to get used to doing about 2-3 miles/hr. Physically, I live at sea level so adjusting to the altitude was a little tough and hiking above 9100' consistently seemed to slow our roll a bit... especially with a 40lb pack on.

We started out in Tahoe City and headed clock wise around the lake. Some of the highlights were camping at Martis Peak; hiking up to Relay Peak (10,300'); the whole eastern ridge area including Marlette Peak and Lake, South Camp Peak; Star Lake; Meiss Meadow; and of course Desolation Wilderness. The hike had its highs and lows but the highs were far and away greater than the lows. All of these pictures as you can probably guess do not do the trail justice.

GEAR!... I brought a Delorme Satellite Communicator with us for a bit of fun and additional safety. It allowed our friends and family to go to a webpage and track us and we were able to send pre-written messages from the device letting them know we were ok. It also comes equipped with a SOS button to contact rescue networks and send them our location if we were in an emergency situation. We enjoyed having it with us and I highly recommend it to anyone. It had service the whole time. You can also connect your iphone/smartphone to it and communicate via text w anyone no matter how far out you are.

(Marlette Lake w Lake Tahoe behind)

For our water filtration we used two different Sawyer Water Filters, the hanging gravity filter and the squeeze filter. Both were great and the squeeze filter was excellent at stream crossings to cut time.

I carried an Osprey Atmos 65 backpack. It was about 40lbs average the whole time... somehow my backpack got heavier as the trip went on and my gf's got lighter! Strange :) As far as food, our staple was definitely Clif Bars and Core Warrior Bars! I highly recommend the Core Warrior Bars but they only last 1 week without being refrigerated. For dinner we had a hot backpacker meal each night that was usually some sort of pasta dish which we mixed tuna or salmon into. I brought electrolyte pills which were very useful on the hotter days and at higher elevations.

The Tahoe Rim Trail was one of the best outings of my life. It was an amazing experience and one that makes you think deeply about how you're living your life. Here's a few additional photos...

SPEED WORK

Speed work, it's a grey area in running... but it sure as shit shouldn't be :) The track is more packed than ever these days but its mostly packed with training groups that are either just logging miles and cross training or skimming the surface of speed work. Don't get me wrong there are definitely some serious track clubs out there that some of the best non-professional runners belong to but at least at my track (Kezar Stadium in San Francisco) they are not the majority. So if you're a runner who is logging some serious miles, training for a race or just run for the seek of running, go hit the track and feel the immediate benefits of running as fast as you can.

When was the last time you flat out ran as fast as you could? I'm sure some of you are saying a couple of hours ago but most of you probably can't remember. The number one reason to go out and run as fast as you can is because it feels so good... you don't even need a track! The nice thing about the track is that it makes it easy for you to break your workout into different distances. This is useful if you're training for a particular race... half marathon: run mostly 400s and 800s, full marathon: run 400s, mostly 800s and some mile repeats, ultramarathon: try to stick to the mile repeats while incorporating 100s, 400s and 800s. Whatever you're training for always do the shorter "as fast as you can" distances which would be a 50, 100 or 200. Check this video of Bart Yasso explaining his legendary marathon timing training technique/theory called the Yasso 800s:

Running as fast as you can builds strength, improves running form, increases your VO2 Max and improves anaerobic capabilities (think fast twitch muscles). To learn more about that stuff go HERE.