Fat Tuesday training update and FFF 5K Recap

It’s been an interesting and rewarding few days of running.  I set a new 5K PR, solidified some race goals, had some unexpected training rewards, and I think I’ve even nailed down what I’m going to give up for Lent.

This past Saturday was the Fitness, Family, and Friendship 5K in North Cabarrus Park (Concord, NC).  The counselor at my elementary school and her husband—who happens to coach Cross Country at the High School—organized the event.  I had run at the park before, and I was looking forward to racing on hard-packed gravel instead of asphalt.  My intention was to get up super early and log my long mileage for the weekend before going to the 10 o’clock race, but my sensible wife and the cold weather convinced me to bag it and get a couple of extra hours of sleep in a warm, comfy bed. 

The extra rest paid off.  I went to the part charged and itching to race.  I ran the course as a warm-up at my projected marathon pace to loosen the legs.  I shed my jacket, donned my racing singlet and arm sleeves, and downed my traditional double espresso gel.  I toed the line next to Carly, a college student I had seen at a few other middle distance races over the past few months.  Carly was faster than me, but I had been working on my speed quite a bit lately.  I would keep an eye on her.  Also present were several members of the High School’s Cross Country team, including Jose, on whom I had my money to win.  The rest of the pack included amateur racers like me and a lot of Kannapolis City School District staff.

For 5K, the course was a workout both mentally and physically.  Turnarounds and switchbacks led us to climb the few hills along the gravel greenway a couple of times, and we had to be on the lookout for faint, spray-painted directional markings to keep us on course.  More than once, I shouted ahead to others who had missed a turn, and I only knew the way because I ran the course once already for my warm-up.  I lost the high-school athletes after half a mile, but I kept Carly in and 3 other runners in range.  My 1^st mile split was 6:28, almost exactly on pace for a 20 minute finish.  Not bad, considering the terrain.  By the end of the second mile, the pack in front of me had drifted back.  I made my move and passed all of them but Carly.  She kept a good 25 yards on me.  Mile 2 was 6:23, which was good to maintain a 20 minute finish, but it left practically no breathing room.  Pun intended; I was gassed!  Mile 3 was more of chasing Carly and keeping us both on  the modestly marked course.  After a quick dip into some rooted woods, we broke out on the greenway for 200 meters of sprint to the finish.  Carly beat me by 3 seconds, but she and 4 high school track athletes were the only people to finish ahead of me.  Jose won the race with a near sub-17 minute time.  My finishing time and PR was 19:48, so I actually had quickened my pace a tiny bit during the last 1.1 miles.  I was satisfied.

The following day, I decided to get my long mileage in with a bunch of other DART members.  I planned on 10 miles at a very gingerly pace, not wanting to injure myself before the upcoming Umstead Trail Marathon.  11 miles later, we were headed up South Street, which was 1200 meters of straight climb.  My running buddies Mike and Sam had cajoled me in to negative splitting the last hill.  We maintained a sub-7 minute pace for the last mile, and crested the hill at my 5K pace, which is not a workout one typically welcomes at the end of long run.  I finished feeling good though, and I enjoyed some well-deserved coffee at Summit afterwards. 

During our post-run coffee, Sam and Dave Munger really convinced me to examine my marathon goals.  Up until now, I would have been pleased to match my Thunder Road pace at upcoming Umstead.  Now, I will be disappointed if I don’t demolish it.  Sam, Dave, Mike, and several other experienced marathoners have been keeping track of my progress over the past few months, and they all agree I could run a 3:30 road marathon right now if I wanted.  Given the zone in which I have been training, I must say that I agree with them.  Umstead is different, though.  21+ miles of bridle trail plus a good 5 miles of single-track is a different beast than 26.2 miles of smooth asphalt.  Sure, the surface will be softer, but the pace will be slower as well.  The terrain will be very hilly too.  So, I’ve been including hilly trail runs into my regimen as much as I can in order to cut down on my road/trail pace differential.  I’m going to PR this beast, with you the readers as my witnesses! 

After Sunday long runs, I like to take Monday as my rest day, or maybe squeeze in some light strength training.  With this past Monday being Presidents’ Day, I had a little extra time in the morning to get to school, so I scheduled a 6.4 mile loop with Dave before work.  Running from the YMCA to our meeting spot across from Summit and running back after our loop turned the 6+ miler into just over 9 miles.  Later, I would add another mile (barefoot) on the treadmill after some weight training, bringing me to a 10+ mile day, meaning I had back-to-back long run days.  For sure I would take a rest day today (Fat Tuesday).  Nope.  I woke up feeling like a racehorse, so I laced up some super-light Innov-8’s and knocked out 7 miles at sub-marathon pace.  I was 2 miles into that run when I realized I had forgotten to wear my IT Band wraps.  My legs were feeling great, and my form felt spot on, so I finished my morning run elated.  I felt so good throughout the work day, that I promised myself an evening run just to take advantage of good time.  That evening run turned in to just over 10 miles, capping me at 17 for the day.  So much for a rest day.

Well, there you have it: a back-to-back-to-back set of long run days, all with less than two weeks until Umstead Marathon.  It's Tuesday, and I've nearly passed my mileage for all of last week so far in this week.  I don’t know if this is a good sign or not.  I don’t want to train myself into a corner, but I have to take advantage of what I have.  I have one more longish run on Sunday, which will NOT exceed 10 miles.  Aside from that, I may throw in one more speed day, and everything else will be at an easy recovery pace to keep the legs moving. 

While I’m in a resolute mood, I should mention that I have come to my decision as to what to deny myself for Lent, which starts tomorrow.  I already have given up nearly everything that is bad for me, so this year is quite a challenge.  Given that I get a lot of my protein from nuts, legumes, beans, and whole grains, I figured meat was a logical choice for a sacrifice.  I will continue to eat eggs, but only local, farm fresh eggs supplied by one of my colleagues at school.  I have not had milk or cheese for months, and I don't really eat any red meat to speak of, so I'm basically giving up poultry, fish, and the occasional strip of bacon.  It will be interesting to see how my fuel/recovery diet will respond to this change, but I think I can do it successfully if I plan far enough in advance.  We shall see…

Happy Mardi Gras!  Laissez les bon temps roulez!

Umstead Marathon Training Update: 3 weeks out

I currently am in the peak week of my loosely adhered-to marathon training plan for Umstead Trail Marathon, which takes place in 3 weeks (March 3rd).  This will be my 3rd race of marathon distance or greater, the previous 2 having been Thunder Road Marathon and Frosty 50K.  For Thunder Road, I followed a digested form of Hal Higdon’s Intermediate training plan for nearly 4 months.  I juggled around some long runs here and there, and I improvised the speed work, but I was pretty faithful to Higdon’s template.  I finished Thunder Road very confidently without hitting a wall or getting hurt.  I feel I was well trained, but also that I was performing well within my limits.  Ideally, I’d wanted to push myself right to the edge of my limitations, so I took a slightly less conservative approach to Frosty 50.  Frosty was 8 weeks after Thunder Road, so I adopted a fairly symmetrical pyramid of recovery/increased training, peaking with a 22 miler at 4 weeks out, and then tapering down as if doing it all in reverse.  After getting over some wear-and-tear injuries early in this plan, I started setting massive PR’s for 5K’s, Half Marathons, and the like.  My goal for Frosty was sub-5 hours.  I accomplished this by a margin of about 90 seconds, and my body was spent by the time I crossed the finish line, so I was convinced I had found out where my limits were.  However, I went running the very next day…and he following day…and the day after that, and so on until I had gone almost a full week without a rest day despite having just run and ultra.  Having another 8-week window between Frosty and Umstead, I decided I might be able to handle a more rigorous training pyramid.  This ended up including two 20 milers instead of one, back-to-back long runs (to practice running on tired legs), weekly speed work/races, and several two-a-day runs when my schedule allowed.  I also have kept up with my cross-training (a few elliptical sessions here or there) and I maintain at least two days of weight training each week.   My recovery was and has been a lot more positive this time around.  2 weeks ago, I ran 21 miles with a hydropack on my back at an 8:12 average pace and felt fresh as a daisy afterwards.  I never had that kind of resiliency during the late stages of Thunder Road or Frosty 50, and I ran each of those at a much slower pace.  Maybe my body is just finally adapting to a higher sustained volume of training/racing.  Tomorrow will be the test.  I will be doing my last 20 miler on the trails of Lake Norman State Park before my taper for Umstead.  This 20 miler will help me solidify my goals for the race.  My original goal for Umstead was to finish in less than 4 hours—conservative to account for high mileage on unfamiliar trails.  However, I feel confident I could complete a road marathon in 3:30 if pressed to do so in a couple weeks, so I figure I can do Umstead in 3:45, especially since I am becoming very accustomed to trail running.  I would be happy enough just to PR, which would mean beating my Thunder Road time of 3:52.  I understand that publicizing these goals now holds me accountable, and some of my training partners may yet admonish me for being too conservative, but a marathon is like a baseball game: the damnedest things can just happen without any warning. I will be sure to post any updates to my training as they come, especially as March 3rd draws nearer.  After all, once I get through Umstead, I have another 9 weeks to do it all again in preparation for Long Cane 50K in May.

Winter Flight 8K Race Recap

Saturday had started off as a kind of poopy day.  A stomach virus had been spreading like a wildfire through my school, causing 25% of the students and faculty to be absent on Friday, and making the rest of us paranoid.  I was not feeling my best on Friday, so I took it easy and got a decent night’s sleep.  Saturday morning, I did not feel any better, but not really any worse.  I would be fine if I could hold this thing off until after today’s race.

February 4^th was the 29^th annual Winter Flight 8K in Salisbury.  Winter Flight is the state’s oldest 8K, and it always draws a big crowd of fast runners.  I had won a free registration to this race from a giveaway contest by Théoden Janes, the Charlotte Observer’s runner/blogger.  1996 Olympian Joan Nesbit still holds the course record, which has stood for 20 years.  Joan was on hand to meet and greet people, and she ran the race with us as part of her 50^th birthday celebration. 

The race was to begin at 10am, which is rather late in the day for someone of my schedule, so I decided I would get up early and bank some easy, long mileage beforehand, making Saturday my long run day, and leaving Sunday for rest.  At 6am, I met fellow DARTer John Richards and his friend Garry at my local YMCA.  John and Garry had 18 miles on their schedule before their Myrtle Beach Marathon taper, so I decided to join them for about half of it.  We kept a nice, slow pace, and the company was great, but as I broke off to return to my car after about 6 miles, I just couldn’t get into a groove.  Maybe it was my shoes.  My Brooks Pure Flows were fairly lightweight by most runners’ standards, but they were way more cushioned than the shoes in which I normally run during the week.  Were they throwing off my form?  Maybe it was my hydration backpack.  I don’t normally carry water for anything less than 10 miles, but I have been wearing my hydropack on long runs for training purposes so I will be used to it before me next 50K in May.  Maybe the sloshing around was affecting me.  When I reached my car after 9 miles, I concluded that I was most likely coming down with something.  I wasn’t sick, but I wasn’t 100%. 

As I drove home to pick up my wife Heidi for the drive to Salisbury, I examined my goals for the race.  I knew I would not be able to sustain a 5K pace, which was an idea I had thrown around.  I decided I would just shoot for a 7 minute/mile pace throughout.  This would be a good tempo run, and it would ensure a PR since I had not raced an 8K in quite a while.  I had a couple other secret goals, but more on that later. 

During the pastoral 45 minute drive across two counties to Salisbury, I was feeling a bit queasy.  This had nothing to do with race day nerves…there was something else roiling around in there.  I told myself that it was ok to throw up as long as it was before or after to the race…hopefully not during. 

Heidi and I arrived at Catawba College, a small but beautiful campus in the middle of a seemingly downtrodden Salisbury.  The packet pick-up was inside the gymnasium, where there was an expo that might have rivaled some marathons.  Peter from Vac-And-Dash—everyone’s favorite running retailer/vacuum cleaner repair/screen printing store—had a large booth with dramatically slashed prices on apparel.  Another booth had running shoes for up to 50% off.  Heidi and I agreed we would have to stop by the expo directly after the race.

I had enough time to get a warm-up run in, so I ran an easy mile on the course with a few short bursts at race pace to get that speed into my head.  The warm-up run made my stomach feel a little better, and I was confident going into the beginning of the race.  After a few dynamic stretches and a Double Espresso flavored Turbo-powered Clif Shot, I was ready to toe the line.  It was unseasonably mild for early February, but I still dressed lightly as to be a little cold at the start.  Rain had been threatening to fall all morning, and the asphalt was wet, but the start of the race was lucky enough to have a break in the precipitation. 

As the race began, I politely elbowed my way around much of the crowd until I found a nice pocket in which to run.  As I glanced at my watch, I was seeing paces between 6:15 and 6:30.  “Settle down, Chas,” I told myself.  There was a long incline coming for most of the first mile.  I slowed down to a 7:00 pace and did my best to ignore everyone else.  Two thirds into the 1^st mile, I spotted another DART singlet 50 yards ahead of me.  I knew from the broad shoulders and backwards cap that this was Jim Crotts.  I knew Jim was a quick runner, but he also was in my age group, so I couldn’t in good conscience just let him go.  I wanted to kick up to meet him, but I forced myself to stick to my race plan and try to maintain a steady pace.  Crotts could wait.  Besides, the steady hill we were climbing already was bringing a few other runners back to me.  As long as I was consistent, I would make my way up the pack.  My split at the 1^st mile was 6:58.  So far, so good.

The 2^nd mile continued to the top of the long hill and then detoured through a residential area.  In this neighborhood, shortly after 1.5 miles, I came up alongside Jim.  He recognized me, but we both were concentrating too much on race pace to say “hello.”  A simple thumbs-up would suffice.  I ran alongside Jim for half a mile.  If I tried to pass him too early, he would make me pay for it the rest of the race, much like he did at the A2S 5K in Davidson last September.  I relaxed at race pace until just before the 2 mile marker and then made my move.  A 7:02 mile brought my 2 mile split to 14:00.  I was right on target.

During the 3^rd mile, I spent a lot of time running in a no-man’s-land between packs.  A racer in a baby jogger caught up to me on a downhill and was threatening to pass.  He was looking pretty strong.  “Run your own race,” I reminded myself silently, but the pride in me sounded more like “No way am I going to get beat by a guy with a baby jogger!”  The downhill was short, and another gradual climb followed.  Baby jogger man slipped behind me, but my pace was slowing as well.  I was beginning to fatigue. Luckily, there was not much wind on this open state highway.  A strong headwind would all but kill my pace.  The 3^rd mile was 7:05, with a 21:05 split.  Not bad, but I was slipping behind my pace.  I would need to find my 7 minute mile again.

The terrain helped on the 4^th mile.  I rode a steady downhill to both quicken my pace and catch my breath.  Baby jogger man took advantage of the downhill as well and caught up with me.  Crap.  I kept him at bay, but another runner in a light blue tech shirt caught up to me as well.  He was well passed my age group, but I am not one to get passed late in the race.  I pushed my pace and kept track of him by the sound of his breathing.   By the end of the 4^th mile, I was feeling pretty good.  My 4 mile split was 28:00, meaning I had accelerated to a 6:55 mile, and I was still picking up speed.  I was pretty much locked in for a PR.  All I had to do was negative split the hell out of this last mile, and I would accomplish another secret goal—beat Théoden.  Théoden was not participating in this year’s Winter Flight.  He was busy running the inaugural Charlotte Ultra Marathon 50K in a smoking 4 hours, 18 minutes and change.   More power to him.  However his time at last year’s Winter Flight was 34:47.  Yes, I looked it up.  Since I was racing on Théoden’s dime, I made it an unofficial goal to beat his time. 

A short incline during the last mile allowed me to drop Blue Shirt and Baby Jogger and continue the race on my own.  The final two thirds of a mile took us through the Catawba College Campus.  I could see and hear the stadium where the finish line was, so I picked up the pace.  The last 300 yards were on the track inside the college’s stadium.  Breaking onto the track really prompted me to let it all out.  I sprinted across the finish line to the cheering crowd with a time of 34:25.  I finished 30^th overall out of 272 8K runners, and I was 4^th in my division of 20 males aged 30-34.  I had beaten Théoden, and I had set a new 8K PR by more than 2 minutes, but most importantly, I didn’t throw up!  I think racing actually settled my stomach.

Heidi greeted me at the timing table and grabbed a quick picture of me with Jim, who had finished 30 seconds after me.  Fellow DARTer Kevin Ballantine congratulated us as well.  He had finished at 31 minutes and change, slightly ahead of Joan Nesbit.  Heidi and I sought the dry warmth of the gymnasium where I took advantage of the cookies and peanut butter, and we bought some marked-down merchandise from the Vac-and Dash tent.  Then, it was nap time.

Gear:

The Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves are my favorite shoes.  I have worn them to work, to the gym, and on quite a few training runs.  This was their first official race, and they did not disappoint.  At around 7 ounces, they are much lighter than many conventional racing flats, and the Vibram outsole gripped well on the wet asphalt.  The Brooks Pure Flows I had worn earlier that morning are great shoes too, but they do not grip well on wet roads.  Also, as I have stated, I am trying to move to zero-drop shoes like the Merrells whenever I can.  I will still use the Pure Flows for long training runs.

I have to give props to the Salisbury Rowan Runners Club.  This organization not only put on a great race that attracted hundreds of runners from counties away, but they have a full calendar of similar races throughout the year, all at affordable prices.  If you are looking for some well organized 5K and 8K races to fill in some weekends, look up this running club.

Thanks also to Théoden Janes for holding the giveaway contest and making it possible for me to race this 8K for free.  Sorry I gunned for your time, but it was nothing personal.  Besides, your Charlotte Ultra Marathon time destroyed my best 50K time.  Congrats!

Next on my race calendar (for now):

February 18^th: Fitness, Family, and Friendship 5K: Concord, NC

March 3^rd: Umstead Trail Marathon: Raleigh, NC

May 6^th: Long Cane 50K: Abbeville, SC

September 7-8^th: Blue Ridge Relay (maybe?): Asheville, NC

September 29^th: Hinson Lake 24 Hour Classic: Rockingham, NC

Speed Work: Running with the Devil

Speed work is the Devil!  At least that’s the opinion I take every early Friday morning, which is my day for speed training on non-race weeks.  As devilish as it is, speed work it the only way to develop that demon speed.  If I could channel some poignant but simple way of saying it like Yogi Berra might, I would say something like: “The only way to be a faster runner is to run faster.”  So like it or not, every Friday, I curse the Devil and suck it up.

There are a couple of different camps in regards to the approach or necessity of speed training.  Mention speed work to a marathoner, a 5K’er, or an avid racer of any distance in between, and he or she will spout off terms like “fartleks,” “lactate threshold,” “VO2 Max,” “vVO2 Max (not a typo, but a different term),” and so on.  These racers also know where all the best tracks are, and what times of the week are the best to go use them.  Ask an ultra runner or a dedicated trail runner about speed work, and you’ll more likely hear “meh…what’s the rush?”  Being a marathoner in pursuit of 3:30 and an acolyte ultra runner in pursuit of 50+ miles means I kind of straddle the divide between these two camps.  I embrace speed work as a valuable training tool, but I don’t always enjoy it.  Sometimes I just want to be out there plodding along, ticking off high numbers of miles as I go, but I have to wait until Sundays for that.

As far as the physical benefits of speed work in regards to performance, one can find volumes of information online and in well-respected running literature.  Since I’m not a coach, I’m not going to regurgitate what I know about VO2 Max, biomechanics, and all that geek speak that we runners throw around at each other on weekend long runs.  I can’t teach you anything that you won’t find with Google and Wikipedia.  I will share my “working man’s” approach to speed play, and how it has affected my running for the past year. 

First, I do not use a track.  I have nothing against tracks, and I live near one of the nicest tracks in the North Mecklenburg area, but I’m just more at home doing my speed work on roads.  Besides, a lot of my fast races are on roads, whereas none of them are on tracks.  Not using a measured 400 meter track means I need to rely on my GPS watch and online mapping software in order to organize a speed workout.  I know, I know, GPS watches have a margin of error in regards to distance and pace, but they are good enough for my generalized training.  As long as I am using a consistent distance or time for my intervals, I don’t care if they are 800 meters or 853.  I just need to balance one lap against the next, and the next, etc.  Therefore, I use landmarks like streetlamps and traffic signs to start and stop intervals with passive recoveries. 

More often than not, I do my speed workouts as tempo runs—usually 4-6 miles at 60 seconds/mile faster than my goal marathon pace with 1 mile of easy warm up and 1 mile of easy cool down.  Not only does this train my body to economize motion and energy at prolonged periods of fast pace running, but it tests my resolve.  I know I’m doing it right when I contemplate dropping out of tempo pace while I’m 2 miles in.  “Maybe I can just jog a quarter mile and then pick it back up,” I would think.  No…away with those thoughts!  As the old Native American saying goes: “Pain is just weakness leaving your body.”  By the time I get to the cool down mile, my easy float back home might be only a little bit slower than my marathon pace, but it seems like a relative crawl in comparison.  This is when I have visions of hot oatmeal and some well-deserved bananas with peanut butter. 

I do two forms of intervals: half-mile repeats with a passive (stationary) recovery, and mile-repeats with an active (slow jogging) recovery.  Near my house, there is a fairly flat stretch of road with wide sidewalks and bike lanes.  This is where I do my half-mile repeats.  Since this workout usually starts at 5 o’clock in the morning, I usually have the roads and bike lanes to myself.  Although I say it’s flat, there is the subtlest of inclines on the return direction of this stretch—so subtle that probably no one would complain about it unless they are on the 6^th or 8^th interval.  I try to do 6 or 8 x half-mile repeats a few times a month.  This is my least favorite workout.  There is no scenery to enjoy; all I have to focus on is 3 minutes of pain, and then 90 seconds of breathing at a standstill.  However, it is a good tune-up in preparation for a fast 5K or 8K race.  I did this workout a week in advance of setting my last 3 PR’s for 5K. 

Slightly less dreadful—but just as agonizing—are my floating mile repeats.  Instead of a tempo run, I will do up to 4 mile repeats at 5K pace.  Between these miles, I will jog at an 8:30-8:45 pace to catch my breath for about 5 minutes.  The perpetual forward motion makes this workout seem a little less like work.  I do these intervals in preparation for 8K’s, 10K’s, and sometimes even a Half-Marathon.  If I’m really hungry for a PR, I will decrease the recovery time between intervals on consecutive workouts until it approaches zero. 

Speed work often wears my ass out more than a weekend long run, but I must admit I feel better later in the day after an intensive tempo run or interval workout.  I immediately recover post-run with a hot, high-protein breakfast, and I usually schedule rest days after my speed days.  That way, my body has time to absorb the training before my long runs.  In addition to the satisfaction of feeling the extra burn, I have slashed minutes off my race times and overall pace in the past 8 months of speed training.  This time last year, I would have been proud of myself for running a 25 minute 5K.  Now, I routinely cross the line at around 20 minutes, and sometimes below.  My PR Half-Marathon pace is more than half a minute/mile faster than my old 5K pace.  More and more, it feels good to run fast.  My form has improved, and I consequently suffer fewer injuries.  So, while I may not be obsessing over splits and intervals during the final miles of my next ultra marathon, I will remember that the Speed Work Devil is partially responsible for getting me to that point in the first place.

Run fast, so you can be a fast runner…and damn the Devil!

CRC Trail Race Recap

                Let me begin by saying that this trail race at the US National Whitewater Center is high on my list of favorite local races.  Period.  It’s rare that one can race 13 miles of well-kept single track without retracing one’s steps.  To have such a well organized race at such a great facility is an opportunity all local runners should seize.

                Those who ran the race or paid attention to the weather on January 21^st might remember the steady, dreary rainfall that persisted through most of the morning and all of the previous night.  One might think this would make for miserable running conditions, especially on rugged trails, but I think the mucky terrain was part of what made this run so fun.  When running on a road, rain or shine, every step is pretty much the same.  Road races or training runs feel like exercise.  However, on the trails, no two footfalls are the same, and the race or run feels more like a wilderness adventure.  Add slick, muddy, uncertain footing to the mix, and boredom ceases to exist.

                More than 700 runners showed up for this adventure, and just fewer than 200 of us were running the 13 mile race.  The rest were running either the 9 mile or 4 mile options.  I ran into several fellow members of Davidson Area Running Team, including Bill Weimer and Bobby Aswell, Jr., who were running the 4 mile race; and Mike Molina, who was running the 9 miler.  Bobby got a great photo of Bill and me before the race—both us sporting our obnoxious, neon running gear.  Also present were fellow DARTers Emily Hansen, Jason Gardner, Steve Bradley, and Joey Walsh, but I did not have much of a chance to catch up with them before the run.  Mike saddled up next to me at the start.  This was to be Mike’s last run before his marathon in Miami the following weekend, so he was planning to take it easy and have some fun on the trails.  I told him to heat up the coffee and save some food for me at the finish.

                The start of the race made for some fast and crowded foot traffic.  The first 400 yards included a gravel parking lot and some wide foot paths that allowed the large pack to space out before jumping into the trails.  As soon as we entered the single track of the park’s North Point trail, the quick pace slowed to a relative crawl.  A dozen yards into the tree line lay a short but steep downhill covered in red clay mud.  The backed-up traffic forced me to walk down this 10-step hill, which was more than a little frustrating.  I wanted to conserve my energy for the length of the race, but I had to make a move since the pack was moving too slowly to let me get into a rhythm.  With so many runners lined up on the single track, I had to pass 3 or 4 people at a time with short bursts of acceleration whenever I had the slightest opening.  I made several of these aggressive moves in the first 2 miles until I found a pack of 4 other runners who were keeping a quick pace with which I was comfortable. 

                The North Point was a loop of trail that was tailor made for a minimalist runner like me.  The steep uphills were great for high-cadence scampering, and they often led into fast, technical downhills.  My approach to these rapid descents could be described as brazen or perhaps a little reckless.  For me, more speed = more control.  A body at race pace wants to stay at race pace (thank you, Sir Isaac Newton), so if I were to throw on the brakes in the name of caution, I most likely would slide out and lose control.  Instead, I let the downhill carry me quickly forward and so my focus could shift solely to foot placement.  It’s more fun than a roller coaster, and there are no waiting lines to boot.

                After passing from group to group, and making up a lot of quick ground between packs, I had overtaken good 40 or so runners in the first 3 miles of the course.  I found my rhythm and focused on breathing and pacing myself so I wasn’t tapped out before the last few miles of the race.  The North Point gave way to Goat Hill, which contained the most demanding series of climbs on the course.  I settled in behind two 9 milers for much of the climb.  I only passed a few people on the ascent to the top of Goat Hill, opting instead to keep a steady forward jpg on the sharp switchbacks.  Some other racers were already walking at this point.

                After descending Goat Hill and climbing a steep incline on a service road, the course wound its way through the Toilet Bowl.  On the trail map, the Toilet Bowl section of the course resembles a plate of spaghetti, but there were still plenty of opportunities to pass other runners by darting around sharp corners and hopping over rock obstacles Jackie Chan style.  For a quarter mile of this section, the 13 milers split away from the 9 milers to add a few more twists and turns.  Upon joining the same path with them once again, I saw some familiar faces.  Hadn’t I passed these 9 milers a few miles back?  Now, I would have to make my way around them all over again!

Emerging from the Toilet Bowl (…I guess that sounds bad), we crossed an open field between tree lines and made our way toward the Lake Loop.  Here, the 9 milers would break away for the finish, but I still had a few miles left to run.  The Lake Loop was a welcome last leg of a foot race.  It was scenic, relatively flat, and the footing was fairly secure.  If this were a road half-marathon, I would be hurting pretty badly at this point, but the wet trail and the cool temperature kept me invigorated to the very end on this day.

                I broke out of the tree line 800 yards from the finish.  A pursuer in a white tech shirt—who I later learned was called James—caught up to me and passed me looking strong.  The wide open double track turned into a steep, muddy downhill, so I punched the throttle.  I whizzed by James and 3 other runners, but James tenaciously kept me in reach.  We were shoulder-to-shoulder when the finish line appeared ahead, and we tacitly were egging one another on.  “C’mon, man!” I urged.  By the last 100 yards, James had passed me decisively, but having that competition to the very end provided for a strong and satisfying finish.  I greeted James at the end of the chute and thanked him for pushing me, and he acknowledged me with a hand shake and an out-of-breath smile.  My cheering wife was waiting at the finish, as well as Mike, who snapped a nice photo of me at the finish line.  I ran the 13 miles in 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 16 seconds for a 7:52 minute/mile pace.  Considering the hazardous conditions, I am very pleased with those numbers.  Out of the 13 mile pack, I finished 18^th overall. 

                It’s worth mentioning that I definitely chose the right shoes for the job.  New Balance really hit the nail on the head with the MT 110.  It’s light, it grips a hundred times better than previous NB trail racers, it has a snug, secure fit from toe box to heel cup, and it drains pretty well after having been submerged in muddy water a few times.  I decided to wear socks to keep from getting blisters, and I’m glad I did.  The socks (which came free in some other race packet a few months ago) were totally wrecked by the end of the day, but there sacrifice was well worth it.

                I also must say that I am happy I chose not to wear my GPS watch for this race.  First, the winding trails would have caused the GPS readings for distance and pace to be highly inaccurate.  Second, even if the GPS were spot on, this is a race where one really should be paying attention to his or her surroundings instead of obsessing over splits and average pace readings.

                The more time I spend on the trails, the more I fall in love with them.  If you do not consider yourself a trail runner, I suggest getting on some nice single track—or even some finely groomed cross-country course—and finding trail legs on a few easy run days.  Running on trails can be addictive, but we runners already know a little something about addiction.

Next on my race calendar (for now):

2/4/12: Winter Flight 8K – Salisbury, NC

3/2/12: Umstead Trail Marathon – Raleigh, NC

5/6/12: Long Cane 50K – Abbeville, SC

9/29/12: Hinson Lake 24 Hour Classic – Ellerbe, NC

Get to know the Sockless Runner

About Me:

Greetings!  My name is Chas and I like to run…a lot.  But there will be plenty of running talk to come.  Outside of running, I am an elementary school teacher in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and I am a part-time musician who plays local bars and coffee shops near my home in the Lake Norman area and in nearby Charlotte.  Two years ago, before I started running in earnest, I was seventy-five pounds heavier and subject to most (legal) vices that cause one’s life to shorten.  After fifteen months of obsessive running and cross-training and unwavering support from my then fiancée, I acquired the highest level of physical, emotional, and spiritual fitness I had ever known.  For the past year or so, my running obsession has driven me to love racing and pursue increasingly lofty goals.

My Running:

After numerous adaptations to my form and style, and an equally numerous list of running shoe models, I have found my niche as a minimalist runner.  I run nearly all of my workouts in lightweight shoes with a heel-toe differential between 0-4mm (whereas conventional running shoes average a drop of 12mm).  Most of my running footwear is designed to be worn either with or without socks, so I opt to go sockless whenever possible—hence the handle of this blog.  Although I occasionally go running in completely bare feet, I would not consider myself a barefoot runner.  I am too much a fan of shoes!  Besides, on long runs exceeding 20 miles, I am known to wear shoes with some more conventional cushion.  My complete transition into minimal shoes remains a work in progress.

As far as my training, my area of focus is preparation for marathons and ultra marathons.  While I have only one marathon and one 50K ultra under my belt, I currently am registered for more of these long distance races in the near future.  Two of my intermediate goals are to finish a marathon under 3:30 and to complete an ultra of 50 miles or greater.  I still love to race half-marathons, 5K’s, and everything in between, but I often schedule these shorter races only when they conform to my training plans for the longer distance events.  I do most of my training on roads, but I love to hop on the trails whenever possible.

I am lucky to have found a really positive running club that has caused my progress as a runner to slingshot forward over the past several months.  The Davidson Area Running Team (DART) continues to be a big inspiration for me, and I enjoy contributing to their ranks both on and off the courses.  You may find some of my recaps appearing on the DART blog (davidsonrunning.com) as well as here.

The Purpose of This Blog:

I love to teach.  I love to play, write, and record music.  I love to run.  I read whenever I can, but I also love to write, so I would be lying if I said this blog wasn’t at all self-serving.  That being said, I do not intend this blog to be a virtual trophy case for me to boast my own personal achievements.  Rather, I want this to be a place for me share successes, hardships, and discoveries with the rest of the running community in hopes to perpetuate an ongoing dialogue about training, racing, nutrition, and physical maintenance.  I also hope to provide entertainment as well as information.  I do not pretend to be a scientific authority in the realm of running, but like everyone else, I enjoy a good conversation among peers.

I look forward to posting race recaps, gear reviews, training epiphanies, nutritional input, and whatever comes to mind for your reading enjoyment.  Thanks for browsing, and keep running!