The Day Before The Day!

Today I once again drove across the state of South Dakota to join a couple hundred runners at the Lean Horse ultra marathon.

I took pictures, recorded a short video and then learned I left my laptop at home. So this will be a short post from my phone.

My big hope is to shave at least an hour off last years 12 hour/50 mile finish. I have a much better training foundation this time around.

I'll keep it short. Save the images and such for the next post.

Key Largo Horseshoe Reef Dive

Edited from 35 minutes down to what you see. Changing the quality helps nicely!

Two Weeks to Go!

In roughly two weeks I run the 50 mile Lean Horse distance, this reminds me coincidentally that I need to book a room.
I have been keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a cool weekend. Last year it was somewhere in the 90-100 degrees range, meaning very very warm for me.

This year I have been having an excellent summer for training. I ran a 19 mile loop in 105 degrees, and although exhausted, it didn't kill me.
Two weeks ago I ran 38 miles in little less than seven hours on a 80-90 degree day. To talk a bit about this run, considering it was my second ultra distance, I can share that there are three and a half convenient places on the 19 mile Sioux Falls bike trail loop to refill water. Three fountains right on the trail and one in a cafe sorta off the trail a bit. The longest stretch without water is roughly 8.5 miles and on warm days this can be a bit worrisome as sweat is literally running off me. I have been running with two Nathan Quick Draw Elite water bottles, and I have been mostly making due. This day I ran the loop twice with a short rest between to refill my requirements. At the end I was very tired, but I feel strongly it is a heat issue more than a muscle endurance issue.
So overall I feel as ready as I can expect for the distance. On the shorter distances I'm trying to work on my speed. Yesterday I ran 9.7 miles at a 7.4 minutes per mile which is pretty good for me, it was "only" 82 degrees out and the cooler temperature really helps keeping the pace.
Little else going on. Spent a week vacationing in Key Largo, I may get around to posting some scuba diving video at some point when I figure out how to edit the video to fit into the YouTube restrictions.

I'm Signing Up For a 50 Mile Race

Yup, my wife got the weekend of August 27th-28th off which was my deciding factor. Last year I went alone, and while I don't need a crew for 50 miles it sure is nice to have someone waiting at the finish to share the experience with.

So, now that she has the weekend off, I'll be signing up for the 50 mile distance again this year at the Lean Horse ultra marathon event.

I badly want to improve on last years 12 hour finish. My training leading up to the race then, was severely lacking due to knee pain lasting close to two months. My running was limited to two miles and limping home.
So far this year my running has been great. I get out at least three times a week consisting of  a weekly 19+ mile long run with a next day 9+ mile followup and then a ~6 mile run for recovery. The last month and a half I have been averaging 40 miles per week and feel very good about it. My last long run was at a pace that would result in a 3:30 marathon. So I'm also getting faster even though it's not a goal focus in itself.

Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon 2011 Race Report

Once again I ran the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon, this year was the 10 year anniversary of the race and the number of runners reflected this although it's still a fairly small race. There were 396 marathon finishers in addition to relay and half marathon runners.
Once again the race organizers had done an excellent job and the volunteers and spectators along the route were awesome.
The morning of the race was chilly, everyone got bussed from Deadwood to the starting line 26.2 miles away in Rochford . Most were waiting in the shadow of mountains at 7:30AM for the start, and while everyone as expected were i great spirits you could tell most were slightly chilled.

8AM and we finally were released! The first mile or so is on highway to a point of turnaround, then there's a few hundred yards of running opposite runners before merging onto the Mickelson Trail which is an old railroad turned hiking trail. The whole trail is well over 100 miles and the section chosen for the marathon is about as good as it gets for a scenic, straight forward trail run.

Five minutes in the cold is forgotten, 10 minutes in and you're now in sunshine and beginning to get warm. Before heading for the buses I heard a radio forecast expecting the area to hit 90 degrees and blue skies.