I sat down with the crew the other morning for breakfast to go over the final details for the run, and I was telling them that I've been lacking any of that "spring" in my step. That really fresh "snap".
Well, I can now tell you I've got the "snap". My legs have come around and everything is feeling good. I feel antsy and jumpy, which is exactly how I wanted to feel. I'm anxious to run.... finally. I think that after running the kind of mileage I was a week or so ago, I was teetering on "burnout". I was afraid that I'd pushed a bit too far to come back.
As I sit here I have around 50 hours till this race starts. I've got a super easy 4 miler when I get off work, then I'm swinging by the store to pick up a few last minute items. Sweatpants, wet wipes, and Press 'N seal for the wife :) I'll sleep for a few hours then get up to start the packing. Everything is laid out, just needs to get packed. All of my drop bags have been finished except for putting my S-Caps in there.
We're leaving around 0430 on Friday morning so we can get into Arkansas early enough to scope out parts of the course, the make it to the pre race meeting. I've opted to sleep in a hotel instead of camping out, so we've got a 40 minute drive or so to and from the race start. I figure it will be well worth getting to sleep on a mattress. Don't want to risk not sleeping before a 100.
In other news, all I can think about is the 100 this weekend. I'd update you guys and gals on other things going on in my life, but I honestly can't think of anything.
So, with that, I hope that I have my pumped up kicks Saturday morning, cause this is gonna be a good time :)
PS- I've written a blog already that scheduled to be posted at 0600 on Saturday morning when the race starts.
I've "trained" a lot in the past 5-6 years of endurance racing. I've put in thousands of hours, thousands of miles, and trained well over 20 hours a week more than I wish to count.
The training I've put into this 100 miler is different though. I remember when I used to ask my mom when I was very, very young, "how do you know that's the right person?" in regards to things like marriage and love. It wasn't until I met my wife that I really knew. That question was answered.
I now, often find myself asking the same question in terms of racing and training. "How do you know you trained enough, or how do you know you trained right?"
Looking back at my training for events like the Ironman World Championships, I don't think I was 100% confident in my training. How do I know that now?
Well, for once, I feel 100% confident in my training and what I did to prepare for the AT100 next weekend. I've never felt this level of confidence in my training, and let me tell you, that it's awesome! I think that when I reach those dark spots (that we all know will come)that I'll get to in the 100, hopefully I'll be able to reflect on the training and be confident that my training was enough. That my training was accurate.
With exactly 8 days till I'm at the starting line of my first 100 I'm finding myself reflecting A LOT on my training, but also visualizing my race. I find myself thinking about the pain, and focusing on the pain. Those small discomforts that I know will be oh so amplified by mile 85.
I try to think about what could go wrong and how I'll react to that. I try to think about, "What if I want to quit?" scenarios. How I'll try and react to that. Quite a few times, I think about the miles that I'll be running with my friend Brian, and the things we'll talk about. How we'll pass the time and the miles.
I also think about what I'll do if I realize I need him to continue with me after mile 83.9. Will I ask him to continue, knowing good and well that he's probably not ready to run that far, but also knowing he won't say no.
If you don't know by now, Brian and his Dad (of course, getting to his dad was the only reason I hang out with Brian!) are going to crew for me. I've asked Brian to run miles 67.7 - 83.9 with me. I know good and well that Brian can run that distance, but he's never gone beyond a marathon, much less on trails or jeep roads in my case.
We've both talked about it openly while out on our early morning runs, and I think we've both agreed that that decision will be made when it's made.
Regardless of the outcome of my run, I'm already unbelievably grateful that Brian and Lynn are crewing for me. Hopefully not letting them down will be a big motivating factor in those dark times.
In terms of training, I finished my big week ending this past Sunday with a total of 95.8 miles. It's been an incredible experience running those kind of miles each week. My body has reacted SO well. SO much better than I ever imagined. I'm recovering faster than I ever have. I've been able to run 27 miles one day, then run another 20 the next as though the first run hadn't happened.
This week I'm planning on logging around 37 miles, then tapering even harder next week. Nothing over 4-5 miles. I've done an EXCELLENT job in maintaining intensity, if not too good a job. My runs have gotten a little faster.
I'm meeting up with Brian and Lynn this morning when I get off work and we're going to finalize all the small details and get ready to do this thing next week.
I bought a small handheld video this week that I'm hoping Brian and I will carry around miles 67-83 so we can do some video interviews that I can post. We'll have to see how we're both feeling at that point.
Any first time 100 miler and 100 miler taper advice is always welcome.
For now I leave you with some reflective music.... haha :)
I have finally ventured into the world of video reviews! I recently bought this product called the FootLog and have been wanting to write up a review for awhile now. Well last night, I opted to just record a review and upload that to YouTube for your viewing pleasure! I only did one take and uploaded that. Definitely a little rough around the edges for my first video review, but hopefully they'll get better!
As I said last week, my wife said I could never jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
Unfortunately for her it's something I've wanted to do since I first found out people did jump out of airplanes.
So, without further ado, here's my video of my first tandem skydive.... (compliments of my wife for my birthday!)
It was something I will most definitely never forget! SO, you may wonder why I keep calling it my "first" skydive? Well, when I got back safely to the ground I was informed that I could buy a second jump that day only for only $99! Ummm... YES PLEASE!
So with that said I have no reserved my second tandem skydive that's good for a year. I'm hoping that I can get my good friend Scott to jump with me this time. Let's hope he does!
I wanted to go ahead and post just a few photos along with the video post above. These three five are my favorites!
She reserved the jump at Skydive San Marcos just south of Austin, so we headed down to Austin for the weekend and got to enjoy a great weekend of "fine" dining and just enjoying being with each other.
Now in other news I'm in my final week of high mileage running. I started the week off with a 27 mile trail run at the Northshore that went off without a hitch. I practiced race nutrition to a "T", plus it was nice and hot. While I'm seriously over the heat, it was probably good to get one more long run done in the heat.
It once again looks like the highs are going to drop back into the 80s, so that should really help with some of the motivational issues I've been having. Someone mentioned burnout to me earlier and while I do feel like my motivation is slipping a bit, I don't feel like it's burnout. I know that once this week is over I'll finally be able to properly recover and focus on dropping mileage while maintaining intensity.
I keep learning more and more while I get deeper and deeper into 100 miler training. I'd love to share that now, but I think it would be better to devote an entire entry into that.
That's all I've got for right now. Enjoy the video and pictures!
So my 26th birthday is this Wednesday. In the past I haven't been a huge birthday celebrator (is that a word?), but my wife on the other hand is good at birthdays. Wait, not just good, but GREAT at birthdays.
About 4-6 months ago she started telling me that she had already planned my birthday for this year! Of course she wouldn't tell me anything. Anything other than to leave the weekend clear and take Friday night off from work.
Well yesterday morning when I got home from work she finally told me what we're doing this weekend! She had a birthday present waiting for me. I opened it, and to my surprise found a puzzle. Yes, a PUZZLE! This, ladies and gentleman is Courtney at her finest! She had made me a puzzle to put together so I could figure out what we're doing!
So a few minutes later after getting this thing together I see that it reads, "You're going... SKYDIVING!"
What a surprise! I've been telling her since we first met 4 years ago that I wanted to skydive. The entire time she said that it was crazy and way too dangerous. I of course told her it's perfectly safe, but she always dismissed it!
To say I'm excited is a complete understatement. She actually went all out and ordered the video/picture package as well! Hopefully I can get the pictures and video uploaded sometime next week. We're actually heading down to Austin to spend the weekend, I'm jumping Saturday, having a nice dinner Saturday night, and driving home Sunday.
In running news, I'm quickly reaching my weekly goal of 82 miles. Monday I had a nice 12.5 mile road run, Tuesday a long 22 mile trail run at the Northshore, Wednesday AM a 9.7 mile trail/road run, Wed PM a harder 5 mile road run, then Thursday a decent 10 mile road run. This morning when I get off work I'm running another 12.5 or so, taking Saturday off to jump, then running a trail or road 8 Sunday depending on how I feel.
This week has been good, but my body is feeling a little more fatigued than normal, which of course is normal due to the higher mileage. Regardless my body is holding up and recovering OH so well. That's one thing I've really noticed in my training for 100 miles is that I have become so much better at recovering quickly. My run after the 22 miles Tuesday was fine. A few years ago, there's no way I could have run after a long run like that.
Next week I'll run ~92 miles and begin a drastic taper. I am REALLY looking forward to the taper, and even more so the race.
Last but not least (I was going to keep this post short), the weather in north Texas has FINALLY broken!!!! The morning lows have been absolutely wonderful. It's been mid 60's in the mornings and mid to high 80s in the afternoons. It looks like next week we'll be back in the 90s, but anything is better than the 104+ degree days we were having just a few weeks ago.
That's all I've got for now. I shall report back after my SKYDIVING experience this weekend!
Also, to answer the question in the blog title, Skydiving + Ultra Running = One happy Jacob :)
Enjoy this video. I love the song and the video. Good all around. (As always, better enjoyed with good headphones on)
With only two weeks of build and a two week taper left till my first attempt at running 100 miles I want to finally put the "pen" to "paper" and go over how the training has developed and what is left for the last 30 days till the race start on October 1st.
Rewind back to around 2005. I had just started exercising. My long runs were around 6 miles and I was still blown away by the idea of running 26.2 miles in one day.
Me before my first triathlon, Circa 2005?
My neighbor down the street (the dad of one of my high school friends) was a marathon runner and was slowly introducing me into the world of running.
He was the first person I ran around White Rock Lake with. I still remember that first run around the lake and how unbelievably proud I was to have run the famous 9-10 mile route. (I'm still convinced that that's where my desire to run all the way around things came from)
At some point around this time he said he was thinking on running a race up in Vermont, and that it was 100 MILES. As a 19 year old that had just gotten into running, I thought he was completely joking. Of course I asked him how many days do people get to finish and do they have to run in the dark? This is when he told me that it was on trails. (I was still completely blind to the fact that some people didn't actually run on roads on 24/7. My mentality at the time was, "Why in the world would someone run on dirt when they have perfectly good roads that they can run faster on?!"
Obviously this mentality changed after a few years. I ventured into the world of triathlon and finally ended up at the Ironman World Championships in October 2008 via my qualifying race of Ironman Arizona in April 2008.
My biggest athletic accomplishment ever: Finishing the Ironman World Championships 2008
That following April the same guy who first introduced me to running invited me to the Hog's Hunt 50K down in Hunstville, TX. We drove down the morning of (a 3.5 hour drive) and I finished my first ultra, all while having the time of my life.
First Ultra, Hogs Hunt 50K
I was 150% hooked. It was like two puzzle pieces coming together. I no longer craved the flashy lights and 2,000 athlete races that were Ironman, but I instead found a nitch in this little community that was out here racing because they absolutely LOVED what they were doing, not for bragging rights. Ultra runners (for the most part) are one of the most humble crowds I've ever known. The events we put ourselves through are often times absolutely brutal, yet we do them for nothing more than the sheer enjoyment that is ultra trail running.
After finishing that first 50K, I was still contemplating doing the Virginia Double Ironman. Well thank goodness that filled up before I registered. Once it did, I had to find another race that time of year that would be pretty difficult. Sure enough, I came across the Where's Waldo 100K in Oregon. One of my uncles lives up in Eugene which was around 2-3 hour drive from the race start. I had my first 100K mountain run in less than 6 months.
My first desire to run 100 miles came around August 2009. I'd just finished the Where's Waldo 100K (still my favorite ultra I've ever done). After finishing Waldo in a somewhat disappointing time of 13:47 (looking back now, that wasn't a bad time!) I thought that I could at least finish 100 miles.
Where's Waldo 100K Finish 2009
My feet: Post Waldo
I immediately started eying the Rocky Raccoon 100 down in Hunstville, TX put on by the wonderful Tejas Trails organization. Around this time I had start dabbling in minimal running. I had a pair of OLD Vibram FiveFingers and had started running 1 mile WUs on the treadmill with a 1 mile CD. After doing this for a few weeks I got confident enough to try it on the trails and slowly worked my way up to ten miles on the roads.
To make a long story short, this lead to an inevitable injury which kept me from running till January 2010. The Rocky Raccoon was NOT going to happen. I was unbelievably disappointed, not only in the fact that I wasn't going to get to do Rocky, but the fact that I was stupid enough to run that much in FiveFingers on pavement. My outlook now, is that if you're going to try and run "naturally", you need to be running on a natural surface, and concrete my dear readers, is not natural ;)
So, with minimal training but the foot feeling OK I registered for the Rocky Raccoon 50 and finished in a not too shabby time of 9:18:54. I then had to find another 100 for me to try that year. After much research I finally settled on the Arkansas Traveller 100. I opted not to register until the price increases came around, just in case a random injury did show up.
The summer of 2010 progressed well and I was running more than I ever had before. In early 2010 I had finished the Rocky 50, Zane Grey 50, and the Jemez 50.
This is a "good" trail at Zane!
Beautiful Jemez 50
Around July of that year I went out and ran the El Scorcho 50K in Fort Worth. Again to make a long story short I ended up with the most random injury. I felt like I'd pulled a muscle in my Gluteus and it just wouldn't go away. I tried working it out for weeks but it just would not fade. The sad realization that the AT100 for 2010 was not going to happen slowly set in.
Looking back now my mileage was still REALLY low (like < 50 miles a week low) compared to others, and to this day I still don't know what that "injury" was.
Fast forward to 2011. Out of sheer frustration at the end of 2010 I registered for the Florida Double Iron Triathlon. I finished in a little over 26 hours and was SO excited. While I didn't train that much, I was VERY determined. I returned from Florida and sat my sights on a hopeful finish at the Arkansas Traveller 100 for 2011.
Early this year I started my trail racing off with a solid finish at the Ouachita 50 Miler in Arkansas.
Loving the Ouachita 50 Miler!
My mileage was still pretty low but I was having fun and feeling strong. Over the next few months I slowly increased my mileage. Not necessarily on purpose, but because I was just enjoying the run and going with how my body felt. My run mileage for the next few months went as listed below:
I didn't plan or map out any training until midway through August. That progression happen all on it's own. It's amazing that I'm putting down 60-80 miles weeks like they're completely normal when before this year I don't believe I ever ran over 50 miles in one week.
One of the biggest blessings this year has been the Capt Karl's 60K Night Series in the hill country of Texas. These races have been not only a rude awakening that my nutrition was a complete joke, but that I am capable of more than I thought. I'll spare you the details but if you go back in my blog you can find my race reports from all three races, plus my specific entry about my "Nutrition Debacle". The series was perfect for my AT100 training because all three races were at night and were in good hot Texas weather. This created the perfect environment to perfect my new nutrition as well as get plenty of night running practice.
So, all of that brings us to today. September 2nd, 2011.
I've mapped out the next 30 days in hopes that I'll be as prepared as possible for Arkansas. This week I'll finish with 65 miles. Next week I'll log around 80, and the final week I'll max out around 90 miles. Then I'll implement a drastic taper and really try to recover before Arkansas.
For those of you that have experience, I'm curious as to what has worked in terms of tapers for 100s. With my two week taper what kind of mileage do you think would be ok? I have a 50 mile week planned for the week before, then nothing over 4-5 miles the week of.
As always, I know what I'm capable of in terms of finish times for my first 100, but my number one goal will always be to finish. My training has been very consistent and I've never been this confident in my training before. Most my runs as of late have started slow, but my legs quickly wake up and just go, and go, and go, and go. Even when I feel slugglish like last weekend, my legs still cooperate and just keep moving. "Relentless foward motion" as the vets say.
Looking back now, am I disappointed that I haven't attempted 100 miles yet? Of course I am, but I know now that if I had tried 100 back then I most definitely would not have been capable of the time I would expect from myself.
So here I am about 5 years after first hearing about people running 100 miles, about to embark on my own 100 mile journey God willing. I'm thankful for the fact that I'm even able to run, much less attempt to run 100 miles. Regardless of how all this goes down, It's gonna be a good time. (and it's gonna hurt a lot)
