The SUPERDROME!

For sometime now I've been wanting to race on a velodrome. AKA, "track racing". A velodrome is an oval banked track of various lengths. Here in the North Texas area we have a track in Frisco. It's one of three olympic velodromes in the USA. It's 250 meters with the most banked sections being 44.5 degrees, and the "flats" being 17 degrees.

To race on this track one has to be qualified, not only for their safety but other racers safety. I FINALLY had the chance to take the "development" class so that I'll be qualified to race on the track.

MAN, what an experience! This thing was incredible. It was a 4 hour class starting at 9am. A lot of the people in the class were brand new to track racing, and had pretty much zero knowledge. Track racing requires a "fixed gear" bicycle. Fixed gears obviously only have one gear, no brakes, and the rear cog is "fixed" so that one cannot coast.

To most people this concept seems unbelievably dangerous but it's for the opposite reason that it's so. On a track people ride really close together, and really fast. If you've ever been on the highway and the car 10 cars up slams on it's breaks you know the result. It's a chain reaction and everyone behind them will have to slow down. On a track the fixed gear bikes keep people from being able to slam on their brakes and cause wrecks. (not that wrecks don't happen)



After finally working our way onto the track and doing some practice laps we worked our way all the way up to the top. It was an unbelievable sensation riding so high. I'd say it was between 20-25 feet up from the bottom of the track when we were at the top of the 44.5 degree banked turns.

By the end of the class we were able to do some "mock" racing. There were two other knowledgable cyclists in the class. Due to my ridiculous type "A" racing attitude I ended up winning both races. (I actually meant to lose the last one on purpose, but couldn't do it) After racing I'm extremely excited to get to legitimately race. Unfortunately most their races are on Friday nights and that doesn't work too well for me.

Below I'll be posting another video of a group doing a "paceline" on the velodrome, and I'll also be posting a few photos I took of the track. If you're interested in track racing or the Superdrome in Frisco here are a few links.

Click HERE for the Superdrome.

Click HERE for track racing information.

I hope everyone is having a great week! Looks like the weather isn't going to be too bad for my triathlon this weekend. I'll try and give a good update early next week with some photos and results!

_Jacob_

TEXAS Heat!

The heat is on in North Texas!! I've been getting in some great trail runs recently, but they've been steamy. (My friend Alan can attest to that!)

I've been doing most of my runs around 1-4pm and it's been averaging between 96-101 everyday. Yesterday I was running one of my favorite trails in Oak Cliff just south of Dallas and the humidity had to be around 1,284% and about 100 degrees. I was sweating as soon as I stepped out of the car!

The run was superb. Get's me excited for my upcoming races/runs. This weekend I've got my first triathlon of the season. Unfortunately it will also be my first swim of the year as well! Haha. Man, this could be bad. Of course I'm still going for the win, and I'll be slightly disappointed with anything less. Despite my lack of any organized training, much less triathlon specific training!

The next weekend I'm doing a 6hr run in Abilene, TX that starts at 8pm and is on a one mile loop. I'd LOVE to log about 40 miles out there (which would be a sub 9min pace).

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on my recent runs and some of the races I'll be doing soon. Next post?? My exciting adventures at the Frisco Velodrome. Aka, the SUPERDROME! I'm out for now.

(Photo is from the Jemez 50 in new mexico a few weeks ago)

_Jacob_

Runnin 50s for what?

Geezz. I'm not really even sure where to start this post.

I've been so unbelievably lazy with my posts lately. It's amazing how the more I have to talk about the less I actually post stuff.

About two weeks ago I ran my third 50 mile race in the past four months. The Jemez Mountain 50 miler in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I had such high hopes going into this race. I don't know if I was expecting some kind of breakthrough ultra race, but I got almost the total opposite. Once again, a hard ultra mountain race showed me whose boss.

This race was 50 miles in the heart of the Jemez mountains. We started around 7,500 ft and topped out over 10,300 ft at least three times for a total climbing amount of 12,000 ft. (Loss and Gain in 50 miles)

After my previous experience at the Zane Grey 50 where I felt like I'd pretty much hit rock bottom, I didn't think it got much worse than that. Boy was I wrong. The Zane Grey 50 took me around 12:47. (That's 12hours and 47 mins for those non ultra runners out there). The Jemez 50 took me something like 14:19. Yea. That's pretty much an average mile of 16:50 something. Borderline embarrassing for me. I trained for the Jemez race fairly hard but just got completely owned by the terrain and altitude.

I feel I made a few critical mistakes looking back now. First I took a gel that I RARELY use if ever anymore. After about 4-5 of these things I couldn't eat one more. Literally. Everytime I tried to take one I started dry heaving. I also feel that I got pretty dehydrated pretty early in the race. While it wasn't hot at the start it warmed up by mid day to around 80 degrees. I ended up dehydrated (I guess) which led to me not being able to eat a whole lot. Finally around mile 44 (I forgot to mention the last 10 miles or so are pretty much ALL downhill) I started dry heaving. I knew it was coming up. For the first time in my career of running in general I threw up. Let me tell you. It's GROSS watching brown and black gels come back up! Haha.

I pretty much walked the last 6-7 miles. Downhill. Like I said. Embarrassing.

I crossed the line, got my finishers award, hopped in the car, went straight to Sonic, went back to the hotel and fell asleep. While I was "racing" I literally felt like I was sleep walking at certain points. Again, not sure if that was the altitude or what, but I was literally exhausted.

During races like that I really question my reasons for doing those things to myself. I question my ability to do that stuff, and I question if I'm even an ultra runner.

Of course, I don't do it for the time, I don't do it for anyone but myself, and the fact that I get to see some of the most gorgeous terrain the U.S. has to offer, all on foot. Obviously I'm going to have to do some tweaking with my nutrition and be sure that I stick with my tried and true.

I've got a few more races lined up pretty soon. The Abilene 6hr Endurance run is coming up that starts at 8pm. (1 mile loop) Then in July I've got the El Scorcho 50K that starts at midnight in Fort Worth. I'm really pumped about that one. I'm not going to keep it a secret, but I'm definitely racing for the win out there. Hopefully the guy that won last year (Ran like 3:06 or smoething crazy) won't show up and I'll at least have a chance at the top 3.

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In the personal life things are pretty busy! Courtney is planning away at the wedding and things are REALLY going smoothly. We now have a wedding venue and reception venue! The date is set for January 8th, 2011. It definitely couldn't come fast enough.

I'm gonna try to post more pictures and videos from now on. I'm working on updating my Picasa page, much like my facebook. You search Jacob Evans (Dallas, TX) you'll find me there!

Enjoy the video! (Not made by me)

Train hard and live harder.

_Jacob_

Zane Grey 51?

Who's the worst ever at updating? Me. I know... Iknow. Hopefully everyone knows that I update my training log on a daily basis, and is a great way to know what I'm up to. (training and personally)

I don't have too much time right now but I did want to post the link to my race report for the Zane Grey 50 (actually 51 miles) trail run that I did in Arizona last weekend! CLICK HERE to check it out. I got in a really nice 21 mile run today at the Northshore trail in Grapevine. Man, do I LOVE that trail.

Hope everyone is doing well and I will definitely be updating more. I'm obviously going in a different direction than I have been in the past few years, but I couldn't be any happier. Triathlon is still important to me, but ultra running has become just as if not more important. I find it unbelievably challenging and beautiful.

Train hard and live harder :)

_Jacob_

Marathon Maniacs!!!

So for the past few years I've wanted to be a part of ths group called the "Marathon Maniacs". There's a fairly strict set of guidlines to actually get into this group. The easiest way to get it in two run 2 marathons within 16 days which I easily did last weekend. (Not to mention running 100K in less than 14 hours)

Anyways, I actually qualified last weekend without even thinking about it. IT wasn't until a few days after that it hit me that I had qualified to apply. Well know I can gladly call myself Marathon Maniac number 2383!

In other news I did end up racing the A2A marathon (obviously) and finished 9th overall and 2nd age group with a time of 3:21:25. I started out super easy and actually ended up running close to 7 minute miles at the end. I felt great and was happy to get Oklahoma knocked off my 50 states list.

Now I have to big 50 milers coming up in less than 50ish days. I'm really looking forward to both. The first is Zane Grey which is supposed to be super tough, then I'm doing Jemez which is supposed to be equally tough due to the huge altitude.

I'll keep everyone updated on those races and anything else I add to the schedule. Hope everyone is training hard and enjoying this amazing spring weather!!

_Jacob_