This weekend I raced at the 50k National trail championships in Bend OR. I would call this blog 'abandoned in Bend' but Jim came with me so I guess I wont, even though no one else did, not to name names...
Bend took slightly longer to drive to than the race, about seven and a half hours, one way, or about 2 tanks of gas. After entering the race at another seventy bucks and finding a cheap hotel at 50 dollars I was feeling overwhelmed with stress and the pressure of how well I would have to race to make it worth 200 dollars.
I'd been studying the elevation map and had it memorized so I knew that it started at 6400 feet ( Joel assured me this was no big deal and will continue to assure me of this fact to this day), then went downhill mostly for 4 miles, then sharp up for one, mostly down till 8, up gradually till 13, down till 15, up till 18, down till 21.5, up to 24.5, then mostly down with a few spikes until the last mile. The strategy was that if I knew what was coming next I would not be so frustrated at having to run up hill for half an hour, like will it ever end?? The real course looked very different than the map.
When we got to the starting line I noticed that everyone, everyone else, not just being paranoid, everyone was carrying a water bottle. That was a little troubling but how thirsty can you get right? It's only 31 miles. It was a little bit cool when we started at 8 am and there was even some shade on the course. They had managed to find some trees in Eastern Oregon, quite a few actually, that was a pleasant surprise. I was practicing being positive so I had to remember that when we went up when we were supposed to go down that meant that the opposite was also true. There was a little hill in the first mile but nothing like Galbraith that I run up over and over for like 6 miles! It felt harder than Galbraith though- they all did. I was preparing for the steep hill at mile four, knowing I would know it right away but it never came. I looked at my watch and it was 50 minutes, oh dear I hope I already went up it! Then I felt a little better about the shallow hill I went up a while ago- had that been it? It must have been? A little better because that thing was not a short steep monster but also a little worse because that shallow hill had felt a lot harder than it looked.
The first aid station was not until 6 or 7 miles then Jim gave me some at ten. I had been fourth place all of the race, fourth for USATF and fourth overall. I hoped I could maybe catch someone as I have a lot of endurance. The next aid station was at 15 miles, that uphill section had been all shallow but very long, around 5 miles and was pretty tough. The short steep part i was expecting never came either even though it was so distinctive on the map. The next section was not as hilly as I was expecting and the next aid station came quickly at 17.5 miles. Then we went downhill until 21.5. I was running with a guy from Bend and he agreed that the altitude felt very high. At 21.5 it went back up as promised and up and up and up. I ran hard but it was hard just to run. It was about 88 degrees now at around 11 o'clock. I ran for ten minutes up the hill and I was just going to walk for a minute but my legs became cramped from dehydration and wouldn't run anymore. I barely made it to the next aid station at 24.5 walking but not very many people passed me then, even though it felt like it took forever and did.
They thought I looked really bad and because I threw up when I finally got water and too much of it they made me stay at the rest station and sit down and that was when a lot of people passed me. Though a lot of them sat down too! They gave me salt tablets and sports beans and made me eat pretzels when I asked if I could go now. They said they were worried about that, but I said I can run 30 miles, I do it all the time so I know I can make it. Then I walked down the hill. Right as I was leaving I heard a guy come up to the aid station and ask how much farther to the finish.
"6.5 miles." "Oh God!"
And you would have to be a runner to understand how you can go 24.5 miles but 6.5 miles is Oh God!
I knew if I finished I would be All American and as I walked down the hill I was real frustrated that I had to walk, knowing that if I could run at all I could stop most people from passing me. So I started running to see if I could for a few minutes and it turned into the rest of the way. I knew Jim would be wondering if I was dead or what. But if he was expecting me to be dead at least he wouldn't be disappointed. When I came out of the trail and had a mile left he was there and I was a few hundred feet behind fifth place in my race. I tried to pick it up but it looked like I would run out of time. Then we turned the corner and I could see the finish line and I caught her, picking up 5th place in the USATF and my third national medal. It only took five hours and thirty minutes to get it and that is definitely longer than I wanted to be running. But at least I am the only one on my team who can say I ran five and half megas, though I don't know if the sitting at the aid station counts, so maybe only five megas. By the way, Joel said time doesn't matter on the trail course but he meant- time doesn't matter as long as you don't run 5:32! Time doesn't matter as long as you run 4:18.
So it did not go like I wanted but I'm glad I finished. My cat ran away because I was gone. I guess he was mad at me or something or maybe trying to find me. I guess I can understand his perspective- why does my person get to leave and not come back and not tell me where she is going for several days? I was worried. He came back a couple hours ago so I could write my blog instead of look for him- yay!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Positively charging up the mountain
This week I had to try something new called being positive while running up Galbraith 12 times, or with a positive spin- only 6 times twice. 6 times on Wednesday and 6 times today. Here's another positive spin- I only fell down once and only almost fell- well who needs to really keep track of that? But I could have got horribly injured, I could have fallen off the top of the mountain and landed in downtown Bellingham but I didn't! Plus I passed so many bikers I felt like a car, except allowed to hit them.
But really, if you practice being positive when you are doing workouts you are more likely to be positive during your race and then you are more likely to beat people, which is the point of being positive right? Part of being positive means you lie to yourself, like when you are repeat one and you tell yourself- I'm almost done! And part of it means telling yourself the truth like- you run 30 miles sometimes, with lots of hills, so if you really were going to drop dead it would take a lot longer than this workout.
This workout on Wednesday was really tough for me, I was tougher but still, was very sore afterwards and needed a cane to do my cool down. Plus you know you are getting tired when you trip uphill! Today I thought I was still a little tired from Wednesday when I started but when I finished I felt a whole lot better than on Wednesday when everything was shaking. Even after climbing the stairs I am not dead, and better- I don't even want to be!
One thing worries me though- is being positive funny?
But really, if you practice being positive when you are doing workouts you are more likely to be positive during your race and then you are more likely to beat people, which is the point of being positive right? Part of being positive means you lie to yourself, like when you are repeat one and you tell yourself- I'm almost done! And part of it means telling yourself the truth like- you run 30 miles sometimes, with lots of hills, so if you really were going to drop dead it would take a lot longer than this workout.
This workout on Wednesday was really tough for me, I was tougher but still, was very sore afterwards and needed a cane to do my cool down. Plus you know you are getting tired when you trip uphill! Today I thought I was still a little tired from Wednesday when I started but when I finished I felt a whole lot better than on Wednesday when everything was shaking. Even after climbing the stairs I am not dead, and better- I don't even want to be!
One thing worries me though- is being positive funny?
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Labory Day half, new shoes, day off running
How long should you wear your shoes? My running journal made by Runner's World says 200 miles, the guy at the shoe store said about 400, (wow weird- the running journal is trying to sell even more shoes than the shoe salesman) and I say about 1200. I know because I wore my current pair about 1250 miles and then my feet started to hurt at around 1230 ish, when I was running the Labor Day half marathon which was laborfull! My advice- don't listen to any of those people, just wear your shoes until right before your feet hurt.
At the labor day half I did not do great, which is great because I was not supposed to do great, it was also however not supposed to be the most horrible thing you'd do in along time which it was. ( or maybe it was supposed to be?) Joel said to run a relaxedish 1:29-1:33, which by the way if 1:29 was relaxed I should have a new PR by now! but anyway, you know hard, but not hard. Somehow I managed to get even slower than those times and it was hard. I'm going to blame the sun, which was out, clearly not what the course designers had in mind as they designed this 0% shaded course. It was probably in the upper 70s out when I finished and to me that felt like running through hell. After the race Joel made me do a tempo for 10-40 minutes, but ideally he wanted me to pick the 40 option which I only picked the 15. But it was HARD to run a tempo after that slurpee they gave me at the finish line which after running through hell there was no way in hell I was going to turn down, haha, sorry. I felt a little better when I saw all the results and they were all much slower than last years. Also they break it down into age groups but way more than the average race does. They let you see results by just 17 yr olds, just 18 yr olds, 22 yr olds, 39 yr olds, 40,41, etc. I was second for all 25 yr olds and first woman and only one girl had beat me who was younger than me, 24, even though I ran a kinda sucko 1:35:03. It was just an old person's race. Not that there weren't kids, especially at the beginning, like the little boy I passed at four miles who turned to confide in me "I am sooo dead!" Aww, I hope he finished, good luck little boy, may you have many, many half marathons before you!
Yesterday my foot and calf were hurting from my 1250 miles old shoes so Joel told me to take the day off! Since I didn't have to work either there were suddenly hours in the day. I could have fun! Except for push up sit up time of course. ( why don't abs ever get injured?) It was a strange experience but one I'd like to repeat again sometime. But not soon, because as soon as I take even like 3 days off my body gets all rusty and acts like it doesn't run very well for weeks and weeks! And that's just what I need in the 50k to make it even harder. It seems like if I work very hard 95% of the time and 5% of the time am injured and not running my body will only remember the 5%. Anyone else feel like that?
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| Old shoes |
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| my pumped up kicks |
At the labor day half I did not do great, which is great because I was not supposed to do great, it was also however not supposed to be the most horrible thing you'd do in along time which it was. ( or maybe it was supposed to be?) Joel said to run a relaxedish 1:29-1:33, which by the way if 1:29 was relaxed I should have a new PR by now! but anyway, you know hard, but not hard. Somehow I managed to get even slower than those times and it was hard. I'm going to blame the sun, which was out, clearly not what the course designers had in mind as they designed this 0% shaded course. It was probably in the upper 70s out when I finished and to me that felt like running through hell. After the race Joel made me do a tempo for 10-40 minutes, but ideally he wanted me to pick the 40 option which I only picked the 15. But it was HARD to run a tempo after that slurpee they gave me at the finish line which after running through hell there was no way in hell I was going to turn down, haha, sorry. I felt a little better when I saw all the results and they were all much slower than last years. Also they break it down into age groups but way more than the average race does. They let you see results by just 17 yr olds, just 18 yr olds, 22 yr olds, 39 yr olds, 40,41, etc. I was second for all 25 yr olds and first woman and only one girl had beat me who was younger than me, 24, even though I ran a kinda sucko 1:35:03. It was just an old person's race. Not that there weren't kids, especially at the beginning, like the little boy I passed at four miles who turned to confide in me "I am sooo dead!" Aww, I hope he finished, good luck little boy, may you have many, many half marathons before you!
Yesterday my foot and calf were hurting from my 1250 miles old shoes so Joel told me to take the day off! Since I didn't have to work either there were suddenly hours in the day. I could have fun! Except for push up sit up time of course. ( why don't abs ever get injured?) It was a strange experience but one I'd like to repeat again sometime. But not soon, because as soon as I take even like 3 days off my body gets all rusty and acts like it doesn't run very well for weeks and weeks! And that's just what I need in the 50k to make it even harder. It seems like if I work very hard 95% of the time and 5% of the time am injured and not running my body will only remember the 5%. Anyone else feel like that?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
I am forgotten
How strange that Joel forgot how he was going to torture me today. Last night he was skyping me about this run. 15 minutes easy, 2 and a half hours hard up a mountain, 15 minutes easy. I don't remember how many times he said the exact same thing over and over, "don't know how fast you are going!" "Just run as hard as you can for 2 and 1/2 hours!" Me: "What pace is that?" Joel: "Did I say anything about pace, Gawd! Just run as fast as you can for 2 and a 1/2 hours! Call me!"
Boy I did not want to get out of bed this morning. It sounded even worse than work, maybe. A lot shorter though I guess, ok, a little shorter, not much sometimes, meh, but at least I wont have to be nice to people that are annoying!
After procrastinating for a while I was off, a little after 9 am, figuring if it got hot that would just help me prepare even more for the 50k in Bend. I mean how much more miserable can you get than running your guts up a mountain with the sun frying your back? Well, it could be worse, at least around here there are trees.
I ran fast for about half an hour at a slight uphill before I hit Galbraith mountain and the real fun. The nice thing about running up a mountain is even if you are trying to slack off you can't. It hurts no matter what pace you are running up it just more if you are running faster. I ran up some sections twice so I could turn around and run downhill in between steep uphill sections, 5 minutes uphill this way, turn around, three minutes down, back uphill another way type of thing. Before I ran along the main road all the way to the end, almost to Lake Padden. But to my relief I didn't have enough time to run there! Who would have thought I wouldn't have enough time to run anywhere in Bellingham? Good thing it wasn't a thirty mile day. I made it through the steep hill back, somehow there were uphills both ways- that was not fair! I only cried once and I kept running through it, consoling myself that I couldn't possibly feel any worse than I did right now so the rest of my run would be easy! I ran past all the blackberries I wanted to stop and eat. A slight downhill for the last half hour home which I was glad wasn't the other way around because it hurt enough as is. Joel had told me just to run hard, as hard as I could, which is always hard to know but I felt pretty awful when my watch hit 2:45 and I collapsed on a rock, finally picking some blackberries. I was so tired I walked for a couple minutes, thinking at least Joel would be proud of me because I felt so bad.
When I called when I got home and had made it up the stairs to where I left the phone (seemed like an ok idea at the time) he asked how I was, I said tired, he asked if I had already gone running. "Yes." "Oh, shoot I thought you were going to go run with Jessica today." "What? You told me to do a 3 hour hard run up Galbraith!" "Oh, was that today?"
I can't believe he forgot. He forgot all about me and my suffering meant nothing to him, nothing! He wondered why I was tired! The nerve. I shouldn't be too surprised- if I was surrounded by the grandeur of Iowa City I would forget all about you little people in Bellingham too, hahaha! This means tho- I didn't even have to do it! He never never forgets to torture me, ever! I wish I could forget, how awesome would that be? Hey Joel I forgot to do my workout today- that's ok right? Were you supposed to do a workout today? Oh, uh, no! Look on the bright side, I have been forgotten, probably replaced, maybe recycled or tossed into a garbage can, but maybe he will forget about the 50k too!
Boy I did not want to get out of bed this morning. It sounded even worse than work, maybe. A lot shorter though I guess, ok, a little shorter, not much sometimes, meh, but at least I wont have to be nice to people that are annoying!
After procrastinating for a while I was off, a little after 9 am, figuring if it got hot that would just help me prepare even more for the 50k in Bend. I mean how much more miserable can you get than running your guts up a mountain with the sun frying your back? Well, it could be worse, at least around here there are trees.
I ran fast for about half an hour at a slight uphill before I hit Galbraith mountain and the real fun. The nice thing about running up a mountain is even if you are trying to slack off you can't. It hurts no matter what pace you are running up it just more if you are running faster. I ran up some sections twice so I could turn around and run downhill in between steep uphill sections, 5 minutes uphill this way, turn around, three minutes down, back uphill another way type of thing. Before I ran along the main road all the way to the end, almost to Lake Padden. But to my relief I didn't have enough time to run there! Who would have thought I wouldn't have enough time to run anywhere in Bellingham? Good thing it wasn't a thirty mile day. I made it through the steep hill back, somehow there were uphills both ways- that was not fair! I only cried once and I kept running through it, consoling myself that I couldn't possibly feel any worse than I did right now so the rest of my run would be easy! I ran past all the blackberries I wanted to stop and eat. A slight downhill for the last half hour home which I was glad wasn't the other way around because it hurt enough as is. Joel had told me just to run hard, as hard as I could, which is always hard to know but I felt pretty awful when my watch hit 2:45 and I collapsed on a rock, finally picking some blackberries. I was so tired I walked for a couple minutes, thinking at least Joel would be proud of me because I felt so bad.
When I called when I got home and had made it up the stairs to where I left the phone (seemed like an ok idea at the time) he asked how I was, I said tired, he asked if I had already gone running. "Yes." "Oh, shoot I thought you were going to go run with Jessica today." "What? You told me to do a 3 hour hard run up Galbraith!" "Oh, was that today?"
I can't believe he forgot. He forgot all about me and my suffering meant nothing to him, nothing! He wondered why I was tired! The nerve. I shouldn't be too surprised- if I was surrounded by the grandeur of Iowa City I would forget all about you little people in Bellingham too, hahaha! This means tho- I didn't even have to do it! He never never forgets to torture me, ever! I wish I could forget, how awesome would that be? Hey Joel I forgot to do my workout today- that's ok right? Were you supposed to do a workout today? Oh, uh, no! Look on the bright side, I have been forgotten, probably replaced, maybe recycled or tossed into a garbage can, but maybe he will forget about the 50k too!
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