Tag Archives: Lessons Learned

Thumbnail Sketch of My Training – No Wasted Miles

Posted on April 30, 2018 by | Leave a comment

I’m often asked about my training regimen, and while I blog about specifics here and there in various posts, I thought I’d pull together a more complete view of how I train.

This post covers:

  • Suggested books & experts worth checking out
  • LSD vs HIT
  • My “No Wasted Miles” Philosophy
  • Example Run Workouts
  • Example Cross-Fit & Weight-lifting Workouts
  • Breathing
  • Nutrition & Fasting
  • Race Results

DISCLAIMER: Always consult a professional before embarking on any training program or regimen. I am sharing for informational purposes only – I am NOT a professional coach, trainer or medical expert.

Recommended Resources

Books:

Coaches:

  • Power Speed Endurance (PSE) – I’ve worked with the experts AT PSE over the past two years, first in 2016 for Uberman and this year ramping up the for the Zion 100 ultra-marathon. They have a huge bank of free resources, and you can pay $100/year to access their daily workout programs.
  • Kevin Coady at TriForce– I worked with Kevin for most recent two Ironman triathlons in 2011 and 2013. Following his programs, I reduced Ironman time by almost exactly 60 minutes, from 12:59:20 in 2010 to 11:59:49 in 2011 on the same course. Then in 2013, I reduced my time down to 11:20 at IroNman Asia-Pacific in Melbourne.

SWITCHING FROM LSD TO HIT

I used to believe in LSD Training: Long Slow Distance. That got me through my first Ironman races and early endurance running because that’s what everyone told me I needed to do. (“Just get in the miles…”)  Then I made a switch to a High Intensity Training (HIT), first starting during my latter Ironman training when my wife introduced us to Cross-Fit. But still, I wasn’t a full convert. I continued to straddle between weight-lifting/Cross-Fit workouts and still believing that I needed to log long miles.

As I ramped up training for Uberman in 2016, I hit the limit. In a single week in July 2016, my training included (See: “Uberman Training Update”):

  • Swim: 32,000 yards (18.35 miles)
  • Bike: 151.5 miles
  • Run: 20 miles
  • Weightlifting: Two (2) short sessions focused on posterior chain and stability I was out of time and energy to do any more distance in a week.

The final switch was made after a consulting session with Brian MacKenzie at PSE Endurance in July 2016. After sharing my LSD training schedule with Brian, he told me – “The engine is built. You don’t need to do any more distance. You need to build your strength so that your muscles don’t breakdown.” [paraphrase]

Now as a full convert to HIT, I’m baffled by how often people measure progress by their weekly mileage. This is usually the wrong metric to use, because it doesn’t measure how one is improving on their strength, speed and endurance. It’s just a tally. Sure, it’s important to be able to run a fundamental minimum of base miles without stressing or injuring your body. That’s sort of table stakes for any kind of long-distance running.

But after those baseline miles, the rest of the miles are just a vanity metric. Do you really gain that much more from running the extra 20 or 30 miles in a week? Yes, there is marginal benefit, and that comes at a marginal cost of time and injury. I’d rather use that time to strengthen (or rest!) so that when I’m out on the course, my body can withstand the constant pounding it’s taking with every step.

No Wasted Miles

I don’t need to run 100 or 50 or even 40 miles in a week because I’m extremely efficient in my training, and I measure that which matters most to my training.  My workouts and training measure my level of strength and conditioning, because if I’m hitting certain metric on that front, I know that come race day, whether I’m toeing the line for a 50k or 200-miler, I know that I’m ready to have a successful race.

All of these workouts measure conditioning and recovery time, not how long I can run.

A few examples of metrics:

  • Speed maintenance, and improvement, in 200-meter speed on a repeatable basis (10-12 intervals) – Can I maintain or improve my 200m times over 10-12 intervals?
  • Recovery heart rate down to 99 bpm from it’s peak after 800-meter intervals.
  • Ability to maintain nasal breathing at faster running speeds.
  • Recovery (heart rate and pace) after an intra-run interval, ranking from 60-seconds to 1/2 mile.

Example run workouts:

1 – The 99bpm Hear Rate Workout: This is one of my “favorite” (read: painful) running workouts. It’s 6 x 800 meters. After a 1-2 mile warm-up, I go all out for 800 meters (~ 1/2 mile), then stop and wait for my heart rate to drop from it’s peak – usually around 165bpm to 99bpm. Depending on the day and the rep in the set, this can take anywhere from 2-3 minutes. Sometimes a little shorter (90 seconds), and sometimes a little longer (up to 4 minutes).

What am I measuring?

This measures my ability to ramp up to and recover from extended hard efforts. It’s rare on the trail that I ever hit 160+ bpms, and if I do, that should mean that a bear is chasing me…  But knowing that I can push up quickly and recover quickly indicates a high conditioning level.

2 – 200 meter interval times: Another “favorite” is 10 reps x 200 meters, with a 2-minute rest between intervals.  For someone that runs 50, 100, and 200 mile races, doing speed work like this might sound strange. It builds muscular strength and speed, and builds on lactate thresholds and metabolic conditioning.

What am I measuring?

How much I’m able to hold, and improve, on every interval  my time throughout the workout. If I can maintain or improve throughout the workout, I know that I’m in good conditioning and strength.

3 – “Every Mile Faster” (while nasal breathing throughout): This is a good workout for both shorter and longer runs (6-9 miles), and useful anytime I need a way to push myself while assessing my overall conditioning.

After a one-mile warm-up, I slowly ratchet up my pace by 15-20 seconds every mile for the duration of the run, leaving a mile at the end for cool down and recovery. Example times (which I realize may seem either remarkably slow or fast depending on who’s reading this post…):

Mile 1: 8:15 min/mile (warm-up)

Mile 2: 7:50 min/mile

Mile 3: 7:30 min/mile

Mile 4: 7:15 min/mile

Mile 6: 7:00 min/mile

Mile 7: 6:45 min/mile

Mile 8: 6:30 min/mile

Mile 9: 7:30 min/mile (recovery)

What am I measuring?

I use this workout as a means to assess my capacity to handle an increasing workload, while maintaining nasal breathing. If I can hammer down into the sub-7:00 min/mile and sustain that pace while pulling in enough oxygen by nasal breathing, I know my conditioning is in a good place.

4 – Long Intervals

During a longer run, I’ll push myself for anywhere from 1/4 mile to one-mile intervals – going as hard as I can for that prescribed distance, then giving myself that same distance to recover before starting another interval.

Cross-Fit & Weightlifting

CAUTION: You MUST be VERY, VERY careful with any sort of weight-training Absolutely, positively work with a trained professional on form and workout structure. Here in Davis, we’re fortunate to have a kick-ass CrossFit gym – CrossFit Davis. Even light work with kettlebells and dumbbells can cause injury if you don’t have the right form, or if you’re stressing your ligaments and tendons before they are ready.

Muscles strengthen much faster than you ligaments and tendons, so while you might have the muscular strength to lift a certain amount of weight, your ligaments and tendons can tear because they’re not used to the stress and weight.  Again, working with a coach that teaches you the right form and balance, and knowing the form trumps absolute weight is critical here. Check out this Tim Ferris Podcast with former US national team gymnastics coach Chris Sommer on this topic.

Over the past few years, we’ve accumulated a variety of equipment for a home gym. We started with kettlebells, then dumbbells, then a wall ball, then a box for box jumps,  then a squat rack with a pull-up bar and barbell, and finally weight vest.

The good news, is that I’ve found that you don’t need a big inventory of equipment to make a major impact in your strength and conditioning.  Even a few kettlebells couple with body weight exercises go me plenty of gain in strength and conditioning. A couple of years ago, I had knee surgery and could only do push-ups, sit-ups, and dumbbell snatches for weeks on end, and those alone helped me retain some semblance of conditioning. When I’m traveling for work, hotel gyms offer very little in terms of equipment, yet I can get a plenty good workout while on the road.

A basic starting body workout looks something like this:

4 x 25 reps:

Even if you have to rest intra-set, i.e. do 10 then 10 then 5 pushups to get to 25 in the set, don’t stress. 🙂

Eventually I worked in some light weights so a typical workout was something like:

4 rounds of:

  • 25 kettlebell swings
  • 25 Wall balls
  • 25 Dumbell snatches
  • 25 Burpees

Now with a squat rack and weights, a pretty standard workout is something like:

Lifting: Deadlifts (4-5 rounds of 5-6 reps @ 70-80% weight)

Conditioning: 4-5 rounds of:

  • 5 pull-ups
  • 25 burpee box jumps
  • 25 kettle bell swings
  • 25 jumping squats

Then there are the two-a-days….

Some days, I’ll do both running and lifting, either as two separate workouts, or as a single workout with running then lifting. For example this week, I did a 6-mile run with long intervals, then in the garage did 8 x 6 pull-ups and 5 x 5-10 deadlights.

Even without the “full” workout, after a run, adding 100 kettlebell swings or 100 Wall Balls will really kick your butt and goes a long way for strength and conditioning.

Breathing

Working with PSE this year, their training program includes breathing as a cornerstone to all training, with pre-, during, and and post-workout breathing protocols. Check out a few videos here on YouTube on this topic.

Three (3) breathing practices I’ve instituted:

1 – Nasal Breathing. Nasal breathing is an addition to my training regimen this year.  I first heard about nasal-only breathing from Scott Jurek in his book “Eat and Run.” Now I ONLY nasal breathe when in my run workouts, no matter hard I’m running. On much longer runs (i.e. 20-mile trail runs), I’ll let myself mouth breath if I need the oxygen, but mostly I’m nasal breathing. Even during the Zion 100, I was nasal breathing most of the way.

As it was described to me, nasal breathing is more natural and your nasal breathing filters your oxygen intake, while your mouth is designed for eating and emergency breathing. When you nasal breathe, you’re pulling in higher quality breaths, and helping your body remain calm.

2 – Pre- and Post-Workout Breathing Exercises – This usually means 10 deep inhales and exhales, followed by a 30-60 second hold. I’ll do 1-3 rounds of this to oxygenate my body before exercise.

3 – Morning Breath Holds – ONLY do this if you know what you’re doing. I meditate most mornings, and after a 15-20 minute silent meditation, I do a breath hold which means that I take 2-3 deep breaths, then hold after the last intake. I typically shoot for three (3) minutes on each hold and can usually get there. Some mornings, I can go a bit longer. My record is 4:15. This helps build lung capacity and helps you realize how much farther you can push your physical limits.

Again… ONLY do this if you know what you’re doing. Take it slow, and consult a professional. Check out The WimHof Method for more on breathing if you want to get really, really serious on this.

Nutrition

I’m a low-carb person. I define this as consuming fewer than 50 grams of net carbs per day, and increasing to 100 grams of carbs per day based on when I’m consuming more carbs. (More on this below…)

My primary goal is to train my body to be fat-adapted – burn stored fat for fuel as much as possible.

I started with a low carb diet without realizing it after reading the book “Running Weight” a few years back (see above) as I started training for Ironman #2. I weighed about 200-205 lbs for Ironman #1, and while on a bike ride with a friend, I was complaining about a climb. He told me – “You’ve need to lose to some weight.” Message received. (Thank you, Michael L.!)

Using the book “Running Weight” as a I guide, I was able to get down to 190 lbs over 6-8 weeks and I’ve kept that weight off, and then some. My “racing weight” is now 183 lbs, and I can consistently stay under 185 lbs throughout training. As Lena introduced Cross-Fit into our lives, we adopted a Paleo Diet.

I’ve experimented with a Ketogenic Diet twice – first is April 2017 then again in January 2018, but I’ve had a hard time getting down under 20 net carbs per day, even when tracking every calorie and food morsel I consumed. Plus I found that as I experiment with timing my carb intake post-workout, my recovery times and energy have improved. Most days, I keep to the 50 net carbs target, but will increase my carb intake immediately after particularly hard running workouts and weightlifting – ideally within the first 15 minutes and for sure within the “Golden Hour.”

Check out this podcast interview with Art Zemach (founder of Tailwind) on Trailrunner Nation for more on this. If you’re concerned with the validity and bias of the founder of a company that sells high-carb products, there is plenty of alternative sources that also support this, such as this article on BodyBuilding Magazine. Post-workout for example, I’ll eat a tablespoon of honey, 1-2 tablespoons of jam or jelly, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, a handful of jelly beans, and then wash all that down with a whey protein shake (I used 3Fu3l, a PSE product). Again, I do this immediately after the workout and only do this after difficult  workouts – following long, hard runs and weight-lifting/Cross-Fit workouts.

This is a topic of much debate, so I suggest doing some more research on your own and experimenting. Even if the effects I’m experiencing are placebo, that’s good enough for me. But I believe them to be more than placebo, as I have felt improved recovery times and improved energy levels when I consume high-glycemic carbs just after a hard workout.

I absolutely recommend the Cronometer App for tracking your food intake. They have an excellent free version. (I use the paid version so that I can see trending reports on my diet). I’ve found this app useful in several ways:

  • Shows me actually calories and the breakdown of caloric intake by macronutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrates).
  • You can set the app for a particular type of diet – Keto, Paleo, etc. and it will show you daily macronutrient targets.
  • It’s taught me to properly estimated quantities of food – i.e. How much is 2 oz of cheese? What does 1 cup of milk look like in a glass? How much salmon or chicken is included in restaurant salads?
  • It’s shown me how to improve micronutrient intake – Vitamin A, B, C, etc. For example, Lena discovered that cooked spinach drastically increases the micronutrients released vs raw spinach.

Fasting

Fasting is a new addition to my nutrition plan this year. I started with a morning fast back in February – going until 2pm on a Sunday before I ate anything. Then did a daily fast through dinner for four straight days in March. By late March and into April, I did a daily fast each Tuesday for 3-4 weeks because Tuesdays are usually my rest days in my workout schedule. I found that this had a huge benefit for me in several ways:

  • Reduces my mental dependence on food. When you know you’re not going to eat, it teaches you other ways to cope with hunger – water, green tea, or talking a walk. This is also huge when I’m out on the race course, knowing that I don’t have to take in a huge amount of calories – I can take in 200-300 calories per hour and avoid feeling hunger, while still maintaining the energy I need to keep going out there.
  • Reduces my physical dependence In the past, I’ve eaten constantly during my training – always hungry. I remember during Uberman, I was ALWAYS eating. I’d eat dinner, then be hungry an hour later. I didn’t need the short-term calories – I just needed to teach my body to burn a different fuel source.
  • Keeps my weight down. I generally lose 2-3 lbs in a day when I fast, and while some of that is water weight. The body stores 3 grams of water for every gram of carbohydrate. Eating fewer carbs, and burning through the glycogen stores in your muscles on fasting days then reduces the amount of water your body needs to retain.

On most workouts, I only take water with me, mostly because few of my workouts are more than 90 minutes so my body already has all of the glycogen stores it needs for fuel. But even for longer workouts, I’ll purposely reduce caloric intake to train my body to burn fat for fuel. For example, I did a very hilly 5-hour, 19.5-mile trail run a few weeks back, and I purposely kept my total caloric intake to 600 calories throughout the entire run.

I started this during Uberman training after reading Sami Inkinen’s blog post – “Becoming a Bonk Proof Triathlete: Fat Chance!?” I’d go on 4-5 hour bike rides with only water. I usually feel some hunger around 60-75 minute into a workout session, and found that if I can push through 15-30 minutes of hunger, then my body switches and I’m good to go without a hit of carbohydrates.

The Results

I can’t say what my results would be if I were to take another approach than what I’m describing here. I do know that my overall speed, fitness and rankings in my Age Group and Overall have improved over the years, and I’m now consistently in the top 15-25% of all racers in most races.

That could be simply because of the additive effect of training over time, plus general intelligence I’ve accumulated on how to race, but I suspect there’s something more to it.

Here are results from my races over the past year.

Zion 100: 34/195 Overall; 2/10 40-49 AG

Ruck a Chuck 50k: 37/158 Overall; 10/29 40-49 AG

Tahoe 200: 36/191 Overall; 13/45 40-49 AG

Mt. Diablo Trail Marathon: 8/31 Overall; 1/9 40-40 AG

The Ridge 60k: 17/90 Overall; 6/19 40-49 AG

San Francisco 50k: 6/27 Overall; 2/10 40-49 AG

For your typical 40-something just getting out there to challenge myself, I’ll take these results. I like to think of myself as one of the fastest of the slow runners. I’m never going to be a top 10% runner, but given the reduced time I put into training compared to most runners, and my recovery times and ability to maintain fitness without race-day injuries, I’m pretty darn happy with where I am.

Go Farther.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Race Reports & Training

Tagged , , ,

What’s my final prep look like for big races?

Posted on April 2, 2018 by | Leave a comment

I’m now less than three weeks away from the starting line of the Zion 100. I’m often asked how I prep for these big races, so I thought I’d share how the last couple of weeks go leading into a big race.

This isn’t everything, but it’s most everything…

Diet & Nutrition

On Saturday’s trail run (~20 miles and 6500’ of climbing over 5+ hours on the Western States Trail), I intentionally took in fewer calories along the way to teach my body to respond to the need for fuel by burning stored fat vs short-term carbs.

I drank two coffees before the run – one with coconut oil, the other with heavy cream, then drank 200 calories of 3Fu3l. During the run, I drank 400 calories of 3Fu3l and 200 calories of Tailwind – not a completely fasted workout, but definitely low fuel, no solid food and I fought some hunger out there. After the run and yesterday on Easter, I did my last face-stuffing – too much in fact. I’ve gained about 6-7 pounds. Some of that weight is food weight, some is water retention from the gluten and sugar, as I can feel some swelling in my joints and extremities.

So today begins the last push – no more cheat days. No more alcohol. I’ll do day-time fasts today and tomorrow to cleanse from the weekend, drop a few pounds and get back to racing weight. From here, it’s all about a low-carb, high-fat diet to help myself stay fat-burning out on the trail. This includes lots of super food like organ meat (liver and onions!), cooked spinach, and tons of greens and healthy oils.

About a week leading into the race, I’ll also try to ween myself off of coffee because I’ll need the caffeine boost get through the night on the trail.

Training

Starting back with Ironman training, I learned from the traditional tapering methods that once I’m about three weeks out from a race, there’s really no more gain that can be done. And while I don’t follow the traditional 2-3 week tapering method anymore, I do accept that once I’m about 2-3 weeks out from a race, the idea of generating more gains from training adds more risk than reward.

I look at the last few weeks of training as a block of training episodes – I have about 10 more workouts in total, and there’s a certain mental lode lifted knowing that I only have that many workout sessions left, and that each one is just checking the box to keep me sharp and strong and ready for the race.

That means about 6-7 runs, and 4-5 lifting sessions. Yes, that adds up to more than 10 training sessions in two weeks, which brings me to the next part of training.

I’ve learned not to stress too much about missing a training session or two during these last couple of weeks. I usually have to load up a little on work-related activity to help me make up ahead of time for the time that I’ll miss from work. These big races can take at least 3-4 workdays away, and in the case of Zion, it’ll be a full week, so I want to make sure that clients have what they need while I’m away. While they’ll all certainly survive and thrive without me for a week, there’s a mental aspect that’s important for me to know that I’m fulfilling my duties to them.

Physical

As I scale back on training, I’m also looking for ways to get healthy. There are a couple types of injuries:

  1. Debilitating: These are injuries that make the race a no-go altogether. Last year, for example, I had hamstring problems in January and February that forced me to call off the 100-mile race I had resisted for in March.
  2. Manageable: This year, I have two of these. My left pubic tendon is strained. This is the same injury I had on my right tendon for nearly two years – a year leading into Uberman and a year after Uberman. It finally healed a couple months ago, and for some unbelievable reason, I have the same injury now on my left tendon. My second manageable injury in a mid-hamstring knot in my left leg that cropped up a few months ago, and despite weekly efforts, it just won’t go away. Both of these are annoying, and probably impact performance at some level, but I don’t feel these injuries when I’m training or racing, so it’s a matter of managing these injuries to make sure they don’t become debilitating.
  3. Recoverable: These are chips and nicks I’m feeling that have cropped up or come and go. Right now, my left calf has a strain. This crops up from time to time, and it’s tender and sore, and I know that paying attention to it these next two weeks will get it back close to 100% before race day. My left quad has a bit of knot in it – same as my calf, I know it’s recoverable if I keep rolling it and working on it.

Packing & Equipment

I use a large plastic storage tub to accumulate various items that I want to pack for the race. This includes all of my gear and nutrition, just to take stock of what I need. For big races, there’s too much to remember in a single packing episode (besides the stress of it), so I’ve learned to spread packing over a couple of weeks. As I think of something I want to bring along, I grab it or buy it and throw it in the tub. Not everything in the tub makes the cut, but at this approach prevents me from forgetting something I really wanted or needed to pack.

I’ll also do a final look at whatever equipment I may need to buy. Surprisingly, no matter how much I race, there’s always more to buy. For the Tahoe 200, the list was large – trail-running shoes, a hydration pack, rain gear, and trekking poles led the list.   This time around, I don’t think I’ll need much new stuff because of the amount of stuff purchased for Uberman and the Tahoe 200, but regardless I’ll stockpile now so that I’m not forgetting anything I’ll really need like iodine pills or nutrition (I just bought more of both this morning…)

Mindset

During training, and particularly leading into a race, I like to read books related to training and racing. Leading into Uberman, one of my favorites was “Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer” by Lynne Cox.

Last year, I read “The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion’s 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life” by John Hanc Travis Macy and “The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion” by Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson.

This year, I’m reading “Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance” by Alex Hutchinson. I’m also reading books more generally about the topic of resilience, which is an an area of personal interest for me right now.

I’ve also read and re-read books like “Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner” by Dean Karnazes and “Going Long: Legends, Oddballs, Comebacks & Adventures” by David Wiley & The Editors of Runners World.  Leading up to the Tahoe 200, I took a regular dose of the Trail Runner Nation podcast to learn specifically how to train, prepare and what equipment to use for the 200-mile distance.

These books and podcasts remind that however crazy I might seem to the people around me, there are always crazier, tougher, stronger people out there that leave plenty of room for me to claim sanity in my race endeavors.

The Larger Plan & Next Race

There’s something about knowing that this race won’t be my last, that it’s a stepping stone to something else, or part of a larger plan.

Zion will be my first 100-mile race, so there’s a clear “check the box” aspect to this distance.

It’s is a part of a larger plan:

  • Zion a Western States 100 qualifier, so Zion earns me a lottery ticket for the 2019 race, plus having completed a qualifier I can apply to the spot available to our local running club for running an aid station at the race.
  • It’s a six-point race towards qualifying for the 2019 UMTB, and it’s also a six-point race as part of the ITRA system towards Patagonia-Chile.
  • Later this year, I’m planning to do the Castle Peak 100k, which is a five-point race for both UTMB and Patagonia, which will round out qualifying for both of those races.

Finally, after finishing the Tahoe 200 last year, I realized that with some planning and staying healthy, I could run the complete series of running distances in one calendar year:

  • Trail Marathon: Mt. Diablo (2017)
  • 50K: Ruck a Chuck (2018), Mt Hood (2018)
  • 40 mile: Pacing at Javelina (October 2017)
  • 50 mile: TBD (May 2018)
  • 100k: Castle Peak (August 2018)
  • 100 mile: Zion (April 2018)
  • 200 mile: Tahoe 200 (September 2017)

This feels like a really solid personal accomplishment and a good story to tell, so why not give it a shot?

Recently, I read about the North Pole Marathon. I also looked at Boston Marathon qualifying times and realized that I’m not far from hitting those times, so I might give that a shot with CIM in December.

Last night, while reading Alex Hutchinson’s book, I learned about the Tor des Géants – a 200-mile race with 80,000’ of climbing and a 150-hour time limit. It’s in September and still has spots open.

Hmmm… So many races, so little time…

Logistics & Race Planning

I learned this from Kevin Coady, my triathlon coach for Ironman #2 and #3. He had be write out a complete day-by-day, hour-by-hour plan for the 2-3 days leading into the race.

I worked with Simon Marshall (book above) before the Tahoe 200, and he had me write out all of the things that could possibly go wrong during the race and how I would respond to each situation.  I’ve got that work to do, as well as the actual race plan – breaking down the course section-by-section, mile-by-mile to know where I’ll be by when and where I might be able to have Lena meet me for race support, though I’m expecting to do this race self-supported because we’ll have an RV and it’s out in the desert. No pacer either – just me, my drop bags and the course.

Most of the big travel logistics are handled – plane tickets to Las Vegas, RV rented, campsite booked. Now it’s time for the minutiae – what can we pack vs buy when we arrive to Las Vegas, including cooking equipment and food that I absolutely need to bring from home.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Race Reports & Training

Tagged , , ,

See the Demons; Feel the Demons; Resist the Demons – Just Keep Moving

Posted on March 30, 2018 by | Leave a comment

The Demons emerge weeks before the race – “Will I be ready?”

The Demons assemble when the clock reads 5:43am and the thermostat informs me that it’s 38 degrees outside. I’m standing in my pajamas about to change and step into the garage for a workout of deadlifts, pull-ups and burpees.

The Demons amass when the alarm buzzes at 4:30am on race day morning – “Am I really going to scrape myself out of bed for this today?”

The Demons chuckle when you arrive to the race site and start gearing up – “Can I just go back to my car and go home?”

The Demons snicker at the starting line – “Will I need to pull a DNF out there?”

The Demons remind you that turning back is always an option – that you don’t have to go another step; that you can just wait at the aid station; that you can quit any time.

The Demons clutch your muscles – gripping your quads, your calves, your feet. They lodge in your brain and attack like a virus.

The Demons blazed at 2:00am on Day 1 of the Tahoe 200. I’d been moving for 17 hours already – by far the longest I’d ever gone in a single go – slogging up a 2000’ climb behind a English guy I latched onto as my unofficial pacer.

Trudge, trudge, trudge.

Grind, grind, grind.

I was tired and frustrated and out of water. The Demons laughed – “What happened to the water station they promised back at Mile 50? Where the hell is the peak of this climb? When the fuck am I going to get to the Sierra-at-Tahoe rest stop? What the fuck am I doing out here?”

Then English Guy broke the silence to join forces with the Demons – “Ne’er ending, itn’t it?”

Even when you know you’re going to finish, the Demons whisper – “You’re not going to hit you goal time. You might as well slow down. Stop trying so damn hard.”

The Demons persist when you’re making that last push in the final miles – “You’re more than two hours behind the leaders. No one cares about your time. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. A finish is a finish. Just walk. No one will care.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s a 200-mile race or box jump #14 in a set of 100. They ask – “Am I really putting myself through this?”

You can never beat the Demons. You can’t exterminate them. You don’t have to. They’re there, and they’ll always be there.

They strengthen with the immobility of fear and doubt and worry – they want you to stop. They need you to stop.

They fear the moment you decide to do something hard. They panic when you decide to keep moving forward.

Motion stuns them.

Movement debilitates them.

Progress starves them.

See them, feel them and resist them.

Just keep moving.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Life stuff

Tagged , ,

I started over a week ago. Here’s what happened…

Posted on March 11, 2018 by | Leave a comment

A week ago, I gave myself permission to start over. My training was off. My body was revolting. My training was off. I felt physically discombobulated. I needed to hit the reset button, and did.

The highlights:

  • I did a daily day-time fast from Sunday-Wednesday, with almost no food consumption before dinner each day, and keeping to 1500-2000 total calories per day.
  • I dropped my weight from 190 lbs on Sunday AM to 181.7 labs on Saturday AM
  • My muscular and joint inflammation is completely gone.
  • I feel like I’m back on track for the last 4-5 weeks of training before the Zion 100.

Most of all, the experiment with daily fasting was a HUGE successful for me. There are many ways to do fasts – some people just go a day without food, others go as much as a week. For me, I simply wanted to reduce caloric intake, and see how well I’d do going the day without food. Dropped eight lobs in a week and proving to myself that I could train, travel, and maintain a decent training schedule was a BIG boost of my confidence and results.

Caloric intake by day, week of 3/04/18

The details…

It started with a simple, slow six-mile run on Sunday built from there. Monday was a rest day. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were running days. I don’t usually do three days back-to-back-to-back, but my schedule necessitated this.

Sunday

Sunday, 3/4/2018

After my Sunday run following a Saturday evening dinner of burgers, fries, and beer, I just wasn’t hungry in the morning, even after the run, so I skipped breakfast and lunch, and maintained relative sanity through a trip to IKEA. I staved off any food until a steak dinner on Sunday night, which I cut back and only at e about 60% of the meat portion I usually eat, finishing the day just under 1500 calories.

I felt pretty good physically and mentally. While the hunger throughout the day was noticeable, it was far from intolerable. I was pretty damn proud of myself, as that’s the longest I’d gone without food in a day. Ever.

Just goes to show how fortunate I am in my life – here I’m nearly 44 years-old, and never before in my life, not for a single day, have I gone more than 20 hours before my last consumption of food of any kind.

Monday

With the success on Sunday, I figured I should try the same again on Monday. Again, I went the whole day without any food or calories until dinner, with the exception of some coconut oil in my morning coffee, keeping to under 1500 calories for the day. Again, while I might have displayed a few signs of hanger and discontent, I managed pretty well through the day. Remember though, this was a rest day, so no real physical activity, aside from playing tag at the park with my son, which did end with me insisting the game was over and it was time to head home for dinner.

Tuesday

Tuesday, 3/6/2018

Tuesday rolled around, and I figured – “why not?” So I skipped breakfast and lunch again, but with an early afternoon run planned in my training calendar, I drank a scoop of sports drink before the run so that I had some decent short-term energy and to make the most I could from the time logging miles.

Overall, it went pretty well. I did some short intervals, and while I felt some energy drag, the run was passable. Afterwards, I drank another scoop of protein drink and ate a Quest bar just to make that I had something for my body to use for recovery. I finished the day at 2500 calories, which was still about 1000 calories below my normal daily calorie base, and at a ~1000 calorie deficit as compared to what I likely burned that day.

Wednesday

Wednesday, 3/7/2018

I had a work trip for the rest of the week, starting with a very early AM flight to Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after only four hours of sleep. I was staying in Redondo Beach, with access to a bike/running path that goes for miles and miles and miles.

After a day sitting in a workshop, I hit the running path and knocked out a decent six miles. Again, not awesome, but passable. Best of all, I went the entire day without food again, except for a bit of coconut oil in my morning coffee. This meant skipping breakfast, traveling, skipping lunch and all of the yummy treats that are served when one is attending a professional workshop (you know… cookies, fruit, and such…) I had a solid dinner by way of the local Whole Foods, and an evening yogurt snack because I was up late working, and finished the day just under 1800 calories.

Thursday

Thursday, 3/8/2018

Thursday came and I planned to go for Day 5 as the final day of my daytime fasting exercise. Lunchtime came and I was invited to join some colleagues, and did, and at a Cobb Salad. Daytime fast officially broken, but I kept the intake low, and even with a big group dinner, I finished the day under 2200 calories.

After I got back to my AirBnB after the big group dinner, I hit the running trail and knocked out a VERY solid six mile run – my “every mile faster” run that I love to do… One mile warm-up then slowing turn up the dial to make every mile faster, with a one mile cool-down. Even with only four miles of actual workout, it’s a grinder and that I ate so much compare to previous days, I felt great even thought it was my third running day in a row, and this run was at 9pm after dinner and a long day in the workshop.

Friday

Friday, 3/9/2018

Friday was a rest day, and I started the morning with breakfast – a can of sardines, whipped butter and a couple of scoops of peanut butter. When I sat down at my table for an early morning workshop session, my plate stacked with whipped butter balls, the women next to me said – “You know that’s butter, right?” I said – “Yep! I eat a high fat, low carb diet. I love butter.” She just said – “You’re from California, aren’t you?” Mixing butter with peanut butter is one of my favorite yummy treats. (Maybe I’ll have some right now…) I kept the rest of the day light until I got home just past 9pm, when I ate a bigger meal and finished the day at 3500 calories.

Saturday

This morning was a garage workout – my first lifting in more than a week – a solid 20-minute EMOM workout (every minute on the minute).

5 rounds of:

  • Deadlifts (4 x 6 reps, 1 x 3 reps)
  • Pull-Ups (5 x 8 reps)
  • Lateral bench back-and-forths (5 x 50)
  • Kettle bell swings (5 x 25)

… followed by a 0.67 sprint. I felt spent, and I felt like I was back in the flow. I kept the rest of the day reasonable, and even with dinner at the local brewpub, I avoided pizza and stuck with a poke bowl with less rice and more salad.

So… A week later after starting over, I’ve lost eight lbs, I’m back running, and feeling really good about my readiness for this next big race.

One week after starting over, I’m back on track with a full week at home to keep the momentum going.

Leave a comment

Posted in Gratitude, Race Reports & Training

Tagged , ,

Giving my Self permission to start over #gofarther

Posted on March 5, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Yesterday, I recorded a video in which I shared that I was starting over.

What does that mean, and why am I starting over?

Because I’m now six weeks away from the Zion 100 and my body is revolting, and it’s because my mind lost control of my daily habits.

The past week and a half have been a tough slog on the training front. Going back to the Wednesday before last, a speed workout ripped my legs to shreds. I was so sore that I needed an impromptu midweek rest day. Two heavy lifting sessions, including max weight deadlifts on Friday and max weight shoulder presses on Saturday, revealed their consequences.

I toiled through my long run on Sunday morning – my hamstrings felt like frozen piano cords.  By Monday, I was sensing a tendon tear near my pubic bone on my right leg. Tuesday morning, I headed out for an early AM run only to be hamstrung by my left hamstring, struggling just to get myself home while preventing it from tearing completely.

I’d label last week’s training regimen “maintenance” at best, and more likely, it was more like “slowing the pace of attrition.” Monday’s workout was medication for an anxiety-ridden day. Tuesday was the unpleasant morning run. Wednesday and Thursday were self-prescribed rest days. Friday and Saturday were garage workout days to avoid any injury that would prevent me from reaching the Zion 100 starting line.

While my training load decreased, my diet got worse. Last Saturday, I demolished a sticky bun at the Farmer’s Market – a mental breach of the dam. I was using food to cope with stress. Lena had been away for a couple of days and I was feeling the effects of a week of after-school pick-ups, daily meal prep, and evening after-dinner bedtime routines.

In the week that followed, I nibbled on dark chocolate squares, munched on leftover mac and cheese, then scarfed Girl Scout cookies while working late on Friday night. Saturday’s burger-fries-beer combo (along with demolishing the last of my son’s chicken fingers…) and the frozen yogurt covered with Heath bar crumbles were the final blows.

So Sunday morning, after seeing 190 lbs on the scale (my ideal racing weight is 182-183 lbs), I decided that I was giving myself permission to start over – an act of acceptance for where I was and an act of forgiveness for the last week and a half. With six weeks to go, I’ve got enough time to reset and push through on last training cycle before Zion.

I took my time with a slow run to introduce my legs just feel the motion of running again. After the run, I decided I would fast for the day. I’ve experimented with some intermittent fasting recently to reduce total calories – skipping breakfast and keeping to a very light lunch – but that led to overeating at dinner and still reaching 3500+ calories in the day. Not good.

Yesterday, I fasted all day through dinner – a day that included house cleaning and a trip to IKEA as a true test of my resolve. I kept dinner disciplined, consuming less that 1500 calories for the day. Throughout the day, I drank a lot of water and a couple of hot tea drinks in the afternoon to stave off the feelings of hunger.

This morning, I awoke at 4am to head down to Palo Alto for the day, and so far I’ve had only coffee with just a bit of coconut oil and water infused with apple cider vinegar and sea salt. It’s past 8am now, and my plan is to go the whole day without food until I get home this afternoon. I feel a little jittery from the coffee, so it’ll be interesting to see how this workshop goes today… 🙂

This is all in an effort to reset my mental dependence on food as medicine for stress relief, and to give my body a chance to clean out the deposits of gunk and grime that I feel like are jamming up my joints and muscles. I dropped to under 50 net carbs daily throughout most of January, and in the past, when I drop carb intake, I feel a reduction in inflammation throughout my body.

I remember during the Tahoe 200, when I was feeling at my absolute worst with aching legs, I decided that I would not let my body rule me – that I would be in control – that I would decide how to respond to my situation. This week, I’m choosing this again. This is a choice to restore to myself to a place where my mind rules over my body. (Check out “When it starts to hurt, pick up the pace.”).

So I’m starting over this week. Maybe today, this choice will prove too difficult and I’ll decide to eat, or later this week I’ll end up injuring myself on a training run. If I do, I’ll give myself to start over again.

Leave a comment

Posted in Life stuff, Race Reports & Training

Tagged , ,

Tahoe 200: Day 3 Heavenly to Brockway Summit #Tahoe200 #RunningforRefugees

Posted on September 25, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Leaving Heavenly: Rise and Shine

It was slow going getting up and running, then I figured out a plan. I grabbed my gear and headed downstairs to the bathroom where there was bench and lots of light to spread out all the contents from my drop bag. This made preparing for the day ahead much easier. I filled up my nutrition, cleaned my feet, donned clean socks, stretched and rolled my glutes and hamstrings with a tennis ball, and got myself into a ready mental state.

A few other runners were down there, and I found them to be loud and annoying. Just upstairs were the sleeping quarters and the people down here didn’t seem to care. That really bothered me. I tried to tune it out and just focused on getting ready. How much did it bother me? Enough that I’m taking the time to write about here…

Once I had myself together, I headed back outside to the food station for eggs and bacon.  I made another Starbucks Via coffee and overall I was feeling optimistic about starting off for Day 3. It was creeping closer to 3:30am, so my “ready time” was longer than I wanted given that I got up at 2:06am. I made a few final adjustments to my my gear and myself and I headed out.

I asked the for directions from the volunteers checking runners in and out – “Just head back where you came from and go right.”  I walked about a 1/5 mile back to the ski lift and couldn’t figure out where or how to go right. That made no sense – right was a road into town.

I thought a bit, and reluctantly headed back to the aid station to ask again – “Sorry guys, it’s probably me, but I don’t see where to go right.”

Another volunteer re-explained it to me – I needed to head to the ski lift and go up the hill a bit from where you came in, THEN hang a right.

Aha! Now I had it. It was closer to 3:45am by now when I restarted my Garmin for the next segment, but I was rested and happy to relieve the anxiety of knowing where to go.

Heavenly to Spooner Summit: The First Early Morning

This 20-mile stretch was the longest of the course without any reliable water – no streams or waterfalls to refill. The course on the west and north side of the lake was much different in this respect. I’d heard other runners talking about knocking out this stretch at night or in the early morning because much of the trail was exposed. The good news is that on the other side of the stretch, Sean, my pacer, would be waiting for me to take me to Tunnel Creek, then I’d “only” have the Powerline climb to tackle before hitting the Brockway Summit aid station tonight for more sleep.  It was 4:00am and I was already thinking about the end of the day.

I don’t remember much from this stretch of the course, other than enjoying a couple of hours of night running and breaking the early hours into smaller segments –  false dawn around 5:30, sunrise about an hour later, then I would be about three hours away from the next aid station at Spooner Summit. Funny how hours seem short and fast when you frame them that way…

But along the way, I got into a bad habit of checking my Garmin too often. I’d check and see something like 10.27 miles, then go on for a what I thought was a good distance – a half mile or more – then look back at my Garmin to see 10.35 miles. It was tough slogging.

I remember the final push up to the top of Spooner Summit and how the course was rocky and annoying. I stopped to snap a few pictures at the peak, ate a bit, then really just wanted to keep moving.

The final miles down to the aid station seemed to take forever. This was a theme all along the course – it seemed like the last couple of miles into every aid station was marred with a lot of turns, switchbacks or some other distinguish trait that made it seem difficult to reach the next oasis. Fortunately, my Garmin mileage was off so while I thought I had more than a mile to the aid station, I spotted it at the bottom of the hill. Woohoo!!

Spooner Summit AID STATION: STarting to figure out my aid station plans

I arrived to the aid station ahead of Lena and Sean, mostly because I was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Despite my grousing and slogging, I was able to keep up with my 84-hour race plan schedule. This is partly because of some buffer time I built into the schedule, and partly because I feel like I had a natural pace that correlated well with the race plan.

I started to get smarter about how to approach aid stations. Knowing I had some time before Lena and Sean would arrive, I came up with plan:

First make sure I got my feet checked out and take care of any blisters. Then eat a good breakfast, then refuel my water and nutrition for the next segment. When I arrived to the aid station, I overheard here that the food tent volunteers had just run an overnight shift and were planning to be there until 9pm that night. Wow.

Rob, a Coast Guard veteran, was the medical volunteer. He was just wrapping up – Haha – “wrapping.” Get it? ???? with another runner so I ordered food and pulled off my socks for Rob to check me out. We found a blister on the underside of my foot that we taped up and I was good to go.

Lena and Sean arrived just as Rob finished the patchwork on my feet and they set up a station for me. Nina, Paul, Tbone and Benjamin were also there and it was really nice to see everyone together in one place. We snapped a few pictures and double-checked that I had plenty of water and fuel for the next stretch. There was a campground around midway with a water pump, but it was reported broken a few days ago, and while we were told at the pre-race briefing that it would be fixed, I didn’t want to take any chances.

Spooner Summit to Tunnel Creek (mile 123-140): “You said 10 minutes if you slept…”

Sean was awesome. We got going and into a rhythm pretty quickly – jogging the downhills and flat sections, even if they were only a few strides, just to get in to that habit. Most of the first six miles were a long slow climb from 7200’ to 8900’ feet, and at the top of the climb, I was staring to feel pretty tired.

Me: “I need about ten minutes.”

Sean: “Are you taking a nap?”

Me: “Maybe, but not more than ten minutes.”

I found a rock, laid down and watched the clouds go by. One of them looked like a crab that I watched crawl across the sky. I closed my eyes trying to sleep, but couldn’t get into a relaxed state. I felt like I might have dozed off, then when I opened my eyes again, the crab hadn’t moved far from it’s last position.  Then I heard Sean say – “Okay, let’s go.”

I looked at my Garmin.

Me: “It’s only been five minutes. I said ten.”

Sean: “You said ten if you slept. You’re not sleeping, so let’s go.”

I just looked at him for a moment. He was serious, and he was right. Five minutes was enough.

Sean: “We have some downhill here, so let’s just get moving and see how it goes.”

Off we went, and about 1/4 mile into the downhill, I could feel my quads aching and the bottoms of my feet were sore. I’d really had enough of that and I remembered what I’d heard Eric Bynes share on the Trailrunner Nation Podcast – “When it starts to hurt, push harder.”

Me: “Let’s pick up the pace to see what happens.”

We did, and something spectacular happened – we ran faster! Over the next three miles in a few spots, we pushed down under 8:00/min miles, running miles at 12:37, 12:34 and 14:28. This might not seem fast, but when you’ve been slogging uphill at a 19:00-min miles, 12:37 was outright flying.

We passed a few runners that had gone by while I was resting then hit one stretch where we both screamed – “Yahooooo!” It was awesome. I didn’t care if I was unnecessarily spending energy. It was fun and freeing to let release the hounds for a change.

We slowed up when we saw a sign for the campground, finding it about 1/4 mile down the trail. We took another break and Sean found the well. Water! Yes! I think we would have been fine, but it was a treat to have fresh, COLD water to drink.

We regrouped and headed out again. Mile after mile, we tracked past Marlette Lake and started another climb along a ridge towards Herlan Peak. Along this stretch, we stopped to look back at the lake.

Sean said, “Take a look at where you started  and where you are now.”

Looking across the lake, I could make out where Homewood was, and thought about the miles along the Rubicon Trail, pushing to Sierra-at-Tahoe, managing my way to Heavenly yesterday, then pushing farther and farther here on Day 3. It was overwhelming and I broke down and cried. I was so proud of myself and what I’d accomplished. Finishing the race seemed secondary at the moment to knowing that I’d already gone well beyond any reasonable expectation I could have made of myself.

We powered on and over Herlan Peak and then down to the Flume Trail.

Me: “I have a feeling I know why they call it ‘Flume Trail.’”

It was more than three miles of STEEP descent along a sandy road. Unpleasant. Very unpleasant.  I got grouching again. We mostly walked, occasionally trying to run for spurts. It hurt my knees to run and my quads felt pretty shot.

We were making solid time on a tough stretch, and while I was still ahead on pace for 84 hours, I became resigned that I would need a long rest tonight, not to mention the next stretch with the Powerline Climb standing between me and Brockway Summit to rest for the night. I told Sean that I didn’t care about the 84 hours, that instead, I’d rather get some well-needed rest tonight, have a good day tomorrow and come in past 84 hours than try to slog through the miles and be miserable all day on short sleep.

To make conversation, I started making plans for the aid station – food, feet, sunscreen and rest. I decided I’d stay an hour or longer if needed to recoup and recharge before plodding forward up Powerline.

Day 3 had easily become the toughest day. While Day 1 was the longest in distance and time, I had fresh legs and mind. Now I was working on five hours of sleep over three days and had covered 140+ miles so far. The notion of tackling Powerline was intimidating.  It’s in a perfect spot to mess with your psyche.

We finally worked down to Tunnel Creek where Lena was waiting with chairs and supplies. So, so, so good to see her!

Knocking out a pedicure at mile 140, courtesy of Eric, while Marinka helped me figure out the next section of the course including the dreaded Powerline climb.

I plopped down then Marinka and Eric become my personal race concierges. Marinka checked me in and made sure Sean and I had everything we needed after a rough 17-mile stretch. Eric was doubling as medical and chef, cooking up the world’s best grilled ham and cheese for me then tending to the blisters on each of the toes on my right oot. Turns out they’re both from Davis! Marinka remembered me from The Ridge 60k from back in August. We talked a while and hung out with them.  just sat to rest and I felt myself stiffening up a bit. After a while, I got motivated, organized my nutrition, said goodbyes, and off I went to tackle Powerline.

Tunnel Creek (mile 140) to Brockway Summit (mile 155): The Powerline Climb & starting the celebration

The first three miles ran along the bike path in Incline Village. I did a walk-run strategy here to pick up time on the flat miles. I’d like to say the flat miles were easy miles, but the asphalt was a killer on my feet and knees. I’d pick a tree or sign up ahead, run to it, then walk to the next tree or market, then pick another spot and run to it, which enabled me to cover the first four miles of this stretch in just under an hour. Then the course turned into a neighborhood and it meandered about until hitting the bottom of Powerline.

From the bottom of Powerline.

I hooked up with two other runners and we started off as a group up the hill. About a third of the way up, I decided to take break and they went on ahead. I looked up and counted seven poles protruding from the ground up the hill and started to pick off them off one at a time using a counting strategy – I’d count 100 steps at a time, then stop for a moment, then another 100. As I reached each pole, I stopped for a minute and about halfway up, I stopped to sit down and eat. I was in no rush to expend myself on this climb, and I budgeted extra time in this stretch, plus had the benefit of the previous flat miles.

Once I got going, I was sure I’d get to the top. I don’t know why I ever thought I wouldn’t, but the placement of this climb in the course was ideal to psyche myself out.  At the top, I looked back down and snapped a picture.

At the top, I took a break, talked to the videographer up there with a drone and ate some Peanut M&Ms as a reward for polishing off Powerline. I was glad to have more than a third of the 15 miles in this segment done. The sun was now setting and the day was transitioning to evening.

This is where I started to feel a sense of celebration and victory – that I was going to get this race done. I felt a lift in my spirits now that Powerline was behind and I had fewer than ten miles to Brockway for rest before starting Day 4.

The course took a nice gentle downslope for the next two miles, then apparently there was a two mile climb of about 800’ from mile seven to mile nine that I don’t remember. I think I remember some switchbacks on the course, and as I crept closer to Brockway, I was getting tired. Even though the trail was clearly marked without any deviations, I had a paranoia that I was going in the wrong direction. I waited for a runner behind me to catch up, asking him if this was the right way to Brockway.

“Yeah. There’s only one way to go here.”

The Brockway Aid Station, a.k.a “BrockwayBnB” (mile 155)

At Brockway, I was greeted by several volunteers, all ready to help. This time, I had a plan:

  1. Grab my drop bag
  2. Get a good dinner ordered
  3. Check out and clean up my feet
  4. Fill up my backpack and nutrition right away so that I could just grab my gear and go in the “morning.”
  5. Sleep

Remembering how good it tasted at Tunnel Creek a few hours earlier, I ordered a grilled ham and cheese. Sean and another fellow helped me remove my gear and get settled. Liz came over and asked me if I was planning to sleep because she was “taking reservations for beds.” Not only was she reserving a sleeping spot, but asked me how long I planned to sleep so that she could wake me up.

I asked, “How long am I allowed to sleep?”

“How long are you planning to sleep?”

“Not sure, but I thought I read there was a five-hour limit on sleep stations.”

“We’ve never had to enforce that.”

Even after reaching Brockway way ahead of schedule – it was about 9:30 when I got there and I planned to be there at 11pm – I still was thinking that the 84-hour goal was well out of reach. I expected to sleep for at least 4-5 hours and my schedule had me getting to Tahoe City by 9am tomorrow. It just didn’t seem possible. I felt totally comfortable with this decision and mindset, focusing on getting rest and having a good day tomorrow.

I got my grilled ham and cheese, plus a bonus slice of pizza. I gobbled my food and found Liz to show me to the sleeping tent. I told Liz that I wanted to sleep until 3:30am, so she set my wake up call. I figured about four hours would be a solid amount of rest and still get me up and out of the aid station well before dawn.

After the indoor sleeping quarters at Sierra-at-Tahoe and Heavenly, I was a little worried about the outdoor tents here. They were tents, but more like coverings with flaps extending down to the ground. The camping beds were laid right on the ground – this was much more like outdoor camping. We set my backpack and poles outside of the tent and I found my spot. . It was drafty with the wind blowing into the shelter below the side flaps, but I was tired enough that I figured I’d find a way to sleep.

Once I settled down under the wool blanket, I managed to get reasonably comfortable and fell asleep. Day 3 was in the books.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

“When it starts to hurt, pick up the pace.” #Tahoe200 #GoFarther

Posted on September 14, 2017 by | Leave a comment

I’m starting a series of open ‘Thank You’ letters to people that helped me finish the Tahoe 200 Endurance Run. These letters will be published in no particular order – just as people come to mind as I’m reviewing my race experience.

This first ‘Thank You’ letter goes to Eric Byrnes and Linsey Corbin.

Eric is an MLB Network Analyst, @diamond2rough, UCLA HOF, 10 X Ironman Triathlete, Western States 100 Silver Belt Buckler #LiveYourDash

Linsey is a Professional Triathlete. Ironman Champion. 70.3 Champion.

—-

Dear Eric & Linsey – I’m writing to say ‘thank you’ for some very valuable advice that Eric shared on the TrailRunner Podcast episode – “Eric Byrnes Hits a Home Run in Ultras”

I listened to Eric’s interview the day before the Tahoe 200, and he shared advice he received from Linsey at a triathlon camp –

“When it starts to hurt, pick up the pace.”

I was on the Tahoe 200 course, around mile 130 on Day 3. My quads were burning and my feet were throbbing. I’d just finished a long climb and was really starting to feel the distance I’d covered over the past two and a half days. I sat for a break and hit a low point, thinking about the 70+ miles still ahead.

I had targeted an 84-hour time for the 205.5 miles, and given where I was and how I felt, I was resigned to scrapping the 84-hour target and just getting to the finish line.

But… I was tired of being tired, and tired of my legs and body screaming at me. The noise inside my head was intolerable.

Sean and me after getting from the Spooner Summit (mile 123) to Tunnel Creek Aid Station (mile 140).

As we began jogging (er… ambling) a descent , I remembered the advice Eric shared, and I said to Sean, my pacer – “Let’s pick it up and see what happens.”

We did for the next mile or two, and it hurt. It really f*cking hurt.

But that spurt put my mind in control for the rest of the race.

I kept chanting to body – “You’re not in charge – I’m in charge. You’re not in charge – I’m in charge. You’re not in charge – I’m in charge.”

Even better, the next day after 3 hours of sleep at Brockway Summit. I headed out at 2:30am for a 20-mile stretch down to Tahoe City. I starting flying (all relative, of course…) down the mountain, covering the 20 miles in 5.5 hours, almost beating my crew to the Tahoe City aid station.

On the next stretch from Tahoe City to Stephen Jones – another 20 miles included a long climb and descent – again I picked up the pace on the downhills, hitting 7:00-8:00-minute miles.  It was pure flow.

In the last four miles of the race, thunderstorms were cracking overhead and I sped down the mountain at Homewood, again running 8:00 min/miles after covering more than 200 miles already, to get to the finish.

My 4th day out there was my strongest of the race, covering 50+ miles in 15 hours and beating my personal target of 84 hours by TWO HOURS – a finishing time of 82:00:16, good for 36th overall in my first 200. (I’ve never even done a 100 before and I registered up for the race six weeks ago…)

I hit the wall and broke through it.

Eric and Linsey – Thank you for being who you are, and sharing what you’ve learned with everyone else.

-Scott Sambucci

P.S. Eric – You totally need to do a 200. It’s like a 4-day dream. I still can’t believe everything I went through, overcame and conquered.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Gratitude, Race Reports & Training

Tagged , , , , ,

5 Lessons Learned from last night’s Portland Timbers match

Posted on July 6, 2017 by | Leave a comment

My sister scored tickets to last night’s the Portland Timbers match. Despite what I knew would be a fun and unique sporting experience, I was reluctant to go.

After short sleep because of July 4th fireworks Tuesday night and an early client call on Wednesday AM, I had a hilly 8-10 mile training run planned for the afternoon. Then I had to traverse across town to pick up my son from Summer Camp, drive him home, then head back downtown for the game. It all felt like a lot of friction.

Wow. I’m glad I said “yes.” After a huge effort, they finished with a 2-2 draw in one of the most exciting soccer matches I’ve ever watched.

I’m also glad I said “yes” because I not only enjoyed one helluva soccer match, but I learned from the experience watching a team relentless in their pursuit of a win when they had every reason to quit, or not even show up.

Here are my top five (5) lessons from last night’s Portland Timbers match:

1 – Never, ever mail it in, even when you have every reason to. 

Their team captain has been out for weeks and at least four other players are either slowed or are completely out because of injury.

Three players are pulling double duty, playing both for the Timbers and for their national soccers squads, representing the United States, Jamaica and Costa Rica.

The team just returned from a tough road game on Saturday where they drew against Kansas City – a team tied for first place in the Western Conference. Last night, the Timbers faced the Chicago Fire, the first-place team in the Eastern Conference and team that has gone unbeaten in its last ten matches.

After last night’s game, they have a two-week break before their next match.

They had every reason to give a half-ass effort and get to the break to rest and heal.

But they didn’t.

2 – Shit happens. Deal with it.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the 24’ on a penalty kick, they gave up a fluke goal from a crossing pass that skipped past the keeper – a goal that certainly will not make any highlight reels. But a goal is a goal and the match was tied.

In the second half, the Fire took a 2-1 lead on a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar and down across the goal line. The ball never even hit the back of the net.

3 – Keep pressing. 

With only 30 minutes to go before a two-week break and every excuse to tell themselves why they should lose the game, the Timbers never stopped pressing.

Check out the match stats: 7 offsides, 8 corner kicks, 24 shots, 9 shots on goal, 60% possession time.

When they responded with an equalizing goal in the 70th minute, I fully expected them to lay back and play for the draw – get the point and get to the break. Instead, they seemed to press even harder, attacking and counterattacking at every chance.

4 – Sometimes not losing feels as good as winning. 

Given the situation and obstacles in front of you, a non-negative outcome is completely acceptable sometimes – to play with intensity and enthusiasm for the full 90+ minutes.

To put forth a zealous for the win against all of the reasons to accept losing.

To be proud of your effort against whatever is causing resistance.

5 – Find your crowd.

We sat in the Timbers Army section, where fans stand and chant the ENTIRE game.

You could feel the energy pouring onto the field and watch the players respond. As the fast-paced match picked up speed in the second half, each time the players seemed to lose a little steam and escape a quick counterattack, they quickly recovered and pushed forward.

The players fed off of the crowd, and the crowd fed off of the players. 21,000 fans cheering their voice hoarse to feed the players energy past exhaustion to go for the win. The players responded, and in fact, scored a go-ahead goal in extra time that was waived off because of an off-sides call.

Thank you Portland Timbers (and Tbone!).

Expect me to be at Providence Stadium on July 19th…

Leave a comment

Posted in Life stuff

Tagged , ,

If I died today, would I be okay with that? #GoFarther

Posted on April 24, 2017 by | Leave a comment

I think so. Where I am today versus last year and every year over the past ten years ago, is significant.

One year ago… I was now in my first month reliant on SalesQualia for a living – no more stipends from Blend or teaching paychecks from Hult.

Two years ago… I was just starting my transition plan from Blend to SalesQualia, working with a business coach every week to find my path and build my plan to leave the last job I’d ever have.

Three years ago… I was six months into my work with Blend, fighting depression.

Four years ago… I was thinking about how I could leave CoreLogic after spending a year there collecting a generous paycheck for doing not much of anything.

Five years ago… Benjamin was only two months old. We were six weeks out of the NICU. I was finishing my last week at Altos Research after five years of building the company from its earliest days.

Six years ago… I was firmly ensconced with training for Ironman #2 while in the middle of a potential acquisition of Altos that fell through the floor because I told the acquiring CEO the truth about what he could expect from me.

Seven years ago... I was two months away from Ironman #1 and thinking that I had time in my life to do pretty much anything I wanted.

Eight years ago… Lena was traveling to Africa for months on end, living in huts shared with cows and sleeping under mosquito nets.

Nine years ago… We were living in Oakland with Lena commuting to Davis via Amtrak 4-5 days a week.

Ten years ago this week… I started the path I’m on now – exiting my failed consulting company, deciding that 230 pounds was unacceptable and placing Life ahead of selfishness.

Today, Lena is a pilot and a PhD. Benjamin is healthy. My company is growing every day. I’ve knocked out three Ironmans and an Uberman. I wake up every day nearly 50 pounds lighter while physically, mentally and emotionally stronger.

To go from worrying about the next poker night to pondering if I’d be okay with dying today. That’s pretty good.

** This post was inspired by Tim Ferriss’s recent podcast with Cheryl Strayed.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Life stuff

Tagged , ,

Beneath the sadness is joy

Posted on March 16, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Diana is 88. We met while out for a walk Sunday night after a confluence of random decisions that day.

After a long day driving to Tahoe and back for a ski day, our we had an early dinner, then Benjamin and I headed to the park to take advantage of the longer day. It’s been very wet weather this winter and mosquitos were rapid. After Lena joined us at the park, we fled the blood-sucking insects to walk the neighborhood. She wanted to take pictures of flowers to paint, and there was one tree in particular she wanted to photograph on Jerome Street.

Completing the short walking loop, we came back around towards our house when I spotted Diana across the street. I told Benjamin – “Let’s cross here…” I’m not sure exactly why. I just felt like it would be nice to say hello to her. I’ve seen here out from time and time, and I’ve seen how old people love to be around kids – just seeing them can bring them joy. Little did I know how important this would be for her that night.

As we approached, I said hello and she replied with a soft “Hi there…,” her voice crackling. I asked her if everything was okay.

She stopped, looked at me and said, “Well… no… I just got some bad news from Minnesota.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that. Would you like to talk about it?”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to bother you with it.”

“It’s no bother. We’re just out for a walk. My name is Scott, by the way.”

“Nice to you meet you, Scott. I’m Diana.”

Diana was sad because her last niece had just passed away, and had just received the news. Then she said that this was really hard on her because her husband just died three weeks ago and she was “just getting over that.”

As we talked, she shared more about her story – they were a military family, that her daughter had recently had a stroke and that Sunday was her birthday. As we wound down our conversation with Diana, Lena and I each gave Diana a hug. We showed her where we lived. Along the way, she stopped to tell us – “I can’t believe that you would stop and ask this little old woman what the trouble was. I just can’t express to you how much appreciate that.”

On Monday, Benjamin and I bought flowers for her. Benjamin drew a picture of a one big heart with a bunch of little hearts inside. (He even paused the iPad to take on this task.) I walked over to Diana’s house, flowers and picture in hand, and knocked on the door. No answer. I rang the doorbell. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I was worried. I thought something might have happened to her, but with nothing to do, I left the flowers and picture on her doorstep.

Tuesday evening, I walked over again. The flowers were gone, relieving my immediate worry. I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I rang the doorbell. No answer. I could hear the TV on inside, and knocked one more time. Diana opened the door and was startled to see me.

“Were you knocking?”

“I did, and I was just about leave. Sorry to startle you so much.”

She had been in her backyard cleaning up some flowers and just happened to be coming out front for something.

It took her a moment to place who I was. “I’m Scott. We met the other night when you were out for a walk. I thought I’d come by to check on you to make sure everything was okay.”

“Oh yes. Thank you. I’m doing much better.”

We chatted a while and agreed that we’d all go to lunch or dinner sometime soon. “I’m heading out of town for a couple of days and my wife’s mother is coming to visit. Maybe I’ll have them come by to visit over the next day or two.”

“Thank you for stopping to talk to me the other night. I can’t tell you how much appreciate what you kids did for me.”

Today, Lena told me that Diana stopped by our house – “I talked to a very nice young man yesterday, and he said that I should come over and check on you guys while he was away.” Again she said, this time to Lena, “I can’t tell you how much appreciate what you kids did for me.”

Beneath her sadness, lay joy and happiness. It just needed to be revealed for the world to see and for her to feel it.

I remember visiting my great-grandmother when I was eight or nine years old. Bedridden, she would say – “I wish the Good Lord would just take me. I don’t why I’m still here.” Even at eight or nine, I understood. She had outlived several of her kids, and her husband had died decades ago. Lena’s grandmother lived alone in Ukraine, and even with her son and his family living nearby, there had to be long stretches of loneliness and sadness before she passed away – no one to help her share and remove that sadness to expose the joy that lay beneath. I saw her joy during our visit there ten years ago. Lena and I spent the day and the night listening to stories about her children and about her husband. She sang songs from her childhood for us. She told us old village jokes. We just needed be there to help her find her joy.

Maybe there are no accidents. Maybe the universe conspired to have us meet Diana.  Or maybe there’s just a lot sadness around us every day – we just need to stop to look and ask.

How much sadness are we carrying around within ourselves – caustic feelings of self-doubt, that we’re not worthy or that we’re not good enough? How often do we repress our Self from looking for help, from asking for a bent ear to listen to our struggles, strains and pains? How often do we suppress our own experience of happiness and joy?

How much are we willing to share of ourselves, to help other cope with whatever sadness they are feeling in this moment, in this day, in their life, to allow ourselves to feel this joy? We know it’s there. We suppress it. We ignore it. We let it sit there like a disease on our soul.

What if we could help each share our sadness, to shake it into the air and let it disperse in the wind so that all that’s left is joy and happiness?

Underneath sadness is effusive joy that we just need to uncover, to let the joy laying dormant, repressed by a blanket of sadness, out into the world.  I saw this in Diana’s expression of gratitude and joy that someone would listen to her. I’ve felt it myself in the joy I received by helping her, by caring for a complete stranger that’s now become a friend.

It’s okay to be sad. Now let it out, and help others do the same, because underneath is the joy we all deserve to experience.

* Diana is not her real name. I’ve changed it her to protect her privacy.

Leave a comment

Posted in Life stuff

Tagged , ,