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Saturday night's forecasted high for Sunday was 97 degrees! I made sure to set my alarm to wake up early enough to get a head start on the heat for Sunday's long run. I set out at 6:45am and the sun was just peeking above the treetops.
Unlike most training runs, I had no route planned out this time. My only plan was to run for 4-5 hours at a slow pace and end up close enough to home that Amanda wouldn't get too mad at having to come pick me up once I eventually bonked! Although my reason for going slow was to avoid bonking. :)
It was a comfortable 68 degrees when I set foot out the door and the sun was low enough that I didn't need my sunglasses for almost the entire first hour on the roads. I basically headed south for a while, then headed west for a while. I made sure to drink and eat plenty and to keep my level of effort down at a manageable level. To do this I had to walk up the steeper uphill sections to ensure my heart rate didn't go too high.
The first two hours went by like a breeze and even after three hours I was feeling pretty good. By then, however, I could feel the fatigue so I reminded myself to eat and drink and gave myself a couple extra walking breaks. At four hours I was still feeling OK except that my stomach was full and it was hard to keep drinking enough water. Finally after 4:30 I called Amanda for a ride home since I was still an hour away by foot, and she picked me up after 4:43 worth of running (and walking) that covered 21.7 miles.
I lost about 6 lbs during the run, drank 2.5 L of water, and ate about 650 calories. I wonder if I could've (or should've) eaten more? I definitely could've drank more considering my weight loss but my body seemed to be running low on calories more than anything else. Nevertheless, it was very effective training and I enjoyed the entire run!
When we got home Amanda immediately took off to pick up some Subway subs while I filled the bathtub with cold water and epsom salt to soak my sore legs. Actually they didn't feel too bad but I wanted to stave off any further soreness. Plus, I really needed to cool off because the temperature had soared to a humid 88 degrees! Good thing I started early.
At Amanda's suggestion, I locked our foster puppy Sue in the bathroom with me so that I could keep on eye on him. No sooner had I turned on the shower when I heard a KLUNK and turned to see Sue trying to climb out of the tub! He got soaked by the shower, but this didn't deter him. Even with a tub full of water he kept jumping in to join me but then hopping right back out to avoid the cold water! What a dufus. Luckily for Sue, he got adopted later that day!
Wednesday evening was hot and humid for our weekly softball game. I captain one of the two co-ed rec teams at my company and this we played our arch rivals, a team with which we had split our two season meetings. The game was sluggish as neither offense could really get going in the calm heat of the evening - everyone seemed almost sleepy!
In the top of the 7th (and final) inning we were down by a run. We managed to get runners on 2nd and 3rd; with two outs and two strikes, our pitcher hit a soft liner that landed right on the chalk of the left field line - fair ball! Two runs scored, and then we fielded a scoreless bottom half of the inning to get a one-run victory.
Sound familar? Perhaps you watched the MLB All-Star game this week - the exact same scenario took place! The AL was down by a run in the top of the 9th with runners on 2nd and 3rd; with two outs and two strikes the batter hit a 2-RBI triple. Pretty cool.
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The next day I convinced Amanda to join me and the dogs on a run. There's an old scout camp nearby with river access and lots of trails. I drove 1.5 miles to the entrance where I stashed the car, then jogged along the trails and exited out the "back door" of the camp which is just half a mile from home.
I made this run a very tough one along 2.5 miles of sand and dirt. The dirt part was OK because it was usually shaded by the forest, but the sandy sections of trail were exposed in a power line right-of-way. The sun had baked the sand all day long and now the sand was radiating that heat back onto me as I charged up the steep hills. Boy did I get hot!
I ran back home where Amanda was waiting for me with the dogs, all leashed up and ready to go. Haven ran with me while Beacon had sled-dog duties with Amanda, pulling her up the first hill. Once on the trail and away from the road, we let the dogs off leash and followed behind them. Amanda wanted to walk but I kept pushing her to jog, saying things like "Run the downhills; the gravity is free energy!" and "It's just short uphill; blast up to the top and it'll be over sooner!" She bravely trusted my coaching and ran much of the ~2 miles to the river.
By the time we reached the river, Haven and Beacon were "dog" tired and very hot. They waded in the cool water and even tried to lie down in the shallows, so we all just stood there and recovered some energy. Soon the deer flies found us so onward we hiked up a very large and steep hill. Another half mile of running/walking brought us to the car with a very welcome air conditioner! We drove home with the A/C at full blast and a car full of twelve sore, worn-out legs!
Driving home from work Tuesday (11 July) there were two things I knew: 1) I needed to go for a run, and 2) it was raining pretty hard. It shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me that I was looking forward to running in the rain!
There are several things that can make running fun aside from the act of running itself. Running in scenic locations, running with friends, running in crazy weather, and running with dogs... ah yes, dogs. Looks like Haven and Beacon are coming with me this time!
Once home I quickly changed and leashed up both dogs, using a single leash attached to a double-lead, sorta like a two-dog dog sled. "Mush, you huskies!" And mush they did, hauling me up the large hill at the start of my 3.4 mile route. We had stepped outside into a downpour that lasted for the first 1.5 miles before letting up to "just" a steady rain.
We had a blast and even ran at a quick pace. I was kinda jealous of the dogs' paws - they're so well designed for running! They stepped through puddles with ease no matter how deep; I, however, splashed quite messily (albeit quite happily) with each step. As I ran through some of the dirt road's brown water, a phrase came to mind:
"When the world is puddle-wonderful"
It's from a poem by E. E. Cummings called "In Just-" that I first read in high school. A good way to summarize that Tuesday.
My alarm clock went off at 5:00am Saturday morning to ensure that I would have plenty of time to drive up north. Striders, a local running store, was hosting a casual training run on the very course where their North Country Trail Run will take place this September. Since I'm planning to compete in that race, I thought I would take Striders up on their offer to join them for a run.
It was a beautiful morning to go for a 2.5 hour drive. A bright red sun was just peeking above the treeline as the nearly empty highway allowed me to enjoy the scenery. Low areas of the countryside were delicately covered by an airy blanket of fog. I kept wishing I had brought a camera but it's probably better that I didn't because somebody had to drive!
The trails are located roughly halfway between Manistee and Cadillac within the Manistee National Forest at a trail system called Big M. All of the signs there describe it as a network of cross-country ski trails, but with a forecasted high temperature of 80 degrees these trails were going to see other uses today.
14 runners of varying ability showed up by 8:30am ready to go. Steve (co-owner of Striders with his wife, Deb) briefed us on the trail markings so that we wouldn't get lost and then we were off! Quickly two packs formed: the fast runners and the slow runners. I fell in line with the slow folks, running about a 10-minute pace with five others.
I ran at the end of the line - ahead of me were Deb (Steve's wife), Mary, Don, and another woman named Deb; the four of them were all friends. Just ahead of the five of us was Paul, a 65-year-old guy with 25 years of ultrarunning under his belt! In fact, the four friends had 10-15 years of ultrarunning experience apiece. Then there's me, training for what would be hopefully my first ultra on these trails.
We all talked quite a bit for the first several miles until the first aid station at mile 8, where Steve & Deb had set out some water and Gatorade. We all refilled and then I continued on, deciding not to wait for the foursome to finish "taking care of business" in the woods. I remained at their pace, but now a few hundred yards ahead on the trails with Paul a bit behind the four.
Around mile 10 I stopped to dump some trail debris out of my shoes and the talkative foursome passed me by. A couple miles later I developed a sharp cramp on my left side so I took a few minutes to walk it off, during which time Paul passed me. Feeling better I started up again, but it wouldn't last.
Within just a few minutes I was feeling exhausted and light-headed. I even dropped my water bottle - it just fell out of my hand as if I were falling asleep on my feet! Clearly I was bonking, which was very surprising because 13 miles was WAAAY too soon for me to be bonking at that pace. In fact, I had already drank over 1.5 bottles of water - during my training runs at home I'd never been able to consume more than one bottle on a 14.4 mile run.
I downed the rest of my water - 2.5 bottles thus far - and tried to move on but couldn't maintain a running stride. My blood pressure must've been low, too, because I would nearly faint if I stood up from a squat and my ears were ringing. Yet the entire time, I was never upset. Quite the contrary, I was enjoying myself despite having to walk.
One good reason for having fun is that the trails are just spectacular! The entire route winds through deep forest - mostly hardwoods and occasionally some pines. The trees kept most of the bright sun at bay, but the views were still great because the ground cover was short. Ferns dominated the ground and prevented almost anything other than trees to grow, so I could see quite far through the woods. It reminded me of the Return of the Jedi when the speeder bikes were dashing through the forest of Endor.
Finally I reached the 15 mile mark with an aid station. I drank a full bottle of water at once, and decided to take the short 1 mile track back to the start to complete my 16 mile run. I had thought about running the 25 or 20 mile routes but in my current condition there was no point in running farther. While is was disappointing (and confusing) to have bonked so early, I was thrilled at being able to down 3+ bottles of water without feeling sick; in the past I would've been lucky to finish off even one!
I was the fourth runner back to the parking lot, where the three others had also run just 16 miles. Soon two runners appeared who had just finished the 25 mile course in a very fast time. Then the friendly foursome showed up, having run 20 miles. Eventually the remaining runners trickled in, the rest all running 25 miles. We all sat around for a while eating and drinking, recovering and of course, talking.
One of the runners there is quite an accomplished ultrarunner - Jeff Christian has completed five 100-milers and even won one of them in a time of less than 18 hours. This guy is also planning to run a 220 mile route across Michigan later this summer!
All good things must end, and it was time to head home. It was a great time to reflect upon the day - it's amazing just how FUN running can be when you're out running beautiful trails and meeting new people. The weather was perfect, too. I reminded myself to try and find other trails to "explore" via running. Spending time in that part of Michigan made me wish we had a cottage up there. I wonder what it would take for Amanda and I to make it work?...
Halfway home I stopped in Big Rapids to pick up some Jimmy Johns subs for dinner for myself and Amanda. She had spent most the day at Petsmart with Vicky, working an adoption event for Vicky's Pet Connection. We helped clean up and haul some supplies over to Vicky's, then headed home to finally eat our dinner. Ahhhh, food!
Ryan has to tell us his new jokes before we get started.
A few months ago my dad and I discussed going on a bike ride sometime this summer. We used to go for 12-20 mile rides on occasion back when I lived in Ann Arbor during college, but haven't ridden together since then. We decided to go for a ride again this year on 4th of July.
While my dad focused on getting back into shape, I scouted out a route that would take us from my house to my grandma's (dad's mom) about 21 miles away. Similar to the rides of my college days, I planned to stick to dirt roads to avoid traffic and spend more time in the countryside. Then Dad called a few days later to boast about his first training ride that totally wore him out... he had gone just 12 miles!
I decided to schedule our ride such that we would stop after the first 13 hilly miles in a small town called Smyrna. There we could recharge at the ice cream shop and give Dad a rest. Soon my brothers, Eric and Ryan, heard of our little expedition and decided to join in. When Eric reclaimed his mountain bike from my parents' house, Dad suddenly found himself without a ride! It turned out to be a perfect excuse to buy a bike, getting a great deal on a quality hybrid from the classifieds.
Soon July 4th was upon us and by now my cousins Gabe and Adrienne, plus Adrienne's friend Rean, were planning to ride out to meet us near Smyrna (they live near Grandma). My family arrived at my house right on schedule and we proceded to prep the bikes - we pumped up the tires, adjusted seats, and I cleaned about 15 years worth of dirt from Ryan's drivetrain! Ryan was using my trusty (and a bit rusty) old bike that I used in college.
After posing for a photo, we were off! Well, as soon as Ryan finished telling us his two new jokes. My favorite: What does a snail riding on the back of a turtle say? "Wheeee!" This would later remind us of dad riding his bike... ;)
Right away we climbed an 80-foot hill (pretty big for Michigan) and my three wingmen were already grousing about the ascent! There would be a tougher climb later on. Eric has been keeping in decent shape by playing hockey while Ryan maintains his fitness with tennis and basketball. My dad plays basketball, too, but he doesn't have youth on his side. We joked that Dad will win the 0-to-60 drag race... to 60 years old, that is.
One of the cool aspects of the route is that it took us across two historic covered bridges: Fallasburg Covered Bridge and White's Covered Bridge. If we'd started 15 miles southwest of Lowell, we could've added the Ada Covered Bridge, too. Maybe next time. We also passed by an old grain silo that had been converted into a sort of lighthouse along the Flat River just north of White's Bridge.
After about an hour we met up with our cousins, and twenty minutes later we reached Smyrna. The ice cream shop offers sizes of "baby", "small", "medium" and "large". We all ordered "small" and found ourselves trying to down a pint of ice cream each! I wonder how big "large" is, a gallon? Holy cow. It was good stuff, too.
Moving on, most of the last 8 miles were fairly flat and straight and entirely on dirt roads. Gabe used to road race and brought his road bike for this ride, which was a lot to handle on the lumpy gravel roads but he easily kept up. Everyone was doing pretty well, actually. Adrienne and Rean in particular were well trained - they had just completed a two-week long bike ride along Lake Michigan and Lake Huron totaling about 800 miles!
The home stretch was probably the most difficult - a mile riding through Grandma's old pasture, an energy-sapping section of two-track full of weeds and rough terrain. Finally we made it to our destination: my aunt and uncle's house, which borders on my grandma's pasture. After cooling off with a garden hose we were treated to a 4th of July BBQ on their screened-in porch. We even celebrated Grandma's 85th birthday, which is July 6.
After dinner we started looking for something to do. My uncle brought out a three-person slingshot designed to launch water balloons! Two people hold each end while a third "shooter" loads the balloon, pulls back, and lets fly. These grenades were sailing 50-100 yards across the lawn and reaching over 150 feet high! Every once in a while a balloon would explode upon release, showering the launch crew with water.
Ryan and Amanda took up safe positions behind trees to capture some cool photos while Gabe and Rean went downrange with a shovel handle, trying to swat the balloons before they hit the ground. After launching for a while I joined them, and we all managed to hit a couple "homers" before the balloon supply was exhausted. What a fun day!
Kevin and Todd hold firm as Dad prepares the "grenade" for launch.
Todd launches one downrange (using Dad and I as the "cannon") towards Gabe and Rean, who are waiting with a big stick...
Focused on swatting the incoming water balloon!
It's a great time to be a fan of endurance sports! Right now two sports - adventure racing and road cycling - are putting on their biggest events of the year. The best adventure racers in the world are just finishing up their premier event, the Primal Quest, hosted in Utah this year. As the Primal Quest comes to a close, cycling's signature Tour de France race is kicking off in Europe. Both events take several days to complete, which may be too slow for TV but it's a great type of race to follow during the day via the internet - day after day of wondering what it would be like to undertake such an endeavor.
The Tour de France (TdF) is a stage race, which means competitors race a given segment of the course each day and they add up the total time required to complete each leg. The TdF covers over 2,200 miles during the course of 23 days (including two rest days of no racing) winding through the mountains, farm fields, and towns of France and Germany. While I'm not an avid road cyclist, I find the strategy and tension to be captivating. It's a lot like watching soccer or NASCAR - extended periods of little obvious action during which teams are intensely trying to set themselves up to capitalize on a sudden opportunity.
Much more exciting and even inspiring to me is the Primal Quest (PQ), which is a continuous expedition - the race never stops. When to sleep, and how much sleep to get, is a key strategic factor in every team's success (or lack thereof). It is this event that has left me more amazed and in awe than any other sporting event. The PQ covers 500 miles comprising varied disciplines such as trekking, kayaking, mountain biking, and mountain climbing. The winning team finished in just over six days, and the slowest teams will take up to ten days.
While strategy plays a huge role in the TdF, the strategic planning of the PQ is many times greater in scope. Not only are the racers pushing themselves physically, but also cognitively as they battle fatigue, dehydration, malnourishment, overheating, and sleep deprivation without a chance to recover until they finish. It gives new meaning to the word "perseverance", or even "survival". If it wasn't enough to be physically exhausted and mentally burned out, racers have to remain emotionally upbeat and continue to work well together.
What really intrigues me about expedition-length races (covering several days) is the amount of personal drive and will power required just to finish the event. You and your team of four, on your own in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, hoping that you planned and trained appropriately for the weather, the terrain, and your mental state. Someday I would LOVE to compete in PQ or a similar expedition; in fact there's a great one here in Michigan put on by Infiterra Sports.
I'm probably not prepared yet to complete an expedition race, but how do I know for sure? A few of my training buddies have completed the Michigan Coast to Coast so I know it's well within my realm of possibility. But what more am I capable of? In 9th grade I loved running but didn't join the cross country team because I didn't think I could run three miles; I'd never run farther than one at the time. Then as a high school senior I did finally join cross country and even though I went on training runs up to ten miles long, I felt that a marathon was well beyond my abilities. During college I marvelled at the Eco Challenge races but felt that I could never do it. Even when my neighbor during my last year of college was recruited by an Eco Challenge team, it never occurred to me that such a challenge was within my grasp.
After college I stopped running for about five years, but resumed running a couple years ago. Last year I ran my first marathon and finished my first adventure race (an 8-hour sprint). I used to think three miles was impossible for me, and then I thought a marathon was impossible. Those were enough to make me wonder, just how much is possible? This fall I plan to complete a 50 mile trail run... holy cow, can I really run 50 miles? There's only one way to find out! Following the PQ and TdF will help to inspire my desire to ENDURE, to PERSEVERE, and FINISH an event that at one point in my life I used to consider impossible for myself. Whether or not I finish it's going to be painful, but worth the effort - at least I'll know just how far I can go.