Southern Discomfort training

Signed up for Southern Discomfort 30 hour race. Maybe, it’s been so long since my last 100 that I forgot what that means. Maybe it’s just a little longer than I have ever ran (90 min). Or maybe it was the t shirt (it was).

After all these summers of crotch rot in Florida, I took one look at that Southern Discomfort buckle and signed up before even plugging the date into a training plan to see what that meant. It meant a 50 mile per week “crash plan” is all I could hope for with only 15 weeks to train. My hopes aren’t high I will finish another 100.

It took me 7 tries to finish my first 100. I suppose I should scramble for a crew person. The good news is it’s a single 1 mile asphalt loop. Not a lot for a crew person to contend with except the idiot trying to escape and eat cheeseburgers (me).

First training run of 10 miles yesterday was on schedule. So everything is tracking. I guess.

Save the Daylight 24

The forecast was 89 high & 70’s low. I went outside in the yard and stood and felt it. I said to myself “that sucks”. I packed a jacket anyway. The last year it was almost freezing. 

So the race started at 9am. I woke up at 5 and went to McDonalds and got 2 coffees and an Oatmeal. I had everything ready. Salt, gel, food, sunscreen, lube, etc. 

I had ran zero miles for a few weeks due to some bug I caught in CA that eventually had me on antibiotics the week before the race. My lungs were burning and I was coughing hard the week before. I was questioning a DNS but I knew I could at least go and have fun and run a few.

Ann Denver Park is great. It’s a unique part of Florida. I have never seen an alligator in salt water anywhere else. I did see one here at night just below the bridge over the mangroves. I think he was using the light to fish. Smart alligator.
Anyway, I ran ok to 13.1. Then things turned quick. My body immediately began fighting me. I hadn’t trained. The outside of my left knee began singing a dull pain that always means I’m running a little further than normal. 

I switched my strategy to walk/run. I walked 800 meters/ran 800 meters. I got annoyed at this and the heat. I adjusted to .6mi run & .4mi walk. Then I got serious hip pains. 

To preface this next fact let me mention that on the news at 6am it said the dew point in Brooksville where I trained last was 59 and the dew point in Key West was 77 outside. So I knew it could be the perfect storm.

When I checked the weather after seeing clouds in the distance it said the dew point was 74. For you west coasters who live in a world where the dew point is -20 I want you to know that a dew point of 75 is what is called “opressive” by weather forecasters. When you run you feel like you are being torn apart in this weather.

I hit 26.2 at around 6 hours and in a ripe 3pm funk with blisters and chaff getting ready to take hold. I told the RD I was leaving and I went to my hotel and took a shower. I put my feet up on pillows and laid in bed. It was much nicer than running undertrained in opressive weather. I ate some Taco Bell. The weather said it would rain so I took a nap. I wanted to run the night as I laid there.

So I got off my ass and put my running clothes back on and went back to the race. I ran like new for 1.5 miles! It was cold out. Well, it was under 80 and the sun was gone so it felt wonderful. My legs fell apart and by lap 2 I put on a knee brace and was back to a run/walk. 

I ran hard on lap 3 with Sue Edwards race bib. She was skydiving and got a crosswind that collapsed her parachute and fell 60ft from the sky to the ground and lived. She was training for the Skydive ultra which is an even crazier race where you skydive and then run 100 miles. I felt bad for her but glad she lives. 

By lap 4 I only walked. I hate that. I knew I was only hurting myself in the long run. Sure, it’s a ok to walk a while further than you can run but I hate spending more time walking than running. I hit 13.1 in 4 hours. I quit.

This will surely be the worst physical shape I will ever be in for at least another year. I can thank the race for that. 

The race was well directed. The course is much nicer than expected. Surely next year will be better weather. Hell, I may even return! I only ran 39.6 officially and I’d normally beat than in far less continuous running time. 

The CA vacation was worth it! I’ll recover and return stronger eventually.

The blind spot

 I once took down a blog post about Keys 100. In January I told myself that after a year off from Wild Sebastian 100 I’d like to go back and redeem myself. I want to finish Keys 100. Well, I’ve bought the ticket. I’ve plugged the date into my schedule. 12/7/15 the journey begins again but I’ve got a lot to do before then.

This year has been a total car wreck for me for running. No discipline. No schedule. Plenty of excuses. 

It finally culminated into a perfect storm last weekend at Save the Daylight 24. Hell I did so bad it’ll be its own blog post later on. Stay tuned. 

2015 1st half

Croom Zoom 50k

I ran Croom Zoom 50k in January. It was my first ever 50k. I go as often as I can. It’s a great course. A 10 mile loop that sent me running at the Withlacoochee State Forest on many weekends for many years afterward. I didn’t get a PR or a PW which is pretty good for a first run after a 100 miler in November.

Green Swamp

I had horrible bowel pains the entire first 25 miles. I was surprised I made it to a toilet more than once. The whole place was dry the last time I went but this trip was hell to me. It was a half calf mud, sections of sand, sections of knee deep water. I was not feelin the swamp. Especially since I didn’t want to poop in it and run through it again on my next loop. I did everyone a favor and went home at mile 25. I wanted a PR at the 50 mil but it wasn’t my day.

Fools Run – 50 miler

I ran the fools run 50 miler. I had a 6 hour 50k but I fell apart so bad that I managed a 10 hour and 30 minute finish by mile 50. I was weak. My training was poor. The course is fun. Partially the same as Croom Zoom but a bigger and harder loop. This year I wanted a sub 10 hour 50 miler but it looks like that’s out.

California

I’m going to California and I want to run the backbone from Wrightwood, up Pine mountain, Dawson’s Peak, and Mt. Baldy and back. It’s hard as hell and I don’t know if I’ll even have time. I may end up running inner city 5k’s and crying like Dawson’s Creek instead of climbing Dawson’s Peak. I’ll just have to see how it pans out. I hope I can get 6k in climbing while I’m there so I can finish the Strava Dipsea Challenge. I’ll try. 

The view from the N00B

So here I am a N00B again. I can’t run far. I don’t feel that excited about anything coming up on the race calendar in the area.

Now I can only get faster and I’m not excited about that. It makes for hard training. I want to run my places and not races. Places with sun, grass, and trees. No people. I like to watch the sun spiral meaninglessly around the earth as I jog. I like to meet animals in the woods and see through their eyes for a while.

It’s a break from work for an auditor. I never see the outside. I can’t move my body and get paid like I used to in the Air Force fixing equipment in the heat and cold. No flight line view at my desk anymore.

That moment when you fall asleep for a moment after a long hard effort. That’s what it’s all about. If I want that now I have to physically make it happen. I have to leave home. Run. Make an effort.

I am slowly picking my mileage up again. 7, 14, 21 miles per week. Slow and steady. Not sure where I’m headed yet but I’m pretty sure it’ll include Green Swamp 50 miler in March.

I want my hour back
I ran the wrong way and got lost running for a whole hour at Green Swamp 50 miler in 2013. It has been 2 years. My anger is sufficiently built up. I am ready to go again.

Wild Sebastian 100

Pre Race
6 times I had tried to run 100 miles and not finished. Outside my two attempts at other courses on different surfaces, one on road and one on mountains, all of the other four attempts were on this course. None of those attempts were crewed or paced attempts so this time I asked fellow runners for help. A medical researcher sent out an email that he would be researching at the race also so I signed up for it. I booked a hotel room for the duration of the race.

Race day
I got up at 4 am and ate a Larabar and showered and applied sport shield and put on my injinji toe socks, north face shorts, zansah calf sleeves, wild Sebastian shirt, salomon two bottle waist pack, a Garmin 310 xt, a polar hr monitor watch, and a zombie runner hat that came free with my trail Hoka’s that I put in a drop bag. I loaded my drop bags in the car and went to the race.

Start
I got out of the car and took off my Altra casual shoes and put on my Hola road shoes. I took my drop bags to the start area. As I milled about I noticed that my pacer and his girlfriend were already there! We stood around chatting. I actually got back my hat and glasses from Keys 100k (yeah that’s what I call my 65 mile DNF)! That was a surprise! So I put the glasses on and we lined up. 3, 2, 1, go!

Lap 1
All 25 miles of lap 1 here we go! It was 55 degrees at the start. I could tell because it was that exact temperature where my fingers start to tingle in the cold when I run. It was great! Staying in my hr zone under 145 bpm I jogged along slowly but without any of the fear or anxiety that I had felt in previous attempts. This was an old hat. I felt more like I was jogging on my usual route than exploring anything new. I pretty much cruised around lap 1 a little over 5 hours, slightly slower than my goal pace, and had a good time seeing the Sebastian River Preserve again.

Lap 2
It’s getting to the hotter part of the day by now. Back at the start finish again and I had the same problem as last November. I forgot to take salt and hit a low at 26 where my heart rate went to 161 and my pace went to 13:30. I got frantic and thought I was dying for a second until I realized that I had forgot salt. Soon after I took it my pace returned and my hr went back to less than 145 at higher pace. I was back on schedule and cruising. By the time I rolled through mile 50 I had a worst case scenario time for lap 2 of 7 hours. I was pretty pissed about it. I knew this wasn’t my best effort but all I could do was try to not fall all the way off the backside and DNF again. Anyway that was impossible now. My crew and pacers were in full swing. I really would have dropped right at mile 50 if not for them. My pacer dragged my corpse around the next 10 miles in a series of games where he would walk fast, I had to run to catch up, then he would run with me until I stopped again. At this point the game would start over. It worked. We got there. Handoff to a new pacer. Walking out of mile 60 my legs were shutting down. I was in a full death march. 20 minute miles. Pacer tried to get me to take an ibuprofen and I refused and marched all the way to 64. Seriously check out the Strava data for this mile on my 74 mile chunk. So at 64 they asked me if I needed anything and I went full crazy mode and said I guess I’m going to need that ibuprofen or I’ll never get out of this death march. I didn’t believe it either but it actually worked! I could go again!

Mile 75
Mile 75 in just under 20 hours! I was ok with that. I was slightly faster than worst case scenario pace. I wasn’t really proud of that but at the same time I just beat my last time to this distance by 3 hours so I was a little excited. This was it. Lap 4. I had dreams of it for four previous attempts. I was ready to get it over with. What was all the hype about anyway? So off I went! Well, after a change into my trail Hoka’s. Aid station 1 mile 78 more ibuprofen and goodbye. Aid station 2 to aid station 3 was a run/walk. I switched into a white long sleeve shirt in case it would get hot and I dumped my headlamp and applied sport shield again for the first time. I got really tired after the sun came up out there after mile 80. It was hard to stay awake. I fell into a death march at mile 92 that was so bad that I could not sit at aid stations anymore because of too much joint pain in my knees.

Back at aid station 3 after 15 more miles. I now had only 5 miles to get back to my car! But not like that. It was more like an infinitely long 5 miles in heat and too much joint pain to run at all. Yet somehow, it really was just easy breezy miles. Even the part of the course that I hate hate hate the most, the grassy open stretch by the freeway, was a joy to cross for the last time. I walked right past the last aid station. I was done. I just wanted it to be over. I was right around 28 hours with 2 miles to go. This finish was slower than any of the 100 finishes of any of my pacers but then none of my pacers have a finish on the Wild Sebastian 100 course.

I was happy. I appeared to be reaching the finish without anything that felt like a long term injury. I had about 5 blisters on each foot, my body ached, I had a sunburn, and I had lost my voice talking to my pacers for so long. My pacers encouraged me to run to the finish but I could see the clock now. I had 4 hours to get there. I was all about minimizing risk now and just getting there comfortably. So I walked until about 400 meters from the finish line and then I made a slow jog across the line to finish in 28:26:17. I had finished my first 100.

Pain city
So when I sat down the pain did the opposite of what Liz Bauer (current record holder of most 100’s in a year) said it would do. She said all the pain would go away. Well! When I sat down my knees exploded with pain my body began to shake. I fell asleep and drooled as my crew tried to get me to eat pizza. So I ate a slice and had a sample of a great beer Drew Goletz brought for the finish.

I sat there with Drew Goletz, Joyce Luloff, Sandra James Garrett, Michael Turner and his girlfriend Dhalia who all ran part of the course with me. I was overwhelmed that they had actually pulled me through it. Thank you to the finest crew I could ask for! Better Miracles Today – that’s what they did all day and night. Whatever kind of a miracle you think you can pull off – a crew can do it better. Believe it.

Hotel hell
Yeah, the pain gets a lot worse in the next 24 hours. I spent from when Michael Turner dropped me at my hotel until 11pm sleeping for an hour, then waking, then walking like a 100 year old and crawling into a tub of cold water, draining it and showering and returning to bed. I repeated that every hour until 11pm just dreaming of food but too tired and immobile to get any.

You see, in my tiredness, I had went up to my room with only my dirty stank mud covered running shoes. I had taken them off and popped all the blisters (one with thick red blood) so I wasn’t wanting to put them back on. So I walked, at 11pm, like a lost 100 year old in his socks to my car at 1 mph and got shoes from the backseat and put them on and went to the front and lifted my legs in and drove to Wendy’s and got a spicy chicken sandwich combo meal large with a frosty. I finally slept after that and left in the morning. My buckle and me.

What’s next
I’m still recovering. I have room for improvement at all distances except for maybe 5k. I’m going to rest a while and try to learn how to make my joints not swell up like softballs. Then I suppose I’ll start by not getting a PR on a 5k somewhere. Ha! See you all out there on the run. At least you weren’t fool enough to run 100 miles as training for a 5k.

Sisyphus’s Rock

elroyjones

I haven’t changed one bit since the last time I posted. In fact, I am more like me than I ever was. All this in spite of the fact that things around me are are changing. I may or may not be trekking the path of most resistance.

I don’t think we own any of the planet, regardless of the pieces of paper that say we do. I have never owned a house or land. I’ve never had any desire to own things and become responsible for them. I have always been a tenant, coming and going as I please, without any hounding obligations. I am not a fan of responsibility for anything other than the boundaries within my reach, the stretch of real estate I call The Self. My husband is very different. He has owned commercial fishing boats and houses and stuff out the wazoo. He likes the challenge…

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Summer 2014

I ran a night 21 miler at an event called Moon over Croom. I’ve only ran on that course about 100 times. I didn’t win or come in last. It was epic for short distance runners who had never run at night before. Personally, I’d run solo at night there in both lightning storms and in the sound of the gunfire of poachers there so it was just a non event for me. Probably a good thing. I didn’t shower afterward. Then I woke up the next morning and ran 11 more miles. I smelled so bad that I quit running for a week afterward. Epic stink. If you ever question if you should shower between runs – just do it.

I ran the 46 mile Pinellas trail challenge. It ran the opposite direction of the previous year which I also ran. I made it. Blister free. I lost 20 minutes at the end hiding in a Walgreens bathroom 1/2 mile from the finish. After the storm blew past I jogged to the finish. I liked it better the year before. There was aid this year every few miles. Last year there was only one stop and the race got hotter and more ghetto all the way in. I appreciated that. It made it funnier to me running into the city than out of the city.

I ran some solo miles in the Mojave desert out by my dad’s house. My lips were burned for a week afterward. It was 103 degrees and I ran hill repeats and I sounded like someone kicked me square between the legs when I got finished. It was hard and it was only 4 miles. This is why I didn’t run cross country in high school. This is what it was like where I grew up.

I ran some miles in the mountains of CA alone. I only heard a bear once 3.5 miles from camp and it was behind me so I was cool with it. Wow I really want to move back there. I’d give up ultras if I could live there and jog 5k’s in the mountains and jump in a cold lake afterward.

Keys 100

I got a DNF at Keys 100 at mile 65. I donated my unused shirt and race bag to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. My previous blog about the topic was so depressing I deleted it. That is all.

Iron Horse 100k

Pre Race
I always take a Friday off before Iron Horse 100k. It’s always valentines day. That means a goodbye lunch with the wife. By the time I get out of Tampa with a packed car it’s time to get going to Palatka, FL. I always stay at the Crystal Cove Resort. They have a restaurant and bar on the St. John’s river. The rooms are cheap and the view is worth it. The pre race briefing was at the start line and they have stuff for sale there so bring cash. A little bit of water is on the course was the warning we got at the pre race briefing. Now I had to decide if I wanted to risk GorTex shoes or not. If it is over ankle deep your GorTex shoe will fill full of water and it’s game over. Lucky me I packed every single pair of shoes I could find.
Race Morning
It rained hard in the car on the way to the start. The good news is it passed before I got to the start. The weather was perfect all day. The night before I had settled into my Mizuno road shoe since they drain well. 10 minutes before the start I switch into my Hoka’s. 30 seconds before start I decide to peel my jacket off and put it in the car. The gun goes off. I’m now running the opposite direction of everyone else as I head to my car with my jacket. Typical me, I thought, running the wrong direction full speed. So I get that sorted and make the start 60 seconds after the gun went off.
To AS1
Out and back on the now paved rail trail. Flat and fast. Dry. New paved bridges. Scenic and fun.
To AS2
This section is where a little incline training can start to help. There’s a mile straightaway with a 50ft climb. Just enough to grind at you on the uphill and feel like it’s not there on the downhill. If you can find something that mimics this in training it can help. There are several miles of +50 then -50 on the course over mixed terrain.

So after the paved straightaway, you turn onto a dirt powerline road with a few ups and downs before making the AS.
Out and Back
The first out and back from AS2 is flat hard packed sand. There was water here over ankle deep in one spot 10 feet across. Having seen much worse water crossings in longer races I run straight through it while other runners screech “eww!” And try in vain to go around. I tell them to stop waisting time and to go right through it. Always pick the fastest shallow route through water on the trail. Going off trail is always a waste of time in my opinion and the tendency is to get mud in your shoes rather than water if you do try. Since blisters come from heat, water, and friction mud can provide a vital third ingredient for your foot to make one if you let it.
Second out and back
This section has a few 50 ft ups and downs also. Sharper grades but same overall elevation per mile as AS1 to AS2. It’s a great change of pace. More twists and turns than I expected. Nothing of the old world of Iron Horse – a mental hell of railroad gravel and grass straightaway that went on FOREVER. Also in this section is a wood bridge over a nice stream. Don’t be fooled – come the mile 40’s this is clearly the hardest part of the course.
AS2 to Finish
Back up the powerline road onto the paved rail trail and back to the finish. So this is the loop. 4 times for the 100, twice for the 50.
100k out and back
So by now I’ve done the loop twice, I’ve headed back out. No jacket, headlamp in my waist pack. It got cold. I wish I had brought my jacket. Anyway, that’s probably my own fault, I didn’t expect the 3 mile out and back to take a whole hour! I was really sucking as a runner by now. Mostly walking. What could I do? Back at the Start I switched into my GorTex Montrails I had intended to run Iron Horse in and put on my jacket only despite feeling like I needed arm warmers too. I hoped being cold would help me keep moving and it did. After I left the car I saw another runner I knew come flying into the finish 9 miles ahead of me. I was going slow but it was PR time for me. 11 hours and 30 minutes into this thing with less than 9 miles or 10k to go I had a full 3 hours to get a PR. So I ran to AS2 – an by run I mean 4.5 mph. Yeah, I was weak and tired by now and doing the 100 miler scuffle jog I learned during all my 100 miler DNF’s. I get to AS2 and let the workers fill my bottle for the first time all day. Maybe I’m against germs? I dunno. Anyway, I go the 0.3 of a mile and turn around at the 100k turnaround alone in the dark cold night but it feels like Christmas morning to me. I did not make it here in 2011 as I dropped at 50 mile that year. Hell, I had only run 50k once prior and only had a 20 lumen headlamp with me that year so I was lucky I didn’t try anyway – I wasn’t ready.
AS2 to Finish
Sketchy stuff. There’s the same homeless guy at the mile 17 signpost on the rail trail from 2011. Then I pass a lady, with NO HEADLAMP in the pitch dark who told me on lap 2 that she didn’t have one because she planned to finish before sundown. A quick note to anyone who wants to Run Iron Horse 100k – the road to hell is paved with good intentions. No matter what your pace plan is bring a headlamp. I can’t imagine what it must have been like on the powerline road in the sand and roots with no light.
Finish
So I run the last mile to the finish and get my buckle. Go to the car, get my recoverite from the race bag and drink it by the burn barrel. Success!
Thank you Iron Horse
This race has the best aid station volunteers and race director and medical staff ever. Maybe that’s because I’m a veteran but I really felt at ease with the way the ROTC ran the aid stations. It was a tight ship. Very top notch stuff. If it were my own race I wouldn’t do even one thing different. Thank you to everyone that helped make the Iron Horse Endurance Runs such a great success!
Post Finish
Then I head to my car to go back to the hotel and grab a shower and to get a beer at the hotel bar – it’s only 9:00! I shake violently in the cold from the burn barrel to the car. My heat works in the car today so luckily I stop shaking. Back at the hotel I peel of my calf sleeves and shoes and look at my Achilles’ tendon and scream! It’s the size of a carrot and beat red. I honestly thought I snapped it clean off. After my shower I did the zombie leg drag from my room to the hotel bar. In my head, I thought it closed at 11pm but the sign said 10pm and it was 9:58pm. I went in. They were closing. The nice bartender offered to sell me a beer but I really wanted food so I left. I ended up eating Taco Bell in my hotel room. A fine victory meal for me. I kind of wanted a beer by the river but I’ll survive.
Final Damage
2 weeks since the race. I have been diagnosed with a strained foot tendon. Not the Achilles – that one is actually fine. It’s an anterior tibial is tendon or some such nonsense. I can point to it but don’t ask me the name of it. I’m a jogger not a doctor. This is a recurring thing for me. 3 weeks off and some strength work should get it back up and running. I could run today but that’ll make long term recovery take longer. But I get to eat a lot of Girl Scout cookies on the couch. I joined a gym too. I blame this injury on not following the strength training advice given to me in 2010 by a DPT. The gym should help.