The Dark Side of Ultrarunning

I was bummed to get the message late last night (early this morning) that my buddy Kevin dropped out of Rocky Raccoon 100. He made to mile 89.

He said his legs were trashed at 80, and tried to walk the last 20 but was getting too cold.

What most non ultra-heads will have a hard time grasping is, why didn't he keep going just to finish? He even had at least 14 hours to do so? "Gee... I would have just found a way to finish" (not my voice, the voice of the critics)

Here I will take the liberty of guessing what was in his head and why (KG, feel free to set me straight).

When you are done, you are done. PERIOD. And it is not like being done in a Marathon. One gets to the point in a marathon where they can't run anymore, but they want to. Then, they run/walk. Do that for 8-10 hours, and you won't care anymore. And if you have done it before, you won't want to do it again. You get to a point in some ultras where.... aside from all of the hard work and sacrifice you have put in.... you just don't care anymore. It is really hard to convince people of that. I think at its core, it is a survival instinct.

Also, when you can't walk anymore, it really kills your mindset as a runner. Yes, you can take a 5 hour nap, wake up, and probably finish under the cut with no problem, but that is not the race you want to run.

There is "Just Finishing, and there is JUST FINISHING". There is a big difference.

The longest 11 miles are the last 11 in a race like that. Once your plan and goal is toast and out of reach, it is hard to give a crap to stay on the course.

Kudos to you for nailing first 80 in 14 hours, and first 50 in under 8!

People also may say "he went out too fast". Well, there is only so much you can slow a racer down. Time on the feet works against you if you slow down too much. It is a delicate balance.

So Kevin now joins us, the elites, who have at least one DNF under their belt. It's about time!

By the way... I like your style of going for it. I had a feeling you wouldn't be able to go out easy.

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Karen Gall kicked some butt out there with 27:44 I think. Great job Karen. There is someone who runs with a purpose and literally runs for her life. I bet she is a lot more competitive than the leads on. :)

Wayne Nelson PR'd his 50M with a 12:26. Great job Wayne. 2nd 50?

Not a bad showing for MN.

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Next week - Run Toto Run

Helen, Joe, Tony and a bunch of others are going to go show the Trail Nerds how its done.

I look forward to those results (Nic...... you aint' got a chance).

A Big Dawg Day

In Minnesota, we get a lot of 3 dog nights. This winter has had many.

With Crossfit Brand X, they scale the workouts into sizes of Dogs (dawgs)
Big Dawgs
The Porch
The Pack
Puppies
Buttercups

I have done a few workouts to standard, but barely. And they take me forever.

Today I did
“Kelly”

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

Time 33:37

I filled an old basketball with sand and taped it up.

Also, today I did a 12 minute time trial for the Crossfit Endurance workout.

I thought I would give 2 miles a shot on the deathmill, and I succeeded. Yeay. I know it does not count as the road, but it is close enough to give me confidence that I can run that hard for that time. I could have gone faster. Maybe next time.

I have not run back to back 6's in a LONG time, so I am getting psyched.

Tomorrow is "Griff" (supposed to do it Tuesday)
For time:
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards

Should be pretty damn funny.

The next big race

As the Arrowhead progresses on, another race looms on the horizon.

Kevin Grabowsky "The Big Grabowsky", or Mr. Grabassky is headed off to the Rocky Raccoon 100 this weekend.

I caught this photo of him a few weeks ago, and had my camera set to the "capture thoughts mode" I tried putting the angel and devil on each shoulder, but the clip art sites are really annoying.



I just now looked at the list to see if there will be a WI/MN border battle, and there sure is!

My friend Karen is signed up, but not sure if she is running or not. And Hendrie Grant, who I have met a few times, is on the list.

Hendrie was not a happy camper towards the end of Afton 50k 2 years ago. I learned some new words.

Good luck 'sotans. Beat the sconnies.

And there sure a lot of Sconnies signed up.

I will be watching. The "Grabowsky Era" might return.

And they are off

The Arrowhead Ultra just got under way.

I finally took the time to look at the registered runners and did not realize there is another fast one gaming for Storkamp's course record.

Zach Gingerich.

I would love to see the cartoon bubble above John's head right now. It is probably something like this "No way I am going to let this kid take my CR. I don't care if he ran Badwater in 26 hours."

This shall be a fun one to watch.

Kip and Rip

Kip = Kipping Pull up
Rip = Rip my skin off my hands.

Did this one tonight on the "Pack" level. Ripped callouses off my hands and more on the kipping pull ups. Oh well. I bailed on this WOD on Monday, and decided I had to take another stab at it. Did it in 18:59. And I was pumped to be under a half hour when I saw how long it took me to chip off 35 pull ups.

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Running work out of the day. Did the prescribed one on the website.

Ladder, 1 min on, 1 off, 1 on 50 sec off, etc. down to 10 sec and back.

Maintained 5:13 pace for the whole thing. Look out Adam, I am going to smoke you on our little competition in a few weeks.

Weakness & Strength found

Last week the "weakness found" was my lower back. The are better today.

Today, the "weakness found" was.... Overhead Squats. Almost lost the 75lb during one set.

Today's CF workout

Seven rounds for time of:
95 pound Power snatch, 7 reps
95 pound Snatch balance, 7 reps
95 pound Overhead squat, 7 reps

I decided to try this to scale. Made it through the Snatch Balance (not good form, so they really did not count I am guessing). Started the overhead squats... NO WAY.

I guess the shoulder muscles are not developed to hold that while going into a full squat.

So I scaled this one.

Did 5 rounds at 75lbs for a time of 30:02.

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On a good note, the "Strength Found" was running.

I did last Sunday's 45 minute run at 85%-90% effort. (treadmill). I decided to start easy due to the squats that morning. Started at 7:03 pace, but after 25 minutes, it seemed easy.

Increased to 6:40 for 10 minutes, then 6:22 for the final 5 minutes. It took work at the end, but I am not sure if my overall exertion was above 90%.

My point in the "Strength Found" statement here is.... 7:03 seemed easy.

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I am starting to see the picture here, and it is making sense. Will pay off in a hundred mile race.... better yet, one of Larry's 100 mile races? We will see.

The prescription for ultra training on the CFE website is to do 2-3 of the running workouts per week. NO MORE. They say to do 1 "circuit". 1 interval, 1 tempo, then another interval.

The interval workouts are very intense, but short. I actually got my treadmill up to full power on one last week.

They were tough to get acclimated to because, sadly, I almost never run at that speed.

But, I am starting to see this high intensity paired with the high intensity of the CF workouts simulate, in an abstract, what a 20-30 mile run might do.

And if you don't believe that.... well, I am telling myself that because I have to believe it.

Important thing to consider

This is taken directly from the Crossfit Endurance site.

CrossFit Endurance was created with the belief that you have taken the time to learn the skill of your sport. If you have not, you have no business here, or competing in this sport.


While I might have success with this approach, I do have 12 ultramarthons in the last 4 years under my belt. I have run over 2000 miles each year for the past 3 (could be a lot more, but I don't keep track).

So, I have a strong foundation to build upon. While the Maffetone method and the CFE method seem contradictory, I see them almost as a progression. I say this FROM MY EXPERIENCE ALONE, and am not advocating it as advice for others.

I don't use this blog to preach, I use it more as documentation or "this worked for me". (do I say that too much?)

Whatever the outcome, I am enjoying this is a sick and sadistic manner.

It also fits my demanding travel, work, and family schedule right now.

10 weeks to Zumbro.

Think you are tough?

Try today's workout

10 Minutes - Hand Stand Push Ups
5 Minutes - Squats
2 Minutes - Pull ups
1 Minute - Push ups

Hand Stand Push Ups - To standard (legs against the wall so I don't fall over), I did a total of ........3! How on earth do people so many of these? Once again, a work in progress. I ended up putting my knees on a futon, and simulating the motion but with about half of my body weight. I was able to rip off a bunch of these (140?), but they were way easier than the standard ones. Still, they got really hard after 5 minutes.

Hammered out 150 squats.
20 pull ups
30 push ups

No comments :) At least I didn't quit.

But, not the reason for the title of the post.

Monday commences one of the most Bad Ass races in the country, the Arrowhead 135 Winter Ultra. The Minnesota ultra gang knows this all to well, but for those of you who are not familiar, a quick synopisis.

Very, Very, Very cold. Snow. 135 miles. Pull a sled. Course record is about 40 hours (running). You can bike, ski, or run.

I know a few who are going. One of the faster Matts is running (Matt Long). John Storkamp is running (he is a pedal to the medal runner-always). I believe Scott Meyers is running. So it looks like a "Border Battle". Storkamp better slice and dice those cheese heads. (Long & Meyers).

I doubt I will ever run this race as it violates one of my tenants of running;
* I don't participate in races where death is a possibility (or the loss of body parts).

The Race Director for this race, Pierre, is a humble guy. Very strong, and seemingly endless endurance. 2 or 3 Badwater finishes. He rides his bike to local ultra marathon races, then rides home.

So good luck to all who are going. You can follow the race here.

Happy training