Desert Solstice 2017: Training and Preparation

There are so many things that could go wrong in an ultra, and have gone wrong for me in ultras so I approached this race with a thoroughness and detailed plan beyond what I have ever bothered to put in writing. Back when I was in high school my cross country and track coach would write out the workouts for the whole season and post them outside the locker room. We knew from the beginning what was expected of us. As I got into college, and then coached in college, there are quite a few people that get intimidated by a three month long schedule so workouts were usually shared daily or weekly. Personally that frustrates me to not know the arc of the season, so I like seeing the whole schedule laid out. 

Back in July, I wrote out a schedule for myself to get ready for this race. Here is my training plan:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
9-Jul	long recovery	3x mile at 5:40, 400 in 2:00 rest	short recovery	long recovery	20 min HMP tempo	short recovery	Medium Long Run
16-Jul	long recovery	15x short hills	long recovery	short recovery	15x200 at 34-38 with 200m jog rest	short recovery	Medium Long Run
23-Jul	long recovery	12x400, maybe with Jake	long recovery	10k tempo at MP	long recovery	recovery/ Drive to Colorado	Drive into mountains/ Bierstadt
30-Jul	Yale/ Columbia	Yale/ Columbia	Capitol normal route	black canyon climbing?	Lizard Head Peak	short recovery	Pace Jeremy in Ouray
6-Aug	recovery/ Drive back to KS	short recovery	4x mile at 5:30	long recovery	15x short hills	long recovery	Medium Long Run
13-Aug	long recovery	15x200 at 34-38 with 200m jog rest	long recovery	11k of 1k 4:00/ 1k 3:30	long recovery	long recovery	Medium Long Run
20-Aug	long recovery	off	8 mile tempo at medium pace	short recovery	12x400 in 75, 200 jog rest	long recovery	Long Run
27-Aug	long recovery	long recovery	Medium Long Run	13k of 1k 4:00/ 1k 3:30	long recovery	recovery/ Drive to Colorado?	Colorado?
3-Sep	Colorado?	Colorado?	9 mile tempo at medium pace	long recovery	4x mile in 5:30, 400 jog rest	long recovery	28 mile Elk City Lake trail run
10-Sep	long recovery	15x short hills	long recovery	15k of 1k 3:55/ 1k 3:30	short recovery	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:55 with pace variation
17-Sep	long recovery	off	10 mile tempo at medium pace	long recovery	6k HMP tempo	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:55 with pace variation
24-Sep	Medium Long Run	long recovery	long recovery	15k of 1k 3:45/ 1k 3:30	long recovery	long recovery	FlatRock 50k
1-Oct	short recovery	off	10 mile tempo at medium pace	long recovery	5x mile in 5:30, 400 jog rest	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:45 with pace variation
8-Oct	Medium Long Run	12x400 in 75, 200 jog rest	long recovery	17k of 1k 3:45/ 1k 3:30	long recovery	long recovery	28 mile Elk City Lake trail run
15-Oct	long recovery	off	12 mile tempo at medium pace	long recovery	20x200 at 33-37, 200 jog rest	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:45
22-Oct	18-28 mile Elk City Trail Run	6x mile at 5:30, 400 in 1:45 rest	long recovery	19k of 1k 3:45/ 1k 3:30	long recovery	long recovery	Tulsa Run 15k + Medium Long run
29-Oct	long recovery	off	HM tempo at medium pace	long recovery	8k at HMP tempo	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:45 with pace variation
5-Nov	18-28 mile Elk City Trail Run	Long Run	long recovery	21k of 1k 3:45/ 1k 3:30	long recovery	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:45
12-Nov	long recovery	off	long recovery	6x mile at 5:20 with 400 meter jog	long recovery	long recovery	short recovery
19-Nov	Route 66 Marathon	long recovery	8x400 in 75, 200 jog rest	long recovery	HM tempo at medium pace	long recovery	Long Run 20+ at 6:30 with pace variation or 28 mile trail run
26-Nov	long recovery	off	long recovery	6k HMP tempo	long recovery	long recovery	15 miles at 6:45 with pace variation
3-Dec	long recovery	short recovery	6k tempo at MP	short recovery	short recovery	short recovery	Race!
10-Dec	Race!	off	off	off	off	off	off
	Hard Long Run	20-30 mi; 5:55-6:30			Medium Pace	MP+3-10%
	Moderate LR	20-24 mi; 6:30-59			Marathon Pace (MP)
	Long Run	18+ miles, X<7:30 font="" pace="">			Half Pace (HMP)	MP-3-6%
	Medium LR	14-17 mi or X>100 min			Short Recovery	X<60 font="" minutes="">
					Long Recovery	60

Here is my actual training:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
9 Jul	off	off	off - recovering form Bugaboos	33m	33m	32m	1h 29m
16-Jul	53m	25m	48m	50m	57m	33m	48 min, 27 min
23-Jul	10x short hills, total 4.8 miles	31m	8x400 in 81, 400 jog rest total 8.1 miles	1h 4m	off	58m	Bierstadt 7.5 miles
30-Jul	Princeton 12.3 miles	off	Columbia and Harvard 21.5 miles	Mt. Yale 9.2 miles	Mt. Shavano 12.5 miles	Mt Antero 15.5 miles (KOM Strava descent!)	Pace Jeremy in Ouray 50 mile, 6.6 miles in 3:42
6-Aug	off	off	48m	off	51m	1h 9m	15 miles at 7:30
13-Aug	56m	off	15x200 at 36-37 with 200m jog rest total 10.3 miles	49m	7k of 4:00/3:35 total 9.6 miles, 34 min	56m	73 min, 63 min
20-Aug	76 min, 24 min	off	10k progression run in 39:30	57m	1h 18m	47m	15.7 miles at 7:39
27-Aug	off	41m	41m	24m	49m	32m	hiking 2 hours
3-Sep	1h 1m	Korea - off	33m	50m	46m	off	1h 46m
10-Sep	off	off - tired from Korea and India and broken house	31m	5k of 4:00/3:40 total 10.7 miles	1h 5m	48m	20 miles at 7:23
17-Sep	1h 20m	46 min, 39 min	57m	19:43 5k total  9 miles, 30 min pm	56 min, 33 min	1h 10m	22.4 miles including 2.8 mile race in 16:40
24-Sep	1h 7m	36 min, 59 min	35 min, 48 min	28 min, 46 min	off	part of pikes peak 92 min	21 miles at 7:40
1-Oct	1h 35m	1h 6m	52m	24m	57m	1h 18m	20.1 miles at 7:36
8-Oct	1h 44m	10x400 in 76, 45 s walking rest, total 10.7 miles	1h 45m	7k of 3:45/3:30, total 12 miles	26 min, 104 min	1h 34m	20.2 miles at 7:42 pace, 51 min
15-Oct	1h 43m	8k in 29:44 on the track, total 13.2 miles	1h 12m	mile in 5:34, 1200 in 4:05, 800 in 2:40, 400 in 76, 400 jog rest, total 10.5 miles	52m	58 min, 78 min	off, spent the day rock climbing
22-Oct	climbed a 14er in Colorado, 65 min in pm	36 min, 67 min	73 min, 25 min	5x400 in 82 on trails at altitude, 5x160 in 30 total 10.7 miles	off	32m	Tulsa Run 15k in 55 min + injury
29-Oct	off	54m	1h 5m	46m	off	1h 35m	31 min, 94 min
5-Nov	20.4 miles at 6:51 pace, 33 min	1h 47m	1h 36m	65 min, 25 min	21k of 1k 3:54/ 1k 3:38	34 min, 83 min	20.1 miles at 7:10, pm 42 min
12 Nov	1h 46m	off	1h 46m	2x mile at 5:50, 2x800 at 2:54, total 10.6 miles	51m	1h 35m	33 min, 81 min
19-Nov	solo marathon in 2:58, tot 30.6 miles	1h 20m	8x400 in 81, 400 jog rest tot 11 miles, 28 min in morning	48 min, 36 min	51 min, 85 min	43 min, 74 min	56m
26-Nov	1h 4m	off	31m	35m	41m	47m	48m
3-Dec	1h 38m	53m	35m	44m	35m	27m	Race!
10-Dec	Race!	off	off	off	off	off	off

Overall, it went quite well. Between the Bugaboos, my India and Korea trip, and a week in Colorado my training didn't quite go as planned. I had much less speed than I anticipated. I mean, when I expected to be able to click off 5:30 miles, it never really happened. Partly because of the warm weather in southern Kansas, partly because I don't really put in the effort to work on my speed like I used to when I was training for the 10k and shorter. 

I am very excited I had a 100, 112 and 120 mile week, which is a good level, I think over 110 is probably a little much, but mentally it feels so good, and I do recovery quite quickly when I am training at that volume. 

The plan was to do a trail 50k, a marathon and a 15k in the build up, but I ended up only doing the 15k because I didn't really feel fit enough for the other two. 

Unfortunately I did far fewer workouts, like tempos and track workouts, than I planned. For example, on my India and Korea trip I basically went three weeks without a formal workout. I more or less failed at mile repeats. I had quite a few on the schedule and none of them really happened. Ugh, it's a struggle to run 5:30 pace! My favorite workout is alternating kilometers roughly 5s/k faster than marathon pace, and recoveries at 10s/k slower than marathon pace, and because of the heat I only had that workout go really well once, with another time it went okay. Also worth mentioning it was 57F and dark when that workout went well. 

All of my long runs were 7:20+ pace until November, when they finally went more like what I had hoped. Running in Dubuque was a much different challenge than running in Independence, KS. In Dubuque there are maybe six weeks were the temperatures are too hot to do workouts or fast long runs, but where I live now, that's more like three or four months. October still have humid 80F days! I did not realize how much the temperature matters to my running until I tried to run through these last two summers. 

The highlight workouts are November 9th and 19th. Those were clearly my best two workouts. While many of the other workouts weren't that good, doing 20 miles sub 7 pace, or an 8k sub 6 pace is still a solid workout. 

The only thing I would really change would be to add in long medium pace tempos, or at least actually do the ones I planned. I did several 10+ mile tempos at 6:15 pace or so before North Coast 24 in 2014 and because I was tired, lazy, or because of the heat, I didn't do any this time. The longest plain tempo was 10k. There was also essentially no pace variation in my long runs. In other words, no marathon pace or medium pace running the second half of my 20 milers. 

Hopefully this will help others get an idea of what goes into a 24 hour race, and what generally works for me. 

I PAID OFF MY STUDENT LOANS TODAY!!!

Nine and a half years after getting my bachelors, eight years after getting my masters, four states, three 8000 meter expeditions, and five jobs later, I PAID THEM OFF!!!

I could have paid them off sooner, but I prioritized climbing Mt. Everest, and I don't regret that. My loans were not that big, in fact I think my loans in 2008 at graduation were the median size of the median graduate with loans in 2017, and I ended up with two nice degrees from an expensive school. It feels pretty good. It also feels a little empty. I mean, I used a whole lot of cash that I could have used to travel or do something with but instead I paid for expenses I incurred a decade ago. Yes, it's like buying some freedom, but at this moment I don't feel any changes, to my budget or lifestyle.

Lest people think I'm some super finance guru, I still have a mortgage and I'm nowhere close to one of those super early retirement people who can walk away from working in their 30s. However, I am a very fortunate person to have all of the privilege and advantage that I have which has enabled me to get to this point, not from my own skills. God has blessed me again.

Desert Solstice 2017 Race Report Overview

Every ultra race, all seven, I have run was either trying to qualify for a world championship, or a world championship, or the even loftier goal of trying to set an American record. I could stand to practice some moderation...

A huge thank you to my sister!!! Not only did she volunteer to come out to this crazy thing where people don't sleep, get exhausted, cry, and put themselves through excruciating pain, but she knew what she was doing because it wasn't her first time. In particular, at 83 miles when I fell on the side of the track unsure if I was going to continue, she pretty unemotionally encouraged me to get back out there and I had two hours of really really strong running. Also, thank you to M, A and M who my sister talked into coming out and helping! I was stunned that you three spent as much time at the track as you did. I mean, this has got to be one of the most boring spectator sports there is. I think it's interesting, because it's a predictable epic all condensed into one day. But then again a good game on TV or a marathon is the same thing, in less than three hours, although there is generally less carnage in mainstream sports.

Thank you to the Avaipara Running and the Coury brothers for putting this on! I hardly said more than "hi" all day to you guys and I was hoping to say more. Thank you to all the crew members who timed and fed us and kept the port-a-potties from overflowing! Thank you to my fellow competitors who cheered me on, who I had a few chances to cheer on, which in turn motivates me to push myself, because I see how hard you are pushing yourself.

Without further ado, here we go! My flights were delayed getting into Phoenix because Houston, where I connected, had it's 35th snow storm in over 100 years, and they clearly are not prepared for snow down there. So I missed the group dinner the night before and my sister told me that apparently I was quite a hit and people had heard of me, which gave me a laugh. Most people I know do not know anyone else who has even tried a 24 hour run, yet I know dozens, same for Mt. Everest. It's just so tangible, so possible to me, that I know I am not special. There are a thousand guys in this country that could run 173 miles in 24 hours, yet more than 990 of them will never even seriously try it.

Saturday morning the ladies in the condo started showering at 5 AM and I rolled around bed until 6 when I got up and had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs that my sister made! We loaded the car and headed over to the track in the crisp 38 degree Fahrenheit morning. There was no wind, and also no clouds. We arrived just after EE (the jester) and set up beside his table. Pretty standard race morning routine. I had my first cup of coffee in about ten days and I was wired. I was hydrated, and with about three minutes to go I did leg swings on the fence. I made a point of standing strait up at the start, there is no point leaning when the goal pace for the next eight hours is 8 minutes per mile.

Thanks to Z, C, K and a couple other people targeting age group shorter records I was back in 7th or so place after 50 meters, and it was fast! I checked my watch at 200 meters, and was at 53 seconds! Now I had a projected schedule laid out the first eight hours at roughly 8:00 per mile, the second eight at 8:20 per mile, and the last eight at 8:45 per mile. This is based on pervious experience, both mine and what I have read and observed. People slow down. It would be interesting to try and negative split a 24 hour race...

With the nice cool temperatures, and everyone else running so fast I thought, 'maybe this is the day, the best run of my life!' Here are the first 76 miles of Strava data. Well, it worked out well for the morning. I blew through a marathon in 3:24:53, a little faster than desired. I had set a speed limit for myself of 7:45 pace, but in my exuberance I neglected it on multiple laps as I saw splits of 1:53, 1:54, 1:55 multiple times. Now GPS overstates the distance run on a track, but it said that my fastest mile was mile 32, at 7:10, and it doesn't overstate 30 seconds per mile! In other words, heading into the afternoon, I shot myself in the legs by running too fast. There is a delicate balance of the carbohydrates that are being burned versus the fats. Run too fast, and burn too many carbohydrates, more than you can eat, and you will "crash" as the body is forced to burn the more oxygen demanding fat. I've gotten myself into this cycle so many times of crashing and recovering that I really should know better by now.

Well the temperatures in the afternoon rose, first to 68, then 72 and 73, all in direct sunlight. Fortunately the humidity was very low, but direct sun can still increase the heat index 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Like an idiot I made the mistake of not slowing down nearly enough to compensate for a heat index in the upper 80s, mistake #2. I did slow down, but I was probably averaging 8:05 pace or so, I haven't seen the official splits yet. I'll make a more detailed lap by lap review of my race sometime over Christmas when I have five hours to dive into the data.

Hourly Splits for Desert Solstice 2017

Once I fell off my projected pace, things went downhill, mentally as much as physically. Around miles 65 to 72 I had my first crash, although I was still moving rather well. Around here I changed shoes, I had been wearing Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% and I switched to Saucony Kinvara 5s, which I've worn in every previous 24 hour race without any foot issues. This was around 5 PM to 6 PM so the sun went down, I was dehydrated, hadn't been eating enough. It's worth mentioning that I bought some Maurten 320 a few weeks ago and I tried it and I like it! Although it really needs about 20 oz. of water per packet because it really is too thick with 17 oz. of water. Also, I could feel my muscles were damaged and so I was eating little pieces of sliced turkey, and they tasted great! Not too sweat, because after two liters of sugar water my mouth says, "please no more sugar water". By this point I realized was not going to make the American record, but a solid 160s finish seemed in the bag.

However, about two hours later I had my second sizable crash, and this time was harder. Between 8 and 9 PM I only did 13 laps on the track. At one point I collapsed on the track beside my crew. My sister was really good about getting me back out there, first doing some basic massage on my left hamstring/psoas that was awfully tight, getting me to eat and drink a little. I genuinely did not know if I would stop or keep going. Once I realized I was not going to make 173 miles, mentally I was not super excited about another 12 hours of suffering out there on the track.

I took an ibuprofen, one of about 30 that I take over the course of a year, and the only one I intended to take all race, and I had a little Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso. Early I was leaving the aid station when a gust of wind caught me and I started shivering uncontrollably. After a quick clothing addition I was pulled back into the race first by EE the jester, then JE from the UK, and then I was on a high, and I seriously could not feel any pain. I was hitting 2:03, 2:04 laps and I remember TO standing by the start line clock and at one point he said, "it looks like he just started running!" and I remember thinking, 'WOW! I feel amazing! Where did this come from?' Well it came from ibuprofen, caffeine, fluids, calories and the temperatures finally cooling down. At this point my sister really proved how good she is because she was trying to get me to drink and eat more, but my stomach didn't feel like it really wanted anything so I basically kept refusing, and that was my downfall.

Shortly after midnight I crashed for the third time. I was craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I took one, ate two bites, and was too dehydrated to get it down. It tickled the back of my throat, and from there I threw up, except there were only about 100 calories in my stomach. It's funny peanut butter and jelly is exactly what made me throw up in Italy in 2015, so I think maybe it's off limits in future races. Once I threw up I knew that I had about 15 minutes before I totally ran out of energy. So I walked out the lap and stopped just after 1 AM.

The post race 'I'm a failure' depression has set in, but it's not nearly as bad as it has been previously. I've never gone for an American record before, and it is an honor simply to do that.  Plus I met a number of very nice people, including a couple single ladies (who I'll probably never hear from again, sigh) and it was nice to share this with my sister and friends. As I said when I announced this attempt a month ago, I really only thought I had a 30% chance of setting the record, and thanks to a slightly warm temperature, and some other people like CH setting a buch of records, and a number of age group stars who unintentionally convinced me to run a faster pace, it was not to be.

As I said in the introduction would like to do a non qualifying ultra this like, like a trail ultra, maybe Leadville 100. However, I'm also thinking about some 8000 meter peaks I would like to attempt, which would be cooler than any little 100 mile trail race. I don't know. My 2018 is not written. I do not know what I will be doing, aside from finishing my private pilot's license. As I mentioned before I will write a more detailed hydration, nutrition, and splits post when I have some more time to analyze the data.

The Vaporfly's or the Kinvara's?

The Tapering Lows

A week and a half ago, I strained my hip. Last Monday I had a massage, and my therapist determined it was my psoas muscle. Often the day after a massage I will be sore, even have bruises, but this time I was sore for five days! It slowed my running and I was even limping!

This has happened multiple times, I come down with some aliment in the last few weeks of training. In November 2011 I didn't have a good workout the last four weeks leading up to my marathon, but the last two days before the race I started to feel better and then ran my PR.

It could be mental, psychosomatic. It could be my brain is subconsciously making me feel pain so that I don't over do it in the last few weeks, because I have a tendency to over do it, to over train, or more appropriately, over live. The last few days it has made me more thankful to God for the physical fitness blessings he has given me to even attempt these kinds of adventures. If this is my last race ever, or if I become paralyzed before the race on Saturday, it's okay, I don't deserve any better. Certainly, an injury is depressing, but more importantly it reminds me that I am not in control, of anything, even my own body! Sure, I have a lot of influence over my body, but I don't totally control it. Anyone who believes he or she truly controls much of anything is fooling himself or herself.

Fortunately I had a nice 10 mile trail run last night and a pleasant 18:24 5k tempo on the track tonight. Provided I recover and rest up well the next four days and five nights, Desert Solstice could go quite well. However the race goes, it's not about me or what I did or do, it's about God, and what he has made possible. So I ask my favorite question, what is possible? And that is what I aim to explore on Saturday and Sunday.