Georgia marathon

The Georgia marathon was my 21^st marathon!  It was my third marathon of 2018, just two weeks after the New Orleans marathon!   It was my hilliest road marathon with 1534 feet of gain (hilliest trail marathon is still the Breakneck Point marathon with 10000 feet of gain).  The course was scenic and the crowds were awesome!  I felt a lot of love throughout the course and I’ll remember it as one my favorite races.

Recovery

Important to this race was to recover from the New Orleans marathon two weeks before.  I took two days off and then ended up running almost 12 miles which was too much.  So I took another two days off.  I hiked the Saturday and did one strength training session with a few boulder sessions.  Kept myself active but didn’t run too much.  I only did 17 miles that recovery week.  The week of the race the focus were on a medium slow run (7 miles) to regain some aerobic fitness on Tuesday and a track workout to practice running fast under some stress (2x2 miles after running 4 200s and then 2x400) on Thursday.  Special thanks to Kelvin for leading that workout and the rest of the queens distance runners for the company! 

Shakeout! – Day before race

I wanted to start my weekend in Georgia off with a sunrise from a mountain.  Found out that many state park s open at 7 am so had to go to a national forest.  In my search I found that Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the AT trail was only two hours away.  Despite it being cloudy and zero chance of sunrise I decided to drive up and do a morning trail run up and down the mountain.  Springer Mountain doesn’t have the best view either but it was more of a symbolic trip.  Shortest route is 2 miles and longest is about 10 miles and I found one that was 4 miles.  Perfect for a shakeout run!

After shakeout, it was a 2 hour drive back to eat lunch at Udipi Café in Duluth (NE of Atlanta) for some south Indian food.  Then to the expo center at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.  It was a tiny expo which made packet pickup quick.  Then the aquarium, 50% off with a promo code from the virtual goodie bag of the race.  The aquarium was similar to the NASA museum in Houston where they are focusing more on experiences rather than simply showing items.  I wanted to do dinner at Herban Fix but there was a 40 minute wait so dinner at mellow mushrooms.  I ended up eating a 14” pizza slice which was a fairly heavy dinner; something I don’t normally do (underestimated how big the pizza was).  Afterwards I did a scout of the starting/finishing area.

Race morning!

Six hours of sleep, a cliff bar mint chocolate bar that had some caffeine in it and a banana to get me to the starting line.  It took longer than I thought to get ready and I got in a 3 minute warmup jog instead of 5 minutes before heading to my corral.  I moved myself a little behind 3:45 pace group.  I planned to run with them for as long as I could.

The entire race is pretty much either uphill or downhill.  I know people always seek flat courses but I find hills to be mentally easier.  For the uphill I breathe in my nose and out my mouth and then was the downhill I breathe in and out my nose and focus on relaxing my breathing a bit.  You could always see the top of the hill on roads so while uphills are slowing you down you know you only have to stick at it for 2-3 minutes and then you got a nice downhill to enjoy.  The course is fairly scenic, a lot of beautiful green even in March!  The temperature started at 55 and climbed to 66 but it was fairly cloudy so I felt like it was near perfect.  I was afraid of getting hot so I sipped half a cup of water and threw the rest on my head at every water station.  There is also a half marathon and the course felt pretty crowded for the first 7 miles where the half marathoners split off.  They did do a good job separating the two races in the end though (otherwise I would have bumped into the walkers of the half near the end).  The course is also not completely closed to traffic and I saw one or two instances where a runner had to stop because a car was going through.  There was also food on the course!  I ate three half oranges and a half of a banana.  Fruit always feels better than gels.  They also had pretzels at one station and the volunteers were singing a rhyme for them (which I found cute) but I didn’t take any.  I used my usual gel strategy of one gel pre-race and then one at mile 4, afterwards one every 3 miles till mile 19.

I found parking within a 5 minute walk to the finish and about 10 minutes to the start line fairly easy (even with my truck).  A 7 am start in March after daylight savings starts means that you start the marathon in the dark but you get a glimpse of sunrise!  I was in corral B which went off 3-4 minutes after corral A.  I immediately lost the 3:45 group getting to the start line; I should have positioned myself right behind them.  I tried to go in with the same mentality as New Orleans where I wouldn’t look at my watch but I found myself looking at my pace most miles.  I didn’t do any calculations about end time or total pace; I guess I was just curious if I was keeping up. 

1-7

The start of the race felt pretty crowded.  That’s usually normal but I found myself weaving through more often than I’m use to.  The course starts of at a slight downhill with a few bumps for 3ish miles and then a short hill.  Mile 4 goes through historic MLK site. 

7 – 16

After mile 7 the course really cleared up with the half marathoners gone.  I could now see the 3:45 pace group ahead of me, maybe .2 miles ahead.  I would have loved to do a surge to catch up but too risky.  There were a lot of people here cheering.  A volunteer or member of the Atlanta track club rode by several times and gave tips multiple times.  It really helped out.  Mile 15 I particularly remember feeling a lot of love from the crowds.  Going through Decatur there were signs giving messages in sequence order.  Like a poem and “keep going” which kept me pretty entertained.    

Miles 16 to 22

Hit the druid hills and there was a lot of uphills with the steepest uphills being around mile 20.  I originally planned to try something I haven’t tried since my second marathon, listen to music!  I was going to put headphones at mile 12 but I felt so good that I finally decided to put them on at mile 16.  I hated it and by mile 20 I took them off.  I was still feeling great at this point but I was slowing down (and I knew it).  I saw the 3:45 pace group at mile 24 at a short out and back, about 3 minutes ahead of me.

Miles 22 to 26.2

Now back closer to downtown.  As my feet started hurting I started to struggle on the uphills around mile 23.  At mile 25 a marathon manic started talking to me.  It was her 31^st marathon and she was trying to do under 4 hours for all 50 states.  We talked a bit about 50 states and then she told me I had a bit more of a go.  With that I sped up a bit to the finish.  I kind of needed someone to tell me I still have a bit more go left.

There was much afterwards after the finish line besides your standard banana, pretzels and granola bars but I enjoyed the journey!

20th marathon - Rock and Roll NOLA

The Rock and Roll New Orleans was my 6th race this year and my 6th PR, beating my marathon PR set only 6 week before!  Conditions were fairly bad for me but through mediation I made it to mile 18 without too much of a struggle.  The next six miles were a struggle and then my toes started hurting causing the last two to be pure suffering.

Preconditions:  The biggest factor going to this race was that I ran a hard ultra 8 days before this race.   I ran the Mount Mitchell challenge, a 36ish mile race with 4,324 feet of elevation gain and my legs were still sore going into this race.  I also moved (across the street to anyone curious) midweek which took time away from some recovery swims and workouts.  I did manage to get in some easy pre-lunch runs and a shakeout run the day before.  The day of my flight we got hit by a noreaster which caused my flight to be cancelled and I got rebooked the following day arriving at NOLA at 6 pm.  The expo ended at 5 pm so I would have missed bib pickup.  It was a stressful morning.  I wasn’t able to find any earlier options but Rock and roll allowed me to do bib pickup on race day.  Having the day before to relax and walk around the city would have been great instead of traveling but guess this happens once in a while.

On the same flight to New Orleans I met Kieran who ran the QDR long run #2 in Alley Pond park a few weeks ago.  He also ran the Houston marathon as well and signed up for this race 2 weeks ago.  We talked for a bit and got a uber into the city.  Then I was off to the hotel and met up with teamate Julie.  Special thanks to Julie for dealing with the hotel booking issue, getting vegan pizza, granola, hammer and vega protein bars, and even a sandwich for tomorrow morning (that's dinner, breakfast and post race recovery covered)!  The race site was a 5 minutes walk from the hotel and we did a practice commute to race start.  Early to sleep afterwards.  Got 7ish hours.  Unfortunately heard a lot of in and other from neighbors through the night so I woke often.  Still felt pretty rested going into the race.

I ate a little bit of granola and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast 2 hours before.  I brought 6 Science in Sport gels with me to the race.  I got to use a few of them on my ultra the week before and while I think it has too much of a sugar taste I should finish my stack before buying more gels (I would probably think differently if this was my A race).  Got my bib without any issue and got a .6 warmup run in before the race.  I started doing warmup runs before races since the 2 mile race in Van Cortlandt I did with Kevin and Maria.  Before that, I didn't do any warmup runs or drills before a race.  I think it's been helpful!

Going into the race I had no idea what pace to run.  I told some of my friends that I was going to do a crash and burn where I would attempt to run the race for a massive PR and then hit the wall and struggle through it.  I figure the experience would help me for my A race in NJ in the end of April.  However, still being sore from the ultra brought back painful memories of the Chicago marathon where I attempted to PR in the marathon distance two weeks after my 100 miler.  Julie was aiming for a 3:36 goal and I decided that I didn't want her to wait too long for me so I should go for the crash and burn.  I would hit the wall and I would struggle to finish the marathon but that's okay.  

To delay hitting the wall I decided to not look at my watch at all (of course I could hear my watch beep and see the mile markers but I would not think about the distance left).  I wanted to just focus on moving right now.  I tried to not think at all.  Here and there I would change up my breathing (in and out of nose, mouth and mix of the two) and think briefly on cadence.  Sometimes I focused on relaxing my breathing, relaxing my arm swings and just stared far ahead, looking at the branches of trees.  My idea was that if I was running more relaxed I could delay hitting the wall.  I might have listen to a podcast about Japanese runners on my flight to NOLA.  I had to remind myself of this plenty of times during the race.  

The race started with an out and back along St. Charles street.  I remember mostly thinking about how unique the trees were in this stage.  Then it goes quickly through some of the touristy places of the till it hits the corner of City Park.  Then it follows City park and does two out and backs along Lake Pontchartrain before heading back along City Park and ending in the park.  A lot of the later miles had no shade and were on the boring side.  The course was very flat with a few small 30-40 feet gains from a few small bridges.

The race was hot!  It started in the 60s and ended in mid 70s but it felt hotter.  I ran in North Carolina the week before and NYC had a few spring days so I thought I was ready for the heat.  That quickly become untrue.  As always with heat I started consuming gels more often.  The race had three gel stations and at the first one (around mile 4) the gels were in a box.  Not wanting to lose speed I quickly reached in the box for a gel.  I ended up grabbing five and just ran with them in my hand.  I usually do one gel after 4ish miles and then one every 3 miles after but from miles 10-20 I was consuming one every 2 miles.  I grabbed another gel on the course as well and ended up only using two of mine.  After mile 20 I started drinking gatarode instead of gels and throwing a water cup over my head at every water station.

I was able to run at what I felt was a sub 3:50 pace for 18 miles.  Then I struggled to maintain pace for two miles before my brain started to slow me down.  After 20 I lost my meditative state as well and just struggled.  I'm normally pick it up after 20 miles but i wasn’t mentally strong enough.  I been here before so I kept moving, only thing I could do.  I definitively got passed by a quite a few people.  With 5k to go I broke my rule of not looking at time and distance left.  I realized I was comfortably in PR zone but still couldn't get myself to finish the last miles strong.  With 2 miles left, my toes started hurting and I couldn't block it out.  At the last bridge I noticed I was heel striking the ground, my running form was breaking down (something that has happened in my early marathons but not anytime recently, I blame it on my ultra the week before).

I saw Julie three times during the race and always tried to cheer her on.  I saw Kieran twice as well and waved.  He was pretty fast (he got a 3:16 something marathon).  I caught up with Julie around mile 16 and tried to tell her what I been telling myself the whole race about not thinking about distance or looking at watch.  Talking to her made me feel a lot better.  I started to encourage other people as I passed afterwards for a bit.  At around mile 18 I met a man from Mississippi who was doing his second marathon, also going for sub 3:50 and we talked for a bit before he had to slow down at a water station.

I was able to make a final push, sub 8 minute pace upon seeing the finish line.  Sadly that was only a .2 distance but I finished with a little more than a 4 minute PR.  Not too shabby!

Mount Mitchell Challenge 2018

Mount Mitchell Challenge!

In the winter of 2016-2017 trail runner magazine came out with an article about the best winter races.  The one that caught my eye was the Mount Mitchell Challenge.  A 40 mile race that goes to the top of the highest peak east of the Mississippi.  Unfortunately, the lottery for the race was in September of the year before so I missed 2017.  Out of the five lotteries that I entered for 2018 running races, this was the only one I got in.

The race goes from the town of Black Mountain through the private college community of Montreat and then up double track trails till it hits the Blue Ridge Parkway.  From there it traditionally goes on road into Mount Mitchell state park and then to the summit!  This year, they changed the course to cut a bit of the road part to the top and instead go through the single track, rugged Old Mitchell trail.  Then we took the road back down back to the double track to a slightly different route back into Montreat and took smaller roads back to the town Black Mountain.  The race has about 4800 feet of elevation gain and of course you have to get back down!  For reference to my city folks, Harlem hill has about 82 feet of elevation gain.

The elevation gain wasn’t the crazy factor for me.  Just in NY, close by Breakneck marathon had 10,000 feet of gain in Coldsprings and the Whiteface Sky race in the ADK has 8,000 feet of gain in just 18 miles.   The new factor for me was that 1/3 of the course was on the road and most of the rest was on double track where I’m use to my ultras being out on single track.  So the course overall is easier and I feel like you could get away with training mostly on roads for this one.

I arrived to North Carolina two days before race day.  I did a moderate trail in Montreat run up Graybeard Mountain via Graybeard trail and then made a loop going down the West Ridge which went through some of the seven sisters (short hills) before descending back to Montreat.  9.1 miles and 2700 feet of elevation gain!  I planned to use my Nike Trail running shoes that I got for free from my 100 miler in the fall for the race but on this trail run I found that in the descent my toes hit the front.  The shoes were too small.  I recently got max cushion shoes and while they are comfortable, I found them extremely heavy when they got some mud so I switched back to my Brooks Puregrits.  These shoes have finger wide holes on both sizes and easily have done more than 600 miles but my quest for trail running replacements haven’t been going well.  The day before I did an easy trail run in the River trail by the agricultural Ward Wilson College, a flat 5 miles.  The Town of Black Mountain is by Asheville which the podcast hosts of No Meat Athlete are from.  One of the host specifically moved to Asheville because it was more vegan friendly so I was excited to eat around as well.

The Fear of Pain

I recently realized that I could run a lot faster than I previously thought.  I have always run at a comfortable pace for most of the race before pushing hard at the end.  I always thought it of it as running smart.  However, from racing shorter distances I realized that I didn’t even know what I was capable of.  When was the last time I blew up during a race or hit the wall?  I was determined this race to start off a bit faster than what I would usually do and see what happens.

Nutrition

I did both my practice runs wearing my Ultimate Direction SJ racing vest but in the race briefing the night before I learned that aid stations were only 5 miles apart.  So I decided to waist belt and double bottle it.  I had one ultimate direction hand handle and another Salmon soft flask that wraps around your wrist.  The Salmon flask has a pocket where I stashed a few gels and my waist belt stored my gel flask and more gels.  I brought 24 Science in Sport gels for $7 during a promotion they had so I used them for gels and I used my hammer gel flask which stores about 5 gels in a tiny bottle.  I planned to use the Science in Sport gels first, they had water in them so I used them to get some of my water needs in well.  At aids stations I usually ate two orange slices and then moved on.  I drank about 28 ounces of water during the almost 7.5 hours I ran the race.  Overall I felt like I didn’t need much.  I ate my first gel at 45 minutes and then ate another every 30 minutes or so.  Halfway I ate half a banana and near the marathon mark I felt slightly off so I ate a few chips and a shot cup of coke soda.  I ended up not eating half my hammer gel flask.

Start line

I parked at the finishing area of the race about an hour before start time.  Easily got a spot.  I had laid out half my gear out in the dashboard of my car the night before.  Bad idea, in the 20 minute drive quite a few things fell and got tossed around.  It took me about 45 minutes to get ready.  I actually had to rush out with one of my bottles only a fourth filled up.  I ran about a half mile to the start, got in the bathroom (thank goodness for a real bathroom at the start) and joined the 500+ runners at the race 3 minutes before start time.  Had enough time to tie my shoes and move near the back of the pack.  The race has two distances, the challengers who are doing the 40 miler and the marathoners who will run only to the Blue Ridge Parkway and then turnaround.  500 people was a lot for an ultra and it had a road running start feeling to it.

The first 13 miles

The first 3 miles of the race were on main roads going to Montreat.  I maintained about 10 mile pace with some steady elevation gain.  I passed a few people here and there.  Then we hit the double track where the pace quickly picked by.  Passed a lot of people in the next few miles here.  It was hard not to get excited when you finally hit the trails.  Despite the uphill the pace was quick but I stuck with it.  I passed by the first aid station without getting anything.  The next few miles you started to go back and forth with some people which allowed for some small conversations.  A guy gave me some of his dried mango which I found delicious.  Conservations were a mostly about where you’re from, training, and gear you’re wearing.  I met a man that is running this race for the 19^th time and he talked about someone else on course that is doing his 21^st one (that’s every year since the race started).  This man ended up running a lot faster than me and it blows my mind that someone who started running this race when I was around eight years is still crushing it!  As the trail got steeper I fell into a jog walk but still moved on the quick side.  Around mile 11 I started seeing the marathoners going back down. 

The Road Ascent

At around mile 13 we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and started a 2.5 mile ascend up on road.  I drove up this road the day before to take some pictures from the summit of Mount Mitchell.  Recently, I stopped carrying a phone with me while racing (since I should be focusing my attention on moving faster) so I like to take my time the day before getting the photos.  It was weird seeing the road from this point of view.  I started jogging up, I figure that road would be a good way to do well on time but about a mile in, I got passed by three individuals walking.  So then I started walking but I couldn’t walk as fast as these three.  I fell about .8 of a mile behind by the end of the 2.5 mile road ascent.  Then the course turned to single track, rugged trail with plenty of roots and rocks.  It was very similar to Catskill terrain.  It was also wet from the light rain and fog.  I made good time here, easily passing those that passed me earlier.  I talked a bit with a man from Atlanta before I picked up the pace.  I kind of just went whatever pace was natural for me but people afterwards would tell me I crushed it there.  Two miles later and we end up right below the summit.  A volunteer marks an S on my bib.  Summit and turn around to the aid station.  I eat a bit more here since I’m halfway done before moving on.  Now the way back down is all roads till we are back on the double track.  I was expecting to make good time here.  Maybe 9 minutes a mile but I found my pace to be around 10:30 a mile.  I didn’t practice running downhill fast so I wasn’t able to pick it up here.  I found it different that running downhill on trails which I am somewhat good at.  Halfway through the three that passed me on the initial road climb passed me again.  I started feeling off towards the end of this section and then I touched my neck to find that there was a lot of salt on it.  As I hit the aid station at the end of the Blue ridge parkway I decided to drink a shot cup of coke with a few chips to get some salt and calories back in.  I passed a few runners here with my shorter time on the aid station.

The Double Track Downhill

The double back down was pretty rocky.  I sorted of noticed on the ascent but on the downhill I guess your feet hits the ground a bit harder so you feel it a lot more.  I did well here.  I passed by quite a lot of runners.  I talked briefly with a man from Burlington, NC, it seemed like quite a few people were here from there.  He was pretty impressed that I could manage this race while training in NYC.  The double track became less rocky but still downhill and I slowed a bit here.  There were quite a few splits of the trail and the course wasn’t marked that well in my opinion.  On the way up there were so many people so I had no trouble finding my way but now I was running alone 95% of the way.  I checked the map of my watch on a few of the splits; I pretty much had to assume that the larger trail was the right way.  After what the first aid station on the way up was is now the last aid station on the double track trail the trail became a very steep downhill.  I flew down but at one of the turns I couldn’t tell if I went the right way (again marking wasn’t as frequent as I’m used to).  So I went back up and found out that I was going the right way.  I wasted two or so minutes here which sucked since I was moving so fast. 

Back to Black Mountain!

The double track trail ended on Montreat roads and now the road descend was crazy steep.  It was the steepest road downhill I ever encountered (even steeper than San Francisco marathon downhills).  I passed by an aid station manned by Montreat college students.  As I got closer to finishing I thought about tips about moving fast that I have gotten recently.  I focused a bit on picking my legs up a bit.  A small section cut through park trails and in one of them I spotted orange marking in the middle of a stream and more orange marking on the other side.  It was hard to tell at this point if they belonged to the race or not.  I jumped to the giant boulder in the middle and was ready to jump into the stream to get to the other till I realized that the orange marking on the other side was no way a trail.  I must have wasted 3-4 minutes figuring this out and then proceed to continue the usual route.  Found more orange marking so I assumed that the other orange marking were a county or town mark for something else.  Rest of the two or so miles went smoothly.  The race ended with a loop around Lake Tomahawk.

After the race they had food in a community center building.  They had some delicious mushroom soups and I filled up on bread with peanut butter, bananas and pinto beans.  I talked with a few of the finishers and even a bit with the overall winner Morgan.  He finished the race in 4:20, more than three hours faster than my 7:23!  Others that finished the race said it was easier with snow since that covered up rocks.  It was the second hottest temperature of the race, high 60s in the bottom and high 40s on top.  After a little more than an hour of relaxing and talking I went back to Asheville to get a postcard which ended up being a lot harder than I thought.  Next was dinner and then the 10.5 hour drive back to NY!  I had two free beers that I could have claimed where they were doing the overall awards but I thought that to be a bad idea before a long drive.

Houston Marathon - Marathon #19

Houston marathon - Marathon#19

Untrained and sore from a half marathon the day before, I finished my first marathon about 4 years ago in Disney World.  As soon as I finished I was put into a wheelchair and pushed away to the medical tent.  The next quarter mile took almost a half hour to walk with every volunteer asking if I was okay and I struggled with walking for 2 days afterwards.  I ended up injured for the rest of winter and spring, not being able to run more than a mile.  You think an experience like that would have ended my marathon career, nope, marathon number 19 in the books!

Preconditions:  This marathon was a C race, pretty much just a workout as I am in the end of my first base building block for the NJ marathon in April.  I debated whether or not to attempt the sub 4 the day before.  I could run about a 4:20 marathon in an easy pace, attempting to run it faster would require some recovery time.  Running it easy was probably in my best interest but I was also looking for some redemption after failing big time to sub 4 during the Chicago marathon.  Plus the mental victory of getting a sub 4 could help motivate future training.  My runs lately have either been at recovery pace (11-12 minute pace at under 130 bpm), easy pace (10:30ish at under 140 bpm) and hard speed workouts.  Not having a long run at marathon pace was my biggest weakness going on to the race.  The day before I spent some time mediating which was new for me.  I got plenty of rest and did a trail shakeout run the day before where I stopped plenty of times to take photos.

Nutrition:  I did a 6 day eating strategy going into the race.  For 4.5 days I focused on raw foods (lots of greens) and then switched to eating more whole grain carbs.  I don't do the huge carb heavy dinners as I prefer having room for breakfast for race day.  For breakfast the morning of the race, I ate 1 banana with trader Joe peanut butter with flax and chia seed mix in a sprouted tortilla, 1 normal banana and 1 apple 3 hours before race start.  I took 2 hammer gel’s anti-fatigue pills an hour before race and a glukos energy gel 15 minutes before race.  Starting at mile 4 I consumed 1 huma gel every 3 miles till mile 19 (6 gels), and ate a bit of gu chews at mile 22 (more for the mental effect).  I drank 16 oz of water, mostly with the gels and took a slip of Gatorade at mile 17.

Gear:  Brooks Pureconnect running shoes (800+ miles on them), salmon hydro handset (it's a 500 ml flask in a body bottle which means it compresses as you drink, the narrow bottle mouth makes it hard to refill but I wasn't planning to refill). 

The plan - My strategy was simple, cruise at around marathon pace for about 20 miles and then run the last 10k hard.  I listened to a few running podcasts the days before the race, one that stuck in my mind was the race recap of the Bandera 100k by Mario Mendoza (who came in first).  He said he saved his emotions for the last quarter of the race and I resolved to do the same.

The course – The Houston marathon course is flat!  Only 200 feet of elevation gain, no cars cutting through the course, weather was mid 30s in the start but warmed to mid 50s by the end so overall pretty good and there was great crowd support.  Only a small stretch at mile 10.5 and around mile 16 felt empty crowd wise but overall there was a good amount of people for a non-world major race.  Your name is also printed onto your bib so people could cheer your name while you run.  The use of a huge convention center as the staging area before walking off to your corrals and as the finishing area was an awesome idea.  Helped keep you warm!

Start line – I met my friend Hong who was running the half marathon inside.  I didn't find any pins in my drop bag so I went on the hunt for some.  Lucky, a volunteer from the drop area had some.  Then the search for the bathroom.  The convention center had quite a few real bathrooms but they were mostly blocked off.  I think there were port-o-potties somewhere but managed to find a real bathroom that wasn't blocked.  I borrowed a Nathan hip belt from Hong's girlfriend, I forgot to bring any sort of belt and my handheld water bottle could only fit half my gels so lucky she had an extra one.  Running with gels in my shorts is doable but uncomfortable.  Hong warmed me about a hill near the end.  In typical fashion I had no idea about anything in the course.  I just knew when looking for trail runs that runners complained about the lack of hills in Houston.  I then I hurried to my corral.  Unfortunately Hong was in corral C and I was in corral B so we split ways here.  In the corral I squeezed my way through to maybe 30 feet behind where the 4:00 pace group was.  Too many people to get closer.  They had a volunteer hold a giant sign for the pace group but as it got closer to the start time, the volunteer went away and I lost where the pace group was.  I'm going to have to pace myself.

For the first half of the marathon my focus was on form.  I kept things internal, didn't allow myself to get influenced by any external stimulus.  I focused on cadence and getting into a cruising rhythm.  A four hour marathon is 9:09 pace.  I ran my first mile at 9:10, almost perfect!  Second mile was 9:07, third and fourth were 9:10 once again.  Things were going well and I was a bit proud of myself for being able to pace so well feel.  After the 4th mile I went to get my first gel.  I struggled a bit opening the zipper on my handheld and getting gel.  It was a bit overstuffed which contributed to the problem.  My 5th mile ended up 9:18 but no worries it was the gel.  Mile 6 ended up 9:20 and I started to worry slightly.  Mile 7 was back to 9:11 but miles 8 to 13 were all around 9:20.  A lot of people in my corral passed me.  It was hard to see my cruising pace was not on pace for marathon pace but I keep the consistent effort.  It was too early to try speeding up.  I finished the first half in 2:02:37 which would have been around my PR for a half an year ago.  

After the half way mark, I felt good so I decided to speed up.  I realized that I won't get the sub 4 if I kept the current pace up.  I now allowed external stimulus in, stopped focusing on form and started interacting a little more with the crowds.  This made me feel better and my pace went to 8:40s.  At mile 16 on a short out and back I saw the 4 hour pace group about a half mile ahead of me.  I decided to try to catch them around mile 22.  I started passing the people that passed me as well.  I probably sped up a little too much and as I got closer to 19 miles my pace started creeping back to 9 minutes.  

I was planning to use the emotions at mile 20 to fuel a hard 10k to the finish but by mile 19 I know I was struggling.  I calculated my time and I know it was borderline so I decided to dip into this well now.  I really needed to make it to mile 24, from there I should have enough motivation (from being almost done) to do a final burst of hard effort.  To dip into the emotional well I simply think of family, friends, teammates.  Some people called my name out which helps.  There was a stretch by memorial park where they played music on speakers which also helped (I don’t run with music).  I probably went to using my emotions too early and started fading by mile 24 but I knew I was close to getting the sub 4 and I was going to make full effort to getting it.

Around 40 kilometers (about 1.3 miles left to finish), I told myself family, friends and I started kicking.  I always been good in being able to kick at the end but this time I feel like I dug in deeper than before.  My mind went full focus into running.  I didn't feel hard breathing or fatigue, I just imagined the finish line just around the corner and focused on getting there.  At mile 41 I finally caught up to the four hour group.  The space to pass the group was in a narrow chute area so I said "excuse me" as I approached and passed through.  Someone from the group said "wow" as I passed by.  I had no thoughts at that moment about passing the group but I now realized this was the moment sub 4 was in the bag.  My garmin watch has my last mile at a 5:37 pace, it's hard to tell how much of that is true since mileage is a bit over (going around people, not running tangents and such adds distance) but if it's somewhat true, it would be my fastest mile yet (my last attempt at the mile was about a 6:20 pace).

After the race, we got the usual medals, banana and snack bars and went into the convention center.  There were changing rooms, more snack bars and they also had a hot breakfast but no vegan options.  I was able to find free parking two blocks from the convention center (I did get there early though) so getting out of the area to a restaurant was quick and easy.  Overall I would strongly recommend the marathon!  My 20th marathon is the Rock n Roll New Orleans marathon in March!

2017 - Year of Change

2017 was quite the year of change for me.  I relearned to swim, made many personal bests in cycling, running, archery, added gym rock climbing, joined two running teams, traveled a lot and moved out of parent’s house.  But my biggest change to is what people often refer to vanishing/wasting away Vik, I lost over 50 pounds in about 6-7 months from my switch to a whole foods plant based diet (basically a high carb vegan diet with limited process food).  This is my food journey:

The idea of a plant based diet was reintroduced to me when reading Rich Roll’s Finding Ultra.  Rich Roll wasn’t the first athletic who spoke about the benefits of being vegan.  Scott Jurek spoke about in lengths in his book Eat and Run and I am a big fan of his but I ignored his claims at that time.  They both claimed more energy and faster recovery times.  The biggest difference now was that through experience and studying training theories that I now understood how important recovery was.  Finding ultra was able to convince me to go vegetarian but diary however was a different story, I grew up drilled by ads on how good milk is.  I never questioned why I ate diary and I felt it was essential to my identity.  

The next book I read was Whole by Colin Campbell which does a great job of explaining why I feel the way I do about food.  It was next on my list to read randomly, I found it on Strand and thought the cover looked interesting.  I adopted my diet as whole foods plant based from the book.  I committed myself to reading four more books about nutrition while slowly cutting out diary.  One book wasn’t going to be enough to change a lifetime of habitats!  Reading more about nutrition helped keep the ideas of plant based diet on my head as I changed.  

I started off allowing some weekly cheat meals (2 cheat meals, 2 cheat desserts a week [not cheat days, that would be too much for me]) for meat and dairy but my body adopted fairly rapidly.  Within a month I started becoming lactose intolerant.  It started by getting a bit gassy when eating diary (which was ice cream at this point) to stomach pain for about 30 to 40 minutes and having the runs.  That honestly made things a lot easier, now I didn’t have any choice.  As my body changed, my taste buds also started craving fruits more and I slowly lost the taste for diary and meat.  

I rapidly lost weight and without any training gained free speed.  Just 5 weeks after going plant based, I came pretty close to my marathon PR without training and while still recovering from a 50k the week before.  As my body changed, I become curious about testing out what it could do.  I started pushing the limits of my body farther in training.  I took on triathlon training and 100 mile training at the same time over the summer.  To my surprise my body was able to handle the load.  I went from someone who ran 30 miles a week to someone who ran 60-70 miles a week while also biking and swimming (a little).  

So perhaps you are thinking that I run so much, that’s why I lost the weight.  I averaged less than one run a week 5 weeks after my 100 mile race and 2 weeks after my recent 50 miler in December, I maintained the same weight.  My appetite adapts to my training load (the more I train = the more I eat).

McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 miler

My last ultra of the year.  About 5.5 weeks ago I was bored and decided to check out UTMB website, probably the largest trail race in the world.  I knew you needed points to get in and I decided to check how close I was.  I had 14/15 needed in three races (6 points from my 100 miler, 5 points from my 100k, and 3 points from my 50k) to qualify for the lottery.  I then checked what races were available that was worth 4 points that could get me in.  I found 2 in the USA, the famous North Face Endurance Challenge Championships and the Mountain McDowell Frenzy.  Both 50 milers.  North Face was sooner and so I decided to opt for Phoenix to save some flight money and give myself an extra two weeks to train.

Training & Strategy

My training for this 50 depended a lot of the fitness I built training for my 100 miler.  After the 100 I took 5 weeks off structural training (I still ran Chicago marathon, PR in the Brooklyn half, etc but I ran with no adaption goals [so you could call them workouts but not training]).  I made a quick one month training plan with 2 weeks of easy rebase building.  The main difference between the 100 training and the 50 training is the two classes I’m currently taking.  It limited my ability to travel to trails to train (even within Queens).  The road became my only training ground.  This also forced me to start making routes from home.  I built up quickly to 60 miles a week but with it all on road I had to miss a few runs to make sure I recovered (trails have less impact allowing more mileage).  I didn’t allow much of a taper either going into the race.

I knew going into the race that heat and environment would be a major factor.  Yes 78 degrees dry heat isn’t too bad but still a lot warned than what I was getting use to in the NE.  My last ultra had 20 miles of snow and I was getting use to running in 40-50 degree weather.  Overheating is a major concern for me.

I used a different strategy for this race.  Usually I carry a race vest that usually has enough water and nutrition for 20 miles.  That way I could skip the first few aid stations and refill bladder halfway around 20, then just refill bottles for rest of race.  This race I decided to double bottle it and use my race vest only during the hottest part of the race.  I used my traditional ultimate direction bottle (has a classic strap your hand slips through) with a Salomon body bottle with a strap that wrap around your wrist.  The Salomon bottle had a little zipper which I used to stash huma gels and I used my short pockets to stash Untapped maple cookies and sport beans.  I wore my QDR singlet but didn’t wear anything to protect me from nipple bleeding which usually occurs in road races...usually the race vest prevents the shirt from rubbing and I forgot that I wasn’t really going to use one.  The more limited space from not having a race vest also meant no phone to carry.  We were allowed three drop bags.  Two were transported and we would hit them twice and one was at the finish which we would pass by at mile 42.  For my first drop bag I left some nutrition and my race vest and my brooks shoes.  My brooks shoes were the ones I used for the 100 miler and are well lasted their prime.  The shoes I started with were my nike trails that I got my 100 miler.  I have used them for a few hikes and short trail runs but they remain mostly untested.  I would hit the first drop bag at mile 11 and 18 so I figure if something was up with my shoes it would occur by 18.  My second drop bag was supposed to have another ultimate direction bottle, a headlamp, and nutrition.  I would hit that one at mile 29 and 35.  My finish line drop bag had more nutrition including my last huma gel and a jacket for after the race.  My general plan for the race was to start off slightly faster to tackle some miles before it got to the hottest time of the day.  Then I would use my race vest and dial back a little to focus on hydration and getting through okay.  The final 8ish I would drop the bag and finish at a faster pace.

Pre Race

Getting to McDowell state park was smooth and so was parking.  My pre race struggled started with my headlamp whose bands came out of the straps somehow.  It took 20 minutes to get it to somewhat come together.  It was a tight fit on my head.  Trying to fix it got me in a rush.  I dropped my drop bags just in time and got to the start line with a few minutes to spare.  Less than 90 runners in the 50 mile race.  The race director talked briefly about course markings and then we were off!

Miles 1 to 28

At about .6 miles I met Tanner.  He was a long time mountain biker who has done 800+ miles unsupported races before and is a 3:04 road marathoner.  This was his first ultra and we talked about everything outdoors for the next 10k.  We met a man from Canada but he was struggling to keep up with us so he didn’t talk much.  Tanner’s strategy was to carry just water and spend more time at aid stations eating.  I just resupplied water and was off.  I’m mostly afraid of getting stiff and then struggling to refind your groove from spending too much time at the aid station.  Due to my faster resupply I left Tanner at the aid station.  I was quite sad.  The next 5 miles went by a little slower without anyone to talk with.

At the mile 11 the aid station they had bean burritos!  Up to this point my nutrition has been a huma gels every 30 minutes after the first 40 and watermelon slices.  I noticed I miscounted how many gels I needed so I took a gu energy one from the aid station and another packet which I thought was hi energy chews.  Ended up being a gu tablet.  After mile 11 another runner tagged behind and eventually we started talking.  He was Jeff who is from around the area doing his firs 50 miler.  He told me a lot about the trails in the city, the cholla plants with thorns and the Thompson peak climb that we would have to do at mile 30ish. 

I switched out my nike shoes for my brooks, first time changing shoes in a race.  I was mostly afraid that the nike shoes were not wide enough but I did like their lightness.  My brooks trail shoes have holes and are pretty beat but I know I could run another 30 on them.  I also switched to my racing vest dropping my ultimate direction bottle and stashing my Salomon bottle in my bag.  The next aid station was 10.5 miles away and it was clear that the clouds which were providing the only shade from the sun won’t last much longer.  It was also getting close to high noon so hottest time of day.  I traded speed for the ability to carry 2.5 liters of water.  I separated from Jeff here.  My nutrition shifted from the gels to the maple syrup cookies and sport beans.

The racing vest felt heavy and within two miles many passes me.  Tanner caught up and passed as well.  Around mile 22 the terrain started to get a bit hillier which helped me a lot (terrain started feeling more like home).  By mile 26 I was feeling good, I passed a lot of those who passed me earlier.  I feel a lot got beat by the heat.  I also ran by the back of the 50k runners, many of who were struggling.  I did ran out of water as I was approaching the aid station at mile 28, just in time!  

Miles 28 to 42

Here we were to start the giant climb to Thompson peak.  I heard a lot about it but I done big climbs before and it was clear that many runners here aren’t use to hills.  NY has plenty of technical mountains that shoot straight up and down, we’re part of the beast coast as ultra runners call it.  I dropped my running vest at the aid station since it was only 6 miles till I hit it again.  I found out that I didn’t pack my other ultimate direction bottle in this drop bag as planned so I carried a smaller body bottle, 75% of the liquids I hoped to have.  As I left I saw Tanner resting under the shade of a volunteer aid station car.  

My nutrition shifted to cliff shots, Gatorade, dates, and Oreos from the aid station.  Knowing the climb was big I decided to award progress with Oreos.  Approaching the climb was daunting.  They want us to climb that?  It was crazy steep.  I would put it equal to going straight up the 4000ers ski slopes in the NE.  It was so steep that I had to stay on toes the way up.  Lucky I had experience going up and down those 4000ers ski trails that shoot straight up and down.  Remind me to do more of those races!  I logged a 26 minute mile going up and another 18 minute mile.  I saw people going down we’re struggling too.  Some went down sideways as a break?  I still don’t understand that.  Tanner caught up during the last .2 of the climb up and we went up together.  He was going to take the downhill slow.  I went by feel, when my quads didn’t hurt I charged down.  I saw Jeff near the end of my descent.  As I passed by people climbing I smiled and tried to encourage them.  Downhills have always restored my energy and even at 30+ miles it was doing the same.  Back at the aid station I picked up my headlamp and restocked on cliff bars, Oreos and dates.  I wrapped my headlamp around my left wrist and decided to leave my race vest in the drop bag.  

The trail now went into a gentle downhill.  At this point, approaching 40 miles I was through my own nutrition supplies.  The Gatorade, probably due to acidic, wasn’t sitting well.  I switched to water as my fluid, dates as fuel source and continued with the pieces of bean burrito.  I passed by a few 50kers, the ones at this point were pretty beaten and walking towards the finish.  Tanner caught up once again and we made it to the finish line at mile 42.  We still had a mini loop left.  He proceeded to switch socks and do foot maintenance.  I stocked up on some food, dropped my smaller body bottle, grabbed a huma gel I was saving and left.  The huma gel still tasted delicious after over 40 miles so it may be now my favorite gel.  Thanks to Cathy for introducing it to me! 

The last 8

I thought there was only 6 miles left (I went by the mileage on my watch) so I started picking up the pace.  There were two things that rang in my head.  One was what Leslie Lam said in the marathon panel about running the last 10k with your heart and the other was what Albert Tan said about a speed workout, about wanting to make sure you gave it everything.  I didn’t want any regret, I wanted to make sure I put everything in it.  At this point I was approaching the safe point to do it.  Two miles later at the final aid station I found out there was another 6 miles.  I probably should have studied that map rather than rely on my garmin!  That demoralized a bit and I slugged through a half mile before finding my groove.  It got dark and I had difficulty at two points at finding the trail (a lot of trail intersect but I was also getting tired).  Tanner soon caught up.  He had mountain biked this trail before and was pretty familiar with it.  We ran together for the next 2-3 miles.  The trail then started getting rocky and downhills which Tanner wasn’t good at but my specialty.  I left Tanner there.  Also with 3 miles left I started to push hard.  I felt like I was borderline about to throw up.  As I approached closer to the finish, another night race going opposite direction of our 50 mile was taking place.  I used the headlamps seen from the distance as target points.  When you’re running hard the miles go slow.  A runner told me I had 2.5 miles left to go which I hated to hear.  I had a pretty strong finish.

Afterwards to my great relief they had vegan pizza!  I cheered finishers for about an hour before going to take a nap.  I really admire those finishers that wait at the finish line till the race officially ends cheering people on.  I was too tired, might be possible if I wasn’t alone.  I also ended up with no bloody nipples so the singlet fitted well!

NCR Marathon - Marathon#18

The NCR marathon advertises itself as a flat and fast marathon and with 400 feet of elevation gain with the latter half a steady downhill the course is definitely a fast one.  The race uses part of the Northern Central Railroad rail trail.  The trail is about 10 feet wide and on hard stone dust surface and goes through wooded areas.  Here and there you get views of ponds and trees not fully bare yet which made the run scenic at points.  Parking was probably the biggest hassle for the race.  Parking space was limited at the race site so the major parking lot was 2 miles away with shuttle buses moving runners.  That’s not bad in the morning when you’re fresh and all but fairly annoying after running a marathon.  The first half mile of the race started on road, similar to how trail races usually start on dirt roads to separate the field out a bit.  Once you hit the trails there was less space to aggressively pass loads of people, it still wasn’t a single track trail so it wasn’t too bad.  

I had about 4.5 hours of sleep and a 3.5 hour drive to the start so the first 7 miles went by with me in a sleepy state.  Around mile 7 I started to have fun.  I was running at a steady easy effort, I would say 60% effort.  The course went about 13.5 miles out and then back (to a slightly different finish area).  Around mile 10.5 is went I started seeing people in the turnaround.  As typical trail fashion I said things like good job, nice work as people passed by.  Response varied, front of the pack and back of the pack were most likely to respond.  A lot of people had headphones on, a bit weird to see on a trail.  Miles 11 to 13.5 I struggled a bit, maybe I just spent too much time saying good job to people or something.  

At the turnaround I feel much happier, got over the mental block.  The disadvantage to this race was though scenic at points, most of it was the same woods view.  The trail doesn’t twist or turn, there is no mountains to climb or fly down from.  Nor any breath taking views.  The ground is pretty much the same too, just hard surface.  I found it more boring than a road race.  At mile 21 I no longer felt my effort level went to around 80%.  I was still trying to maintain pace and be steady but the distance just started to do a number on my legs so it felt harder.  The next two miles were mentally tough as I wanted the run to be over.  I started thinking of volunteers that have helped me in the past, friends, and family to keep going.  I passed quite a few people here as typical of any race.  The last 5k of the race went pretty easy as my brain realized the end was near.  I didn’t gut out the end but you could see the finish from about a half mile away so I did speed up to 90% effort.  My time goal was 4:37 which I sort of made up.  I had no idea what an easy pace marathon was at this current level of fitness.  The race completes Maryland on my quest to ran at least 26.2 in all 50 states and completes my last big long run before my 50 miler in Arizona.