I didn’t make it through day 25 last time, but my friends rallied around me on the 31st to get the missing miles in and I was able to end on a high note and raise enough money for a family to attend Camp Sunshine.

Now that I’m full time with Run to Win, I’m better able to get my running in during daylight hours when there is less traffic and safer conditions.

Seems like a good time to start it again, doesn’t it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGX2jU8KhDQ

Beginning on March 1 and running through March 31, I will be running the challenge again and I’d like for you to join me. Here’s how you can help:

1. Run the Challenge (sign up below)
2. Donate to Campsunshine
3. Get Camp Sunshine Media Attention***
4. Promote Your Products with Prizes (contact me if you have something)
5. Come Run a Free Race with Us (details to be announced)

Learn about the original challenge and follow the progress of the new challenge at the website:
1MoreMileForSunshine.com

One of the most disturbing stats that I saw on a quick glance through the report is that 40% of the time, Americans are traveling less than 2 miles. However, 62% of the trips that were less than a mile were by car, and 87% of the trips between 1 and 2 miles! Sure, sometimes you need to carry a lot of groceries home, or the weather is bad you’re afraid that you’ll melt. I can understand that. But if it’s a nice day and you’re just going to visit a friend down the road, or if you live close to where you work, why not walk?

Economically, bicycling and pedestrian related projects will normally create between 11 and 14 jobs per $1 million spent, compared to 7 jobs created for highway projects. Despite cost/benefit analyses showing that every dollar spent can result in $11.80 in benefits, states are spending less than 2% of their federal transportation dollars on projects that will encourage people to commute under their own power. That’s just one of the reasons that biking and walking levels are down 66% since 1960 and is probably a contributing factor to a growth of 156% in obesity levels. In fact, between 1966 and 2009, the number of kids walking or biking to school went down by 75% and the percentage of fat and overweight kids has increased by 276%.

Did you know that 6 of the 10 states with the highest levels of biking and walking also have the lowest levels of bicycle or pedestrian fatality rates in traffic accidents? On top of that, in 7 of the 10 states where you are most likely to die in a traffic accident from getting hit by a car you’ll also find the fewest number of fellow bikers and walkers.

Maine is one of the better states to live in if you enjoy moving under your own power, which just gives me one more reason to be happy that I live in Vacationland all year. How does your state rank? You can find out by checking out the report at: People Powered Movement.org

Leave a comment below and let me know how you rank where you live.

Finish Line at the Houston Marathon

It was a great weekend. I knew it would be something special when within a few hours of getting there last Thursday I’d already met up with a half dozen people I knew (and all at random, none of it was planned.) That night, my wife and I crashed a local running club’s pasta dinner (okay, we were invited, but it’s more fun to say we crashed it.) The next day, we met up with a friend of ours that was also in town to take a tour of the Johnson Space Center, and then I spent the afternoon at the Expo trying to drum up business for my book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KneUwacajQw

Download This Video: MP3 – Watch on YouTube

Women at Olympic Trials

That afternoon, my wife and I decided to run to Rice Village for lunch, which was about a 5 mile jog from where we were staying. We actually went to the Chocolate Bar first to get some ice cream, then went to lunch. Rice Village strikes me as being similar to Freeport if you cut Freeport in half. After lunch, Erin took the train back downtown and I decided to run through Herman Park and then back to our hotel, making it about a 13 mile day right before my marathon.

Meeting Brian Sell

Erin wasn’t too happy that I’d been up drinking until 11:30 the night before my marathon, but it doesn’t seem to have affected me too much. I felt fine the next morning, made it to the starting line early enough to get a photo with the Maniacs, and seeded myself around the 3 hour pacer since I honestly had no idea what sort of pace I’d be able to run and figured the best I could do would be 3 hours and a few minutes.

A few miles into the race, Gary Allen was running next to me and spotted me, so we decided to settle into 6:50/mile pace for the next hour since Gary’s “A” goal was just to break 3 hours. Of course, that never happened. We were busting out 6:43s no matter how hard we tried to slow down, and this turned out to be one of the best paced races I’ve run at this distance. Overall, I ran a 56 second negative split and my 5k splits only varied by a second or two per mile. At the end of the race, I got passed by a couple of people in the last 4½ miles, but I passed 25 people. My final time was 2:55:40.

It was a lot of fun, even if I don’t really care for all that concrete that they use for roads down there. I don’t think I’ll be very likely to go back, as I also prefer smaller races, but it was worth running for sure.

GAC Fat Ass 50k

“Pain Is Temporary. Quitting is Forever.”
    –Lance Armstrong

I drove down with some friends the GAC Fat Ass 50k this morning with the intention of running all 5 loops. Given the beautiful weather, it almost seemed a crime not to.

It was a lot of fun, despite the lack of anything even resembling snow (at least once it warmed up a little we got some mud to run through) and there were a lot more people than I expected.

Running in a singlet in January in New England somehow seems wrong, but it’s a fun loop and a good group of folks that come out to run.

I was running at a good clip for almost 3 loops when I started to feel a small twinge in my achilles. Not enough that would stop me during a race or even a workout if I were training for something, but enough to make me notice it and consider whether I should continue on for a fourth loop or not given that I’m running another marathon next weekend and I don’t want to risk getting hurt for it.

I decided that it was better to be smart than to have fun and take risks since I had nothing to prove today, but it was a hard decision. The decision did have one benefit in that I had a ride at that point and was able to reclaim a few hours of my day and my afternoon was quite productive, but it was so nice out that it still seems a shame to have stopped.

Hopefully I can get back next year and do a proper job of running all 5 loops.

2012 Boston Ice Sculpture

Last year, I drove down from Maine with a friend from Maine. This year, I spent New Year’s Eve with another friend that lives in the Boston area, which was actually quite convenient because I was able to drop my car off near the Boston Public Library and have it waiting for me near the finish line when I was done.

We arrived in Hopkinton around 5:45 in the morning to join a quickly growing crowd of about 30 runners. Apparently, a good portion of our group was planning on running the course at 7 a.m. instead so they could sleep in a little, and I also heard that the B.A.A. had a group that was planning to run at 9:30 a.m. I’m not sure how many or if anybody showed up for those runs, but our group was around 30 runners strong and about a third of us planned on running the entire way.

The sun had yet to rise for a little over the first hour of the run, and despite warmer temperatures than last year the roads were much slicker from the previous day’s freezing rain. At least it wasn’t as slick as Maine had been on New Year’s Eve…before driving down I took a tumble on my morning trail run and hit the ground pretty hard. As far as I’m aware everybody managed to keep their feet during the marathon.

There was definitely more traffic this year. Last year we pretty much had the streets to ourselves until we got near Boston, but this year there was a regular stream of cars passing us or crossing our paths. I’d consider it light even by Maine standards, so while we couldn’t take up the entire road this year we still had no trouble and for the most part got to spread out across one lane at least.

Around 9 or 10 miles into the run, we passed a murder of crows that came out to watch us run. Gary told us not to look up because the one on the left looked pretty mean, but I think they enjoyed watching us. He also pointed out that we should “notice that there’s no unicorns up in the power lines to cheer us on.” I believe that the first of our group actually finished running the course before the first B.A.A. group got around to starting theirs.

Along the course, there are plenty of Dunkin Donuts that are open, even at 6:00 in the morning, for those needing to use the facilities. The only real problem with relieving yourself is that you then have to play catch-up to reach the group again.

The second time I had to catch up to the group, I decided to take my time doing so and spent a few miles on my own. When I did catch up, Amanda was in that pack and both of us seemed pretty content to take our time through the Newton Hills and moved into the grassy median going up the hills. While the ground was uneven and frozen, it wasn’t as icy as the roads around there so it was easier to keep our feet. We didn’t catch back up to anybody else and ran the rest of the way in to Boston together, where her boyfriend was filming the finish and caught our epic sprint to the line on film. I’m hoping that cut makes it past the chopping room floor!

We ran in a leisurely 3:37:08, about 15 minutes slower than I ran it last year and about 3½ minutes faster than the first time I ran Boston back in 2005. Of course, I was miserable in 2005 and felt great on Sunday so it’s hard to even compare those experiences.

After the run, most of us hung out at a Starbucks a few blocks away from the finish line where I showcased my new book and swapped stories with a great group of friends.

If you don’t have plans for the new year next year, you should really consider joining us.

On November 29, I tried to go to bed early, but I had an idea. So I got up to write down some notes and went back to bed. Then I got up to take more notes. This went on until instead of going to bed an hour early I was going to bed 3 hours late…and that’s how the Runner’s Almanac began.

Fast forward 2 weeks and 2 days and I was ordering a proof. The book was put together, the cover designed, interior typeset, and now it was just time to wait and see whether what I’d envisioned in my head was going to work when it was actually on paper.

And yes, yes it does!

The proof of the book came in today, so I’ve gone ahead and made it available for purchase.

The book will appear at Amazon most likely between Monday and Wednesday of next week, but until then you can check out the book’s website, download a sample chapter if you’d like to see what it’s all about, and order it directly if you’d rather get it sooner rather than later (it would make a great Christmas gift for any runner in the family!)

Just head on over to: therunnersalmanac.com

I’d like to apologize for waiting a week before choosing a winner. I’ve got a great project in the works that is just about finished and ready to be announced that has consumed all of my time over the past couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’d like to award the final 2 sets of IceSpikes to some deserving winners. If you took part in either of the previous two contests, you are already entered, but you are welcome to get a bonus entry into this contest now if you like by just leaving a comment below.

I will choose 2 winners at random on Sunday night at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time so you have until then to leave a comment below.

Update: Rather than make yet another post on these contests, since this is the final one I am going to just announce the winners of the last 2 sets!

This time, there were 91 entries, and #13 and #69 were chosen, which are Jim in Wells and Marcel.

Congrats, guys, I’ll be contacting you for a mailing address!

I’d also like to announce another contest for another free set! This one will run a little longer. You have from now until Friday, December 9th at noon Eastern Time to leave a comment below. Also, for those that entered this weekend’s contest – you’ll get an automatic entry from yesterday’s or this morning’s entry and can have a bonus entry by leaving a comment on this post. (This only applies for those that entered before the deadline – future comments won’t be considered on that post, only on this one.)

If you win one of these sets of Ice Spikes, then you aren’t eligible to win again. Sorry – one set per person!

So, who did win the first set? Let’s see:

Contest Winner

The 45th comment (out of 46) was left by LaNeta Roth at 11:27 am this morning! Great job getting your entry in right under the wire, LaNeta! I’ll be contacting you for where to send your free set of Ice Spikes.

And don’t forget, until midnight tonight (Sunday, December 4th) you can get a 15% discount off of any order from their website. Just go to www.icespike.com and enter coupon code: stocking stuffer

And if you want to enter this week’s contest for the next free set of Ice Spikes, all you need to do is leave a comment below.

There are other solutions that I’ve reviewed before, such as Stabilicers and Yak Trax, but until I heard about Ice Spikes my favorite solution was to just drill sheet metal screws into the bottom of my shoes. They’re both cheaper and more effective than anything else I’d tried.

Having used Ice Spikes for a couple of Winters now, my conclusions from 2010 still hold true. Sheet metal screws aren’t as effective as Ice Spikes and they don’t last nearly as long. However, they are a lot cheaper.

How much you run and how much traction you want will determine which solution is better for you, and if you’d like to see all the pros and cons of both solutions then click here to see my full summary.

There is one thing for sure, however, and that’s that if you can get your Ice Spikes on sale or for free, then there’s no contest about which is a better option! Ice Spikes has been kind enough to sponsor quite a few races here in Southern Maine, one of which I direct and a few put on by my trail running friends.

How To Win a Free Set of Ice Spikes

They’ve also been kind enough to provide some of their product for me to give away right here at Run to Win! I’ll be giving them away throughout the month, starting today. If you are paying attention, then this weekend you can just leave a comment here on this page and you’ll be entered into a random drawing. Be sure to leave a valid email address (it won’t appear on the site) so that I can get in touch with you if you win.

As I type this, it is Saturday morning on December 3rd, 2011. This contest will stay open until noon on Sunday, December 4th (Eastern Time.) One fast acting commenter is going to get a free set of Ice Spikes to use this Winter, and you’ll still have time after the contest to buy a set with a 15% discount from their website.

If you buy anything on their website by midnight tomorrow, use coupon code stocking stuffer and you’ll get 15% off of your order. Just go to: www.icespike.com

To enter the contest: Just leave a comment below.

Racing Ryan Hall

They created a display that shows Ryan Hall running for 60 feet down the hallway at his marathon pace of 4:45 per mile. Subway travelers were invited to race against him and then given some stats…for example, did you know that his stride length is 6 feet 10 inches? Wowzas…

Even Ryan and his wife Sara got to try racing him, here’s a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDs4j8ZHzVg

Watch on YouTube

So what do you think…think you could beat him 60 feet down the hall?

Paula Radcliffe's Marathon Record

The IAAF has now just reversed that decision about removing existing world records:

Following a recommendation by the IAAF Competition Commission regarding Women’s World Records for Road Events, IAAF Council has approved the continued recognition of the currently existing World Records, regardless of the type of race in which they were achieved (mixed or women only) and new records will be officially recognised and ratified only if achieved in women-only races.

The 48th IAAF Congress in Daegu, Korea, approved that from now on, a Women’s World Record on the Road can no longer be set in a race in which the record setter is competing against men. At the same time, however, no announcement was made about existing World Records, some of which were achieved in mixed races.

To be consistent with previous decisions taken in relation to changes to other World Records recognition principles, the Commission felt that the current World Records are still valid, which prompted their recommendation to Council which has been approved.

I am very happy for Paula and for the other women that were going to be affected by this ruling that they get to keep their records, but it is too little and not soon enough.

Their sexist policy that women can’t run in the same races as men is still going to be in place for the future beginning with the new year, and there is no such policy against men running with women.

This policy will still set back the sport of running by 50 years, and it sets a bad precedent. I think that it’s time that the IAAF acknowledges that it is no longer the 1890s and they stop putting the interests of their federations first while treating their athletes as a commodity.

It’s easy for me to sit here and say that the IAAF should be boycotted as I don’t make my living as a professional runner. It would be especially difficult for track athletes, who don’t have many alternative places to race like marathoners and other road competitors do where they can earn a good paycheck. I don’t know that there is any other way to overhaul these and other antiquated policies of the IAAF that are holding the sport back.

So congratulations to Paula and to the other amazingly fast women who were being threatened with having their world records stripped from them for bad reasons, but the fight should not stop here and we should continue to let the IAAF, the IOC, USATF and whatever your local governing body is what your feelings are on the matter.

If you’d like to learn more information, there have been a few facebook fan pages created over the past couple of months that have been good hubs of information flow and organization that you might want to check out.

The first is “Restore Paula Radcliffe’s Record, put together by Gary Allen and Mary Ropp, and which has achieved it’s goal in being created.

The second is Nick Symmond’s group, “I’m Tired of USATF and IAAF Crippling Our Sport” – you may also want to look into the Track & Field Athlete’s Association which has just opened up membership to non-elite runners and reduced the membership fees to $20/year.

Trail Monsters at Stone Cat

The morning began with a 4:30 continental breakfast at the hotel. They opened the doors and got everything going early for the racers, which I thought was a considerate touch that I don’t usually see when I travel to races. I had brought my own food that I was used to, so I just made use of their toasters and orange juice before heading back up to my room to get dressed for the race and to make sure my bag had everything I’d want or need for the start/finish aid station.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather on race day. The Stone Cat races comprise a marathon and 50 miler that both start at 6:00 in the morning. The 50 milers head straight into the woods, while the marathoners only run to the treeline before hanging to the right and running a 1.2 mile loop to get to the same point. Once in the woods, the marathoners run 2 of the 12½ mile loops while the 50 milers run 4 of the loops. We were greeted to clear skies (though dark) and temperatures in the low 30s at the starting line, eventually to warm up to a sunny day in the mid/high 40s for the late morning and early afternoon when most of of the runners would be finishing.

Satellite Map of the the Stone Cat 50 Miler

Loop 1 – Strategy

The goal during the first loop was to go slow. Painfully slow, if necessary. It would be dark, and I didn’t want to trip and fall on a tree root or rock and didn’t want to waste any energy that I didn’t need to. My headlamp is bright enough that visibility wasn’t going to be a problem, so once I got into the trees I’d try to settle into a pace that was right around 9:20 per mile, give or take about 10 seconds. Ideally, I’d come through in 1:55 to 2 hours. I’d be wearing my hydration pack, which would give me somewhere to stow my headlamp after the sun came up since I wasn’t sure if I’d have any friends at either of the aid stations to drop it off with.

Loop 1 – Execution

Headlamps of Runners at the Start of the Race

I pretty quickly settled into my pace, getting passed by at least a dozen or more people within the first mile. I was running with my friend Ian for about half a mile, and we were chatting, but then I got to a hill and walked up behind another runner, Dima, who had not brought a headlamp. He seemed to be running at a reasonable pace, so I ran with him for a few miles, which made it easier for him as I have a bright headlamp and he had none. Once the sun came up, he went ahead and while I would almost catch him at the end, he still beat me by a couple minutes.

About 3½ miles into the loop, I went through the flooded area of the course for the first time. My feet got cold and wet, but it wasn’t too bad and they’d warmed up just fine by the time I got to Al Cat’s Lounge at about 4.2 miles. (My feet were dry by the time I got to the second aid station around 7½ miles into the loop.) Passing through Al Cat’s Lounge, they asked if I needed anything but all I wanted was a trash can as I’d taken my first gel and I was carrying my own water so I just planned to pass right through.

The lead pack of marathoners was around 12 to 15 strong when they passed me around 5½ miles into the course. I would later catch back up to at least a few of them that had gone out a bit too fast while I was running my second loop.

My water pack has been temperamental for me since this Summer. It works fine for my wife, and it worked fine for me the first year or so I used it, but sometimes it doesn’t like to actually let me get any water out of it. So today it worked well for 5 miles and then it was too much work to get much more water out of it the rest of the day. I never did put my headlamp into the pack, since I wore it the entire loop even after turning it off shortly before the marathoners started to catch up.

Because the pack wasn’t behaving, when I took my second gel near the second aid station, I did stop for a cup of water but quickly moved on my way. It was probably a good thing the pack didn’t make it easy to drink; I was well enough hydrated as it was. I spent more time watering the trees than I did in the aid stations, even counting for gear changes near the start and finish. I actually stopped 3 times each of the first 2 loops, and twice in the 3rd loop.

I averaged about 9:12 pace for the first loop, coming through right around 1:54:55. Right about where I wanted to be.

Stone Cat Elevation Profile

Loop 2 – Strategy

The goal for the second loop was to maintain that same easy pace, which should still feel pretty comfortable. It might get a little tougher later in the loop but for the most part I expected the first 25 miles to be relatively easy and hopefully I’d be able to maintain a pretty good rhythm. I would be dropping off my headlamp at the start/finish area, and leaving my hydration pack behind and picking up my waist belt which carries two bottles. I had one bottle full of water and one full of Crank e-Fuel.

Loop 2 – Execution

The Start of Loop 2

The timekeepers were trying to figure out my bib number, but I told them I’d be stripping off my Run to Win shirt which I’d used to keep a little warmer in the dark. The rest of the race, I’d be running in my Trail Monster singlet, which I’d had on underneath.

As I headed back towards the woods, I pulled my arm sleeves down over my hands, so rather than going from wrist to mid/upper arm, they went from fingers to elbow. I also swapped my watch to my right arm since the left hand was number and I wanted to make sure I didn’t restrist the blood flow.

I figured out really quickly that my waist pack was a mistake. It’s great in training, but it messes with my center of gravity too much while racing. I also didn’t need nearly that much in the way of fluids.

When I came to the downhill stretches and the flooded part of the trail, I actually took the bottles out of the pack and carried them in my hands since I could move faster and easier that way.

Oh well, lesson learned. I knew that if Erin was at Al Cat’s Lounge I could drop the pack with her, and if not then I considered leaving it anyway and recovering it later. I didn’t see my wife, but I did see my friends Erik, Chandra and Four so I left the water bottle with Erik, grabbed a third of a banana, and kept moving.

The rest of the loop, I kept the bottle full of Crank either in my hand or swapping between one side of the pack or the other, with the pack twisted around so the bottle was right behind me rather than being unbalanced to one side. This actually worked out pretty well; I still didn’t want the bottle in the pack while I was running downhill but the rest of the time it didn’t bother me.

Shortly after Al Cat’s Lounge, I started running with Greg. We’d be within earshot of one another for the rest of the second loop, and for a mile or so of the third. Other than the 2 miles or so that I had company at the beginning of the race, and a bit over a mile at the end of the first loop when I ran with a man named Jeff, this would be the only time I’d really be running with another person the entire day.

I didn’t bother much with the second aid station since I was carrying the Crank in my water bottle, although it did begin to get a bit strong by the end of the loop so I wasn’t drinking as much anyway.

I kept looking out for my friend Emma, who had passed me near the end of loop 1, since she’s usually really good at running an even pace and it would have been fun to run with her for a while.
When I got to the end of the loop, though, I was told that I was way ahead of her, which made no sense to me.

Greg and I averaged a pretty solid 9:22 pace for the second loop. I came through somewhere in the 3:51:xx range, about a minute and a half to two minutes slower than I ran loop 1. Right on schedule.

My Running Pace at the Stone Cat 50 Miler

Loop 3 – Strategy

The goal for the third loop was to maintain that same easy pace, although I fully expected that running at the same effort level was going to begin getting difficult so if I dropped back a little that would be okay as long as I kept moving and maintained the same effort. Between the two aid stations was where I expected trouble to really start based on my experience in Nevada, when I hit a really dark place around mile 33. I’d be dropping the water belt and the two water bottles near the finish line and taking my hand held bottle, probably with water but I could mix up some more Crank or Nuun or something similar if I felt the need. I’d probably grab the bag of gummy bears or honey stinger chews at the start of this loop.

Loop 3 – Execution

Getting Ready to Start Loop 3

That meant I got some crew help for the last few laps, which was nice. When I came in, I handed off my water bottle, still about a third full, and had Erin fill it halfway to three-quarters with water to dilute the remaining Crank. While she was doing that, I stripped off my arm sleeves as I’d warmed up enough that I no longer needed them. While I was having another piece of banana, I realized I forgot to grab the strap for the water bottle so I sent Erin back to my bag for that and then began the loop.

I got separated from Greg at that point, and while I’d see him through the woods off and on and we even ran near each other again for a mile or two, we basically ran our own races and drifted apart. I ran alone the rest of the race except when I’d pass somebody and we’d potentially run near other for a short time.

The handheld was a good choice. It’s not as efficient as the hydration pack and you can’t carry as much water, but it’s the option I’m most comfortable with and have been using for years now. While I managed to remain upright the entire race, it’s also useful to keep yourself from breaking a wrist if you do fall.

I had meant to grab my bag of honey stinger chews or my gummy bears going into loop 3 since I hadn’t had any solid food other than the pieces of banana, but I didn’t think of it until I was back in the woods. I still had 2 gels and the Crank in the water bottle though so I wasn’t too worried.

Going through the aid stations, nothing really appealed to me to eat, which is unusual. I can normally eat just about anything, and during an ultramarathon it’s not uncommon for me to snack and sample my way through the course. Pretty much all that seemed good were the bananas, though, so that’s what I stuck to. I didn’t wind up using either of the gels, although I did come close to finishing the water bottle, and did have 1 more piece of banana while I was running.

This loop I started to pass a lot of marathoners. There were also a lot more people out enjoying the weather on their bikes and horses (well, there was 1 horse, I just passed her a few times.) The only Trail Monster I passed was Kate, who after the race told me she was struggling at that point but she was all smiles and seemed pretty happy when I saw her a few miles from the finish line.

I was still maintaining an even effort; I wasn’t hurting all that much, I remained lucid, and I never went into that dark place that I had hit 3 years ago. About the only thing out of the ordinary was that I kept getting the beat of one of the songs that my ride had played on the drive over to the race in the morning in an effort to pump herself up for her marathon. (It actually took me a couple days to get it out of my head after having it echo in my brain for 5 or so hours of the run.) Thankfully, it was just the beat and not the lyrics, as it wasn’t a particularly good song.

My average pace had slowed down to 10:20 per mile for this loop, but I was dead on my sub-9:36 goal pace since I came through right in 6 hours. I was still pretty confident that I could break 8 hours, and while I didn’t expect the final 12½ miles to be my fastest of the day, I did expect to be able to run it in under 2 hours.

Aerial View of the Flooded Trail at the Stone Cat 50 Miler

Loop 4 – Strategy

The goal for the last 12½ miles was to see what’s left. Ideally, it would be my fastest loop, although if I could maintain that sub-2 hour pace for it then I’d be happy. The primary focus was to be done with my 37½ mile warmup and to start racing…this is when I would want to chase people down and pass them and make sure that nobody could catch me. I’d probably stick to the handheld, taking a water bottle with whatever fluid I felt I needed when the time came.

Loop 4 – Execution

Finishing the Race in 8:07:50

I decided not to bother carrying water with me for the rest of the race. Having watered a tree 8 times in the first 6 hours, I wasn’t worried about my hydration levels and I’d still be able to get some water about every 4 miles. That meant I didn’t have to carry the water bottle, and instead I grabbed the pack of honey stinger chews.

Other than using them during some Fat Ass runs over the previous Winter, I’d never really trained with the honey stingers. Once I got the package opened, I would take one out and let it melt in my mouth before chewing it every time I got to an uphill that I was planning on walking. This actually worked out pretty well. I got through most of the pack before I got to the flooded part of the trail, when I put the rest into the pocket on my shorts.

I started passing people right away, most of whom knew Ian as he directs some popular trail races in Maine and is friends with everybody. They’d let me know how far up Ian was, and pretty soon I’d catch glimpses of him through the trees. I caught up to him about 2 miles into the loop on one of the bigger hills, and we ran together for a little ways. He wasn’t feeling too well, but he still had a strong finish left in him after I took off on the next downhill stretch.

Shortly after that, I reached the flood section of the course.

The water hadn’t really bothered me most of the race. I’m used to running with wet feet, my shoes drain, and it hadn’t been much of a problem for me. I’d gotten used to doing a little stretch and flick of my shoes to help drain water out the tops of them right after getting through, and then letting them dry over the next few miles.

This time, though, the water seemed to bother me a lot more. My toes got cold and they never really thawed out. Running through water that sometimes was as deep as my calf meant that I was splashing my legs to my upper thighs, and for the rest of the race I wasn’t able to feel the ground with my feet very well and my calves would spasm off and on. I never knew when a spasm would come, except for when I had to hurdle downed trees. Then it was guaranteed.

This slowed me down a lot, unfortunately. About halfway through the loop I started to have doubts of maintaining a 2-hour pace, and by the last aid station I knew that it wasn’t within my reach. Every time I’d pick up the pace, one calf or the other would spasm and threaten to introduce my face to the ground, so my goal became letting nobody catch me, even if it was somebody that I had just passed.

I wound up taking the last 2 gel packets that I had as I went through the aid stations, as well as another piece of banana and a cup of water at each one. I felt well enough the entire way that the only places I walked were where I had originally planned to, running everything in the last loop that I’d also run in the first loop.

With about 2 miles in the loop to go, there’s an abandoned car in the middle of the woods. Some guys had dragged a car battery out and hooked it up so they could blow the horn at the runners and serve them shots of kahlua, and as I came up on it I was thinking that since there was no chance of hitting my goal I should stop for a shot with the Stone Cat. Unfortunately, they’d packed up by then, so I kept going.

As I was beginning to think about putting in the final “sprint” (hopefully running around 7 minute pace for the last mile and a half or so) I heard somebody almost fall behind me. Turning around, I saw Dave Merkt (I think – that’s a guess, I never spoke with him) who had been visible through the trees for most of the last 6 or 7 miles since I’d passed him. That spurred me on to pick up the pace because I didn’t want anybody to pass me.

Coming into the gravely section of trail before the last real turn, my foot hit a rock and I twisted my ankle, threatening to go down. My calf in my other leg decided to spasm at the same time, so for the guys coming in the other direction to start their last loop they got to watch me windmilling my arms for about 20 meters while I tried not to fall down with less than a mile to go in the race. Somehow I kept my balance, but could only manage a 7:21 final mile.

My pace for the last loop was better than loop 3, but at 10:14 it wasn’t enough to break 8 hours. My final time was 8 hours, 7 minutes and 50 seconds, about 20 minutes slower than my PR, and good for 10th place out of 107 finishers. (At Stone Cat, you can drop down from 50 miles to 37½ miles or the marathon if you want.)

Just After Finishing the Stone Cat 50 Miler

Results

I was really happy with my race. The only thing I’d have done differently would have been to go straight to the handheld and skipped the waist pack; other than that, I think I did everything right and ran the best race that I had in me given the training I’d given myself and the course I found.

I have no doubt in my mind that I ran better this past weekend than I did 3 years ago despite the extra 20 minutes. Had I run the course in Nevada this weekend, I’d have had a new PR. Had I followed this race strategy 3 years ago, my PR would probably have been significantly faster. Had I had the extra thousand miles of training and speedwork under my belt for Stone Cat, I could have not only broken 8 hours but set a new PR as well, I have no doubt.

That’s one of the beautiful parts of ultra running. There are so many variables, you never know exactly how one day is going to compare to another. It’s a complete judgement call about which race was run better than another, and it’s easy to play a game of “What If…?” to state how things might have gone differently.

I had a lot of fun this weekend. Running from an Angel was fun too, but this was more fun. I’d do it again in a heart beat.

Check back on the blog later this week; I’ll share what equipment I used during the race, and break down my nutrition. Surprisingly, I ate fewer than half the calories I did the first time and felt much stronger at the end. (Not because it was half the calories, though, I don’t think…probably more because I didn’t go out like an idiot for the first half of the race.) I’ll also share what I did to recover from the race and how speculate on my plans for the near future.

More Info: Stone Cat Website – Course Map / Training Log Entry – 50 Mile Results – Marathon Results
Photo Credits: Erin Moore, Jamie Anderson, Christine Racine

In the year leading up to that race, I ran 2614 miles, averaging about 50 miles per week over that year which included a lot of speed work and peak training weeks that topped 100 miles per week for the first time since I had been in college. I ran those roads in 7 hours, 47 minutes and 27 seconds.

Fast forward to 2011, when I signed up for the Stone Cat 50 Miler. I am a much more experienced marathoner and ultra runner than I was 3 years ago. Before my first 50, I’d only run 12 marathons and 1 ultra. I know what my body can handle much better than I did in 2009, and running 50 miles isn’t so much of an unknown like it was then. Going into Stone Cat, I had run 15 marathons or ultras since Running from an Angel, 8 of which were run in 2011 alone.

So this means that I should be able to run much faster this time, right? Well, maybe. Maybe not.

The Stone Cat races are on trails, not roads. The hills aren’t as big as last time, but the course is way slower and much tougher. It is a 4 loop course on undulating single track and double track, and this year included a few hundred yards of toe-numbing flowing water that wasn’t much above the freezing point and could not be avoided only a few miles into each loop.

I am also not in nearly as good shape as I was 3 years ago. In the year leading up to the race, I ran almost 1000 miles less, only 1655 miles, averaging less than 32 miles per week for the year. Even in the training barely months before the race, I had seriously strained my ankle in another trail race and if I twisted it wrong when running over rocks and roots could still feel where the bruises had been.

Despite the lack of training, I felt that better experience would win out and I was confident that unless something went terribly wrong, I was going to have a better race at Stone Cat. I might not PR, but I thought that setting a goal of 8 hours would require a PR type of effort and made the math much easier to figure out how far on or off pace I was each loop.

My strategy for the race was to go out really slow, hopefully as much as 2 minutes slower per mile than I did the first time. If things went well, then I wouldn’t slow down nearly as much towards the end of the race as I had the first time, and ideally might even be able to pick up the pace in the last loop.

I had previewed the loop back in September. I knew about what to expect. I thought that running between 1:55 and 2 hours on the first 3 loops would put me in a great position to do well in the race, finishing off with whatever I had in the 4th loop. If I slowed down under that pace in the first 3 loops, then that would be okay as long as I maintained the same effort and still felt like I’d have something left to make a run for it in the last 12½ miles.

I also wanted to avoid spending as much time in the aid stations this time. A lot of time can be wasted when you aren’t moving; I had my gear stashed near the start and finish line and would try to avoid spending any time at the other stations unless I absolutely had to. I’d be carrying my own water, with a hydration pack for loop 1, a belt with 2 water bottles for loop 2, and a hand held for loops 3 and 4. I’d also carry most of my own nutrition, enough for each loop, and only stopping for food at the aid stations if I felt like what I was carrying wasn’t going to cut it for me.

I brought extra socks and shoes, but honestly didn’t expect to use them. The shoes I use drain pretty well, and with the bog that we had to run through about 3½ miles into the loop my feet would be pretty dry by the time I finished and wouldn’t stay dry for long anyway if I did change them.

Getting to the race, I carpooled with some fellow Trail Monsters. We had a huge turnout; probably the largest that we’ve managed for any race that we weren’t hosting. Some friends collected our bibs and glow-in-the-dark race t-shirts, and 9 of us met for dinner the night before the race. The rest made their way down on Saturday morning and our cheering section would get bolstered as more friends and family made their way down from Maine throughout the day.

Do you think that my strategy was a good one? Do you think that my experiences over the past 3 years outweighed the handicaps of not being as well trained and choosing a slower course? Do you think I was able to follow through on my strategy, or do you think that it blew up in my face and led to an epic failure?

Tomorrow I’ll share what I did, what went right, what went wrong, and what I thought about the Stone Cat 50 Miler.

On the women’s side, there are quite a few women with a good shot of being up front for the Americans. Buzunesh Deba could become the first New York City resident to win the marathon since it began visiting the 5 boroughs, but she’ll have to stay ahead of Jen Rhines and Lauren Fleshman.

Not excited about the race yet? Well, just check out this video of Alec Baldwin promoting the race:

If you want to watch the race and can’t get out to the streets of New York to see it in person, you can watch it on television or online. The entire race will be broadcast starting at 9:00am on NBC4 if you live in the greater NYC area, or you can watch a 2 hour summary show on NBC Sports starting at 2:00pm. You can also watch the entire race streamed live over the internet at Universal Sports for free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnqC1LLT7a8

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube

Video Transcription

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With hunting season starting this weekend here in Maine, I’ve avoided that stretch of trail for the past month and will be changing up where I go for my weekend runs for the next month or month and a half.

Here are the links you might want to check out before heading out for your next run:

• Safety Tips for Runners During Hunting Season
• Hunting Regulations by State

Run safely!

But now, more elite runners might sit up and take notice. Michael Wardian, the World 100K Silver Medalist and Team USA Gold Medalist will be coming to town, and I expect that the course record will fall.

Wardian is one of those rare types that will not only run (and win) multiple marathons per year (a dozen plus isn’t uncommon) but will also run longer distances. He’s also held numerous records and boasts a 2:17:49 PR which is good enough to let him race in his third Olympic Marathon Trials.

I’m looking forward to racing him next month!

The MDI Marathon is sold out, but you can raise money for some of the charitable partners if you’d still like to run the race and have not yet registered. Click here for more information.

More Info: Bio – MDI Marathon Home Page – MDI Marathon Charity Page – Photo Credit: dbking

They currently have a motion in place to invalidate all world records for women who ran in “mixed” races that included men.

For a very high profile example of what this means, it will raise the women’s marathon world record by over 2 minutes from 2:15:25 to 2:17:42. Paula Radcliffe will still hold the record because she’s the best marathoner in the world, but she’ll still be penalized 8 years after the fact.

For some reason, though, they don’t think that they should invalidate records for men that involved women. Sure, in smaller races where the men and women start at the same time and that would involve a world record there are rarely any women running up front with the men, but at other races the women get enough of a head start that they’ll finish separately than the men which gives the finish more excitement for the fans. In those races, however, the men have to catch up to and pass the women in the race that aren’t the front runners, which I don’t see as much different than a woman who has to pass a man during a race.

I’m not alone in my thinking; the race directors from the World Marathon Majors and the Association of International Marathons also think it’s a little ridiculous and have warned the IAAF that they won’t recognize the new rule if it is passed.

If passed, this ruling is a step back in time. What will they propose next? That women shouldn’t be running marathons because their uterus will fall out?

What do you think? Is this new ruling sexist, or do you think that women being allowed to run with men is an unfair situation and records shouldn’t be recognized from those races?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

More Info: World Marathon Majors – The Sun – The Sports Review

Tonight, she’s helping to raise money for the Children’s Tumor Foundation through the Red Carpet for Research: Dancing with Our Stars event. Leah will be paired with a professional dancer from Arthur Murray’s Dance Studio and will compete in a dance competition against 5 other dancers.

Part of the competition is through fund raising and if you want to help Leah win, you can go directly to the donation page where she’ll get 1 vote for every $10 that she raises. Just be sure to choose Leah’s name from the list of dancers!

Alternatively, I will donate $20 for every sale of the Marathon Mastermind today through 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

I think that voting ends at noon and while that’s probably noon central I’ll be making my donation between 11:30 and 11:45 Eastern to make sure it’s in on time.

So, if you’d like to listen to Leah and the other 10 guest coaches in the Marathon Mastermind, you can pick it up by filling in your information below and I will donate $20 on your behalf from the purchase price to the Children’s Tumor Fund to vote for Leah:

I will donate $20 from any purchases made on Thursday, September 15, 2011 before 11:30 a.m. EDT towards the Children’s Tumor Foundation to vote for Leah in the dance competition. For purchases that are made for the rest of the day after that, I will donate the $20 towards Leah’s next month fund-raiser for Race for the Cure, as this is short notice and some of you may not see this post in time. So…any purchases made today (Thursday) will result in most of the purchase price going towards a good cause.

More Info: Leah’s Website – Children’s Tumor Foundation: Dancing With our Stars – Donation Page – Marathon Mastermind

Learning to run with better running form will always pay off in the long run, but in the short term it’s probably not worth worrying about where you land on your feet if it isn’t painful. Changes to your gait should be gradual and you should expect an adjustment period when you change your shoes from one style (such as a motion control shoe with a large heel lift) to another style (such as a minimal shoe that is relatively flat and has a minimal heel lift.)

Improve your running form with this four step process to get your muscles and body used to it:

Step 1 is to improve where you land by ignoring what part of your foot hits the ground first.

To do this, work on quick leg turn over and landing with your feet below your center of gravity instead of trying to control where on your feet you land, which is a recipe for a quick injury. You’ll naturally begin to land in a more appropriate spot for your body type and shoe without hurting yourself.

It’s not uncommon for somebody new to low-heel-drop shoes to wear out on the heels in the first pair or two – you’re still used to over-striding and it can take a few months to a year to get used to running in your new shoes.

One way that people can learn to run more efficiently and over their center of gravity is to try to run with a higher cadence, or leg turnover.

The average jogger runs with a cadence of about 140 to 160 strides per minute. The often used “optimum” number that you should be running (based on research by Jack Daniels) is 180 strides per minute, or 90 steps with each leg.

If you use an artificial aid, such as a sound file on your mp3 player with either 90 or 180 beats per minute, then on every beat lift your foot off of the ground. Most people try to learn a higher turnover by striking the ground with your foot on each beat.

You’ll accomplish the same thing by lifting your foot instead except that psychologically you’ll be concentrating on running lightly rather than pounding your foot into the ground. As I said above, you want to lift your feet and let your forward lean from the ankle handle most of your forward momentum so that you don’t need to use as much energy pushing yourself along.

This Winter, a woman joined my training group who was seeing a physical therapist for knee problems. He had her using a metronome app on her phone to learn to run with a faster stride rate but it wasn’t helping very much. On that first night I told her to experiment with lifting her foot each beat rather than hitting the ground each beat and after the workout she told me that was the first pain free run that she’s had in months.

Don’t try to control where on your foot your land. If you just suddenly switch to landing on the balls of your feet all the time (at least when you’re thinking of it) then you’re going to wind up getting a stress fracture.

Your foot has hundreds of muscle movements that happen in fractions of a second to help stabilize you as you run, so trying to control those reactions will usually be to your detriment. Using your heel isn’t necessarily a bad thing; even barefoot runners will usually use their heel while they are running. For most people, you just want to avoid landing on the back of your heel which is made easier with cushioned shoes with a huge heel to toe differential.

Step 2 is to ease into better running form by improving your posture.

If you aren’t getting hurt, it isn’t painful, and it’s working okay for you, then don’t worry about making sudden and drastic changes.

Here a few tips that you can follow so that it becomes more natural in your everyday runs.

First, try to keep a relatively straight back on your runs. You shouldn’t have much of a curve from foot to posterior to shoulders to head. Lean forward from the ankles and not from the hips. Don’t let your head flop around.

Did you know the average human head weighs between 8 and 12 pounds? Letting your head flop isn’t so good for your back or spine…think of putting a bowling ball on a stick. Holding it straight up and down is not so bad. Lean it to any side, and your wrist is going to notice in a hurry!

The same is true with your head. If your body is in alignment, it’s easy to carry your head and use it as a counterbalance to pull your momentum forward. If you lean forward at the waist, then your back has to support your head and you’ll get tired and sore in short order.

Step 3 is to start adding form drills to the end of your workouts.

Find a flat stretch of grass such as the infield of a soccer or football field and kick off your shoes.

Drills will help with leg turnover which will help your body get used to running over your center of balance and will also help stretch out your legs so that you don’t feel as sore after your workout.

Strides are best, with high knees and butt kicks also being great form work. Bounds aren’t as good for running form, but if you are spending the time anyway I’d add them as I find they help loosen me up after a workout better than the others.

You should practice the drills by gently accelerating for about 20 to 30 yards, holding that pace for 60-70 yards, and then gently decelerating for the final 20 to 30 yards. You aren’t sprinting, just picking up the pace and working on your running form!

Step 4 is to practice downhill running.

Running uphill will more naturally lead to better running form, and for most people running downhill encourages “bad” running form. By learning to run downhill, your running form will also improve for the rest of your runs when you aren’t going downhill.

Here’s my favorite workout that will help you learn good running form, especially if you do this workout regularly throughout a season. First, find a trail without many obstacles and a gentle downhill grade if you can.

Here in Portland, there’s a 1k loop in the woods in the middle of town that I have my folks do 800m repeats on to learn good running form. It’s about 550m downhill, 50m flat at the bottom, and 200m uphill.

The reason that I like using a dirt trail rather than a road is that it helps you learn good form without hurting you like pavement would if you are doing it wrong. You want to practice your form as I described above, with the added benefit of having a downhill grade that will let you work on really fast leg turnover without using a lot of extra energy.

When you are running downhill, you do want to actively avoid hitting the ground heel first, because the trick is to get going just fast enough to start to feel out of control…until that feels normal and is no longer near that out of control feeling. If you heel strike while running downhill, it’s obvious because you’ll be braking and sending shockwaves up your legs through your back.

What I really like about Baxter Woods here in town is that the uphill finish reminds you that you’re working out and also reinforces good running form away from the downhill stretch, since it’s much easier to run with good form when the ground rises to meet you. You can more easily maintain good posture and not let your head flop as long as you don’t lean really far forward from the waist.

Once you get good at running downhill with good form, it’s easier to carry that forward when you are running on the flats. You’ll also find that running fast downhill on pavement is much easier and less painful.

Gradually work through all 4 of those steps throughout the course of a season, and you’ll find that your running form is more comfortable, you can run faster with less energy than before, and you may also find that your shoes last longer before needing to be replaced.

This was my second year running the Breaker, and I think that it is my favorite course of the three. While you only summit twice, you come within spitting distance of the top an additional 4 times in the 2 loop race.

I think my favorite part of the race is the Tote Road, which comes right after the Summit Trail. While Bradbury Mountain is really just a big hill, the Summit Trail goes from base to peak on a very short and steep path. I walk the majority of the trail, as running wouldn’t speed me up enough to justify the additional expenditure of energy.

The reason that I like the Tote Road is that it’s an easy trail to run fast on as long as you have a little experience in picking your path among the rocks and roots. It’s got a nice gentle downhill grade and is for the most part wide open (although we did have to dodge around some boy scounts building a bridge this year.)

That means that even though I got passed both times while walking up the Summit Trail, I was able to retake my position on the course within a few minutes of hitting the Tote Road immediately gapped the competition, not to see them again until the finish line. If I had wasted my energy on the Summit Trail, that would have been a much taller order.

Watch the video below for my full race report, and please excuse how dark it is…I’m playing with some new lights and obviously didn’t have them set up optimally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Eg1iv2vmw

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Photo Credit: Don Penta – Full Results

Video Transcription

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There is one race left in the series this year, so if you’re going to be in Maine in September (which let’s be honest, is one of the best times of year to be up here!) then I recommend you sign up for the 12 mile Bruiser. You’ll want to sign up sooner rather than later, though, as the races have been selling out early this year and the Bruiser will be no different.

Full details are at the website: trailmonsterrunning.com/bradburydirt

One of the booths had a few of my friends at it, Gary McNamee and Reno Stirrat. In the video below, Gary is the guy that’s about 2 feet taller than me and Reno is in the background running on the treadmill.

Gary has a really cool product that he’s just launched called “Virtual Runner Software” that lets you run a race course from anywhere in the world at your own pace using any treadmill. He also has “Pre-Paced DVDs” of the race courses; as we talk in the video, Reno is enjoying a run along the Beach to Beacon 10k.

It’s a really cool system. I apologize for all of the background noise in the video, but after all we were in the middle of an expo while we were recording…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3mx_xOMuyE

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Marathon Mastermind

Video Transcription

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Gary recently took part in the Marathon Mastermind. You can listen to his coaching session by going over to www.marathonmastermind.com and joining in yourself. He talks about why you would want home course advantage and describes his virtual runner software in more detail.

If you want to listen in for free, you’ll have to sign up today to hear Gary, however. His coaching session ends later tonight. There are only 2 coaching sessions left that you can listen to for free, so join now!

Where he falls short, however, is in the format that that information is presented in, at least in the Kindle edition. I haven’t seen the print edition of the book, but my assumption is that the majority of the criticisms that I have are probably a non-issue in the print version.

Even with the formatting errors, the book is still worth picking up. For the experienced ultrarunner, it’s worth browsing through for the 1 or 2 ideas that may have never occurred to you and that will make your next race more enjoyable. For the marathoner looking to move up, it provides a pretty comprehensive guide, especially if you aren’t sure how to modify your training to handle the extra distance.

Here’s my full review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvlA7quoob4

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Buy on Amazon

Video Transcription

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Bryon recently took part in the Marathon Mastermind. You can listen to his coaching session by going over to www.marathonmastermind.com and joining in yourself.

If you want to listen in for free, you’ll have to sign up today to hear Bryon, however. His coaching session ends later tonight. There are still 4 more coaching sessions coming up throughout the rest of this week that you can listen to for free.

The only other time that I dropped out of a race was when I was in high school and I fell down the side of a mountain and broke my ankle, so it was a tough pill to swallow but I think that it was the right choice.

Unlike last year, I was far enough back that I got to see the race develop up front (as well as in the chase pack, once they had caught up to and passed me.) Running out and back so many times lets you enjoy the race as a spectator and as a runner in a way that I haven’t found anywhere else. After running together for the first 3 laps, Leah Thorvilson got left behind by Ryan Aschbrenner as he built an almost a 7 minute lead.

In the end, they both broke last year’s course record. Here’s my race recap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3btFcoycUvQ

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Photo Credit: Dave Mari

Video Transcription

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If you want to know more about either Gary or Leah, two of the bigger personalities in the race this year, they both took part in Marathon Mastermind. You can listen to some coaching sessions with both of them just by going over to www.marathonmastermind.com and joining in yourself.

If you want to listen in for free, you’ll have to sign up today to hear Gary, however. His coaching session ends later tonight, and Leah’s was earlier this week. There are still 5 more coaching sessions coming up next week however.

In 2008, she returned, and covered the entire distance between Mount Katahdin in Maine and Springer Mountain in Georgia in 57 days, 8 hours, and 35 minutes, faster than any woman had ever covered the distance before.

Yesterday (July 31, 2011), at 3:26 pm, Jennifer reached Springer Mountain again. She reached the top of Mount Katahdin at 4:06 a.m. on June 15, and started hiking south to Georgia. 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes later she reached Springer Mountain and had broken Andrew Thompson’s record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes from 2005.

She needed to average at least 46 miles per day to set the new all-comer’s record, and frequently covered between 50 and 60 miles per day as she walked from around 5 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. each day.

Jennifer was supported by her husband Brew, who would be waiting at road crossings with refills for her water bottle and food that he’d picked up at restaurants and fast food joints. She also had help from friends on the trail, joined at various points by people that would hike for a stretch of trail or even for a few days at at time.

Her adventures are recounted on a blog that’s been updated daily by her husband. She avoided getting hit by lightning this time in the Smoky Mountains, but she did have one day where she spotted 14 bears through the course of her hike. Earlier that day, she had to take a pregnancy test while looking for an explanation for a frequent and sudden onset of nausea.

If you’d like to read more about her adventure, check out her blog at: jenniferpharrdavis.tumblr.com

Ever think about setting out on your own adventure? You don’t need to set a speed record to have an absolutely amazing experience. Why not start with a marathon?

The Marathon Mastermind starts next Monday, August 8th, and if you sign up now you can take part in the entire program for free! More information is available at the website, www.MarathonMastermind.com.

Stretching damages your muscles, the same as any other kind of workout, so that they can come back with appropriate adaptations to withstand that activity in the future. Granted, the microscopic tears from stretching are going to be less severe than those from a hard interval session or weight lifting, but the concept is the same.

The decision to stretch or not should be the same as whether you should go out for an easy run, or go out for a hard interval session, or whether you should take a day off completely.

Are the adaptations that you want to encourage in your muscles going to be aided by stretching, or will it slow down your progress?

Here’s an email I recently got about this in my inbox:

Blaine,

My son is the runner in the family; I joined to get information for him. He’s 17 & missed most of the winter & spring due to tendonitis. He’s back logging slow miles for the summer. We have taken several tips from your article I downloaded & appreciate the information. I have him doing more cross training, but would be interested in additional resources for stretching so he may remain injury free for his upcoming senior year. We’re especially interested in static vs dynamic stretching. He has been instructed not to stretch in the morning before the morning run-just stretch after. Care to comment on that?

Thanks for your help.
David

Tendonitis is no fun. When I was in college, I had tendonitis in my right knee at the same time that I was dealing with a stress fracture in my left leg, so it made getting around campus no fun. The best way to come back after an injury like that is to come back gradually and rebuild a solid base while finding out what caused the problem in the first place, such as overtraining, innappropriate or old broken down shoes, or bad running form. Once you know what you were doing wrong, you can fix that in your training going forward and be a strong runner.

When you stretch before you run, you’ll actually be sabotaging your workout in a small way because you’ll be damaging the muscles before your main workout, which is why David’s son has been told not to stretch before the run. When I used to spend a lot of time stretching regularly, I made it a point to always stretch after my runs and to just do dynamic warmup movements before the workouts such as a light jog or form drills like high knees, butt kicks and strides.

I definitely noticed that I ran faster doing that than I had when I used to stretch before and after my runs, but I would not read too much into that because the only time that I used to stretch before every run was when I was in middle school and for the first few years of high school, which were when I was first starting to race competitively.

There’s been a study by USATF that tracked a number of runners over a period of time who were randomly assigned to stretch or not stretch after their workouts, and they found that there was no greater chance of getting injured for one group or the other except in the case where somebody was used to stretching after their workouts and then was assigned to the group that didn’t stretch.

In fact, the only relevant markers that increased your risk of injury were a higher body mass index or the existance of a previous injury.

Personally, I’ve found that dedicated periods of stretching (such as 10 or 15 minutes after a run) doesn’t tend to do much for me anymore. As I said above, I used to do that when I was your David’s son’s age, but these days I just make a point of getting out of my chair once or twice an hour to walk around and stretch out or to do some quick stretches such as touching my toes and standing up. I won’t hold the stretch or do a lot of stretching at any given time. Instead, I will just do what feels good at the moment and then move on with whatever else is occupying my day.

What I like most is to just perform the stretch and then relax back to my normal position. You should control the movement from start to finish, rather than using momentum or gravity to try and get a deeper or more violent stretch than you really need.

Moving in a ballistic or spastic manner, especially with cold muscles, is more likely to do more damage that won’t help you run better so I’d recommend against that. Constant movement is okay, just not fast or jerky movements, which just aren’t necessary.

Rather than or in addition to stretching, the thing that I’ve found that works best is getting a foam roller and using that regularly. It’s a good way for self massage that will help improve blood flow through your legs and encourage faster recovery. I’ll usually use mine after my workouts before I shower while I wait to stop sweating, and I’ll often roll out a bit before going to bed as well.

You could also get “The Stick” which is popular for the same reasons, but I haven’t personally used one yet. (It’s on my to-do list to pick one up and try it out.) From what I’ve been told it’s better for the calves while the foam roller is better for quads and hamstrings.

Do you stretch before or after your runs? What’s your routine, and have you managed to stay injury free or been hurt now and again? Share your own experiences in the comments below.

Photo Credits: Eric Mesa – Ed Yourdon – Lululemon Athletica

The position that the CAS took was that the IAAF did not have any evidence that Pistorius had an advantage and had no grounds to ban him, although the researchers who made that statement later determined that he does have some advantages.

It was all a moot point, however, since Oscar wasn’t able to run fast enough to qualify to run at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

That may now change, though. On Tuesday night, Oscar cut over half a second off of his PR to run 400 meters 45.07 seconds in Lignano, Italy. This qualifies him to run at the world championships next month, as it falls under the 45.25 second qualifying standard.

If he can run that standard 2 more times before the 2012 London Olympic Games, then he’ll meet the South African Olympic Committee’s automatic selection criteria for who they’ll send to the Games.

“Now he knows he can do it, there’s no reason why he can’t keep on doing it,” Athletics South Africa chairman James Evans said. “The way we’ve treated Oscar has always been we are not going to do him any favors, and we are not going to hold anything against him. He will be treated like any other athlete.”

He’ll have a few more opportunities to reach the “A” standard over the next few weeks, with plans to run in Budapest, Hungary on July 31 and at the Diamond League Crystal Palace meet in London at the beginning of August.

More Info: The Sacramento Bee

The other day, however, I picked up a copy. It has a full page spread illustrated by a friend of mine, John Tomac. He goes through the thought process from conception to execution on his website, so you can see how the page evolved over time into what it is now, which is pretty neat.

If you’d like to know a little more about John’s story, here’s a video that Runner’s World put together:

I paced John for his first marathon in 2006, when we ran the New York City Marathon together. He’s just gotten back to New York City last year for the 2010 running, and it was great to be able to run a marathon again with him this past March in New Jersey.

He’ll be running for Team in Training again this year, again tackling the New York City Marathon. If you want to help him raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, you can check out his page here: beatcancer.johnwtomac.com

Today’s guest post is by Kate Flaherty, an outreach coordinator for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance.

She is passionate about nutrition and fitness and believes that it is incredibly important during the battle to overcome any type of cancer.

Struggling with cancer can be physically and emotionally taxing. Many cancer patients are concerned with staying as healthy as possible while dealing with the effects of the illness. Additionally, people who are in treatment seek ways to prevent the cancer from returning. One of the best methods of optimizing a healthy system and staving off future problems is through regular daily exercise.

Studies indicate that exercise can reduce the risk of some types of cancer and benefit those diagnosed with aggressive cancers like mesothelioma. A regular exercise regimen can vastly improve a mesothelioma prognosis. Raising the levels of physical exercise may also increase the chance of survival after a diagnosis has been given. In addition to preventing future cancers from forming, exercise can also enhance the recovery of a cancer patient.

Exercise provides countless benefits to healthy individuals, and cancer patients can experience the positive results as well. A proper workout program will improve mood as well as optimize confidence. Exercising provides strength and lessens the amount of fatigue a person may feel during cancer treatment. Regular workouts can also increase energy and alleviate nausea, which is beneficial for chemo sessions.

Cancer treatments often slow a person down. An individual facing cancer may become stressed and depressed, which often leads to a sedentary lifestyle. It is important for someone diagnosed with cancer to begin exercising immediately. The best way to begin any workout program is to start off slowly. Cancer depletes the body of energy, so a gradual increase of exercise is best.

The most ideal way for a cancer patient to start an exercise program is with small goals. Strength and stamina build in increments. Beginning with an easy, enjoyable activity is a good idea. Walking, bike riding and swimming are good initial pursuits. Running is excellent exercise for those who can handle the impact. It is also possible to get moderate exercise by increasing basic, daily activities around the house.

Cancer patients should participate in various forms of exercise. Flexibility exercises, aerobics and strength training should be included in a weekly workout. Flexibility exercises will enhance mobility while aerobic activities will build cardiovascular strength. Strength training builds muscle which is often lost during cancer treatments. For those who become easily fatigued, it is a good idea to take a day of rest in between workouts.

It is recommended that an individual with cancer take part in 30 to 60 minutes of exercise 5 days per week. The activity may be light to moderate depending on the person’s individual diagnosis. Combining a regular exercise routine with cancer therapy can be advantageous to virtually anyone struggling with the illness. No matter what type of activity is performed, daily exercise can encourage a smooth recovery.

I am trying to run primarily on trails due to the modulation in pace from obstacles or rocky terrain. I think this is helping me avoid re-injuring my knee. (itb and patellar tendinitis) I run in different shoes and different distances on different paths. I also do a shorter, fast run on pavement weekly.

Are there other things you recommend people do when they have a knee that isn’t cooperating?

If you have a similar problem as Mike, then he is following a great plan by working in as much trail work as he can. It’s definitely a better way to stay healthy, whether you have had previous knee injuries or not. I’ve actually written a few articles on that very topic (Benefits of Trail Running, Trail Running for Road Runners, Trail Running 101.)

When it comes to knee problems, I do have one additional suggestion and one thing to watch out for based on what Mike said in his email.

First, I’d recommend working in some weight training to strengthen your muscles. You can do body weight exercises so you don’t need an expensive gym membership or to go out and buy a lot of equipment; functional movement that hits a lot of different muscles at once are best and if you do need more resistance then you can use every day objects or buy something cheap like a 50 or 60 pound sandbag at your local home improvement store.

Some exercises that are worth doing include squats (both double leg and single leg), pushups, lunges, deadlifts and pull ups. Bodyweight lunges and squats are probably the best place to start given your concerns about your knee.

One thing that you want to watch out for, especially if you have a history of knee problems, is switching out shoes that are too dissimilar.

I use a lot of different types of shoes, mostly depending upon where I’m running, but most of those shoes are pretty similar one to another; they are neutral shoes with a minimal (or non-existent) heel lift.

A few years ago, though, I was switching between heavier shoes with a lot of cushioning and ultra-light weight minimal shoes from day to day to day, and my hips started to bother me as a result because my body didn’t know what to make of the situation. (Plus, the heavy shoes just weren’t appropriate for me.) Switching back to just one general type of shoe made that problem go away within a few days and I still got the advantages of variety by using different models of shoes.

If you aren’t feeling any pain right now then you are probably fine with your current shoe choices, but I just wanted to make sure that I mentioned it.

Have you got a training question that you’d like answered? You can contact me here on the website, or ask a question right on the wall for my facebook fan page (which is probably the quickest way to get a response.)

The fastest known time for this stretch of the trail is about 39.5 hours, so a bunch of the Trail Monsters and their friends decided it was time to organize a run and see how much we could lower that mark.

This won’t be a race; in fact, it won’t be much different than an organized group going for a hike on the trail. Each runner will be responsible for their own supplies and getting themselves safely to the finish. In fact, the invitation starts with the standard warning for this stretch of the A.T.:

CAUTION
IT IS 100 MILES SOUTH TO THE NEAREST TOWN AT MONSON.
THERE ARE NO PLACES TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES OR HELP UNTIL MONSON.
DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SECTION UNLESS YOU HAVE A MINIMUM OF 10 DAYS
SUPPLIES AND ARE FULLY EQUIPPED. THIS IS THE LONGEST WILDERNESS
SECTION OF THE ENTIRE A.T. AND ITS DIFFICULTY SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED.
GOOD HIKING!
M.A.T.C.

Bill Green recently did a story about the run for News Center 6:

This seems like an exciting opportunity, and if I can find a crew I hope to be able to join in on it.

I was hoping that the news spot would talk a little more about the Bradbury Mountain Trail Running Series, which is actually open for anybody to join and is where the video above was filmed. The series consists of 3 races, a 6 mile Scuffle, a 9 mile Breaker, and a 12 mile Bruiser.

You can find out more on the race website at: http://www.trailmonsterrunning.com/bradburydirt

The Pineland Farms races began as a small event, and has grown to be a family friendly 2-day event that hosts around 1200 runners in 7 races.

Saturday begins with a 10k and canicross 5k, where the runners race while tied to the harnesses on their dogs. An hour later is the 5k and barefoot 5k, where runners can compete with naked feet or are allowed to compete in the “shod” division wearing minimal shoes such as Vibram Five Fingers, Merrell Trail Gloves, or (in my case) home-made huaraches. After the races are over there is a big BBQ, live entertainment, awards, and kid events such as an egg toss and 3 legged races.

On Sunday, there are 3 races. The 50 milers get started at 6:00 in the morning, which lets them take advantage of what little part of the day isn’t going to be sunny and hot. The 50k runners start 2 hours after them at 8:00, and the 25k runners begin at 10:00.

I had a great weekend of racing, bringing home a lot of hardware. In the barefoot 5k, I was 2nd overall but the first shod runner with my huaraches, and then in the 50k I thought I had finished just off of the podium with a 4th place finish.

Half an hour later, though, while waiting for my wife to finish the 25k, I saw one of the guys that I thought had beaten me come through and finish, which meant that I had in fact finished in 3rd place. I also had some great backup from the rest of my team, who won the 50k team race (as well as the 25k team race!)

Here’s my full rundown of the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKWoQeXAFU0

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Photo Credit: Kate Hanscom

Video Transcription

Click Here to Read the Transcript

There were a lot of great performances from a lot of people this weekend. As people get race reports up throughout the week, I’ll link to them here so that you can read about the races in everybody’s own words. I especially want to say congratulations to Val, Emma, Jeremy, Jamie, Cynthia, Linda, Bethany, Erin, Mary, Christine, Nate, Joe, Stephen, Theresa, and quite a few other people but my list of names could keep going for a long time.

More Information:

• Pineland Farms Race Website
• Results: Saturday – Sunday
• Maine Running Photos
• Jeff Walker (25k)
• Mindy Slovinsky (50 Miles/pacer)
• Chris Dunn (25k)
• Jamie Anderson (50 Miles)
• Danielle Triffitt (25k)
• Cheryl Yanek (50 Miles)
• Jeremy Bonnett (50 Miles)
• Kevin Tilton (50 Miles/DNF)
• Kartika Wright (10k)
• Race Acidotic Photos
• Kevin Robinson (Barefoot 5k & 25k)
• Valerie Abradie (50 Miles): Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
• Steve Wolfe (25k)
• Heather Wiatrowski (5k & 50k)
• Ben Nephew (50 Miles)
• More to come…

Hey, if I’m going to be away from my wife for a week, I might as well get another state out of the way, right?

I left my hotel in Virginia at 3:00 in the morning, was at the race 3 hour later, and had a 2 and a half hour drive back to D.C. to catch my flight once I finished running, so it really was a short trip.

It was a very well organized race, and I enjoyed it a lot. I only had one real complaint about the race, in fact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcqUqfn_tAc

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube

Video Transcription

Click Here to Read the Transcript

More Info: Race Website – Full Results

If you ever have an opportunity to get to one of these conventions, then I recommend you make the effort. I learned a lot and had a great time networking with everybody throughout the week, and it also gave me an opportunity to get another state out of the way on my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cKSkFHS6w0

Download This Video: MP4 – MP3 – Watch on YouTube – Download Notes

Video Transcription

Click Here to Read the Transcript

If you would like to keep up with what’s going on in the state of Maine, make sure that you Like the Maine State Rep RRCA Page on Facebook. If you would like some more details about the convention, then be sure to take a look at the May Newsletter that I just sent out to our member clubs that includes the notes that I took during the convention. You can view the newsletter online at Scribd.

CLIF Bar has created the Meet the Moment website, where adventurous folks like ourselves can share our own moments and experiences with everybody else. Every moment shared will give you the opportunity to win any athletic adventure of your own choosing.

There will be 3 winners, judged on popularity and how inspirational and creative their entry is. The contest runs from today through July 31st and you can submit as many entries as you like since it will be judged on quality and is not a random draw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tNYzS_GhJU

CLIF Bar will also donate $5 for every person that shares a moment through the site, and you get to choose who gets the donation for your moment. If more than 10,000 people participate, they’ll double the amount that they donate.

The charities that you can choose are:

1. Leave No Trace
2. International Mountain Biking Association
3. Surfrider Foundation
4. Access Fund
5. Winter Wildlands Alliance

My first moment that I’ve uploaded is from my first race at elevation, the Ghost Town 38.5, pictured above. Other than hikes up Mount Washington, I’d never been that high, and the views and vegetation in the Gila National Forest were breathtaking.

You can get more information at the website, www.MeetTheMoment.com

Go upload your moment, and then come back and share the link so we can all check them out! Each one you upload will give you a chance to win the contest, and uploading at least 1 will help out a worthy cause. To get the link to your moment, just click the “View Moment Details” button after you’ve created your moment and get the link from the Share button that appears so you can copy it to the comments below.

This post has been sponsored by CLIF Bar.