Fueling the Runner Part II

In part I of this series of posts, I discussed how many calories to eat and tools you can use to determine the proper amount for you. Before proceeding onto the point of this post -- what to eat -- I want to summarize a few things I've learned by tracking my calories over the past month. First of all, I think my initial projections were too low. The first week I lost 2.5 pounds unintentionally. With a little more research I settled on my base metabolic rate as "light" instead of "sedentary" and then, when my running is factored in, it comes out to more like 3600 calories per day that I need to be eating. Again, I encourage the runner that is consistently averaging more than 40 miles per week to view it holistically and not day-to-day. If you are in this category, then aim for the same number consistently whether you run 5 miles or 25 miles. Eating more than you need on recovery/rest days will ensure that you are well fueled for the future workouts. If you are less consistent about your workouts, then I would look at it as net calories per day. Under this model, you aim for your base metabolic calories everyday and then "earn" more by exercising.

Now that you've established how many calories a day it takes to sustain your body, some consideration needs to be paid to what you eat.  Calories typically come from four sources (called macro nutrients): carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol. Alcohol is sort of a special category, but those calories can add up!  Note that each broad category can be broken down into more fine categories. For example, fat comes as either saturated fat, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat. That is why you will sometimes here fats that are not "saturated" called "good fat". Carbohydrates and protein are both 4 calories per gram. Fat is nearly 9 calories per gram, more than double. Eating fat will then have the by product of leaving you feeling less "full", but taking in many more calories. Also note that the body does not process all these calories the same in terms of efficiency with regards to blood, oxygen, etc...

So, what should a runner eat? The table below shoes a break down of the recommended percentages of your diet that come from each type according to different sources.

	USRDA	MyPlate	Pfitz	Karno	Me
Carbs	60%	50%	70%	40%	40%
Fat	30%	25%	15%	30%	35%
Protein	10%	25%	15%	30%	20%

Pfitz refers to the book Advanced Marathoning and Karno refers to the book Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes.

Each of the sources above has their own explanation for their recommendation. I won't go into detail about that logic, but here are a few things to consider about the background of each source of food. For a runner, the carbohydrates are the most important fuel source because they are the ones that your body needs when running. The closer you get to lactate threshold paces, the higher percentage of your calories come from carbohydrates for energy. Your body can typically store enough carbohydrates to run about 20 miles, which is part of the reason most marathoners hit the wall around 20 miles. Your body can store enough fat (depending on how lean you are) to run hundreds of miles. But, the process of converting fat to a usable energy source is so inefficient that you will have to slow way down (to nearly a walk) to keep moving forward. Protein is important for muscle repair and growth. If you are running lots of miles, then your muscles need to repair from the damage done. But, protein is inefficient as an energy source.

After tracking my calories using MyPlate for the better part of a month, you can see where my calories are coming from.  And using the tool has caused to me to more disciplined than I normally am.  You may notice that my calories only add up to 95%.  So where is the other 5%? Some of that is just lost due to rounding (calories in carbs is slightly higher than 4) and some it is the other category above (alcohol). My initial thoughts seeing this data is that I need to eat more carbs and less fat. That is a difficult transition for me because I started a low-carb diet years ago (with success by the way) and that mentality has stuck. The key is to recognize that all carbs are not created equal. In particular, you want to eat slow-burning, "complex" carbs from sources like whole wheat, Quinoa, and Bulgur wheat. Avoid simple carbs like sugar and sucrose which wreak havoc on your blood sugar. Of course, this is for your day-to-day diet. In race nutrition is primarily comprised of simple sugar because it can be converted to energy so quickly. But this is when your body's furnace is running hottest. Some people suggest it is acceptable to eat these sugars right after a long training run as well to replenish glycogen stores. Personally I still prefer the slow burning carbs after a long, hard workout.

Before ending this post, I want to emphasize one thing: consistency. There are no easy answers to this equation. People spend millions of dollars a year on diets that are simple, quick, or the latest fad. In the end, the truth is that people that consistently eat calories close to what their body needs day-in-and-day-out will maintain weight. If you exceed that number, you'll gain weight. Pretty simple. Tracking the sources of calories is helpful to understand how you can eat more without eating more calories (hint: cut out fat!) and how you can leave your body feeling energized all day long. This is particularly important for a runner. But it has other implications. For example, research has shown that cancer growth rate can be slowed by eating less fat. Don't look for a silver bullet solution to your diet. Do the work up front to determine what your body needs, and then be as consistent as you can to hit those goals. And use exercise as an excuse to eat better instead of "rewarding" yourself with junk food. Develop a mentality where you feel you are wasting your hard effort by eating that extra piece of whatever.

Weekly Training Wrap - 11/21 – 11/27

Week two of my taper is in the books and it felt pretty darn easy. There were two fast runs on back to back days (Wednesday and Thursday), but both were over short distances. My current marathon PR (3:34 at Steamboat) came at the end of a 70 mile training week in June. Thus, I am confident that I am tapering enough.

I spent a little this weekend time considering my race day strategy. There are two variables in particular that I am a thinking about 1) the quantum leap I'm attempting to take in this marathon and 2) the 4500 feet I am dropping altitude. In August of this year, I ran a 1:37:30 half marathon (a 13 minute PR). A little more than three months later, I am hoping to run both halves of a marathon that fast. And the altitude bit has never sat quite right with me and I figured out why. If you are familiar with the RunningTimes.com piece on hills and altitude, then you may not have noticed one potential flaw with the altitude conversation: there is NO mention of how altitude impacts a runner that lives and trains at high altitude and racing at lower elevation. The research shown is based entirely around a low altitude runner going higher. This begs the question, are the calculations made to adjust for altitude the same in both directions? My gut feeling is/was that this is not the case, much the same as a downhill runner does not benefit as much as an uphill runner loses. In fact, subsequent digging on my part led me to articles that suggested what I suspected: your body is not trained to take 20 seconds off your marathon pace on race day. I am operating under the assumption that I can gain half that benefit (about 10 seconds per mile for me). Starting at this pace leaves a better time in play for me and a little fade if I cannot hold.  The key, as it always is in a marathon, will be to not get too aggressive too early. My goal is to try and hit 7:20-ish splits early and then adapt as the race unfolds.

Another key to my strategy will be glycogen and electrolyte replacement. The race day forecast is for a high of 60 degrees and lows around 40 degrees. It is unlikely to be hot when the race starts (4 pm), but I have not run in temps like that in some time. The good news is that drinking electrolytes (Cytomax) should provide me well over 100 calories per hour.  Add that in with some Roctane every seven miles and I should be able to take in an easy 250 calories per hour.  I have been training with Roctane to make sure my stomach can handle it. I may need a couple S-caps because Cytomax is relatively low in electrolytes for a high-sweat guy like me.

Other than that, I am banking on running down Las Vegas Boulevard under the lights to provide the motivation to help me close out strong!

I've also been thinking of a killer playlist for some motivation, some of the titles included:
- Start Me Up
- In the Air Tonight
- King of Pain
- I Won't Back Down
- Til I Collapse
- Crazy Train
- The Edge of Glory
- Everybody Hurts
- The Future is So Bright
- Nothin' But a Good Time
- Going the Distance
- Lose Yourself
- Life is a Highway

Hopefully my next post is a race report of a 20+ minute PR!

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	7	GA Pace
Wednesday	8	Mile repeats: 6:38, 6:35, 6:29
Thursday	3	Turkey Rock Trot 5K @ 6:38
Friday	Rest
Saturday	12	Faster side of LSD (almost GA pace)
Sunday	5	Recovery/Easy pace
Total	35	About 2300 vertical feet gained

Are you are heart runner?

A fellow blogger that recently posted this blog and really got me thinking. In fact, one of the best features of the blog was that he didn't attempt to answer the questions and left it up to the reader. As the reader, I decided to take a crack at answering a few of those questions for myself.

Let me start by saying that I don't like the term "heart runner" because I think that it somehow implies that "head runners" don't run hard or with courage. I don't think that was entirely the idea. The idea, at least as I think of it, is more about how much risk you take in racing. How much you throw caution to the wind and go for it. Or, conversely, how much you measure and calculate everything in an effort to only take quantifiable chances.

In the sections that follow, you will find some the qualities that I think make a "heart runner". Before reading on, know that I am writing this article in consideration of the experienced racer that has a well-defined goal. There are plenty of people that run just for fun and are not covered in the discussion below. I find this type of running very commendable, but I think the factors that go into that type of running are very different.

Properly trained mentally and physically
The elites do know about V02 max, lactate threshold, nutrition, hydration, specificity training and all the various components that go into racing. Dramatized articles and books often tell stories of runners showing up at the starting line with little or no preparation and then winning or setting course records. In truth, this almost never happens. You must be trained to run the distance you intend to race -- particularly endurance races -- or running with your heart will lead to disaster nearly every time. It won't be a 50/50 probability of finishing or having a PR. Instead, it will be a 99.99% probability of a DNF or a total disaster. Even a heart runner must use some data and calculation to his advantage on race day and in goal setting.

Only have one goal
A lot of runners go into a race with more than one goal. And, while I don't take particular issue with that, I think a "B" goal can be come a crutch if an "A" goal seems too hard or unattainable. My guess would be that almost all competitive runners have done this at some point. To me, running with your heart means that after the race is well underway you throw away any "B" goals. You go after the "A" goal at any expense. That means risking a blow up. Is missing a goal by 5 seconds or 5 minutes a different type of failure? I would assert that a "heart runner" is only concerned with one goal and missing by any amount of time is failure to reach the goal. Having a "B" goal just softens the anguish of missing the real goal -- at least outwardly.

Fully accept the outcome
Heart runners don't make excuses. They give it their all and then accept the outcome. All the factors that become excuses are just parts of the story that make it either magic or tragic. But they are not reasons for pity, sympathy, or compliments. They are just part of each unique story that make it worth living!

This year I have had my first experience at both ultrarunning and "advanced" marathon training. While I don't particularly enjoy the amount of precision that goes into advanced marathon training, I do respect it. In the end, training for any length of race is a journey that lasts many weeks and months. And how the runner approaches that journey determines whether she is a "head runner" or a "heart runner". My season has been full of success. I believe that part of my succcess comes from being a predominantly "heart runner". My approach has been to train and prepare like an obsessive person, and then throw my chips on the table and give it 100% on race day. I have not made every "A" goal, but neither have I asked for sympathy in any challenges I've faced. In fact, I find the challenges make the journey even sweeter.

My 50 miler is perhaps the best example. Two weeks before I went to the Leadville Marathon and gave my best effort, beating my goal of 5 hours. The week of my 50 miler, I wound up very sick.  Is it possible that putting a 100% effort into a race two weeks earlier contributed to me getting sick? Yes! The day of my ultra I ran with a 101+ degree fever and terrible stomach problems.  In fact, I barely drank and could not eat for final three hours of a ten hour race.  There were many moments when I tried to persuade myself to pick a "B" goal, effectively quitting.  I am so glad I did not! I missed my goal by more than twenty minutes. (I publicized I was going for 10 hours, but I was really hoping to beat my buddy Tony's 9:42 from 2009). I would not go back and give less than 100% at the Leadville Marathon. And, I cannot definitively say that having a fever hurt me during my ultra. A case could even be made that I paced myself better early in the race because I was ill. It is all just part of my story, and it was an incredible ride.

That is how I feel about "heart running" and "head running". Perhaps I am just rationalizing my way into making myself a heart runner. Perhaps I have tried too hard to put boundaries around this topic in an effort to answer the questions. The beauty of the conversation is that I think it really mirrors how we approach life. Life is such an amazing journey. But it is a journey without guarantees. The best way to ensure success is to learn to enjoy the ride and all the unique aspects that make it your own.

Weekly Training Wrap - 11/14 – 11/20

This was technically my first taper week. But, other than no midweek MLR, it was still a pretty darn tough week of running. It is hard to express how satisfied I am with the week. Sunday's repeats were particularly satisfactory. Observing my HR and recovery capabilities, I am supremely confident that I have finally located my lactate threshold. Now I need to stay healthy and go make it happen!

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	8	5 x 600m intervals (6:13 average pace)
Wednesday	6	Easy pace
Thursday	4	Easy pace
Friday	Rest
Saturday	16	Easy/LSD pace
Sunday	12	2 x 4 mile repeats at HMP (7:03 average)
Total	46	About 2400 vertical feet gained

Fueling the Runner

Fueling a runner is broken down into two parts:  how much you should eat and what you should eat.  In this first post I will discuss how much to eat and how to determine the right amount for you.  Most of you that know me -- or anyone that has read my story -- know that I have lost more than 65 pounds in the past decade. The majority of that weight loss came in the last two and a half years (40 or 50 pounds of it). Ultimately it took me realizing that eating was the way to weight loss before I could make it happen. Now I am trying to understand how to create a maintenance plan that keeps me feeling energized and fueled for big miles without gaining weight.

Let me begin by laying out some truths, things that took my years to learn and accept. People that don't want to hear the truth about weight loss attribute my story to being a "crazy runner" that logs "sick miles". They don't want to hear that I gained weight during training for my first marathon. Like most people, I viewed the calories I burned as a license to eat more. That mentality is the primary reason that running is not a great way to lose weight. In fact, exercise in general is not the way to lose weight. An hour of exercise is generally less than 1,000 calories for even the most rigorous workouts. One extra helping of dessert or one more cheeseburger can erase that hard work in minutes. What's worse, most people work out for closer to thirty minutes of minimally rigorous exercise -- burning maybe 300 or 400 calories -- and then reward themselves with extra food. They unintentionally create a bigger imbalance between their calorie intake and expenditure. It only takes 100 extra calories a day to gain 10 pounds in one year.  That is less than one soda or one cookie or just a handful of chips to gain 10 pounds! Exercise is great for a weight maintenance plan, but it is lousy as a weight loss plan. I suggest to readers that you view exercise as a motivation to eat less. Don't waste your hard work!

I encourage anyone that is serious about weight loss to consider tracking all their calories for at least two weeks. Track the following: what you ate, your serving size, the calories, the fat, and the sugar. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not. There are tools out there to help you. In two weeks time you will get a pretty good idea of your calorie intake and where those calories are coming from (fat, protein, carbohydrates). I found that I was consuming way too many calories in beverages (soda, Starbucks, energy drinks, beer, etc...) and too many simple carbohydrates (surgar, corn syrup, etc...). And, I discovered that things that are sold to me as health products are often coated in sugar or filled with fat to make them taste good.

Lately I have been feeling a little bit lethargic and that led me to research my calorie needs and whether I am getting enough. Perhaps I have gone the other way and become obsessed with calories to the point of fatigue?  I found a great blog post that addresses exactly this subject. I have seen a ton of information that suggest basic rules of thumb on how much to eat: number of calories per pound, percentages of your body weight, or something like that. But this post helps to break down the components of where those calories are needed so that I can adjust as my training adjusts. To determine your calories needed for this model you need your body weight and mileage run.

My weight has settled at about 185 pounds (84 kg). Here is a breakout of my calories needed based on that:

Calories For	Calories Per Day	Total
Basic Metabolic Rate	1200	8400
Normal Daily Activity	600	4200
Running 55 Miles Per Week	140 cals per mile	7700
Total	20,300	2900

Honestly, I think that is a little low. And I'm not sure I buy the general assumption that everyone needs 1800 calories per day for normal life. As an example, don't I burn more calories at a younger age? Don't I burn more calories as a male that weighs 185 pounds? I continued to research and found an even better post from Runner's World that helps you calculate how many calories you need with a slightly different approach.  This approach uses your age and sex to determine a basic metabolic rate and then applies a multiplier for activity level.  My basic metabolic rate, coincidentally, is roughly 1800 calories (same as above).  But that would not be the case for a woman or if I were younger.

Calories For	Selection	Calories
Basic Metabolic Rate	Male, 31 - 60 years: (84 kg * 11.6) + 879	1853
Activity Level	Moderately active x 1.7	3150 per day

Note that I selected "moderately active" as a 55 mile per week runner. Running only takes about one hour a day (averaged over the course of the week). And several of those runs are at moderate/easy paces. More importantly, my job is pretty sedentary and I sit at a desk the rest of the day. Thus, I would not categorize myself as "very active".  When deciding how to classify your activity level, think in terms of your whole life (exercise, job, home life, etc..). For exercise, consider how much time you exercise (on a per day average) and the intensity (heart rate) during the exercise. I would guess that what most people consider exercise falls more closely into normal activity for a human being.

Up to this point, I have sort of smoothed all these calculations over a week to get a daily value. In table 1, I multiplied my weekly mileage and then, after the calculations, I divided by seven to get a daily figure. In table 2, I forced my activity level up to "moderate" because of my running. One could certainly figure out their daily calories needed based on lifestyle only (not including exercises) and then net out exercising. If you are not in a consistent exercise regimen, then it probably makes sense to track your "net" calories on a day-to-day basis.  But, as a runner that consistently hits 50 miles per week, tracking my calories this way would be difficult and may prove to be a detriment to recovery.

Here is an example of how to track your calories day-to-day:

Day	Base Calories	Calories "Earned"	Total Calories
Monday	2200	0	2200
Tuesday	2200	1341	3541
Wednesday	2200	1099	3299
Thursday	2200	794	2994
Friday	2200	0	2200
Saturday	2200	2940	5140
Sunday	2200	845	3045

Using any of the tools above (or MyPlate) you can determine your basic metabolic needs. My lifestyle (without running) is sedentary, meaning my basic calorie needs are minimal (2200 per day according to MyPlate). To make calculations simple, I used 2000 calories per day. On days that I run, I am "earning" more calories to eat. Tuesday I earned an additional 1341 calories for the day, or a total of 3341 that I can eat to maintain my weight. The problem that I have with these calculations is my off days and my long run days (like Saturday).  It would be difficult to adjust my eating each day such that I have a spectrum from 2000 calories all the way to almost 5000! Worse yet, I would have a difficult time eating good quality foods (slow burning carbs and protein) in high enough quantities to eat 5000 calories on Saturday. Instead, I would be forced to eat a diet high in fat (2.5 times the calorie density) in order to achieve that 5000 calories. Smoothing out the calorie intake over the week is much healthier so that I can feed it constant sources of good food. Doing so will allow my body to recover in between runs and on off days.  (By the way, the average of the seven days comes out to 3200 calories per day!)

After reviewing all of this, I am not sure if I am getting enough calories per day.  I think I am close.  Following my own advice, I will monitor my calories for a few days and make sure they are between 2900 and 3200.  With that said, I have a couple other hypothesis about what I can do to help my energy needs in the meantime.  First I will try to eat more, smaller meals (or snacks) throughout the day to keep my energy constant.  Hopefully adding some healthy snacks like almonds or meal replacements (protein shakes) can help with that. And, I will begin to monitor what I'm to make sure I am getting a better breakdown of the major energy sources (protein, carbs, and fat).

Weekly Training Wrap - 11/07 – 11/13

My final hard training week of the season! Once again it was challenging.  "Advanced" marathon training is serious business and I have the utmost respect for those that do it consistently.  It takes discipline and determination to consistently follow paces and measuring heart rates to get the most benefit.  I'm glad I did it, and I think I'm a better runner for it.  That said, I don't see myself doing another cycle like this for a while.  I guess that is obvious since my entire 2012 will be built around LT100.  I won't rule out the possibility of running a marathon as a training run (or for fun), but I certainly don't see another Pftiz cycle in my 2012 plans.  Now that I've been through a cycle like this, I can honestly say I spent most of the year running at conservative, easy paces (probably 75% of my max HR or below).  It was probably a great way to build a huge mileage base without getting hurt.

I have been in "training" for one race or another since January of this year.  Technically I was supposed to start following an 18-week Pfitz cycle on August 1st, which was only two weeks after my 50 mile race.  In reality, I took the better part of a month to recovery and feel right before training hard again.  It wasn't until GTIS in mid-August that I began to feel like myself again.  Add it all up and I have been following a training plan for at least nine of the eleven months in 2011.  It's exciting to me to have some time off after Las Vegas RnR to do whatever I want and just enjoy running!  I am kind of hoping to get in some winter trail runs and just enjoy the mountains that we are so privileged to live near.  I won't get much of a break because I'll likely start building my mileage early in the New Year.  I'm looking at a 50 miler in April to start off the ultra season.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	7	Easy pace
Wednesday	11	2 x 3 miles: 6:43 avg for first 3, 7:15 avg for second 3
Thursday	11	MLR at an easy pace
Friday	5	Recovery pace
Saturday	20	Easy/LSD pace
Sunday	6	Recovery pace
Total	60	About 3800 vertical feet gained

LT 100 - Training Strategy

This post is probably about 2 months too early, but my mind is already spinning with ideas. So, I will put them down now and revise as necessary. My general idea for training for the LT100 is to gear it toward what I think will be the most important factors in success.  At this point I view those factors as follows:

• Big miles and lots of time on my feet
• Fast hiking
• Nutrition

I did not put those in order of importance because I think they are just about equally important. Obviously logging big miles and time on my feet is going to be huge because I've never done a race of more than 10 hours before. At a minimum, I will be on my feet about two and one-half that to complete the 100. Having logged my first huge mileage year, I can tell you that I am a firm believe that the best predictor of success is miles run. Fast hiking is an underrated part of ultra running. If you can hike a steep incline between 3 and 4 miles per hour, then you have a chance to put in quality ultra finishes. Ideally you can fast hike (or power walk) closer to 4 MPH. The two most dramatic parts of this course are Hope Pass and Sugar Loaf Pass -- being able to fast hike when tired will be a huge asset. And finally, the obvious selection, nutrition. All endurance events have to consider nutrition. But of course a race in which you are running for more than 24 hours will amplify the needs. I had struggles at my first attempt to complete 50 miles and am particularly concerned about being prepared. The biggest concern to me is maintaining electrolyte balance in a variety of conditions as Leadville can range from 30 degrees at night to the high 80's during the day. Due the large amount of walking, I am not overly concerned at this point about my ability to take in food at the slower pace.

Based on all that, here is what I hope will be the backbone of my training for the year:

• A plan that pushes me to 70 miles (or more) six to ten times
• At least a half dozen weeks with back-to-back long runs
• Lots of hiking (ideally a few 14ers for hiking and altitude)
• Several races (or training runs) in the ultra category for nutrition, hiking, time on my feet, and altitude
• At least one long run in the middle of the night, possibly as the back half of a B2B with only 8 - 10 hours of recovery
• Ideally there will be guy's weekend in July to spend several days in Leadville to train on area 14ers and Hope Pass.

Here is a list of potential races that I am considering:
Collegiate Peaks - April 28th, 2012
Collegiate Peaks is a twenty-five mile loop course in Buena Vista, CO.  While it is not quite a vertical monster, it is a very popular early season ultra in Colorado.

Colorado Marathon - May 6th, 2012
One of the best marathons in Colorado -- scenic and downhill!

Golden Gate Dirty Thirty - June 3rd, 2012
A single track 50k in the Golden Gate park near Black Hawk, Colorado.

The San Juan Solstice 50 - June 23rd, 2012
This is a tough, tough 50 mile race with more than 13K feet of climbing.  Some say it is the hardest (or one of) 50 miler in the country.  In fact, it is considered a "mini-Hardrock".  There is a rule of thumb you can take your time in this race and double it to predict your LT100 time.  I like the location of this race on the calendar because it would give me 2 months to recover before the LT100.

Leadville Silver Rush 50 - July 15th, 2012
A darn good 50 mile race that offers altitude, heat and 8,000 feet of climbing.  As a past finisher of this race, I know the course and the difficulty.  I think this course would help me acclimate to Leadville.   But is it too close to the LT100?  I worry that anything near a race effort in this event could require too much recovery only 5 weeks before the main event.

Speedgoat 50k- July 28th, 2012
A super gnarly 50k in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.  The course is put on by Karl Meltzer and contains nearly 11,000 feet of elevation gain.

Weekly Training Wrap - 10/31 – 11/06

Another tough week of training down!  In fact, considering the weighted average speed of my miles, this might be the fastest week of running I've ever done.  There were three very tough runs in this workout:  Tuesday was an aggressive paced MLR, Wednesday was one of my faster tempo runs ever and then Saturday with the MP miles.  Saturday's run in particular gave me the confidence that I am marathon ready.  My mind is starting to think in terms of 3:15 rather than 3:20.  And if the altitude is as much of an advantage as I hope it will be, then maybe even a few minutes lower than that.  My average pace for the MP miles was 7:27 and that translates into a 3:15 marathon.  And even running half of those into a stiff breeze, I did not blow out my HR (average 162 or so for MP miles).  Altitude calculations suggest that I could take as much as 18 seconds per mile off that 7:27 pace to account for the 4,000 foot difference on race day.  That would be up to 8 minutes!  Now I don't think that is going to be quite right for me for two reasons.  The first is that I suspect Saturday's MP miles were a touch faster than MP.  And the second is that I have not consistently trained for a sub 3:15 marathon on my workouts.  Plus, altitude math is somewhat theoretical in nature.  Nonetheless, I'd say a 3 - 5 minute cushion on race day sounds about right.

This week will be a bit slower in pace (on aggregate) as I focus a bit more on endurance and wrap up this final week of Pfitz training!  I have my final 20 mile training run (maybe for the year?) and I have not quite decided how I will approach it yet.  It's getting tough not to let my focus drift to Leadville, but I am confident the work I am doing now is preparing me for Leadville.  And I am so late in training, that I can see this race coming together beautifully.

Before wrapping up this post, I have to mention my new marathon shoes, the Saucony Fastwitch.  I tried them out Saturday having only worn them an aggregate of about 30 minutes before my MP run.  They performed well.  I think that anyone looking to get some of the benefits of a minimal shoe (light weight, very little heel-to-toe drop) while still maintaining some support should really consider them.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	11	MLR at GA pace
Wednesday	8	5 tempo miles: 7:18, 7;13, 7:08, 7:03, 7:03
Thursday	6	Recovery
Friday	Rest
Saturday	18	14 MP miles averaging 7:27
Sunday	7	Recovery
Total	50	About 2000 vertical feet gained

LT 100 - The Journey Begins

The Leadville Race Series opened their races for registration yesterday and I took the leap. I am officially in for the 100 mile trail run on August 18, 2012. After I hit the "submit" button on the registration page, I had an immediate moment of anxiety where I thought "holy %^&*, I just did it!". A buddy of mine compared that moment to "that awesome and scary moment you encounter in poker where you go 'ALL IN'". Of course in poker you know your fate in less than a minute. I will have to wait ten months to see how it unfolds for me. A few minutes after I signed up, it was all I could think about. That was all the proof I needed that I made the right decision.

Was there really a doubt I was going to attempt it?  No. Leadville has been all that I have thought about the past 12 months. In fact, I've been compiling race day strategies, tips, and training plans since I finished the Silver Rush 50 miler last July. Running 100 miles seems unfathomable and borderline insane to most people. And there are a million rational reasons NOT to do it.  So why am I craving the chance to try? Because I can. Because it's there. I wish I had a more in depth response, but I'm still figuring it out myself. Maybe this video will help explain it.

I will have hundreds of conversations and dozens of blog posts about this journey. For the moment, I want to post a quick preview of the course. The image below shows the elevation profile. It is an out and back course: the first 50 miles are left to right on the image. Then you turn around and return, essentially going right to left on that image. The large spike in the middle of the run is Hope Pass. You cross it twice in a 20 mile stretch and, for most people, it determines the fate of their race. If you reach the 60 mile aid station within the cutoff time, the probability of finishing increases dramatically. The peak elevation on Hope Pass is 12,600 feet. The weather is unpredictable and the air is thin. The Winfield aid station is the midway point and just after the first trip across Hope Pass. More people quit at that aid station than any other.

Instead of medals, finishers are given belt buckles (a 100 mile tradition). There are two obvious goals when attempting this race. The first is to finish under the 30 hour cut off. And they don't give you even one more minute. The second goal is to finish in 25 hours and get the "big buckle". The majority of finishers do not make the 25 hour cut off. Historically, the 30 hour finish rate is roughly 50%.

My current goal is just to finish (but stay tuned because I may change my mind). That appears to be a fairly conservative strategy because my Silver Rush 50 time of 10 hours projects me as a 26 hour finisher. And I have only gotten stronger since then.  It is not out of the question that I could go for a 25 hour finish. Given the amount of unpredictability that goes into running 100 miles, it would not be a wise decision to think like that on my first attempt. Certainly I have some more aggressive splits in mind if I feel strong. Those splits probably won't come into play until I've gone over Hope Pass both times. With the hardest part of the race behind me, I can assess how strong I feel and whether to push the pace for a strong finish.

The cliff's notes version of race day strategy for a finisher is:

1. Run most of the first 40 miles at an easy pace
2. SURVIVE two trips over Hope Pass
3. Muster up what ever energy and will power you have left to walk, run, or crawl to the finish

The table below is a more detailed breakdown of my "finish" strategy by aid station.  In the article linked below, this is similar to the "Buckler Pattern".

Destination	Section Miles	Cumulative Miles	Section Time	Cumulative Time	Cutoff Time
May Queen	13.5	13.5	2:30	2:30	3:25
Fish Hatchery	10	23.5	2:15	4:45	6:00
Halfmoon	7	30.5	1:35	6:20	8:00
Twin Lakes	9	39.5	2:05	8:25	10:00
Winfield	10.5	50	4:05	12:30	14:00
Twin Lakes	10.5	60.5	4:10	16:40	17:45
Halfmoon	9	69.5	3:05	19:45	20:45
Fish Hatchery	7	76.5	1:55	21:45	23:00
May Queen	10	86.5	3:55	25:40	26:30
Finish	13.5	100	4:05	29:45	30:00

You can find additional strategies here.

Note that the race starts at 4:00 am on Saturday.  This table suggests I would finish at just before 10:00 am on Sunday.  My crew and I will likely have been awake for 36 hours by that point.  And, if I make it, I don't think I will be going to bed right away.

Now I have taken step one of the journey.  (Or maybe it's a giant leap?)  All that is left to do is lots and lots of hard work.