Leona Divide 50 miles

Yesterday I ran the Leona Divide 50 miler in 9:39.  What a fabulous race!  Beautiful runnable course with some gorgeous technical sections, nice views, well marked and stocked,  and friendly folks at the aid stations.

The boys clapping me in to finish

My race plan  targeted a 10 hour finish-  5 miles per hour, to be achieved by walking the steep hills and running the down, flats and moderate uphill grades.  This is what i've been averaging in the last month including water stops, walking steep hills in the sun etc.  So I beat my goal.  I ran completely flat splits which was cool, and today I feel very little soreness, none at all in the knees.  The run felt fast which is sort of amusing since 15-20 years ago I was running 50 milers in around 7 hours.  THAT was fast, but the challenge in racing the clock to beat 10 hours yesterday was satisfying nonetheless.  Probably felt fast since in the back half of the race I was passing lots of people who were walking, struggling with the heat;  I still was running and had spring in my step.  I placed 47/229;  within the age group 40-49 I placed 8th man out of 46.

The day broke warm at 6am and the guy at the pre-race briefing went over the race rules-  passing, leave-no -trace etc, and then: "Its gunna be M-F-ing hot folks!  Manage the heat" he warned, or "the heat will manage you".  His prediction was right, it was very hot and dry on the trail as the day advanced and the sun was like a solar furnace.  Accuweather gave the high at Lake Hughes as 92F; my better half who crewed me w/ the kids maintains it was hotter than that.  I stayed cool by wearing my light white dress shirt, a visor w/ bandana (my prosthetic hair to prevent scalp burn) and carrying one hand held bottle of ice water all day just to douse my head and shoulders.    I stayed cool and well hydrated the whole day and felt great.  The guys with IVs in their arms at the finish attested to the reality of the "...or the heat will manage you" part of what the starter official had said at the pre-race briefing.

The only issue I had was the balls of my feet got very tender as the day progressed.  The Merrill Trailgloves have a mesh upper which keeps the feet dry because its very breathable, but does allow trail grit in, and I wasn't wearing gaiters.  I hadn't had a problem with this in training but on the Leona Divide trail, which was often very sandy,  my shoes collected enough sand and grit that it became a problem-  I stopped three times to clean my feet, shake out the grit.  My better half and the kids met me at mile 42 where i was able to change my socks (ahhhh) and boy it was great to see them there.  Anyways it seems clear that I'll need gaiters or something a bit more grit proof for AC 100;  the feet were just awefully tender by the end of the day (no blisters though!).

First-born crewing me at Aid Station 9

On the other hand-  no knee pain;  no calf problems and I could go dancing today if I had the rhythm.

The absence of calf problems was a welcome relief.  I had a knot in the lateral soleous 1 week after my 29 miler on March 23, and had been trying to rehab it since.  I took a week off, walking only;  I finally "fixed" it with a foam roller and an 18 miler up Mt Wilson 2 weeks ago.  I'd walked 9 miles up Mt Wilson...walking instead of running since the calf was hurt...but it hurt walking, so I decided to screw it and run down (it hurts either way right?).  After a half mile or so  the knot literally popped, felt better,  and since then I've been  on the road to recovery.  Last weekend I ran 24 miles  in the Verdugos, calves were fine but I was running very gingerly on the uphills to prevent overtaxing them.  And yesterday-  no problems at all!

The "Shirt-Guy" at Leona Divide

I took a fair bit of hazing yesterday for my white dress shirt and the full length Columbia pants I wear.  These are the pants type with the zippered legs that remove to leave shorts.  But I started  keeping the legs on to keep my calves warm back in January, and have kept them on because they keep sun,  grit and poison oak off my legs.  By partly unzipping the legs there is  enough air flow to keep the legs cool.  Haven't folks seen what people wear at events like Badwater?

Anyways one young'un in the race that I passed yesterday  at about mile 5 cat-called "hey, you late for the office or what?"  Another older guy later on helpfully pointed out,  "Hey, you know you are wearing long pants?  Its hot out, you'd be cooler if you wore shorts!"  Really?    These  guys I guess are too new to the sport to recall that white dress shirts used to be common-  great sun protection, and the fact that they have collars and open up in the front is a feature I havent seen in any "official" sportswear.     Anyways, by the end of the day,  folks were calling me the "Shirt Guy" and a couple folks that I had passed in the back half of the race came up afterwords and offered that "I guess you know what you're doing.  But whats the deal with the PANTS?"

It was a great day to be out there with the family and the run just seemed to flow.  I especially enjoyed the stretch from mile 20 to the turnaround at mile 29 and back down to mile 42.  This stretch, on the PCT, largely paralleled the ridge line about 30-40 ft down from the top, on the north side so there was shade.  It was a running dream ...and I felt like I was flying;  I had it to myself and I was singing and just having a blast.  I am so grateful for this day!

...and again, 29 miles

Got up at 5 this morning for a long one in the Verdugos, ran 29 & change in 5:20.  Good runnable stuff.  Knees are fine, feet ae fine, calves are a bit sore.  Quite a new experience to run such distances and be  functional for the rest of the day afterwords.  After the run, I took the kids to the pool and to the local climbing wall.  All in all a fine day.

Next week is a recovery week;  then I'll do two more hard weeks, a taper week, and then Leona Divide on April 27.

Verdugos again

Beautiful run this morning in the Verdugos.  Started at 6:30am up Hofstader road up to the crest, roughly midpoint along the crest.  I stashed water at the junction, and then did my usual run along the crest, both west and east for a total run of 24 miles.  It was very slow, total time 4:35, but I ran most of it and the calves cooperated.  Some soft tissue soreness during and after but again, none of the old "runners knee" going on despite the climbs and descents.

Verdugos

I awoke at 5am this morning...err, 6am,  due to DST and drove out to run my old benchmark course in the Verdugos from Morning Glow, up to the spine of the Verdugos, and along the crest for 10 miles, then return for a total of 20 miles.  It was a spectacular, crystal clear morning that started cold and got hot.  The view from the crest of the Verdugos is stunning, the San Gabriels looked like I could reach out and touch them.

The route follows a steep trail for 1.5 miles until it reaches the crest fire road.  I walked most of this-  paranoid about the need to warm up the calves properly before starting the running.  Unlike my runs in the San Gabriels since January, where I have walked up (and up and up), summited, and then ran down, this day I ran most of the way except for a few steep sections.  I figure I ran about 16 miles, walked 4.

My time was 3:42, off the benchmark 3:18 from last November and my typical 3:25 on this course.  But the big difference again was-  no knee pain at all.  This is the longest run (as opposed to run/walk) I have done since transitioning to the minimalist shoes (previous longest was 10 miles run out of 20 total).    It really felt great.  Only one point where my calves were a bit tight et voila I hit a hill, walked up it about a half mile until the grade lessened and that loosened the calves back up.  Its been a while since I've done extended uphill running, so it was good to see the calves and knees survived just the same.

Another difference.  I ran with just a 1.5 liters of water;  usually on this route I take 3-4 liters (there is no water en route).  I felt fine.  I did guzzle a liter of cold soda water/coke mix after the run (Jack in the box en route home) as I was a bit parched by the end.

The previous week was a scheduled rest week where I chopped the mileage and cut out the long weekend run for a rest up.  My calves had been feeling "brittle" so I needed a rest.  Indeed 2 days into the rest week, after my last long run (Mt Wilson, 20 miler) I went out in  rush for a lunchtime run from work, without walking the usual mile warm up,  and suffered a minor ping in the right lateral soleus after a mile and a half.  I stopped and walked home-  walked a three days without running, got some ART and its been fine since..but the lesson is:  warm up, and don't run while still sore from a big run-  let the muscle soreness dissipate first.

My achilles & me

Today I ran 6 miles up the Sawcut wash in Monrovia at lunch;  had meant to walk but it started raining so I RAN...and the calves felt OK-  They are adapting!

I was reflecting on a paradox over the weekend while talking about training with an old running pal.  Back in 2003 I had injured my left achilles tendon ("overtraining")  badly enough that I ended up taking a full year off.  Nothing seemed to work to get the swelling and pain to settle down..massage, ice, rest, electro stim...  The achilles had a pronounced bulge - So I had thrown in the towel and taken up mountain biking.  I got back into running finally in 2004 after a few months of solid rest, and tried inserting some over the counter arch supports that raised my heels up about 1/4 inch.  When I occasionally took the heel lifts out of my old ASICs, the achilles pain returned, so I ended up just leaving them in. So the solution to the achilles problem at the time was:  increase the heel-to-toe drop even more than my traditional running shoes already had built in.  Even so in the fall mileage build up I was starting to have problems again with the achilles on BOTH sides.

When I started running in the Trailgloves in January-  short runs of 1-3 miles max...initially the left achilles bothered me, a mild discomfort while running.   Woops, this might prove to be the  achilles heel (har) of the zero-drop shoes.  But after a week or so, this discomfort went away.

Now I am running more significant miles, such as the Mt Wilson run the other day with 10 miles running down...achilles are still both 100%.  I mentioned in a previous post that the fasciculations I used to experience in my calf muscles post running  are completely gone.

So here's what appears to be a paradox:  Running in the zero drop shoes which stress the calves (and presumably the achilles) more than "traditional" heel striking in moon boots, causes no achilles pain....I think the experience must have as explanation that the calves & etc are just stressed differently in the minimalist forefoot striking technique.

Well, as my pal reminded me, its all theoretical until I run the Leona Divide 50 and get through it injury free, and get on to the AC100 in August.   But for what its worth, at this point, I am certain that without having made this change in my running to minimalist shoes, I would not stand much of a chance to get to the starting line of Leona Divide let alone the Angeles Crest.

Mt Wilson- with no knee pain

Great run this morning.  Started a bit after 6am to power walk up Mt Wilson...9 miles in 2:18.  Ran down ...took a detour so the return trip was 10 miles, 90 minutes.  Elevation change between start and finish 4900feet.

The last time I did this run (November 2012) in my Asics, I could barely get out of the car after my drive home;  and I took an ice bath with 20 pounds of ice to deal with my thrashed knees.

Today-  in my trailgloves- no pain, zero.  Quads and knees are fine.

The  calves are still adjusting.  It took 3 days after my Inspriation point run for the soreness to settle down enough that I felt it safe to run.  So I am still alternating between running and walking to allow for the calves to accommodate.  Gratifying that I am able to handle 10 miles of a steep downhill in the minimalist shoes as I did this morning..

Inspiration point

Ah, what a beautiful morning.  Got up at 5:30, drank a pot of coffee and headed up to the Sam Merrill trail.  "Power walked" up to Echo Mnt, passed a few hikers, sunrise was beautiful.  I saw a bobcat right on the trail just before sunrise...spotted, short tail, characteristic jowls...I stopped  for a couple minutes to let it clear out and made a lot of noise as I continued up the trail.    From Echo Mountain to the Mt Lowe road and up to Inspiration Point.  Not a soul up there, probably because of the Lunar New Year. (Many Asian hikers up there ordinarily).   A fair bit of snow and ice.  Then, ran down the way I came, picking up other peoples discarded water bottles along the way (4 today).  A lot of trail runners and hikers and mountain bikers were heading up to Echo Mountain as I ran down.  The hike up was slow (1:43) the run down was also a bit slow (60 minutes);  the GPS gave the total distance at 12.7miles.

The knees and quads are fine....I am seeing that the CW of downhills trashing quads and knees  is an artifact of traditional running shoes/heelstriking style.  Total mileage this week was 41miles;  about half walking and half running.  The lower calves (soleus muscles) are tight and a bit sore.  My lower legs are thickening and feel somehow my feet and lower legs feel like animal legs...OK a bit hard to describe but there it is.

The plan for next week is...active recovery walking for a couple days then back into running and walking on  alternate days;  starting each run with a one mile walk as a warmup.  For the rest of February I'll continue this base building, on into March for the higher mileage training for Leona Divide 50 in late April.