tipping towards trails

Today, the 4th day since my trail marathon, I feel great. My legs feel the same or better than after racing the City of Lakes 25K a few weeks ago which was run on a blacktop road. The softer surfaces of trail running are much better for my body.

In 2009 I was coming off a foot surgery in the Winter but ended up with races totaling 80 miles on the road and 14 miles on the trail.

In 2010, so far, I have 62 miles of road racing and 75 miles of trail racing. That's a significant shift to trails. I would like to shift even more towards trails in 2011. The rest of this year has me running maybe 10 to 15 miles at the Door County Fall 50 team relay on the road and then the Surf the Murph 50M event which is on trails.

I am well aware that I'm not trained for any distances longer than a marathon so the 50M in October will be a big s-t-r-e-t-c-h for me. I'm hoping that the softer surfaces will help save me during that full day event. No matter what, I'll be having fun being out on the trails.

--Mark

Birkebeiner Trail Marathon 2010 race report

This year was the first year of the Birkebeiner Trail Marathon for individuals. Other years the marathon was held as a relay along with other races: Half marathon, 5K, and a Half marathon Trek. The marathon course runs mostly on the Birkie ski course from just outside of Hayward, WI to the Telemark lodge outside of Cable. The final several miles of the race are on the Kortelopet Trail.

For those that just want pictures, race-day photos (not mine) are on the Birkie website here.

I grew-up in this area in the small town of Grand View and worked at Telemark during high school. My first job was washing dishes by hand at the Chalet. This was before it burned to the ground. No, I didn't do it. I also skied on the trails around Telemark during High School and College. Back then I had no fear on the trails and skied fast and hard. Skiing is in my past - running is my sport now.

I had been interested the past two years in signing up for the marathon relay but never fit it into my schedule, mainly because I ran the Twin Cities marathon those years. This year I decided early in the Spring that I was done with marathons for the year but I got over that feeling this Summer and found the individual marathon was an option! I heard that it was hilly but my friends know I love hills! Sign me up!

The day before the race

I took a vacation day from work on Friday, 9/24 to get ready for the race. I got my Shot Bloks ready - I cut 3 packages of them in half, and taped the ends shut. This gives me 6 '100cal servings' of 3 shot bloks each. I take 1 serving every 3 miles starting at mile 8. It works for me. I also put 8 S!Caps each into two small baggies. I take one S!Cap every time I take some Shot Bloks. I was also planning to wear my Nathan 2 liter hydration pack. It was going to be a good way to give me supplemental water between aid stations. Since I was predicting a completely muddy trail, I packed a pair of socks in the zippered back compartment. OK....all set with nutrition.

What to wear? I looked at the Hayward weather forecast about 5 times a day during the week before the race. It looked as if the rain was going to letup (FINALLY) around 7pm Friday night and Saturday was supposed to be mostly sunny and 38 degrees at the start. I settled on my standard race-ready shorts, red sleeveless shirt, and my Brooks Glycerin 8 shoes. I remembered to grab my Afton Trail Run cap and I was going wear some Boston Marathon gloves my friends gave me after their trip there a few years ago. I never qualified but they are a souvenir and are good luck for me.

After noon, I left the Twin Cities and headed up to Hayward for packet-pickup where I also got a nice technical T-shirt, see pic above. Then I was off to my Dad's house in Grand View. Never one to have surprises the night before the marathon, I packed my own dinner of spaghetti noodles and a grilled chicken breast as well as an apple. On the way, I picked up a 6-pack of New Glaris Totally Naked beer for my Dad and his wife and a 6-pack of Spotted Cow beer for myself. The beer was going to have to wait until Saturday night, but I did enjoy a shot of Blackberry Brandy with my Dad before I hit the hay.

Race Day - Saturday morning

I set my alarm for 4:45am. Seems early for an 8am start but I also like to have breakfast 3+ hours before race time. I got up long before the alarm at 4:20 and made myself a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter. That's the breakfast that, so far, has helped keep GI issues away! My plan was to leave at 6am for Telemark, a 30 minute drive, and luckily I went out to my car early. There was a thick coat of frozen dew on the windows. Ugh. My ice scraper was in Minnesota and I couldn't find one in my Dad's truck. The defroster worked well and I was on the road at 6am on schedule. I was also lucky that I packed warm gloves, winter running pants, and a sweatshirt to wear before the race.

At Telemark there were buses to shuttle us to the start. Once the runners started getting on the bus, I made sure I got on the first bus. I always like to have a little time to relax and just walk around near the starting line before a race. Well, the bus behind us went first and when we arrived at the Fish Hatchery Park, I had time to hit the porta-potty, take off my warm clothes and put them in my drop bag, and listen to the starting line instructions. Now it was only two minutes until race time.

We were told that one of the race organizers had traveled the course by ATV that morning. There were quite a few areas where water had formed ponds at the bottoms of hills. We could run though the water or run around the ponds through the woods. The race official recommended going around as some of the ponds were up to the tops of the ATV wheels. Yikes. Although it was sunny, I was still imagining mud. The temperature at the start was 34 degrees. Even though it was that cold, I knew that sleeveless was the way to go for me.

And we were off

I had heard a few times that the marathon had about 80 runners. That number looked accurate. I lined-up about where I thought I should be and we were off and running on time. I think we had a couple hundred yards of flat blacktop before we were on the trail. Approaching the first corner I tried to count how many runners were ahead of me and I estimated 25. I still seemed to be in the right position for the size of the race.

This was a race that I was planning to race, not just finish. I trained with my friends Michelle and Aileen for a 3:40 marathon but I knew I couldn't do that here. My goal was to hit the half at 2:00 and if everything went I would like to have a 4:00 finish.

Right from the start I could see the course was beautiful. The sun was out, most of the trees were at or near their peak color, the air was crisp, and we were in the woods. What could be better? Well, some would say a flat course would be better. :-) The hills! The hills! The hills! Rolling. Never-ending. Some small, maybe 12 to 15 feet high. Some much larger. Up and down and up and down and up and down. Were there really any flat areas in the first 20 miles? I don't remember any.

That's all it was - hills and beautiful trees. I was running around 9 minute miles and since I was racing it, the pace seemed appropriate. Wasn't I supposed to be hurting a little? I was not out for an easy long run, I had to push things a bit. A couple miles in my glasses fogged up some and it was hard to see with the bright sunshine. That was ticking me off because I was really enjoying the beauty of the forest. Eventually, my glasses cleared up and thankfully I could see again.

We had aid stations on the course that were stocked with water, Heed, and small Cliff bars. At 5.8K was aid station #1. I asked for water and got one water and one Heed. Ugh. I stop at aid stations for maybe 7 seconds to throw my two cups of water down my throat. The Heed was down about the time I tasted it. I could have worried that it was going to throw-off my nutrition plan but what's done is done. Nothing I could do about it now and off I ran.

A few miles ahead I started running with a gal. We chatted for awhile and she was from Hayward and did her training on this course. She seemed strong and fast and there were only 5 women ahead of her as well as the 20 men ahead of me. The running was great! This trail was W-I-D-E and was mowed grass. For much of the trail there was a dirt path down the middle. I didn't run on the path as it was a little slick and if there were rocks, that's where they were. I ran on the grass which was about like running on someone's poorly kept lawn. It didn't have thick grass like a lawn or a golf course but, in my opinion, it was just wonderful to run on. I would rate the technical difficulty of the running surface as a trail run to be a Zero out of Ten. Note that I'm talking about the surface, not the hills.

The hills were still rolling as we got to aid station #2. I asked for water again and got one water and one Heed. The guy next to me asked for Heed and got water. Everyone makes mistakes. Unfortunately, the water and Heed looked the same and were in the same white cups. Yet again, there was nothing I could do because I drank it down so quickly. We were still clicking off the miles at around a 9:00 pace and I felt good. Coming up soon was mile 8 and it was time to take some Shot Bloks and an S!Cap. It may have been somewhere around here that the local gal moved ahead. She knew we were on pace for a sub-2:00 half and possibly a sub-4:00 finish. That would be nice. [note: she finished with a sub-4:00] I was dividing my race up from here to the end into 3-mile chunks. 3 miles was the distance between Shot Bloks.

Approaching the half way point it was still rolling hills. I felt pretty good and hit the half at 1:58. The way the markers were set it seemed as if the first half was long and the second half was short. This is a trail race so it doesn't matter to me. I knew when I was finished I would have run not less than 26.2 miles. Oh yeah, at this aid station I got two WATERS! Yes! I briefly looked for my friends from the Twin Cites, Karen and Jay that were running the half. I didn't see them as I found out later their bus arrived just after 10am and I went through the station at 9:58. Oh well.

First half done! Now a half to go!

The first 13.1 were good but hard. I was racing but still had power. Things were about to change very soon, and not for the better. Of course, I took my nutrition at mile 11 and was now approaching mile 14 for another serving. It has been working extremely well wearing my Nathan hydration pack and I never seemed too full of water or too dehydrated. Approaching mile 14 both of my calf muscles felt like they were going to cramp. Ugh. Luckily I could still think clearly and decided right then to double up on S!Caps then, and every 3 miles to the finish. I took two S!Caps along with my Shot Bloks. That was my only hope. Well, that and slowing slightly to run under the cramping point. I can't really explain it but I could still move along at a fair, not fast, pace and could feel my calf muscles were shot but not yet cramping. On the hills where I had to walk, I tried to walk at a nice clip because I thought if I stopped, my muscles would cramp and that would be the end of me. So far, so good.

Oh, maybe you were wondering about the hills. We still had hills and I don't remember any flat areas yet. Coming up on mile 17 I popped two S!Caps in my mouth and took a big drink of water from my Nathan. The water partially went down the wrong way and I swallowed one S!Cap and coughed-out the other one like a bullet. I couldn't stop coughing for about two minutes. I came by several Trekers during this stretch and tried my best to look like I wasn't dying. After I passed those walkers, I took another S!Cap and thought about how happy I was that I packed twice the number I was planning to use.

I forgot another great thing about this race! There were bikes out on the course riding around and each time they went by me they asked how I was doing and if I needed anything. Every time I was happy to report that I was doing fine and didn't need anything. These few words I wrote on the topic do not emphasize how great that was to have the support. Thank you race volunteers!

My race plan turned into "run as fast as you can without cramping". I was trying to think of why my calves were shot. My opinion is that my training was not race-specific. Simple as that. I did not train on small continuous rolling hills. In the areas I trained, I just did not have similar terrain. No matter, I was going to do the best that I could do.

The hills were getting bigger now as we climbed towards the highest point on the course. I think it was about mile 20 where we passed the sign that read something like: Point of Highest Elevation 1730 feet. What an awesome thing to pass as the finish would not be higher than we were right now. If someone had given me the choice right then and there to either kiss my favorite supermodel or kiss the sign, I would have kissed the sign.

Not long after this hill, the terrain was net downhill with fewer and fewer hills that required walking (for me). I was still running fairly well but noticeably slower. I was getting adequate water, nutrition, and my doubling up on S!Caps was working. Around this point in time two guy on relay teams passed me. Those guys started an hour after I did and boy were they moving. Wow.

The end was getting closer and closer and that was a good thing. A few half-marathoner's were passing me. These were the ones that would end up finishing sub-1:36 half marathons. Those guys were moving too. At 2.5 miles from the finish I was running a little slower up a hill and a half marathoner runs by and yells: "Hey, C'mon! It's 2.5 miles to the finish! Get Moving!" Well, that helped to motivate me a bit and I picked up the pace. I was still thankful that I avoided cramping calves and the end of this race was near. During this second half I think two guys passed me at a nice pace. Good job guys! I also passed a few.

1K to go!

There was a guy I passed at mile 17. He looked about my age and he caught me at 1K to go. We exchanged just a few words and I pulled out a little kick and figured it was now or never so I pulled ahead of him and never looked back. No way I was going to lose a finishing place that close to the end. I was happy that the finish was downhill and I was extremely happy with my finishing time of 4:06:54. I was 24th of 73 finishers and 3rd of 11 in my age group. Race results here.


Well, it was great to get my medal, hang around for my friends Karen and Jay to finish their half marathon, and then have a beer and lunch under the big tent. As I said in my earlier posting, if I had to pick just one marathon to run every year for the rest of my life it would be this one. I loved it. It was not easy, but I loved it and can't wait to run it again next year.

Since you read this far, you can look at my Garmin data here.

--Mark

Birkebeiner Trail Marathon - finished!

Long report next week. Sunny skies, beautiful Fall colors, and an extremely easy surface to run on - 25' wide mowed grass trails. I did well with a 1:58 split at the half and a 4:06:54 finishing time. 3rd of 11 in my age group and 24th of 73 finishers. If I had to choose one marathon to run every year for the rest of my life, it would be this one.

--Mark

expecting mud Saturday

Saturday morning I'll be running the Birkebeiner Trail Marathon out of Hayward, Wisconsin. Although I believe the downpours in Northern WI have not been as severe as Southern MN, there has been plenty of rain falling up North. The Fat Tire 40 mountain bike race was held on the Birkebeiner trail last weekend and there was plenty of damage done to the trails during that event (from what I've heard from a participant). The rain this week will only contribute to muddy conditions which will have no chance of drying-up before Saturday.

So, I'm expecting the worst-case situation of muddy conditions for 26.2 miles. I've run very well at the Trail Mix team race in mud, so who knows, I may just be a human-mudder. Best case, I'll be pleasantly surprised with some surfaces with traction.

Good luck to everyone running the any of the Birkie races this weekend.

--Mark

City of Lakes 25K 2010 race report

My two marathon training partners, Michelle and Aileen, had signed up for the City of Lakes 25K some time ago. I wasn't planning to run it, but last week I found I could fit the race into my schedule. Even though I have never run the COL 25K, I seemed to remember it filling early. I looked at the website, saw that it was still open, and registered. My running partners and I are early morning runners - we start our runs at 5am. With an 8am start, I may actually see what Michelle (M) and Aileen (A) look like in the sunshine. :-)

We talked about our plan - M and A are running the Twin Cities Marathon in three weeks and I am running a trail marathon in two weeks. I didn't need 20 miles, 15.5 would do. M and A's plan would be to get 3 to 5 miles in before the COL. I would meet them at the start and we would run together at marathon pace which would be 8:23 as they had trained for a 3:40 marathon. I never picked a goal marathon time so I just went along with their training.

I was pretty excited for race day and got most of my things ready the night before the race. S!Caps - check; Shot Bloks - check; wet-wipes - check (always ready for a porta-potty emergency). :-) The temps were looking to start out cool so instead of choosing my usual racing singlet, I picked my standard second choice, a sleeveless red shirt.

After a good night of sleep I was up at 5am for a slice of wheat toast with peanut butter. It's my ONLY tried and true race morning food that so far (knock on wood) has kept my GI system happy during long runs. Well, the peanut butter toast AND shot blocks keeps me happy. GUs are a recipe for disaster for me, especially when I get to around the 2-hour point in a run. Well, I packed my stuff and headed for Lake Harriet. Half way there I remembered that I forgot my running cap at home. I almost always wear my Afton Trail Run cap in longer races. It keeps the sun off the shiny portions of my head and helps control sweat dripping down my forehead. Oh well, no cap for me today.

I found a nice spot to park a few blocks from packet pickup and walked down to get my bib and my chip. Nothing eventful was happening here except it was pretty cool so thankfully I brought a pre-race sweatshirt. It was down near the start that I ran into M getting a little mileage in on the way to meet A for a pre-race Lake Harriet loop. They were looking for 18 to 20 miles today. I did some more walking and recognized some runners from other races but didn't talk with anyone. Closer to race time, I took the walk back to my car to put my sweatshirt away, took a final drink of water, and put on my bib and chip. Back to the start area I went.

It was cool, in the lower 50s, and I was now in my sleeveless shirt looking for some warmth. Ahhhh, the fishing pier was in the sun and that was the place to go. I hung out there for awhile and found it was a popular place for runners to stay warm. Out on the pier I saw one woman putting on her chip, and the next thing you know, she said: Oh my gosh! - Her chip plunked into the waters of Lake Harriet, and went swimming gently towards the bottom of the lake. One of the guys with her stuck his arm down into the water to get the chip. I was walking away at that time and don't know if he got the chip or not. My guess is no.

Now it's race time. I saw my friend Ann and we chatted for awhile. We thought we picked out a good starting position - I told Ann that we were planning to run in the 8:20s and it seemed like we were in a good spot. M and A headed off to run to another porta-potti away from the start since the close ones were too crowded. M and A came back just before starting time and found me, the race started, and off we went. We had talked about running faster than 8:23s if we felt good and that's what happened. Of course, I almost always start out too fast and our first mile was a 7:59. Mile 2 - 7:49. Mile 3 - 7:49. Mile 4 - 7:49. The even streak would end there. M and A and I were running together. At water stops I would usually take two cups off the water table, stop and down them both, and then catch up to my friends. That was my water plan and I stuck to it the whole race. My S!Caps and Shot Block plan was to take 3 Shot Bloks and an S!Cap at miles 7, 10, and 13. I stuck roughly to that too, syncing them to the nearest water stop.

The race ended up being a nice Hard run. It wasn't as hard as if I raced it, but we were moving right along. My heart rate seemed fine and our pace seemed to be staying in the 7:50s. Our wildlife viewing today would be a dead squirrel (flat), a dead chipmunk (extra-flat), and a big dead rabbit (still in 3D). The rabbit was in the section along Lake Harriet where we would run three times. I'm happy to say I didn't step on it once. I'm pretty sure others did.

We hit the half marathon timer at 1:44. Most of us know that 1:45 is a Corral 1 qualifier for the Twin Cities Marathon. M and A already qualified but it's always nice to get a sub-1:45 half for marathon runners in the 3:40 range.

A mile or two from the finish M dropped back a bit. She said later that fatigue was starting to set in with 20 miles at that point for the day. A and I ran strong to the finish and had a nice final mile in the 7:30s. No drop-off in pace. Michelle finished just seconds after us. It was nice to feel good all the way to 15.5 miles; In the Spring I would have some issues with fatigue after running 13 miles and my Spring 25K was much harder at a much slower pace. Michelle, Aileen, and all have a 2:03 time for the day. It was really nice to run that race with my partners.

That's it. Nice race. Nice pace. Nice finish. We enjoyed some water, banana, and chocolate chip cookie at the finish. I really like the COL 25K mug too. I would run this one again.

My Gamin data for the race is here.

--Mark

Time to taper

Two week taper for me from now until the Birkebeiner Trail Marathon. I am in much better running shape now than I was in the Spring when I ran the Eau Claire Marathon. During the 3 months before my Spring taper, I averaged only 24.3 miles per week. I was doing more cross-training then but it didn't work for me. I needed more miles. A month before Eau Claire I ran the Ron Daws 25K in 2:14. That was a really hard race and I could not get a nice pace going which is exactly what happened in Eau Claire.

Over the past 3 months I have averaged 40.3 miles per week which is enough for me as it has kept me injury-free. I've learned several times that when I go over 45 mpw, I get hurt. Yesterday I ran the City of Lakes 25K in 2:03 [Garmin data] and felt very good and had an easier time running at a faster, and constant, pace. Those races are hard to compare except for the distance but I feel that I'm a much stronger runner now.

It's funny that I just punched in my COL 25K 2:03 into the McMillan Running Calculator and it predicts a 3:35:44 which would be a Boston Qualifier. I won't be seeing that at the Birkebeiner Marathon which is not certified and I'm sure has many more rolling hills than I can count on my fingers and toes. :-) Pulling a goal out of thin air, I think a 4:00 marathon is what I'll shoot for.

Taper:
6, 6, 6, 6, 0, 9, 0 - this week
6, 4, 4, 0, 2, race - next week

--Mark

City of Lakes 25K

Two of my main running partners are running the City of Lakes and since I should get a 15 miler in this weekend, I'll be running it too. I watched the race a couple of years ago but this will be my first year running it. Should be a fun one, especially if I end up running it with my friends.

--Mark