Treadmill

I haven't run fast in a long time. I need to run fast more often. I really don't remember the last time I did speedwork. So, what better day than today?

I wanted to run outside badly, but I don't know the area here in Minneapolis and I don't have time to figure out a place to run here. So, I visited the dreaded treadmill. The good thing is that speedwork is tolerable on a treadmill. So I thought. Ugh. It was miserable. I wanted to do 4 x 1 mile repeats, but I could only do 3.5, but I did run them fast.

I set the incline on 1.5 and the pace on 6:14 or 6:18, whatever 9.6 mph is. I did the first mile at that pace, and took 2 minutes rest. The second mile was the same pace, except that I sped up to 6:00 (10 mph) for the last 0.25 of the second mile because I wanted it to be over. I slowed down to 9.3 mph (6:27 min/mile) for the third because I was spent! I considered not even trying the fourth. It really took some determination to get back on the treadmill. I talked myself into doing 0.5 miles. 0.25 at 6:27 and 0.25 at 6:00 just because I wanted it to be over. I walked about a half mile to cool down.

I like to think I could have finished this workout if I had been outside. I probably would have run slower, but I think I would have finished. Next Tuesday, I'll do some 800's.

Miserable workout, but I guess these workouts build character and add speed. Tomorrow, it'll be below 0 F, so running outside is not an option tomorrow. Treadmill again.

Athens 10 miler

This group just keeps going. Even with daylight savings time, we had 11 runners today. 11 people were there at what felt like 4:45 AM to their bodies. What a great group of runners we have in A-Town! This group run is one of the highlights of my week every week. The miles just disappear while visiting with friends.

Today was especially fun because Mike joined us. I'm glad he's coming back from his injury, and I hope he is able to continue to improve. Matt, Mike, and I had a good 8:00-ish push at the end. 11 miles total with the last one at 7:30. That's a nice start to the week. I'm hoping to be nearer to 50 miles than 30 miles this week.

But this afternoon, I'm paying for ignoring the cold I've been battling for a week now. I feel rotten and I hope it goes away soon.

This week...

This was my first sub-30 mile week of the year. It was the first sub-30 mile week since the week after the Rocket City Marathon. I suppose it's okay to lower the mileage the week after a 31 mile race, but I am very disappointed with the week. I missed two workouts and didn't make them up. My long run was only 16 miles today.

This week, though, it really was about time. I simply didn't have time to do the miles. I traveled and worked late every night on the road. That zapped my energy for early morning workouts.

• 5 treadmill miles on Tuesday
• 8 easy road miles (8:02 pace) on Friday
• 16 trail miles on Saturday (McKay Hollow Madness plus a couple extra on the South plateau)

I also learned today just how difficult the McKay Hollow Madness course is. It's brutal. I'm struggling to set a goal for that race, but right now I'm thinking I'll do very well to run that race in 2:20. I'd sure take advice on a goal for that race.

Mount Cheaha 50k Pictures!!

Yeah, we crossed that! Yeah, we crossed that after running 22 miles. Yeah, we ran 22 miles, crossed that, and then ran 9 more. Yeah, we did, and I would do it again this Saturday!


A special thanks to Brooke Nelson for all the photos from the infamous Chinnabee Creek Crossing on the Mount Cheaha 50k course. She was so cheerful as she was snapping all those photos. She asked if I were having fun, and my answer was that I was having a BLAST! I think my smiles in the pics below show that. I was probably smiling too much to have just run 22 miles with 9 of the most difficult miles I've ever covered still ahead of me.

Updated results with aid station splits are available now. Thanks again to Todd Henderson for directing this event. What a blast! Enjoy the photos.

Mount Cheaha 50k Results Are Ready!

I wish I had a waterproof digital camera. The few photos I have from the finish just do not give the reader any idea of what the race is like. Check out the elevation profile of this course. According to my Garmin, this course gains over 7300 feet.


Do take the time to visit the 2008 photo gallery. The creek crossing with the rope was several inches deeper in 2009, above my waist. Well, that's my one regret about the race: no photos during the race.

The results are now available. View them at the Mount Cheaha 50k Race website. I didn't quite make the top half, 63 of 123. Next year, if I'm able to run this race, I'll be aiming for the low 6:00 range, hopefully top 30.

Mount Cheaha 50k: Race Report

First, let me say that this is a GREAT event. I cannot overstate how helpful the race volunteers were. The course was perfectly marked. Props to Todd Henderson for doing such a GREAT job directing this event. The aid stations were all VERY well stocked with Vaseline, ibuprofen, muscle ache cream, gummy bears, M&M's, pretzels, PB&J sandwiches, Hammer gels of all flavors, HEED, water, Coke, Mtn Dew, oranges, bananas, and (my favorite) roasted potatoes with salt to dip them in! I'm seriously not exaggerating the aid stations. They were insanely stocked!! Those potatoes were amazing! GREAT IDEA!

The race started almost immediately after the 40-45 bus ride to the starting line, an hour and a half late at 9:00 AM. An interesting thing about this race is that it starts with the start of the song "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynard Skynard. Being a native Alabamian, I think that's a great way to start a race! The race starts about 50 yards from a single track trail. So, if you want to make any time during the first 3 miles, you better be in front! This is my only complaint about the race. There needs to be at least a mile or two for the packs to form. I was miserable for the first two miles of the race stuck behind some 15-16 minute milers. Finally at about 2.4 miles, I had all I could stand and bounded past a line of about 6 or so of the slow pokes. Well immediately after that, there is a steep, but short hill. So I had to go a little faster than I wanted up that hill. Then, there's a sharp descent that is VERY runnable. So I let it go and flew down that hill at about a 7:40 pace. That may have been a mistake. We passed a few runners during this time, and caught another pack just before the first aid station. We spent about 20 or 30 seconds at the aid station and that was BY FAR the shortest aid station stop of the day. There was a train passing, so arriving earlier would have done no good. A water bottle refill and a couple of pretzels later, the train was past, so off we went on to a dirt road that let the packs form again.

That gravel road section was short and we were on the trail again. This trail was uphill, gaining all the elevation we gave up in the third mile. The trail spit us out on another dirt road for about 2.5 miles The first 1.5 miles was very much uphill. This led to the second aid station, which we hit in 1:35. Pretzels, gummy bears, and PB&J. Yum.

Then we hit another uphill trail section. Along this section, we met someone who came all the way from Houston, TX to run this race! Also, along this section, near the top of this climb, there were some simply breathtaking views! It rolls for about 3 miles at the top of this mountain. Then we descent quickly to a very small creek crossing. Then it turns uphill sharply to roll around the side of the mountain. This is about 13.5 miles into the race. This was the first time I noticed that I had a big lead on my buddy, so I stopped to wait a bit. It was also the first time that I noticed that I was getting tired. I was ready for the next aid station, which came at about 14.5 miles. Those were the best potatoes ever!

After the aid station there was a welcome descent, except that it was the most difficult descent yet. I think it was on this section that I saw someone take a NASTY spill. He hit a slippery rock, and I mean he BIT IT! He got right back up, and was okay. He didn't even bleed! I'm sure he feels that fall as I type this, though. I noticed a significant amount of blood on the rock, so he wasn't the first to fall on that rock. The course rolls to the next aid station at about the 18.5 mile mark.

From this point on, the course really begins to show its teeth. It is very technical from here to the finish. The second half is killer! It rolls down to a creek crossing, which I thought was significant. The water was above my knees, for sure. Just before this crossing, I saw another fall. It, too was a nasty one. I went back to check on him, but he was fine and got up and kept running. Then, about 2.25 miles later, we came to the creek crossing that this course is famous for. There is a rope tied from tree to tree to use when crossing this creek. The water is very rapid, and it is above waist deep. And that water was COLD!! It actually felt good on my legs that had 22 miles on them! I wanted to stay in the water longer! This portion of the race was well staffed. It's obviously dangerous, but help for anyone who got in trouble was plentiful. There are also many pictures from this. I'll post some when I get them. The nice lady taking the pictures said that she would make them available. These were playing on a slide show at the finish of the race. That was a GREAT slide show! Everyone was entertained!

The aid station just after this creek is the lowest point of the course. So there was a LOT of climb left! Again, potatoes and peanut M&M's really hit the spot! It's almost 6 miles from here to the next aid station. The first three are on trails. Along this section, I met Christian, the author of an excellent race report from last year. Read it here. Then, the next three miles are on rolling, but mostly uphill roads. The first 1.5 or so is on a dirt road and then the rest is on a paved road, leading to the final aid station. It was on this section that I got into unchartered territory. I'd never run farther than 26.2, and now I had eclipsed that. This aid station is at the bottom of the steepest and longest climb on the course, and at mile 28. Yay for peanut M&M's!!!

This next section of the race, Lake Trail, has a nickname, Blue (Insert King James translation of Hades here). I can honestly say that I don't think it earns that nickname. Sure, it's steep. Sure it's at mile 28, when you've already run a very difficult course. It's difficult, to be sure. There are warning signs all over warning you of how steep this is. According to my Garmin, this trail gains 900 feet in 0.9 miles. Then, it spills you onto another uphill trail that gains another 200 in a half mile. It's brutal! I don't mean to understate this hill, but I won't call it by its nickname. Lake Trail doesn't do it justice, though.

I would argue (and maybe I'm being a bit of a homer here) that Waterline is more difficult than Lake Trail. Waterline has a gradual incline before the steep part. That runnable section drains you before the climb. Lake Trail has rocks and roots almost arranged as stair steps. Waterline is a more rugged and technical climb on the steep part. Both are difficult, but I give the nod to Waterline.

At the aid station, I knew that 7:00 would take some effort. We had walked much of the past 6 miles, and we wouldn't be able to take it that easy on the last 3 and finish under 7:00. So, I pushed my buddy just a bit. I hope we're still friends! At the top of the hill, there's about 2 miles to go. My Garmin was just a little behind, so I though we had 3 miles to go, so I was worried that we wouldn't make 7:00! Some of those miles are on paved roads and some are on easy single track trails.

We met up with Andy, a Hunstville runner, at the aid station and did Lake Trail to the finish with him. I kept telling them how close we were going to be to 7:00! We met 2 or 3 other runners on the roads and trails. I kept telling everyone how close we were to 7:00! I kept trying to push them! I hope I wasn't too annoying, but I had sub-8:00 miles left in me if that's what it took! Not everyone else did, though. I was encouraging everyone I saw to "reachdown" and dig deep to break the 7:00 mark. I probably was just a little annoying. I was just a bit too cheerful to have just run 30 miles and climbed Lake Trail.

The last trail puts you on the road that goes about 0.25 miles to the finish. There, I saw Leigh and the girls! They ran the last 0.25 with me! That was AWESOME!!!! I was so glad to see them there. Leigh is amazingly supportive of my interest in running. The kids enjoy it too. I love you, Leigh!

After the race, a couple of those runners found me and thanked me for pushing them at the end so that they could break the 7:00 mark. That was neat, and I'm glad I could help.

There was much Mellow Mushroom pizza (YUM) at the end, and a long drive home.

Congratulations Matt! 6:52 on a BRUTAL course! You're an ultra marathoner now!

Mount Cheaha 50k: Before the Race

As soon as 2009 Mount Cheaha 50k results are available, I'll post them here. I heard through the grapevine that Dink Taylor won the race, but I don't know his time. Congratulations Dink!!! He actually convinced me to run this race. I was in his store buying shoes for my kids when he told me about the race. Listening to him tell about the course convinced me!

I did not race the course yesterday. I enjoyed the scenery, enjoyed Matt's company, spent extra time at the aid stations, and ran comfortably. Even so, I really wanted us to finish in under 7 hours, which we did in 6:52.


It rained the whole drive down. The forecast was for rain all during the race. I was beginning to dread the race. We drove up to the Bald Rock Lodge and picked up our race packet. We got soaked just walking from the car to the lodge! Yuck. The packet was full of goodies, cotton shirt, race number, trail runner magazine, instructions, a Hammer perpetuem sample, and some organic live food bar that I haven't yet mustered up the courage to try.

It rained all night. It rained for the entire drive from the hotel to the finish line in the morning. This race is a point to point, so you meet at the finish line and ride a shcool bus to the starting line. It was so wet that one of the school buses was stuck and didn't make it to the finish line on time. It had to have a tow truck to pull it out. So, the race was 1.5 hours late starting. Even though the forecast called for rain until 11:00, by some stroke of blessing, the rain stopped almost exactly at 7:30 am. So, it would have been ideal if the race started on time. I didn't have any other plans for the day, so it didn't really matter to me.

As we were waiting for the bus, I took the time to meet some folks and chat it up. What else was I going to do with the next 1.5 hours? Knowing about the delay would have been very useful information at about 4:00 am. I definitely would have liked to sleep longer.

As I was sitting there in the lodge, I realized that I may have been just a bit out of place. Everyone was talking about this 50k or that 100k or this 50 miler or that 100 miler. Remember that time at the 100k? Or, remember the Western States 100 miler? Or, I plan to beat last year's time at the Mississippi 50 this year. Hmmmm. What have I gotten into? Do I belong here? I guess not many folks pick Mount Cheaha as their first ultra. I was told that I was jumping right in the deep end!

Race report is next...