Capt'n Karl's 30k Race Report

cross-posted on flotrail

Saturday night we drove out to Pedernales Falls to do the first of the Capt'n Karls series from Tejas Trails.  The races begin at 7 pm for the 60K, 7:15 for the 30K, and 7:30 pm for the 10K.  Katie ran the 10K and took fifth overall and three place female.  I signed up for the 30K, electing not to do the 60K, as we had a long ride on the schedule for Sunday.

I did very little prep work for this race.  I'd only run a handful of times since Comrades, and I didn't even look at the course description.  Luckily, about 5 minutes prior to the start I asked how many loops the race was.  One.  Oops...better go grab my headlamp and stock up on nutrition.

The temperature was in the upper 90s when we started, but luckily, there was a little bit of shade on the course.  I was expecting a pretty technical race, as much of the footing on trails around Austin is pretty gnarly.  Surprisingly, the vast majority of the course was very, very runnable.  The goal was to take it easy and just log the miles, which wasn't hard to do with the heat.  The first part of the race descended a down to a rocky creek bed and then turned into a long, gradual climb along the fence that marked the park boundary.  I really didn't feel that great for the first hour of the race.  My legs felt shaky, I felt low on energy, and pretty lethargic.  I walked the steepest of the inclines and jogged the easier ones.  Eventually the course wound back through the woods and followed some flats and downs.

Somewhere around the one hour mark, I started feeling really good and picked up the pace.  Uphill or downhill, it didn't matter.  After the first aid station, I looked to my left and saw an amazing sunset.  The sun was enormous and was a nice hue of orange.  I soaked in the fleeting moments of sunlight as I started bombing down a service road with some steep descents.  As I flew down, I tried to push thoughts out of my head of running back up.  After we turned off the wide service road, the course continued to slowly wind down on mostly smooth single track.

Eventually we started climbing again.  I walked the steep descents, turning on my headlamp as darkness was finally taking over.  Around the 2.5 hour mark, my energy was completely gone.  I slowed my pace considerably and concentrated on not falling.  Although the trail was still very runnable, the darkness provided the opportunity to easily trip over the few rocks out there.  Just as I was mentally getting exhausted and ready for the race to be over, I heard the commotion from the finish line.

Overall, the race was well-organized (as all of Joe's races are) and very runnable.  The biggest obstacle was the heat.  I got the feeling that I'm still not 100% recovered from Comrades.  The downs and flats felt fairly easy to run, but when I tried to run uphill, my legs felt heavy.

I highly suggest hitting up one of the other races if you have the opportunity.

Mule Shoe Bend 7/21
Colorado Bend 8/11
Reveille Ranch 9/1

Scott Jurek

I had the pleasure of running with Scott Jurek last night and then listening to him speak at Book People here in Austin.  I've been a huge fan of Scott for many years, so it was a pleasure to finally meet him.  If you don't know who Scott Jurek is, do a quick google search and you will likely be blown away by the things he has accomplished.  He's down-to-earth and a very personable guy, who is very accommodating with his fans.  He did a short reading and then answered questions for the large group of people.

Although, a fan of Scott, I was a little cautious going in, thinking that he might be a little preachy about plant-based diets.  While he did highlight what he believes are the advantages of a plant-based diet, it didn't come across as preachy or elitist.  Scott mentioned that he respects those who choose all different types of diets, and even mentioned some advantages to a paleo diet.  I left even more impressed with the man than I already was.  Most professional runners and triathletes are down-to-earth and likeable, but Scott Jurek is at the top of that list.  A complete class-act.  I only wish I had more time to pick his brain.

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• Access to other team workouts and cross training

Cost is only $100.  Similar programs in Austin cost up to $300+.

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Back to Training

After two weeks of vacation and a week recovering from Comrades, I hit the lake last night for an OWS.  It was as if I'd forgotten how to swim.  My stroke was off, and my sighting was terrible.  I had expected tired shoulders, so at least that wasn't a surprise.  I toughed out 1500m, although I'm sure it was much more than that with all the zig-zagging I ended up doing.  Hopefully, I have my bearings, and I will swim a little more normal tomorrow night.

Comrades Tracking

The race isn't until June 3rd, but I leave on today, so you probably won't be seeing many posts until I return.

You can track the race here:

http://results.comrades.com/default.aspx

I'm bib 47580

I'm not doing this total unprepared, but I'll be gutting it out, at least in the latter miles. Due to nagging injuries earlier in the year, I didn't get in the type of training base I wanted. I've run an 18 and a 20, but nowhere near what I'd want for a 56 mile run. Luckily, I've been on the bike and in the pool a lot, so the cardio base is there. I've also toughed out some pretty brutal races in the past, so I'm prepared mentally. Add in the downhill year and cooler temps and I think I'll be ok, but I won't lie that I have a slight fear of not making the 12 hour cut-off.

The race starts at 5:30 am local time, which translates to 10:30 PM (June 2). In reality, I guess you can just check the results the next day, as I'll have to finish by 10:30 am Texas time.

Training "Camp" weekend

Yesterday we wrapped up a training camp weekend.  Katie had to work the majority of the weekend, but Ben drove down and we made the most of it.

Friday evening, we headed over to Pflugerville Lake for a splash and dash.  Somehow both of us left our goggles behind, so it ended up just being a dash.  And by dash, I mean slow 3 mile jog.

Saturday, the three of us headed out to tackle the Dam Loop (plus a little on Parmer) to cover 70 miles of wind, heat, and hills.  I felt ok until about the 60 mile mark.  We turned around on Parmer to head back, which was directly into a stiff wind.  I bonked.  I bonked hard.  I think it was a combination of not taking in enough calories, the heat, the wind, and the hills.  Additionally, I likely should have take in more water.  Regardless, we got in 71 miles, which turned out to be Katie's longest ride ever.

After Katie headed to work, Ben and I drove over to Pflugerville Lake (this time remembering goggles) for an open-water swim.  The wind had picked up, so the water was less than calm.  Not quite white caps, but rough enough to provide the occasional mouthful of water when trying to breathe.  I hadn't been out to Pflugerville in almost a year.  The lake seemed much less weedy than last year, and I was happily surprised by the addition of a couple buoys.  We only swam for a little over 20 minutes, but I think we were both still a little fatigued from the ride.

Based on dead legs, I re-mapped our Sunday run to remove a few hills.  I had 20 on the schedule and Ben had 18.  By mile 4 or so, I realized the flat version of the run was still pretty hilly.  The heat made the run pretty difficult, but we both toughed out our respective runs before head to to get Mexican food and some beer.

All-in-all, it was a great training weekend despite the heat and wind.  I'm looking forward to the next one in early August.

Open Water and a little running

Having the lake a Pure is an enormous training asset that I think will pay huge dividends on race day.  I'm putting in work in the pool with the masters class to clean up my stroke, but the bi-weekly practice in open water is invaluable.  In the past, I've had a lot of trouble even remotely swimming in a straight line, even with sighting.  After a few weeks of regular open water swimming, I've noticed that I'm swimming in a much straighter path, which is resulting in less sighting.  Less sighting means faster swimming.  I have a ways to go to really get my swim in line, but I'm already swimming at the same pace I did IMAZ and I've still got months of training to go.  I'm cautiously optimistic about the swim at IMWI.

After the swim, I knocked out 7 miles at a fairly easy pace.  With my fitness going back up, my easy pace is starting to get faster as well.  Everything is encouraging, let's just hope I don't come out of Comrades with any ailments.

Raining? Take your training indoors.

Roads were wet last night, and not wanting to clean road gunk off bikes, Katie and I took our training indoors.  After one of the spin classes cleared out, we posted up on a couple spin bikes in the back and prepared for the boredom that was about to ensue.  I have a passionate loathing for treadmills and stationary/spin bikes.  My tolerance level for them maxes out at about 15 minutes, and even that is a stretch.  To break up the monotony, I came up with some intervals to keep us distracted and make the "ride" hard since it was supposed to be our hard effort day on the bike.  We powered through an hour of intervals, with a quick break at 30 minutes for a drink of water.

I prefer to do my riding and running outside, but if you end up relegated to the gym due to weather or other factors, try varying resistance or speeds to break things up and distract yourself.  Personally, I need to change something everyone minute or so in order to keep from getting too bored.  Figure out what works and use it instead of skipping your workout next time there's bad weather.

Comrades

One month from today I will be toeing the line at the Comrades Marathon alongside my good friend Francis Laros.  It's really tough for me to sum up how I feel about this race.  This is one of those races I've dreamed about for years and years, so its a bit difficult for me to believe that I'm actually going.  I'm excited for the trip to South Africa in general, but this race is one that means a lot to me.  Its a race that I probably put even above Boston.  I've been held captivated by fascination as friends have regaled me with stories from the race.  Maybe its the exotic location.  Maybe it's that it's the largest ultra in the world.  Maybe it's the rich history of the race.  I'm really unsure.  All I really know is that for me, this is one of my "bucket list" races.

I wish I was going into the race with a better training base, but at this point I'm just going to have to manage.  I have a big cardio base to draw off of, and I've muscled through some pretty tough races in the past.  I know I'll have to run/walk this race, but I'm really there for the experience.  I'm not trying to break any records.  Luckily it's a downhill year.

Finally feeling like I'm getting back into this running thing

Katie and I got a nice brick in tonight.  We rode 64 minutes on the bike and then hopped off for a 6 mile run.  We did the first 1.5 miles at an easy pace and then picked it up for three miles, dropping a 6:34 pace for the second half of that, and then doing another 1.5 mile cool down.  We had a little trouble with motivation to get out the door, but I felt fantastic after knocking out the workout.