Four months of Grit

I want to write something about the trail shoe I’ve been running in since I started training for Leadville, but to get to those impressions I first need to give a frame of reference.  My last 3 trail running shoes have been, the New Balance Minimus MT10, Vibram Trek Sport, and Brooks Cascadia 3.  I haven’t run in the Cascadia’s in a long time.  I think that the Steamboat 50 may well have been their retirement party.  That said, I do still use the shoes for yardwork and when I feel like my feet need a rest.

On to the back story then.  When I came to the States in October I brought with me two pairs of shoes.  The VFF Bikila and my MT10s.  Unfortunately, I was forced to realize that I need more protection for races (and trail running in general) during the Blues Cruise 50k.  I also quickly realized that in order to be able to walk to the corner I would need a shoe with a bit more support.

It so happened that, while I was in the Northern Hemisphere and with great fanfare, Brooks launched their Pure line of shoes.  These are shoes with a 4 millimeter heel to toe offset and a minimal aesthetic which appealed to me, but were much more shoe than I was currently running in.  I ordered a pair online.

When I was able to resume running again, I took the Grits up to Cuevas with me and left them there.  They’re the shoes I run in when I’m in the hills.  My running here isn’t terribly technical, but the roads can get rocky – fist sized cobbles regularly pave my running routes.  It was an ill placed foot strike in my MT10s which initiated the difficulties which eventually taught me to appreciate that sometimes an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.

Enough of that then.  Here are my impressions.  When I first tried on the shoe, I thought it about the most comfortable shoe I had ever put on.  I even tweeted that feeling to @brooksrunning.  A little later on however, I thought they may “run” a bit longer than the Cascadia 3 in the same size (14 in my case). 
 
More recently, I’ve come to notice that the Grit have a lot more internal structure than the MT10s too. There’s a bit of of an arch support. These days, when I first put the shoes on I find it annoying, but I don’t notice it while I’m running. There’s also a bit of heel structure, but the heel is cut nice and low - I don’t feel any pressure on the back of my foot while running at all.

One area I used to have major problems was with a tendon that bridges the angle the top of the foot makes with the lower leg.  I found that shoes which laced high up the foot (tight to the ankle) would iritate that tendon over time and I’d have real problems even just tying a shoe.  This is one thing my transition to minimal footwear cleared up very quickly. 

The Grit doesn’t seem to have brought a return of that malady (note: I mix up my footwear a lot).  The tongue of the shoe is padded in the right places and isn’t where it doesn’t need to be.  A design feature I really like.

An instant complaint about the shoe was the silly Navband or whatever they call it:

According to Brooks, it was there supposedly to give a custom fit to the upper.  In my case it’s superfluous green and silver elastic.  It did nothing to enhance the fit of the shoe at all and I feel it actually detracts from the overall look of the shoe.  Laces do a fine job of providing a custom fit, why even consider adding that thing to begin with? 

That’s really a nitpicky complaint.  I do like that the Navband provides a place to stow my laces.  The laces stay put and don’t trip me even on my hardest runs…

As far as actual running in them goes?  I’ve now got 150 miles in them and I have no complaints.  I thought that they may have been too long initially, but they seem to fit just right.  Once I got the lacing dialed, I haven’t had any problems with slipping in the shoe and I don’t have even the slightest hint of a black toenail.  Maybe they’re a half size too big, but better that than a half size too small.  Dear Brooks, please release a size 13.5. I promise:  I’d try it on.

I like the tread pattern.  It’s really open and it provides more than adequate traction.  I’ve run in a fair bit of sticky hideous mud and the mud seems to shed quite quickly. 

I’m not sure about the center pod or the “independent big toe”, but they don’t seem to hurt the shoe’s performance.  The pod is supposed to inform your foot of the shoes center position.  I guess that means it was included to improve the ground feel of the shoe.  I don’t notice that section of the sole of the shoe providing any more feedback than any other.  In all the Grit provides a whole lot more information that my Cascadias ever did, but it smoothes out the road in a way the MT10s don’t by providing extra cushioning between foot and ground.

Around Cuevas there are many, many streams.  Stream crossings are inevitable.  The upper is wide open and drains water quickly. Feet will stay dry with a couple changes of socks.

As far as durability, these shoes are wearing out just about the same as every other pair of trail shoes I’ve owned.  All of these pictures were taken at 120 miles:

The outside of my heels is worn down more than the rest of the outsole, but there’s still plenty of traction left in the rest of the shoe. I expect to get another 150-200 miles in these shoes.  I weighed in at 205 when I started running in these shoes and have dropped 10 – 15 lbs since.  I am by no means a featherweight forefoot runner.  I allow my heels to come down under me when I run…

For some reason I seem to wear the part of the upper just forward of my ankle bone out.  Every pair of shoes I own exhibits this wear pattern.  Even my Vibram Five Fingers.  Is that just in the nature of shoes or is it something that makes me special?

In all, I’ve really enjoyed my time in the Grits and am actually considering them for the start of the Leadville 100.  They are light, fit my feet well (13.5? please), provide good feedback but still offer more protection than my other options.  They are minimal without being stupid.  Had I worn these in my race in October, I’d have run top 25 for sure - perhaps even top 20.  Hindsight…

Thanks for reading and may your shoes always quickly shed mud.
J

The Challenge of Balance

So, I’m starting to get a bit nervous about my training. 

Why? I think it very important to keep a balance at home and try to make my running “invisible” to my wife and son.  I typically head out for my run when my son is down for his afternoon nap.  When Nataly is home, she usually goes down for a nap with Deneb so my run ends up being pretty unobtrusive. 

Now though, my miles are starting to build and the training is going to stop being invisible.  One thing which is particularly troublesome is that where I live, it’s mostly flat.  Where I work, I’ve got hills, but I usually only go up there on weekends and that’s the only time Nataly has off.  There are weeks where I go up there for a couple of days without Nataly and Deneb, but I really dislike making that a regular occurrence.  I’m afraid that for me to finish Leadville, I’m going to have to do that.  The question is how do I make it as invisible as possible.

Tough one, to be continued…

In other notes, this past weekend I knocked out a run Sunday morning on the Road to Bella Vista and got some decent shots. 

I ran an 8 mile, modified out and back.  By that I mean:

• I ran 3.25 miles away from the cabin, 
• turned around and ran 1 mile back in the direction I came from, 
• turned around and ran .75 miles back in the direction I was heading when I started.  
• Finally, I turned around one last time and went back home. 

The benefit of that is that I climbed the back side (more challenging) of the first hill on the Road to Bella Vista 1.75 times.  Ended up with 1500 feet of climbing in my 8 mile jaunt. 

The pictures are in chronological order. 

Not 1 mile into the run…

Rocky road, not ideal for Vibram 5 Fingers or MT10s.  It was along here where I suffered the strain and eventual stress fracture that limited my performance in the Blues Cruise 50k.

Pretty Green Mountains…

Framed by Trees…

Awesome – pictures really don’t do justice…

Cool Fresh Water – this is the first waterfall in Cuevas.  I met Nataly and Deneb here for a swim and cool down…

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be thinking about how to change that elevation…
J

Slow ramp...

As in, I'm slowly ramping up my mileage. This week, baring something unforeseen, I should hit 48+ miles in training.  My volume is growing.  Today though I am going to have to absolutely force myself out the door.  I'm very tired - both sleepy tired and physically tired. 

The sleepy tired is coming from Deneb.  For some reason, he's decided that he wants to sleep with Mom and Dad every night when we are here in La Guardia. Even if he starts the night in his own bed, eventually he comes looking for space in ours.  Mom can't say no.  He ends up kicking and pounding on me for the remainder of the night.  That leaves me with no more than 4 or 5 hours of quality sleep each night.

The physically tired part is harder to pinpoint, but yesterday I logged 30+ minutes of work in the so called "no mans land" of heart rate zone 3 (tempo).  Tempo work is good for building aerobic fitness, but it has a long recovery time.  So long that many coaches advocate against training in it - stating that the long term benefits are outweighed by the short term consequences.  

Anyway, because of my fitful sleep patterns recently, yesterday I opted to substitute long minutes in Zone 3 for mile repeats - work done in upper zone 4 to low zone 5.  I say it's hard to pinpoint why I'm physically tired since this is an unusual reaction to yesterday's effort.  I've logged many, many 30+ minute long tempo workouts and not felt like I do today.  I'm also coming off a good rest week and even though I had a very tough workout on Saturday, I followed that up with a day off on Sunday.

There's a part of me that is thinking that going out for my regularly scheduled run would be good discipline and help with the mental toughness angle of my Leadville training.  There's a part of me that is thinking to ditch my run all together and take my rest day today.  And, there' a part of me that is trying to find some middle ground.

The compromise is going to win.  This week is challenging scheduling wise, but I can move my short day to today and run my second longest run to Saturday in Cuevas.  That actually works pretty well because I haven't run any hills in over a week.  I'd get 1000+ feet of climbing in on Saturday in addition to the longer run (come to think of it - maybe I should consider moving my long run to Saturday, but will talk to Nataly about that).  Additionally I save the day off for family time.  A good thing.

Anyway, this slow ramp has allowed me to consistently get out and log my miles.  I haven't missed a workout since December.  I think that may be one of my longest streaks ever where I haven't found some excuse or other to take an unscheduled day off.  I really hope to keep that streak going.  We'll see.  I am not even half way to my big mileage weeks yet (next week that'll change).

Thanks for reading, and (got nothing)...
J

Testing for Lactate Threshold in Cuevas

Saturday and Sunday were spent in the hills.  They were also the last 2 days of a recovery week for me. This week featured 27 miles of easy running, with the exception of the final workout (being easy that is).

I usually try and schedule a test at the end of each recovery week to confirm the Heart Rate Zones I'm using to guide my training.  That said, this was the first time in quite a while that I've actually undertaken the protocol.  The methodology is relatively simple, but the implementation is anything but.

I've written about this before, but I think it bears repeating.  I try to follow the training philosophies laid out by Joe Friel in his many Training Bible books and more recently his book Total Heart Rate Training.  Back when I was a cyclist, I used the Cyclist's Training Bible to great success.  I can claim a sub 55 minute 40 kilometer time trial and an overall win in a 70 mile road race thanks to the rapid improvements I made while training using his methods.

Today, I'm not as concerned with going fast, nor am I really all that interested in a rigorous structure to my training, but I still believe that proper use of Heart Rate as a guide today is essential to being able to get out and train again tomorrow.

The key to heart rate training is establishing the correct zones.  Joe advocates zones based not on maximum heart rate, rather he suggests using lactate threshold.  What is "lactate threshold"?  From Joe's Blog:

As your body uses carbohydrate to create energy it creates a by-product inside the working muscle cells called lactic acid. As the intensity of a workout increases this liquid begins to seep out of the muscle cell into the surrounding space and blood stream. In so doing it changes its composition by giving off hydrogen ions. It’s now called lactate.

The hydrogen ions interfere with the function of the muscles while lactic acid is actually the fuel muscles need to keep going.

The free hydrogen ions lower the pH of your blood and cause the burning sensation felt during intense exercise.  If the intensity is increased, they will eventually force you to stop.  Lactate threshold then is the point where the decrease in pH is tolerable, and the body is able to neutralize the ions about as fast as they are being produced.  Joe says that a well trained athlete can maintain this level of effort for about an hour before becoming exhausted.

Why base training zones on Lactate Threshold instead of Maximum Heart Rate?  Everyone feels the same kind of crappy at their lactate threshold whether their pace at lactate threshold corresponds to a 9 minute mile or to  a 4 minute 50 second one.

After that bit of dissertation, perhaps you can see where I'm going with my workout.  Saturday I set out thinking I'd get in about 5 miles.  Joe's methodology for a Lactate Threshold test is simply a 30 minute long time trial: run as hard as you can for 30 minutes, press the lap button 10 minutes into the effort and the average heart rate for the final 20 minutes of the time trial represents your Lactate Threshold.

I warmed up by running a lap of the trails in Cuevas.  There we've got 1.2 miles of trail with a couple of moderately challenging hills.  I set out thinking that the day was not good for this test and really wondered how it would go.  By the end of my warm up, I was feeling no more confident about what was about to go down.  I ran the warm up in 13 minutes and 2 seconds.

I left the grounds and headed toward Samaipata.  The road up to El Rancho is really pretty flat and therefore ideal for this kind of test.  I increased my effort to where I was simultaneously comfortable and uncomfortable.  At the end of 10 minutes I punched my lap button: I'd gone 1.5 miles and my average heart rate was 172 with a max (coming less than 30 seconds before the end of the lap) of 177.

I kept going for another 5 minutes toward El Rancho and was really starting to suffer.  I kept looking at my watch, "Is it time to turn around yet?" Then once I made the turn, "How much longer is it until I can stop?" Really questioned whether I'd be able to finish out the effort, but somehow I did.

I was 20 seconds per mile slower on this 20 minute lap - I went out too hard, but I was ended up with an average heart rate of 178 for the lap - precisely the number I've been using for the last 6 months (the last time I really laid down an official test).

Anyway.  It was tremendous to have the hills of Dissertation Ridge looking down on me while I questioned my sanity: they actually provided just enough distraction to keep me going.  Last thought in a long post:  while it's been some time since I've actually executed this precise protocol, I have gone out and run a couple of fast 4 mile loops on the last Saturday of a recovery week.  I never broke 7 minutes per mile.  During this test I ran 4.5something miles in 30 minutes (6:45/mile): Happy.

Thanks for reading and consider that blood's normal pH is actually slightly basic.
J

Ooof. Wondering how Tomorrow is going to Feel.

Pretty well rocked after my last two runs.  I made the jaunt up to Cuevas Thursday in the late morning. 
We’re having some work done on the main rental cabin.  It’s not hugely off-putting, but while the work is in progress, we can’t really rent the cabin.  It turns out that there are a number of long weekends and a couple of major holidays on the way (Carnival and Mother’s Day) - more than one person wants to spend the night up here.

This weekend represents a long weekend and Nataly rented the cabin we have been using as our base of operations for 3 nights.  That meant I had to get our stuff out of Cabin 2 and into the cabin where the work is ongoing, Cabin 1.  Not a great deal of work, but it had to happen by the end of the day Thursday. 

Once I moved us, I made a couple of peanut butter sandwiches, choked them down, and prepped for my run. 

Regarding the sandwiches…I bought some bread at the supermarket and will never do that again.  It was stale and barely suitable for making croutons.  Yuck.  Make the time to make your own bread, Jay.  Here's the 33% WW Multigrain Nut Bread I made a couple weeks ago...

Thursday’s run once again took me out the Road to Bella Vista.  I set out thinking initially I’d just give the hill a decent effort and cruise for the rest of the outing and that’s just what I did until I got to the 3 mile mark of my 8 mile trot.  There I saw a couple of familiar faces, waved, smiled and looked at my watch and realized I was pretty well flying. 

The 3 mile mark on the road to Bella Vista signifies the start of a mile (plus) long flatter stretch which cuts along a stream channel.  There are several minor crossings to be negotiated, but it’s a really good, fun stretch of track. I ran the mile to my turn around in just over 8 minutes. 

I got to the turn in 35 minutes, maybe a bit under.  I knew I only had 1 mile of climbing left, 1 mile flat, and 2 miles of descending left.  I decided to try for a big negative split and increased my effort for mile 5.  I was actually pretty disappointed when the lap flashed and showed me 1 second slower than I was for the preceding one.  Oh well, I still had those 2 miles of descending.

The road gains a solid 500-600 feet in elevation over the next mile and there are stretches which force me to hike.  They’re short, but this mile ended up being the slowest of my run by more than a minute. 

I made that time back in the first 3 quarters of a mile of the descent back to Cuevas.  At this point, I was running as hard downhill as anytime since my last Imogene Pass Run (I’ll be back in 2014, Imogene).  My last 2 mile splits were 6:53 and 7:03.  That last mile includes a vicious little climb of about 150 feet vertical in a quarter mile, otherwise I may well have been under 6 minutes for that last mile.

This turned out to be a huge PR on the course.  I averaged under 8:30/mile and until now, I haven’t broken 8:50/mile on any length jaunt on the out and back to Bella Vista.  Needless to say, I’m happy with the effort.

Friday’s run was affected by Thursday’s.  I headed out and my legs felt like they had given a solid PR effort the day before.  I stopped a couple of times to chat with the Gatekeeper and Hugo, as well as to try and call Nataly.  As a result, my first mile splits include conversation, but I wasn’t thinking about setting any kind of land speed records on this run. 

I was actually looking forward to taking it easy and snapping some photos.  I was heading out the Road to Palermo.  I haven’t gone that direction since August of last year when the road was a horrible slick mud disaster.  Despite that, I remember it being beautiful. 

About a half mile into the climb, the vistas open up and the mountains pose for you…

Many roads in Bolivia really are tracks at best.  Cars get beat to hell here.
The red dirt, when wet, is as slick as wet soap.  My first “run” on this road was unfortunately under those conditions.  I’d probably have been back sooner were it not for the muck.
My turn around featured a beautiful soccer field and basketball court.  I ran 90 minutes of Futbol and hooped it up for another hour before actually going back.  (um…no.)
Wouldn’t to suck to have this view out of your bedroom window.
My running partners for Friday’s effort, literally jackasses.  One even turned its butt to me and kicked.  Jackass…

Anyway.  After 8 hard miles on Thursday, and 14 difficult miles on Friday.  Saturday is going to be slow.
Thanks for reading and if your running partner shows you their butt, watch out for a good swift kick…
Jay

Racing Miles.

One thing my Leadville training plan is really lacking is any kind of competition.  That lack has me thinking about what races I can do in the months leading up to the big dance.

The question is two fold really:

1. Are there races which fit well into my training program and
2. can I afford to run them?  

There is one race which satisfies criteria 1 and one race which I can convince myself satisfies criteria 2.  

The Desert Rats Trail Festival in Fruita in April really fits well into my training program.  On back to back days there is a 50 mile race and a half marathon in the desert in western Colorado.  I'm familiar with the course and it would give me the opportunity to try out fueling options and see how much my form has progressed since my first year of ultra running.  With the form I have now, I think I might go under 10 hours on the 50 mile course.  Meaning that my total time would be less than double my time in the 25 in 2010.  The problem with the Fruita 50 is that the financial burden would be close to $2000 for the week.  Kind of steep for a training run.

The Keys 100 is the the race I'm starting to convince myself is affordable now.  For less than $1000, airfare and race entry are covered.  Car rental seems to be coming in around $250, but there are public transportation options of which I could avail myself.  Then there's lodging.... 

Aaaargh!  Never mind.

This is so freaking frustrating.  

I wish there were a running scene in Bolivia.  There isn't.  It's just me, a bunch of angry dogs, and people who give me weird looks.  The longest race I've heard of is 20 kilometers long and I was injured when it went down.  There are others, but they're more destination events for wealthy European and American running tourists, and they don't fit into my training schedule for Leadville anyway.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll enjoy reading about your racing miles - it keeps me motivated.
Jay

A long silence.

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  Cuevas was fantastically busy over the holiday weeks and we as a family really needed to spend time up there.

Then, I wanted to make some measurable progress on the visitcuevas.com website, so I spent some time up there alone and without the interruption of a 2.5 year old gymnast leaping on my back every time I sit down.  I was able to get some stuff done.  It still needs some design work and content needs to be created for a couple of pages so I may spend another day or two up there this coming week to try to finish up, perhaps going up Thursday.

There have been a couple of quite notable things in the last couple of weeks.  I've been logging my two longest runs for the week on back to back days.  This is pretty standard operating procedure for folks training for ultra distance events, but it's new to me.  As far as the running muscles go, I haven't had any huge complaints, but I'm also not logging huge miles.  As far as the rest of the body goes, well...

Last week my long runs were 7 (Wednesday) and 10 (Thursday) miles.  I did them in the middle of the day in La Guardia on hot sunny days.  Hot means 97 degrees and by sunny I mean:

I snapped that photo at mile 5 of the 7 mile run on Wednesday.  At the end of that run, I weighed 85.7 Kilos (a loss of 1.8 kilos).  The next day I went out for 10 miles in similar conditions.  Again I dropped about 2 kilos during my run.

I got a headache.

The headache was so bad, in fact, I couldn't sleep.  It stuck with me throughout the day Friday.  I drank lots of water and even added salt to my bottle, but the pain behind my eyes wouldn't go away.  Acetaminophen helped, sending the headache to a more distant place, but it didn't eliminate the problem by any stretch of the imagination.  I spent a lot of time lying on my bed and in general being grumpy.

Sorry Deneb.

Sorry Nataly.

Needless to say, Friday turned into a day off.  I needed it, because when I awoke on Saturday I still had the headache.  It had eased off, but I was no where near a happy camper.  With the help of the Tylenol, I did get out for my run that day, but it was slow and rather uninspired.

I finally got back to normal on Monday, up in Cuevas.  It was cooler and I think I finally got back on top of my hydration and electrolytes.  Somehow through all of this, I've stayed on top of my workouts.  I have yet to miss a scheduled run, and this week I'll be able to offer Nataly the choice of my running days off.  Which is better for her, us and Deneb: Saturday or Sunday?

That's nice.

Anyway, since last I wrote, I've logged something like 99 miles and climbed something like 9000 feet.  Not a bad 3 weeks.  The vast majority of those climbing feet have come on the road to Bella Vista.  This coming week, I think I'll do my long run on the road to Palermo.  I've only hit that once and I was really turned off by the mud, but obviously it's not muddy all of the time.  Not sure why I've never been back...

Thanks for reading and keep your electrolytes up.
jay