Running

Suunto Ambit Review

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After just over 5 months of using the new Suunto Ambit, I finally wrote a details review for Matt Hart at Coaching Endurance.  See my review here.

Copy of review

I have been a huge fan of GPS running watches since I purchased a Garmin Forerunner 201 over five years ago.  Since then, I have upgraded to the Garmin Forerunner 205 and eventually a Garmin Forerunner 310XT.  I was never happy with the Garmin heart rate monitors so ever since I started using a GPS watch, I also wore a Polar hear rate monitor (C210 and RS400 models).  I felt that Polar had a superior heart rate monitor with several functions that I liked (OwnZone, pretty accurate calorie counting, max heart rate, average heart rate, etc.).  I always found it a pain to wear 2 separate watches, but I did like the ability to see 7 screens of data at a glance to both wrists.  I also wanted a device that I could use while backcountry skiing.  I wanted the ability to track my vertical (I have a Suunto Vector and Suunto Core I used for this for this), but I also wanted to be able to set a waypoint for things like snowpits, great lines to ski, etc. or track my route.  I didn’t want to carry a handheld GPS while skiing so I never had this opportunity.  When the Suunto Ambit was announced last winter, I was excited to try it out.  I felt this would be my opportunity to have a single device for all of my activities and to free 1 of my wrists.

I purchased my Ambit in May not sure if it was the right device for me or not.

Setup:  I setup the displays for all of the information I might want to see for various activities. Activities I configured it for are: Road Running, Trail Running, Mountain Biking, Road Biking, Backcountry Skiing, Resort Skiing, Nordic Skiing, Indoor Training (treadmills, weight lifting, etc), and Recovery (used to measure my heart rate for a period of time immediately after a workout).  For each activity, I tried to create a primary screen with the main information I would want to see (for example for trail running, time, distance, and pace for a run), then select 2-4 more pieces of information I might want to quickly look at (for trail running, this is heart rate, calories, and average pace).  I then created additional views that I may want (I have specific views for heart rate information, lap information, vertical gain/loss, altitude graph, and heart rate graph).  Initial setup of the device takes some time and I found that as I used the device I had to modify these views to get them perfected.  Being able to configure the device from the MovesCount.com website is a huge benefit (and time saver) over the Garmin watches I have used.

Satellite Acquisition: I had read on several reviews that satellite acquisition can take some time.  On my first use, I was happy that the unit acquired satellites very quickly.  I have found that when I move to a new location (more than 100 or so miles from my last use), the device can take 3-5 minutes to acquire satellites.  I have also found that on random occasions the device will take 3-5 minutes to acquire satellites even though I am using it at the same location as the previous usage.  I expect that as new firmware updates are released by Suunto that this is an area that will be improved upon.

Using the Watch: My first few uses of the watch, I used both my Garmin Forerunner 310XT and the Ambit.  On these side by side comparisons, I have found that there can be up to 10% variation in the distance readings of the Ambit and 310XT.  On several known distance trails, it appeared that the Ambit was off compared to the 310XT.  Here is a comparison of the 310XT and Ambit on a recent hike on Mt Mansfield, Vt.  The Ambit read 0.48 miles less than the 310XT, a difference of around 5%.

I immediately liked the look and feel of the watch.  I did find that with my small wrists, I needed a wrist band to take up some extra space as I couldn’t get the watch to fit correctly so that it wouldn’t rotate on my wrist.  I also found that I missed having 4 screens of data.  I had grown very accustomed to being able to see my time, distance, pace, and average pace all at a single glance at my 310XT.  Even after close to 6 months of use, I miss this feature.

The calorie counting also appeared to be low.  On a 10K trail run of 48 minutes with around 1,000’ of climbing, it would read only around 400 calories.  This seems low for my perceived exertion and average heart rate.  On the long hike on Mt Mansfield, the device registered 1555 calories over the 5:22 of hiking.  To me it seems low to only have burned an average of 290 calories/hour while hiking steep terrain.

As expected from Suunto, the vertical gain/loss is very accurate.  It is nice to be able to see this information real time and not have to wait to upload the data and go to the Garmin Connect website to get accurate data (the 310XT uses GPS altitude and when the data is uploaded to Garmin Connect an elevation correction is applied).  The photo below is an example of the discrepancy between the 310XT and Ambit on vertical gain during the Mt Mansfield hike.  When downloaded to Garmin Connect, the Garmin vertical gain was adjusted to 4,696’, which more closely matches the Ambit’s reading.

Navigation: I have not tested the new navigation features included in the latest firmware release.  The previous ability to navigate to waypoints or routes was limited and difficult to use.  You could get a directional arrow to a waypoint or import a route to follow, but you could not import a route, then try to start following the route mid-way through the route, you had to start at the beginning.  With the new advanced navigation, I am hoping this is resolved.  Regardless, with the small screen your navigation abilities are limited and if you need to navigate, I am much more likely to rely on a map and compass or handheld GPS unit.

Battery Life: The Ambit has been praised for the 15 hour battery life.  As an ultra-runner, I find this is a little bit low.  I had grown accustomed to the 20+ hours of battery life from the 310XT.  It was nice to be able to finish almost a complete 100 mile race with the 310XT.  There are settings in the Ambit to decrease the recording interval in order to increase the battery life, but this setting comes at the cost of accuracy for distance, pace, and average pace while running.

Summary: I am very happy with all aspects of the watch.  As summarized below in pros and cons, there are things from the Polar and 310XT that I miss, but so far, the pros out-weigh the cons.  While the cost of the Ambit is high, this is a highly functional, highly customizable device that meets 95% of my requirements and would likely meet 100% of most people’s requirements.

Pros

  • Up to 10 sports specific, highly customizable displays
    • 8 different screens per display
    • 5 options for bottoms view on each display
    • Accurate altimeter based on barometric pressure
    • Accurate elevation gain/loss tracking
    • Can be worn as a regular watch
    • Watch can be fully configured from MovesCount.com website.
    • Suunto has released 2 firmware updates since I purchased the watch each adding additional functionality.  I expect this to continue which will likely increase my satisfaction with the watch.

Cons

  • Only has the ability to view 3 display fields at a time
  • Routes are limited to 100 waypoints
  • Only 15 hours of battery life (as opposed to Garmin 310XT which is 20 hours)
  • Heart rate monitor lacks some of the features of Polar heart rate monitors I have previously used.
  • Device does not wirelessly transmit data (Garmin Forerunner 310XT uses wireless ANT technology to sync data so as soon as I walk into my house the watch syncs).
  • Can’t create custom workouts and upload to device.  This is a great feature of the Garmin watches as you can create custom workouts for intervals, Tabata sprints, and other workouts that I frequently use.
  • Cost: the Ambit is twice the cost of many of the other GPS units.
Running

A Painful Wasatch PR

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I was very excited for and had very high expectations for this year’s Wasatch 100. I had been training hard and had a good Bighorn 100 (100 miler PR) and really learned and practiced things that I needed to improve on from there.

I ran the entire Wasatch course and some parts multiple times over the last few months. Also, my long runs 3 weeks out were just short of the total miles I was planning but they were from 10,000 to 14,000+ feet in Leadville, CO, and included three 14ers so I felt like they were good miles.

I also spent a lot of times with determining my splits. I took my last year’s splits and chunked off time that I thought was appropriate. I run a little different from others in that it takes me a little while to “warm up” then I stay pretty steady the entire race. I was bummed that I was going into this race and would not have Chad, my number one pacer, with me on the course due to his back injury in Leadman but knew I had great pacers and would have him there at the Aid Stations.

     Start line with Amy Blackham

The race start was a warm and we headed off from East Mountain Wilderness Park in the dark at 5a. I always find the first 40 miles quite difficult. Coming into Francis Peak (m18.76), I was about 10 min slower than my goal pace but still 20min faster than last year’s time. I continued on through the other aid stations to Big Mtn (m39.6) and came in about 20 minutes behind my goal time.

 

     Running into Big Mountain

     Getting in and out of Big Mountain Aid Station

I came into Big Mtn feeling very strong. It was great to see Chad, Anny, Emily S, and to pick up Ann to run with me through the next 13.5 miles of the journey. It was pretty hot but I was keeping ahead on my eating, drinking, electrolytes, etc. This section went really quickly as I had great company and I know this section very well. I’ve actually run the last 3 miles into the Lamb’s Aid Station about 15 times this summer and that really helped me on this section.

     Smiling coming into Lambs

    Fueling quickly at Lambs

     Heading out of Lambs – Chad informing Meghan how to keep me going

I had an absolute amazing number of friends at Lamb’s to cheer me through (thank you to Emily S, Corrie, Christian, Berkley, Mischa, Andy, Anya, Brooke, Amanda, Jenny, Kristin, Ray, and anyone else I may have missed). I had a quick stop to get some food and dry cloths and off we went. It was great to head out with Meghan Hicks as I knew she would be great for me and I was excited to hear about her recent UTMB adventures. We headed up Lamb’s and passed a number of people. We kept a great hiking and sometimes running pace up Bear Ass Pass then ran down the other side. We then fast hiked and even ran a couple times up the road to Upper Big Water (m61.68). It was one of my goals to get up to that Aid Station when it was still light out and I made that (rather than 3 miles earlier in 2011). On this section we were exactly where I wanted to be on my splits and made up time from what I had lost earlier in the race so I was super psyched.

It was just after Upper Big Water where my stomach really turned. At first it felt like somebody kicked me in the stomach and then kept getting worse when I was exerting energy. This race turned into nothing I’ve ever experienced where the uphills became very painful and the downhills were actually where I could pick up the pace and not feel quite as much pain – this is very different from my normal uphill strength even at the very late miles of big races. I also started trying everything to fix my stomach – ginger, eCaps, electrolyte Enlyten, energy Enlyten, real food, broth, coke, bars, gel, chews, etc. It was frustrating that I felt like I had these races “figured out” with what works for me but nothing was working. Meghan and I just kept the pace as fast as I possibly could without “falling off the fence”. With the fact that my stomach had never hurt as bad as it was now we had a couple serious conversations about not continuing at Brighton because I couldn’t imagine being in this much pain for another 25 miles (little did I know it would get worse). I decided that, because my legs were good and my mind was perfect, there was no reason to not keep running and hope my stomach would “reset”. I was also looking forward to running with Roch Horton and knew he would have the answer to my issues.

We got into Brighton (m75.61) at 12:32AM and Chad and Roch got some soup, Ensure, and hashbrowns into me, then Roch and I took off. About 3 minutes out of Brighton I threw up about 4 times. I was nervous about losing what I’d put into my body for fuel but Roch said it was OK, that we would replenish, and hopefully I got out of my body what was causing the issues. My stomach was a little better for a while but I still had to hold it back a little with the exertion. We were able to fly down from Point Supreme to Ant Knolls (m80.27) passing about 5 people so that was super and gave me good confidence. At Ant Knolls, I had some broth and coke and not 5 minutes later I threw that up too. It was a constant battle to put a little food in my belly and keep moving as fast as we could which was a lot slower than my planned times which was extremely frustrating. We “grinded” up the hills and ran down as fast as we could on the other sections “slaying dragons” whenever possible. We just kept plugging away at the miles while Roch pulled every trick out of his sleeve and my stomach did not respond to anything – it was so broken. We finally made it past the last climb after Pot Bottom (m93.13) and it was go time. I had made a promise not to leave anything on the trail and this was the time to push it to the limits. I know my speed wasn’t what it should have been but I gave it my all to the very best of my abilities. I only stopped to walk a couple seconds a couple times when I again felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach but when we hit the pavement there was going to be only running Homestead and sprinting to the finish line from there. It was great to see Chad, Ann, and Anya waiting for me to come off the trail and great to have Chad join Roch and I running the final stretch into the finish line. I crossed the finish line in 27:45 which was a half hour better than my last year’s time but it was still a bummer that my stomach held me back and I could not have taken more time off.

 

     Running in the last mile with the Master (Roch)

     Crossing the finish line

     Happy to be done

     Fantastic pacers

I feel good about my race and know that I ran as fast I as could given the circumstances. The frustrating part is that I’m not sure what caused my stomach to be so upset. I really felt like my fuel up to that point was correct as I was paying close attention to my eating, drinking, electrolytes and didn’t try anything “new”. A couple items that could have come into play were the high temperature, talk about some “bad water” somewhere as many others were sick. One item that I thought would do good but actually was quite the opposite is drinking a recovery drink with protein going out of Brighton that probably upset my stomach more. I’ve got some new things to try for next time and will chalk this up to a fluke experience and hope that it does not happen next time.

 

     Getting my 3rd Wasatch 100 belt buckle

Thank you to Ann, Meghan, and Roch for taking care of me and keeping me company on the course. Thank you to all of my friends and family who cheered me on in person or in spirit. Thank you to all of my friends that I train with and make running fun. My deepest gratitude goes to Chad for all of the support in training, every other aspect of my life, and crew extraordinaire.

Running

Leadman – A Rough Finish

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“That’s the mark of a great crew. When your masochism weakens, their sadism strengthens.” – Jim Knight

It’s hard to know where to even start, but that quote definitely sums up my race.  I love running 100’s and out of all ultra’s, they are my strong distance.  I have a great ability to suffer and just keep going.  I always know a 100 will hurt, but going into them, I always know that I can persevere and finish.  I was not so sure for the Leadville Trail 100 this year.  After 2 massages and a chiropractor visit, my back was not much better.  On Friday I drove to Aspen for what I called a full body reboot.  I visited a deep tissue release specialist.  It really felt like a full body reboot.  It left me sore, but I felt many times better than prior to ‘the reboot’.  This gave me some great mental strength going into the race.  Friday night was spent in the normal fashion, dinner, crew briefing, and early to bed.

I awoke Friday morning excited to race.  We were staying 4 blocks from the starting line and I was going to use this as a quick warm up.  I quickly realized on the way to the starting line that my back was not in good shape and I started having real doubts about running 100 miles. I resorted to my backup plan and took a Percocet and put 2 more in my pocket. 

LT100 Starting Line – 3:50AM

When the race started, I was not able to run at all.  I jogged the first 3.5 miles downhill and then resorted to walking with short bursts of jogging.  I was not able to run at all and the fastest jog I could maintain was ~10min/mile.  At the boat ramp on Turquoise Lake (mile 7), I was ready to quit due to the pain.  Since my crew was not going to meet me until May Queen (mile 13.5), quitting wasn’t an option.  I walked most of the rest of the way to May Queen arriving around 2:40 instead of my planned 1:53. I told my crew I was quitting as I was in severe pain and couldn’t imagine suffering another 87 miles and 24+ hours.  My crew talked me into continuing convincing me that my back could loosen up (it is not uncommon for me to feel crappy the first 12-15 miles of any long run) and that I don’t want to throw away Leadman quite so quickly. 

Emily Sullivan convincing me not to drop at Turquoise Lake

I felt moderately better climbing up to Sugar Loaf Pass and was able to pass many people.  Unfortunately, I was not able to run much of the downhill on Powerline due to the stress it put on my back.  I made it to Fish Hatchery (mile 23.5) feeling miserable, but no worse than before.  Since my stride was so screwed up from my back, I had to do some foot work due to already having sore feet.  I left Fish Hatchery willing to give the suffering another chance.  Similar to my experience around Turquoise Lake, I was not able to run the flats (especially the paved parts) and walked the next 4 miles to the Pipeline Crew Stop.  I sat down and said I was quitting and they should go climb Mt Massive since we are so close to the trailhead and I would sleep in the truck.  My crew (or sadistic crew according to Jim) would have nothing of it.  They convinced me that if I took poles, I could take the stress off my back and I would feel better. 

Brent & Emily convincing me not to take poles and keep going at Pipeline

I left Pipeline with poles and it definitely helped.  I was able to keep a slow, but consistent jog and the flats, gradual climbs, and descents.  I came into Twin Lakes still miserable, but for the first time, actually looking forward to moving on.  I kept moving through the aid station and continued on for the long climb up Hope Pass.  The climb went well and since climbing is my strong suit, I was able to pass quite a few people and was enjoying getting up high.  I only stopped long enough at Hopeless Aid Station to fill my bottles and kept moving.  The next 6 miles to Winfield went by quickly as I was meeting many friends and it was great to cheer people on and get cheered on.  There is a new section of the Continental Divide Trail that allowed us to avoid the horrible and dusty Winfield road.  The trail added about 2.5-3 miles round trip, but it was well worth it as it was a great section of rolling single track and I would do anything to avoid the cars and dust of the Winfield road.  I arrived at Winfield in about 12:40, one of my slowest 50 mile paces, but I was happy to still be making ‘relentless forward progress’ (a statement that had become somewhat of a mantra for me during the day), and excited to be picking up Emily S as a pacer.  As with all aid stations, I sat down to eat, drink, and hopefully reduce some of my pain which was now in my back, glutes, hamstrings, knees, and feet.  Emily S and I headed out of the aid station for the long slog up Hope Pass.  Emily pushed me just hard enough and we made the pass in good time and soon were on our way back to Twin Lakes.

Happy to be at Hope Pass, the 2nd Time

Twin Lakes River Crossing

The face of someone who has been in pain and miserable for 60 miles and 16 hours.

At this point I was just in the mentality of keep moving forward at whatever pace wouldn’t kill me whether it was walking or jogging.  Due to my messed up stride, many other muscles and joints were getting more beat up than my back.  My right glute and hamstring were in rough shape so Emily S gave them a good massage at both Twin Lakes and Pipeline (mile ~73)

This is how you know you have a GREAT pacer!

Emily S continued pacing me out of Twin Lakes and we had a long stretch to Pipeline.  To add to my misery, my stomach had also gone south.  Emily S had her work cut out for her in the next 13 miles to Pipeline where. We continued the standard of walking as fast as possible and a slow jog and were happy to see Brent and Emily B at the crew stop.  Since my feet hurt so bad I decided to try running in Hoka’s. I bought a pair this summer but had only run in them for 20 miles and had not liked the way they felt.  I usually wouldn’t try something new in a race, but at this point, I had nothing to lose.

I was not looking forward to the next 4 miles of road to Fish Hatchery.  I was unable to run it at mile 25 so I doubted I could run it this time – I couldn’t.  Since I couldn’t run, Emily S marched me at a 13:30 min/mile pace all the way to the Fish Hatchery Aid Station.  It always feels good to pass people who are running when you are walking.  Upon arriving at Fish Hatchery, I changed into my magic tights in hopes of helping relieve some of my knee and hamstring pain, filled up with food, had 2 Advil with a Red Bull chaser and took off with Brent for the next 10 mile section up Powerline and over Sugar Loaf Pass.

Brent and I set off on my normal pace of the day, but after about 30 minutes my Red Bull/Advil cocktail started to kick in and I started feeling better than I had felt all day (although just a lower degree of miserable).  I had trained hard on the Powerline climb and knew it was 3.2 miles and 1,600’.  Brent pushed me hard with happy thoughts of skiing powder and using good skimo climbing form.  We continued to catch racer after racer and made the May Queen Aid Station (mile 86.5) at close to my 22 hour goal split pace.  I made it through May Queen just wanting to get done with a modified goal of beating the sun rise (my original goal was 21:45 and I was now hoping to squeak in around 26:30).  I refueled with pancakes and sausage as I walked out of the aid station and had my best pacer (my wife Emily B) taking me to the finish.  I continued to suffer (sometimes worse than others) over the next 13 miles, but we continued to push and to pass people.  It was amazing as I was passing people who were 2-3 hours ahead of me at Winfield.  I didn’t feel good, but I didn’t feel any worse than I had felt the entire day so I was able to slow down much less than other people who were suffering.  Emily pushed me the entire way to the finish line.  I was doing great, but at 500M from the finish line my back totally went out and it was all I could do to keep a jog across the finish line for a finish time of 26:12.

My 2012 Leadville 100 was my second slowest 100 run, but I learned a lot about the power of a motivating crew and my ability to persevere and suffer. Had I dropped, I would have had a very long mental recovery for not finishing Leadman.  Having finished, I have a solid 2-3 weeks of recovery ahead of me, but I also have the extreme pride of being able to persevere and become 1 of only 124 people to complete Leadman with a total time of 46:26. In the last 8 days I have raced ~212 miles and I have learned a ton about how my body reacts (both positively and negatively) to this type of intensity and duration.  I am extremely happy to have finished Leadman and I am looking forward to a fall with no races on the calendar and lots of adventure running.

Leadman Hardware

Final Note: I can’t thank my awesome crew of Emily B, Emily S, and Brent enough.  Without them, I would not (and probably could not) have finished.  They had their work cut out for them with my back issues, but when I didn’t think I could go on, they kept me on track to become a Leadman.

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Leadman Events 3 & 4 – 100 Mile Mt Bike & 10K Run

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It was a great week after Boom Days.  I rode and ran some final miles, relaxed, made sure I was getting lots of sleep, and eating well.  Emily and my parents arrived on Thursday.  We spent Thursday and Friday preparing for the race, driving around some of the old mines, getting a great tour of Hopemore Mine, and checking out the local Leadville sites.

The Leadville 100 Mile Mt Bike was my first endurance event back in 2004.  At that time, there were only about 750 racers.  This year, there were close to 1,800 riders at the starting line.  Due to the large number of racers, the start racers in corals based on the prior 2 years of finishing times or times of qualifying races.  Since I had not done either, I was put about 60% back.  In hindsight, I should have tried to get moved up based on my Leadman time since there were ~1,000 people in front of me and this easily caused me to lose 20 minutes over the first 10 miles.

Friday was busy with check-in and the pre-race meeting. Unlike most events, the Leadville pre-race meeting is a big ordeal. This year, Lance Armstrong surprised everyone by showing up to give a few words of encouragement to all the racers.

     Lance, Marilee, and Ken

One of my habits from running is to know my splits and the climbs. When running, I carry a small split chart, since I wouldn’t be able to read this while riding, I opted to write the splits on 1 quad and climbs on the other.

     Splits and Climbs

The LT100 Bike has a comfortable start at 6:30AM.  I left the RV at 5:45 feeling great and ready to ride.

     Ready to Race

The race start was very chaotic. The first 4 miles is downhill on asphalt.  It was shoulder to shoulder riding at 30+ mph.  Once we hit the gravel and the narrow climb of St Kevins it was still shoulder to shoulder, the speed slowed to less than 4 mph, and it was shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip bumping the entire climb.  This climb was painfully slow.

     The first 1/3 of the riders lined up waiting for the start

Once at the top of St Kevins, the field opened up for the fast descent around Turquoise Lake, but quickly slowed again on the climb up to Sugar Loaf Pass.  The descent down Power Line was slow which was good as it kept it safe.  We reached the road and had a fast pace all the way to the Pipeline Aid Station where Matt  Hart met me with a fresh water bottle and a couple of turkey sliders.  It was a quick 10 miles from Pipeline to Twin lakes that had some of the best riding of the whole race with some winding single track.  Coming into Twin Lakes was crazy.  Crews lined the trail for around 1/2 mile.  Knowing it would be difficult to find my crew (Emily, Mom, and Dad), I had them fly an NDSU Bison flag so I would be able to find them.

     My crew at Twin Lakes Aid Station

I had a quick stop to swap water bottles and get a new bottle of EFS and was off for the 7.5 mile and 3,200’ climb up to Columbine Mine and the race turn around.  The climb started 2.5 miles from the aid station and right from the start, I had no energy.  I crawled for the first 5 miles of the climb getting passed by probably 100 riders.  Once we got above tree line I started feeling better and was able to pass some riders, but by then, the trail had narrowed and passing was very difficult.  I reached the turn-around about 15 minutes off of my goal splits with the hopes of making up time on the descent.  As luck would have it, I got caught behind someone who did not know how to descend and went 10mph.  I was stuck behind this person for the first 4 miles of the descent before I was able to pass.  This was a frustrating time as all I could do is hold the brakes and wait for an opportunity to pass.  Reaching Twin Lakes the second time I was feeling quite good.  I spent a couple of minutes swapping bottles and eating some real food and then I was off.  We were treated to a strong headwind for the next 15 miles.  I got stuck between groups on this section unable to keep up with the group in front of me to draft on them, and not wanting to go as slow as the group behind me.  I exerted much more energy fighting the wind on the way to Pipeline than I had wanted to. 

     Pipe Line Aid Station

I was able to get into Pipeline and leave very quickly in order to latch onto a group on their way out. This turned out to be a huge benefit. We had a group of 12 who spend the next 7 miles working together into the head and cross winds to the base of the Power Line climb. By this time I was tired, my I/T band hurt, and I was really looking forward to being done with the race (there was only 18 miles left). Power Line was as difficult as I had expected, but was made easier by the fact that I had rode it several times in training. Once at the top of Power Line, there was only 1 short climb (mostly on the road left). I wasn’t losing more time at this point, but I was going to be very close to not being able to finish under 10 hours. Even at the top of St Kevins, I was not sure I would make it. Luckily, at the bottom of St Kevins, I group up with another guy who also wanted to go sub-10 and together we were able to pull each other at a fast pace to the base of the Boulevard and then up the final 3 mile climb to the finish line and finish in 9:51. My goal was 9:30 for the 100 miles. The race is actually 103 miles so I was able to meet my goal average speed (10.5 mph), but not my goal pace.

The Leadville finish lines are always an extravaganza. You run or ride up the red carpet and are greeted by Marilee to give you your finishing medal.

After getting a couple of recovery drinks in me, we enjoyed a bite to eat and an Oskar Blue beer before heading back to the RV for an early night since we had another early morning.

Sunday morning was a 7:30 awards ceremony followed by the 10K at noon.  My glutes were definitely tired and my right I/T band was very tight.  I spent lots of time warming up and stretching before the 10K and was going out to run it at an easy pace.  From the starting line, I was running with 2 other guys doing Leadman and we settled into a fast but conversational pace.  The race was an out and back on the Boulevard which meant basically downhill all the way to the turn around point.  I was dreading the uphill return, but other than the first hill after reaching the pavement, the return was not bad at all.  I was able to finish in 50:05 which I was pleased with.

My problems started after the 10K as my lower back and pelvis got completely out of whack from the run.  Once I stopped at the finish line, I was hardly able to walk.  3 days later, I am still very sore and have not been able to run.  I have had 2 massages and 1 chiropractic adjustment.  I think that at this point, I am a little sore from the massages and adjustment and I have my fingers crossed that I will wake up on Thursday morning feeling better.

I went into the LT100 Bike expecting to lose about 1 hour on my overall Leadman placement.  With the current standings, it appears that I lost from 60-75 minutes.  I also dropped from 8th to 13th place.  My Leadman goal was top 5.  I am currently 1:45 off of top 5.  This is nothing going into a 100 mile run which is my strongest event of the series (if my back/pelvis heals).  With my current health, I am not confident I will be able to run a strong 100 or even finish the 100, but I am focusing all of my attention on doing it.

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Getting Ready to Finish Leadman

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After Silver Rush 50 on July 15, I drove all the way back to Park City as I was excited to get home and see Emily after 21 days.  It was a busy 11 days at home spending time with Emily, getting caught up with things around the house, seeing friends, recovering, training, unpacking, cleaning and repairing gear, re-packing, and having family in town.  I left for Leadville again on July 27 with the goal of riding most of the LT100 Bike course over the first weekend.

Instead of camping, I found a large RV (it has 5 beds) to rent for the 3 weeks.  With the afternoon thunderstorms this would be better for my training and recovery and it is also large enough for Emily and my parents when they are here for the bike, for Emily, Emily Sullivan, and Brent when they are here for the run, and for some other friends who have talked about coming through town.

     Kitchen/dining/living area of the RV.  The photo is taken from the bedroom/bathroom and there are 2 full size beds behind the closed door.

I have not been pushing my training too hard since the Silver Rush 50 as I feel as though I have been balancing a fine line between recovering and needing to continue to train.  Due to this, I wanted to get out on the LT100 Bike course, but make sure that I didn’t over-do it.  In the first 2 days back I rode 70 miles of the course and all but 1,500’ of the climbing.  I had a great ride from the starting line to Fish Hatchery and back on my first day.  This got me on 4 of the 5 big climbs of the course (St. Kevins, Sugarloaf Pass, Powerline, and St. Kevins).  The next day I rode miles 40-60 which took me up and down Columbine Mine (the longest climb of the race at ~7 miles and 3,500’).  Both of these were great rides and I averaged a much faster pace than I thought I would be able to.  Seeing the course and having a good pace definitely helped me build mental confidence for the race.  I have since climbed St. Kevins, Sugarloar, and Powerline an additional time to get just a little bit more comfortable with the climbs.  My running has definitely taken a back seat the last 2 weeks with only 3 runs.  Mentally, that has been challenging since I am placing the most weight on the LT100 run, but I know that I am in running shape and this is the best thing to do.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, balancing the running and biking training has been one of the biggest challenges of preparing for Leadman. I definitely could not have been as prepared as I am without the help of friend and coach Matt Hart.

     Chad at Columbine Mine – mile 50 of the LT100 Bike

Every year the first week of August marks Boom Days in Leadville.  Boom days celebrates Leadville’s mining history and includes things like a parade, numerous mining events, and a 21 mile burro race (running 21 miles with a burro packing 37 lbs of gear).  I was excited to be able to be in town during Boom Days and watch some of the festivities.  The festivities started on Friday night with some motorcycle competitions (not sure how this relates to the mining heritage, but they were entertaining).  Saturday had the parade and numerous mining competitions (single jack leg drilling, spike driving, hand-mucking, singles hand steeling, and more). 

     Leadville Trail 100 Parade in the Boom Days Parade

I have never had a chance to check out Park City’s mining competitions, so this was a great opportunity.

     Spike Driving: see who can drive a spike the farthest into a rock in 5 minutes – quick video

One of the things I most wanted to see was the burro race.  After having heard of these races for many years and having tried to deal with a burro in Ladakh when we were helping harvest, I couldn’t imaging getting a burro to go 21 miles.  The burros were as stubborn as you would expect, and it was a lot of fun to watch both the start and some of the finishers.

     Start of the Burro Race

On the Saturday of Boom Days, Matt came out to get some acclimatization and for some scouting of the peaks for his and Jared Cambell’s attempt of Nolan’s 14.  It has been great having company out here even though I am bummed I cannot join him on his daily runs.

The days are counting, each day more and more racers are showing up in Leadville and by Friday the town will be hopping.  It is exciting, but I also find myself hiding away in the RV resting and focusing.  The next 12 days will likely be some of the most physically and mentally challenging days I have ever had as I prepare for each race, race, and recover only to do this 3 times in 8 days.  Excitement and nervous anticipation are the words the currently best describe my feelings.

Running

Leadman – Silver Rush 50 – 2 Down, 3 To Go

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I had plenty of nervous anticipation leading up to the Silver Rush 50 race.  After the massive cramping I had at the marathon, I was unsure how my legs would respond.  I had numerous good training runs since the marathon, but was still nervous.  I spent the week of the race getting out on the course to see the remaining miles and resting up as much as possible.  Saturday was the Silver Rush 50 Bike.  I went to watch the start and then back to see the finish.  It was great to see local Wasatch SkiMo team member Tom Goth come in 6th.  Utah took 3 of the top 6 spots. 

I have started the liquid diet that has been working so well for Emily for the last couple years on the day before the race.  So far after using this diet for 2 races, I have had great luck with limited GI issues while racing.  The challenge of the diet is that you are eating (rather drinking) non-stop all day, but you just don’t feel fulfilled.  Since a liquid diet takes a lot of planning in order to get enough (and quality) calories, I included my liquid calorie intake for the day before the race below.  The beer was critical as I really feel that it relaxed me and allowed me a good night sleep.

Race morning I enjoyed my first cup of coffee in 2 weeks, a quick bowl of oatmeal and was off to the starting line.  It was a cold morning (low 40s) so standing around the starting line left me cold, shivering,and worried I would not be able to get my legs warmed up.  Luckily as soon as the race started we quickly warmed up with the climb up Dutch-Henri hill and the fast pace the lead group set once we started running at the top of the hill.  I was feeling really good and the miles were clicking away quickly and I was running on a sub 8:30 pace.  I was ecstatic with this since my goal was 9 hours, but I knew I needed to go sub 8:30 for my overall Leadman time and to keep from dropping more places in those standings.  I was able to move in and out of aid stations in only the amount of time it took me to fill my water bottle and felt like I was being very efficient.

I reached Stumptown, the 25 mile turnaround, in 3:54, I quickly refueled from my drop back (new gel bottle, Roctaine powder for my water bottle, chugged an Ensure, and chased it with a Red Bull.   My calculated 8:30 split was 4:04 and I left the aid station at 3:57.  I was really happy with this split, but I knew I had a long way to go and had to keep it together.  It was a long climb from Stumptown back up to Ball Mountain and I settled in for a mixture of running and steep hiking.  I don’t know why, but for some reason after dropping down off the back side of Ball Mountain, I started to feel a little bit of cramping.  This was the exact same spot I started cramping during the marathon, only I was at around 30 miles instead of 21 miles.  I increased my Endurolyte intake and kept pushing the pace.  After circling Ball Mountain, I know I had 2 long descents and only 1 climb left.  I was worried about the final descent knowing that it would be a knee and quad trasher since it was a rolling 10 mile descent.  Everything went great, I had a good last climb and started the descent carefully knowing I had a long way to go.  For the most part I had been running mostly alone.  At this point in the race, I was getting passed by a few people who were very strong descenders, but also catching some of the people who had gone out too hard and were fading so I had figured that I was maintaining about 20th place.  In the final 3 miles, the wheels were starting to come off.  My left knee was starting to hurt quite badly, my sesamoid bone issue on my right foot hurt, and my quads were trashed.  I slowed more than I would have liked at this point (probably about 45-60 seconds/mile), but kept pushing it and was able to catch 1 more person during this time and pass 1 person who had passed me at around mile 45.  I didn’t know if I had it in me to ‘race’ to the finish, but luckily, it seemed like no one else did either.  When I knew I could finish in under 8:30, I was hoping to make 8:15, but I just couldn’t push the last 10 miles hard enough for that.  I came across the finish line in 8:24:45 for 18th out of 479 racers.  In my age division I was 10th out of 134.  I was extremely happy with my race since I was able to set a PR by over an hour, felt great for almost the entire race, and fought off the cramps when they started to rear their ugly heads.

I drove back to Park City after the race and am glad to be home for 11 days before heading back to Leadville for 2 weeks of acclimatization and training before the next 3 races of the series – 100 mile mountain bike on August 11, 10K on August 12, and 100 mile run on August 18.

Silver Rush 50 Elevation Profile

Final Silver Rush 50 Results

Silver Rush 50 Photos

And as part of a past post, here are some links to photos from the Leadville Marathon.

Running

Leadville Update – Tour de Mt Massive

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I focused last week on recovering.  My recovery seemed to be going slowly at high elevation so on July 3 I drove to Salida to get to a lower elevation for a day of recovery.  The lower elevation definitely helped and I felt much better on Wednesday.  I had a couple of great mt bike rides on Wednesday and Thursday, then ran from the Winfield road over Hope Pass to Twin Lakes and back on Friday with local SLC speedster Jay Aldous.  I was hesitant about the run due to my calves, but after 9 miles, the lactic acid seemed to move out of them and they felt very good.  Saturday I rode a section of the LT100 Bike course (Half Moon Road to Twin Lakes).  It was good to get out on the course.  I was hoping to see the entire course last week, but that didn’t pan out with  my recovery so I will need to do that on my next trip out prior to the races.  I will have a busy 2 weeks before the LT100 Bike and run as I will want to see ~60 miles of the bike course and ~30 miles of the run course.

The highlight of my trip so far has been Tour de Mt Massive with Jared Campbell on Sunday.  Jared and Mindy came through Leadville Saturday on their way to Silverton for Hardrock 100.  We hung out on Saturday, had a great meal at Tennessee Pass Café, then watch the movie “Race Across the Sky” which features the 2009 LT100 Bike.  It was fun to see the movie again, it had some great course footage to help bring back some of my memories from when I road the race in 2004, and it helped to get me excited about the race.

Jared and I wanted to get in an adventure run on Sunday.  Mt Massive is the second highest peak in Colorado at 14,421’.  It has 5 summits over 14,000’ on its 3 mile ridge plus another 2 summits over 13,000’.  The mountain truly is massive with there being over 1/2 square mile over 14,000’.  It has the largest area over 14,000’ of any peak in the continental US.

   Mt Massive ridgeline as viewed from the Silver Rush 50 Course East of Leadville

Jared and I wanted to hit all of these peaks.  Since we had the luxury of a car shuttle (thanks Mindy), we put together a route up the North Ridge from the Windsor Lake Trail Head and down the South East Ridge.  In total, our run was 11.5 miles and 5,300’ of climbing.  We were only on a trail for ~1.5 miles which made it a great run.  Since we both have races next weekend, we did the route at a very easy pace, not running any of the climbs, very little of the ridge, and keeping the pace easy on the descent.  The run turned out to be fantastic.  It was great to have a running companion for this trip, we spent a significant amount of time over 14,000’ which will pay us back for our races, and we got to do a full ridge traverse of Mt Massive which is looked at from Leadville everyday.

Starting at the ridge, we hit the following high points

  1. Point 12,875’
  2. Point 13,125’
  3. Point 13,801
  4. Point 14,169’
  5. North Massive: 14,340’
  6. Massive Green: 14,300’
  7. Mt Massive: 14,421’
  8. South Massive: 14,132’
  9. South, South Massive: 13,630’
  10. Point 12,381’

Here are some photos of our run.  Click here for full size images.

Chad at Windsor Lake.

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Chad at Windsor Lake.


Running

Mt Nebo Traverse & Loop

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On Independence Day Emily S, Mindy, and I ran the 3 summits of Mt. Nebo and made a loop running back to the car on the Bench Trail. We put this run together very quickly: Jared showed us the trail on Google maps, we found a couple rudimentary maps and descriptions and decided to go for it and knew we could find our way as we are very capable women who love an adventure.

Tuesday night we ladies set out for Maple (to meet up with Brent) to camp and enjoy a nice night out under the stars and get closer to the trailhead for an early start. We enjoyed dinner and a beer at the campsite. We woke up to wonderfully cool weather which felt very good with the hot weather we have been having in the valley.

We hit the trail just a few minutes after 8a (elevation 6,670’). The trail up to the South Summit was a great trail but steep enough that there were very few runnable sections. There were also several sections that were super steep. After we made it up to the South Summit (elevation 11,851’) we proceeded on what we could see of a “trail” to the Middle Summit (elevation 11,814’) and on to the North Summit (elevation 11,933’) of Mt Nebo. There was a lot of scrambling and route finding in this section and we ventured a little too far down in a scree field between the Middle and North Summits which added some time to our adventure. The information that we read about this part stated that it would take ~2 hours and it was ~1 mile and it took us a little over an hour even with our bonus vert during this section. There wasn’t anything that was sketchy, just lots of places where we had to be cautious of every move as a slip could have big consequences. This section was super fun and challenging.

     Mindy and Emily S scrambling between summits

     Mindy and Emily S scrambling between summits

 

   Emily S and I on the Middle Summit with the South Summit in the background

     Mindy and I on the Middle Summit with the North Summit in the background

The trail down from the North Summit was very well defined and although steep and scrambling in a few sections the majority was very runnable so we were able to click away a few miles faster than the first 9ish miles up and across the summits. From the North Summit Trailhead (mile 12.32 and elevation 9,260’) we ran the dirt road for approximately 1 mile before we hit the Bench Trail. The Bench Trail is a 12 mile trail which would take us back to the car at the South Summit Trailhead. We thought this would be an easy 12 miles as we had read that there was only 800 feet of vertical gain (which actually ended up that from the Trailhead to the highest point on the this trail was 800 feet of vertical gain and the actual vert gain was around 3,000’) and we thought it would be a very well defined trail.

We cruised along for a number of miles stopping at a few springs and small snowfields to fill and cool off our water supplies. The hardest part of our run was miles 17-20 in which we affectionately named the “Magic Trail” because one minute we would see it and another minute it would be gone and we would have to search for the trail, see it in the distance, and make our way “cross country” to get to it. Once we hit the main trail we were able to run the whole way down back to the car (with the help of Emily S magic jelly beans for energy).

The whole day was filled with our expressions of gratitude for the perfect weather, wonderful scenery, and beautiful wildflowers, and excellent company.

This was an amazing run and a great day with fabulous girlfriends!\

     Gamin Connect route of the run

Uncategorized

Leadman – 1 Down, 4 To Go

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The first of the Leadman events has come and gone.  The Leadville Marathon was on Saturday.  I was planning on this race being a high intensity training run so I only tapered for 5 days before the race knowing that regardless of tapering or not, my time would be within around 20 minutes.  My goal was 4:45 and 4:30 if I was feeling really good.  This was the first race where I attempted the liquid diet that has been working so well for Emily the past few seasons.  I found it difficult to feel fulfilled, but I was always full and was able to take in close to 2800 calories.  It seemed to work well for race day as I didn’t have to make any restroom stops during the race (I don’t think that has ever happened during close to 5 hours of hard running.

The race started at 8AM so I was up at 6 in the cold, 35F morning, for breakfast and was in town by 7.  It warmed up quickly once the sun was up.  There were just over 500 marathon runners and 400 half marathon runners.  The starting line was quite congested, but I lined up in the third row and felt great running the first 7 miles in the top 20.  Just before the mile 7 aid station, a group of around 12 missed a corned and lost 2 minutes and at least 10 places as we backtracked to get back on course.  I quickly go this out of my system and moved on.  At this point I had been enjoying the course of single and double track past numerous abandoned mines and lots of mine relics.  The mile 9.8 aid station was at the foot of the Mosquito Pass climb,  Here is where I made my second mistake (I hadn’t realized my first mistake yet).  I had my bottle filled with Gu Brew.  I assumed it would be mixed half strength (since this is how drink is mixed at most every race I have ever done or helped with).  It wasn’t and it did not sit well in my stomach.  I toughed it out on the climb up to 13,600’ Mosquito Pass (see previous post) and quickly turned around to descend not wanting to spend time at the crowded, high elevation aid station. I was hoping to make up time on the descent, but there were so many people still ascending that it took longer than I had planned.  I reached the aid station at the bottom of the pass still running on close to a 4:30 split.  Sean Meissner and I had been running together and leap frogging each other all day.  He convinced me that the climb back up to the next aid station was runnable and it would be the only way to stay on pace. It was a hard climb (over 1,000’ in 2.8 miles), but he was right and I was able to run it.  I was feeling good, but definitely getting tired.  I had been running in the red zone a long time (my final average heart rate was 157 which is very high for me for that long), but I knew there was only 7 miles to go and only 1 small climb.  Everything was good until mile 21 at the start of the climb when my calves and hip flexors started to cramp up.  Here is where I realized mistake #1.  I had not brought any eCaps with and it was hotter than I had planned  and now I was behind on electrolytes and cramping.  As the guy behind me caught me, he was kind enough to give me his last eCap.  It definitely helped and I figured that with only 1 mile to the aid station, I would get more there.  Unfortunately, they had no salt so I took in a cup of Coke and a Roctain gel and kept moving hoping for the best.  the last 3.3 miles was all downhill and I was planning on doing it in 25 minutes which would have me finish at about 4:37.  I was moving good on this last section and was slowly catching the runner ahead of me.  at mile 24.5, both calves seized up with my feet pointed straight down.  I dropped to the ground screaming in pain.  Luckily a mt biking came up on me as this happened.  I couldn’t even sit up.  He rubbed each calf for 30 seconds or so and I said I needed to get going.  I stood up and started hobbling down the road eventually moving into a jog of 7:30-8:00 minute miles.  This section was supposed to be fast (6:30 minute miles at the slowest) and it was all I could do to jog a 7:30.  When I was on the ground, I got passed by 1 more runner, then another runner passed me with 200M to go and a third runner with 20M to go.  There was nothing I could do, had I pushed it any harder, I knew my calves would seize again and drop me.  I just had to hang on and cross the  finish line.

I crossed the line in 4:42:58.  I made my goal, but was disappointed at how poorly I felt during the race and for making 2 rookie mistakes.  I was 25th of 509 racers, 11th of 128 racers in my age division, and in 8th for overall Leadman.  My real goal for the summer is top 5 Leadman.  At 8th, I am only 21 minutes back from 3rd after what I consider one of my weaker events (I do not consider myself a good marathoner since it requires more speed than I have).

I spent the rest of Saturday stretching and icing my calves and eating.  I was hoping they would recover well, but on Sunday they are very sore.  Today, I did an easy 20 mile bike to stretch out the muscles and iced for about 30 minutes in Half Moon Creek.  I will start running again tomorrow as it is less than 2 weeks until the Silver Rush 50 and I want to get out and run the course.

Official Race Results

Photos

Splits