Ya can't beat a good road trip. I'm lactose intolerant. Apparently I can still look fresh when having stomach and leg issues. Fifty miles is my favorite distance. I enjoy races that aren't billed to be the "toughest or gnarliest" where you actually run. Running fast (read: steady) is fun and hard. My feet hurt. I prefer sleeping in tents than beds. I have awesome friends.
Off to Pennsylvania! Photo: Mike Jones
Saturday morning light
Just wear half-sized too small shoes. Photo: Glove
Ultrarunners label road-running folks as "roadies." Roadies typically run shorter distances or marathons. Ultrarunners give them a negative connotation as they're a more cut-throat group of people as a whole. They're worried about pace, pace, pace, times, exact distances, and are generally not friendly while racing. So us ultra-trail folk tend to look down upon roadies. In the 50k distance races, a few roadies will show up and destroy the rest of the field, cause let's face it, they're really fast with all that literal running they do. When that happens, as it does at the Holiday Lake type races (roadies usually shy away from the mountain runs), a typical conversation between two ultra trail folks goes like this:
"He ran WHAT!? That's insanely fast."
"Yeah, he's a roadie."
"Ohhh, makes sense. Ok." (Shrug. thinks: won't be seeing him at the real ultras)
End of conversation
But I'm writing this post in defense of the what roadies do, and advocate not looking down on them. Why? Because running the same cadence and the same tempoish pace for more than two hours is tough. We ultrarunners think of toughness as "My body is super tired, but I'm still going to slog through this long run today even though I shouldn't." Or, "I didn't fuel right and my race is going to hell, but I'll deathmarch it in." Or the classic, "I'm injured but refuse to DNF because I'm tough." These views of toughness that ultrarunners have aren't very healthy as you can imagine. Sure, you have to push through hard times, but I'm saying that running how roadies run is equally if more not "hard" than what ultra folks do. It's just different. Not bad, not good, just different. And we're all runners, so there needs to be a friendlier connection between the road folks and the trail folks. Trail folks are usually elitist ("I can't even stand FIRE ROADS UGH. That race had way too much road. I haven't ran on the road since 2000. What do you mean you don't have lagunitas IPA?") and say stupid shit like that. Running's running dudes.
Beauty. Thinking, "How many more miles at this pace?"
I ran the New River Trail 50k yesterday which was essentially a road 50k (very finely crushed gravel, basically pavement) that defines flat. I ran the same cadence and same pace for 3:53:49. I backhalfed the race, but that steady effort level and same motion of the legs is HARD. I enjoyed the race despite not feeling awesome. It was so good to run long again after a frustrating taper that had minimal mileage. Perhaps it wasn't as enjoyable compared to a mountain 50k, but it was different and I couldn't've run much faster. It was fun to run a different kind of race and I have faith in the roadie population. I'm excited to see what Tussey Mountainback 50 miler has next week. I'm sure I'll get my butt kicked cause it's the 50 mile national championships, but I'm interested to see the roadie-ultra crossover there as it's a flat forest road 50. The social dynamics of types of running is fascinating.
1,420 miles
258 hours of total training time
Deflated.
Those are the totals of my 100% focused Grindstone 100 training that started on June 1st, 2013. All for...the government to shut down and therefore cancel Grindstone. Because Grindstone is a race in a national forest, a special permit is required and a ranger has to be present at the event. The shutdown furloughed all available people who could oversee Grindstone. So, technically speaking, I trained a whole effing lot and spent enormous amounts of mental energy and monetary funds for nothing, no race. Sort of.
Initially I was extremely frustrated, way more emotional than my fellow UltraVT gstoners. I got the "suspension" email in class, and I stood up and left. I called Glove and my mom, venting. I spent the next few days hoping desperately that the government would resume. I thought I'd go run 100 miles anyway. I came down with a cold which was undoubtedly stress-induced. Test week, presentation week, and supposedly running 100 miles is a busy week.
After spending way too much energy trying not to be mad (but lets face it, you can't not be frustrated/mad/angry/sad/irritated when your goal for the year has been crushed by outside forces) I eventually became fed up. Grindstone wasn't going to happen anyway if Doucher John Boehner won't even let the House of Representatives vote.
I'm over it. I'm not running a 100 miler this year. I'm exhausted after training so hard and not being satisfied with the end result. To do it well it takes a lot of literal energy. I put in the miles and the taper already. I'm over it, I'm not motivated to do that again soon. I walked down a mountain this past Sunday. That says a good bit.
I recall one long training run with Glove this summer where we spoke, "no matter what happens at Grindstone, this summer was a success." I got in the best shape I've ever been in. I saw tons of trails, I explored new places, I ate a lot, I lost body fat without losing weight, drove a lot. I had a purpose and lived my purpose. I was extremely satisfied with my training. I stayed healthy, uninjured. I went for 30 mile training runs that became routine, no big deal. It was incredible and so much fun. Every day was magical.
Even though I didn't achieve my yearly goal of running Grindstone, I can't change that. So there's no point in fighting it.
What now? Well, that's a tough question. I'm in 100 mile shape which means I'm good at running really long and really slowly. Since there aren't many 100s in the fall and I don't feel like putting in that effort anymore I have to change my expectations for this fall. No competing, just running and having fun. I'm not going to fool myself that I can run quickly right now. My motivation to "train" is nonexistent, but my motivation to get outside and run is still high. Which leads me to my plans. I'm still going to run when I want to run, but I'm not going to make myself get out there because I feel like I have to train. I nixed a 10 miler on Thursday to bike with my roommate instead. I want to race something, so I'm signed up for the New River Trail 50k which is an extremely flat 50k, the opposite of Grindstone. Next Sunday I'm going to run Tussey Mountainback 50 miler, again a flat course mostly of road. I'm intentionally not going to try Mount Masochist cause expectations exist within the Lynchburg Ultra Series that I don't want on me. Hopefully I'll clock PRs at the 50k and 50mile distance and boost the confidence by that. HELLGATE is the second weekend in December, right smack dab in the middle of exams. I've looked at Hellgate as an end-of-year celebration, and I'll be partying all night long. Just running races to enjoy the comradeship and outdoors. Who knows, I'll probably even sign up for a local 24 hour race as a supported fun run.
Here's to the positives!
Stepped on this copperhead (foreground) Sunday! Photo: Jordan Chang
