Category Archives for "Uncategorized"

5 13 runs in 5 days—the road to recovery?

I’ve been slowly recovering from Iroquois 100. I’ve been working back into training but have had some slight issues with a tight left quad and hip that is causing some patellar tendonitis. I’ve been confined to multiple short runs per day in order to stop running before any pain arises. I’ve done 13 runs in the past 5 days, totaling 37.2 miles. Longest run being 4.2 miles and the shortest being 1.7 miles. I’m hopeful as Ozark Trail 100 approaches. If I can get this thing to heal, AND if I can keep from irritating it, I’ll be able to throw down some longer runs before the race November 7th. Any suggestions out there?

7 The Dirty Half: You can’t fake it!

I was reminded today of a couple of things…

1) always be a little earlier to the start than you think you should be
2) if you want to run hard, you have to put in the time

In other words…you can’t fake it, baby!

I decided to spin my cross commuter to the Dirty Half start this morning. I left my house at 6:47am and took it easy the 11.5 miles over to the 8am start. I stopped and stretched in the woods about a mile from the start, as I was cutting KGB trail to the old gravel road from Tethrow over to the start line.

I got there, checked my bike in and said hello to a few folks and was changing out of my cycling gear when Sean Meissner, who had run from town for a warm-up, mentioned something to the effect of “don’t let anyone steal my stuff” or something like that. I misunderstood and thought he was saying to watch his stuff, as I assumed he needed to use the restroom real quick…we were 10 minutes from start time.

Well, I stand there, ready to go and no Sean, wait a few more minutes, no Sean. Then, I’m running out of time so I head out, as the start is about a half mile up a gravel road. I start jogging, still looking for him, no Sean. Come to find out, he was just making a joke about stealing his stuff and I TOTALLY misunderstood what he said. He had said it and headed for the start line. Mistake #1.

So, I’m jogging up to the start and I’m about 50 yards out from the very back of the first wave group of people when the gun goes off…AHHHHH! I take off, 50 yards behind last place. I quickly surge along the shoulder passing everyone to get up to the front and within 1/2 a mile I’m tucking in to the back of the front group at WAY too hard a sprint effort…lots of matches burned out of the gates. Mistake #2.

I ran the first mile in 5:30ish and by the climb up Phil’s canyon was toast and couldn’t hang with the lead pack anymore. In hindsight, I should have just settled down and started to pick folks off up the climb. 20/20 right?

I settled in and did what I could and by the top at Road 300, I was feeling okay. That first mile effort had really taken it out of me. I just tried to maintain consistent pace down Ben’s Trail and by 10 miles to go, Katie Caba (the women’s winner) was right behind me. Last year, I had to hold off Lisa Nye (08 female winner) at the end too. I’m honored to push the ladies to a good finish, as we have some tough local ladies for sure. However, I’m not giving up a slot either…I’m no softie in a race, no gifts. Plus, if AT ALL possible, as a competitive male runner, we have a rule, you must try, if at ALL possible, not to get “chick’d.” No disrespect ladies!

Runner Sixth Sense? When you run a lot and see the same folks at race locally, you get a “sense” at times by just listening. I didn’t even look to see if it was Katie behind me. I figured it out over a mile or so by listening to her footsteps and breathing. I guess Lisa wasn’t in it this year, but I thought she was and I knew it was either Katie or Lisa. After listening to the light footsteps and the breathing, which was coming from someone shorter than me (Lisa is tall), I deducted that it was Katie. Kinda weird.

So, after burning books of matches early, I didn’t have much left for surges or finish kicks. I tried a few small surges to drop Katie in the last mile (as I didn’t want to have to duke it out at the finish), but she was on me like glue. So be it. She was running strong and I could feel her energy…she was not backing down. I got to the last little downhill and let it fly, but on the last little flat, Katie surged and I got a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye coming up hard on my right as I was almost to the line. I did one last surge to hold her off by a half stride in 1:25:27. Phew! Nice work Katie, way to bring it!

All in all, great day, beautiful weather. The special Dirty Half IPA was great and I had a blast as usual. That race is a staple and really is a great community event. FootZone, Super Dave and Teague and all the volunteers really have created a stellar home town event. Brook Gardner and I were talking about how this event has evolved into the same type of community thing that the Friday Night Crit for the Cascade Cycling Classic is. You can’t miss it. If you’re a runner and don’t run it, you are missing out…missing out!

This brings me back to my “you can’t fake it” lesson. Here are some Deep Thoughts By Bronco Billy…

The past 4 years at the Dirty Half, I’ve been peaking for an upcoming 100 mile race (Bighorn in 05 and 06, Hardrock in 07, and Bighorn in 08). So, when June rolls around, I’ve been really fit, and the Dirty Half is just a fun, long tempo run for me. No matter how hard the effort, just a blip on the radar.

This year, however, with the SI Joint injury, I’ve been logging 25-35 miles a week running, and a lot of cycling. Today I was reminded that you can’t substitute cycling fully for running. To run strong, you have to run…a lot. I’ve been running 3 days a week, but no real volume, just quality. The past 4 seasons, I’ve been running 70-90 miles a week by June and cycling 8-10 hours on top of that. Volume.

As I reflect on that level of fitness, it’s a nice place to be come Dirty Half race day and you begin to feel a bit invencible and think you can just jump in a race and run hard and be fine. I guess coming from an ultrarunner mindset, you think you can do it all the time. Today, I was remindered otherwise. After I pedaled the 11.5 miles back home…I was shot and had to take a nap.

Good wake up call. No substitutes, fakes, or quick fix pills y’all. Giddyup!

2 Flip a coin

I wish it was that easy. I’ve been toying with still running Bighorn 100 until today, as I really wanted to race Karl on that course, but today’s run insisted that my SI Joint isn’t ready for 1oo miles of pounding yet. I wish I could just flip a coin and choose according to luck…but, my SI Joint is a bit irritated after a hard 4 day block of running.

It was feeling really good the past couple of weeks and I went for a run with Chris and Darla Askew and Krissy on Sunday at Smith Rock with 2,250 feet of climbing after running hard at Duel in the Desert Duathlon on Saturday. It was encouraging and made me think about running Bighorn…but, today on a tempo run, it got a little irritated…no 100 miler yet, my body told me it’s not ready for running really hard yet. So, I’m back to cycling and still running every other day with no super long runs or hammering it back to back days…except on the bike…at least I have that outlet or I’d drive my wife nuts!

So, I’m definitely racing Test of Endurance 50 Mile MTB race near Corvallis, OR on June 21. I’m looking forward to racing my bike. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a XC mtb race, but will be a good tester for gear and nutrition for the inagural High Cascade 100 MTB race held here in Bend in my own backyard in August. Sweet.

I have to say, I’m still feeling a little like a newbie with regard to gear for this type of event. After 40 ultramarathons, including 7 hundreds, I’ve got my ultramarathon gear and nutrition dialed, but the bike regimen is different for sure. I’m playing with liquid nutrition in a bottle and water in a minimalist camelbak. Only a true race will prove how it works. I’m heading out for a 5-hour ride on Friday morning on my mountain bike to test out race specific stuff.

Actually, a little luck was on my side today…or a perk at least. After dealing with the true reality of not being able to run Bighorn, I started to focus mentally on the bike and getting ready for TOE 50. The perk? Teague at FootZone just got shop bike kits. I got the opportunity to design them for him and will soon post a pic of the kit design. It will be fun to sport the shop stuff and support Teague, he’s been such a HUGE supporter over the years of my ultra races and my graphic design business, Goodeye. Off to spin circles in my sleep. Giddyup.

2 Duel in the Desert

Saturday was Bend’s annual Duel in the Desert duathlon. Since this week was a high intensity training week, I decided to jump in for a quality workout. Temps were in the upper 80s and sunny. Race start at 10am was toasty.

The race is a run-bike-run format. 5k trail run, choose between a 13-mile mountain bike or 18-mile road bike, then finish off with a 5k trail run. I chose the mountain bike division. Why hammer on the road when you can hammer on sweet singletrack…know what I’m sayin’??!

After the very exposed, very sun-baked 5k trail run, we were off to Phil’s trailhead and up Kent’s trail to Voodoo. Bruce Cole-Baker caught me at Voodoo and we headed over to the windy, fun descent of Ben’s trail. We caught Marshall Greene (our local nordic skiier stud and defending Pole Pedal Paddle Champ) on Ben’s trail, he let us pass, then I washed out a little on a curve, clipped a stump (barely) and ended up in the sage…still clipped in and managed to stay upright while they passed me. I jumped in behind them and kept hammering.

Soon after, Marshall lost it and rolled in the dirt. Marshall rode a strong mtb leg, as it was his first time on a mtn bike this season. I was hangin’ out on Friday afternoon at Bend Bike N Sport and we were all giving him a bunch of peer pressure to step up to the mtb leg, he caved and entered. He looked like pigpen from Charlie Brown after his digger. Good stuff.

After passing Marshall again, I tried to stay with Bruce (a Cat 1 mtn biker), but he gained a little on me over the last few miles. I was hoping to catch him on the run. He eventually caught up with Mike (the leader) at the end of the mtb leg. But, Mike is running fast right now and Bruce doesn’t run much…and Mike took off. I came off behind them and reeled Bruce in on the run at about half way through the final 5k run. I could see Mike up ahead but couldn’t reel him in. I ended up 2nd in the mountain bike division, 33 seconds behind Mike.

Afterward, my Sunnto said my average heart rate for the 1 hour and 28 minutes was 175! Ah yeah, can you say threshold workout!!

All in all, solid event, fun to see everyone out there mixing it up. Had a blast. I’ll be back for more next year! Giddyup!

14 Steve Larsen RIP: Go hard or go home

I can’t believe Steve’s gone. 39 years old…tragic.

I had the privilege to get to know Steve pretty well the past few years. Our relationship started out as strictly business…I designed his business identity, website and marketing materials when he launched Steve Larsen Properties.

Soon after starting to work with Steve and having running in common, we said we should run together sometime and we naturally asked each other where the other lived in town. To our amusement, we found out that my wife and I had recently bought a house 4 doors down from him. Go figure.

We quickly started doing training runs together every week. Steve having 5 kids and me having two young kids, we both agreed first light was best…dawn patrol. It was a no-brainer, we lived 4 houses from each other. I could wait at the window and see Steve step out of his front door, I’d step out of mine, meet at the corner, and off we’d go into the brisk, clear Central Oregon morning to blast our legs and lungs into submission…quality…it’s all Steve knew.

And, as anyone can attest that knows Steve, be on time or get left behind. Not one minute late, or he was gone. I always respected Steve for that. He was prompt, honest, hard working—a testament to his long pro career and success in 3 endurance sports. He hated junk miles, laziness, and not giving your best. Why show up if you weren’t going to bring your A game. That was Steve in a nutshell. Anything less than your best he had no patience or respect for.

We met at the corner at first light, 5-10 minutes at conversational pace…then, down to business. Our weekly workouts together were hill repeats on Tuesdays, 7-9 mile tempo trail run at Shevlin Park on Thursdays, and long runs on Phil’s trail area on Sunday mornings. He was always quick to give training wisdom and help. He still had an altitude tent from his pro mountain biking days and let me borrow it for a month to get acclimated for Colorado’s high altitude Hardrock 100 Mile Endurance Run when I couldn’t go early. I still don’t see how he slept in that thing all season. A month was enough.

I was a total bike geek before getting into ultrarunning and Steve beat it into my head to get back on the bike more, as I had neglected my bike for years (unless I was injured). It’s easy to get blinders and only focus on your primary sport. I thank him for that. He would swing by my studio downtown on his way to Thump coffee (which shared the same building) and pop in and ask, “Did you get on the bike?” He was always quick to ask how my races went, give advice, talk training or talk about his wife and kids.

One of my fondest memories of Steve was on an 18-mile trail run on a Sunday morning in the late spring of ’07. We’d been training every Sunday on the Dirty Half Marathon course. The course was only 2.5 miles from our neighborhood and we’d progressively been building up our Sunday runs and were running the second half as tempo.

We were kickin’ it as usual and were at about mile 15 of the run when we came out of the trailhead, and were cruising sub-6 minute pace. We turn to head the last 2 miles home and you go through the parking and finish area of the Dirty Half course. We’d been running since first light and came upon the FootZone sponsored Dirty Half training group.

Well, at least 80-100 people were milling about waiting to get the training run started when Steve and I come blasting through the trailhead. Steve (of course) doesn’t slow down a bit, and I’m glued to his heels, as we’re running hard tempo and I have just enough air to say “hey Dave” to Super Dave (the event’s RD) as we cruise through. 200 meters past the parking area, we hit Cascade Highlands trail and Steve looks over at me and says, “Now everyone there knows your freakin’ fast!” True to Steve’s style, we kept hammering home…no socializing, no stopping. He didn’t run hard for show, he just ran hard always.

I was so jazzed from his comment that I attempted to go shoulder to shoulder with him the last mile. Steve would always one up you if you challenged him. He liked it, but he would always remind you he had more and you were mere mortal. He would just dig deep, grab that extra gear that most don’t have and go even harder. At the top of a final climb, he put the hammer down, dropped me the last 200 meters, got to the top of the climb and made the “time out” symbol with his hands above his head, looked back at me and said, “That was good!” He loved a good workout.

A few months before his death, I had popped into his office to say hey and we sat down for about a half hour and shot the breeze. We talked about the crappy real estate market, we talked about the crappy economy, but mostly, we talked about our kids. He was talking a lot about his oldest two (daughter and son). He was super pumped about his 11-year old son’s recent interest in cross country running. He had made nationals and they were heading to Virginia for a father/son trip and to run in the meet. He was really concerned about not burning him out and keeping it fun. He had him doing very specific, very short race pace training every other day. We talked about how his son’s age was that cool age where you start to have a new father and son connection. He was super-pumped over his recent interest in running, as it was just another way for them to connect.

With a son 4 years younger, I could really relate and we really had a good conversation. That was my last really long talk with Steve. It breaks my heart every time I start to think about it…he loved those kids so much and really wanted the best. Being such an intense, hardcore athlete, you’d think he’d be a crazy, driven sports dad…but he wasn’t. He just wanted the best for his kids and was sensitive to their well-being and was more concerned with keeping it fun than pushing them. That’s why he was up at 5am and out the door by 6am to train his ass off…hard as he could in the shortest amount of time possible…so, he could be back with his wife and kids. Something I can relate to on a very personal and deep level. We’re soul brothers that way. His death is a tragedy in so many ways and my thoughts and prayers go out to Carrie and the kids.

I shaved my legs, shaved my head, and rode 82 miles on my road bike today in Steve’s honor…I’ll miss you buddy. Rest in Peace.

2 For the love of cycling

This is my first week back on the dirt after 5 weeks off (2 weeks for broken pinky toe, last 3 weeks from a strained pes anserinus tendon in my knee) and it has me thinking how much we as ultrarunners get “blinders” and only run. I know a few of you out there (Angle and Wolfe to name two) that share my love of cycling. When I got banged up, I could only bike and pool run. I only only could spin on my indoor trainer for the first week of the tendon strain, then alternated biking and pool running for two weeks. The last week back running (every other day) while biking on the other alternating days has been a nice change from the pool for sure.

I have to say, the pool, even though it IS boring…works. You can really get a high heart rate workout in the pool while using all your running specific muscles. And, besides having sore quads this first week back running (from the pounding), my LT runs have been pretty darn good. I could jump right back into quality 20 minutes at LT tempo pace and seem to have only lost some of what I had built up before the injuries. By my 4th run back, I was up to 10 mile runs again. So, good sign that the pool running/long biking was a good mix of keeping fitness.

Plus, these “trials and tribulations” of injury can be a blessing in disguise…they are good for me in the early season because I fall in love with my bikes again. I love cycling—cross, road, mountain—doesn’t matter. I am a little partial to mountain biking ’cause I’m a dirt bag, but with my custom steel road frame just back from the powder-coater and almost built up (hopefully this week…I’ll post pics when it’s done), I’m looking forward to not having to spin long road rides on my heavy cross bike anymore.

But, for the love of cycling…well, it’s what I was into before I found ultrarunning. I was a total bike geek before and I still am at heart. It’s such a good mix with ultrarunning training. I’m heading out in the morning to jump into FootZone’s annual Horse Butte 10 miler SE of town…it’s my regular winter haunts for biking and running and the recent cycling time has me thinking how to “mix it up.” So, I’m going to bike about 12 miles to the race tomorrow for extra credit and the added warm-up and then run 10 miles in the desert. It’s always a fun social time with the local running folks. I think they have almost 150 entries! Over and out and Giddyup.

2 Wishing I was Cool

Well, I’m reflecting on the amount of fun I would have this weekend if I could run Way to Cool 50k. I had to back out or the race this coming weekend due to two injuries. Man, I love Cool. Good competition, fast times…spring in the American River Canyon. Dang!

And, missing Georgetown Hotel on Saturday night—a bunch of tired ultrarunners descending on the locals like some kind of freak show to take over their karaoke. You haven’t experienced Cool until you’ve witnessed AJW belting out Born to Run with a pitcher of beer in his hand, Jurek singing Painted Black by the Stones (pretty darn good I might add), or the old hard-nosed lady bartender kickin’ a local out. Run hard at Cool, then sing karaoke in Georgetown with a bunch of drunk ultrarunners—what could be better?

Every spring I get some kind of random injury. Dang. I’ve now officially been injured for 27 days. I broke my pinky toe on my left foot 27 days ago when I dropped an extension ladder on it. I was only able to bike or tele ski. So, fine, I’ll do that. Then what happens? I strain my pes anserinus tendon at the insertion point 12 days ago, tele skiing in an icy section at Mt. Bachelor (caught my rear tip). Can I get a break here??

I have spent the last 12 days on my bike trainer watching Tour de France YouTube videos and pool running at Juniper Fitness Center. Sure, I’ll be back…there’s always next year at Cool…I’m just bummed to miss Cool this year and feeling a little sorry for myself after a 22 ounce oatmeal stout tonight while reading all the hype on blogs before Cool.

Have fun out there guys, run hard, sing Sweet Home Alabama…I won’t be there to do my version. Okay, back to recovery…I have to ride my cross bike for a LONG time tomorrow morning to drown out the karaoke playing in my head. I wish I was Cool this weekend.

6 Ridin’ a fine horse in new country

Dang! Just went to send in my entry for Cascade Crest and decided to check the entry status before I mailed my check…full! Man! I can’t believe how fast stuff is filling these days. You have to be faster than a fly on stink these days. Where are all these runners coming from? They’re like pecker knats on a humid Missourah night.

Gone are the days of thinking about a race and then entering as it gets closer, when your training has proven to come along nicely. No more seeing how your season progresses, you have to enter immediately, then deal with any issues later.

This is challenging with many races not allowing refunds and as we all know, ultrarunning and your health can be a question as the season progresses. With the kind of running we do, it’s easy to overtrain, roll your ankle on a rock, or in my case, drop an extension ladder on my pinky toe…and not make to the start line AND eat some cash for dessert.

The pinky toe? Yes, I was reminded of just how fragile your racing schedule can be last Saturday. I was painting the kitchen for my wife and accidentally, while lowering the extension ladder, it slipped and the ladder slammed down on my pinky toe.

Couldn’t weight it for 3 days…it’s 10 shades of purple and I’ve now biked for two days and tried to run one day. The 35 minute run was okay, but half hour afterward…bam, pain came back…can’t weight it again today. Back to the bike. Bye, bye Hagg Lake 25k…maybe even bye, bye Cool 50k. I’ll give the biking a week then try to run again…hopefully it’s just badly bruised and not broken. Time will tell.

Back to my original point…races filling up fast…

You have to enter immediately, then deal with wriggling out if you can’t make it to the start line. This can be an expensive deal, especially if you like to run 100 milers and with entry fees on the rise. I’m “attempting” to run 3 this season…I say “attempting” because we all know that you can’t just say I’m running this race and that race. Things change…extension ladders slam toes, IT bands flare up, runner’s knee rears its ugly head.

I have a wife and two kids…and as any runners in my situation understands, you need approval to run a hundred miler…especially three 100s in one season. In December, my wife gave me the green light (like the old country boy that I am…I even made her shake on it). A deals a deal, right? My original plan was running Bighorn, Cascade, and Iroquois, but now Cascade is out. So…

After a few choice words, I said “you gots to roll with it”, opened up my Cascade entry, voided the check, recycled the envelope and entry, and proceeded to look for another 100 that fits in with my other two 100s on the plan. At least a month off, preferrable in August or October. Well, to my surprise, I found the race…the new Syllamo 100 in Arkansas.

Steve Kirk of Little Rock, Arkansas, who many of you might know as the RD for 3 days of Syllamo, 24 hours of Syllamo Mountain Bike race, Syllamo Canoe Marathon, and now his new brainchild…the Syllamo 100. Check this out you hardcore trail runners from the west who think the west coast is what all trail races are judged by…

This race is in late October when the hardwood leaves are changing in the Ozark Mountains. Plus, the best part…boasts 100% singletrack…wait, I’ll repeat…100% singletrack for 100 miles…and, it get’s better…27,383 feet of climbing!! That’s more than Wasatch! What other 100 has 100% singletrack? The course is a “Y” shaped out and back on the famous Syllamore Mountain Bike Trail and the Ozark Highlands trail. After some review, I was sold.

I sent my entry in today and pondered how cool it is that Cascade filled and my fate changed. Thanks, Steve for the creative energy and the trail running love. I’m thinkin’ there ain’t nothin’ like ridin’ a fine horse in new country…giddyup.

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