McCoy Hollow Trail Is Open!

Last week I was in Kentucky at Mammoth Cave National Park as part of a volunteer vacation coordinated by the American Hiking Society. It was a great trip! Twenty people from across the country signed up and worked hard all week to reroute the McCoy Hollow trail in the park. An old section of the trail went up a hill and was now eroded and dangerous in spots. We were responsible for creating a new trail that skirted the hill--a total distance of about 1.25 miles (although Larry the ranger originally claimed it to be around .75 miles). We dug the new trail, marked it, and installed water bars/steps on one steeper incline. Once our new section of trail was open, we "closed down" the older dangerous trail (removed trail markers & covered the trail with natural debris). Not bad for 4 days of work. Friday was a recreation day where we did a standard tour of Mammoth Cave in the morning and a special wild tour of the caves in the afternoon. The wild tour had us occasionally crawling into tiny holes and slithering through narrow cave passages on our knees and bellies! It was really cool. (Pictures are available at links below.)

The general flow of each day for me was...

6:30-8am: Wake up, grab coffee & breakfast, pack lunch for the day
8:15am: Meet ranger and head out to trails in vehicles
8:15-9am: Drive to site drop-off and hike through forest to actual trail
9am-2pm: Work on the trail with various tools (pulaski, hoe, pruners)
2-3pm: Hike back to road, drive back to main camp/lodging
3-4:30pm: Hit local trails for a hike or run
4:30-5:30pm: Shower and change clothes
5:30-6:30pm: Drink beer and socialize
6:30-8:30pm: Communal dinner and more beer
8:30pm: Try to sleep in dorm room with 7 other snoring guys!
Around 3am: Run across camp to restroom (or pee by dumpster)

The entire volunteer vacation was awesome. I met some great people from all around the country. I am still impressed with what all of us accomplished in 4 days. In addition to working with great volunteers, the local park ranger (Larry) was the perfect host and leader. Larry didn't just drop us off at the work site, he worked with us all day. Ron, our volunteer crew leader, was excellent as well. Our group was pretty darn big, but we managed to get ready and hit the trail on time every day. And we got along with each other fairly well too. Not bad for 20 tired, dirty, and very different individuals. I would definitely do another trip...and I encourage others to check out the options from both the American Hiking Society and Wilderness Volunteers.

Pictures from some of the participants are available here:

Chris
Lauren
Ron
Steve/Carrie
Phyllis

What did I learn from this trip? A pulaski is a great all-around tool. Can I get one at the local Ace Hardware store? I also learned that there are a lot of people that actually care about national parks, wilderness areas, and nature trails. I run with friends on local trails almost every weekend, but I forget that there are non-trail runners that value nature just as much (if not more) than us trail runners. That's a comforting feeling. Next time you come across a hiker, greet them with a smile. They care about our precious natural resources too.

What else did I learn? Never trust a park ranger that says "It's about 300 yards." Translation="It's a freaking long way!" Maybe even "miles and miles."

Blog Passes One Year Anniversary

Halloween isn't that scary, but the fact that I've now been blogging for just over a year is a bit scary! This blog started at 4:03pm on October 20, 2007. I actually missed the one year anniversary since I was in Kentucky with no access to a computer. Oh well (insert your own KY joke). I didn't start tracking my hits until just before race day in March 2008. I seem to get about 30 visits per day. From March 2008, the total is almost 9,000 visits with over 14,000 page views. So far, I've had visitors from all 50 states and 55 countries. Pretty cool.

You never know how long a blog will survive. I doubt many last very long. It's easy to get distracted or bored. I figure I'll keep blogging at least as long as I'm still directing the Clinton Lake ultra. Or the Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam. And maybe as long as I am still running. That could be a long time. Thanks for reading. I get a kick out of the various comments some posts receive. Keep reading and keep commenting.

iTUGS Final Results

NOTE: My Grand Slam results for Farmdale were slightly off (I only used placing for Slam participants rather than all participants in the race). I have recalculated totals and the new "final" results are updated. Sorry for any confusion.

The Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam (iTUGS) results are now final. We had 20 finishers. After four good trail ultras, Ellen Erhardt was the female champion and Matthew Condron took the male crown. Results can be found on my Google docs page here. There are three tabs: overall Slam starters, Slam finishers by last name, and Slam finishers by points. I have the actual finish times and placings for all the Slam runners, plus the overall points for the 4 slam races. The photo of the Slam shirt and individual race prizes is from GTI's blog.

You can find the Farmdale trail results on the IVS page (under IVS Forum=>Trail Running). I finished with a time of 6:19:03. Much slower than I expected. The course was _slightly_ long (around 33.6 miles), but the main culprit was my very tired legs. They felt like wooden sticks for the last 20 miles! I need to train better so I recover quicker from races. The Hobo 50K was still weighing me down...and that was 3 weeks earlier. Of course, there is always a silver lining...I finally beat Greg Isaac! He had just run the Chicago Marathon a week before, but I beat him fair and square.

I hope we can do the Grand Slam again in 2009. I have the date for Clinton Lake 30-Mile Trail run...it will be Saturday, March 28, 2009. Registration forms will be up very soon. I'll consult the other three race directors (and get feedback from the 20 finishers) to figure out next year. Start planning your 2009 races with these four ultras in mind:

-Clinton Lake 30
-McNaughton Park 50/100/150
-Rock Cut Hobo 50K
-Farmdale 33

Congratulations to all 20 Grand Slam finishers. You hung in there and finished four tough trail ultramarathons. I hope to see you on the trails in 2009. A special thank you to the other three race directors too: Andy, Larry, and Dave have been great to work with for the Grand Slam. Thanks guys.

PS: If you are one of the lucky 20 finishers, please keep an eye on your e-mail. I sent a survey to you on October 30 to gather feedback about the Grand Slam.

All 20 Slammers Finish Farmdale!

All 20 of the Grand Slam contenders (after Hobo) signed up, showed up, and finished the Farmdale 33 miler (the picture at left has 19 of us 20--Michael Matteson must have been sitting around the fire keeping warm)! Well done people. Hope you like your Grand Slam t-shirts. The course was actually a bit long, instead of short, but we did it. I'm beat and still need to pack and get ready for my trip to KY Mammoth Cave National Park. We leave tomorrow for a week-long "volunteer vacation" to build new trails. It's an American Hiking Society coordinated event.

I should have a full race report tomorrow (or in a week when I get back). I don't have all the Farmdale results so I can't finalize the Grand Slam results...but Matthew Condron and Ellen Erhardt won Farmdale and thus expanded their overall Grand Slam leads. They were the 2008 Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam Champions! Congratulations.

We should do this again next year, eh? I'll send a web survey to the Slammers asking for some feedback. Seems like the 3 other race directors are up for another year. I know I am. Are you?

Farmdale Race Course Changes

Looks like there will be a change to the Farmdale trail loop for the race this weekend. Instead of the 11 mile loop, it will be slightly shorter (I was wrong earlier in the week when I said it would be 4 short loops--it is still 3 loops, just slightly shorter). Flooding and debris on some sections of the course have caused the alterations. Here is the RDs note about the changes:

There is a section of the course called Muddy Meadow and Equine that remain unpassable due to recent flooding at the park. This part of the park was under nearly 12 feet of water a few weeks ago. We had hoped it would be dried out enough to clear debris and groom it for the race. Unfortunately, we have gotten more rain and the trail continues to be unusable. At this point, the race distance will be just over 7.5 miles and just under 32 for the ultra distance. This is regrettable, but better than attempting to go through it.

Should still be fun...and it's now a slightly shorter course...PR time! Hope everyone has a great run on Saturday. The weather forecast is looking good: Low=42, High=63 and mostly sunny. There is rain off and on all day today, but should be fine for camping and running by this weekend.

Work Interferes with Running

The past week has been very hectic at work. I missed several scheduled runs and the ones I did do were full of stress and anxiety. Don't you hate when work interferes with running? I suppose work does come first...without a job and money I wouldn't have shelter, food, drink, clothes, etc. Funny how that works! This week is still busy, but more manageable. I'm a bit tense about the upcoming conclusion of the Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam this Saturday (Oct 18 at the Farmdale race). Personally, I'm not ready for another ultra. My legs are still tired from the Hobo 50K a couple weeks ago. I think work stress and lack of sleep have delayed my normal speedy recovery. As the coordinator of the Grand Slam, I'm a little worried about the awards for the Slam. I HOPE they are ready by Friday! For those who read this blog, you'll be in the know...I ended up getting t-shirts for the Slammers. I struggled for waaaaaay tooooooo looooooong on what to get and how much to spend. Plaques? Mugs? Crystal awards? Medals? Engraved rocks? Shirts? Hats? Specially crafted art work? Anyway, I decided the award should be something that helps advertise the race series (others could see it). That means something that would be displayed to many like-minded individuals. Clothing seemed perfect. It's a good quality cotton shirt--perfect for wearing after a run or on the weekend doing chores. I ordered sizes based on registration selections for the Farmdale race shirt. Dave gave me his final roster for the 33 mile event. I double-checked shirt sizes with my Clinton Lake stats and only found 2 discrepancies...I used Dave's more recent data.

We have 19 of the current 20 Slammers signed up for Farmdale. [CORRECTION: We have all 20 Slammers still in contention!] If you finish, you'll get your Farmdale finisher award plus a Grand Slam t-shirt right at the finish line! I'd like to have photos of each Slammer too--maybe with Dave and me at your side and you holding up the Slam shirt. We'll see how that goes. I plan to run hard at Farmdale so I hope to beat all of you to the finish line (OK, not Ellen or Matt or Kevin or Mike or...). I do plan on waiting for the LAST Slammer to finish so I can be there to award your shirt and take your picture. So don't dilly-dally out there. The overall male and female champions will get an extra award in addition to their shirts. Hope none of them is flying...I'd hate to carry it onto an airplane. Right now, Ellen and Matt are well ahead of the pack, but anything can happen.

Soon after Farmdale, I'll head home and pack for my American Hiking Society volunteer vacation to Mammoth Cave National Park in KY. Jeff (my "coach"), Tom (designer of the Slam t-shirt), and I will drive down to KY on Sunday morning to help build new hiking and running trails in the park. I think we will work on some erosion issues too. It should be fun. I plan on getting in some hiking and running while we are there. If all goes well, I'm already eying the volunteer vacation in the Virgin Islands next!

Once I return from the work-vacation, I'll send a web survey to all the Slammers about how we can make the series better next year. Should we have 5 races and you do 4? Should we have a volunteer component (run 3, volunteer at 1)? What awards would be preferred? Something to remember, you didn't pay anything extra to be part of the Grand Slam. Any ideas you have for change should be reasonable and feasible to implement. No solid gold statues as awards! The race directors didn't increase the entry fees or add a surcharge for those "signing up" for the Slam. You were automatically entered by running the first race in the series (Clinton Lake). I hope the "no extra fee" stays in place next year. I also hope this Grand Slam stays together next year. I'm confident all 4 races will still exist and all 4 RDs will opt into the Slam idea again. We shall see.

Good luck to all the Grand Slammers running the Farmdale 33 mile trail run. See you in a few days. For anyone wanting to reward the coordinator of the Grand Slam for all of his hard work, feel free to offer me a beer the next time we run or eat together. Of course the real hard work is directing an ultra race...so feel free to reward any of the 4 Slam RDs with a beer too. I suppose that entitles me to 2 beers!

Legs Are Tired

I did 10 mile on the trails yesterday afternoon. Overall the run felt good, except my legs had that tired/heavy feel right from the start. I suppose I'm not as fully recovered from the Rock Cut Hobo 50K as I originally thought (my Thursday run went really well). Fortunately, I still have almost 2 weeks before Farmdale 33 miler. I'll be fine for that race. At least I don't have any nagging injuries...my regular weak spots (left knee & lower back) seem to be holding up well. I used my heart rate monitor and tried to keep the run in my lower zone (MAP: 113-133), but I really just ran easy and let my heart rate go wherever it wanted (I did walk a couple of the longer hills to keep from pushing too hard). Here are the run stats:

Run: 10 mile trail run
Location: Lake of the Woods park
Time: 1:40:03 (10:00 minute pace)
5 mile splits: 50:24-49:29 (negative split!)
Avg HR: 134
Peak HR: 160 (right at end as I picked up the pace!)
Shoe: Nike Air Zoom Trail (great shoe)
Recovery HR (2 minutes after run): 160=>114=46
Feeling: 7/10

For such a slow run (10 min/mile pace) I should have had an even lower HR. Oh well. I do feel that I'm finally getting fit after the Howl at the Moon 8-hour run. That sucker beat me up!

Plan for this week (still recovering from Hobo and also tapering for Farmdale):
Monday: off
Tuesday: 4 mile MAP run
Wednesday: cross training
Thursday: 5 mile with 2 in SAP zone
Friday: off
Saturday: 10 mile MAP run
Sunday: 5 mile MEP run

Farmdale Race is Full

The Farmdale trail races are full and registration is now closed. Dave (the race director) has reached the race limit of 150 runners between the two events (8 miler and 33 mile ultra). I'm glad that Dave has a full group registered--it's a finely organized race on a great course. The Grand Slam is almost coming to a close!

"Speed" Session After 50K

I suppose what counts as a speed workout changes from person to person and varies within an overall running program context. I just finished a short speed workout based on heart rate (my SAP zone). After the Hobo 50K run on Sunday I wasn't sure if I was up to a speed session. But since it's based on heart rate instead of absolute pace, I thought I'd give it a go. If I was still recovering from the 50K, my heart rate would be fairly high and thus my pace would need to stay slower than normal. That's the value of HR based training. You never really push too hard...or too little based on the purpose of the run.

I ran my local Lake of the Woods 5-mile trail. After a 1-mile warm-up jog at "mostly aerobic pace" (MAP), I ran 2 miles at "speedy aerobic pace" (SAP heart rate zone of 143-163), then ended the run with 2 miles back in the MAP zone. The weather was really nice: cool & dry with no wind. The whole run felt easy and I didn't have any sense of being fatigued by the 50K race just 4 days ago. Perfect. So what were my paces and average heart rates?

Total 5-mile time: 45:03
1 mile @ 8:55 pace @ 121 Avg HR (MAP zone)
2 miles @ 7:58 pace @ 148 Avg HR (SAP zone)
2 miles @ 10:06 pace @ 129 Avg HR (MAP zone)
Recovery 2 minutes after run: 131=>100=31 beats
Feeling: 8/10

Not too bad considering this week is a recovery week. Those paces will eventually get faster at the same heart rates. I'm looking forward to a semi-long run of about 12 miles on Saturday morning. Those folks ahead of me in the Grand Slam standings best start training (that's you Gregory & Brian)...I'm gunning for you!

If you are still wondering what the heck MAP, MEP, or SAP heart rate zones are, check out my blog post regarding Phil Maffetone and Stu Mittleman training (July 17, 2008 post).

Grand Slam Results Update

And then there were 20! After three fine trail ultra races, we now have 20 survivors on the Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam list. Only one race to go and it happens in 17 days (Farmdale 33 miler on October 18). Here is a link to the Grand Slam results through the first 3 races (the results are sorted 3 ways: alphabetical, overall placing, placing within gender). Ellen Erhardt and Matt Condron have large leads, but maybe they'll have a meltdown at Farmdale--you never know. I plan on making more progress and possibly catching one or two guys above me in the standings...watch out Gregory and Brian! If it weren't for my slow run at Clinton Lake, I'd be at the top of the standings...not. Good job everyone.

I'm not sure how many I thought would finish all 4 races, but it was certainly less than 20. I hope the current 20 all make it to the Farmdale finish line. My goals for starting the Grand Slam were:

1. Promote ultra running in Illinois
2. Motivate people to run trail ultras
3. Market the 4 races
4. Reward both persistence (finishers) and excellence (champions)

My favorite part of this first year has been an unplanned consequence of the Slam...I have gotten to know some really interesting runners! I probably would have met a few of you at one or two of these races, but with all of us "bound together" by this Grand Slam thing, it's been easier to start conversations and continually say "Hi" as we cross paths (whether those paths are on a race trail, training run, or cyberspace). All 19 of you are pretty darn awesome (remember, of the 20 current Slammers, I'm one of the survivors--and I have gotten to know myself better too!).

The finisher awards for the Slam will be ordered soon, and I'm a little disappointed in myself for not getting something really cool figured out earlier in the year. All Grand Slam finishers will get some kid of award (and the male and female champions will get an extra bit of recognition), but the awards may be more "normal" than I anticipated. No cool handmade one-of-a-kind artifacts this year. As one of the current Slammers told me Sunday after the Hobo 50K, "I don't need an award, just give me a good 6-pack of beer!" Maybe I'll have some cold beer in my car trunk too. Anyway, my point in sharing this story is to downplay the importance of material rewards in favor of internal satisfaction in finishing 4 great ultra races. If you complete all four races, you've accomplished something to be proud of for a long time. In addition to that pride (and whatever prize you get) you'll also be enshrined on our Grand Slam web page for all the world to see! That's not too bad.

If this Slam carries over to next year, I'll consult the finishers (and the other 3 RDs: Larry, Dave, and Andy) on revising the rules and awards. Maybe have 5 races and you need to complete 4? Maybe you must volunteer at one race? Hmmm....