My October Ultra Runs

I love the fall.  The summer heat and humidity, and overgrown trails, give way to crisp mornings and well-groomed paths.  Leaves begin to change colors.  All the hard and slow summer training runs start to pay off with quick tempo paces that feel easy.  That's fall!  Unfortunately, my introduction to autumn has been accompanied by a nasty cold.  I haven't run in days...and probably won't be back to regular runs for a few more days.  Normally, I'd just accept this and welcome the time off to recover and feel rested for the rest of the season...but I have already registered for TWO UPCOMING ULTRA MARATHONS!  That's life.

My first race is October 9 (just over a week away) at the Farmdale Trail Runs.  I signed up for the 30 miler (they also have great 10 and 50 mile events ).  It won't be a fast race, but at least I'll get in a nice 30 mile training run, meet some old friends, and award the IL Trail Ultra Grand Slam awards (Farmdale is the last race in the series).  Add a couple of beers and that's not a bad day.  Slow race time does not equal "bad time."  I'll enjoy my time at Farmdale.

So if Farmdale is my first ultra race in October, what's my second one?  On October 30th I'll be running the McNotAgain 30 mile trail run.  It's a cool, laid-back race run on the same 10-mile trail loop that the McNaughton Park 100 miler uses.  Fall is much nicer on this trail...less mud, fewer runners, less mud, and only 3 loops instead of 10!  Usually less mud too.  I hope to survive the Farmdale 30 and come back strong for McNotAgain. We'll see.

I should mention that each of these races has something in common that I don't like...they mix ultra runs with shorter, non-ultra events.  I dislike mixing the short with the long.  I'm fine with 30, 50, or 100 mile distances being mixed...just leave the non-ultra distances for another day.  Let me run with fellow ultra runners...not speedsters looking to impress themselves and their friends.  And please...do not mix an ultra relay with the real thing!  Several people running short 5-mile legs does not add up to an ultra.  Give ultra runners the respect they deserve and let them run with each other against a long trail course...not against road warriors looking for a quick adrenaline surge.  Anyway, there are no relays at these two fine races.  I'll forgive them for adding the shorter 10 mile distances to the ultra runs.  Maybe you'll join me at one, or both, of these events?

Saturday, October 9
East Peoria, IL
Farmdale Trail Runs (10, 30, 50 miler)

Saturday, October 30
Pekin, IL
McNotAgain Trail Run (10, 30 miler)

Now the only question left is...do I run them in my Vibram FiveFingers or go with a more traditional trail racing flat?  Barefoot?  The weather is already getting colder and I may not have many opportunities to run with naked soles.  Hmmmm...  

Tide with Febreeze Freshness Sport Wash

A couple of years ago I posted on this blog about Penguin Sport Wash and WIN detergent.  They are specialty laundry detergents for washing your smelly sports apparel.  I found them both to be very good products, but a little expensive.  About 3 months ago, I saw that Tide had a new "sports wash" with Febreeze.  It is supposed to clean your stinky, sweaty sports clothes better than regular detergents.  It was cheaper than Penguin or WIN, so I decided to give it a try.

Tide with Febreeze Sports Wash does seem to get my running clothes clean and it leaves them with a "fresh sport scent" that some people might enjoy.  I don't particularly like the scent, but it's not terrible.  Certainly better than the nasty, sweaty, musty scent that running gear can acquire.  Unfortunately, the freshness doesn't seem to last.  After a run, the regular sweat smell returns.  This new Tide may clean stains well, but I don't think it does a good job of really getting out embedded odors.  I'd advise people to pay the extra money and go with a real sports detergent like Penguin Sport Wash or WIN.  After searching Amazon for related products, I found several that look promising:

Penguin Sport Wash
WIN High Performance Sport Detergent
Atsko Sport Laundry Detergent
Prowash Activewear Detergent
Sport Suds
Double Clean Detergent

With the above 6 products, there is no reason to run with stinky clothes!  I've tried Penguin and WIN and highly recommend them, but I haven't used the other products.  After I finish up my "special" Tide, I'll try one of the other specialty detergents. Maybe I should just use the Tide for my regular clothes and be done with it.  There just may be something to the claim that these special sports washes actually get out embedded odors and leave no residue.  They are marketed at people that use technical fabric apparel in their sporting lives...I suppose that's us runners!  You and your family will thank me after you give one of these specialty detergents a try...you'll have cleaner and fresher clothes that may "bounce back" to their original sporting properties.  And there are no perfumes in these detergents to cover-up bad odors, they actually wash away the dirt, sweat, and bacteria that cause the odors in the first place.  If you wash your "regular" clothes separate from your "running" clothes, then the extra laundry detergent cost really isn't that much.

When I searched for these type of products 2 years ago, I didn't find much.  Now I easily found six.  There must be a market for them.  I imagine they all work better then normal laundry detergents.  I plan on trying them and I'll post reviews in a few months. If you've tried them, let me know.  Thanks.

2010 Grand Slam Update

Only one race left in the 2010 Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam!  After the first three races (Clinton Lake, McNaughton Park, Rock Cut Hobo) we have only 12 runners still standing.  You've done a great job...now keep it up for one more race.  Farmdale 30 miler (or 50 miler if you are ambitious) awaits on Saturday, October 9.  I love the Farmdale race and have done it every year it has existed.  I'll be back again this year too.  After I finish, I'll hang out and start passing out the Grand Slam finisher prizes.  There will be something special for the male and female Grand Slam champions too.  Currently, John Cash has a sizable lead on the men's side, while Juli Aistars has snuck up to first place on the women's side.  I wish John and Juli the best in their march to the Grand Slam title! 

And of course, I wish all 12 contenders the best of luck heading into Farmdale.  YOU CAN DO IT!

Two Rivers Treads Running Store

Wouldn't it be cool to have a running shoe store that promoted barefoot and minimalist running?  Even a store that had ONLY minimalist type shoes with minimal heel to toe drop, little cushioning, and no motion control devices?  Well, there is such a store!  It's called the "Two Rivers Treads" running store.  The subtitle of the store is "a center for natural running and walking."  Pretty darn cool.  The motto on their home page is "Welcome to the first running store to abandon the modern running shoe."  I wish I lived near this West Virginia store.  They do sell shoes online, but not with the simple click and buy interface that shoe warehouses prefer.  They want to INTERACT with their clients.  What a nice way to sell shoes.  In addition to having the store front on their web page, they have tons of great information and links to articles, videos, and other sites that fit with the natural running philosophy.  Mark Cucuzzella is the store founder and happens to be a fairly good runner.  He's also a family physician who knows a lot about running from a physiological and kinesthetic perspective. 

One of my favorite web sites, Living Barefoot, featured Mark on their "Living Barefoot" radio show.  Here is the link to that interview.  The interview is very comprehensive (67 minutes long) and is one of the best I've heard on barefoot and minimalist running.  I strongly encourage you to listen to it on your computer or download it to your MP3 or iPod. 

Categorization of Barefoot Shoes

There's is a guest post (in the "guide" section of the web site) on Birthday Shoes that categorizes the various barefoot running shoes we have available right now (and coming in the near future).  The guide was posted on September 7, 2010 and is called "Barefoot Running Shoes."  Pretty interesting and it should generate some nice discussion on what "counts" as a minimalist shoe. My dear Mizuno Wave Universe 3 was excluded because it has too much heel to toe drop (6mm or more). Your thoughts?

For what it's worth, I list quite a few minimalist shoes on the left side bar of this blog.  I'm currently running in these minimalist shoes:

• VFF Bikila
• VFF KSO
• Feelmax Osma
• Mizuno Wave Universe 3 (and the much older Revolver)
• NB 790 (precursor to the MT100)
• Nike Free (with zero heel to toe drop modification)

I have too many running shoes...including a few "non-minimalist" ones that get occasional wear.  They are nice reminders of how far I have come over the last 12-18 months. My Inov-8 Flyroc 310s sure seem clunky...and they used to be my "minimalist" trail shoe of choice.  Times are changing!

Hobo 50K Coming Up!

The Rockford Road Runners are putting on their annual Rock Cut Hobo 50K trail ultra on Sunday, September 19.  It's the third race in the Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam.  If you want a tougher challenge than just the 50K, there is also a special "triple crown" race series that starts with a Friday night 10K, followed by a Saturday morning 25K, and concluding with the Sunday 50K.  All three races are on trails within Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL.  Looks like I won't be making the trip up to Rockford for any of these fine races, but I encourage you to check them out.  I'm still recovering from Howl at the Moon 8-Hour and just starting to ramp up again. I'll probably be ready for another ultra in October...hopefully the Farmdale 30 miler on October 9...maybe the McNotAgain 30 miler on October 30.  Hopefully both of these races.

Oh, by the way, the Hobo race has hot hobo stew (soup?) at the finish line too! 

Rock Cut Hobo 50km race information
Race registration form

Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam standings (after the first 2 races).

Great (Short) Barefoot Running Guide

I've grown tired of the questions and critiques of barefoot running.  Do what makes you happy and keeps you injury free.  For me, that's minimalist running...including barefoot runs.  Currently I do most of my runs in "minimalist" shoes like racing flats.  I also throw in quite a bit of running in my two Vibram FiveFinger shoes (KSO and Bikila).  Finally, I do some barefoot running each week.  If I had to estimate the percentages of each type of running, I'd say it's about 60-30-10 (Minimalist-Vibram-Barefoot).  I am planning on changing to much more Vibram and totally barefoot running over the next 2 months.  I'll try to update my proportion of running in a month or so...hopefully it'll be something like 30-50-20 (Minimalist-Vibram-Barefoot).

For those that want advice on barefoot running, I find this guide from Zen Habits one of the best available:

"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Barefoot Running"

It's perfect for beginners and still a nice, quick read for more experienced barefooters. I'm not sure I would classify this guide as "complete"--but it does a nice job of summarizing key points and it's short enough to not intimidate newbies. I suppose it's sort of a "complete primer" on barefoot running.

Sinister 7 is New "Death Race"

I'm not going to dwell on how the Canadian Death Race (CDR) sucked.  It was one of the worst races I've run...and I'm comparing it to over 70 marathons and ultras that I've done.  My short recap of CDR this year: poor race management, little concern for runners, too expensive, few goodies.  On the positive side, it was hosted in a very beautiful area of Canada and the course was extremely challenging.  The local townspeople in Grande Cache were really nice.  But I won't be back. Anyway, I've been looking at alternatives to CDR--far off adventures that are challenging and "once of a lifetime" runs.  There are plenty that would qualify in the good old United States (Badwater, Barkley, McNaughton Park 200, etc)...but I wanted to find a foreign ultra...

With my recent "undeserved" DNF at Canadian Death Race, I started my search for a new adventure in Canada.  A few fellow death racers I ran with mentioned something called the Sinister 7 race--also in Alberta in the summer.  They said it was smaller, less commercial, version of CDR.  And this "Sinister 7" race was LONGER than CDR (146 km vs 125 km).  Time to start investigating!

The Sinister 7 ultra marathon has a great web site.  Cool graphics, excellent course descriptions, and lots of useful information.  This sucker has promise!  The thought of running 146 km through the mountains of southern Alberta, Canada has some serious appeal.  There are 7 stages to the race and runners have a time limit of 27 hours.  I think the climbs and descents are smoother than at CDR, but the actual elevation is higher.  The elevation change is over 15,500 feet!  CDR had 17,000 feet of change over 78 miles.  From reading the Sinister 7 web site, it seems they have more aid stations and several spots for drop bags.  I wouldn't have a crew, so extra aid stations and drop bags are a huge plus.  My death race buddy, Gregg, and I are already making some preliminary plans to do the Sinister 7 next year.  The Sinister 7 race is located near Blairmore, Canada--it's about 2 hours south of Calgary. 

I'm a little worried that this race also has a relay division (up to 7 relay runners on a team).  CDR had a relay too and they dominated the attention of race organizers.  I hope the Sinister 7 race, with a cap of 500 runners, will be better organized than CDR and provide the soloists a fair opportunity to succeed.  Maybe I should do the 2-person relay?  Or a 7-person relay with a few buffalo friends?  Sounds fun, but not very challenging.

I'm over the Canadian Death Race fiasco...I will never return to that race. Now I'm looking at the Sinister 7 for redemption. The race will be on July 9-10, 2011.  Registration opens up on December 1, 2010.  I expect a call from Gregg that morning.  This may be our new death race.