Western States 100-Week 6

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, because He cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:6,7

D-6 and counting!! This was a great week of fine tuning and altitude acclimatization. I rolled into Estes Park, CO on Monday and was able to get in five awesome runs during the week. I plan to leave for Squaw Valley on Tuesday with my crew (Mom and Dad) and feel that I am ready to go for the 0500 start on Saturday. Anyone interested in following the race can click here to follow the live webcast, my bib number is 262. The webcast should be up and running by Friday.

I started off the week on Tuesday with a 5.1 mile run around Lake Estes and was lucky enough to be accompanied by my son and daughter on their bikes. The lake sits at just under 8000 feet elevation and I could definitely feel the difference, there were a couple of hills but the run was mostly flat. On Wednesday I dropped my three daughters off at The Girls Trail End, Cheley Colorado Camp, where they will spend the next 4 weeks having a great time playing in the Rocky Mountains. After we dropped off the girls, I went for a good 9 mile run to Gem Lake. This had about 3500 feet of elevation gain and 1800 feet elevation loss. I met my dad and son at the lake and then we hiked down together.

Friday we went into the Rocky Mountain National Park and I was dropped off in Moraine Park and ran up to Bierstadt Lake to meet my dad, son, sister and her kids. This was another great hill run with 2500 feet up and 1200 down. The first 4 miles of the run was gentle uphill to Cub Lake, the last 4 was on very steep and rocky trails. After I met up with the crew at the lake we hiked 1.6 miles down a very rocky trail to the parking lot. It is awesome to watch young kids get such a kick out of being in nature, they had a great time an did a super job on a difficult hike.

Saturday was my last long training run and I could not have had a better confidence building run. I was dropped off this time at the Alpine Visitors Center, elevation 11,800 feet and I ran down Old Fall River Road to the Alluvial Fan parking area (10 miles and 3500 foot descent). I had planned on running this at an easy pace that would keep my heart rate low and keep my legs feeling good and I thought that would be at about a 10 minute per mile pace. I got to the bottom in 1 hour 20 minutes which was an 8:05 minute per mile pace and I felt great. I hope to ride that run into next week.

Well the training is done and all that lies ahead is 100 miles of beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain trails. I have come a long way from where I was at this time last year. I think that my training has been more focused, I am in better shape than I was last year. The 100 mile distance is not as big of mystery since I was able to complete that distance last October, however the respect for the distance is greater than ever. So the goal is to focus on crossing the finish line in less than 24 hours. My Faith is stronger than ever, the Lord will define how this race will be run and I will praise Him regardless of the results. I have been put in a position to accomplish a feat that is only possible with His help and for this I will give Him all the glory. Run Strong!

God Bless and Semper Fi,

Huffer

Training for 15-21 June: Weekly Mi (34.3), June Mi (138.3), 2009 Mi (1183.6)

Mon: Cross Country Travel

Tues: 5.1 mi - Lake Estes

Wed: 8.5 mi - Gem Lake Loop

Thurs: 2 mi - Lake Estes

Fri: 8.8 mi - Bierstadt Lake

Sat: 9.9 mi - Old Fall River Road

Sun: Off

Western States 100 - Week 5

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I praise Him with my song." Psalm 28:7D -11 and counting! This was the first week of tapering going into the big race. The goal was to try and reduce my miles by 25% and I was able to accomplish that with a 45 mile week and some pretty good running. The body is in pretty good shape, nothing is bothering me at the moment. I kept my pace slower this week , in an effort to keep anything from breaking.

Last Friday I unofficially retired from the Marine Corps, I am actually on a period of terminal leave with a final retirement date of 1 September. So this week I got to enjoy some low stress taskers around the house as well as some easy running. Monday I got out to the Bull Run Conservancy and ran a solid hill routine for about 8 miles. While I was running my dad and son had the chance to get in some hiking in the Bull Run mountains.

Tuesday I had plans of running 10 miles around the battlefield but a nasty thunderstorm cut that short and I ended up logging 6 miles of very soggy running. I took Wednesday off and ran 15 on the Bull Run-Occoquan trail on Thursday morning. I ran this at a 10:30mpm pace and felt real good at the end. The trail was in pretty bad shape from all of the ran we had the week prior.

Friday I took a 7 mile run in the neighborhood and tried out a new pair of Nike Lunartrainer road shoes that I had sent to me by a College classmate and Nike Running representative. Thanks Phil, the shoes felt great and even though I don’t do much road running these will be the shoe of choice for those kind of runs.

Saturday was my last run in the Virginia area prior to heading west and it was fitting that I ran out at the Bull Run Battlefield. As I have said in previous posts, this has become my favorite place to run and this last 10 mile run was just the send off that I needed going into the Western States.

Sunday my dad and I loaded up the car with 4 kids and started the drive out to Colorado. The kids are going to camp and I will be able to get some altitude acclimatization as well as a couple of good mountain runs. We are planning on driving out to Squaw Valley starting next Tuesday, arriving on Wednesday. Right know all systems are go and the Lord continues to watch over me. I need to stay focused and healthy, continue to plan and study the course and remember where my strength comes from. Run Strong!

God Bless and Semper Fi,
Huffer

Training for 8-14 June: Weekly Mi (45.6), June Mi (104), 2009 Mi (1149.2)

Mon: 8.1 mi- Bull Run Conservancy
Tues: 6.1 mi- Bull Run Battlefield
Wed: Off
Thurs: 15 mi- Bull Run-Occoquan Trail
Fri: 7 mi- Neighborhood
Sat: 9.4 mi- Bull Run Battlefield
Sun: Off

Western States 100 - Week 3 and 4

“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.” Psalm 16: 8,9

This has been a hectic couple of weeks. Last Friday I retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years of service and my time has been split between running and finalizing the details for that event. The ceremony and post party went over great and now I get ready to start the next chapter in my life. Even with all of the commotion of the retirement I was able to continue to get some good final hard training weeks in.

Week 3 training continued to focus on the tempo and fartlek running; however I had a couple of good long runs. I started out on the hills of the Bull Run Conservancy for a great 13 mile Memorial Day run and then took to the WO&D trail for the rest of the weekday running. We spent the weekend at Lake Anna and I took a good 12 mile run on Sunday in the Lake Anna State Park. I ended up with 68.2 miles for the week and felt pretty good about the pace that I was running.

I knew that week 4 was going to be a busy week and that most of my miles would come during the weekdays, so I went out heavy on the WO&D trail. Monday I got both an AM and PM run commute for a total of 15.5 miles at about a 7:30mpm pace, 8 miles on Tuesday and then a big 15.5 mile AM and 8 mile PM commute on Wednesday for a 23.5 mile day. The only run I got over the weekend was a great 5.4 mile run at the Bull Run Battlefield with my good friend Randy, who was in from California for the retirement festivities. By the way, Randy had just completed his first marathon the week prior to coming out to Virginia (San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon)—nice job Brother, I’ll see you in October for the MCM. I ended up week 4 with 58.4 miles and am now looking to start into my tapering process for the 27 June WS100.

With the bulk of the training complete, I feel that I am better shape than I was last year. The speed training has made a big difference in my fitness level and I hope that it is enough to get me to Auburn under 24 hours. I will keep the blog posts rolling in and hopefully they will be a little more frequent now that I have a little more time on my hands. Run Strong!

God Bless and Semper Fi,
Huffer

Training for 25-31 May: Weekly Mi (68.2), May Mi (284.8), 2009 Mi (1045.2)

Mon: 13 mi- Bull Run Conservancy
Tues: 5 mi- Crossramp, Upper Body Lift
Wed: 8 mi- AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Thurs: 15.5 mi- (Tempo) 8 mi-AM / 7.5mi-PM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Fri: Off
Sat: 14.7 mi- Bull Run Battlefield
Sun: 12 mi- Lake Anna State Park

Training for 1-7 June: Weekly Mi (58.4), June Mi (58.4), 2009 Mi (1103.6)

Mon: 15.5 mi- (Fartlek) 8 mi-AM / 7.5mi-PM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Tues: 8 mi- AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Wed: 23.5 mi- 15.5 mi-AM / 8 mi-PM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Thurs: 6 mi- Crossramp, Upper Body Lift
Fri: Off
Sat: 5.4 mi- Bull Run Battlefield
Sun: Off

Western States 100 - Week 2

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in inequity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians: 13:4-7

Sorry for the late posting this week but time has gotten the better of me. Twenty nine days until the Western States 100. I had another good week of training and was able to get in 62 miles including a great 25 miler on the Appalachian Trail. The Lord continues to fuel the machine and hold the body together.

I started out the week with a gym session of weightlifting and 5 miles on the Precor Crossramp. For the cross ramp I ran a double hill set and got the resistance up to level 13. Tuesday through Friday I was able to get 4 commute runs accomplished for a total of 32 miles along the Custis and WO&D trail. These runs were all AM run commutes from the East Falls Church Metro Station to the Pentagon. I ran two Fartlek runs, a Tempo, and an easy run on Friday. All 4 of the runs were run at a sub 8 minute mile pace.

Saturday, I was able to get out early on the Appalachian Trail for about 25 miles. I started at the Manassas Gap Trailhead and ran through Sky Meadows State Park up to the Ashby Gap Trailhead. This was a great training run with about 4500’ of elevation gain and loss; it also offered some long stretches of downhill running. The highlight of the run was a very large black bear encounter about an hour and a half in to the run. As with most of my bear sightings this bear was more scared than I was, however in his attempt to get away he ran parallel to the trail for about a hundred yards and refused to turn in to the woods. Finally, he decided that my following him was too much, so he darted across the trail in front of me and down a steep hill. This allowed me to get by, needless to say my pace accelerated for the next half mile or so. The rest of the run was uneventful, compared to that.

The run through Sky Meadows was awesome, what a beautiful view up on the ridgeline. The day did start to turn hot and very humid. I was hoping to make this a 30 mile run but by the time I got back to the car I was out of water (I carried a 72oz Camelback and 20oz handheld) and all I had to refill with was warm Gatorade. So that combination helped me talk myself out of another 5 mile stretch. The trailhead parking lot was at the edge of a nice mountain stream that I sat in for about 5 minutes at the end of the run and it did wonders for my legs. The run took 4 hours and 45 minutes and gave me some great training on the hills and hopefully started to work on my heat acclimatization.

On Sunday I had planned to put in 10 miles at the Bull Run Battlefield but was pleasantly surprised when my wife asked if I would walk with her that morning. So we ended up walking at the Battlefield early Sunday morning and she was able to get what I call “the deer experience”. Starting from the old stone bridge parking lot it’s about a mile to a very large meadow. If you can get to the meadow early enough it is full of deer eating breakfast, we were lucky enough to get there early. She has heard me talk about the deer at Bull Run often and I usually count how many I see during my runs out there but for this day I was just content to share this experience with her and didn’t bother with a count.

I am well into week 3 training but won’t ruin the write up, which I hope to have posted in a more timely fashion. The WS100 is closing in and I feel stronger than I did last year. I think that the training over the next couple of weeks is going to set me up for a good taper and leave me in a good fitness position. Run Strong!

God Bless and Semper Fi,
Huffer

Training for 11-17 May: Weekly Mi (62), May Mi (206.6), 2009 Mi (977.0)
Mon: 5.5 mi- Crossramp and Upper Body Lift
Tues: 8 mi- (Fartlek) AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Wed: 8 mi- (Tempo) AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Thurs: 8 mi- (Fartlek) AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Fri: 8 mi- (Fartlek) AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Sat: 25 mi- Appalachian Trail
Sun: Walk at Bull Run Battlefield

Western States 100 - Week 1

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah: 40:31

Forty days until the Western States 100. I had a solid first week of training this past week and totaled out at 61.6 miles. I was able to run 39 miles during the work week and most of that was speed training. The speed training continues to work well and I have been able to knock off a couple of minutes from my standard 8 mile morning run commute.

The week started light with a 50 minute run on the Crossramp stationary trainer and about 30 minutes of upper body weightlifting. Tuesday and Wednesday were morning run commute days along the WO&D / Custis trail. The morning commute has been working out pretty good the route is 8 miles long from East Falls Church Metro station to the Pentagon. The trail itself is an asphalt bike path and has mile markers every ½ mile. The standard on this run has become to run a fartlek or tempo type of run. For the fartlek, I run a 2 mile warmup and a 4 mile fartlek, running hard for a ½ mile and then recovering for a ½ mile, and finish with a 2 mile cool down.

Thursday, I was able to run in to work in the morning and follow up with another 7.5 mile run on the way home, this was from East Falls Church to Vienna Metro, again along the WO&D trail. Friday was supposed to be another 5 miles on the crossramp but things got busy at work and I was unable to get to the gym at lunch.

Saturday was the highlight of the week! At 0730, my daughter Abby and I toed the line for the Girls on the Run (GOTR) 5K. This was the second year that Abby was running this race and we had aspirations for improving the time over last years 37 minutes. Just over 5500 people were in this race, of which about 2400 were 3rd through 6th grade girls. GOTR is an awesome opportunity for young girls to get exposed to the world of running and also work as a group to accomplish a common goal of completing a 5K race.
The race started off a little slow, we were in the 5th corral and had to wait for a good ¼ mile before the crowd started to thin out a little. The first mile or so was in the parking lot of Fair Oaks mall and we were making good time. After leaving the mall parking lot we got ourselves into a couple of pretty good size hills, which Abby did great on. There was an aid station at the half way point and that helped to get Abby motivated for a long climb. Just over 2 miles into the race I could tell that she was starting to feel the pain and we adjusted pace as necessary, but she kept pushing hard and never stopped running, even on the hills. The last ¼ mile was downhill into the finish line and I told her to pick up the pace and finish strong. Well she gave it everything she had, and then some. We were moving fast and about 50 feet prior to the finish Abby said she couldn’t breath, pulled up, and lost her breakfast right in the middle of the road. In true road warrior fashion, she wiped her mouth and ran across the finish line. I could not have been prouder, 34 minutes and 19 seconds.

It was awesome to be able to run with my daughter and to see her accomplish a goal that she had set for herself. She is 11 years old and has completed three 5K’s and a 5 mile trail race, the sky is the limit for her. I think that she has recovered from the embarrassment of the puking episode and is starting to embrace it as a badge of honor, as well she should.

I finished off the week with a great 22 mile run on Sunday morning along a portion of the Fairfax Cross County Trail. We had some big storms on Saturday night and it was still raining a little when I started a 0600 on Sunday. It rained for most of the run but that actually felt pretty good, the trails were incredibly muddy and that made for tricky footing most of the morning. I ran this pretty hard and finished the 22 miles in 3h:21m for about a 9 minute per mile pace.

For the week ahead, I hope to be able to continue with some speed work during the commuter runs and get a 30 mile mountain run in on Saturday along the Appalachian Trail. The goal is to get between 60 and 70 miles for three more weeks and then go into the taper. Like I said before, I have no idea if this training plan will work but I feel like I am able to run better than I was at this time last year and only time will tell. Run Strong!

God Bless and Semper Fi,
Huffer

Training for 11-17 May: Weekly Mi (61.6), May Mi (154.6), 2009 Mi (915.0)

Mon: 5.5 mi- Crossramp and Upper Body Lift
Tues: 8 mi- (Fartlek) AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Wed: 8 mi- (Tempo) AM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Thurs: 15.5 mi- AM and PM Run Commute WO&D Trail, AB
Fri: Off
Sat: 3.1- GOTR 5K
Sun: 22 mi- Fairfax CCT