Hill Running

One of the biggest changes in my running since the move from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania is the continual presence of hills. In Norman, I had to hunt out hills. They are possible to find. On the east side of town, many of the country roads are filled with slow rollers as you make your way out to Lake Thunderbird. Additionally, there's Mount Scott by Lawton, but that is a 90 minute drive. In Meadville, it's more of a hunt to find the flat ground. For some visual aids, here are the elevation profiles of my "staple" run in each location.

"Easy Plateau" in Meadville:



"OU7" in Norman:



Be sure to note the scale on each graph, they are not the same! That huge hill around mile 3 of OU7, really is only 35', where as the last 2 mile climb of Easy Plateau goes up over 400'. So how do my times compare? (Both routes are about 7.2 miles)

• Easy Plateau: (21 runs from 11/09 to 3/10) average time: 56:57, pace: 7:55/mile, best time: 53:00
• OU7: (64 runs from 10/07 to 7/09) average time: 53:48, pace: 7:28/mile, best time: 48:00

The reason I'm thinking about this now is due to the training program I got from Runner's World SmartCoach for the upcoming Pittsburgh Marathon. I used my recent 10K time (38:08) and a current workout load of 51-55 miles to get a moderate training program for the marathon, which is 8 weeks away. The program suggests doing easy runs at 7:37 pace and long runs at 7:37 too at the beginning and dropping these down to 7:33 by the end of the program. Initially, I was a bit worried, since 7:37 is faster than my current easy run pace. But then I started analyzing this more throughly (OK, looking for excuses is probably a more accurate description), "This training program is probably written for someone who runs on flat surfaces." So when I went back to my training log, and saw that my times in Norman are about on par with these times, I felt my confidence return. However, there are hills in Pittsburgh...



For those of you wondering about GAP updates, I received the tour books and maps in the mail this week and just started putting together an itinerary for the trip. So hopefully next week I have some more information on this end.

On an aside, with the warmer weather, Gina and I have been firing up the barbie lately. We started using a recipe for pineapple from the current issue of Runner's World. In the magazine it calls for baking slices of pineapple brushed with butter and brown sugar, but we've been grilling it with great results. The first time we capped it off with ice cream, last night we capped it off with some vegan chocolate cake that some friends brought over. Mmm ... tasty.

Running in the wind

It's official, I'm now truly an Oklahoman. Last Tuesday I was entering my run info into my training log (it's online through Runner's World magazine, there's a link on the right to my log) and was wondering whether or not I should check the box labeled "windy". I couldn't remember so I went to NOAA's website to see the weather history. Apparently, there was a 30 MPH southern wind, with gusts close to 40 MPH. Really? I hadn't even noticed.

Here's a few tips I've picked up for running in the Oklahoma winds:

Plan your runs so that the wind is at your back for the second half. Although if you do this in Norman you end up running south, headed straight for the waste water treatment plant. Raw sewage and a stiff headwind don't go well together.

Run early in the morning when the wind is not as strong. Translate: only a 20 MPH wind, not 25 MPH.

Try running through wooded neighborhoods. However running through an older neighborhood with large trees when there's 40 MPH gusts isn't exactly relaxing when you see 5 inch diameter limbs littering the sides of the roads.

Which brings us to the best advice about running in the wind:

Suck it up and enjoy it anyway. You're not going to be able to change the fact that it is windy, so just tuck your head down and keep putting one foot in front of the other. What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.

I apologize to all my usual readers (which I was informed by a friend this last week is now up to 3) about not keeping up with my weekly posts. Hopefully you'll give me some slack, I got married, summer school started up, and all the other little things that make up a week. My running should get back into rhythm this week and with a little luck, so should the weekly entries.



Running moment of the week: Thursday afternoon I slipped in an unplanned run around the Sutton Wilderness Area. It was hot, humid and I was pretty slow but it felt cleansing, like a good sweat in a steam room.

5/26 - 6/1
total miles: 51.0
time: 7:02

May miles: 206.0
YTD miles: 1151.7

Running moment of the week: After a real hard demoralizing run yesterday, Maia and I had a easy recovery run up at Lake Stanley-Draper up in OKC. We ran along the dirt road on the east side of the lake. It's closed in spots to vehicles so I let Maia off leash and just let her trot next to me. She'd push me on the downhills and I'd have to be a cheerleader for her on the uphills.

6/2 - 6/8
total miles: 45.1
time: 6:01

YTD miles: 1196.8

Oklahoma Trail Running

So what's trail running like in Oklahoma you ask? (OK, so no one's asked this, because no one reads this, but I'm going to pretend.) Coming to Oklahoma from Utah, I was pretty skeptical that I would find anything that I could remotely call trail running. However, I've been pleasantly surprised. Have I found mountains equalling the Wasatch? slick rock trails like in Moab? a 10 mile trail run from my door step with over 2000' of elevation gain? No, I mean come on, everyone knows that you can't compare Utah to Oklahoma. But that's not to say that the Oklahoma trail running scene is nonexistent. Here's a list of some of the pros and cons of the trail running scene in Oklahoma in comparison to Utah. Let's start with the cons.

Cons:
   

No mountains: This is the most obvious geographic difference between Oklahoma and Utah. Oklahoma is flat. Sure there's the Wichita Mountains in southwest Oklahoma and the Ouachita Mountains in southeast Oklahoma, but these don't even really compare to the foothills in Utah for elevation gain.
   

Humidity: In the summertime, it gets real sticky and hot here. Even at 6 in the morning in the middle of July it will be in the 80's and only getting hotter. The heat doesn't leave until the end of September.
   

Fractal trails: Most of the trails by Oklahoma City are designed for mountain biking and feature lots of tight turns. The trails windy back on themselves and often you'll be ten feet away from a section of trail you running on 30 minutes ago. As an extreme example, the trails at Lake Stanely-Draper just east of Oklahoma City feature over 12 miles of trail all packed into a single square mile!
   

A dearth of races: Because of the heat and humidity, most trail races here take place from December-April. The only ultras I can think of are: The DanMan, A-OK 50K, Lake McMurtry, Turkey and TATURs 50K and Chisholm's run (a fat-ass style 50K held at Lake Arcadia). Only one of these has a 50 mile option and there are no trail hundreds. (There is a somewhat annual road hundred called The Mother Road which takes place on historic Route 66.) All of these races are small and do not attract any national caliber runners.
   

An abundance of thorny and poisonous plants: In the summer, the greenery here explodes! It makes everything look healthy and full of life, until you realize the the sides of the trail are lined with poison ivy. Better be careful when you make a potty break (speaking from experience here folks).
   

An abundance of insect life: In addition to the plant life exploding, so does the insect life. There are lots of mosquitoes and gnats, but they don't really bother you too much while you run as long as you don't mind swallowing the occasional bug. The bigger nuisance is spider webs (I know spiders aren't insects but they're close, I'm a mathematician, not a biologist). There are some big spiders here that set up shop across the trails right around face level. If you're not paying attention, you'll end up wearing the web and the spider (they're big too). When you're all sweaty from the humidity it's a serious pain to try and pick the web off of your face (again, speaking from experience here folks).
   

Wind: This isn't really that much of an issue, especially on the trails. You just have to get used to 20-30 MPH winds being common. It's best to think of it as a training tool. In the summer, you'll actually welcome the wind as the mercury rises.

Before I start sounding like a complainer, let me list the pros:

Pros:
   

Solitude: Last Saturday I ran 17 miles out at Lake Thunderbird around 9 AM and only saw two people. This type of serenity is definitely not found by Sprawl Lake City on a Saturday morning. It's quite common to go hike here and see more deer than people.
   

Year-round trail running: So in the summertime the trail running in Oklahoma is less than optimal, but I think it's better than spending a cold morning post-holing in the immersion.
   

Scenery: Oklahoma really is gorgeous, just on a different scale than Utah. Here it's the little things, a muddy water creek, the sound of the cicadas, the unexpected vista, the rose rock and on the large scale, the open rolling prairie.
   

Variety: Oklahoma has a little bit of everything. The Wichita Mountains and Quartz Mountains in the southwest have rocky granite trails and hills, The Chickasaw National Recreation Area and Lake Murray State Park in southern Oklahoma gave some great trails by marshy lakes, southeast Oklahoma is the start of the 240+ mile Ouachita trail, northern Oklahoma is prairie land, Roman Nose State Park in northwest Oklahoma has a nice trail exploring a canyon and some arid dessert like views and then there's the panhandle which we have yet to explore.
   

No fees: All of the state parks and recreation areas in Oklahoma have no entrance fee. There is camping fee at some parks and Lake Arcadia does have a small trail-use fee.
   

Great community: The trail runners here are very friendly and put on some great races. The atmosphere is noncompetitive and typically have good food at the finish line (worth a mention: the chili at A-OK, the jambalaya at Lake McMurtry). The fees for the races are pretty low as well.
   

Dog friendly: All of the state parks here allow dogs to go everywhere. Most places have leash laws, but few people seem to care.
   

Lots of great races in neighboring states: The ultrarunning communities in the neighboring states are very strong. There are lots of great races in Arkansas (check out: Arkansas Ultra Running Association), Texas (check out: North Texas Trail Runners and Hill Country Trail Runners) and Kansas (check out: Kansas Ultrarunners' Society). So as long as you don't mind driving a bit, you can find lots of quality races and good competition.


If anyone is looking for more information about trail running in Oklahoma, they should check out the following running groups:

Oklahoma Trail Runners Association
Tulsa Area Trail & Ultra Runners

Anyone have anything they wish to add to the lists?

Running moment of the week: A Yasso 800 workout: 10 x 800 @ 2:56 on Tuesday evening while it was 84 degrees and sunny. At least there were wind gusts over 30 MPH. Sweet.

4/28 - 5/4
total miles: 62.0
time: 8:10

April miles: 256.9
YTD miles: 976.1

Ultralist

The aches and soreness from the A-OK 50K left pretty quickly and I am ready to run 3 Days of Syllamo this weekend. Most of this week was spent sitting on my butt and relaxing/recovering and trying the bottle of wine I won. (A special note to any Oklahomans who might try this wine - it's way sweet, as in sweet tasting, not sweeeeeeet.) I did go on some runs with Maia and Gina, in fact every one of my runs this week was with Maia.

Since Gina and I forgot a lot of essential for Bandera we decided to make a list of all the things we need to bring to ultra. Here it is:

Running Clothes

[] shirt/singlet
[] shorts/tights
[] socks
[] underwear/jockstrap
[] shoes
[] visor/hat
[] gloves
[] wind/rain jacket

Extra Clothes

[] shirt
[] shorts/jeans
[] socks
[] whitie-tighties
[] crocs/sandals/flip-flops
[] warm jacket

Nutrition

[] Gu/sport gel
[] power/clif/granola bars
[] cookies/candy/little debbie snacks
[] potato chips
[] V8
[] soda
[] sandwiches: turkey/cheese
[] soup/noodles
[] endurolytes

First Aid

[] neosporin
[] ibuprofen
[] baby powder
[] band-aids
[] moleskin/duct tape
[] body glide/vasoline
[] chap stick
[] sun block
[] aloe/solarcane/lotion
[] hand sanitizer
[] poopie paper
[] tums

Hydration

[] hand bottles
[] waist pack
[] camelback
[] Gu2O
[] water

Miscellaneous

[] face towels
[] batteries
[] flashlight/headlamp
[] camp chairs
[] quart/sandwich/snack bags
[] ice
[] cooler
[] dirty clothes bag
[] ipod
[] bug spray

If you want a nice pretty pdf version click here.

Running moment of the week: I helped Gina run her 21 mile long run today. I biked along side of her for the first 15 miles and ran next to her for the last 6. She did awesome. So often she helps out with my running: crewing at races, biking along side of me, meeting me on training runs and just pushing my butt out of bed, it felt good to be able return the favor.

3/3 - 3/9
total miles: 21.0
time: 3:11

YTD miles: 518.3

Running in the rain

On Saturday morning Gina and I woke up later than usual after staying up late (i.e. past 11 pm) watching movies with Gina's sister the night before. It was tough enough getting out of bed and the fact that it was raining outside wasn't helping at all. I was planning on running around 12 - 13 miles and I'll be damned if a little bit of rain was going to stop me. We all got dressed and put on rain gear. Well, everyone except for Maia who doesn't seem to mind if her fur gets wet. Five minutes before we were going to leave the rain changed from "get you wet rain" to "soak you to bone with icy cold rain". And because when it rains, it pours, some thunder and lightning got thrown into the mix. But no little winter thunder/ice storm is going to keep me from getting my miles in. However, being one to listen to reason, I did agree to only go for 8 miles.

9:30 AM: The roads were beginning to get covered in standing water creating giant puddles along the curb. You always need to pay extra special attention to passing motorist in this weather since they will take their "I'm a bad ass cause I can drive over any curb in the city"-SUV and plow right through a puddle sending a tidal wave over the sidewalk. However, by the time I was outside for 2 minutes, it would not have mattered a bit cause I was already soaked through. I ran past the park where the open drainage canal was nearing flood stage and turned north into the wind. The rain was starting to freeze on parked cars on the side of the road. The jacket I was wearing caused the rain water hitting my chest to pool and flow straight down to my shorts (that's right folks, I was wearing shorts). My gloves were soaked through and my penis was getting colder by the step. I didn't make it much further before I turned around and headed home. About half way home I ran into Gina, Vanessa (Gina's sister) and Maia, they left the house about five minutes after I did. They saw me running home and it didn't take too much convincing to get them to turn around too. We all headed home, dried off and ate an amazing breakfast of waffles, scrambled eggs and buffalo sausage.

Just as quickly as the rain picked up intensity, it lost it too. About 30 minutes after we got home with our tails between our legs the rain mellowed out to a steady drip. I cursed myself for my cowardice and planned on going out later in the day. This time with two pairs of underwear.

1:50 PM: It looked as if the majority of the storms had passed and that all that remained was the rain. I headed out to run the same 11.7 mile route around town that I ran on Monday and the moment I closed the front door the rain picked up again. "It's just a little rain," I thought and left anyway. This time it turned out to be harmless and ten minutes later it calmed down again. The roads were still wet, though not a bad as earlier. My jacket was doing a good job keeping my core warm and even though I was again wearing shorts, which were soaked, with two pairs of underwear on my important regions stayed warm. Some of the roads on this route don't have a sidewalk and are too busy to run on, especially when the shoulder is under water. This caused some tromping through the mud on the side of the roads. A few slippery spots, but don't worry folks, this humble blogger jogger is quick on his toes (just don't look at some previous posts) and managed to keep his tookas out of the mud. The weather was a non-factor until about 10-15 minutes left to go when I heard some thunder again. Then again. And again. It was getting closer and I pushed hard to try and make it home in time before the next storm arrived.

Running moment of the week: Making it to the port-a-potty in time on Monday's run. Enough said.

2/11 - 2/17
total miles: 58.1
time: 7:37

YTD miles: 381.9

Mock 3 Days

This weekend I ran a practice multi-day run. The actual milage was: Saturday 19.5, Sunday 28.4 and Monday 11.7 for a total of 59.6 miles. Here's a breakdown of each day:

Saturday: First of the mock "3 Days" and it was a great start to the training. I ran 19.5 miles out on the trails at Lake Thunderbird. It was a beautiful morning that started off pretty cold, but it quickly warmed up as the sun came out of the clouds and was 50 degrees by the time I was done. Luckily I left my winter hat in the car and took my visor instead. I could have left my big black gloves in the car too and taken my glove liners. I didn't have enough Gu and took cookies. See the "Running moment of the week" for the result of that action. I remembered to keep my pace slower than normal and felt pretty strong when I finished.

Sunday: For the second day of the mock "3 Days" I went out to Lake Stanely-Draper and ran two laps around the lake for 28.4 miles. The wind coming off the lake was brutal! Remembering how warm I was the day before, I went with the glove liners today instead of the big black gloves, big mistake! The first lap I basically kept blowing on my fingers to keep some dexterity in them. The temperatures dropped from the start and went down to 30 before the sun came out and started to warm things up again. First lap time: 1:57, second lap time: 2:10. I think with the cold temperatures I started a bit too quick to try and stay warm.

Monday: Last day of the mock "3 Days" and I ran a route around town. I felt pretty strong throughout, after a slow warm up. I would have had a faster time but I had to walk a lot on Jenkins from Timberdell down to 9 since I really needed to have a bathroom break.

Running moment of the week: I got mad skills and you know it. On Saturday's run, I didn't have enough Gu packets so I brought some Keebler Elves' double stuff cookies on my run at Lake Thunderbird. I put them into some cheap Target ziplock bags that are hard enough to open when you're not wearing gloves, holding a water bottle in your armpit and trail running. Go figure that a root found a hold on my toe and I went down face first. Awesome.

2/4 - 2/10
total miles: 80.4
time: 11:07

YTD miles: 323.8

Training schedule for 3 Days of Sylamo

This week I sent in applications for both A-OK 50K and 3 Days of Sylamo.  Since A-OK is only two weeks before 3 Days, I'm going to treat it as a final long run.  As 3 Days is eight weeks away, now is good time to set goal milage and workouts for the upcoming weeks.

1/21 - 1/27:  The upcoming two weeks will be used for ramping up the miles.  I'll need to stretch out some of my usual runs during the week and keep doing longer trial runs on the weekends.  I'll include a tempo run and hill workout this week but no track workout until next week.  The target milage is 55 miles.

1/28 - 2/3:  Again, still increasing milage this week and including a track workout.  The goal is to run around 65 miles this week.   

2/4 - 2/10:  This week I'll be running a mock "3 Days".  That is consecutive 20 and 30 milers on Saturday and Sunday, followed a 12 miler on Monday of the following week.  Most likely, the 20 will be at Lake Thunderbird, the 30 on the road around Lake Stanely-Draper and the 12 out east on Lindsey.  In addition to the 50 miles of the mock run during this week, I'd like to run an additional 35-40 miles.  Mostly in the form of easy runs with one 7 mile tempo run.

2/11 - 2/17:  Monday of this week is the last day of the mock "3 Days".  I'll want to cut back the milage slightly this week from the previous week and run 70 miles.  Mostly easy runs, with a 14 miler over the weekend and one speed work out during the week. 

2/18 - 2/24:  This will be a week to maintain the miles and keep healthy.  The goal milage is 75 miles.  A hill workout on the weekend and a speed workout will be the only special runs this week.     

2/25 - 3/2:  A-OK takes place on Sunday of this week.  This will be my last long run and as such I should run it easy, around 4:45.  The total miles for this week should be around 80 miles. The remaining 50 miles should be mostly easy with a 10 mile tempo run on Monday or Tuesday.

3/3 - 3/9:  The focus for this week is recovery and taper.  Goal milage is around 30 miles, mostly in the form of easy road runs, nothing longer than 1o miles, and at most one run of this length.

3/10 - 3/16:  This is race week, I'll run less than 7 miles before Friday (the first day of 3 Days) in the form of two runs, one about 5 miles and another of only 2 miles.  Together with the race, this week's miles will be close to 100 miles.

Running moment of the week: On Tuesday of this last week, Chisholm and I ran for an hour on the trails at Lake Stanely-Draper.  I've run on the Jeep road by the lake and the paved road around the lake since December's ice storm, but this was my first time on the trails since then.  This area sustained a lot of damage from the storm, especially in comparison with the trails at Lake Thunderbird.  At Lake Stanely-Draper,  there were several large limbs cut down and moved off to the side of the trail.  Some of the trail has been rerouted and it appears to me that a southern portion of the green loop has been abandoned.  At Lake Thunderbird, it is hard to find any evidence of the ice storm.

1/14 - 1/20
total miles: 45.1
time: 6:04

YTD total miles: 140.7