Leadville Firecracker 5K

Four days after running a pretty tough trail marathon, I was in the mood for something short and fast.  On July 4th, Leadville would be hosting the Firecracker 5K, a run through the downtown area.  Sounded good to me but not so much to my coach.  He cautioned me to take it easy and I promised him I would.

I lined up at 9am and when the lone firecracker was lit and went off, I quickly forgot about my promise to Lucho to take it easy.  The downhill start didn't help as I cruised quickly through the first mile feeling really good.  But then the course circled back uphill towards Safeway and the return down Harrison St.  A slight uphill at 10,200 feet felt like I was climbing a mountain.  My pace dropped off but my effort stayed pretty high.  I was sucking in as much air as I could and commanding myself to not walk, no matter how much I wanted to.

Finally we got back onto some level roads and I started picking up the pace.  I could see a group of 3-4 women ahead of me that I wanted to catch but knew I couldn't.  Another woman came up beside me and with the finish line in sight, there was no way I was going to let her pass me.  I sprinted down Harrison St. toward 6th.  The cool thing was that people were lining the street for the parade that was going to take place right after the race but it felt like they were all there just to cheer us on.

I crossed the finish line and collapsed on the grass in front of City Hall where I spent the next 10 minutes gasping for breath and trying to convince myself I wasn't going to die.  I've never run a 5K at such a high effort with such a slow time.  I guess altitude will do that.

I hung out with some Leadman friends as we waited for results.  I was pretty surprised when I found out I finished 5th female and 1st in my age group!  The award ceremony was done promptly and quickly and I received a cool Leadville mug to go with my cool Leadville Marathon Finishers mug.  And I'm not even a coffee drinker!  Hot chocolate will taste just fine in them this winter.

I emailed my coach with the results and he was pretty happy.  I was just happy that he didn't seem upset that I didn't keep my promise to run the race easy.  I guess I just don't have it in me to take it easy in a 5K race.

Leadville Trail Marathon

I went into the Leadville marathon with a fair amount of apprehension.  Up until the middle of May my training had been going along so well but then with my hip pain, training had fallen off a bit, especially the running.  Everyday my hip hurt, whether I was walking or running.  My Leadwoman attempt was in serious doubt.

The night before the race I met up with my coach and a few other Leadman competitors.  It was really nice to finally meet the people behind the blogs.

Race morning we all lined up at a very civilized 8am.  A single cloud above us dropped a few raindrops and as I slowly made my way up the first 4 mile climb, more clouds moved in making for a shady, cool run/hike.  I hit the first aid station in 1 hour (4 miles) and was happy with that.  Even better, my hip wasn't hurting!  I've had this happen before where I deal with an injury and then on race day it's fine.  Whatever, I'll take it.




First climb looking back at Leadville



The next section loops around Ball Mtn and I ran more than walked this section.  A lot of people talk about how tough this section is on the way back so I made sure to pay attention to all the ups and downs.

As I descended toward aid station B I could see a steep road heading up this huge mountain ahead.  I asked another runner if that was the road we'd be running to Mosquito Pass.  She said yes.  Part of me was happy to be able to see exactly where we were going.  The other part of me cringed being able to see exactly where we were going.




The road leading up to Mosquito Pass if you look close



Running through the mining district

 

Lucho and Sean and Tiana Rockwell were at the aid station and it was wonderful to see them.  They had me in and out in no time and soon I found myself power hiking the 3 mile climb.  Towards the middle it really gets steep and my power hike turned into a survival hike.  The other issue was I was starting to have serious cramps in the arches of both feet and both calves.  I had to really watch my step because every mis-step caused my calves to seize up.  I took some serious S-caps and they helped but the cramps were never far away. 



Starting back down Mosquito Pass

 After an eternity I reached Mosquito Pass.  I remembered what Lucho said and took a few minutes to look around and enjoy the view.  Pretty incredible.  Soon I was on the long, painful, rocky descent, being very careful with my footing and trying not to destroy my quads.  My second time through the aid station, Lucho massaged my calf while I grabbed more S-caps, Sean refilled my camelback, and Tiana grabbed me a couple cups of coke.  It was the best Nascar pitstop ever.

The fact that I was now only 9 miles from the finish and with the coke kicking in, I really started pushing the next few miles.  I knew this feeling from past races, I start slow and then kick it in to the finish.  The return around Ball Mtn wasn't as bad as I was expecting and soon I was on the last 4 mile descent.  The leg and foot cramps were still coming and going and when I really tried to stretch out my stride on the last paved descent they returned in full force.  Another runner stopped and enouraged me to finish with him.  He told me to shorten my stride and that helped.  Before too long I was running faster and picking off a few runners before the finish line.

I went from serious doubt before the race if I could even finish, to hoping to finish in 8 hours to actually having a pretty good day and finishing in 6:42.  I couldn't be happier.  Now on to the Silver Rush 50 mtb.

Nervous energy

Tomorrow I leave for Leadville to begin my Leadwoman adventure on Saturday with the trail marathon.  I'm almost all packed and I can't wait to hit the road.  I got my mountain bike back from the shop and it's like a new bike.  New chain, new bottom bracket, new brakes, and new tires.  Unfortunately, it's pouring rain.  So what.  I knew it meant I'd have to wash the bike before loading it up but who cares.  I needed to know how those new tires would handle and what better way to do it than with a fun trail ride in the pouring rain.

I headed up the trail and then down a stretch of newly built trail to Scott's Flat Lake.  It's so well built that it was in great shape despite the rain.  I splashed through puddles, got muddy, and just thoroughly enjoyed myself.  As I was leaving the house my husband told me to have fun and burn off some nervous energy.  Boy, was he right.  It was just what I needed.

Wet, muddy, and happy

I have no idea how Saturday is going to work out.  I ran 3 miles on Thursday with some hip pain.  1 mile on Saturday before the pain stopped me.  But I've had miraculous race day runs before.  Never mind, I DO know how Saturday will turn out.  I will successfully complete the first event of Leadman.

May, A Setback

I'm starting to sound like a broken record and I hate it.  Things go really well with my training and then something happens to cause a set-back and training gets derailed.  I should have known things were about to change when I kept thinking about how great everything was going.  I kept saying to myself, "just stay healthy".  I found a great rhythm in April and May was just a continuation of that.  Went up to Redding, CA for my daughters swim meet and was able to get out for an early morning run to explore a city I had never been to, except to drive through on my way to somewhere else. 

I discovered a beautiful river path along the Sacramento River and the Aquatic Center was really nice.  I even discovered a new running partner.




Wanna run?



Sundial Bridge



Celebrating with ribbons



Caitlyn, Sara, and Mia after swim meet

May was the month to really push the vertical.  Mid-month I got a workout from Lucho for a long run and to really push the downhill as well as the uphill.  I remember that run like it was yesterday.  I woke up super motivated and ready to run.  I set out on a route that would have me climbing in and out of the Yuba River canyon numerous times.  I felt stronger than I ever had.  I remember thinking that if I feel like this during Leadwoman, there's no chance I will fail.  But there was something else, a little nagging discomfort in my left hip.  I've had this feeling before but it has always gone away without much incident.

To make a long story short, the hip pain has not gone away, even becoming worse at times.  In an effort to solve the problem, I spent some time with VeLoyce from Monsters of Massage.  He specializes in getting extreme athletes back on their feet.  He worked on my hips, piriformis, hamstrings, back, shoulders, you name it.  Everything started feeling better except the hip.  The deep tissue (and often painful) massage was making it worse. 

As May became June I found myself resting the hip a lot more than running and even biking.  It sucks when every step (running and just walking) is painful and you see your dreams slipping away.  What makes it worse is reading the blogs of other athletes like Footfeathers, Running in Circles, Pb Runner, GZ, Wyatt, Kiki, who are training for one or even all of the Leadville events.  Every one of them seems to be really hitting their stride, training hard, healthy, doing double crossings of Hope......I feel like a kid on the playground who watches everyone else play while I sit on the bench wishing I could join in.  Every week I get my training plan from Lucho and I can only do a fraction of what he prescribes.  Luckily I'm in a bit of a taper phase before the marathon but the fact that I can't run without pain is not comforting.  I got in a 3 mile run this morning at Donner Lake, the first 1.5 miles were pain-free and I started feeling hopeful.  But then the pain returned and it's been a constant all day.

I'm leaving for Leadville next Tuesday and I can only hope the magic air of the high Rocky Mountains will have a healing effect on me.  I have every intention of completing Leadwoman but it's been hard to keep the motivation up.  I got pretty down last week and my friend who just ran the Bryce Canyon 100 miler gave me a "tough love" speech.  It brought me out of my funk and I started focusing on the positive.  It's just so annoying to deal with these injuries before a big event.

My numbers for May are decent but could have been better if I hadn't had to back off toward the end of the month.

Run: 161 miles, 22,500 feet, 31 hours
Bike: 252 miles, 30,800 feet, 24 hours
Bike trainer: over 6 hours

On the bright side, May brought my daughter's 9th birthday.  Can't believe she's been in my life for 9 years.  I'm so incredibly proud of the wonderful young lady she's becoming.

Each year Caitlyn draws a picture of what she wants her cake to look like.  I then take the picture to the bakery at Save Mart (they make the best cakes) and they try to replicate it.  They out-did themselves this year.




Lars checking out the cake





The star of the day

After reviewing my training log, I was really able to keep up some decent workouts up until about June 7.  That's when the hip really started to cause my runs to be shortened and even canceled.  That date also coincides with the last day of school.  The significance of that is now my built-in babysitter is gone for the summer (school).  When Pat is on shift at the firehouse, I'm on kid-duty.  So between my 48-72 hours a week on shift and Pat's 48 hour shift when I have the kids, that doesn't leave many days in a week to actually get out on the bike or run for some serious work.

I'm looking forward to being in Leadville so I can regroup and really focus.  I need to be on those familiar trails and soak in the excitement of what is to come.  I've put a lot of time and sacrifice into this adventure and my family has also sacrificed so I need to be successful.  At least give it everything I have.


April: Rebuilding

After my set-back in mid-March, by the last week of the month I was feeling pretty positive that things were better and I'd have a fighting chance at AR50.  March 31st I had an enjoyable 11 mile run before celebrating Easter with my family, including my parents who had driven up from Morro Bay.  By the afternoon I wasn't feeling so hot. It wasn't long before I was vomiting, had diarrhea, body aches, fever, chills, you name it.  I knew this wasn't the same thing as what I had 2 weeks earlier, this was the full blown flu.

My mother, being a mother, wasn't convinced.  She just knew I was training too hard and was destroying my body.  She was truly scared for me.  I had to agree that I was training pretty hard and my body seemed to be breaking down in ways that I wasn't used to.  My diet could always use improvement so I decided to make some changes.

As I slowly started feeling better, I ordered up some supplements from Hammer Nutrition.  I've been on their Daily Essentials before and feel they really do a good job.  On the recommendation of my coach I also added vitamin D and an omega 3 fish oil pill. I've had no further set-backs and definitely feel better since taking the supplements and improving my diet.

However, I still had to get through AR50.  After battling the flu the week before the race, I really didn't know what to expect.  My best time is 10:03 and I really wanted to break 10 hours.  I caught the bus early at the Auburn Overlook and headed to the start in Sacramento.  First thing I noticed when I stepped off the bus was how warm it was.  This was the 4th time I've run AR50 and it was definitely the warmest start.

I started near the front and quickly settled into a comfortable pace.  I decided to just go by effort and not look at my heartrate.  Since I started toward the front I was able to visit with some of my faster friends as they caught up to and passed me.  The first 18 miles went quickly and I felt great.  I went through the Fish Hatchery aid station 20 min faster than my fastest time.  If the race ended there it would have been a great day.  As it was, I still had 32 miles to go.  And that's when my quads started to hurt.

It must have been the pounding on the pavement, my legs just weren't used to it after so much time on the trails.  I passed the marathon mark only 4 minutes slower than my PR and when I pulled into Beals Point I was tired.  Really tired.  My friend Bill at the aid station took one look at me and knew I wasn't doing well.  My whole body hurt and I was exhausted.  I didn't know how on earth I was going to run to Auburn and yet there was never any doubt that I was going to do it.  I just dreaded how painful it was going to be.  Bill talked me through my deep valley, I dried my tears, and started walking.  I walked until I could jog.  And that became my pattern.  Jog when I could, walk when I couldn't.  Stifle the pain.  Dig deep. 

It took a long time and it wasn't pretty.  My body was just so depleted from being sick earlier in the week and then I went out too fast.  When I looked at my HR average after the race I was surprised how high it was.  My body definitely wasn't recovered from the flu.  I walked/jogged the last 3 mile climb up from the river and was so grateful to see the finish line come into view.  I don't know if I was imagining it but it seemed like the crowd was cheering especially loud just for me.  It really boosted my spirits and I was able to run just that much stronger across the finish line.

I felt pretty unsteady and the exhaustion was overwhelming so the EMS personnel sat me down in a chair and talked to me until I was feeling more like myself.  Getting out of that chair was so hard and I just stiffened up more over the next hour or so.  It seemed to take forever to get my clothes changed, get cleaned up a bit, and eat some food.  I also had several emotional breakdowns where I just cried and cried.  It was really amazing how terrible I felt and emotionally drained I was.  I sent my coach an email that said "10:32 finish.  Horrible race.  I'm never running again."  And I meant it!  Of course his response was, "Awesome! Now you know how deep you can go."  The truth is, it wasn't long before I was thinking of all the things that went RIGHT during the run.  My knee didn't hurt.  My stomach was solid.  My nutrition and hydration were good.

After such a wonderful race at Way Too Cool, it was a real disappointment to struggle so much at AR50.  But after my health set-backs in March, it's easy to understand.  My body was struggling.  It was time to regroup.  I canceled Miwok and the WS100 memorial weekend training runs and just trained.  I needed some consistency without tapering for any races.  The rest of April went really well and I found myself motivated and strong.  Things were finally looking up.

April numbers:
Run: 170 mi, 21,100 ft., 34 hours
Bike: 283 mi, 33,000 ft., 21.5 hours
Bike Trainer: 4 hours

There was a definite shift in April to move more toward the run with less emphasis on the bike.  Time to get 100 mile run ready.

March: Out like a sick lamb (Part 2)

After having such a successful race at Way Too Cool, I was looking forward to continuing with some strong training.  I did a couple bike rides but then after a strong 8 mile run I noticed my stomach seemed a little off.  I had a date with my youngest daughter to have lunch with her at her school so I headed over there.  I made it through the lunch but was feeling worse. 

By the time I made it home it was all I could do to make it to the bathroom where I had some pretty severe bouts of vomiting.  Along with that, my stomach was cramping something awful.  I had alternate bouts of sweating and chills and found myself curled up in a ball by the toilet, wrapped in a blanket.  The way this came on it seemed like I had food poisoning.  But usually with food poisoning you feel better after vomiting.  I wasn't feeling better.  In fact, it was getting worse.

Adding to my problems was my kids were due home on the bus and my husband was at a week long class at Lake Tahoe.  There was no way I could drive myself to the hospital and I had no one to watch my kids.  What to do?  I called my mom.  They immediately knew things were bad so my dad called Pat in class.  Pat called his buddies at his fire station to come up and check me out.  They also started an ambulance.  Next he called a friend who could come up and take the kids home with her.  Then he started heading home.  It was all taken care of.  As a paramedic/firefighter, it was strange being on the other side of a medical call.  But I was in so much pain I really didn't care.  It was like being in labor where time is suspended and you lose track of your where-abouts.

I was admitted into the hospital where I spent the next three days.  Lots of blood work done and tests taken to rule out all the really bad possibilities.  Bottom line is that it remains a bit of a mystery.  I think the official diagnosis ended up being severe gastroenteritis.  All I know if that Dilaudid is my new best friend.  Amazing stuff.  It's the only thing that could even touch the pain.

It took me a solid week to recover from my stay in the hospital.  Lucho kept things easy as I started rebuilding for AR50 in early April.  I'm still not sure what knocked me down but I was ready to move on.  The last week of March was solid with 53 miles run but only 16 miles on the bike.  I knew my numbers for the month would take a big hit with this unexpected set-back.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't be my last.

March numbers:
Run: 152 miles, 14,000 ft, 25:25 hours
Bike: 145 miles, 18,600 ft, 13 hours
Bike trainer: 3x for 2:45

March: In like a Lion (Part 1)

I'm still attempting to get my blog updated from earlier this year.  It really only matters to me for when I look back on this whole Leadman experience.

I hit the ground running in March.  I had 3 solid months of training with Lucho under my belt and Way Too Cool 50K firmly in my sights.  I felt healthy, strong, and I had Lucho's permission to "race this".  In 2009 when I was training for the Leadville 100 run I ran this race in just under 6 1/2 hours.  This year I wanted to break 6 hours.

I lined up on a beautiful morning with lots of really fast runners around me.  It's definitely the early season track meet for ultrarunners.  We headed out for the opening 8 mile loop on trails that I've never been on.  It was a really cool picture with a line of runners weaving along smooth singletrack surrounded by green grass and blooming trees.  I completed the loop in 1:18 and then headed out on more familiar trails.

I changed some things with my nutrition for this race to see how it worked.  I usually do water and S-caps, GU's and aid station food.  I also don't start eating until 1-1.5 hours into the race.  This time I used HEED in my handheld for the first 8 mile loop.  On my way down to Quarry Rd I found I felt really bloated and uncomfortable.  Too much fluid, too many calories, too early.  For the next hour on Quarry Rd I settled into a little easier effort and didn't eat or drink anything.  By the time I started the climb up to ALT I was feeling better.  I stuck to water and GU's for the rest of the race and it worked great.

I had been looking forward to the section from ALT to the finish.  This was a section I had trained on numerous times during the winter.  I knew exactly what my splits should be to Browns Bar, Hwy 49, and Cool and I set out to beat them.  I had paced myself well early on so I was ready to rock it.  I passed a lot of people and ran strong, feeling great.  When I got to Hwy 49 crossing, it was manned by a lot of my friends who cheered wildly as I came through.  I felt like a celebrity!  Lots of high 5's and I didn't even stop as I started up the final climb to the finish.  Here is a great write up and some pictures from my friend Gretchen.  There was a chance I could break 5.5 hours if I kept going strong.  I finally rounded the final corner where I saw my family, Caitlyn jumped up to run across the finish line with me in 5:24:21. 



Caitlyn waiting to run with me to the finish




Two of my biggest fans



So I had the race of my life, took an hour off my 2009 time, and felt great.  Even visited Monsters of Massage for a little rub down post race, a treat I had never indulged in before because I was usually too sore to have anyone touch my legs.  Hard to believe that in only 4 days I would find myself hospitalized.