Hitting the reset button - Oregon 100 Training, Week 1

Well, I can't say this is a genuine reset, but definately a rebuild. My main focus is on the Oregon 100 (aka Hundred in the Hood) as my A-priority race in late September. At the moment, I'm rebuilding my base after a bout of being ill with some kind of flu bug that really messed me up. I'm still HR training, but found some defects that I think I've remedied, so hopefully things will get even better as the weeks progress. Anyway, here's the first week of training I've done...


March 3rd - 2 Miles on the treadmill, first mile as a warm-up. You can tell I was trying to get back into the swing of things and not very well.






March 4th - 4 Miles easy, outdoor run. This was the start of when I figured that something was up with my Suunto T6. Rainy day run, but I felt really good.







March 5th - Ran 6+ miles with the group. Had about a 20 minute head start to finish with them in the end. I thought I was doing okay until after I got the HR data. More indication that something was up.








March 7th - First long run day. 14 miles of hell. My body was cooperating at first, but the HRM wasn't after about 6 miles in, giving seriously erratic readings. I eventually went old school, running about every quarter-mile and checking my pulse on my neck to stay within my HR zone. This was also the longest run I had done in a VERY long time. I realized that you need to run long frequently to be able to maintain your form and endurance level. This includes teaching your muscles to retain glycogen more efficiently while burning fat and teaching your endocrine system to not rebel against your own body.

The 7th was also the day where I had to effectively "break" my Suunto T6 in order to get the battery out of the back. Whomever designed this thing was on crack. I used a Dremel to wear down the plastic slot and fashioned a hole that would fit a regular flathead screwdriver and was able to open it easily without breaking the rubber O-ring seal. After replacing the battery, I filled the newly created screwdriver hole and slot area with glue from my glue gun and smoothed out the area. It is still retaining its water-proof design and now I can replace the batteries quickly without any headaches.




March 8th - My legs and body were really tired from the previous day, but I knew I had to do something to get those 8 miles in. Time on your feet is extremely important, so I opted to take the dog out for an 8 mile walk. This was the only time where my HR stayed in the fat-burning aerobic zone this week. But I'm glad I did that purposeful walking. My HRM didn't go crazy and I was very efficient in my walking, even with the dog. This is a good thing during the 100 miler since EVERYONE WALKS, but those that walk with purpose versus just doing the death march have a better chance of finishing.


Total miles this week (including the miles from the calibration of my device on Monday at the track): ~36 miles! (Right now, I'm REALLY enjoying my rest day today!)

Next week's projected mileage: ~42 miles. The weekend back-to-back long runs are going to be on the Mt Si Ultra course from Tanner Rd to Rattlesnake Lake and Cedar Falls (16 miles on Saturday) and then from Rattlesnake Lake to Cedar Falls (8 miles on Sunday). These two runs will essentially replicate the "hardest" parts of the Mt Si Ultra course. The last time I trained on the course like this a year ago, I had stopped at Rattlesnake Lake. This was a bad move since I could have sucked it up and kept going instead of dropping out @ Rattlesnake since I had it in my head that the final 4-5 miles to the turnaround aid-station was too far for me to do. Doing these two runs should psych me up a bit more. Familiarity can make things easier on the mind and in these events, it is more mind over body.

Flu shots - Phooey!

I was under the understanding that a flu shot was supposed to PREVENT you from getting the flu.

For the last 72+ hours, I had been fighting a really bad case of just...yuck!

My lungs had felt like they went through a Cuban Tabacco Harvest. Breathing was damn near impossible. I might as well have been at high-altitude or deep under water with the lack of oxygen. Workouts have been a big fat zero as well. I haven't ran or done any kind of CrossFit workouts at all this week.

I guess I'll just call this a recovery week. I'm already set now to train for the Oregon 100 (Hundred in the Hood) and making that the focal point of the year. I've got 30 weeks till that run and thanks to fancy-Nancy (aka Nancy Shura from the UltraLadies, she's shown me the way to my first 100 miler. I'll still incorporate HR training, but it won't be the major focus. I will use some events as supported training runs, but I've taken myself off of a lot of the races on the Maniacs calendar. I am confident that I will be able to do this and do it right. But we'll see.

Adventure awaits!

Perception is Everything

The short: 4 miles, easy feel.

The long: My wife pushed me out the door after work to get my run over and done with. I decided to test out my Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) versus what my HR would say. My aerobic/easy pace is supposed to be at 138 bpm. As you can see, it took about 10 minutes for my HR to chill out, even though I was moving at roughly a consistant 15 minutes per mile. Once when those 10 minutes passed, my HR would hover anywhere from 135 bpm to as much as 142 bpm. So my body is starting to adapt, it's just not 100% there yet. But with more time and training, it will be. My RPE seems to be better than before, so I think that I'll lean on that, but always do a double-check against my HR to be sure.

No excuses left...

Since my last post, I carefully looked over what options were available to me and decided to jump in and test some newer uncharted waters. So now I'm officially registered for the only 100 miler in Oregon, Hundred in the Hood - put on by the very awesome Olga.

Since it's my first 100 miler and the course is the first time a 100 miler has been put on in Oregon, the pairing will make for an interesting situation.

I checked over the course from the description on the website and following the Pacific Crest Trail that it will be following. There are some premo advantages to running this over Cascade Crest as my first 100 miler.

1.) It's one month further out than Cascade Crest, so it'll give me more time to train.
2.) The elevation gain and loss is about 10,000 feet for the entire 100 miles. Cascade Crest is double that (over 20,000 feet). The White River 50 has about 17,000 feet of elevation changes and I managed to get out of that alive.

The first half, which is the PCT 50 mile ultra has about 5000 feet of overall elevation gain with most of it being in the first 25 miles to Timberline. I'll have to work on improving on my hill climbing more, but I think it's more doable.

The second half that goes south on the PCT, I had to gmap-pedometer the trail as best as I could. However, the elevation profile looks like you go up one hill for about 1000 feet in six miles, then drop down for about 3 miles back to the previous elevation, then rise again for another 2000 feet for 6 miles, drop about 500 feet for 4 miles, go back up 500 feet for 3 miles, then drop down 500 feet until you hit the turnaround at the Olallie Meadows Campgrounds. I think some Mt Si repeats, a few of sessions at Tiger for a 12 Summits, 3 Summits, or a Seattle Favorite Loop might do me good for this. I don't expect intense climbs, but enough to make things interesting.

3.) The cost is a bit less. $150 versus paying almost $200. However, I'll be using that up with gas for the drive and camping out, so it's kind of a wash.
4.) Running on the Pacific Crest Trail. I've been wanting to do that for some time. Even though it's in Oregon, the PCT spirit stretches across the entire Pacific portion of the USA. Totally kick ass. :-)
5.) More drop bags for me to have access to along the course. I was going to be crewless for Cascade Crest and there are only 4 drop bag points there. This race will have 6 points, but you have a few extra times to access them along the course since it's an out-and-back. That will help make up for not having a crew.
6.) Lots of fellow Maniacs will be there as well, although a great deal of them will obviously be finished well before I am. However, since it's an out-and-back in both directions, I'll see them at the start, coming back from Timberline (the 25 mile turnaround), and coming back from Olallie Meadows (the 75 mile turnaround).

So the cash has been laid down - no refunds, no excuses. I've gotta train smart and well.

Now onto other things...

Since my last post, not too many things are different.

CrossFit workouts done:

Wednesday - 30# DB Push Press (18,15,12)
Friday - Swapped the squats with some Turkish Get-ups (33# DB x 6 each side)
Monday - 33# DB Dead Lifts (15,12,9)
Tuesday (today) - 500 meter row x 2 (1:51 & 1:54)

Runs done:

Wednesday - ~3 mi run at a steady state, keeping HR below 150 bpm.



Saturday - ~13 mi run along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail from Tanner Road going past Rattlesnake Lake. I did my best to maintain my HR around 149 bpm going up, but going down I let gravity take over and said screw it for the HRM. My HR ranged anywhere from 150 bpm to 175 bpm, with my pace bouncing from 10 minutes per mile to 8 minutes per mile. It felt freakin' awesome and I didn't feel winded at all letting gravity take over. I think that I have a high tolerance for running at my Lactate Threshold, which may explain why my perceived exertion is odd.





I have a feeling that I'm going to HR train for about half the time, allowing more time to actually ENJOY the running moments like I did on Saturday.

The defeat of the slacker

Cascade Crest has pretty much been filled and due to events with finances, I couldn't get my entry mailed in a timely manner.

I can always volunteer, but it looks like I'm going to have to try and find another 100 miler to train for.

The latest...

So far this week:

Monday - Dumbbell Deadlifts (18 reps @ 40lbs, 15 reps @ 45lbs, 12 reps @ 52.5lbs)
Tuesday - 500 meter row in 1:53, really cranked it hard at the end and almost felt like puking.

And some running:



I decided to do the same type of treadmill run as last time, maintaining a HR average well below my aerobic threshold of 138 bpm. Despite going over it a few times during the warm-up for some reason as it was recorded, it went well and I did 3.5 miles worth of distance. I'll gradually increase the distance/time as the weeks go on.

Germ Warfare

This week was not a good one for training. I had gotten sick on Tuesday and it really hit hard on Wednesday and tapered off on Thursday. You'd think I would do my best to protect my immune system with having a child in the house who interacts with other kids at school (school = germ factory). So no runs for me. However, I did manage to do most of my CrossFit workouts. I figured that I could go through a very intense workout that CrossFit in a short time versus doing a run that would tax my system at a "lower intensity", but for a longer period. Although, the ideal workout day would have been to CrossFit during my lunchtime and then run in the evening a few hours later. Anyway, here's what I did workout wise:

Tuesday: 500 meter row @ work. Damper set to 5, completed in 2:02 (focused on form)
Wednesday: Sick at home, but managed push-press DB workout. 33 lbs dumbbells, chipper workout of 15/12/9. Focused on form, not time.
Thursday: Still sick at home, but feeling better. No rowing machine, so substituted 500 meter row with 50 Sumo Dead-Lift High Pulls using 33 lbs DB's. This took some time after the first 25. Unbelievably sore afterwards!
Friday: Returned to work, but opted to rest this time instead of doing squat workout.

And we get to today...



I wanted to go long and easy. So the prescription was a 2-hour run (8 miles), trying to stay at or below my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm as best as I could. As you can see in the image, most of the HR spots that go above th 138 bpm point are usually hanging around 140-141 bpm, so I'm doing better with handling my HR outside of a treadmill environment, but I need to stick with it and tighten up the zones even more.

Another thing that I noticed is that after an hour of running, my EPOC gradually declined as I continued to run around the same HR. It looks awfully familiar to previous sessions where my EPOC dropped during a long workout. However, the curvature of the drop is alot more easy than before. Doing some research on this (pretty tough since alot of the info was white papers) and remembering various things from my calculus classes back in the day, I believe that what should happen when I continue to run at the same HR zone, the curve will start to flaten out. The 10-minute warm-up that I did will not rise into the Level 2 area for the Training Effect and the EPOC peak will land in the lower points of the Level 2 area of the TE, like a 2.2-2.4 if things progress well and there are no setbacks.

But basically, I ran 8 miles (old running route) in under the 2-hr time and I was able to keep my HR avg in the 136-137 bpm area, so I'd say I didn't do badly this run.

Tomorrow, I get to re-learn what it's like to be on tired legs. 3 hours, same workout intensity. I'm eager to know what the numbers say! Update: Didn't happen. Did alot of walking while running errands, but that's it!