Vermont 100: Mental Strategies

Hi all,
So my experience at the Vermont 100 last Saturday was so deep, spiritual, emotional, and memorable, it's hard to decide where to begin and where to end. Here's my first attempt:

When people hear I ran 100 miles last weekend in one day, they ask how I could do something like that. To start with, I've been running for 13 years now and this was my 4th 100 mile run. I've also trained all year for this race. So I was well-prepared. Included in my mental preparation was visualization and mantras. For a few nights before the race, I visualized the course as vividly as I could, and imagined in great detail completing my run perfectly with all the challenges and strategies that might come up. The mantras helped me on race day to stay focused and spiritually and emotionally grounded the whole day.

My mantras for the race were many, but simple. I have a tendency to start a race too fast, so one mantra that kept me well-paced was: The race starts at mile 50. I know, it's a strange statement to light and non-runners. My next mantra helped me during the second half of the race: Open up your stride. After running a few marathons, my legs and back tightened up so much that I had to constantly remind myself to take longer strides as opposed to the stiff shuffle my body wanted to do. And the course was all hills, so I had plenty of down hills to take advantage of and run faster. Now, in my first 100 mile race, I mentioned I used the mantra "right here, right now" to stay present and not worry about the impending pain and miles. In this second 100 mile race, I used that mantra but I also broke down the race into tens. I just worried about the 60s, or the 70s, and so on. That helped a lot to break up the race into achievable intermediate goals. I had on my person a list of Marshall Ulrich's Ten Commandments of Endurance. He taught these lessons to the Navy Seals before their Hell Week training and he wrote them into his book, Running on Empty. The ones that stuck with me were, "Suffering is okay", "Expect a journey and a battle", and "Don't dwell on the negative." Lastly, when I bonked during the 70s miles, I used a lesson from mindfulness that, "This too shall pass," --and it did.

To be continued!

Vermont 100 Race Review Intro

Hi everyone, Exciting news!

I ran in the Vermont 100 mile endurance run last Saturday and I survived. Better than that actually, I thrived. I thought I would finish in 24 hours, but I surprised myself by finishing strong in 19:50! My parents were crewing for me and they were so thrown off by my predicted pace that they missed me at two early aid stations. I am going to write a proper story of my journey soon, but for now, I'll show you some pictures.

Margaritaville Aid Station, Mile 58.5

My dad crewing for me while I think, "Do I really want to stop for sunscreen on an overcast day?"

That's me at the finish line. I finished right before midnight. I'm being handed a 6 foot long sub. Just kidding, it's a towel.

Who could ask for better parents?

Summer, sickness, and Sun in the Fun!

Here's me with family at a nice hotel in Long Branch, NJ. Note: We agreed to take a photo at the beginning of the trip, while we still liked each other :)


Hey friends,
So yes, I've forgotten about this blog again. Nobody told me summer grad classes would be so darn intense! I just finished an Early Literacy and Language class, am about to finish an Adolescent Development class, and have yet to take a Science and Tech class. Holy Moly! In between my classwork, I've found some time for running. Beyond my usual Mills Park run in Montclair, I've ran at the Delaware Water Gap and the Jersey shore. The Gap was brand new to me and it was STEEP! Also included were many hairy caterpillars, the thrills of tripping while running downhill, and frigid gushing streams.

My Vermont 100 race is in 10 days! I'm very excited for this challenge, even with a respiratory virus I'm battling at the moment. Yes, I believe that's my cue to stop procrastinating, write my finals essays, and rest up before the big day.


Happy trails,
Steve

Mayapple 100K race report part 1

If you name something, can you still deny it ever happened? I attempted the Mayapple 100K last Saturday. After 12.5 hours of stomach pain, chafing, and endless hills, I did something I've never done in a race -- I quit. I did lie to myself enough to complete 51 miles of the course so I feel accomplished about that, at least. Still, I have this gnawing melancholy feeling inside me now. Runners call it the postrace blues. I keep wondering about Saturday, if I could have willed myself to press on and finish the last 10 miles.

After the race, my stomach felt so terrible, like times before when I suffered from food poisoning. 30 minutes later, I was vomiting on the side of the road. my dad had been driving me home and I felt that rush of saliva fill the corners of my mouth and told him to stop. Then I was finally expelling whatever had been tying knots in my stomach the whole day. Maybe that fat-laden buffalo chicken dinner I ate the night before was a little too much? It was filled with bars of cream cheese, two types of cheese, bacon, and mayonnaise. Bleh, that was a mistake alright.

Summer graduate classes have begun, so I'll finish up my report soon. It's filled with self-deception and unstoppable racers from around the globe. Goodnight y'all.

3 lessons learned from a long run

My long run today was great. I ran the Lenape Trail from South Mountain to Brookdale Park. 22 miles I estimate. It was hot, it was sweat-in-the-eyes, it was hardcore. I ran the same route in March through mud, snow, and ice. That was treacherous. That run took me 5:30. This run, with great surface conditions but hotter weather, took me 4:50. I learned three things from this run.
1. Do not chug 2 cans of pure coconut water on a long run. Little coconut devils will twist your intestines into knots.
2. When you get sick of drinking coconut water after 2 hours of running and finally come to a water fountain, do not chug water like it's the fountain of youth. This will have the same effect as lesson one.
3. Always say yes to free ice cream.

Spring Runs

So my training run today got ambitious. After my friend bailed out on a run this morning, I did something I've wanted to do for months. I ran a good chunk of the Lenape Trail in Essex County. I had been waiting for the snow to melt entirely, but I couldn't wait any longer. I ran through snow, into deep mud, slipping over ice, splashing through creeks, and climbing over mountains. For five and a half hours. It was a blast!

One funny part was when I passed by Verona's main street. I remembered my friend said there was a bakery there with the best donuts that I had to try. So I found the bakery (conveniently on the Lenape Trail), and went in for a donut. After waiting in line for a while, I asked the employee for a donut and a personal pizza pie. I showed the lady my credit card for payment and she said, "$5 limit for credit cards." This was confusing, and I said, "You mean minimum?" and she agreed that was the right word. So, grumbling, I ordered an oatmeal raisin cookie. She rang it up on the cash register. "$4.25. You need to buy something else." What a pain! I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode. So I got a chocolate chip cookie. While the lady rang it up, the guy behind me said, "Watch, it'll be 4.99" and laughed.
$5.45 was my total. Finally!

Trail conditions: The trails were either flooded, still partially covered in ice, or muddy and hollow (I never knew when I would fall in suddenly). The worst conditions were in South Mountain Reservation.

Next, I'm excited to run the whole length of the Lenape Trail, from Millburn to Newark.

Trail Closure: After leaving South Mountain, the trail stops in some private community. You have to take a left, two rights, and follow the road out to Rt. 10. From there, I descended down and took a left on Mt. Pleasant Ave. where the trail rejoins the road again, originating from the direction of a power line trail. The trail website says PSE&G is still replacing their transmission towers since starting in 2012.

Happy trails everyone!
~Steve

Let it snow!

Discovery! I found an ultra running group on Meetup called New York Trail and Ultra-Running that's great fun! So far, I've joined them at Bear Mountain and Harriman State Park for runs along the North Face Bear Mtn. 50K course that I'll do this May. Here's a taste of what we've been up against in the woods with the snow and ice and freezing water:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y3lyCHzyDY

Happy trails!