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I have taken a little over a week off from running. During this week I’ve been able to process through what happened at the Around the Lake Marathon and begin to focus on what comes next.
On the calender, my next big race is the Vermont 50 – a tough 50-miler through the mountains of Vermont. I had promised my friend Doug that I would run it with him should I qualify for Boston (which I did back in October of last year). It’s been sitting on the calender ever since – looming large. It is a big reason why I am NOT running the New York City Marathon this year for Autism Speaks. I just couldn’t see myself running a 50-mile race at the end of September and then following it up with a Marathon in early November.
The Vermont 50 Team in fact has a growing number of runners and support crew that should make it a very fun event come September.
But 50 miles…
…that’s a lot of miles to run.
***
The most I’ve ever run at one time is the marathon distance (26.2 miles). Even taking into account that I weave through crowds and sometimes take the longer, outside lane, I’m pretty sure I haven’t run more than 27 miles at any one time.
And my last attempt at 26.2 ended at the 20-mile mark, doubled over, hobbling for the portapotty. As unready as I was for the Around the Lake Marathon, there was part of me that was convinced that I was going to pull off a 3:15 and lower my qualifying time for Boston 2012. (Click HERE for the new registration process) Sitting at a 3:19 qualifying time, my chances of getting in with the new rolling registration feels slim. I’d feel a lot more secure about being able to run Boston for the third consecutive year if I could give myself a 5 minute qualifying cushion that would allow me to register in the first week instead of the second.
After Around the Lake, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would probably not be running Boston this coming April.
But then Doug called me this past week. He wanted to see how I was doing after my meltdown. He had texted me earlier in the day asking if he could call, wanting to talk about “September 25th and September 11th”. The Vermont 50 is on the 25th. I assumed that maybe he was organizing some kind of memorial run for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 – he’s that kind of awesome.
To my surprise, he was calling me to essentially let me out of my promise to him. He knew how bummed I was after Around the Lake and called to let me know that there was a race being organized (by my team/sponsor Racemenu no less) to give runners one last chance to improve their qualifying times for Boston 2012 – a time trial type race, with 1 – 4 runners going out every 30 seconds based on projected finishing times. Imagine being able to start a race with a group of people who were gunning for the exact same time?
I couldn’t help but think, this is my second chance!!!
The details of the race are still being ironed out. All I know is that Racemenu chief, J. Alain Ferry is currently working on putting the race together and he feels confident enough about it that he’s had his team write about it on the team blog, facebook page and twitter feed.
September 11th is 5 weeks from yesterday, which would give me 5 weeks of training.
I haven’t been chasing 3:15 for too long (last November at New York was my first attempt), but three marathons later, with times that are getting slower (3:27 – NYC, 3:37 – Boston, DNF – Around the Lake) I wonder if Father Time is starting to nip at my heels.
New York I can chalk up to running shortly after my BQ run at Smuttynose. Boston I can chalk up to going out too fast and bonking at 17. I’ve essentially had a down cycle since Boston – that, along with the HEED I ingested at Around the Lake can take the blame for my flameout there.
My blog friend Lizzy suggested that maybe it was time to concentrate on shorter races, and she may be right; but I know 3:15 is just within my grasp.
It’s right there…my fingertips scraping against it.
This marathon would be in 5 weeks.
5 weeks!!!
I’m pretty sure I can rally hard for 5 weeks.
***
I’m also pretty sure that if I were to run a marathon in 3:15 on September 11th, I wouldn’t be able to run 50 miles 14 days later. I’m not completely sure how I feel about that. There were a lot of people I was planning on seeing/meeting from the running community on September 25th.
Who knows, maybe plans get held up and the marathon doesn’t happen. If that is the case, I suppose I am back on for the VT50, but right now, at this moment, I can’t turn my back on one last opportunity to better my chances of getting into Boston 2012.
This morning I got up and hit the treadmill at 5:30AM – an easy 3.5 mile run with no incline. I haven’t run pre-dawn in a while, and honestly, after over a week off, the legs felt a little rusty.
But it sure felt good to sweat.
Run Luau Run 
Stay true to yourself and everything will fall into place. Anyway you slice it, you will run in September either to honor those lost on Sept 11 or to honor your commitment to your friend. Either one speaks to your character, as a loyal friend.
Thanks Sheila! May have to add a pin if I run on 9/11!
I really don’t think that time is nipping at your heals. You haven’t been running that long, making your running age quite young. I have been running for five years and my times are still going down. They say you can continue to improve for ten years. I think that you have been training to much. Try more speed work and less distance. Less is more. Besides you have been learning in your past few marathons, go out more conservatively, negative splits are where it’s at and don’t try something new on race day, HEED. Personally, I love HEED, but that’s personal preforance, and that’s what I train with. Hope you get it figured out. I just ran a 50 here in Minnesota and after a short break am training to go sub 3 at the Twin Cities marathon in Oct.
Happy Running, Dane
I appreciate the input Dane. Was actually planning on some shorter, quicker runs over the next few weeks. As for the HEED – I’ve always been a proponent of no trying new things on race day. Honestly, I had I no idea I was consuming it until it was too late…was very, very bland…maybe the Gatorade I was drinking masked the flavor of the HEED. Best of luck at Twin Cities – sub-3 is an amazing milestone! Would love to someday have a “2” at the front of my Marathon PR.
Go get it man!
Regarding Vermont, I’m planning on around a 20-22 mile run two weeks out as part of an extended taper. You’re in good enough shape to bounce back for VT50. Remember – you are not going to run the whole thing. How’s your power walking?
Even if you don’t run VT50, you could come up and crew, or pace. We might need someone after 43 miles. 🙂
Thanks Adam – we’ll see how I feel. That said, it would be a lot of fun running you guys in from 43 to 50.
Go get ’em buddy!!! Another chance? Take it! Don’t leave yourself asking “what if….” Then you can come to VT and crew with us…best of both worlds I think.
Party on the trail!
Luau, 50 miles is just plain nuts.
I cannot argue with that statement.
Luau, you are a good friend and I feel for you. Which is why I called. Sometimes things just do go as planned. Sheila’s absolutely right… “Stay true to yourself and everything will fall into place.”
That being said, Adam is also right. Since we talked I’ve been floating the thought/idea around some of the Ultra message boards and I’ve found that MOST Ultra runner’s seem to think that a marathon is a great way to start off a taper. Also, the “running” that is done at an Ultra is much slower, easier on the body and interspersed with many walk-breaks and taking your time at aid stations (5-10 minutes of eating, drinking, changing socks, shoes, shirts, etc).
So, of course, my selfishness kicked-in and I’ve secretly been hoping to read this post and see you say that you’ve decided to run both (or that the 3:15 ultimately wasn’t that important to you and you’d decided to just run the VT50). But, since that didn’t happen, I’ll just leave you with a few thoughts to cloud the issue:
1) I’ve now run a total of 4 – 50 mile weeks in this training cycle. I will be doing a 30 mile LSD right before my 3 week taper begins.
2) I’m not sure, but I believe my training will top-out at a single 70-mile week.
3) Like I told you before, as much as I would LOVE to run the whole thing with you and have you there for an awesome weekend with really cool running friends, I would be okay with you being there to crew and pace me in the last 7 (or 9) miles (still not clear). It is looking less and less likely that I will have a committed pacer.
4) I have a campsite for Fri, Sat and Sun nights. Camp is going to be AWESOME! Although, I am unsure of how Sunday night at camp will turn out, I can say I have figured-out that Corona with lime is an AWESOME recovery drink during this training cycle.
I could go on and on with a list of reasons that Vermont is going to be a once in a lifetime excellent adventure, but I think you know that. And should you choose to go after that 3:15 and forego Vermont completely, you must know I will be all-up in your grill for the foreseeable future should you fall short again!
So, I guess you know what you need to do!
You are a good friend…a persuasive friend, but a good friend nonetheless!
I think it’s great you have the opportunity to do a 50. Maybe the change is what you need. If your marathons are getting slower, change it up by doing the 50. Maybe you’ll never run a marathon again because Ultra Running will become your thing.
Go for it. 🙂
I think there’s a chance you could do both, without killing yourself.
A marathon-distance run is often part of the taper program for the folks I know out here in Boulder who are doing ultras. You’d have to more aggressively rest (I love the idea of an aggressive rest) than you might otherwise during the the two week taper if actually RACING a marathon was part of the plan, but I think it’s doable. And anyway, regardless of what comes two weeks before, you are going to have to accept that a trail/dirt/gravel 50-miler is a little different than a road race of any distance, and that success is going to be measured by a different set of metrics. As I like to say about trail running/racing in the Rocky Mountains– power hiking is completely OK sometimes. (Heck, it’s faster than uphill running sometimes, if the footing is awful or if it’s dark.)
Regardless of where you net out on this, I have been thinking about you a lot on our long trail runs and thinking that you need to find a way (harder where you are, I know) to fit a little trail into your training. Trails are such good way to find mojo again. The scenery, the quiet, the moving meditation– all of it just seems to spark something. The focus is different. The effort is different. The metrics for success are different. I might be slower and struggle more during 13mi on trails than I would in a road half-mary, but I also may have climbed 1,300-2,000ft (and improved my fitness, big time), had to focus very closely on every footfall instead of zoning out, and gotten to some sort of spectacular scenic reward. Back roads and trail are tough. But they are tough in the very best ways.
I don’t know. If I were in the shape you’re in, running the distances you are, I might have to entertain both. 🙂
Don’t think for a moment that the thought didn’t cross my mind!
I don’t mean to be a wet blanket or anything, but with 7 weeks to go, have you done any sort of training at all for the 50 miler? I’m talking about training specific to that event, like getting off the road and treadmill and actually getting on a trail or going out for 4-5 hours at a time. There are a lot of bad reasons to do an ultra, and only a few good reasons to do it. And I haven’t really heard you give a good reason why you want to do it. Don’t let your ego write checks that your body can’t cash.
and that’s the rub isn’t it? I really haven’t done any specific training for the VT50 and quite honestly, I’m not sure where I would go that is close enough for me to do just that. Sound and sage words my friend, as always…though I don’t know how I feel about the Maverick reference… 🙂
I think I know where your heart is telling you to run, so you should probably follow that. Don’t feel like your boxed into any races either way – there’s always more races and you’re really not that old. I think it’s important to enjoy what you’re doing and also keep yourself safe.
As for Top Gun:
lol