Discussion: Great run

...and great write-up.
It was interesting to follow your progress from afar and noticing your strong finish passing so many runners in the end.
Next time a sub-24 ;)

Hey Mike

Congrats on a great run. I always love following this race online and knowing someone in the race this year who was rocking it was sweet. You had a amazing run in some bruttal conditions. Congrats you earned it.

Huge congrats!! Amazing...especially considering the crazy heat on the day.

...glad your socks worked well!!

Nice run Mike!

Perfect execution. Congrats. It was really fun to watch you doing so well.

You pretty much put on a clinic for how to train, handle an injury and heat and ace the race. Nicely done on all counts!

Thanks everyone. With the 25:50 finish and the heat, it does make you a little curious about whether 24 hours would be possible in normal conditions but I wasn't really that worried about it. The conditions this weekend meant the race was more about survival and managing yourself and your pace well, especially my first time on this race course and the first 100-miler that I was actually going to run and not speed hike. After all of the training invested this year, I wanted to come away with a positive experience rather than risk throwing it all away in hopes of chasing the 24-hour goal. think the adventure racing background served me well. I ate and drank well from early on, and kept my weight at 144 lbs from the start of the day and at every single weigh in except for one 143 and then a 139 which I think was a bad scale because the next weight check was 144 again.
There were definitely moments where I was still open to the possibility of 24 hours but realized I was running a really good race and that just continuing with my plan would give me the best chance of my best time. Even if I didn't have a shot at 24 hours, I could tell it was all leading toward a well run race and a result that I would be very satisfied with.

I'm glad it was fun to watch me running well. Now imagine how fun it was to *be* the person running so well! :)
Ang and I definitely let out some congratulatory comments and cheers at the end of several good downhill rips! Team 108 was on a high. Man, if my feet and quads were feeling more fresh right now, just thinking about the running last night is making we want to go rip some more good downhills! :)

Wow, great race and great report. I can't imagine doing that distance! 144lbs!!! What ? I have some work to do before Ecomotion! Enjoy a beer or two.

Wait 'til I post the photo of my WS wristband that contains my info (141.6 lbs the day before the race). The blood pressure wasn't as impressive as I would hope, but all the racers were excited and had been standing in line in the heat. Some racers got some bruised egos and insisted on having their blood pressure re-taken.
And then the cardiology team weighed me without shoes... 62.9 kg. But you're about 4 inches taller than me? I'd kill for that!
Yep, all of this running sure drove the weight down this year, but the pizza at Wolfgang Puck in the Seattle airport is working on that. Definitely one of the best pizza experiences.... Ever!!

CO you are one amazing runner. You just kept on running. I'm in awe at your downhilling skills right up to the end. And how fast you flew through transitions. and just sucking up all that pain after seeing your feet afterwards.

Oh! Let's hear about those feet.

The feet definitely had a few blisters but they weren't too painful until near the end. Despite some good taping, a couple of spots rubbed. Another interesting occurrence was my orthotics being able to slide forward in my shoes because I'm a size 8.5 but I wear size 9s for long runs. Once the orthotics slide forward, my foot may shift back on the orthotic and then the back edge of my heel lands on the cupped-up back edge of the orthotic. This caused a pretty juicy blister on the back/bottom edge of each heel. Kind of nasty. I didn't notice it when I was running (maybe I wasn't heel striking much) but now I notice it when I walk around.
Also, the feet were soaked for most of the day and became a bit like trench foot. Just behind the space between the first two toes, the skin developed a crease which then developed a blister. This is still pretty nasty today. The rest of the foot is doing pretty well, but this one spot on each foot is tender enough that it is impacting my walking. I can't wait for this spot to improve.

On a positive note, the knees never felt like they did anything, and my calves also felt like they hadn't worked and didn't care about being massaged right after the race. My quads, on the other hand.... The quads take a beating at this race. I was still able to run and run quickly downhill, right to the end, so my legs did really well despite the quads first starting to hurt around mile 20. Each time I would start a new downhill, the first few strides would stretch out the muscles and feel like it was re-tearing something in the quads that was trying to heal. After sucking up the first few strides each time, it wasn't too bad, and the speed was well worth it.
My hips were fine and also didn't feel like they did anything. I think the 2 inches shorter was a big factor in not beating myself up with impact. All of the strength training probably helped too.
My back also did fine through the whole race.
Nice. I didn't expect you could run 100 miles and feel such minimal effects.

CO, I need to beg and plead with you to video yourself and Carbon doing some of your exercises if Llew gives permission, and if you don't mind. Maybe post it to a private Youtube link? I did that with my knee rehab exercises with permission. I want Quads Of Carbon for CCC.

Unfortunately, we're a few months too late.

Sad but true. More likely to get bashed and bent quads at this point, but still on peut rêver...

'Bent: I think the biggest factors for reducing the impact, and keeping the body in good condition, including the quads, were:
- the "make yourself 2 inches shorter in the lower body"
- landing mid-foot instead of heel striking
- never fully straightening the leg or locking it out, even when pushing off behind you
-getting even lower (more than 2 inches) in the lower body on the downhills; the steeper the hill, the more you drop your butt
- keep the forward lean on the downhills and continue to run them, rather than straightening up, leaning back, putting the brakes on.

In addition to that, I might suggest whatever strength exercises you do to help your knees. I'm guessing these include some quad exercises.

iRunFar final round-up of Western States coverage. Unfortunately, they failed to interview you!

http://www.irunfar.com/2013/07/2013-western-states...