Training Log Archive: Timato

Event: Peak-2-Peak Adventure Run
 

The Stars MTBO was a lot of fun today. The course was longer than I thought it would be and with all the trails in Albion the navib0gation at times was quite hard. I ended up winning the overall, but it wasn't my greatest race as I had to stop a number of times to check the map.

C • Congrats! :) 2

Event: Oil Creek
 

Splits from this weekend
25km = 2:54:19 (51st place)
50km = 6:34:12 (44th place)
75km = 9:35:06 (31st place)
100km = 13:35:31 (30th place)
125km = 17:00:00 (results aren't available for this station, but I think this was roughly the time I came in)
150km = 22:00:00
160km = 23:55:12 (19th overall)

So what do you say about your first 100 miler. At the beginning of the year I had been debating a few different ideas in my head for a big challenge this year. In the end I decided I'd like to try running a 100 miler. I've done a few ultra's now and for the last few I've felt like I've got the race management down that I was starting to think that if the race gets longer I may actually do better. Thus I found myself at 5 am standing out front of Titusville middle school with my buddy Mike about to see if this was a good or bad idea.

The first loop was pretty unexciting I found myself running alone pretty early on and I was already playing the mind games with myself about how long this was going to be and could I do it. Luckily a runner came along and liked my pace and we ended up running from AS1 to AS2 together and had the chance to chat the whole way. This helped a lot because suddenly I wasn't thinking about the race in front of me, I was just enjoying someone else's company and passing the time.

On the way back from AS2 to AS4 I had the chance to run with a few different people. I decided to embrace what I had learned on the first 25 km and chat with people, in most other ultra's I've done I never talk with people and I think this is a part of the problem. This again helped to pass the km and I came into the 50 km mark feeling as good as one can feel after running 50 km.

Out for the second loop and I started with a guy who was also doing his first 100 miler. He was thinking he could go for the 22 hour buckle so I bid him good luck and stuck to my pace. I ended up running the next 12 km by myself and I decided if I was alone again I'd put the ipod on. However, as I came into AS1 I came across 4 more runners including the guy who I had started the loop with. I left before all of them, but he soon caught me and we ran most of the next 12 km together. Again this really helped to pass the time and make the section enjoyable.

Once I came into AS2 I had decided that this was the halfway point (even though it's really 72km of he 160 km), this gave me the mental boost I needed because I went from thinking about all the km's I had to run to thinking about how I was now running towards the finish line. Out of AS2 I found myself alone again and this time I put on some music. I ended up listening to music right into the 100km mark where I got to pick up Mrs Tiny. I was pretty excited about this because it meant I'd have someone to run with now and I also thought it was pretty cool that I had my wife to pace me (I kept telling people how my wife was going to pace me for the race and most people were pretty impressed that she agreed to do it).

The next 50 km went really well, we just plugged alone sometimes we chatted and other times we just ran enjoying the quiet. It was neat to get to show K-Way all the fun little things on the trail that I had already seen. She enjoyed visiting AS1 with all the decorations they put up and I made sure I pointed out all the signs that the boy scouts had hung leading into their campground ("This isn't a sign, this is paper visiting family").

We wrapped up the loop and K-way was pretty sore, as was I. However, in true pacer/support role she volunteered to come out and run the last 10 km loop with me if I wanted. I definitely took her up on this offer. Off we went knowing I was almost there. We popped out of the woods with 1.5 miles of bike path to go and the time was 23:43:00 which meant I had 17 min to break 24 hours. I mentioned this casually to K-way and she responded with "do you want to break 24 hours", "sure that'd be pretty cool" I said. So she picked up the pace and we pushed as hard as we both could. The bike path ends at a road with a slight up hill and then you run the road a few hundred meters to the school. At the raod K-way gave me a shove and said "go get it". It felt great to run that last bit into the finish and know I'd done it.

I will definitely do another 100 miler again as the experience for me overall was very positive. I'm really grateful for K-way pacing me, I think it would have been a different experience all together if I didn't have a pacer. I also have to thank my good friend Mike who came along for the race. He gets very excited for these types of events and is always grateful that I let him come along, which is backwards because it's the runner that is supposed to be the grateful one. His help and enthusiasm goes a long way to making the race what it was for me and for that I am so grateful.

C • Knocked it out of the park! 12

Light run around the park. Making sure the new ipod will work for running on Saturday.

C • Have a good one! 2

C • Congrats! 3

Random running at ARK last night including Core on the go and running to/from the location home.

Orienteering in Bechtel park.