Starting over with 100 miles

Work + work + work = successes

2007-09-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

A long couple months of frustration, re-evaluation, adjustments, new shoes but occasional successes. I started intensive strength training on my calves and quads and finally seem to be seeing some return on that philosophy.
With a max mileage of 8 miles I still have those horrid days of barely able to run 2 or 3 but now seem to be able to push hard past those times and get in some good workouts.

After my last rest period of 2 weeks for heeling on shin splints and massive cramping I played 'hurry up' to get back in the game for my first race in 25 years.

My son and I ran 2 days ago in the Omaha half marathon and I felt great. I realized that the hills I've been running have been great for my stamina and we were the only people running up a gentle 1 1/2 mile slope during the race and felt terrific about our strategy of starting slowwwww and speeding up later to a 9 or 9.5 minute mile pace toward the end. I may have finished far back in the pack but feel good about that next step toward the goal of 100 miles.

Hot, hot, hot

2007-08-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

This week has been about maintenance runs. Just getting out to do some mileage but not pushing too much because of the heat and humidity. It seems that no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to stay hydrated here between working in the heat and then going out for a measly 3 or 4 miles.

yesterday I went out with my road shoes and felt pretty good on the pavement but had to ice my knee several times at work last night. I wanted to go out this morning for a couple miles but the humidity was just atrocious so maybe tomorrow morning.

Busting out on vacation

2007-07-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've finally been able to get rested up mentally and I think that has allowed some extra mileage. Last weekend went running with my son and did a great 6 miler on a new course that started with 2 miles of gruesome hills and then a gentle uphill before plummeting back to the valley to wrap it up. Felt great the whole way and wow, so proud that Matthew is taking an interest in running finally... sure would have been easier 10 years ago when I was younger though.

Anyway, 3 days ago I did a run on all flat surface dirt roads and battled the bugs and humidity as I ran 4 miles with corn fields on both sides. At one point I came to a fork in the road, what I called the easy way (6 miles) or the hard way which would take me to 8 miles. without barely hesitating I thought of a new motto for my running goals; "how willing am I to step out of the comfort zone to achieve my goals." So now I have my first 8 miler under my belt and ready for the next step of maybe a 10 miler next week.

Yesterday Matthew and I ran together again and I felt great but still very stiff and my knees are pretty tight. That 4.5 miles topped the weekly total for a recent PR of 24 miles.

Work vs. Run

2007-07-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough 3 weeks with the running. I've learned several things these last few weeks. For one, lack of sleep really effects my running. I switched my schedule from working nights to days for a 4 day weekend and went to Minnesota and tried to keep running but felt just awful. Then I came back and switched back to nights so I had a double dose of exhaustion there. then after working 5 nights I had to switch back to days and started a 13 day stretch of 12-14 hour shifts.

Each day that I ran after already walking about 10-13 miles at work I felt worse and worse until I finally ran a 2 miler that just killed me and I walked all the way back home. Two days ago after resting for 4 days I could barely run a mile but forced myself to go 4 so felt good about the effort. Today I had off from work and just went out for a relaxed run with no real plans for distance and it was great. Ran 7+ miles, the farthest to date and really felt good when I finished.

Just have to take the good with the bad sometimes and it may seem to be taking longer than I planned to build up my endurance but hey, could barely run a 1/4 mile that first day 4 months ago - perspective eh!

Pulling back

2007-06-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

Continually I learn how to make adjustments for this old body to get by on the road. About a month ago, with much pain in my calf, I decided I needed to switch gears and try another strategy for my running / healing. I first took a week off and used some TENS therapy combined with low energy laser therapy. Each day I also soaked my legs in hot water and used Tiger Balm and throughout the day I iced my calf several times.

After a week I found a soft dirt road with a slight slope and walked the one mile up and jogged down which worked extremely well with taking the weight off my calves and still allowing me to get out there and keep moving a bit. After two weeks of this I tried a 3.5 miler with no pain. 3 days ago I ran a 4.2 miler that included a .75 mile up hill and still felt great. I almost pushed it too much 2 days ago when my son visited and wanting to run with him I did a pretty tough 2 miler of hills. Those two day in a row gave me some stiffness in my knees but still no pain in my calf so success with this stage I guess.

I'm on nights right now and with tonight off I'll go out about 1:00 am and try a new course that will give me 6 miles with a wicked hill in the middle so we'll see how that goes. I am really excited about being able to move forward but still have to keep watching those little warning signs that pop up telling me to slow down.

Hurry up and.... stop

2007-06-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

I continue to learn these hard lessons about getting hmmm... less young. I can honestly say that the habit of running has fully gripped my whole being. I think of nothing else it seems but where or how far, of whether or not I am fully hydrating during the day at work. I worry about the effects of walking 10+ miles at work or the thousands of stairs I climb each week and how it will hurt when I run on those swollen knees. I have to keep from hurrying home and driving too fast so that I can ... what? Well, to experience the pain, the agony, the heartache of another failed run before I forced to pull back when my calf starts to cramp.
But oh how beautiful it feels to be out there moving again. In those brief few miles I feel alive and love to feel my lungs swelling to breathe in the air. That awesome struggle of mind over body when the muscles tire and dreaded thoughts of failure creep in. And when I feel the cramps begin I pull back again, and walk. Not too proud to accept the limitations I've placed on myself by sitting for 20 years but also comfortable in the knowledge that it is only a matter of time. Maybe longer than I thought but surely I will achieve this goal.

How can people run 100 miles -by Kassidy

2007-05-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

This blog chapter is devoted to not only my goal of a hundred mile race but to my neighbor girl Kassidy who is 8 years old.

When I heard David was running a hundred miles next year I thought "WOW, that is far." I could never run that far because, well, I'm too little and you know, I AM only 8 years old.

Kassidy: How many hours would that take to run 100 miles?

Dave: It will really depend on which race I choose but most races will probably take at least a day and maybe as much as 1 1/2 days.

Kassidy: If the race lasts that long how will you live, like eating and sleeping?

Dave: If the race lasts more than a day I will have to eat A LOT and eat while I run. Some of the foods that I will eat will be like ice cream, sandwiches, nutrition bars and I will have to drink lots and lots of water and Gatorade. As for sleeping, well, besides maybe short naps I probably will not sleep until the race is over.

Kassidy: Will you sweat a lot.

Dave: Yes, a whole bunch and that is why I will have to drink so much. It really depends on how warm it is and also how hard I push myself during the race.

Kassidy: How skinny will you be after running for the next 18 months and after you finish the race?

Dave: I am hoping that I can get my weight down to at least 150 pounds and I was 187 or 189 when I started two months. Right now I weigh in at 161 pounds.

Kassidy: Wow, I knew you didn't look as fat as you used to be.
(UGH, from the mouths of babes huh!)

Kassidy: Where will you run.

Dave: I will probably run somewhere in the mountains, maybe in the Grand Tetons or in Minnesota by Lake Superior but I have not made that decision yet.
(I used Google Earth to show Kassidy some of the trails in the Tetons and what the mountains look like from a distance.)

Kassidy: What will you see when you are running.

Dave: If the race is in the mountains then lots and lots of hills and if in Minnesota then lots of trees and sometimes maybe I'll see big lake Superior.

Kassidy: Will you have to keep running or can you stop and rest.

Dave: I will stop only for short breaks to eat and take care of my feet and while running I will do a combination of running and walking, especially walking up the hills.

(I showed Kassidy the pack that I will wear when I run that has two big bottles for water and space for a first aid kit and for food. I also showed her the hand held water bottles.)

Kassidy: Now for my biggest and most important question. Why do you have to run?

Dave: I want to do this run so that I can just see if I am still capable of doing something as hard as this because of how old I am getting. Also I want to run because it is healthy and exercising is something that everyone should try to do. Maybe also it is just that my memories of running from 25 years ago are still strong in my mind and I want to experience that feeling again.

When I asked Kassidy if she thought I was crazy for wanting to run a 100 mile race she told me that she thought I should go for it. I will more easily take advice like this from an 8 year old than from other adults that can never envision such an odyssey.

Down but not out

2007-05-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

A couple of tough weeks. I went out one night a couple of weeks ago and felt just awesome managing to knock off 4+ miles but at the expense of cramping big time. During a 9 day stretch of work and with all the stairs and walking in work boots 10+ miles each day I didn't get much healing time. Finally about 6 days ago, with a hugely swollen and sore calf I had to decide to just take the time off and keep icing and massaging.

I was really starting to get depressed about not being able to run so yesterday I determined that I would go on a ten mile hike and toward the end see if I could run a bit. It was a hilly course but with a lot of loose, fine gravel for cushioning and I almost started running too late because I got in 3.5 miles and felt great. It really was encouraging that the time off didn't hurt too much.

bad cold - good run

2007-05-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

These last couple weeks I've had some really good days, and some really bad. I've settled into a routine that goes quite well with my 12+ hour work shifts. I try to run my longer runs (if you can call them that) on my off days and have started to take rest days, one at a time, when I have to go back to work. This is another lesson I've had to learn about getting old I guess because 25 years ago it would have been a sin to take a day off. Just can't afford to have that mindset now while I'm starting over with my running because of what I am seeing occasionally with over stressing my body. Also after a day's rest I see great results with a really good run as a reward.

Another thing I've learned is the importance of drinking - A LOT! Yuck, I hate water but I keep forcing myself to drink more water and less soda or milk. The cramps are much less frequent with the added intake of liquids and I know, this should be an obvious thing but hey, what can I say after being dehydrated for 25+ years. At least now I see why my digestion used to shut down on my 20+ mile runs years ago.

I came down with a wicked cold over the weekend and took two days off (ohhhh noooo) and the cold moved into my lungs with lots of hacking. Last night I couldn't take it any longer so I ran a mile and it made my headache and runny nose slow down so tonight I went out and ran at 2:00 am and wow, felt great with a 3.4 mile run.
Back to work tomorrow and I'll run maybe a mile in the heat of the afternoon before work then another day off. Gained a couple of pounds with eating a few too many carbs while I felt under the weather but I'll crack down this week and hopefully get below 165 which would be 24 pounds in 6 weeks.

3 miles

2007-04-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

Finally, the 3 mile mark in this journey. I had a couple of good days over the weekend with 2.4 and 1.8 miles and then climbed up 2500 stairs at work yesterday so I just had to take a day off. It's more of a positive thing maybe because I still tend to want to run every day and as far as I can. Have to keep disciplined and look at my goal here.
The run last night was great except for some residual throbbing in my knees from all the stairs at work. As I ran the lightning was flashing on the horizon and it's still that time of year that you don't hear any bugs so it was just awesome with the silence at 1200 midnight.

4 weeks

2007-04-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Today is 4 weeks completed toward my 100 mile race goal. I suppose my progress is really a matter of perspective since it seems to hurt just as much when I run as in the beginning. Sitting back a bit and really looking though I can see that my stride has become more confident and I don't actually think any longer that I will experience cardiac arrest after a workout.

It has really helped to spend my workouts on the track now instead of the pavement and I've been able to adapt my workouts so that I mix quick paced walking with my running. Last couple of days it's been to run two laps and walk a half lap 3 times. I've also started (once so far) doing some long 3-4 hour hikes which use completely different muscles so I'm stiff all over again. My weight is down to around 172 so a 15 pound loss in a month so I'm starting to see a difference there.

One other note; I subscribed to two running magazines, "Marathon and Beyond" and "UltraRunning." Both excellent publications and I would recommend both very highly.

Still winter

2007-04-12T17:43:00.001-07:00

Windy, cold and sleeting. It would have been easy to stay in yesterday but... well, I have to continue developing that habit again of running each day no matter what. My workout turned out to be great though with 3 miles of walking and .75 miles run and then another .5 at the end of the workout. The biggest satisfaction was that when I finished stretching afterwards I stood up and my first thought was "wow, I feel great."

Today I walked a vigorous 8-9 miles on mud and lots of hills. I ran some of the gentle downhill slopes to the extent of about .75 miles. Good workout and my leg that was cramping is a bit tight but still not cramping like it was last week.

2007-04-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely?

2007-04-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure about the 'surely' but the 'Slowly' hits the nail on the head. I've just spent the most painful week with massive cramping on one of my calves. Still, each day I was out there walking to try and loosen up but as soon as I would try to run and this old body would slam down on that leg ... it was over for that day.

Yesterday I walked vigorously 3 miles and adjusted my stride a bit and ran .5 miles. Today, after working a 14 hour shift and walking 12+ miles with work boots I came home and was able to carefully run .75 miles. Well, doesn't sound like much but these are all the first steps toward my goal of a 100 miler.

UGH!

2007-04-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, I my legs are killing me. I've had 3 days of disappointment with barely being able to walk let alone run. I felt great on Sunday and then my right calf locked up on me. Icing and heat didn't seem to help at all. Tonight after a 14 hour shift at work I did the smartest thing so far and that was to just stretch and stay off that leg. Tomorrow I'll go for a brisk 4 mile walk and then see how I feel on Friday. I know I'm pushing too fast but I don't know how much 'less' I can do since I can barely run a mile on a good day.

I get to feeling a bit overwhelmed at times looking at all the modern running knowledge and hardware out there. What happened to the good old days when I just ran out the door with shoes and old worn shorts and felt the breeze on my face and blowing through my hair (oh! I still had hair - haha.) And I'm not sure how I ran all those 25+ milers with no water and still survived. Actually I'm looking forward to actually running a long one with water in hand.

Well, I have to keep plugging away and though my goal is 18 months for a 100 miler is a bit ambitious I've got a good 30 years to accomplish it.

Two weeks

2007-04-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Just two weeks into my training or, as it sometimes seems, my rebirth. Every muscle in my legs hurt and I've seen that even though I'm only running 1 - 1.5 miles I need to kind of back off a bit and let my legs adjust to this abuse. I am also slowly losing weight and that's really important here to save my feet from the pounding.
I have been sneaking into the locked stadium in town to run on the softer surface and that seems to help. Last night I was feeling great and thought I might try 2 or more miles but my calf cramped so badly after a mile that I could barely walk home.

Thoughts have been sneaking into my head as to whether or not I might be able to do this and yet deep down I'm committed. It's been 20+ years since I've run but I had never quit a race.

My schedule calls for a marathon by this fall not matter how slow. My first 50 miler next spring and hopefully an ultra 100 miler next fall. Even if I find out that this is too ambitious of a goal I'll keep running and may have to move it back a bit to 2 years before the 100 miler. I've been looking at various events and haven't decided yet which to choose for my 100 miler. more on that later. Gotta go limp out a half mile or so.

The beginning

2007-04-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first entry in my journey to completing a 100 mile ultramarathon. This post should actually be post dated for March 25th but I am moving my blog space.

One week ago I sat in the control room at work wondering why I felt so trapped. What happened to the challenges in my life that I enjoyed so much when I was younger? Why and how did I come to this point when I accepted each day and it's many worries as the necessary next step to old age? Well, I'm only 45 and here starts the grand finale fling of adventures that hopefully will consume me for the next 20 or 30 years.

The span of years that I was a runner may have been relatively short but extremely fullfilling and eventually led to an unofficial marathon as well as my brief foray in the ultra marathoning world when I completed a 30 mile run on a bet. well, now it's been 20 years since any running at all but hey, I've always loved a good challenge. So my goal here is to complete a 50 mile ultra next spring and by next fall hopefully a 100 mile run.

One week ago I ran around the block and nearly died. Yesterday, with only 6 days of working out I ran 1.5 miles. Can't necessarily say it was a delightful experience but that day will come. I definitely need to lose the weight to save my feet from being demolished so I'm starting at 185 lbs and hopefully can get down to 145 or so where I should be.