Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

FYI - I noticed yesterday that registration is open for the Leadville events.  I got confirmation that I'm in the 100 Trail Run...  This year should be exciting!

Beach 2 Battleship

Yes, I am a little slow in posting this.  Day late and dollar short - that's me.  Anyway, I did want to give a review of the Beach 2 Battleship iron distance race on November 7th and give congratulations to all who competed, especially those that did their first iron distance race.

The day dawned COLD as...  Let's just say it was cold.  The race starts with a brisk swim in the Intracoastal Waterway.  The iron distance event (there is also a half iron distance race that starts about an hour later) starts at the South end of Wrightsville Beach, just past the Coast Guard Station.  The air was cold enough that the 67 degree water felt good and believe it or not, some people were nuts enough to go without wetsuits!  Can you spell hypothermia boys and girls?  

Anyway, the swim is with the tide and is FAST.  I did the swim and was amazed how quickly Harbor Island zipped by!  A new record was set this year (0:39:49 for 2.4 miles) by Todd Pletcher, beating Matt Wisthoff's record by 10 seconds.  

The swim ends at the Seapath Yacht Club (just like the Wilmington YMCA Triathlon) with the first transition area across the street in the field near the WB municipal buildings.  

     

Dale Lamb Doing a Great Job Representing the WFD

The bike course leaves Wrightsville Beach and heads out I-140, up 210, down 41, and finally  back to Wilmington on Hwy 421.  Reports were a tailwind right up to the point you headed home on 421, when you encountered about 40 miles of headwind.  I rode up 421 for 30 miles +/- cheering people on (yes, I was the guy going the wrong way) and stopping to offer a tube, a CO2, or anything else I might have to anyone that might need something.  When I finally turned around to head back to Wilmington, I was glad I didn't have the extra 50 miles on my legs that the competitors did.  That headwind made itself known pretty quickly and you were in it right up to the point you reached the Battleship.      

DJ Spricigo Proving That Manual Labor Counts as a Taper

Ahh, the run.  That wonderful part of the race we all look forward to.  The B2B run course was revised this year to only tie up one of the bridges into Wilmington.  Runners leave the 2nd transition area at the Battleship and head up 421 to the Elizabeth Holmes Bridge and into Wilmington.  The run fairly closely mimics the first half of the Battleship NC 1/2 Marathon (see previous post), but has a turn around halfway around Greenfield Lake.  This loop is done twice to get the required 26.2 miles.  

Famous for Dominating His Age Group in a Run Earlier This Summer, Mike Jones Attacks the B2B Course

It is always interesting for me to see the changes that take place over the run in an iron distance race.  Some people make it halfway through and look like the walking dead.  Others look great only to be forced to dig deep within themselves as the final miles unfold.  Meanwhile, there are always those that look fine all the way through.  I was really impressed to see my friends and training partners falling into the last category.  You guys may have felt like collapsing, but you did a great job putting your game face on.

Brian Moxey Knowing He Has Another "Uncrustable" in His Special Needs Bag

Again, congratulations to all the finishers and especially to the first timers out there:

John Holbrook

Mike Jones

Dale Lamb

Brian Moxey

DJ Spricigo

Sorry if I missed anyone, it was not intentional.

John Holbrook Proving He's Not A Crook

A big congratulations also goes to John Holbrook for not only completing his first iron distance race, but doing it in 10:25:46 - placing 3rd in men 45-49.  Great job John!

This Weekend

First things first, (i.e. running) - Doing 20ish miles this Sunday morning.  Anyone interested let me know!


I know there will be several people not up for anything but some rest come Sunday.  


GOOD LUCK to everyone competing in B2B this weekend.  I have had the pleasure of sharing plenty of training time with you B2Bers and now is the time to go for it.  Sell it out guys!  You have all off season to recover.  


We'll be out there cheering for you (after I do the swim and have some hot coffee)!!!

Battleship Half Marathon Report

Battleship North Carolina

The Battleship North Carolina Half Marathon was Sunday.  I find the half marathon to be a great distance; it is long enough that you need to do some training, but short enough that it is a reachable goal for most people.  That said, last weekend also rewarded those that don't mind heat and humidity.  

I had a long run on the schedule, so I decided to get started with a 2 mile warm up by running from the house to downtown Wilmington for the race.  I knew hydration would be important when I was already pretty sweaty after just 2 easy miles.  I got to the Battleship about an hour early (yes, we forgot to switch the clocks in our house) and went on a mission to find water.

Who Hangs Out With People Like These?

The race started at about 8:00 with a 5K leaving 10 minutes later.  The race takes you out the access road to the Battleship NC and up Hwy 421 to the Elizabeth Holmes Bridge.  You then run through historic downtown Wilmington (love the cobblestone and brick streets) and out to Greenfield Lake.  A lap of the lake and you head back to the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, up 421 for under 1 mile, and back to the Battleship.  

Christine Carmine Enjoying Downtown Wilmington

Every year, they warn the runners to be careful on the bridges and every year at least one person shows up bloodied.  The decking gets slippery and it is basically jagged metal.  This year you also had the danger of heat and humidity.  Several people collapsed on course from dehydration and heat exhaustion during the race.  It is amazing how quickly the body forgets summer and adapts to the cooler weather that had been prevailing (right up until race day).  

Luckily, I generally like hot and humid weather, especially when the alternative is being cold.  So, my biggest problem was legs worn out from training for IM AZ.  However, I sucked it up and managed a pretty good race, winning the 30-34 men and managing 10th overall.    

Heading Into the Finish

The best part of the winning the age group was the award.  Ed Fore managed to get Kids Making It to engrave pieces of teak from the original deck of the Battleship North Carolina as the trophies.  It really means a lot to me to have that piece of history.  That little piece of wood went around the world over 60 years ago helping my grandparent's generation to defend our country, our freedom, and our way of life.  God bless those that served our country then and continue to do so today.   

I would like to thank Katie Wagner for all the pictures in this post.  Not only did we forget to change the clocks, but also left the camera at home.  Luckily we can always count on Katie to have hers!  Thanks Katie!!  

Also, thanks to Ed Fore for putting on another great race.  

3 Die in Detroit

Time for us all to head back to the couch, that exercise stuff will kill you!  3 people died in the Detroit Marathon over the weekend.  

One of the deceased fell and hit his head (cause of fall unknown) and the details on the other 2 deaths have not been released yet.  Nothing in the stories I saw mentioned anything about the physical condition or training of the runners.  Weather was between 28 and 41F during the race and not expected to be a factor.  I did see a couple of more responsible stories that mentioned how rare something like this is.  

Our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased on their loss.  That is terrible - you go out to run a marathon and end up dead.  

As an aside, if you Google "Detroit Marathon..." it will automatically fill in "Detroit Marathon Deaths" for you and bring up a slew of stories.  Just for kicks, I typed in "McDonalds De..." and got "McDonalds Deals", "McDonalds Delivery", "McDonalds Deluxe", "McDonalds Dessert".  I also tried the same experiment with "Fast Food De..." and had similar results.  I would wager that fast food kills a lot more people than running, but running gets the Google hits.  

Sunday Run

Anyone interested in a long run this weekend?

Plan is to start between 7 and 7:30 at Poplar Grove and get 21 miles in. Pace will be "sub-maximal". Come on out and run the loop with me and Henry!

Pinehurst Report

Saturday was the Pinehurst Triathlon and the first race with the new bike and run courses. Here are my musings on the race:

First, this has always been one of my favorite races. It was my first triathlon and I enjoy the olympic distance. The new Pinehurst course isn't exactly olympic (1500M swim / 30 mile bike / 10K run), but I won't complain. The course features a nice lake swim, some rolling hills (speed bumps to people out West and mountains to those of us living in Southeastern NC), and a fairly tough run.

It was pretty warm and humid to start the day and getting into the wetsuit was a joy. Thanks to Bryan Tate for teaching me the plastic bag trick. If you don't know, you put a plastic bag over your foot and you slide into your wetsuit like butter. You then just pull the bag off your foot and out the bottom of the suit. Works great, especially when you are sticky from humidity! Of course, you do need to make sure you get the foot into a leg and not an arm of the suit - right Bryan :)

Bryan Finishing the Bike

The swim went really well for me and the 72deg water felt awesome after wrestling myself into the wetsuit. Also, unlike last year, there wasn't a layer of fog on the lake and you could actually see the buoys! I have been fighting a sore calf, the result of some tough bricks and probably a bit of dehydration, and didn't know what to expect from this race. So, I figured I might as well try to get a good swim leg, since that wouldn't hurt my calf. The wind started to pick up during the swim and caused some chop on the lake. I was in the 3rd wave and felt bad for those starting later; if the swim is getting choppy, you know you'll be fighting a headwind for at least some of the bike.

Speaking of the bike, this was the first year with a new bike course. They eliminated an out and back on the old course and tried to make it flow better. Honestly, I can't remember enough about the old course to say too much about any specific changes, but it did seem to flow pretty well. The course still has plenty of rolling hills. They were even more fun with the headwind over the first half of the course (again I feel bad for those that started later). I caught up with Grant Meyers on the bike and enjoyed trading comments as we passed each other back and forth. At the end of the bike I was glad that I had been babying my calf, as the new run course was tougher than previous years...

Grant Meyers

The run is the same course as previous years, but backwards. This makes for better spectating, but a tougher (in my opinion) run. You leave transition and have the joy of immediately being in rolling hills. Previous years allowed you to try to get your legs under you while crossing the flat damn before getting into hills. The effect of the new course is it just takes a little longer to get your running legs. That said, I think the new course is better and makes for a more interesting race. You'll just pay for going too hard on the bike a little longer.

Top 3 men were: 1st Eric Bean / 2nd Matt Wisthoff / 3rd Tom Clifford

Top 3 women were: 1st Alicia Parr / 2nd Stephanie Hucko / 3rd Marisa Pirih

Finally, this was Bill Scott's last NCTS race as head of Set Up Events. Thanks Bill and enjoy your retirement!

Married, Yes Married

To quote Long Duc Dong, we are now married, yes married.

Thanks to everyone who traveled from near and far, braving the rains to share our day with us. You are all the best!!

Trivia for the day, bonus points to the first person who can tell me what Long Duc Dong was wearing went he went missing... and no, he's not retarded.

Leadville Date Set / Race Sites

Our date with destiny has been set! The Leadville Trail 100 date for 2010 has been set. Mark your calendars for August 21-22, 2010. Registrations will be accepted starting January 2, 2010! Cost has not been set yet, but Ken will keep your money if you back out.


Also, anyone looking for ultras might want to check the following sites for race listings:

Ultra Running Magazine Calendar - Nice thing here is that you can search by region for ultras. No marathons or shorter listed.

Jason Robillard's Ultra Schedule - As the site states, he has attempted to "list every North American ultramarathon". You can search by distance, state, or date.

Happy Running!!

YMCA Triathlon Report

Sat was the 31st annual Wilmington Family YMCA Triathlon. Over 1000 people competed; some, like Erik McFetter's Aunt, in their first triathlon and others in their 100th or 1000th. Like any race, everyone came in with their own goals and dreams. Todd Midgett was fighting hard for the NCTS 30-34 Age Group Championship (GO TODD!!!)

Todd Midgett Getting It Done

Then their was Lori Campbell, who competed after having her final chemo treatment during the preceding week and being released from the hospital just days before the race. Her husband Curtis said that the nurses could never find her in her room, she was always in the hospital fitness center. Anyone want to argue the healing powers of sport?

As for the race itself, it was a good time with good weather.

The swim was wetsuit legal, but you probably didn't need it. I swam in my full suit, but was plenty warm. I did hear some reports of jelly fish stings, so maybe I'm glad I was covered in neoprene! Anyone not familiar with the race - you swim from the Blockade Runner hotel, down a salt water channel to Seapath Towers. Transition is across the street from Seapath in a field in front of the Wrightsville Beach Municipal Buildings. I did find the run from Seapath to transition pretty easy on the feet, which I attribute to the almost barefoot running I have been doing lately (more about this in a future post).

The bike course takes you off Wrightsville Beach, down Airlie Rd (love those ruts!), around Greenville Loop, up OIeander, and back to WB via Eastwood Rd. The bike was brutal for me. I have been training pretty hard for IM Arizona and the legs started burning way too early in the bike. I did hold off most in my age group, but did get passed by Steve Lewis and a couple other 35-39 age groupers going down Eastwood Rd. Great, these are the guys I'll be racing next year!

Steve Lewis Flying (literally)

The run went a lot better than the bike for me. The run course is one lap of the Wrightsville Beach "Loop" with a little out and back down N. Channel Drive to get the required 5K. To find a flatter run, you would probably need to run on a 400m track. I always look forward to the run and felt pretty good doing this one. I had no idea what my pace was, as I forgot my watch, so just tried to go fairly hard. Unfortunately, that was not hard enough and the run wasn't long enough for me to make up for the first two legs of the race. Props to Adam Rose and Todd Midgett (and everyone else ahead of me) for beating me like a rented mule. Great job guys!!!

Happy to be Running

Congratulations to everyone who raced! Overall winners were local Matt Wisthoff for the men (1:03:23) and Brianne Gaal of Cary for the women (1:10:47).

Take the Lake Report

Ok, I'm a little slow in posting this... What else is new?

Labor Day Weekend saw the "Take the Lake" events at Lake Waccamaw State Park. There was a 15 mile run on Sat, a 15 mile bike ride on Sun, a 14 mile paddle around the lake on Sun, and a 4 mile swim across the lake on Mon. This year, any of the above events were FREE to participants! Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers for putting these events on!!!

We only went out for the run, but maybe next year I will get my act together and arrange for an escort boat and participate in the swim.

The run was a fairly "casual" affair. No chip timing or other "technicalities" here. The idea of all the Take the Lake events is for them to be a personal endurance challenge, which in the end is what this is all about anyway right?

I got started a little behind the crowd, as I was running my mouth (go figure!) with some friends, across the parking lot, when they started the run. So, I just started following / making my way through the "herd". The run takes you out the access road to the State Park and through the town of Lake Waccamaw. I took the lead about 2 miles in and was grateful for the police escort, as my one complaint would be that the course was not marked. Luckily, the police officer knew where I was supposed to be going :)

You are encouraged to bring a water bottle, but except for the last 4 miles, the course is very well supported. The people of Lake Waccamaw set up their own aid stations, which seemed to be on every block. Everyone that I encountered was extremely nice and the run really showcased how wonderful the people are over there!

The last 4 miles of the run take you back into Lake Waccamaw State Park via dirt trails. There are plenty of cypress knees ready to trip the unsuspecting runner and some sections of soft sand. However, I would not rate it as overly technical, you just can't be doing too much sight seeing or you'll find yourself face to face with a cypress knee.

The finish takes you back to the State Park Visitors Center, assuming you make the correct turns. Overall a good time. Oh, and I did see a gator while I was out there!!!

Andrea and Leanne after the run

Finishing the run

Remembering Walter

He trained for my first marathon and countless other runs with me, kayaked with me, camped with me, banked with me, played fetch until my arms fell off, and was overall just my big brown buddy. Most people knew me as "Walter's Dad" before they new my name (some people probably never knew my real name), as he never met a stranger. He lived a great life and saw most of this great country (I marked a map once with all the states he had been through and it was amazing!). He was even my copilot (literally)!

Walter Flying with Me

Well, age finally caught up with Walter and he is no longer with us. You are missed brown buddy. I know you'll be waiting for me with a tennis ball on the other side...

Leading the Next Generation

Registration Wednesday!

Tomorrow is "Registration Wednesday"!

Registration opens tomorrow for the 2010 Boston Marathon and the Umstead 100.

Speaking of registrations, the Mt. Mitchell Challenge is full, but the marathon is still open... Here is the description on Active.com:
"A very challenging 40 mile trail run from Black Mountain to the highest point in the East and back...or a Marathon to the Blue Ridge Parkway and back...Expect ice, snow, atrocious footing and a crushingly difficult course at times...Not for beginners."

Sounds like fun to me!!

Chains, Centimeters, and Centuries

First a thought on bike chains. If you are like me and believe that Gatorade, Perpetuem, and road grime are excellent for lubricating, cleaning, and maintaining your chain; then you probably want to pay attention to your odometer. I had planned on changing my chain around 2K miles. However, I didn't quite make it. Luckily my chain only almost snapped. However, due to my lack of care and maintenance (hey, I'm tired after a ride, who has time to clean a chain?), I needed both a new chain and cassette. The plan for the future is to change the chain every 1K miles and the cassette every few chains. You don't want to get stuck out on one of your rides, so pay attention to your chain. Most of us carry a spare tube, but few a spare chain...

Speaking of bikes, I have been having a bit of knee pain with the increased mileage over the last couple months. After having the chain replaced, I asked Charlie at Bike Cycles to take a look at my positioning on the trainer. A few minutes, a couple of shims under my cleats, a centimeter here, a few millimeters there, and bang I was "adjusted". It is amazing what a few millimeters can do! I was more comfortable on the trainer, but the real test would come on the road...

Lucky for me, that test came the very next day with the Hot 100. A century should be a good test, right? Well, I had a great time and felt very comfortable (including the aforementioned knee). It was great to see everyone out there and lucky for us, the weather gave us the Cool, Temperate 100 instead of the Hot 100.

Thanks again to Charlie George for helping get me situated on my bike!!!

Be safe out there and have fun. Days are getting shorter :(

Survivors

The Survivors

We survived the Tri Madness on Sat. Erin Green and I covered over 120 miles on Saturday with only a couple little hiccups.

First was running around Middle Sound Loop at around 11:00 am. It was HOT as blazes out there and 1 hand-held was certainly not enough water.

After a 1.5hr intermission, we refilled our water bottles and got ready to do it again.

Round 2 went pretty well. We did have some nice wind gusts and got caught in 3 rain showers on the bike. Then there was the sprint session 25 miles into the bike. 2 Pitbull looking dogs decided to charge us at the end of a country road. A pit bull can run ~24mph for about a quarter mile, in case you were wondering...

Props to Erik McFetters for doing both swims, and some of both bikes with us. Also Mike Jones who joined in for the second bike and a couple miles of the final run. Finally thanks to Katie Wagner for dinner, beer, and most importantly a shower!!!!

Garmin says - 6000 yards swam, 102 miles biked, 15.7 miles run.


Anyone want to run 2hrs tomorrow???

Crazy Brick this Sat!!!

Come out and join the BIG fun!! Here is the plan for this Sat (22 Aug 09):

5:50AM - meet at Covil Estates
6:00AM - Swim 3000 yards / Bike 50 miles / Run 8.
Pool swim (too many jellies and ocean supposed to be a little rough this weekend), bike will be either beach area or out Smith Creek Pkwy / Blue Clay / etc. Run in the Covil / Mayfair / Landfall area.

INTERMISSION

1:30PM - Swim 3000 yards at Covil pool
2:45ish - Bike 50 from Porters Neck Area. Probably out Sidbury and into Pender County.
After Bike - Run 8 on trails in Poplar Grove

6:30ish - Stick a fork in me, flip me over, I'll be done!

Come out and join the fun for one or both of these fun filled tri's!!

CRUD East

What is CRUD East

CRUD - Carolinians Running Ultra Distances

The original CRUD (Coloradans Running Ultra Distances) was formed by Paul DeWitt and is located in the Colorado Springs area. Well, Paul was kind enough to allow us to borrow the CRUD acronym and use it on the East Coast. Hence, CRUD East.

Our goal is to get people psyched to run trails and run long in Southeastern NC. Besides, we all need some other sick souls to run for hours with us...

My Running Spot Has Been Discovered

Henry (My Trusty Running Coach)

Henry and I went to Poplar Grove last night to run intervals on the trail only to find Tom Clifford's running group out there. These trails have been a favourite training location for me, as Henry can blast through the woods and get a drink a couple of times per 1.8 mile lap at the old mill pond in the middle. It was nice to see folks out running trails and getting off the pavement.

We expect to spend a lot more time out there in the next year, as I hear the Leadville 100 is only 364 days away!!

Anyone know of more trails, let me know! Preferably places where my coach can run off leash!