Swamp Stomper

I really did not particularly train for this race...I ran a 20 on thanksgiving day and a 22 a few weeks later....other than that I had a 13 miler and a 15 miler as my longest runs...

I kinda went into this race with a different attitude than I usually approach races with...usually, I'm pretty tense in the days leading up to the race...however, since I hadn't focused my training for Swampstomper, I went in to it with the mindset of "ill just got out and see what happens..."

I was surprisingly relaxed, even Saturday night...normally I start to get really tense the night before the race...however, Lauren and I cooked up a good dinner and even had a few beers, not really putting much thought into the next day's event....

my alarm went off at 4:30 Sunday (I have to get up three hours before race time) and I got up and moving and had my coffee....I was still feeling pretty relaxed, and remained this way up until about 30 min before the race started.....

My plan was to go out at a moderately hard pace and hold it for the remainder of the race...one that has worked pretty well for me the last few races...I knew this race would bottleneck hard about 1/4 mile in so I made it a point to get up front before the trailhead...I didn't want to get caught up running with the 25k sprinters so I let a few of them go ahead and dropped in behind some folks I knew were running the 50k....

First lap went pretty well...hit the turnaround at 1:23 and counted 11 runners, some of them 25k, in front of me....kept up with a pretty good pace back to the end of the first lap, hitting my split at 2:28...

I filled my pockets up with gels and picked up my ipod and I was off again...at this point I knew I was in about 5th or 6th place, which I was pretty happy with so I just wanted to maintain that position and I had this goal in the back of my mind of a 5 hour race...I knew this would be tough, as I didn't know if I could keep up the same pace on the second lap....

I got in a group with 2 guys from Missouri...we played leapfrog a few times...I didn't think I was ever going to be able to get around them for good...every time I would catch and pass them, they would catch and pass me a short while later.....Finally, one of the guys dropped off and it was just me and John from Springfield....

When we were about a mile from the turnaround, we spotted the girl that was running in 4th place...this gave me the extra push I needed to pick it up....we didnt end up catching her until the actual aid station at the turnaround, but it was here that I was able to see just how small of a gap there was between myself and 3rd place....

I hit the turnaround at 4:01 and it was on...I told John that we only had an hour left and we were going to get on it as hard as we could....we took off from the aid station hard..I was running about as hard as I could go at this point...about a mile or 2 from the turnaround we spotted the 3rd place runner...shortly thereafter, we passed him and John said to me, "I'm not going to contest you for third, you're doing all the work" which I was able to respond in between panting "we are going to catch the 2nd place guy so we can both place"....though I really didn't think this was giong to be possible as the second place runner was moving really fast when I saw him last....

but anyway, we put the hammer down, so hard that I ventured off course in the mini bamboo forest...a few expletives later, we were back on the trail and back at it....all of the sudden I saw the seoncd place runner about 100 yards ahead...he turned and saw us and then picked it up...we trailed hard for 5 minutes or so before finally catching up to him...at this point John said to me "second place is all yours"....I kept the pace up, knowing that first place was way out of reach,my goal was going to be to break five hours...I pushed as hard as I could, not bothering to stop at the final aid station....all was looking well for a 5 hour finish until I got to the final hill coming out of the woods...this hill was a beast and I could not force myself up it any faster....

Finally came out of the woods and hit the concrete...at this point I had built up a 30 second or so lead on John (though he wasn't going to contest for 2nd)....hit the road running hard but didn't quite make the 5 hour mark, crossing the line in 5:01 and som change....maybe even 5:02 (haven't sen the official results yet)....

overall, my best race to date....a big time PR and my first podium finish....

came home and Lauren took care of my sore legs before we feasted on Papa Johns and beer....

all in all a great run and a very big confidence booster for this spring....

too sore to run on Monday but I got on the trainer for 45 minutes tonite...pretty easy spinning, nothing intense....hoping to get in a run tomorrow but I have a blood blister on my toe that makes it painful to put on shoes so we will see.....

3 days, 3 runs

Continued with the running streak on Thursday, running for exactly 1 hour (6ish miles) after spinning for an hour on the trainer....

Took today off except for some bouldering on the wall at work to build some grip strength.....

Tomorrow's plan is to run a very easy 3-4 with Lauren just to keep the legs loose....

Feeling pretty good about Swampstomper despite the lack of running in the past 2 months...


its going to be cold, but at least it will be fairly dry....

I'm already thinking about my post-race pizza and beer....

2 in a row!

I ran two days in a row...I'm on a streak!

Got up this morning and ran for about 40 minutes on a heavy coffee buzz...first time I have run two days in a row in quite some time....

Plan on running tomorrow as well...at least an easy 45min to an hour run....If all goes well, combined with the mileage from Sunday's upcoming race I will hit my first 50 mile week of 2008....probably try and spin for a bit as well, though I'm not sure I'll have time as I have a lot of school work to do....

Lt. Rob and I discussed getting in some brick training for the Natchez Trace adventure race sometime in the near future...first brick day =
2 mile warmup run
1 hour canoe paddle on the lake I live on
10 miles from the house to the end of the Wolf River Trails
Ride from my house to Stanky, do a loop, and ride back
6 mile run
45 minute paddle
2 miles all out run to finish

we are racing in the 2 person any gender category and I'm pretty excited about it...in the past I have always been the strongest athlete on my adventure racing teams and pushing the pace has not really been possible because of other teammates...racing with Rob will provide the chance to really push it, as he is a strong athlete.....if we can actually read the map, we should do pretty well...

still alive...

I am still alive....I have classes until 10:15 every Monday through Friday and it is kicking my sleep schedule's ass...

I have not been running like I need to...have had no real "long" runs since early December...

I am racing Swampstomper 50k on Sunday and I'm not sure what to expect....

I have been to the Tuesday night track workout 2 straight weeks in a row....I'm getting faster in 08....

I plan on going to the track every Tuesday for the entire spring...

I am accepted and officially going to the National Outdoor Leadership School in Washington and B.C. Canada on May 19 for an Outdoor Educator course in mountaineering and rock climbing....

I'm climbing 2-3 times a week now....

I can't do all 3 days of Sylamo...I think I'm going to have to stick with the 50 miler only....

I'm coming out of adventure racing retirement on March 1 to do the Natchez Trace Adventure Race.....watch out

I want to average 50-60 miles a week for the spring....

I want to be in the best shape of my life for NOLS....

Life is good.....

Been on the trainer on the bike some too.....