Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Endurance Run – 2014 Relay

Imagine him coming at you after 10 hours!!

Well, the expectations for this year’s race was low.  Both my wife and I had originally signed up as singles a month in a half ago with my goal of finally reaching 50 miles.  However, training to be frank, the training never occurred.  Second, we realized the weekend before that all of our usual babysitters would be gone that weekend.  So we decided that we would change to the relay.

This worked out marvelously.  It allowed our daughters to run the 6 hour race, both completing a half marathon distance.  And it allowed our son to run the 5K, which he has been enjoying lately.  It also meant that both my wife and I could run a lap or two with the girls and make a family event out of it.

A beautiful course.

Really, we didn’t have much of a goal distance going into this race nor much of a strategy.  We just wanted to have fun.  How it worked out, most of the time we would switch out each lap with me starting. Each lap was 3.33 miles long.  I had learned from last year not to go out too fast, so I felt a 12 to 13 minute pace would be fine for myself.  In the back of my mind I was hoping for at least a 50K distance for myself or at least 50 miles as a team, but in reality I didn’t really hold out any hope of reaching either distance.

Crazy time on the first loop - Source: Brazen Volunteer

I began the first lap at 7:00 A.M.  It was a slow first mile as is always the case and ran with my oldest.  Just after mile one, she took off making me feel a little bit old.  I was almost through mile 2 when I was warmed up and rearing to go and caught up with my daughter in the Eucalyptus forest.  We ran the rest of the way in and I handed off the bib to my wife for her lap.  

Myles at the 5K - Source Brazen Volunteer

That pretty much summed up the first 6 laps of the relay.  For my part, I ran a consistent 12 minute mile and change. The challenge I quickly came to realize was that the first mile was typically going to be my worst as I warmed up again and I was finishing about the time I was most warmed up.

By the time it came for me to do the 7^th lap (my 4^th if you are keeping track) the sun had come out and it was getting warm.  I had taken a brief catnap and a snack of salami and cheese during the time my wife was out running with our youngest daughter so I was pretty refreshed.  My 4^th lap was going really well and by the time I got back around my wife suggested I go around one more time.  The combined pace for those two laps (my lap 4 and 5) again was 12:10 per mile.  At this point, I realized that this strategy was working well and there was now a stronger possibility of us reaching either the 50K to 50 mile goal.

Emma and I on the First loop - Source: Brazen Volunteer

It was time for lunch when I got back. Besides the typical trail aid station / recovery food found at a Brazen Racing event, there was also BBQ and Pizza.  I was pretty much excited to have a slice of peperoni and some soda as bizarre as that might sound to a few. 

Well the few then also would say that the pizza was also the cause of my slowest lap (lap 6).  As usual my first mile was slower, around a 14 minute mile.  My pace was strong during mile 2 at an 11 minute pace, wow that pizza was working!  Then I fell flat for the final mile to a 15 minute pace, with the overall lap averaging a 13:34 pace.  

  Me hitting my stride - Source:Allen Lucas

“OK”, I thought, “this is where I start to fall apart like I do at most endurance races.”  After 20 miles I had reached that wall.  I handed the bib over to my wife and settled in for another catnap.  After 15 minutes, I got up, used the bath room, and ate a little bit more.  I took a couple of Tylenol to help with the soreness.  And with about 15 minutes left from when I estimated my wife to be back I walked over to the aid station with the goal of looking for some sort of gel with caffeine.  No luck.  What I did find, though were some GU Chomps with caffeine which did the job.  By the time she got back I was refreshed and raring to go.

My lap 7 was awesome! I felt great and I ran most of it at an 11 minute pace. By the time I got back to my wife I was wanting to go again and her more than obliged.  This was a really strong lap also, and I felt great.  The combined pace for lap seven and eight was 11:48!  In fact, during the second lap I caught up and passed some who were running the 10K on fresh legs.  Boy that made me feel good.

Debating who should go on the last big loop - Source:Allen Lucas

When I got back, there was an hour and half (10 hours 30 minutes had passed) left.  This left us in a quandary.  I had lost track of our mileage at this point but I knew that both the 50K goal and the 50 mile target were in sight.  I was averaging about a 42 to 43 minute lap and my wife just under an hour.  After reassuring her that I was doing great and would not have a heart attack on the course, we made the decision for me to go out.  Then we would meet up in the final hour mini loop (a 0.66 mile loop) and trade off.  This decision paid off in spades with my final big loop (the 9^th) getting done in 42 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Source: Allen Lucas - Thank you!

I was spent by the time I got back to the mini loop.  I handed off the bib and my wife went for two laps followed by 1 of mine.  I was done, however my wife came in on her final lap spent also.  I knew we were so close to the goals but I didn’t know how close.  I decided to run the final 20 minutes which allowed me two really slow laps, or just over 1.2 miles.  That final decision was a great decision, I ran 31.92 miles just over my 50K target and combined we ran 50.75 miles!

As I had mention in last year’s post about this race, I never thought running 12 hours on a looped course would be that much fun.  However, Brazen Racing does a wonderful time organizing and supporting this race.  This is an awesome race and I would highly recommended it to others.  

Other related posts:

• 2013 Dirty Dozen Race Report - With lessons learned and employed on this race.
• 12 Hour Endurance Run Race Strategy

 

A Way Too Cool Race to Pass Up

Love this picture...sorry to reuse!

A few posts back I mentioned that I had began training for the Surf City Marathon.  I laid out my schedule leading up to the race with the focus of getting a PR at the marathon.  Keep in mind, a PR is breaking 4:42 which is totally doable. The training has been going well so far, with only a couple of sniffles and a couple of off weeks.


I have adjusted my long run to two runs on Sunday, one in the morning and the second half in the afternoon primarily consisting of trails (I will get to why in a moment). I am getting a lot of road work though, primarily during the week in the city and finally have seen my pace coming down.  

What is interesting though, as my wife pointed out on a run from a year ago, I am no where able to run a  sustained 5 mile run at an 8 minute pace.  I believe it is all tied to the calf and Achilles issues I have had through the year, besides the extra 10 pounds. I may be dreaming, but I am hoping to get this back down to at least a 8:30 half marathon pace before February 2nd.

Now with the primary focus being Surf City, my wife and I have been eying the Way Too Cool 50K on March 8th for a while now.  To get in you have to get selected by lottery.  I kind of figured one of us would be selected (pretty much hoping it would be my wife, not I) so we put our names in the bucket.  Well we both got selected.  

So now I have a 50K with almost 5K feet in elevation scheduled one month after my very flat road marathon. That, combined with my desire to run the Mount Diablo Challenge 50K on April 19th, means that I should have three big runs right out the gate.  Thus why I am opting to have my longer runs occur on the trails with elevation.

Case in point, last Sunday I woke up for a wonderful run up on Lime Ridge.  It was 35 degrees when I started and the run went on without a hitch.  I covered 1,800 feet of elevation gain in that 10.3 mile run with some pretty steep descents.  I followed that run up latter that afternoon with an a tough 9.5 mile run with 1,900 feet of elevation gain including my favorite steep hill out of Castle Rock.  Both of these runs saw huge performance gains since I had run them before and there was no lingering pain or DOMS after.

I have continue to suffer from the Achilles bursitis, mainly though on my road runs.  It only affects the first 0.25 mile before the pain subsides  then returns latter in the evening.  However, when I run the trails the pain isn't there and no lingering pain later in the evening.

Hopefully will be running the 50K instead of pacing duties.

All said, the way I am approaching my training now is to focus on Surf City first, get the miles in and improve my pace.  While I am doing a lot of hill running, which isn't a direct factor in this race, it will help with my hamstring strength and speed.  I will take the week after the marathon easy but will keep my long run in.  I will include a bit of a taper in 2 weeks from Way Too Cool, reducing volume and increasing intensity.  Then I have seven weeks to the Diablo Challenge.  I am building my elevation and since each of these races increase in mileage I should be fine.

Now, past Diablo I am hoping our schedule allows for the Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Endurance Run with the goal of reaching my first 50 miles and then to do North Face 50K in December.  The last time I had this aggressive of a schedule (for me) was when we did 4 marathons in one year.  So if I can stay smart and injury free this should be a great year!

Dirty Dozen 12 Hour - 40.42 Miles Completed!

Running twelve hours on a 3.37 mile loop along the San Pablo Bay and a Eucalyptus tree forest hasn’t sounded like my cup of tea.   This was a race though that my wife has wanted to do for the last few years; however our schedule never matched up.  Needless to say we signed up for it this year and I have to admit I had a lot of fun!

The Dirty Dozen 12 Hour Endurance Race is a wonderful way to run as much mileage you can for 12 hours in somewhat controlled circumstances. The party like atmosphere is electric and the comrade between runners made the event very enjoyable.

Beth braving the cold and wind before the race.

We got to the start/finish at 6:15 A.M. to get our crewing station setup, which included a couple of chairs, our drop bags, and a cooler of Coca Cola and water.  Gale force winds met us but that didn’t squelch our enthusiasm.

My wife’s strategy was to go out slow and stay slow to get at least 10 laps or 33 miles in.  Here strategy was a success and made that goal in 8:40.  In fact she hit the 31 mile mark at 8:03.  She ended up with just over 41 miles
 

Sums up the first three laps!

For me, I was afraid of going out too quick.  I thought if I ran with a heart monitor and keep my heart rate a below 137 which I did effectively for the first 15 miles.  However, this strategy backfired with my first 5K time at 34 minutes and 10K at 1:11.  Keeping in mind that I had also hit the port-potty 3 times I was going too fast.  It was really evident that when I hit the half marathon at 2:33 (my Lagoon Valley pace was 2:27 and my PR is 1:51), my pace way off and inside desire to drop that I really needed to rethink what I was doing and just enjoy the run and push and see how far I could go.

Source: Allen Lucas

Once I reached that decision, the run became much more enjoyable.  The monotony that I feared on the run was non-existent.  The only problem I had was a section right after the aid station on the course where I was feeling the pebbles through my Cascadia 8’s.  At mile 23 (my traditional nemesis mile), I switched out to my Adrenaline ASR 7’s.  A much stiffer shoe but tougher, I didn’t notice the rocks again until my last big loop.

Allen going "Karnazes"!

One of the most enjoyable laps was at lap 8, where I caught up with Mr. Notthatlucas!  While I was changing out my shoes I caught Mr. Notthatlucas going all Karnazes downing a slice of cheese pizza!  While I was tempted, I had been on a regimen of watermelon, potato chips, and Coca Cola, and having made three trips to the bathroom was not feeling that adventurous. After taking a break, he and I both set out.  I would have to say this was the quickest feeling lap of the race up to this point.  It was really nice to enjoy the conversation and I never thought of how I was feeling or over-analyzing my running the whole time.  Thanks Allen, it was really a highlight of the run!

Beth and I running our lap. Source: Allen Lucas

At the end of my 9^th lap, I checked with Sam, race director, where my wife was and he let me know that she was also on her 9^th.  I hit 30.33 miles at 7:40 and wanted to cross the 31 mile mark with her so I waited and took a break.  She was only 12 minutes behind me and she took a little time with her before we made lap 10 together.  Like I said above, we crossed the 31 mile mark at 8:03.  Mr. Notthatlucas caught up with us on this lap, and passed us.  I think the cheese pizza must have really kicked in because he was really going a great clip.  Again, I haven’t run a race with my wife in a while, so running this lap, her reaching her ultra-distance was awesome.  I am so proud of her.

The Eucalyptus Hall.

After the 10^th I made the educated decision to sit for a bit and I let her go for another. I started feeling a twinge on my Achilles and did not want to push it.  I bravely walked over to the food tent and ate a sausage and a Coke.  This was a good decision, since after 30 minutes I felt good enough for another lap.  At this point I knew I could reach 40 miles and maybe 42.  I waited a little bit to see if Beth would show but decided to get going.  

Source: Allen Lucas

Lap 11 was my last big lap and it felt good.  I was able to run large parts of it and made it around in 45 minutes.  I made it back just in time for the baby loop to open up.  My decision was not to risk not getting back in time and get my final three miles on the loop.  Beth showed up after my first loop to secure that she had reached 40 miles (have I said she completed 41.11 miles) by doing one mini loop.

All said, I completed 40.42 and finished mid-pack (50 out of 91 finishers).  I am so happy that I set realistic goals on this one, because if I had solely focused on the 50 mile target I would have been crushed.  But keeping in mind that I ran this with really no formal training schedule (more minimal than anything else) and weighing 30 lbs. over my best running weight I am extremely pleased with the results.

Beth didn't know about the other picture! Source: Allen Lucas

Things I learned

I have to admit I enjoy this style of race and Beth and I have talked about doing it again next year.  Things I will be doing differently:

• I will pace myself better!  Yeah, the heart monitor helped keep me from going out too crazily; however, I need to go out slower.

• Don’t fear the food! I felt so much better after eating real food and probably could have covered farther distances if I would have nailed this.

• Have a proper training schedule! My training since last year’s Napa Marathon has been more haphazard than anything else.  This has been partly due to the stresses of starting a new company as well as a new schedule.  This has also been the primary reason for the weight gain. I have to get back to a proper training schedule.

• Just enjoy the race and the atmosphere!  This kind of race is so different than the seclusion of the point to point races (like the Diablo Challenge 50K).  Once I settled into enjoying the event I was much happier.

Source: Brazen Racing Volunteer

• Stop Obsessing! Ok, this one is hard for me to do.  I have a hard time shutting off my brain, so when I am running by myself I can be pretty hard on myself.  Even leading up to the race I was psyching myself out obsessing on the details.  When I was running with Mr. Notthat and my wife, my brain was shut off and I enjoyed the run.  While running endurance races are 90% psychological, I can lock my brain into finishing, but I need to learn to enjoy the run.

So two ultra-distance events are down for 2013 and this year is looking a lot like 2009/2010 where we completed 4 marathons in 13 months.  While I won’t say what events are on the horizon, I can say that there are a lot of fun runs coming up. Oh and Mr. Notthat beat me by 0.02 miles so it is definitely on like Donkey Kong for next year!  On to 50 miles!