So what is next?

After playing hundreds if not thousands of soccer games, completing several 10ks, a few half marathons, a full marathon, several duathlons, a couple of off-road triathlons, completing several mountain bike races, including a few 24 hour races, and attempting the Shenandoah Mountain 100 I have to ask myself, what is next?

I think my second passion behind soccer is mountain running but my body may not be up to the challenge. Specifically my knees. They have certainly taken a beating and while challenging athletic endeavors are still well within my ability, I am not sure I will ever be able to put in the mileage it would take to compete in a serious mountain ultra. And as far as soccer goes, I miss it very much. On the soccer field, I would disappear into the game. I did not think about anything and just played as hard as I could all the time. And I was a decent player that definitely had an impact on the game. But soccer is not in the cards for me now.

As I deal with the reality of what my body can handle, I have to decide where I want to go next? I have already committed to next year's Shenandoah Mountain 100. That is my A race for 2011. The biking is really great for my knees and the race is such an epic event to participate in that I just have to complete the race. As I said already, I want to CRUSH IT!

So what do I really want to do now? I have been wrestling with this for some time. I am leaning towards taking up Triathlon more seriously including getting some professional coaching. In a week or two, Melissa's swim coach will be starting up a new session and I am planning to give it a go. It will be hard to get up so early to workout at the pool but I know that once I go a few times, I will get used to it. Swimming is another activity that can only help my knees so even if I don't take to it, it will be good for me.

In addition to triathlon, I want to become a barefoot runner. With that in mind, I have started training my feet in anticipation of the next Gobble Wobble 5K in Pennsylvania. A few years ago Melissa's family started another Thanksgiving tradition. We all go to Melissa's sister's house for Thanksgiving. While there, we run or walk in the Gobble Wobble and afterwards feast on the best homemade breakfast from Chef Scott. It is always great fun! This year, I plan to run it in my Vibram Five Fingers. Running barefoot or near barefoot is something that one has to work up to gradually. After a 6 hour hike in my Vibrams, another 3.5 hour hike in them, and two 2 mile runs on the road, I am on my way.

Ok so I have set a few goals: run the Gobble Wobble in my Five Fingers this November, start swim training with a coach, and finish next years SM100. For me, that is not enough. I need more. So I am also throwing in the goal of getting in great shape and adding muscle mass to my skinny body. And how am I planning to do that. Why P90X of course. You knew it was coming didn't you?

Yes, Melissa and I are going to start P90X this coming Monday. I have spent the last several days planning. We got some new equipment. I copied all the DVDs to my computer. I read through the guide book. And last night we went through the pre-test and took all of our before measurements and pictures. I will spare you those pictures as they are pretty much the most unflattering pictures ever.

Our plan is to do the 90 days but also still work in our swims and runs. It is going to be hard. Besides doing all the actual workouts, getting all the proper nutrition into our bodies will also be hard work. We eat pretty healthy right now. But we are going to have step up our efforts to properly fuel our bodies. Plus we will need to get the proper rest each night. Luckily we got rid of the television time bandit. Plus with the Fall weather coming, it will be dark by the time we get home for dinner so we won't be doing much outside.

I am very excited about doing P90X and all the benefits it can bring to Melissa and myself. Besides the obvious benefits of shedding fat and gaining muscle, getting the heart and lungs healthier, improving our memory and general well being, there is also the benefits that such a workout program can bring to our other sports. Hopefully if all goes well, we will be ready come January 1st to take on the spring training season with new and improved bodies. I guess we will see.

I will try to keep my blog updated with our progress. Wish us luck! And if you have not already, check out http://quackenblogger.blogspot.com. Dave is a great writer and his description of his foray into P90x is quite a fun read. Besides the P90X topic, he has a wide range of other topics that he discusses from silly to serious.

Until next time.

Old Rag Hike

Just as my legs started feeling better after my trail run, we decided to take up some friends on an invite to hike Old Rag. My quads still were a tad sore but the weather for the Saturday hike was supposed to be superb and we had not done a good hike since our April hike in Damascus so we opted to meet up with some friends and hike Old Rag.

Old Rag is the most strenuous hike in the Shenandoah National Park according to the nps.gov/shen web site. It is really unlike any other hike in the park. The hike starts at the lower parking lot for Old Rag where it is necessary to pay the fee. We have a park pass that covers the fee.

We parked at the parking lot, everyone paid their fees, and we started up the road for about a half mile to the trail head. Then the hike turns into the woods for a climb up the mountain. The first part of the hike is like most hikes that climb a mountain. There are woods all around and there are several switchbacks to traverse as you go up the mountain. On this particular day, we were hiking with some young 20 somethings who appeared to be out for a leisurely stroll but who were walking pretty fast. I broke a sweat pretty soon into the hike and was breathing fairly hard as we made our way up the mountain. We kept up them with some work. They did not seem to be laboring at all. Ah, growing older and slowing down.

What makes Old Rag so much fun and different is the second part of the hike. After going up the switch backs, we arrived at the beginning of the rock scramble. The rock scramble is challenging and fun. We jumped from boulder to boulder, lowered ourselves down into crevasses, wedged ourselves between rocks, lifted ourselves up through little chimneys of rocks, did some little climbs, and all the other stuff that goes along with a good rock scramble.

One thing worth mentioning is that I decided to do this hike in my Vibram Five Fingers. It was really great! I had virtually no weight on my feet and I could really connect with the rocks with my feet. It was the closest thing to climbing a mountain in bare feet as you can get without actually being barefoot.

Once we got to the top, we rested and ate and enjoyed the 360 degree views of the surrounding area. I had first done this hike when I was about 12 and I remember that it seemed like we could see forever up there on the summit. Nowadays, the view is still great but there is a haze on the neighboring mountains and nothing is quite a crisp as I remember it 30 years ago.

After lunch we descended the mountain on the other side. The descent is less exciting as it does not involve a rock scramble. After going down some switchbacks for a while, the trail comes out onto a fire road that leads back to the road and parking lot. I must admit that going down was a little harder on my feet than going up. I had to go a little slower and the balls of my feet did start to ache slightly. By the time we got back to the car, my feet did hurt a little but but all in all it was a great experience hiking in the Five Fingers. I plan to do it again as soon as possible. In fact, I think hiking in the Five Fingers is great training for my feet and calves. These kinds of hikes will help build up my feet and calves so I can do more barefoot running. I am hoping anyway.

So that, in a nutshell, is the story of our Old Rag Hike. I was a little late in posting this but finally got around to it. Below are some of the pictures we took a long the way. A few pics show the people we were hiking with. Don't they look young?

Clay and Rachel

Clay and Rachel Taking in the View

Looking back down at some of the rock scramble we had completed.

Taking pictures of each other.

The rest of our group. Young Right?

Another shot of the group. This is not the summit by the way.

Interesting Tree

If you look carefully at this picture, you will see all the people climbing up the rocks down below. We had already done that section and were looking down at them. Look closely.

I used the Zoom on this one. Do you see the people?

The classic picture where I hold the camera and take our picture.

My feet at the summit.

Post Race Reflections

The morning after my race, I spent a little time on the Hammer Nutrition website. Hammer makes products for endurance athletes. In fact, the guy who set up camp next to us at the race used Perpetuem as his main source of calories at the race and he has completed Leadville several times. Aid stations at the SM100 were stocked with Hammer Gel, Heed, and Endurolytes. I knew about some of these products before the race but had really not embraced them as much as I probably should have. More on this a later.

I have a neat little iPod app that allows you to track caloric intake as well as how many calories are burned during exercise which it also tracks. Just about any food you eat can be entered in the app and it will tell you how many calories are in that food, including Hammer products. I entered in all the food that I ate before and during the race and also added in the 12 hours of mountain biking in the exercise part of the app. I came up with a 6000 calorie deficit. I should have consumed way more calories than I did. And honestly, I think that was my downfall.

Since the race, I have not really done much exercising. I think I had the post race blues or something. I did a couple of easy rides and one more intense but short ride. One thing I have decided is I am going to start figuring out my nutrition now. And I have decided that I am going to embrace the Hammer products fully and deeply. In fact, a coworker of mine had given me some Perpetuem to try out. So last Sunday, I mixed myself a bottle and went for a ride. Mostly I was just trying it out. I was not going out for more than 2 hours which is what Perpetuem is made for but I thought I would try it out to see how my stomach liked it.

I did pretty well with it and I think I will be able to learn to use this and even learn to love it. I have already found that the Hammer Gels are good and I have started to get used to the taste of Heed. Next I will try some Endurolytes which are electrolyte replacements in pill form. I am thinking that the combination of Perpetuem and Hammer Gel for calories and energy, Heed and good old fashion water for hydration, and Endurolytes for electrolyte replacement is going to be my winning combination of endurance foods. There are some Ironman athletes who swear by them. In case you did not know, the Ironman athlete trains and competes in a triathlon that consists of a 2.4 mile swim, usually in the ocean or at least some other open water, followed by a 112 mile road bike ride, followed by a 26.2 mile run which is a marathon. If Hammer is good enough for these guys, it is good enough for me. This fall and winter is going to be nutrition experimentation time. My plan is to have it all dialed in for the spring.

In addition to the riding and nutrition experimentation, I would also like to do some running to see how the old knees are holding up. There is a race at the end of the month that sounds really fun. It is an 8 miler that traverses the downtown Richmond trail system that I am very familiar with. It should be challenging but also very fun. With this race in mind, I went for a trail run Tuesday night after work with my friend Mario. Mario is on the MTT which is the Richmond Sportsbackers Marathon Training Team. He has been running a great deal. In face, MTT starts up in May or June and goes all the way up until the November Richmond Marathon.

Mario and I met up at the river and took off or an "easy run." Was it easy? Well, we did not go all that fast but we did end up with 7.5 miles of trail running which included the roots and rocks of Buttermilk and the up and downs of Forest Hill Park. We ran for about an hour and a half. Towards the end, my quads were starting to ache a bit but we finished strong. And now 2 days later, I am still paying for it. I had not run since May and then went out and did way too much. My quads hurt and it is difficult to go down the stairs. I knew this would happen but it is not the end of the world. I figure I will feel better by this weekend and will likely do some biking, hiking, or both. Then I can get back out there on the trails some more. Plus I plan to get to the track to do some speed work. I have also started doing my core workout again which is something I had let go by the wayside.

Also it is my plan to get a coach. I am going to start with a swim coach. Melissa has been going to a coached swim practice with a coach who won Ironman Canada in 2005. Melissa's swimming has improved a great deal and Melissa has really been enjoying it. So my plan is to start swimming and continue working out on my own and then at some point, perhaps look into getting a coach who can work with me on my goals. My main goal is to get in really great shape but also I know that I want to do the SM100 again next year but this time, I want to crush it! On the way to achieving that goal, I may try to do some triathlons. Although that would entail getting a road bike and I really could use a new mountain bike too. So for now, I will stick with just the swimming and see how that goes. If I take to the swimming, then I will consider some triathlons.

For now, I have to nurse my quads. After I post this, I am firing up the massager. I hope it helps. That's all for now!

SM100 Recap

As I pushed my bike up the narrow, steep, and rocky single track, I glanced down at my watch. I had been on my bike for about 3 hours now and I had been walking up this climb for almost an hour. My right ankle was starting to bother me. Hiking my bike up the technical single track was taking it's toll on my body. Bike shoes are actually not the best for hiking and with each step onto the loose rock, my ankle would twist slightly one way or the other. Occasionally my shins would bank into my pedals or I would lose my footing and almost drop my bike off the side of the trail where it just might have rolled away from me down the mountain. This section of the trail was not rideable by me or the other riders around me. Sometimes a biker would come by riding at a slightly faster pace then us walkers and we would do our best to get out of the way although most of the time, there was really no where to go. Invariably, I would see said biker up ahead also walking his or her bike. One rider said he should have done more hike-a-bike training. I was thinking the same thing. This was a brutal climb. In fact if I had to use one word to describe this race, it would be BRUTAL!

Before I recap the rest of the race, let me start at the beginning. On Saturday, we left Richmond about 9AM and met up with some friends around 9:30 before making our way to the Stokesville Campground which is about 25 minutes west of Verona, Virginia in the George Washington National Forest. I like to call Verona a suburb of Staunton, Virginia.

We arrived around noonish and setup our tents and scoped out the place. We ate sandwiches and relaxed up until it was time to pick up our race packets which consisted of a shirt, a race number for the bike, and a flask of Hammer Gel. After getting our race pack and chilling for a little longer, we went to the pavilion to eat the provided dinner. The dinner was ok but if I did it again, I would bring my own food and cook it there at the campsite.

After dinner, it was time to get our gear together and try to get some sleep. Unfortunately, it was pretty loud in the campsite until about midnight. There was lots of beer drinking and carrying on which I sort of anticipated. So after a measly 5 hours of sleep, my alarm went off and I got up and made my way to the porta potties. I am glad I went when I did because the lines got pretty long. After taking care of business I got back to our campsite and started prepping my bike. Somehow I had a totally flat front tire. So I scurried to change the flat and get the bike ready.

We made our way down to the starting line and lined up in the 11 hour group towards the back of the pack although 11 hours seemed ambitious to me. At 6:30 on the dot, the race started. It was a pretty fast and fun mass start. We made our way out of the campground onto a road and then down to a forest road to start our first set of up and downs. The ups were not too steep and the downs were just steep enough to get some good momentum for the ups. After a little while, I decided to dial it back a little and bid my fiends farewell as they were riding at a faster pace than I was capable of riding at this point.

And on it went for a while, up and down, up and down until we reached the first real climb. I rode the climb for a while but then it was just too much. I heard there were 4 switchbacks that we would have to traverse until we got to the top and that there was a sweet downhill on the other side. Funny how some people characterized the downhill as sweet. It was downhill, that much is for sure. But sweet? I am not sure. Kitchel or Sidewinder -trails in Vermont-those are sweet. This was just painful. My arms and hands really started hurting from steering my bike, braking heavily and hurtling down through the rocks, roots, and turns. Eventually I made it down safely with no bike damage and no bodily harm. Others were not so fortunate. I passed many people on the side of the trail, in the woods, fixing wheels, changing tubes, etc.

After 4 hours of riding, I made it to aid station 2 for my first break and refueling. I had 33 miles under my belt which was about 1 third of the race. I was on track for a 12 hour finish and was happy to realize that. The volunteers filled up my Camel Bak with water and my water bottle with Heed. I ate some bananas, oranges, and chips, used the bathroom and then headed out from Aid Station 2 towards the next challenge which of course was another climb.

Now at this point in the race, I am starting to mentally fade so I don't really remember specific climbs or downhills. They are all kind of running together in my mind. I had another long climb that seemed never ending. I do know that much. It was one of those climbs where as soon as I was certain I was at the top, I would go around the corner and have to climb some more. And of course, what goes up, must go down. After that long climb, there was a nice gradual downhill on a gravel road. It was a nice break and I actually passed a bunch of people on this section and eventually make it to Aid Station 3.

Aid Station 3 had Hammer Gel but I had not started using mine yet. I had the bananas, oranges, chips and what not and after a short 10 minute break, headed back out onto the bike for the next climb. I was starting to fade a bit. My legs felt ok but I was losing energy and motivation pretty fast. I started to do more walking and less riding.

Again, the details are kind of fuzzy and the order of the climbs and descents as I recount them here are not necessarily accurate. I do know that as I made my way to Aid Station 4, I was unsure I would make it by the 4PM cutoff. But I did. I made it there at 3:15. I ate and used the bathroom and headed out at 3:30.

After leaving Aid Station 4, we had to ride some road for while. As I was riding, my knee started acting up. It was having some spasms in the knee that were a little worrying. I stopped on the side of the road and did a little stretching and massaging of the knee. After getting back on the bike, I decided to eat a Hammer Bar to take my mind of things. And that actually worked. Biking on the road seemed long to me. If I had been with a group, it would have gone much faster but I left Aid Station 4 pretty much by myself so I was alone on the road.

After turning off the road and onto a forest road, I made my way towards what race organizers call "the main death climb." At this point, the forest road was more of a slight roller coaster terrain but I was having trouble with the smallest of climbs and had to walk my bike. I knew I was in trouble at this point. I was tired, dirty, lacking motivation and unable to keep riding. I had to get off and walk several times. And I had not even reached the death climb yet.

I finally made it to the base of the climb. The terrain was actually quite forgiving and had I had energy, this climb was totally rideable. But energy was something that can't always be manufactured out of thin air. I did a lot of walking and some riding. I was in danger of not making it to Aid Station 5 before the 6:30 cutoff. Melissa was at Aid Station 5 waiting for me. She was volunteering which is really the only way spectators are allowed to view the race, as volunteers. After a while, I had trouble even walking my bike. Like I said the terrain was easy so it was not like the hike-a-bike sections I had already completed. But I had to take breaks from walking. At one point, I decided to use a tactic that some people employ when running a marathon. I would walk for 5 minutes and then rest for 1 minute. I was thinking that maybe if I made it to the aid station, I could refuel, rest and continue on. So I took a few steps and then stopped. Instead of walking for 5 minutes, I walked for about 5 steps. I leaned over on the bike and rested my head on the handle bars. I felt strange, almost a shortness of breath. Even breathing had become tiresome. I had been taking my pulse throughout the race which is something I do quite often during workouts so I can tell how hard I am working. My pulse was slightly elevated but strong so that was a good thing. And I was very well hydrated as evidenced by the 10 times I had to stop to water the trees. Finally I decided I would just sit down and rest for a few minutes. While sitting there, a lady rode by and told me the Sweeper Van was about 10 minutes back.

It was then that I realized I was not going to finish the race. Once the Sweeper Van catches up with you, that is it. I got up and started walking again and was eventually overtaken by the van. We put my bike in the van with two other riders and started driving towards Aid Station 5. I was about 1.5 miles from the Aid Station. So I had completed about 73 miles. When we got to the aid station, we unloaded the bike and I put it on our vehicle and Melissa drove us back to the campground.

On the ride back to the campground, I had many thoughts about the race. I asked myself if I was really cut out for this kind of race. I wondered if there was something I could have done differently. Once we got back to the campground, I changed my clothes and then we waited for my friends to finish in the dark. They finished in 15 hours and 15 minutes. They persevered where I could not. I was very proud of them. It was the first ever mountain bike race for both of them and they finished. Quite an accomplishment!

After they finished we pretty much went to bed. The next day we bugged out pretty early and headed for home. I was exhausted but had some chores to do. We went to the store, got groceries, made dinner and hit the sack.

The next day I went to work and contemplated my weekend. The more I thought about the race, the more I realized all my mistakes. I made nutrition mistakes as well as tactical and training mistakes. I learned a lot by competing in this race and as the day went on that Tuesday after the race, I came to the conclusion that I would try again next year. I have already written too much so I will go into more details later about what I did wrong and how I plan to correct those mistakes for next year.

And now for a few pictures from the race.