a look back and a glance forward

For me the Leadville Silver Rush 50 marked the close to my first “real” season of running. At the close of my cycling carrier I had one goal in mind, run Western States. Although that didn't happen this season- nor was it planned- I have qualified for the 2012 Western States (finished a 50 mile trail race in under 12 hours- something that I think is an overly easy qualifying time). The runs this season started out at 10 minutes in duration and ended with the longest run being 10.30 hours. Thats right 10.30 hours! During the fall of 2010 I started running and signed up for my first race- the Gold Leaf half marathon in Aspen Co. At that time my longest run had been 14 miles. Well I did the race and finished well- 49th out of 1000 (and one of 80 people who went under 2 hours- its a hilly coarse)! Over the winter months I continued to run without any real race in mind. The early months of 2011 saw pretty inconsistent training- well by my standards. The next race I did was the sage burner 50k in Gunnison held mid May. That race sucked but I finished. By that point I had signed up for the Silver Rush and was training with a certain goal in mind. Over the month of June and July training went pretty well. I wasn't really recording my training during this time. The last two weeks of June and the first two weeks of July went really well. Each week was about 18-21 hours and was all solid training. Although I can regularly do these hours on a bike, and indeed many more, running is a different story. I was so destroyed with training I didn't do much but run and sleep. It was hard. The week before Leadville was a rest week, and I mean rest! I slept like 14 hours a day- everyday. Then I raced. It was run up to mile 43. The race started at 10,200' and topped out at 12,000' twice. It was an out an back coarse with 2 massive climbs each direction. I started out slowly- my all day pace. The first 13.5 miles was 2.15 hours ( a little slower then what I wanted but still good). This is where I saw my lovely crew. I cannot thank Anna, Jerome, and Hana enough! They were there with signs, food, and water. I flew through the aid station. We had discussed the best game plan for the aid stations and executed it perfectly. I was shooting for 2 hour splits and a finish of around 8 hours. I hit the turn around in 4.30 hours. Same pace, same crew. All was good at this point. I was a little sore but other then that I was fine. Knowing that I had ran for 4.30 hours and was only 1/2 way done was not the best feeling mentally but I decided to harden the f' up and get it done. From mile 25 to mile 39 was my best section. I killed it. I made up a lot of time during the first climb and the ripping decent. It was mile 33 that Andrew cheered me on! I met Andrew at Gunnison and was informed that he was not at Leadville. But as I was flying down the shallow down hill I hear "is that Alex Hauger!- your killing it" I couldn't have been happier to have my friend there! His cheers got me to the next aid station. This is were I saw my crew for the last time. 7 hours. All was great. I knew 8 hours was out of the question but a 9.30 finish was looking good. only 12 miles to go! Then I hit the final climb and Leadville started hitting back- hard. The last 12 miles took 3.10 hours. Shit! It wasn't that I couldn't run physically- it was the mental damage. I was pretty destroyed by mile 42. My running turned into a jog with a few walking sections- ouch! The last 7 miles was horrible. It wasn't until the last mile that I started really running again- and at 200 meters to go- a lovely treat! My roommate Richard- the best runner I know who possess a talent I won't ever be ably to touch- showed up. I didn't know he was coming! As I flew passed he told me I had only 200 meters left! Thank the Lord! I was killed the last 200 meters and finished in 10.30 hours. Not great but enough for 104th out of 430. Top 25% not bad, not bad.

Before the start with Jane, Jill, and Jimmy. Game on!

Before the start, minutes to go.

Turn around- all similes!

Grabbing food at mile 38

Best crew ever! Jerome, Hana, Richard. I couldn't ask for better friends!

Anna and I at the finish. I couldn't have done it without her!

So what's next? I'm not sure. There are a few races and events I'm mulling over in my head. Right now the Leadville 100 mile run seems to be the next logical step. I am also highly considering chasing the Leadman title. That consists of completing 5 or 6 of the 6 events at Leadville in one season. If I do it I'm going to to all of them. The 10k run, marathon, 50 mile run and mountain bike race, and the 100 mile run and mountain bike. Epic for sure! (http://www.leadvilletrail100.com) Some other races I am considering:

Miwok 100k in Marin Headlands CA
http://www.run100s.com/miwok/

Western States in Squaw Valley
http://www.WS100.com/

Hardrock 100 in Silverton
http://hardrock100.com/

Wasatch Front 100
http://www.wasatch100.com/

Any and all of the Montrail Ultra Cup
http://ultracup.montrail.com/race-schedule.aspx

And, of coarse, the Mont- Blanc!
There are a few other races in Europe I want to do but I haven't researched enough about those races.

One last race I have in mind is the 24 hours in Moab mountain bike race.
http://www.grannygear.com/Races/Moab/index.shtml

Update

So when I don't update this thing that often is means one of two things- that I am either running a whole lot or not running at all. Fortunately it has been because I have been running and riding my mountain bike a whole lot. The last two weeks have just seen a slow increase in milage. I have also been working on my nutrition and hydration during my long runs and that is almost nailed down. I know, for sure, that it was a huge nutrition mistake that made Gunnison so terrible. Had I nailed the nutrition I'm almost certain that I could have hit 5.30 hours.

The week of June 6th- 12th wasn't a great week but it wasn't all that bad. For personal reasons, that I won't discuss here, I wasn't able to commit as much time or energy to training that I usually do. The week saw a little more biking then usual as well. The week included 4.15 hours of biking and 5.05 hours of running with a summit on Green, South Boulder, Bear, and Flagstaff. Not that great but still 9.20 hours.

The week of the 13th- 19th was much better, although it includes a failed trip to Leadville. The week broke down as follows:
Monday- 30 min easy run
Tuesday- off (seeming to become the usual rest day)
Wednesday- Pm- 4.50 hours with two trips up Green and two trips up Bear. Pm- 30 min easy run with my good friend Hana! It was all because of her that I was able to get through this run.
Thursday- Pm= 2.30 hours up Flag with some new loops up top. This was a funny run for one reason. As I was cruising around a bend at the top of the climb (wearing my typical backwards trucker hat and no shirt I caught the sight 4 girls all dressed in identical green dressed. Strange right. I had heard some people talking and just figured it was them. As I fully rounded the bend I realized what was up- I had pretty much ran right into a wedding- as the vows were being exchanged. I took a minute to take in the ceremony and slowly backtracked, I'm sure the bride's maids were checking me out! Pm- 55 min bike ride.
Friday- off. Headed out to Leadville, only to return at 5 am the next morning. I had failed to check the weather and spend the night freezing in a massive storm. FAIL!
Saturday- After a long drive home I didn't want to run. So I hoped on the mountain bike and got in 4 hours.
Sunday- Am- 5.00 hour run with Bear and South Boulder. PM (only about 45 min after my first run was done). 1.10 hours with Anna. A great run, and it was really nice to have the company! In total this run was about 28-30 miles.

The week totaled up:
Bike=4.55 hours
Run= 14.30 hours
Total= 19.25 hours

recovery, recovery, recovery

This last week hasn't seen much of anything. I few runs and a few bike rides but thats about it. My left foot got royally hurt after the Sage Burner so I have been nursing that injury. My muscles feel good, and mentally I'm ready to train again. The foot is starting to feel better so hopefully this week, June 6-12 goes well. I will keep you posted.

back at it

So the last few weeks have been less then ideal. Lets start from the beginning:
From May 15th tell the end of the month didn't see much training. During that two week period I was just doing lots of short little runs and some mountain bike rides. Nothing too special, or of any significance. For the first time in the last six years I was enjoying being a "regular" college kid. I was just kinda chilling and really enjoying waking up in the morning and just relaxing and not having to go out and train for hours on end. It was pretty nice. During this time I was a bit worried about my future prospect of Mont- Blanc but I was just kinda going with it. Then it was race time!
With an overall lack of milage in my legs I joined about 300 other runners at 7:30 am in Gunnison, Colorado for a mass start of a 50k and 25k race. I was in the 50k. The gun went and the pain came! Here is how it broke down:
The first two miles were a pretty significant climb and I hammered them attempting to warm my legs up. This worked out pretty well and then I just settled into an easy all day pace (or so I thought). The first few aid stations flew by and I was sitting happy around 25th place. I was rocking the climbs and just cruising on the flats and downhills. It was all great until the mile 22 aid station. This is when the Sage Burner hit back....hard (well not so much the race, more of a personal mistake). From like 22 to 23 my legs began to cramp beyond belief. Every muscle was cramping and my toes were curled below my feet. I attempted to slam 4 gels and try to recover. But by the time cramps subsided my muscles were just dead. By the mile 25 aid station I was walking...only. From then I pretty much walked the entire rest of the race and preceded to get pasted by like everyone. It was pretty humiliating and I was mentally shelled. To give you an idea of what happened, I hit the 22 mile aid station in just over 4 hours then it took me 3.30 hours to finish the remaining 9 miles. About 7.45 hours or "running" total. The mistake? Nutrition. I was never tired, it was just my muscles failing on me. I have thought about this race a lot and have come to realize this. Before the race I ate a banana and half of a bagel and during the race 6 gels. Thats about 800 calories consumed throughout an 8 hour run. Way to little. I'm fairly certain the cramps came from a lack of electrolights and the failing muscles were from a complete depletion of glycogen stores. Over the next few weeks I'm going to experiment with eating real solid food during runs.

Also I need to give Taylor Horowitz his due glory. Taylor came out to Gunnison with me with no intention of running. I twisted his arm and he signed up the night before. He has been hammering the mountain bike and the gym but not much training. Well about 30 min after me, Taylor crossed the 50k finish line (he also ran in new shoes)! I would have to say that he earned the bad ass of the day award.

On Sunday Taylor and I spun on the mountain bike and then headed back to Boulder. I followed that up with a trip to Boulder Sports Acupuncture and had a great session with Steven Rizzolo.

Since that Sunday I have been off my feet. I could hardly walk for days and every little task required a huge effort to accomplish. Today, Wednesday 1st, I got out for a little 20 min run. It felt good to be out "running" again. The muscles are good, its just the bottoms of my feet that are trashed.

Finally, I would like to thank all the wonderful people at the Sage Burner and especially Andrew Hyde for his support around mile 23. He made the race for a lot of people!

the slow return (May 8-15th)

This last week was a brief glimmer of my formal training. It wasn't as great as I had hoped but right now I'm just trying to get back on my feet. I spent a bit more time on the bike this week then usual just trying to log more volume. The nice thing about riding bikes is the low impact doesn't affect my usually sensitive ankles and knees. By riding a bit more I was able to do a little more volume then running alone would allow. The week broke down as follows:
Monday- 2.45 hour bike ride
Tuesday- 2.15 hours. Green Mountain and a loop down bear creek
Wednesday- off
Thursday- off
Friday- AM- 3.40 hours. Green, Bear, South Boulder, then back to Green. 5,500 vertical gain. Some snow at the tops of the peaks made for slow running and some hiking.
PM- 1 hour on the bike
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Ran up and down Eldora Ski area. Crap conditions. It was like 30 degrees and rain/ snow.
Pm- 30 min on the bike.
Sunday- do to some extraneous circumstances I didn't run or ride today.

Not a good week, but certainly not the best week. Right now I'm not 100% mentally with it. The last week has been a struggle but hopefully things will start looking up.

May 14th running:
Really!?

Back at it

School is finally over! As I already mentioned, the last two weeks completely sucked. I'm on the slow rebound and starting to get the miles in again. This week was a fairly easy week. The goal was to gradually increase the milage and avoid injury. It broke down like this:

Monday (May 2nd)- 30 min just cruising.
Tuesday- 1.20 hours. Got a PR on Green today. 48.06 min. Good run and was pumped about the PR. I thought my fitness would be shot but this was a nice confidence booster.
Wednesday- 1.35 hours. Flagstaff and Green. Was hurting a bit after yesterday's effort so just took it easy today.
Thursday- Off- decided after two good days to give the legs a break. I have pushed it too hard too early in the past and suffered injury from it, so with this that in mind, I took the day off.
Friday- 1.20 hours on the bike. Cruised the road bike. I was out climbing Mangnolia Road as they called my name at graduation. A somber ride as I contemplated where I have been and where I am going. Alone with my thoughts, up in the mountains, is the perfect place to think.
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Green mountain. Started roughly 2 min farther away then usual and still hit the top in 50.45 min. That puts me at another sub 49 min summit. I was pleased with this run because I had a pounding headache the entire time and nearly turned around many times.
Sunday- 1.00 hours. Just cruised.

In total:
Run- 6.05
Bike- 1.20 hours
Total- 7.25 hours.

Not the most volume but a good start to the come back. I wish I had logged more hours but I needed to keep myself in check, with a PR and 3 summits on green I think we can say it was a good week.

I leave you with a little self portrait:

If you were to take a picture as I walked across the stage at CU Boulder's graduation I wouldn't be in it. This is my graduation picture (taken as they called my name).

Inconsistent training, Consistent school

Back at it.
The last two weeks have been pretty much consistent school work. The week of April 17-23 marked an all time high week of training. Got in 16 hours...solid. Hit about 45 miles over the weekend alone. After August 24th everything went to hell. From the 24th on school dominated my life. Over the last two weeks I have got in around 6 hours of training. But, with the end of school comes to the rebirth of training. So I am now resting up and slowly rebuilding my fitness. There is still some lingering fatigue (from all the school work) but I can now dedicate a great deal of time to rest and rebuilding a solid base. Things are starting to look up, and I'm overly excited about finding new legs in preparation for the races to come.

On a different note, had a great graston treatment with Brent at Synch Chiropractic. He did a number on my back. The graston really helps loosen up all the tightness in my back. And yes, it hurts like hell.