MS Bike Ride

Ready to go.

So I'm doing a lot better. Still recovering though. Stacking those two races and going hard on both set me back longer than I thought but I'm on my way back. This past Wednesday I went out for a short run and felt amazingly good. Anyway doing the "Waves to Wine Ride" this weekend, a Multiple Sclerosis fundraising bike ride. It's two days, about 150 miles, supported, with lots of food, drink and hanging out at the end of each day. Camping is available Saturday night but I'm sharing a cheap room with two other friends. I wimped out, wanted that hot shower Sunday morning.

So it's definitely not a race just a ride and I was recruited to be one of the "ride marshalls". Fancy word, just a volunteer, serving the 1600 or so riders in the event. Our job is to spread ourselves out in the group and keep a general eye out on things. Help out folks with mechanical problems, make sure people are not riding too far to the right, stuff like that. There will be motorcycle and car support as well. Got the hook up from one of my friends from the tri-club, she's the director for special events and got a bunch of us to volunteer. Got a snazzy new biker jersey and everything.

It will be nice to get a brake from the running and the biking will give me a good workout. The first day is hilly, not sure what the second day will bring. Anyway time to hit the hay, check in is at 6AM. Hope ya'll have a great weekend.

Something Exciting in SoCal

Last week I was at the PCTR message board and one of the posters brought our attention to a new 100-mile/100k for 2008. The details intrigued me enough to investigate and what I found was a monster of a run that makes my heart race just thinking about it. A day later Chihping Fu from the ultra list posted info on the same run.

It's called the Coyote Two Moon Ultras and let me tell you what's got me so hopped up about the event.

1) The 100k reads like a 100-miler. It has a 24-hour limit, 19,000ft. of total climb and a price point to match - $190.

2) The 100-miler itself has 25,000 feet of total climb and a 40 hour limit.
(to help put this in perspective, Headlands Hundred, the last 100m that I've done has 17,700 ft. of total climb)

3) If you finish the 100-miler you get a buckle and it will be the only buckle you will receive no matter how many times you finish this race.

4) Your starting time is based on your finishing times from your qualifying races and your own honest assessment of your conditioning. To qualify for the 100-miler you have to have run a 100-mile race with at least 18,000ft. of total climb the last 16-months prior to 10/31/07. They also would like information on the other 100-milers you have done to get a more accurate idea of what your starting time should be. They want everyone to be hustling to make the cutt-offs and not just the "back of the pack'ers". Sounds fair right?

5) It's called "Two Moon" because you will see the moon twice and they specifically staged it on a full moon weekend.

6) Pacers are only permitted on the first moon. The course is designed so as the event progresses runners will see more and more of each other so that on that the last final mind-numbing miles (their words) runners can keep themselves company. They suggest that if you want a buddy have them enter the event as well.

7) The course map is scanned in, hand drawn, hand written and not to scale....so far.

It's no Hardrock but I'll bet it will unload a whole lot of whoopin'. Furthermore it seems like they put a lot of thought into the "pacer" issue. On paper it seems like a good compromise. Anyone who wants a pacer can get one but on the second night everyone is going at it alone or making alliances with other runners.

It's definitely on my mind. For more information you can visit their website.

Kicking Back

The best Redhook I ever had was at the source, Seattle...well close enough but that was after being on the road for most of a day, the majority of it in heavy pouring rain. TGIF and no racing weekend.

I am beat, tired, exhausted, sluggish and lazy! After 8 hours of sleep all I want to do is go back to sleep. I'm craving all my comfort foods too; baked goods, meats and rice. Doing my best not to give in, not totally anyway. There's work to do and weight to control...ain't it always. It's my reward for working hard the last two races. I definitely worked hard enough that there wasn't a single smile in my Big Kahuna tri pictures. Too bad but hey racing is tough right?

So this week I've just been taking it easy. I expected all of this anyway and while it's been hard working out at recovery pace at the Track and at Spin class I'm happy to say there's no injuries or nagging pains anywhere. Slow to Medium is the rule until my body recovers. I've already altered my plans for the weekend seeing that it's taking me longer than normal to recover. I would like to have one last 6-hour training run for the Firetrails 50-miler on October 13th this weekend. I'll give it a shot on Sunday after taking Saturday completely off to rest up but I'll be happy with 3-hours if that's all my body will give me. I'll take what I've got. I'm afraid of pushing hard at this point, I don't want to prolong the fatigue and exhaustion that I'm feeling now.

So far so good though. I think I've paced it well enough during the year that I'll make it intact for my season ender on Thanksgiving Weekend with the Quad Dipsea Race. One year I got there over trained and running on fumes...it was painful.

Big Basin 50k

Marathon Maniac Rob Cowan wins PCTR's Big Basin 50k. At the finish with his daughter. For the photosetclick here.

Not too short but sweet nonetheless and a whole lot of whoop ass! - PCTR style.

Signed up for the race as a training run for the Firetrails 50-miler in October. The course consisted of a 15k loop and a 10k loop. Like most PCTR races there were multiple distance options for the runners, the 50k folks like myself had to do both loops twice. Big Basin is a beautiful run in the Santa Cruz mountains, lots of single track and shade. On the 15k loop you get to scramble up the side of a waterfall.

I started out hard on the 15k loop. I knew my body wasn't fully recovered from the triathlon last weekend but I figured that I could always scale back if needed. Ran great the first hour but then felt myself weaken and had to pull back. Getting stung by yellow jackets was no help either. I was moving pretty well but only up to a certain point. My heart rate monitor said I could go harder but my legs said no more. It's a fine line between pushing and listening and I opted for the latter knowing I've been going hard the last three weeks. Ran with friends, made new ones and they made a world of difference. On the last loop one of the guys I was running with gets his second wind and pulls away slowly, he takes me with him. I follow and surprisingly I get my second wind. As he tired I took my turn at the front and kept on going. The pull of the finish line and my desire for a sub-6 finish took over at this point. I would end up passing two more runners. Finished 5:52? or something like that to come in at 5th place. I publicly declared shortly after finishing that I won't be doing another PCTR event, was met with laughter because I was grinning. What a great run.
Sorry no shots of the trails. I put everything into the run.

Addy with parents. Dad did the 25k and Mom hiked the 10k. Hanging with Patrick and Steve at the finish over chili.