ETSS: Prevention and Recovery

Sure! you think it'll never happen to you, but I'm here to say that emergency trail-side shits (ETSS) can happen and you may be next.

Some early warning signs of ETSS:

• The nagging question of should I "go" before I run turns into thoughts of "perhaps I should have gone before."
• Several knocks at the rear door so to speak
• Any run after a high fiber meal

How do you know you're in an ETSS situation?

• All you can think about is answering that knock at the door.
• You're on a part of the trail that has lots of other runners
• You're wondering if running cross-legged is possible
• And, finally, you could care less if you were in Times Square this issue is NOW!

Here are some of my recommendations when ETSS hits:

• Find a discrete part of the trail from which it's unlikely you'll be seen
• Screw it! That bush will do just fine!!
• Should you be "discovered", I suggest a friendly wave. Since most people on the trail rarely look at you, let alone wave you should be okay. Should they be looking at you, I'm sure they'll be so distracted by your friendliness that they aren't likely to notice your running shorts around your ankles.
• Spend a few relaxing moments, wondering what the motorists on the highway that overlooks your trail must be thinking. And when you might hear "an interesting -I swear this is true" anecdote at a party. Should ETSS last that long, consider your defense of "that poor runner" without raising suspicions.
  
• Look for a creek, puddle, or rain drop that might provide some "sanitary benefit" post ETSS. Try not to notice what's in that creek, puddle, etc.
• Repeat 50 times: "I will not run before visiting the mayor."

Spring Break for It

Spring is springing. And I'm running. And biking.

Last Friday, I put in two back-to-back 27 mile rides with a commute to and from work. It was a bitch of a ride with T-Rex hauling me out in the high 160's on the ride into work and one shitty northwest headwind beating me up on the ride back.

Earlier in the week, the madman family vacationed in Parajo Dunes near Watsonville, CA. This gave me the opportunity for some beach running as a means of some insight into this fall's Lost Coast Trail run. Ok, maybe I'm a 10%er but beach running is just boring. It's mile after mile of white noise and monotonous landscape. I mean occasionally there is the "Dude that was a narly wave!," but my limit is somewhere around 100 crying seagulls or 250 hopping willets. Maybe this doesn't bode well for the Coast Trail run, but I do think the scenery is a little more interesting and the challenge a little greater than a beach jog.

Summer vacation plans

Week 9 of the new year's training plan. I finished this peak week in my 6 week cycle feeling very good. Despite a cold that severely reduced training for week's 7 and 8, I was still able to ramp up to log 9 hours with a combination of road, trail, and home gym while biking and running for a combined 87.2 miles. I had a blast with last Sunday's 12 mile trail run on a beautiful CA spring day, put in a real hammer of a road ride up Calavaras Road and back on Wednesday, another gorgeous ride through the Livermore wine country while dodging showers on Friday, and even felt good enough to squeeze in an extra short run due to short falls in planned riding times. Runs included not only endurance pace distant runs, but also, a zone 3 run, a fartleig run, and a 10k race pace run--all for a total of 27.4 running miles.

I'm going into this upcoming week is a rest week with only 6:30 of training time and 63 miles anticipated feeling very good about my training level and progress.

So I'm on track as I prepare for this season's upcoming activities:
- 22K trail race in April
- metric century in June
- century in July
- 12 hour adventure race in July
- 12 hour adventure race in Sep
- 24 hour adventure race in Sep
- 25mile trail run on the Lost Coast in Oct

It's that last item though that I'll devote another entry towards, as it has captured a lot of interest by new "team mates".

If it's February, it must mean rain

Rain. Lots of it.

Wind. The howling kind. They type that rocks you back on your heels.

The latest storm punched into California just in time for Sunday's 12 mile ridge run. I launched out of the house for a 12 mile loop heading south into the teeth of 28 mph winds and sheets of rain.

Dude! What were you thinking?!

I loved it. There's nothing like witnessing Mother Nature acting out like running in a storm. Witnessing such power and strength is both humbling and exciting.

The rain and wind were cold and my legs were a nice cherry red as I waded southwards into the teeth of the squall line. 3 miles of flat warm-ups later, I joined the trailhead and headed up the 1500' climb to the ridge line. Two other intrepid runners were descending and we exchanged friendly greetings and comments on the "beautiful weather". Sheets of rain pelted me as I climbed the trail, now a constant flowing gutter of rain water and mud. Footing was decent for the most part. At mile 5, I topped out on the ridge line and the southerly gusts helped push me along. The ragged cloud bases whipped mere feet over my head and the scrub oaks showed the shiny silver green undersides as large branches yielded and shook to the gusts of wind.

In a few deep ravines where the trail cut through, it became calm and quiet as the steep green hills acted as wind blocks. Silent and still, rain-soaked cows would track my progress with barely a turn of their heads. Even they must of thought me mad.

By mile 8, the trail turned downhill, the rain's stopped and even the wind moderated. Descending down the east facing hills, the valley of my town lay wet and quiet below me. No other runners or hikers were out; I was the lone looney.

By mile 10, I could shed my raincoat although showers threatened around me. Finishing up 2 miles later, I was a wet but happy runner.

Wild Kingdom

"While Jim attempts to capture the rare Siberian tiger by grabbing his tail, I'll polish off my 3rd martini...."

So, Marlin Perkins must be happy for me this week. I've experienced more interesting wild life episodes in the last 3 jaunts than I can recall.

Last week, I came across two adult deer and a yearling. Not unusual. However, usually they hightail it before I get too close. Not so this time. I was almost on them before they turned and darted to my left (eastward) off the trail. Then, 50 yards south of them I saw --perhaps--the reason they had dallied. Two coyote appeared on the trail, darted back to the brush, then back again as I continued my run towards them. They too seem to delay their departure until I was almost 50 yards from them. They chose to go west. A little research revealed why I saw what I did:

"Food habit studies reveal that its principle diet is composed of mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, other small rodents, insects, even reptiles, and fruits and berries of wild plants.

The coyote is an opportunistic predator that uses a variety of hunting techniques to catch small mammals likes rabbits and squirrels, which comprise the bulk of its diet. Although it hunts alone to catch small prey, it may join with others in hunting larger mammals like young deer or a pony."

Then on my long run on Sunday, I came across 3 coyote, 25 yards from the trail, running 3 abreast across a field. It was a fascinating experience. Clearly they were hunting.

The week before, a real first: a herd of 25+ elk at sunrise on a hill just 100 yards from the road I was cycling upon.

So, while Jim chases the coyotes, I'll be joining Marlin for a beer.

Running with purpose

Some run for fun. Some run for strength. Some run to live.

Rain

Crap. Rain. Nothing but rain. Just rain. And it's cold.

So, I got that going for me.

60 minutes on the trainer. Man, that's boring.

Ugh. Rain.

It sucks. Unless I'm running, of course- then it's cool.

Toys and training

Behold the power of toys!

The Forerunner 305, a Christmas gift, has created a whole new insight into my training activities. It's also provided me with a new way to kill hours planning and analyzing. But, man I love this toy! The Forerunner has a heart rate monitor and 12 channel GPS. I've used it now for road and mountain biking rides, as well as, daily training and weekend trail runs. This thing is unbelievably accurate. Too acurate, in fact. I'm slightly depressed at the new "true" running pace which is about 15 secs slower than I had always thought I was running. Damn ground truth!!!!

The above is the track from my 9.02 mile trail run in Sunol park this weekend. Here's all the intimate detail. Dang it's cool! Dang, I've got some training to do!!

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:46:37 11:43 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:43:48 11:24 pace
Distance (mi ) 9.09
Moving Speed (mph) 5.3 avg. 11.4 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +2,895 / -2,892

Avg. Heart Rate 143 bpm Zone 3.5

Temperature (°F) 46.4°F avg. 48.2°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) SE 5.2 avg. SE 9.2 max.

GPS Signal Quality Fair MB Gravity Web Service

Where the Hell have you been?

It's a dull gray and rain-soaked day in the Bay area. Perfect for a run. I logged an hour running in a light rain and under the dawn's cloud leadened sky. At a casual pace, I ran and explored a few new detours along my usual route. One lead to a local ranchers house, who just happened to be out shooting at wild turkey's. I decided to explore elsewhere.

December has been a rough month. Between a nasty cold and some other bug I picked up after Thanksgiving, this has been a pretty work-out free month. Maybe that's not a bad thing as I need some built in rest time to recoup and recover from last season. My 4 day mountain biking trip to Moab pretty much tore me up and I suspect I was slightly over-training before it. My workouts, both running and riding, subsequently were done on wooden legs with little of the power I'm used to or rely upon. In short, November pretty much sucked except for the week before Thanksgiving. I got some awesome trail runs in up along the Pacific Crest Trail out of Graeagle and Gold Lakes before the ebola-like illness kicked in.

But today, I felt for the first time, like I was back. It was a great feeling.

A River Rides Through Us

Our regular bike commuters-- T-Rex, Squiggy, Racer X, and myself-- have been getting in a steady number of rides. Besides our twice weekly commute in to San Jose (27 miles one way), we've also tried to bag some weekend rides. Squiggy has the most miles on this, seeming to log in a century every other weekend, yet still manages to be fresh for our commute. Our average speed has been steadily edging up, improved by the "unofficial race" up the backside of Calavaras. We've shaved 5 minutes off our commute time due to this and now regularly average over 18.1 mph.

Last Sunday, we all did a 50 miler up Mines Road and back in sub-3 hours and sought to keep our average near 16.5 mph since Tinker would be joining and who hasn't been logging as many miles as the rest of us. We wound up at a pretty sedate pace of 17.1mph.

So we're feeling pretty cocky about our pacing with all of us envisioning we have the polka-dotted "king of the hill" jersey pretty well locked up. Then "River" joined us for a short segment on the flats before the Calavaras climb. I'm blaming Squiggy's for what happened with that. We were pacing along rather moderately--on purpose-- when Squiggy eyed River ahead and decided to reel him in. Squiggy caught him, but now the line was moving about 3-5mph faster than before. River was invited in, we held the pace in order to demonstrate that we "always jet along at this speed, don't ya know?" and off we scooted. By the base of the climb 4 miles later, Squiggy and Trex were no where to be seen. RacerX, River, and I (gladly) pulled over to wait for them to arrive 3 minutes later. We caught our breath and then began the climb. River had great form and cadence, and it was clear we were going to be trashed by his climbing strength. I held on as long as possible, Racer X close behind, but over 2.5 miles, we watched his gap open as our heart rates red lined. We sucked. Egos deflated. Polka-dot jerseys' gone.

I'm sure he's probably about 10 years younger than us.....

Next week it's off to Moab for 4 days of riding with Racer X. I'm in taper now and letting muscles and ego mend.