Vi's Top of Tantalus HURT Trail Run Report

Fact- I really like trail running.
Fact- I am really not very good at it yet.

Saturday morning I joined (read: was told by Diesel and the Grey to show up to) the Hawaii Ultra Running Team's (HURT) second race of their season, Vi's Top of Tantalus 7 Miler. Technically, this was a race, but you would never know it from looking at the runners that morning.
Ultra runners are special. These are people who run marathons through trails back to back (to back to back) for fun. So while they have "races", what the really have are fun runs. Everyone shows up, pays their $10 entry fee, gets marked with a sharpie, and that's about it. No one really cares if you run or walk, as long as you finish. Take 50 minutes? Wow, that's awesome. Take two and half hours? Great job!
Listen, at this point I've been in lots of starting corrals. I know what a start feels like and I know what the morning of a race feels like. It does not feel like a picnic where everyone there happens to be athletic. But this race did. Seriously, runners rolled in to Pu'u Ulaka'a State Park at around 7am for a start time of 8:00, and everyone just mingled and hung out. There was laughing and joking. There was not nervous jittering and stretching and "Oh, look at that guy, he looks fast, he's my rabbit." Just a nice day out.
This atmosphere is awesome. The $10 paid for food, which there was plenty of, and sharpies. Timing we'll get to later.
Anyway, we started at one end of the park where the race director gave a short speech about Vi, to whom this race was dedicated. I don't really know too much about her and don't want to get anything wrong out of respect to the team, so that's really all I'm going to say about it. But after the dedication the group was loose and having fun. Being a trail race we were told to follow the orange markers, then the white ones. "If you're following blue, you're way off course." Naturally, I assumed I'd be off on a blue trail in no time.
The start was like the rest of the race: Keep It Simple, Stupid. As in, "Ok, we're going to go in 3, 2, 1, Go." And we went. After a very short run through the park we hit a bottleneck that led down the hillside and into the trail. At the bottleneck I caught up to Diesel and the Grey, but didn't figure on staying long with them. I know when we run together I keep up because they let me, not because I'm as fast as they are. So I figured I'd hang for a while, then do my own thing.
"For a while" was about a mile, then bu-bye guys. The problem isn't so much that they are a ton faster than me, though that is part of it. The problem is that I'm not part mountain goat yet, I don't have the experience and therefor the footwork to feel comfortable running over parts of the trail. Uphill is actually easier to run, aside from the whole running uphill thing. Downhill is easy to run, aside from the steps and rocks and roots thing. And flat is easy to run except for see downhill. What I'm trying to say here is, I did a lot of walking.
I walked uphill most of the climbs after mile two, and there was a lot of climbing. Check out the elevation profile.

I went in to this without any ego, so my slowness doesn't really bother me. Along with walking uphill, there were many parts of the trail that, to me, seemed very technical. That is to say, lots of root root rockrockrock water root rock. I am not running over that. Simpler parts I can, but complicated stuff? Not for Dirtbag. If I twist and ankle during a fun run I'll be (more) pissed (than normal) for the next four weeks. So I'm picking my way around. And again, nobody cared. I spent the whole race hearing, "On your left," which meant that someone behind me was making their move to pass and on such a narrow trail they needed to let me know so I didn't accidentally knock them into the bamboo. I followed one girl for a mile and a half or so, then I passed her, or maybe she got away, I can't remember. Then I ran near another dude for a while until we got to the top of a climb and we on our way back down. "You a good descender?" he asked me. "Uh, no, I don't think so. You go ahead." And with a, "Coolthanks," he was off.
I brought along one of my handheld water bottles with a baggie of Gummy Bears for energy and wore my Garmin, but that was all I had. There was but one aid station and it was very late in the race. Everyone came prepared with water in bottle or camelback form. I never checked my Garmin except for distance. I never looked at my speed. I didn't care and I knew it was slow.
The hardest part of the run for me was between mile three and four. Right dead in the middle. I think it might have gotten a little technical in there, plus there is a good chunk of up there, and it's the farthest part from the start or end. Mentally, that's always been a weird place for me.
Around mile six I slipped and fell on a metal bridge. There were a few of those along the trail, easing stream or gap crossings, and most of them are just wooded boards with metal grating along the top for traction, I guess. What really happens is they get mud in the grates, which makes them slick. I hopped off a rock onto the bridge and my feet went right out from under me and I went down, BAM, right onto my left hip and elbow. There was a guy right behind me who grabbed me and picked me right up and made sure I was ok, which was very cool. He even called back to me as he ran around the next bend to be sure. And I was fine, just needed to walk it off. After I got home and got a good look at the hip I saw that the soreness I'm still feeling is earned. Working on a nice bruise. And I never bruise. Elbow is sore still too.

The impact zone

Super Awesome Wife came along too, though she didn't really do the race with the rest of us. Diesel brought along his dog and let Super Awesome Wife walk her on the trail. So she set off in the opposite direction of the rest of us and when Diesel got to her she handed off the dog and started back. I caught up with her about half a mile from the end, right after she'd taken a spill of her own, and walked to the final climb with her. I ran up the hill and finished a minute or so in front of her. Have I mentioned I love finishing races with my wife? It is so cool.

Way to go, baby!

Bonked knees

 My final time was 1:51, which isn't great but like I've been saying, I don't care. I had a good time. The way the race directors recorded the finishing times without chips was very simple- they hung out in lawn chairs at the finish and the wife would call the numbers on our leg to her husband, who would type them into his iPad with the time. Simple. Diesel says they are the original Hawaii ultrarunners, the founders of HURT.
So for $10 I got a nice day out and plenty of food at the finish. Can't argue with that. I guess there is another coming up in May, and eight-miler. Might do it. Diesel says I am. Who am I to argue?

On Stubbing Toes and Rolling Ankles

Run Day
distance- 5.03mi
time-1:15

I have heard that the Grey is among the clumsiest trail runners I will ever meet. It seems that I took that as a challenge. I met with the boys yesterday after school for a nice run around the Scout Camp trails of Pupukea. Run, as it turns out, would be overstating a lot of it. I did quite a bit of walking. Let's just say there was much huffing and puffing involved. After all, this is not what anyone would call level. It's more what you would call a whole buncha up and down and up again. Not that I'm complaining, trails and elevation changes induce high DSQ levels , which will eventually induce greater Dirtbag Power, which will then allow for pushing to even greater DSQ levels. It's kind of a sick cycle when you think about it.
To make things interesting, I did try to roll an ankle once. It's fine, but I needed to walk it off and didn't enjoy the split second of watching two weeks of training disappear because of a small misstep. Still a little rightness back there as I sit here, but no pain. I also stubbed the crap out of my pinkie toe. Again. I blame both of these things on my Vibram TrekSports, but one in a good way and one in a painful way. I know for a fact the ankle roll would have been worse had I been wearing normal running shoes. In college I was El Ankle Rollo. But since I started wearing the toe shoes I've come close a few times, but never had a real sprain. The true spread of the foot prevents serious rolls. (Message from Fictional Time Traveling Future Dirtbag- Great, dumbass. Since you typed that sentence we've rolled each ankle nine times. Thanks a lot. Jerk.) But the toe sockets also don't offer much (read: any) protection from roots that jump up in front of the pinkie toe. Gotta get my feet up. There was also some stomach issues right at the end that I had to walk off. So it goes, I'm actively working on finding a solution to that.

I'm not taking a break, I'm taking a picture of the trail

Military convoy passed us on the road back

My what a big gun you have.

It was great to get a run in with Diesel and the Grey, but I feel like I'm holding them back even more on runs than on rides. They never complain and like to joke around (the Grey- "This was good, I needed a recovery run." Me-*gasp huff puff* "Suck it.") but as crazy nutbar ultra-runners five miles through the jungle isn't really what one might call strenuous. I'll get there, and I appreciate the help.
Please don't forget the Ask Super Awesome Wife Q&A post. Go there, ask her anything about anything (seriously, the Google-Fu is strong with her) and she is going to write a response post next week some time.

Respect Your Elders (OR A Weekend of Getting Smoked By Old Guys)

Swim Day (Friday)
1 x 150- Warm-up
1 x 200- 3:00
1 x 300- 4:30
1 x 400- 6:00
1 x 500- 7:30
total- 1650 yards

Bike Day (Saturday)
time- 3:40
distance- 51.64mi

Run Day (Sunday)
time- approx. 1:20
distance- 5.11mi

 Aside from the swim, this was my weekend for getting schooled by guys at least 15 years older than me. This is conservative (read: nice so that they don't kick my ass more next time). I know Dirtbag Diesel is 48, which means he's 18 years older. Dirtbag the Grey is a little older than he is. And Art Doesn'tHaveADirtbagNameYet has got to be at least 15 years older than I am, he's got a son in high school. And each and every one of them took my Dirtbag Ego and laughed at it.
Friday, not so much. The swim set wasn't long and I did it alone. Had a good swim. It was nice to feel good about my fitness level for a few hours.
Saturday morning Dirtbag the Grey and I set out a few hours after Dirtbag Diesel. Diesel is in the midst of training for Ironman New Zealand, and he is putting in the heavy miles. So the plan was to ride north until we passed eachother, then turn around and ride back together. That way everyone gets a good number of miles in. As a side note, "a good number of miles" for Sean equaled just over 120. The Grey and I got out and were riding well, the weather was perfect, and up Pupukea we went. Neither of us likes this climb, though I am trying to convince myself otherwise. I think that if I spend the climb thinking, "This is great. I love this. Bring it on. I want more," I will start to believe it and the masochism will grow. We shall see. Either way, based on how time trialing with the Grey had gone during other rides I thought I'd be hanging with him on the climb. Yeah, that or he'd disappear and leave me to struggle alone. Oh well, I pushed and I pumped and I got out of the saddle a few times and I did make the climb a few minutes quicker than Monday. The getting out of the saddle thing is something I struggle with no because it's too hard, but because I don't know how much I'll use it come race day. Standing blows out my legs quicker, and it blows out different muscle groups which, I think, I'll be using for the run. So I'm sitting tight and grinding. Gotta get the cadence up.
We met up with Diesel just after the climb, when he was around 75 miles, and made our way back. And they left me in the dust again. I swear I was pushing, I don't have any idea how I got dropped so fast. But I was hurting. And then I got dropped again going up Pineapple Hill. Again, faster than Monday, but not fast. I'm not even sure my ego will let me give the climb a decent DSQ because my legs were too toasted to allow me to push like I wanted to. I'd ask, and they would give for a minute or two, then it was be back down and grinding again. Frustrating, because I was trying to hurt more and couldn't find it. Like Diesel keeps telling me, I've gotta get some repeats on Pineapple happening. I've gotta get stronger. My, what big hill repeats you have, Dirtbag. All the better to suffer with, my dear.
Today was a new adventure in trail running. I met with Art DHADNY up Pupukea, but at a different trail than I've run with Sean and his crazy ultra-running friends. Art is the parent of a student I had last year, and fresh back from Baghdad. Art is a BAMF. How do I know? He told me stories about how in the sandbox he would only have time to run during his lunch break, so he'd leave and go out for a 5 or 10k and come back. "But Art," I gasped, "isn't it like 9,000 degrees in Iraq?"
Yeah," Art smiled, "it would get around 120 or so. And then when you get back the water tanks have heated up from the sun so your shower is hot too."
"...Oh."
I also can't top a story that includes the words, "...after a firefight sometimes you aren't sure if you used 70 cans of ammo or not when you're filling out the paperwork." Not that I would have been able to even if I did have a story better than that. There was plenty of up and down and up some more on today's run and boy was I huffing and puffing. Art was too, but he was talking most of the time. Why do I always find runners who can talk? I can barely not fall off the trail. I'd post the elevation profile but my Garmin's battery died halfway through the run and Art sent me his data, but I'm not bright enough to open the file. So you'll have to trust me when I say there was a ton of climbs. Damn worth it, though. You break through the tree line and the whole North Shore coast is laid out beneath you, makes all that hurting worth it. I didn't have my camera or my phone but Art did. I asked for the pictures and they are posted below so that all you mainlanders can look at them, then look out your window at your silly winter, sigh, and then have the sad.
I love training with guys faster than me. It pushes me to get faster. it makes me suffer greater. And the fact that most of them are near or above my dad's age? Well that's just something my ego has to take. If it gets too bad I'll make them join me for a swim.

The golf balls are where the radar tower that picked up the Pearl Harbor attack was. Cool, huh?

There Will Be Mud

Run Day

time- 1:55

distance- 7.73mi

Frankly, Dirtbag Followers, I'm worn out today. Yesterday's run with Diesel Dirtbag, his dog, and CURG (Crazy Ultra-Runner Guy, eventually he'll get a Dirtbag nickname I'm sure) over the trails and mud and through the woods...and mud kicked my ass. It was great, I had fun and I ran hard, but I got home last night and crashed BOOM. Worn out. Today was Christmas Party day in class and those days are worse than days when I teach all day. The kids are wound up, there is cookies and candy and cupcakes everywhere, even the best classroom is a madhouse. So instead of a long write-up you get a few dirty pictures (get it?) and the Garmin map. I would like to say that I'm glad Sean brought his dog. It meant that I got a few more breaks. And only one root jumped out in front of my feet yesterday. Much better.

Trail Running With My New Toy

Trail Run Day
time- 1:45
distance- 7.8mi

Press Power...hmmm...honey!

Today started out yesterday. Wait, that didn't make any sense. Let me go back. To yesterday. In my DeLorean. It's aluminum, it conducts electricity the best. ...Anyway, yesterday I started playing with my new toy, the Garmin Forerunner310XT. It does everything. Pace, mileage, GPS, heartrate, multisport. Everything. Except like Linux OS. Fail, Garmin. Fail. This seriously threw a wrench into the installation of the software onto my laptop, which runs a thousand times better on Linux than it ever did on Vista. But Garmin is not software agnostic and only likes the two major religions of Mac and Windows. Luckily, the Super Awesome Wife's desktop runs XP, and she spent a lot of time helping her slightly technologically inept Dirtbag husband get the whole thing up and running.

Why does none of this look right?

Honey!

And last night Sean (aka Dirtbag Diesel whether he likes it or not) told me he was planning a trail run with some of his ultra-runner friends today and asked* if I wanted to come along.
(*asked in this case means "come on, it'll be fun, no backing out, you'll love it, we'll see you at 4, ok great)
So of course I agreed. To go trail running, which I've never done. With ultra-runners, who run 100km for fun. Right.
And it was a great time! I love trail running with ultra-guys. Did you know they like to walk up steep inclines? They are used to thinking, "Well, I have 90 more miles to go. So I can run up this steepness and blow a bunch of energy. Or I can walk up it, conserve, and run longer later." This is philosophy I can get behind. We ran at a conversational pace for the majority of the run and I only spent a little bit of it huffing and puffing, unable to participate in said conversation. This my kind of running, especially for the big base building I'm doing right now. Sean and I met up with some friends of his after a mile or two (you'd think I'd be more sure but my fancy new Garmin had trouble locating a satellite right away and started me in the ocean. So I have a map of the end of the run, but not the first five miles. Whoops.) and we ran with them for a while along the ridge and to an old '40s military bunker with one of the best views of the North Shore I've ever had. Then they split off and we ran back to the car.
I did discover from them the one thing Super Awesome Wife would like about ultra-running: Gummi Bears. They are a cheap, easy, light source of straight sugar energy. And these guys had a little baggie they happily shared. What swell guys.

And I'm not that sore yet. If I had run nearly two hours on the road I'd be hurting. But trail running is completely different. This only pain I feel right now is in my feet. And that's not the fault of my VFF TrekSports, its the fault of a Dirtbag runner unfamiliar with trail running and constantly trying to kick roots out of the ground. Roots which are firmly, well, rooted. So aside from some kick-stumble-ouch it was an excellent time out and I can't wait to do it again.
Below is the partial GPS of today's run. If you click on the View Details link at the bottom it takes you to a more detailed look at heart rate, pace, etc. I'm really looking forward to using this as a training tool, without coming to be completely dependent on it. Remember, I'm the guy who thought RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running By Feel was the greatest thing between two covers since Super Awesome Wife and I.