It’s been awhile seen I’ve posted a new map, although the reason is for lack of time rather than lack of material (a good thing!). But I’m trying to get back into blogging on a regular basis. For new visitors to the site, I periodically like to showcase some of the latest products created by my race course mapping business, Marathon GIS.

This week’s featured map is from the Smoky Mountain Relay (SMR), a 205-mile overnight relay course in North Carolina in early May. Like its name suggests, the course undulates through the peaks and valleys of the Smoky Mountains as it weaves its way from North Mills River to Bryson City.

From my mapping, the course looks to be both beautiful and challenging. It has much more dirt road and trail than your average overnight relay, and the route will take runners to a lot of wild places. It’s the opposite of “urban”.

And quantitatively, the Smoky Mountain route may have a higher difficulty factor than any other relay course I’ve mapped. Looking purely at cumulative elevation gain (gross uphill), the SMR route tallies 26,700 feet! To compare, Ragnar Wasatch Back (Utah) features 14,562 feet of gain, the Wild West Relay (Colorado) boasts 16,459 feet, and the Red Rock Relay (Utah) offers 12,918 feet of gain (although RRR’s 18,275 feet of gross elevation drop can be pretty tough on runners).”Challenging” might be one word to describe the SMR, others might prefer “Himalayan“.

What I love about overnight relays is that they are all unique and each one offers just a little something different to its participants. Some relays are flat, some are hilly (or mountainous). Some offer beautiful vistas of canyons, some the shade of forests or a cool breeze off the ocean. Some are close to home, others are in remote locations.

The SMR course has a lot to offer relay enthusiasts, particularly those that thrive on adventure, have a distrust of pavement, and enjoy challenging terrain. Those that participate in the SMR will finish the race with stories to tell and good bragging rights. I can tell you that the maps have been a lot of fun to make (still in the process of making to the leg maps, actually), and I love doing maps for remote, hilly courses like this one. In terms of cartography, the terrain just leaps off the page, and I try to highlight the natural beauty and ruggedness of the course on the maps. There are not many roads to label on the maps, but I let the terrain and the landscape speak for itself.

It’s been awhile since I’ve last posted. I simply haven’t had time, and blogging is about dead last on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. However, this morning I’ve got an extra hour to kill before it’s light enough to go out and run, so I’ll give it a shot. If I can think and type fast enough to click “Publish”, this thing will get out there, otherwise it will stay buried in blog limbo forever, with all my other drafts.

So what’s new? 2009 was a great year for me, personally, professionally, and also in terms of running. This is a running blog, so I’ll try to focus on the latter. But I will note that during this past year my baby boy had his first birthday, we moved from Logan to Smithfield in order to be closer to our church plant, and my small business, Marathon GIS, once again doubled in volume. I also began taking Enbrel to control the ankylosing spondylitis (A.S.), and it has worked wonderfully; I now have very few (almost none) disease symptoms, and no side effects to the medication. God has blessed our family, and I look forward to what 2010 holds in all those avenues of life.

For running, 2009 surprisingly turned out to be one of my best racing years of my life. Perhaps the best, better than 2007 even. I’ve debated just that internally (see bottom of post).  I came into the year with very few expectations. 2008 was absolutely awful, as it was the year A.S. reared its ugly head and really put me in a world of hurt (literally). I ended up being able to do a few races (and do pretty decent), but I still had large questions on my ability to train and to stay healthy. I did not know if I still had “it” or not. 2009 answered all of those questions: yes, I could control the A.S. Yes, I could stay healthy all year. Yes, I could run decent mileage without problems. Yes, I still got “it”.

My total running mileage for 2009 was nothing special: 2650. That’s right about a 50 mpw average, which is solid, and apparently enough to get a lot done. I made the most of my miles by doing a lot of long tempo runs. I didn’t do a ton of intervals, especially the second half of the year, and I had success in spite of that, suggesting that tempos are the bread-and-butter of training (or at least my training). If you have time to do one type of workout, do tempo runs.

Here’s the breakdown of my 2009 in racing.

• January 17 - Painters Half Marathon - 1:11:31 - 2nd place
• April 4 - Striders Half Marathon - 1:13:10 - 2nd place (horrendously windy!)
• May 2 - 500 Festival Mini Marathon - 1:08:35 - 11th place (PR!)
• June 27 - Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon - 1:08:12 - 5th place (PR!)
• July 4 - Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run 15K - 48:14 - 1st place (PR!)
• August 29 - Top of Utah Half Marathon - 1:06:42 - 3rd place (PR!)
• September 19 - Top of Utah Marathon - 2:23:07 - 1st place ($$$)
• October 18 - The Other Half Marathon - 1:09:50 - 1st place
• November 7 - First Dam Run 5K - 15:25 - 1st place

My first couple races were only so-so. But my training and racing really took a turn for the better starting in May with the Indy Mini Marathon, and a big PR there. This timing also corresponds heavily with me switching medication over to Enbrel. I started Enbrel in late March, and it took several weeks to ramp up. When I was just taking NSAIDs, I was still having a lot of stiffness in my back and hip, and also inflammation in my hamstring insertion points which really hobbled my stride at times. Once the Enbrel cleared all that up, I was able to run without a hitch in my stride, run harder and faster during workouts, and fear injury less.

The races in Indianapolis and Seattle were a lot of fun, and really good experience. I enjoy traveling, and it was great to get down to sea level and experience those courses. I really learned how to drop the hammer and race a half marathon. Invaluable. Those two consecutive PRs built my confidence, and help make my year.

The Top of Utah Half was another big race for me. I had not been running much mileage beforehand, although I was doing up-tempo pace nearly every day. I think that “brisk” pace (about 6:00/mile) day-in and day-out helped me run a really fast half without doing much mileage. I would not recommend that kind of training for a marathon, but it worked out for a half. It was an aided course, but I managed to hang relatively close to the 1st and 2nd place runners. The 1st place guy is a 2:16 marathoner, and the 2nd place guy ran under 2:19 at Chicago a couple months later, so it put my performance in perspective and encouraged me that perhaps I could run under 2:19 if I trained harder.

The half marathon PRs were big highlights of my year, but the biggest highlight was winning the Top of Utah Marathon, our local race here in Logan. I entered this race almost as a whim, and intended just to go out there, have fun, and finish a marathon. I didn’t get my training much above 60 mpw, which for me is quite low for marathon training. And I didn’t bother with any interval workouts; I just did a lot of long tempo runs and about 5 formal “long runs”. Again, those tempos proved to be the key, and although I didn’t get in many 20-milers, those that I did run I always made sure to average well under 6:45/mile pace or faster.

I had run the TOU Marathon 5 times before, but had never done that well. Back in 2003, I ran 2:35 and took 2nd place, but I had not approached that time or placing since then, despite numerous attempts. Over the years, I had many marathon successes at Ogden, St George, and Park City, but was never able to find that same success at my local race. So I did feel that I had something to prove at TOU. In addition, TOU had just raised their prize money to be 5 deep, with an increase to $1500 for 1st. I knew this would bring in lots of competition, and several Kenyans.  I love competition, and looked forward to that aspect. Sure enough, on race day there were many good runners from around the state, plus four Kenyans from out-of-state. It looked to be a great race. With that kind of competition, on my home course, it was impossible for me not to get my competitive juices going, and all my previous thoughts of “just finishing” were out the window. You can win my first race report HERE, but in a nutshell, around Mile 10 I decided to try to go for broke and try to win the whole thing, and that’s just what I did. One-by-one, the pack dropped off, and then I left my last competitor around Mile 14 with a big surge. The whole race felt great, and I loved every minute of it. It felt awesome to beat all of the “out-of-towners”, and “win one for the locals”. And indeed, racing can be an act of worship, and to this day I give God the glory for the opportunity and ability to be out there competing.

After TOU, I did a couple more races as “icing on the cake”, but in actuality, my real season ended with the marathon in September. Looking back at 2009, and comparing it to 2007, I think it was as good of a year, if not better, than 2007. I had two big half marathon PRs (three if you count the downhill TOU course). These half marathon times were a couple minutes faster than what I was running in 2007. It was a bit of a monkey off my back. In 2007 I ran three marathons, 2:26 (1st place) in Ogden, 2:18 (2nd place) in St George, and 2:22 (53rd place) at the Trials. This past year I only did one marathon. It was not my fastest ever, but it was about my third fastest ever, and most importantly, it was a win. So I had one win in 2007, and one win in 2009. The 2:23 at TOU was a better race than my 2007 Ogden, and really not a whole lot “slower” than my 2007 St George. A 2:23-low at TOU converts to a high 2:18 at St George. So all in all, I feel like my marathon level in 2009 was pretty close to what I was running in 2007, despite running 40% less mileage (60 mpw instead of 100 mpw).

I only ran one 5K in 2009: a time of 15:25 in what was essentially a solo time trial. This is pretty close to my best 5K in 2007: 15:23. And that 2007 time was done on a net downhill course, whereas my 2009 time was a loop course, so one could easily argue that the 2009 time is the better of the two. In fact, I will argue that.

So in summary for 2009 vs. 2007:

• Much faster in the half marathon
• Slightly slower in the full marathon
• Slightly faster in 5K
• One marathon win for either year
• Similar amount of prize money for either year

It could be a wash, but I’m going out on a limb and saying that 2009 was better than 2007, especially since I was able to do more on less training. Definitely per-capita, a better season. 2007 had previously been my “best season”, thus 2009 is my best racing season ever. So there you go.

So what does 2010 hold? I hope it holds some good things! I tend to alternate really good years with really cruddy years. 2003-2005-2007-2009 were all really good. 2002-2004-2006-2008 were…not so good, filled with slow races and/or injury. We’ll see. But from 2009, I feel that breaking 2:19 in the marathon and qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Trials is a real possibility. I really think I can do it if I can:

1. Continue to stay healthy
2. Use the same principles as I learned last year (long tempo runs)
3. Run a bit more mileage than last year (~90 mpw instead of 60 mpw)…but not too much more!
4. Hit the right race with the right weather to qualify (ie - get lucky)
5. Continue to keep my life in balance. I think when I elevate running to a higher priority, everything suffers, including running! When I take it too seriously is when injuries and frustration abound. Priorities need to stay: God - family - work - running. I was able to keep good priorities and balance in 2009, and know that all facets of my life benefited from that, including my race times!

If my health, or the training, or the good race conditions are not there, it will not happen, so I need everything to align. And obviously if the A.S. flares up again, or if Enbrel stops working, it’s Game Over. But I do think I can handle the training and hit the time standard; I would have laughed at anyone one year ago if they had suggested either of those things.

I plan on only one marathon this year. I think I’m pretty much through with multiple marathons, and one seems like an awfully good number these days. It’s about all I can handle mentally and emotionally. Marathon training is just so draining and time-consuming. With family and work as higher priorities, I just don’t have it in me for more than one long ramp-up per year. But I do have that one in me.

However, I do plan to do several key half marathons, and continue to try to improve my PR. Who knows, maybe I can even hit 1:05, and not have to worry about a marathon? But in any case, getting my half time down under 1:07 will be good for my confidence, and is essential to breaking 2:19 in the marathon (after all, there are very few people who can break 2:19 that can’t break 1:07).

The plan for this year is to do “maintenance” through the winter (our weather is too awful to train seriously during the winter), and then do a base-building phase, followed by a short 5K/10K phase. I expect I’ll jump in some races in Ogden and SLC during the early spring, and try to get in a few 5Ks and attempt to hone my speed before turning my attention to the half marathon later in the spring and early summer.

I am definitely running the Indy Mini again this May as a big PR attempt. I am waffling 50-50 on doing Seattle again in June, as the Seattle course is not as fast. If I don’t do Seattle, I may do the Utah Valley Half in June, since there will be very good competition there ($$$), and it would be a good opportunity to work on my racing. Utah Valley is a downhill course, so the time won’t mean much on my resume, but good competition trumps all, in my opinion.

I will likely do a short 10K cycle in late June through July with a focus race at Des News 10K on July 24. And then from August through early October, I will transition over to marathon-specific training.That would give about 10-12 weeks of marathon-specific training, which is plenty given that my base should be pretty good by then. Again, I can only mentally handle a relatively short amount of time doing high mileage. For my fall marathon, I am looking at either Twin Cities (Oct 3), Chicago (Oct 10), or Detroit (Oct 17). My preference is Chicago, because it is the fastest course. But in all honesty, the decision will likely come down to family matters and travel plans. We may be traveling for a wedding in early October, so my race decision will probably hinge on those logistics. But at least I have several viable options.

I can’t tell you exactly what 2010 will hold. I can tell you that I’m content and grateful for 2009, and if my running was forced to end due to injury or other event, I would be content with my “career” and move on with life. But for now, I still have the ability, and I still have the drive, and I wish to keep using these God-given talents. I look forward to training and racing in 2010!

It’s been a great year for running so far. I have stayed injury-free all year, have PR’ed in the half marathon twice in a row, and then followed that up with a PR in the 15K. And these are lifetime PR’s, not post-A.S. PR’s. But with these early summer races now done, the rest of the year is wide open, with lots of options.

So what’s next? Well, for one thing, we still need to sell our house and buy a new one. That’s Thing1. And Thing 2 is to get the incentive and motivation to train hard again.With my both my family and my mapping business growing, it’s hard to find time to run, and also hard to find the desire at times. I do best when I just sign up for race to get a tangible goal, and then train in bite-sized chunks. This also helps prevent overtraining, as my training cycles are shorter and more defined.

Having kids changes things

I think I did well during April-June in balancing running with life. I never got mileage out of the low-70s…but I set a couple of nice P.R.s. A question everyone has to ask themselves is: “Is it worth it?“Is the training time and wear and tear on the body worth the reward? Is the hours and hours away from family worth those digits that you see up on the finish line clock, or the numerical rank of your placing you see later in the results? The answer will vary from person to person.

For me, I do think it’s worth it, when I can balance training 60-70 mpw with the rest of my life. My first priorities are my relationship with God and then my family. This family relationship also includes being a provider, which entails working. I choose to work extra in order to allow my wife to stay home with Seth, and am happy to have this opportunity. Suddenly, running becomes “low man on the totem pole”, relegated to 4th or 5th priority in my life (in the past it was much higher). If I spend much more than an hour per day working out, my priorities quickly become out of whack, and running eats into other areas of my life where it should not go. My time is precious, and I guard it jealously. Since Seth was born, I have had to set firmer boundaries, get up earlier, and manage my time better.

By far the best way to get in those extra miles in the evening…

I’ve said this before in this blog, but I do not know what the future holds, whether it’s with my family, my work, my health, or my running. Will I even try to qualify for the 2012 Marathon Trials? I honestly don’t know. Part of me wants to, and thinks I can do it, but another part of me questions whether the sacrifice is worth it. “Can do something” and “Should do something” are two completely different things. Ultimately, my goal is to discern God’s will for all things, and then follow it. Where running falls into that, I do not yet know, as it is just one small piece of my life.

Avid reader Jon has posed the question as to why I have not updated the blog in over two months, despite apparently having much to post about. Well, several factors are at play:

• Heavy load at work (recession, what recession??!)
• We are selling our house (hard to type with paint and caulk all over my hands)
• I’d rather see my wife and kid than write a blog post (fatherhood does change things)
• Lack of literary inspiration (I get dumber every day)

Well, my wife and son are in Michigan for another day, work happens to be slow right now, and the house is clean and perfectly staged, so that clears most of my obstacles, other than my dumbness, but I’ll just have to work with that.

In any case, it’s been an eventful couple months in my world of running and racing. After running 1:13:10 in the snowy windstorm that was the Striders Half Marathon, I was able to ramp up my training, get some quality workouts in, and prepare somewhat adequately for the 500 Festival Indy Mini Marathon. Weekly mileage leading up to Indy was 36 (missed two days from being sick), 72, 69, 55 (race week). I got a few decent workouts in, but kept it pretty simple: just some tempos, fartleks, and mile intervals.

Indy turned out to be a perfect day: great temps, no wind, and a very flat, fast course. I ran some of the early miles too aggressively for my fitness level, but managed to stay steady during the second half and keep all miles under 5:20. The race yielded a huge 50-second PR of 1:08:35.

The only downer was that I ran most of the race in 10th place, then got passed around Mile 10/11, but then closed hard on another runner who was dropping back, but could not seal the deal. I got outkicked, ended up 11th, and lost out on $100. Now, I can almost care less about $100, but it’s more about what the money symbolizes. It represents the value the race puts on a certain placing. 10th place is worth $100, and 11th place is worth nothing. In addition, the depth of money always drives the depth and competitiveness of the field. If I place in the money, it means that I out-competed my peers, and perhaps even some people faster than me. So for me, winning money indicates that I competed well against the field, and it is competition against others and against myself that I seek.

Unfortunately, when analyzing the Indy race, I feel that I did not “want it” enough. I think I could have beaten my competitor with a decisive surge with 600m left, but did not have the inner drive to make myself hurt enough to do it. I’ve found over the years that kick is always there, it’s just a matter of engaging that extra gear.

Other than that, Indy was a great race, and a nice breakthrough. It was nice to get a half marathon time that I knew I was capable of. The race itself was well-organized, and by far the biggest half I’ve ran (35,000 people). The course was not terribly pretty, but was insanely fast. I thought running on the Speedway would be really cool, but that part ended up being the most mentally difficult, and rather grueling.  The track doesn’t look so big on TV, but it takes awhile to run a 2.5 mile loop at 12mph, rather than driving at 200mph. You can read my full race report HERE.

Immediately after Indy, I had targeted the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon for my next key race. I wanted another half marathon PR attempt, I wanted it to be at sea level with good competition, and I wanted it to be someplace fun. Seattle was perfect, and I have several good friends in the area who I could visit. In addition, when I contacted the race management, they were very gracious, and I was able to obtain an elite spot in the race. Perfect!

In terms of training after Indy, I decided it would be wise to regroup, and spend a few weeks in base-building mode. In the past, I’ve been caught in the trap to “keep the ball rolling”, and do hard workout after hard workout, and race after race. I ended up re-building a base for the rest of May. Mileage during this phase were 60 (recovery), 72, 60 (sick for a day), and 71. Typical workouts were “slow” long tempos, and fartleks.

The “slow” tempo is something that I introduced for the first time, and I ended up really liking it, and I think it helped build aerobic fitness. Basically the idea was to do a 11-12 mile progression tempo, but not ever push the pace too hard. I would start at 6:15/mile and end up around 5:45-5:50/mile. I would pick a pretty flat, easy course, and focus on just hitting a good rhythm and feeling good. I figure hills are great, but you need to learn to run strong on flat before you can run strong on hills. In other words, focus on the bare foundations of running…which is running. It’s simple, but effective. I also like fartleks during this kind of base phase, as they are good workouts, yet are not too stressful on the body or on the mind, since there are no time goals to hit.

Beginning in June, I kept the mileage about the same, but ramped up the intensity. “Slow” tempos were replaced by MP and LT tempos. Fartleks were replaced by intervals at CV or LT pace. I also added more strides and 30-second hill charges after workouts to work on economy, form, and turnover. My June weekly mileage totals were 73, 37 (sick for half the week),  70, and 58 (race week). All of my workouts were really good, although no single run was longer than 16 miles (no need for a half marathon!). Each week my interval workouts and tempos were really strong and consistent, and gave me a lot of confidence, despite not racing since Indy.

The end of June finally rolled around, and I was excited to finally fly out to Seattle. The flight was short, the hotel was great, and I was able to meet and chew the fat with a lot of great runners and other people at the hotel. Along with getting to know several current elite runners, I also got to meet Todd Williams and Ed Eyestone, who work with the race management. A lot of good conversations, and I soaked in all the knowledge I could, plus they were all just really fun people.

You can read a full, very detailed account of my race HERE. In a nutshell, once again, weather was perfect with great temperatures and little wind. The course was more difficult than Indy, with several large hills, but still had enough speedy sections to get a good time. Indeed, I ended up with a 20 second PR over Indy, and ran 1:08:15, good for 5th overall and 3rd American. Moreover, I will end up with a hefty chunk of change for this placing, which vindicates my Indy experience somewhat. So I left with very positive vibes.

Some races you get a PR, but not a great placing. Other races, you place high, but the time stinks due to weather or topography. And sometimes you get both, and those are great days. I did have a goal of breaking 1:08 at Seattle, but I think I ran as well as I could given the course and the fact that I was all alone most of the race. Perhaps at Indy that effort would have been under 1:08, but I will have to wait for another day and another course.

And lastly, one week after Seattle I jumped in the Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run, a local 15K on July 4th. This race is pretty low-key, with a net elevation drop (although is at elevation). I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. Seattle was obviously still in my legs during the first few miles, but eventually I worked out the kinks and rattled off a pretty good race and took first place. Like most people, I rarely race the 15K distance, so a new PR was ripe for picking as well, and I got it with a time of 48:14 (or so…the timing chips were wrong, so I used my watch time). The full race report is HERE.

Now it’s time for a little breather. I feel like I put in a series of good training cycles, and now it’s time to rest, lower the mileage down to 40-60 mpw for a while, and then rebuild a good base.

Recently I had the opportunity to create a course map and elevation profile for the Canylonlands Half Marathon. This is one of my favorite races, and I’ve participated in either the half marathon or the 5-mile event for five of the last seven years. My familiarity with the courses would definitely be helpful in creating accurate maps, but I also felt particularly obligated to present the striking beauty of the course through cartography.

Fortunately, the state of Utah has the best GIS data clearinghouse I’ve ever used: the Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center (AGRC) and associated GIS Data Portal. From this website, users are able to download many datasets, include 2007 1-ft color aerial imagery and 5-meter digital elevation models…for most of the entire state…for free. Finding data at that resolution, currentness, and cost is truly amazing, and for that reason I love the AGRC and love making maps for locations in Utah.

The 1-ft color imagery allowed me to zoom into the route very tightly (about 1:1000), and precisely digitize every tangent of the route and closely simulate its certification. This helps makes the elevation profile and the mile markers more accurate.

But the 5m elevation model was the real gem. For most of the United States, the best you can get is 10m resolution. In some places you can get no better than 30m. So to get 5m resolution for a tiny town in the middle of Utah is remarkable. I should note that 2m DEM’s are publicly available for some locations in Utah.

What a 5m DEM provides is better hillshading, which is the backbone of this particular map. Every ridge, canyon, drainage, and other topography are sharply defined, even at large scales. This not only makes the map more vivid, but allows it to be blown up to larger scales (and larger prints), and still look wicked good. In addition, the extra resolution of the 5m DEM accommodates better profiling, especially in narrow canyon areas. For much of the Canyonlands race, runners are tucked right up against a huge sandstone cliff. This can really mess with an elevation model, which tends to interpolate/average elevation values in steep areas. With a higher-resolution DEM, this effect is lessened.

The final maps turned out well, in part to the quality of the underlying data. I ended up making an overall map, an elevation profile, and zoom-in views of the start line and finish line. The race management also printed a poster version of the map, which is available for purchase here.

Canyonland Half Marathon poster

Map showing zoom-in view of finish line

I’ll admit it, I have a tendency to to write or say something about training, and then completely go back on it and do something else. Sometimes it will be years later when I change my mind, other times it will be within a matter of days or weeks.

Some examples:  I used to think it was best to keep speed-work days pretty short. Later, I figured out that was the worst thing to do, and adopted doing Big Workouts, where the total mileage for the day is 14-16 miles. I also at one point thought that short intervals were a great workout; later I dropped that idea in favor of long tempos. During the peak of my running, I thought that days off were an opiate for the masses. Now I think they can be necessary to maintain the balance of life.

My most recent flip-flop is that I’ve already bailed on the training plan I outlined in a recent blog post. I had decided that since my body can’t handle high mileage anymore, I would do all hard workouts and a large portion of my total volume on the elliptical machine. I still think the concept was good, but it turns out that pragmatism was lacking.

In a nutshell, I hated it. After three weeks of going to the gym every morning, dripping sweat all over the elliptical machine, and, yes, getting some great workouts in, I had the following revelation. I am a runner. I run so that I can run…longer and faster. I run because I enjoy the feeling of running. I run because running is intrinsically good. When I replaced running with elliptical, training ceased to be enjoyable, and I very quickly lost all motivation. My end-goals were the same as before: racing. But the process of getting there had changed, and it turned out that the process is as important as the result. I found out that if I destroy the process and replace it with something else, I no longer want the result, and I quit altogether.

It was an interesting little journey, and I’m okay with the results. So the little cross-training experiment failed, big deal. I am now back to running every day. And I’m happy. Spring is here, the weather is beautiful, and it’s great to be alive, get outside everyday, and run. My training is not terribly structured right now, but I get a little tempo once a week or so, throw in some doubles when I’m motivated, and now I’m actually starting to feel the hints of fitness, much like how my lawn is showing hints of green. Perhaps in a few weeks or few months that hint will bloom into the real thing.

My body is holding up fairly well. After much deliberation, research, and consultation, I decided to start Enbrel, a biologic medication that treats Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.) and other auto-immune diseases by dampening the immune system and stopping inflammation before it even happens. It can actually slow or halt disease progression, opposed to NSAIDs, which treat only the symptoms (similar to putting a band-aid over a gaping wound).

After two weeks of Enbrel, I am not pain-free, but my hamstring tendons have improved greatly, my knee pain/stiffness has subsided, my hip pain has vanished, and my feet are “good enough”. A fair amount of foot pain and back stiffness remain, but it is tolerable. So I am encouraged by the early results, especially since it usually takes several weeks or months to realize the full effects of the medication.

The main downside to Enbrel or any other drug in its class is that it makes me more susceptible to getting sick. As a trade-off to eliminating pain and inflammation, I must now carefully monitor my health and my actions, which includes not to over-exerting myself. In other words, even if Enbrel forces the A.S. into remission, it’s not a free pass for me to run like crazy and do the kind of mileage I did before. Training 100+ miles/week often straddled the thin line between brilliant performance and crashing with sickness, fatigue, or injury; it’s truly a strain on the body no matter who you are.

That said, I am optimistic about training and racing. In the past, 70 or even 80 miles per week was pretty easy on my body, and I think I could handle that without compromising my immune system. But there is still a long way to go to even work myself up to that point. For now I am content to enjoy the spring and a fresh start on running. Mileage and performance are not in the forefront of my mind, but I’d be lying if I said I never thought about it.

But my current goals all revolve around the present and near-future, and I am not looking past May. I am running the Striders Half Marathon in Ogden in early April, mostly as a tuneup and exploratory race for the Indy Mini. Striders is a good course and a fun race, one that I’ve won before. I look forward to revisiting it and seeing how close I can get to my previous times. Four weeks later I will have the Indy Mini, and then beyond that I have no idea! In any case, I hope to have a fun spring and summer with running, and perhaps try a few races I have never done before. Happy training everyone.

I’ve gotten away from showcasing race course maps on this blog, so I figure it’s time to get back to my roots (the blog is named “Marathons and Maps” for a reason).

Recently I finished up a mapping project for a new race called the Palm 100, which is a 100-mile, 6-runner team relay race that hugs the Florida Atlantic coast from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach and back. This race, which is on March 28th, is different than many of the other relays that I’ve mapped, in that it is not overnight, and there are no fixed exchanges.

This yields tremendous flexibility. Teams will decide the the length of each leg and location of relay hand-offs, as long as good discretion is used for the sake of safety and the rule book is followed. This is a new and novel idea to me, and as an experienced relay runner, I like the concept.

From a mapping standpoint, the Palm 100 is unique in that the route had to be exactly 100 miles. The precise distance is very important in certified 5K’s, 10K’s, half marathons, and marathons, but is usually not a concern for long-distance relays. In other words, it usually doesn’t matter if the race is 185.7 miles or 185.6 miles or 192 miles or … you get the picture.

I had to refine my mapping in order the pin the Palm at 100.0 miles. Much of the race is on sidewalks and paved trails, and I was able to use high-resolution aerial photography to zoom in very tightly (up to a scale of 1:900) and digitize the route right on those walkways. With my mouse, I attempted to take every tangent and turn every corner just a runner on the ground would. The end result was the most precise relay course I’ve captured to this point. I have no doubt that it is as close to 100.0 miles as you can get with an on-screen capture method.

A couple years ago, I thought I had it all figured out. Marathon training was simple: just do 2 big workouts per week (15+ miles), an easy long run, and fill the rest of the days with easy doubles until I hit 100+ miles for the week. It was a formula that took my marathon time down from above 2:30 to under 2:20. And I expected it to work into the future.

Getting hit with ankylosing spondylitis (A.S.) has changed everything. My body’s old limits are no longer valid, and the disease has imposed on me new limits. Through trial and error (most error), I’ve figured out that if I go over 50-60 miles/week, I start to break down. Mostly it’s the tendon injuries that sideline me.

I had been holding out hope that I would be able to at some point resume my old high-mileage training, and get back to marathons. But just recently I’ve finally accepted the fact that A.S. and marathoning don’t mix, and my condition will likely prevent me from ever running how I used to again. Yes, it was a bit of a sad realization, but it was actually more liberating than anything. Once I accepted that as a fact, I felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders, and I was free to look at and pursue running from a different perspective. The pressure of being what I once was is gone, and now I can look forward to running becoming something new.

Clearly hard marathon training is now out of the question, but I had proven this past year that I could still successfully train for and run quality races at the 5K through half marathon distance. So that is where my focus will now lie. If anything, it’s getting back to my roots, as I was a 5K/10K specialist long before I had even dreamed of running a marathon. I’m excited at the prospect of the shorter distances, of different types of training, and of potentially even setting new PR’s that I’ve neglected over the last several years.

So in essence I need to relearn how to train. I had figured out marathon training, but now I need to figure out 5K/10K training, and specialize it for running with A.S. with the training load I can handle. For now, the centerpiece of my training will not be running, but the elliptical machine. I’ve found over the last year that it is possible to get an excellent workout on the elliptical, and my heart rate elevates to levels similar to running while on the machine. When I push hard on the elliptical, I often get my HR up to near 180, which is 90% of my max. Seems good enough for most types of training!

My new staple elliptical workouts are 10×3-minutes hard, with 1-minute recovery, and 2×15-minutes hard, with 5 minutes recovery. These are designed to simulate CV and MP workouts. As I get stronger on the elliptical, I plan to extend the time of the “tempos”.

Perhaps the best aspect of cross training is that since there is no pounding, I can recover faster and work out more frequently. Rather than doing 2 hard workouts per week, I will be able to do 3 hard workouts per week. I firmly believe that I can achieve a high state of fitness from cross training like this, and that it will translate to good races.

Of course I will need to run too, but for now I’m just doing 2-3 miles/day on the weekdays, and a 9-miler or so on Saturday. Once the weather warms up, the snow melts, and I get more daylight to work with, I’ll add a second 4-5 mile run with the jogging stroller in the evenings after work. Adding doubles will give a total running volume of 45-50 miles/week, along with a cross training volume about 5 hours/week. This cross training volume I convert to 30 “miles”, based on the approximation of 10 minutes on elliptical = 1 mile running (Jack Daniels suggests 1 unit of cross training = 2/3 unit of running) . So the end result will give me up to 80 “miles” per week of total training volume, which is certainly sufficient to run some nice 5K/10K/half marathon races.

Some of you readers (assuming I still have readers) may wonder, why isn’t 70-80 miles/week good enough to run a marathon? Simple: I’m not doing any long runs or big workouts. Everything is short and sweet. A huge part of marathon-specific training is geared to adapt the body to handle of pounding and fueling of a race longer than two hours. It is that type of training I’ve determined I can no longer handle. No more 20-milers, no more huge tempo runs or interval workouts, no more runs over 60 minutes in duration. Dropping those kinds of runs, I believe, will keep me healthier, but they will also prohibit me from really doing any race longer than a Half.

So marathons are out, but other races are in. And I’m excited about it. I feel like it’s a fresh start and a new challenge. And is this to say I won’t ever run a marathon again? No, it’s just saying that I won’t ever train for a marathon…in the near future. I could easily see myself taking this training plan, adding one longer run (16-18 miles), and then jumping in a marathon for fun. But it would have to come at the end of the season, and would have to be dialed back with lowered expectations.

But who knows what the future will really bring? I’m just grateful for everyday out there I have to run and be active. I look forward to trying to PR at the Indy Mini Marathon in May, and to perhaps running the USATF LDR Circuit again this summer.

Note and disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am not associated with Padma Basic or Euconugenics. I am just a guy with ankylosing spondylitis, trying to find any and all treatments that can help control the disease. My statements below are not authoritative, but rather reflect my own experiences with Padma Basic, and nothing more. Please consult a rheumatologist when implementing any change of treatment to your own disease.

Well, it’s been a month since my Part 1 Review on Padma Basic. I have finished my supply of the product, meaning I’ve been taking 6 tablets/day for 30 days in an attempt to suppress my ankylosing spondylitis. Time to discuss results.

Frankly, for the first three weeks I experienced no change whatsoever. I wasn’t exactly disappointed with this, as my expectations were not that high to begin with (given my lack of faith in alternative therapies). However, during the final seven days of using Padma, my neck and shoulders became noticeably less painful and stiff, especially in the morning. Pain levels went from about a “3″ to a “1″ or even “0.5″.

At the same time, pain and inflammation in my feet and toes subsided somewhat, probably from a “3″ to a “2″. I experienced no change in my lower back or my bothersome left hip. I also noticed no change in my chronically cold hands while running outside.

So it’s safe to say that results were mixed. Yes, my neck feels better right now, so it could be because of the Padma, or it could just be the natural ebb and flow of my ankylosing spondylitis. Simply put, with A.S. some days are better than others, and some weeks are better than others. My final week of taking Padma was certainly a “good” week.

My own conclusion: I will not continue taking Padma, simply because I can’t afford the $85-$100/month pricetag, and the results weren’t sufficient to justify the price. That’s still a lot of money in my world for something that is not proven to work (especially in today’s economy). Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your view), prescription medication combined with insurance costs much less, and is proven to be effective. Even the biologic medications, such as Remicade and Enbrel, can often be obtained with less than $100/month, with insurance and financial aid from the respective drug company.

But to bring up the biologic drugs brings up a reason to try Padma Basic or Padma 28: through my own experience or through my literature review, I have not found any discernable side effects. Many side effects of the immuno-suppressant drugs or NSAIDs are downright scary. With Padma, I experienced no gastro-intestinal discomfort, no orange skin, no sensitivity to sunlight, no compromised immune system. This all observational; I did not have any testing done (liver, kidneys, etc.), so please take my lack of perceived side effects for what it’s worth. I also encourage readers to go through the literature review and links from my first posting; I have yet to see mention of side effects from the studies I’ve looked at, but that does not mean that don’t exist. So in a nutshell, my own experiences were positive, but please be responsible and be cautious when trying any new medication or any especially any non-FDA regulated supplement.

But pushing aside side effects (or lack thereof), Padma’s benefits to me were subtle at best. Perhaps Padma could be a viable option for people with very mild auto-immune diseases. Also, I think to truly test Padma better than I just did, a person would have to use it for 6-12 months. One month was probably not long enough to get the full effects. But then again, most of us with ankylosing spondylitis simply do not have 6-12 months to fool around, as permanent joint damage can occur in that kind of time frame. That is reason enough to go with a form of proven medication prescribed by a rheumatologist as front-line treatment; there is simply too much at stake to bank on an alternative therapy as the main treatment.

So to summarize, I took Padma Basic for 30 days to help suppress ankylosing spondylitis. I found:

• No side effects
• A small but noticeable reduction in neck/shoulder pain and stiffness
• A very small reduction in foot/toe pain
• No change in lower back/hip pain and stiffness
• Not convinced that improvements were necessarily directly from Padma
• Found the cost prohibitive
• Feel that a longer term of use would be more conclusive

I would love to see some real studies done with Padma Basic/28 on various auto-immune arthritis’s. How does it really compare to the anti-TNF drugs? Let’s see some real numbers, double-blind trials, and other methods that will hold up under scrutiny.

I would also love to hear back anecdotally from other people who use Padma to inhibit TNF and control rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, Chron’s disease, and others. Does it work for you? Please leave your comments, questions, and experiences. I hope this blog can be used as a resource for auto-immune sufferers who are investigating Padma and looking for real-life experiences about it.

It’s a new year and time for more racing! I usually don’t run many races in January, but this year I decided that it would be a good idea to get out of northern Utah for a few days to get some warm temperatures and clean air. Several of my friends ran the Painters Half Marathon in St. George, UT last year, and it looked like a race worth trying. What primarily drew my eyes to it are that it is a rolling loop course, it is USATF certified, and it has decent competition.

The fact that it is a loop course is important to me. In my humble opinion, there are way too races out here in Utah that are point-to-point downhill screamers. They all start up some mountain canyon and funnel you out to the city in the valley below, usually dropping 1000′ or more. Is it beautiful? Yes! Will it give you a meaningful time? No! And the relatively high elevation of these races (~5000′ above sea level) just complicates things even more. We Utah runners inevitably end up standing around after the race discussing what our time is really “worth“.

It was much simpler back in the flat, low lands in Indiana and Michigan, where I began racing as a high school and collegiate runner.  A 15:30 5K was “worth”…15:30. My time was simply taken at face value (you are what you run), and I always had a good assessment of where I was really at in my training and racing. In Utah, a 15:30 5K could be “worth” anywhere from 15:10 (if you normalize to sea level level) to 16:30 (if the time came from a downhill course). It’s very confusing, and at times very unsatisfying. While it’s nice to witness the beauty of our surrounding mountain canyons during races, beat the high elevation, and get a fast time, ultimately I can never count my Utah PR’s as “real” PR’s. Perhaps if I had done 100% of my running out here I would feel differently, but all of the racing I did in the midwest while growing up has set my perspective.

So to summarize: Loop courses are good. They yield times that I can take a face value. Furthermore, getting down to a lower elevation is good for the same reason. And it’s all worthless without USATF certification and the security of a correct distance. The Painters Half provided all of these incentives with its certified, loop route that averages around 2600′ above sea level.

My wife and I were glad to leave the smog of Logan on Thursday morning. These red air days get really depressing after a while. We were rewarded to clean air and temperatures hovering near 60 in St. George. The trip was already worth it!

Race day morning was chilly, but perfect: sunny, upper 30’s, and no wind. Temperatures during the race climbed into the low 50s, and was quite suitable for shorts, singlet, and gloves. The half marathon had just over 1000 finishers, so it was a good size. Competition up front looked good; there were several guys who I knew could run near 1:10:00 or in the mid- to low-teens. I myself thought I could hit around 1:11 to 1:12, based on some recently workouts and my total training volume. I thought I had some chance of winning, but so did four other guys. Due to some tendon issues and setbacks, I had been scaling my weekly mileage back to the 40s, including  a fair amount of elliptical cross training.

The race ended up going really well for me. We started with a pack of seven at the 2nd mile that drifted to a pack of four by the 5th mile, and a pack of two by the 7th mile. That pack of two included myself, and I felt strong and snappy through about Mile 9, but then the distance of the race wore on me and my pace slowed, from about 5:20/mile to 5:30/mile. My competitor, Jeff McClellan, did not slow whatsoever, and cruised to the victory with a time of 1:10:59. I chugged in with a 1:11:31, which I was count as both a “January PR” and a “post-A.S. PR”. And thankfully, I don’t have to figure out what the time is “worth”, since it is worth exactly what it is: 1:11:31. But this race gave me confidence that I can go under 1:09:00 and get a lifetime PR later this May in Indianapolis, provided I get in some good training.

I would do the Painters Half again. I thought it was fairly well-managed. The course had a lot of hills, but none were too steep or too long. It was not an extremely fast course, but it was not slow either. There were a lot of 90-degree turns, which slowed things down, and also threw off everyone’s GPS units (sharp turns really mess up the distance accuracy of Garmins…but that’s what certification is for), but other than that I liked the route a lot. It was not monotonous, and snaked its way through several different neighborhoods, bouncing on and off the local trail system. There were several very nice views, some cool red rock outcrops, and a bridge crossing over the Virgin River. The race started and finished at the Dixie Center, which featured a huge amount of easy parking and lots of bathrooms (very important!).

Good times, and perhaps I’ll be back.

Note and disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am not associated with Padma Basic or Euconugenics. I am just a guy with ankylosing spondylitis, trying to find any and all treatments that can help control the disease. My statements below are not authoritative, but rather reflect my own experiences with Padma Basic, and nothing more. Please consult a rheumatologist when implementing any change of treatment to your own disease. 

As those who read my blog know, I’m been dealing with an auto-immune disease called Anklyosing Spondylitis (A.S.). In a nutshell, A.S. incites my body’s immune system to attack my own cells and cause inflammation, most notably in the lower back, hips/SI, and neck. These are all distinguishing markers for A.S. In addition, it has also caused swelling and painful inflammation in my toe joints, as well as a variety of tendon-related injuries.

And reportedly it only gets worse over time. This is certainly bad news for a 29-year-old guy like myself, supposedly entering my physical prime. It almost makes it worse being a competitive runner. I felt like I was finally coming into my own and making real progress as a marathoner over the past couple years. The 2:18:09 at St. George and 2:22:34 at the Olympic Trials four weeks later were real high points, and I felt like I had the ability to break 2:18:00 or even 2:16:00 on an unaided course. All I needed was time and continuity of training.

When the A.S. diagnoses was revealed, a lot of my hopes went down the drain. But I did keep a mere fragment of hope: If I could find a way to control the A.S. (and the tendon injuries that go along with it), then I would be able to resume training at an elite level, find my body’s true limits, and achieve my goals. Thus began my search for the treatment(s) that would work for me. I am open-minded: drugs, diets, herbal remedies…my main interest is in finding something that works.

Do date, the most effective treatment I’ve tried (and still use) is simply NSAIDs. Meloxicam has been effective in reducing pain and stiffness, and has not caused any gastrointestinal damage (yet). I take the tummy-protector Omeprazole to reduce acid and help out my gut with the NSAIDs. Also, I am doing the No Starch Diet (NSD), which supposedly reduces disease activity through eliminating all starches (wheat, rice, potatoes, legumes, processed foods, etc.). NSD indeed has helped dial back my pain levels by a couple points, but so far has not been a panacea. Right now, I view it to as a complement to traditional drug treatment, and not the primary treatment in itself.

I have also tried fish oil, ultrasound, and various supplements. They all basically did nothing other than make me wary of alternative treatments and throwing my money away. With NSAIDs plus NSD, my pain levels most days are around a “2″. I have daily stiffness in my neck, and intermittent stiffness in my lower back. My left foot has been constantly inflamed and sore for the past year, and I have experienced numerous tendon-related injuries. I am doing “okay”, but would like to do “better”…and I would also like to reduce the amount of NSAIDs I need to take, in order to preserve the long-term health of my gut.

So that is a rather long intro, but it lays the foundation that:

1. I suffer from A.S.
2. I have several ways to treat A.S., none of which are perfect
3. I am constantly looking for new treatments to try. Anything that can take off a point or more of pain and inflammation levels is worth trying, especially if there are no side effects.

A couple months ago I read a press release on the Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) website. It was about an herbal supplement called Padma Basic. The press release stated:

First, we look at an “exotic supplement” called “Padma Basic”. The “Dear Pharmacist” column in Tulsa World reports, “It works for rheumatoid arthritis by calming an overactive immune system that is bent on destroying cartilage and bone. The destruction occurs thanks to TNF (tumor necrosis factor), which signals the attack. Padma contains an herb “Pterocarpus santalinus,” which inhibits TNF and T-cell proliferation in a similar way to prescription drugs like Humira, Remicade and Enbrel. It could improve inflammatory conditions among them, Crohn’s disease, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis.” 

Whoa! That’s an eye-catcher to me! The release states that the herb has potential to inhibit TNF (and therefore slow or halt A.S.) similar to the very powerful biologic drugs available. These biologic drugs work very well, but they have many side effects and are very, very expensive. The press statement gave me a great interest in Padma Basic, so I started googling for anything I could find on it.

Padma is an ancient Tibetan herbal formula manufactured by Padma, Inc. in Switzerland under international pharmaceutical standards. It is sold in Europe as an OTC drug known as “Padma 28″, but in the U.S. it is distributed by EcoNugenics as a herbal supplement not regulated by the FDA. The only difference between Padma Basic and Padma 28 (beside their name) is the presence of 1 mg/tablet of aconite in Padma 28. This does not really affect the formula, and the function between the two is exactly the same.

With my wariness of herbal supplements in mind, I needed to be convinced to even try Padma Basic. But as it turns out, quite a body of objective research exists that validates using Padma for a variety of applications and ailments, including:

• peripheral artery disease (Atherosclerosis. 2006: Nov; 189(1):39-46)
• angina (Herba Polonica. 1986: 32; 107-114)
• stroke (Europ J Neurology. 1998: 5(suppl1); p. S9)
• hepatitis (Phytotherapy Research. 1993: 7; 224-247)
• arthritis (Int. Journal of Immunotherapy. 1991: 2(3); 143-147)
• ulcers (Nowiny Lekarski. 1992: 2; 40-44)
• AIDS Related Complex (Internation Congress for Infectious Diseases. 1988. Rio de Janeiro)
• multiple sclerosis (Phytotherapy Research. 1992: 6; 133-136)
• dental root canals (Forsch Komplementarmed. 2006 Feb; 13 Suppl 1: 28-30)
• recurrent infections (SchweizZschr fur Ganzheits Med. 1992: 7/8(Suppl 1); 22-23)
• inflammation (Inflammopharmacology. 1999: 7(1); 47-62)
• antioxidant (Redox Rep. 2000: 5(1); 17-22)
• antimicrobial (Research in Complementary and Classical Natural Medicine. 2002:9; 346-351)
• immune modulating (Inflammopharmacology. 2004: 12(4); 373-89)
• TNF / IL-inhibiting (Eur Cytokine Netw (0) 15: 203-9)
• 

I perused many of these journal articles (see links for yourself), and became even more interested. Although there was nothing directly studying the effects of Padma Basic/28 on ankylosing spondylitis, there were indeed many studies that indirectly stated that it could help in a variety of ways, including reducing inflammation, improving circulation, and inhibiting TNF.

The results of the Bernacka et al. (1991) study on juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, published in the Journal of Imunotherapy, were particularly encouraging to me. The group of children who were given Padma improved in both symptoms and laboratory tests without side effects during the six-month clinical trial. It was a very small study, but enough to stir more interest and hope in me that Padma can help dampen my overactive immune system.

So I believe it is worth a try. I plan to take Padma Basic for 30 days, and report my findings in a full review on this blog. Of course I have no delusion that this is some sort study; rather, it is merely my own personal experiences with Padma. Everyone’s form of A.S. is different, and different treatments will help different people. But my goal is that through this review and the followup review that other A.S. sufferers can find pertinent information, and be exposed to the option of Padma.

The kind people at EcoNugenics were gracious enough to supply me with a 180-tablet supply of Padma Basic. It arrived yesterday (January 2nd), and I have begun to take it. My dosage is two tablets 30 minutes before each meal (6 tablets/day). I am still taking meloxicam and omeprazole, and will continue to do so unless my pain drops down to a 0 or 1.

I plan to be as objective as possible when reporting the effects of Padma. My hopes are that it will:

1. Reduce or eliminate stiffness in my neck
2. Reduce the pain and swelling my left foot
3. Allow me to take fewer NSAIDs
4. Help the circulation of my hands and feet, which are constantly cold

So come back in 30 days for a full report of results!

It is officially winter now, but up here in northern Utah we’ve been in the throes of winter for several weeks already. Sub-20 degree temperatures, icy roads, and snowy hummocky sidewalks have quickly become the norm. Back when I skied a lot, this would have made me jump with glee. But at this point skiing is an aside, and I am focused on being a husband, a father, and runner. And all this snow is very, very bad for running.

I managed to get through my shin injury in October, and had a great November and early December. Mileage crept back up to the mid-60’s, and I was throwing in a weekly tempo run or two at about 5:40-6:00/mile pace. All in all, I was feeling good and fit, and excited to slowly increase my mileage over the months. Then winter hit. And motivation dwindled. And my body began to ache in various spots.

Some of the aches and pains are due to A.S. Others are due to running on slippery, snowy surfaces. And others are a combination of both, ever reminding of the fact that I cannot train how I used to, that once I hit 70 miles/week I’m an injury waiting to happen.

So far I’m still healthy enough, but I can feel protesting in my left knee. And I constantly worry about my shin flaring up again, or my foot flaring up again. If only it were spring, then things would be better…but unfortunately today is only Day 5 of winter.

Deep breath. Whew. It really doesn’t matter. That’s what I remind myself. There are no races of any importance until May or so. There is absolutely no reason for me to push into higher mileage; there is no reason for me not to back down and relax; there is no reason not to take days off or cross train when I feel my body protest the rigors of training. It will all come together in due time.

And so what if my breakdown point with A.S. is now 60-70 miles/week, rather than 100+ miles/week?  I must make do with what I’m given to work with. It’s in my nature to push whatever limits I can find. And I will continue to do so during the near future with running. I will run the most mileage I possibly can in search for the next P.R. and in search of a 2012 Trials qualifier. But if that limit is lower than what I would like, I just need to accept it and make the most of that volume of training. The keys are patience and adaptability.

Next race: The Painter’s Half Marathon in St. George. This race is mostly an excuse to for my family to get out of Logan and get some warmer weather down in St. George. But at the same time, I would like to run well, perhaps in the 1:10:-high range or so. Hopefully this race will keep me motivated enough to keep hitting the roads, treadmill, elliptical, and weights…but still keep it all in check and stay healthy.

It’s been a short but sweet racing season with a little symmetry to it, as I ran my first and last races in Moab. Last week I completed The Other Half, the sister race to the Canyonlands Half Marathon.

This was an interesting race, primarily because I had not run more than a few miles over the last 3 weeks. My shin issue, which was later diagnosed as Tenosynovitis (inflammation of the tendon sheath), kept me confined to the elliptical for the preceding weeks. Although nothing is as good as running, my 60-90 minute sweat sessions in the gym kept me fit. However, I didn’t appreciate this out until around Mile 8 of the race, as I was quite nervous before the race and during the early miles that I would just utterly bomb, or that my shin would flare up and make me drop out.

But the outcome was quite good: a time of 1:14:02 and 1st place overall. Can’t complain, especially given the circumstances. I knew my initial goal of sub-1:12 was out the window, so I went out at 5:40-pace the first couple miles, and pretty much held that effort the entire way. You can read my full race report with gory details here.

And I loved the course. The first six miles feature small rolling hills in a redrock canyon along the Colorado River. This stretch is pretty fast. But then the canyon opens up to Castle Valley, and displays amazing views of the LaSal Mountains in the background and large sandstone monoliths in the foreground. Very inspiring. However, the terrain also changes from here to the finish to large rolling hills, and the course gets considerably harder during the second half.

Fortunately, every uphill had downhill on the other side, and I actually thought the more challenging second half of the race was as fun as it was beautiful. The race finishes on a nice downhill into Sorrel River Ranch, a resort spa nestled along the Colorado River. The race had a lot of “frills” (which I don’t care much about), but it was also well-managed: the expo was easy, they started the race on time, and it was a closed course. The jacket, pint glass, finishers’ medal, and beer garden were just gravy, but a nice touch I suppose. But really, the course and the scenery were the stars of the show. I may be back next year, hopefully in better health, to try to get my 1:12:00.

Little Seth proudly wearing daddy’s finishers’ medal

But that’s it for me for 2008. Despite being injured to laid up with with an A.S. flare for most of the year, I did manage to squeeze in 5 races, most of which were pretty good considering my fitness. What’s next? Well, my shin has greatly improved since the race, and I’m starting to run again. If things go well, I’d like to build a big base throughout the rest of the fall, all winter, and into the spring. If I’m going to do another marathon, I’d like to do things right! Reading “Once a Runner” and “Return to Carthage” has inspired me to be patient, as the main character Cassidy was patient. Staying cool and calm, building a big base over a period of many months, will make my next marathon a great one. No sense in jumping the gun.

Right now I’m about 75% sure I’m going to sign up for the Indy Mini Marathon. My next big race will be the Indy Mini Marathon. Registration is in, so now it’s a matter of good training and praying to stay healthy. The Mini is a flat, fast half marathon course near sea level, plus I will be in town that weekend to visit my family, so it would be a shame not to go for a PR. Beyond that, if things are firing on all cylinders I would like to find a good marathon in late May, and perhaps make a run for the Trials.

With having ankylosing spondylitis, it is so hard to plan far ahead into the future. As a “normal”runner, it is hard to stay healthy as it is, but A.S. greatly increases my chance of tendon injuries, not to mention the background back and neck pain. Yet, dreaming and planning is something that makes me love running and love life. I don’t think I can give that up. So while I eagerly make plans and scope out potential races with one half of my mind, the other side duels with it and tries to prevent me from too much disappointment and letdown. It’s a hard transition, but I don’t think I will ever truly give up dreaming.

Oops, I did it again. During my Monday tempo run, a slight pain in my lower shin transformed into inflamed, swollen mess. Why did I bother finishing the workout? Why not just jog it in? Did I seriously think it would just “go away”? Well, apparently I did. D’oh!

Regardless of my delusions and mistakes, I am left with what appears to be a moderate case of tendinitis in my shin. I’ve had tendinitis in my upper hamstring before, and it was not fun. But this already seems to be way better than my hamstring injury, or the groin strain I had a couple years back. It seems that injuries that occur higher up take longer to heal (groin, hamstring, etc.). Walking with this shin injury is not too bad, and I can already run a little bit after only a couple days. With the hamstring and groin injuries, it was a couple months before I could run.

So how to treat this? The past two days I have been religiously:

• Icing, with both stationary ice packs and with ice massage.
• Scraping, with Gua Sha tools.
• Massaging, by just putting some oil on my shin, and then using deep strokes with my thumbs from the top of my shin down to my foot.
• using my TENs unit, a little device that reduces pain and perhaps increases circulation through electrical pulses.

On Sunday, I am seeing my massage therapist, and hopefully she can work some magic. Also, I’ve ordered a Zensah compression sock. I don’t know how much compression will help, but it’s worth a shot. Anything that allows returning to running without re-injury is a good thing.

My worst fear is missing The Other Half, or just limping through it. I figure I can supplement a full week of training with cross-training and still run at full potential in Moab. If I miss two weeks, I could probably still run so-so at Moab, but would miss too much “real” training to continue entertaining ideas of a December marathon. Basically, I would be done for the year after the half marathon. If I miss three weeks or longer, then Moab will become just a vacation, and I’ll have to be happy with the three races I was able to run this year.

But I am optimistic. In order to keep fit and keep my edge for the upcoming half marathon, I’m trying to get an hour of cross training in every day, and will attempt some interval and tempo type workouts as well. For cross training, I use my mountain bike, the elliptical machine, and the arc trainer machine. The arc trainer in particular is a fantastic workout. I get gassed on it after about 10 minutes. But nothing beats running.

The question I always ask myself when I get an injury: is if it is purely a running injury, or if it is because my Ankylosing Spondylitis? A.S. has a tendency to attack muscle insertion points, thus A.S. sufferers are more prone to “injuries” such as plantar fasciitis and tendinitis. In my case, yes, I think there is a good chance that A.S. set the stage for this bout of tendinitis, but if I were not a runner it would certainly not be inflamed to its current extent. So the two work together as a one-two punch. A.S. weakens the tendons, and running blows them up. I imagine this is just something I will have to deal with as long as I run.

New rule: if I feel any sort of new pain, I abandon the workout. This a basically a repeat of my hamstring tendinitis from earlier this year, so strike two on me.

Kind of a miscellaneous blog posting today, but I’m in the mood.

So what’s going on in my neck of the woods? This past Saturday I ran my first 5K in well over a year. I won the Top of Utah 5K with a time of 16:17. It was a fast loop course, and supposedly certified (although I could not find it in the USATF database). I was hoping for under 16 minutes, but I’ll take it. It was a weird race though; I never felt like I was straining, and kept pushing the pace, yet I had no speed. All of my mile splits were within 3 seconds of each other, I hit a slight negative split, and I felt like I could have kept going for 10K. So although I was not happy with my leg turnover, I was pleased with how strong I felt. 5K’s usually hurt a lot more. My full race report is here.

Next up is The Other Half, a half marathon in Moab on October 19th. I would like to break 1:12 on this rolling course. My 5K time alone gives me a thumbs-down that I can actually do this, but on the other hand I don’t think my solo 5K effort is representative of what I can do in a half marathon (where my lack of burst won’t be as big of a hindrance). Furthermore, I feel like my training is just hitting stride. After a couple weeks in the mid-60s, my mileage for the next 3-4 weeks will be in the mid- to upper 70s, and perhaps will hit 80. This includes two big workouts per week as singles (14-16 miles), a Saturday long run, and easy doubles the rest of the days. Standard fare, but tried and true. I’ve found that racing success is largely a function of training time. Stringing together many consecutive weeks of consistent mileage and solid workouts will yield fast times when it’s time to put on the flats. It’s not a glamorous concept, but very true.

This weekend I will be captaining an aid station at the Bear 100, our local 100-mile ultra run. The race starts at Logan Dry Canyon and traverses through the Bear River Range all the way to Bear Lake, Idaho. I am in awe of ultra runners. I have no aspirations (or delusions) of joining them, but enjoy serving them at the aid stations. This year, my station is at Richards Hollow (Left Hand Fork of the Blacksmith Fork). It looks like it will be a beautiful day, and my wife and 2-month old son will be coming as well.

I enjoy the aspect of volunteering, simply because it shows the other side of races, and allows us to give back to the race and to other runners. As a competitive runner, I usually do nothing but take, take, take from races. Volunteering helps me counter that consumer-ish attitude (and also helps me appreciate volunteers more from the races I run!). If you’ve never helped direct, administrate, or volunteer for a race, I highly recommend doing so. It will make you look at races completely different, and you may be less likely to complain the next time something at a race irks you.

In honor of the upcoming Top of Utah Marathon this weekend, today’s topic is about the other race in the event: the Top of Utah 5K. This race is especially of interest to me this year, as I am running it. TOU will be my first 5K since July of 2007, so compound that with my rather “interesting” training this year, I’m not quite certain how I will do.

Fortunately, I do know a few things about the race:

1. It is certified, so I can expect it to be the correct distance
2. It is a relatively flat loop course, so I can expect decent times that actually mean something (ie - not downhill).
3. As part of my sponsorship of the Top of Utah Marathon, I’ve created a course map, so it will be one of the few 5K races out there that actually has a decent map that show the exact turns and the elevation profile.

Most of the maps I make are for relays, marathons, and half marathons; very few short races have the budget or real incentive for maps. However, there is one really nice thing about making a 5K map: scale. What is scale? Think of it as “zoom-factor”. Large-scale means “zoomed in”, small-scale means “zoomed out”. Scale can be represented by ratios, such as 1:6000 (large scale) or 1:100,000 (small scale). Since a 5K loop route does not take up much geographic space relative to a marathon or relay, I have the luxury of creating a large-scale map on a small page size (8.5×11″). This means that I get to show tremendous detail, including aerial photos and crisp turn locations. You just don’t get that on most small-scale maps.

From the elevation profile, it’s easy to see that the elevation does not change much during the race. There is a short, abrupt hill around Mile 1.6 (200 S to 100 S), and very subtle uphill on 300 N, and then a short, abrupt downhill near the finish. The last block (0.1 miles) is on an uphill, but who’s counting at that point?

But all this is getting nit-picky; the course can be more concisely described as relatively flat and fast. Although I am still building my base, I hope to at least challenge 16:00 for a finish time. Seeing 15:5x at the end would be great, but I could live with 16:1x as well. It’s hard to find concrete expectations. I do know that the first half should be faster than the second half of the race, due to topography, so I hope to hit 4:5x on the first mile, 5:0x on the second mile, and then see what I have for the end.

Should be fun! (and way easier than the Top of Utah Marathon).

Back in June I thought this year for racing would be a complete wash. In fact, I did not know if I would ever run competitively again, due to the plethora of arthritic ailments brought on by Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.).Fortunately, things have turned around for me a bit, to where I’ve been able to run again, and even get into some semblance of shape.  I am not pain-free yet, but am “good enough” to train and do some speed work too. My key challenge was to learn how to manage the A.S., which I have done so far through diet and occasional use of the NSAID meloxicam. Right now I am taking 2-3 meloxicam (brand name: Mobic) per week, and that is enough to make me feel pretty good when I get out of bed in the morning.

Thanks to eliminating all starch in my diet (the “No Starch Diet”, which will be a blog topic of its own soon), the pain in my hip, SI joints, and low back stiffness have basically disappeared. The swelling in my foot and stiffness in my neck (particularly in the mornings) is all that remains, and that is what I take the meloxicam for. If the diet continues to work over time, I hope to eliminate all NSAID use completely.  But for now I’m thankful that I’m taking it a few times per week rather than everyday. I’m sure my stomach will thank me as well.

So despite a horrid first half of the year, I’ve been salvaging a short racing season after all.  I’m not nearly in the form I was last year, but I’m still having a lot of fun, and thankful to God for the opportunity to run again. On August 2nd, I ran a local 10K (for $5!), and placed 3rd with a time of 34:55. I was quite happy with this considering that I had about a month’s worth of training at 30 miles/week at this point (plus the birth of my first child three days prior).

My second race of the year was August 23rd, the Top of Utah Half Marathon. I won this last year, so it was a little humbling to be completely out of contention, but I still enjoyed myself immensely, taking 6th overall with a time of 1:12:12.  Mileage was around 50 mpw at this point, with some speed work.

After a week of recovery from the half marathon, and then missing some time due to sickness the following week, I’ve finally boosted my mileage again, and will be sitting around 65 mpw for awhile. I’ve managed to catch a little bit of the old fire, and have the desire to train again, and to excel in races. This fire had been missing for awhile. I’ll reach 75-80 mpw in the next couple months, which I never thought I’d would even want to do again.

Upcoming races include the Top of Utah 5K on September 20th, The Other Half on October 19th, and another local 5K (The First Dam Run) on November 1st. The Other Half is a half marathon in Moab, and is a fairly big race. It is a challenging, rolling course, with no elevation drop (rare for Utah). The course record is a low 1:12, and I’ve made it my “season goal” to break that record. If I can run 1:12 or faster on that hard course, and if I am reasonably pain-free, then I will consider continuing to up my mileage and running an early December sea-level marathon, most likely St. Jude.

Several people have tried to convince me to run St. George, but I am not for several reasons:

1. I have nothing left to accomplish there, other than to win. I cannot win this year with the training I have done. Therefore I will not traumatize my body for no good reason.
2. The injury risk is too high on that course with the amount of training I’ve done.
3. By deferring a marathon for two months (December vs. October), I will give myself training time to race a much better quality marathon.  True, I could probably break 2:30 in my current condition at St. George, but I gain more by training longer (uninterrupted), and running under 2:25 on an honest course like St. Jude.

Much of this is speculation right now, but that is where my thinking and heart are at. St. George was tempting simply because I really enjoy being at the race with my friends and peers. But to actually race it would be a bad idea. Plus, I’ve always wanted to run The Other Half, which is reportedly a beautiful, challenging course.

I do not know what the future will bring, but I have enjoyed the races I’ve been blessed with doing already, and look forward to running more.

The other day I read an open letter to race directors posted on the Complete Running Network blog. The general premise was that all race directors should have chip timing, good food, lots of porta-pots, good cups, good age group awards, good online maps, and good beer. In other words, cater to the people paying the entry fees. Makes sense.

The article was written in a fun way, was an entertaining read, and certainly made some good points…yet I disagreed with the spirit of it.

Why are races expected to cater to our every whim? Why do we need rock bands along the course, beer at the finish line, a fancy website, fancy t-shirts, and other amenities? I view all these amenities as consumer-driven. Runners demanded them, and race directors obliged. As a result entry fees are raised. Runners raise cain and demand even more “value” for their money (since we’re paying more, we better get more “stuff”). Race directors accommodate this to stay competitive. Prices go up. Runners/consumers get even more demanding and picky. It seems like a perpetual cycle to me. Will there be a “bust” at some point?

And it’s getting absurd. The other day, I paid $75 for the opportunity to run a half marathon (I won’t name names, as this is getting to be a pretty typical price these days). It made me sick to write the check, but in the end I caved simply because I really, really wanted to race the course. Oh, but I get a “free” jacket and “free” beer at the finish, and a bunch of other garbage. What happened to just racing?

Here’s what I want from race directors: Just line us up and fire a gun. And do it on time. And make the race $10.

I don’t need rock bands, I don’t need beer, I don’t even need food at the finish (I can pack my own banana, thank you). I don’t need high-tech t-shirts, jackets, or vests. A cotton t-shirt is fine, although I’d like to opportunity to “opt out” in order to further lower my entry fee. Chip timing is nice, but not needed. We managed to survive quite some time without chips, after all. Rather than putting time and effort into the amenities and pampering, please just make sure the total course distance and the mile markers are accurate.

I realize that I am in the minority in these sentiments, but this is my blog, and I am an expert in my own opinion. Why do I race? I like to be around other runners, the pure community of the event. Moreover, I like to compete: against others and against myself. I get a thrill out of putting myself out there against my peers, and against my own willpower, pain levels, and personal records. Prizes are nice, and I keep them as mementos, but they are not why I race. The same goes for t-shirts and other memorabilia. But I certainly don’t enter the races to drink beer and listen to really bad live bands (I can do that at home for much less than $75, thank you).

I, for one, would like to see a return of “minimalistic races”. Low entry fees, low technology, few amenities, with an emphasis on competition and community. Anyone with me?

This will be an unusual race report, as not only did I not run, but I did not even go to the event. Last year my wife and visited Washington while the Northwest Passage Relay was in progress. I thought the course looked beautiful, and decided that I wanted to run the race next time around. Earlier this year, I sponsored and registered a team under the name of MarathonGIS.com / Fastrunningblog.com, and started making plans. However, a couple things stopped me from making the trip:

1. My wife getting pregnant, and the due date being uncomfortably close to race day
2. My current A.S. flare preventing me from running for several months, plus making my day-to-day ability to run very unpredictable.

So I bailed early on, but stayed on as the team captain and logistic manager. I’ve organized 5 relays now, and team member Dale described this one perfectly: herding cats.

We had:

• runners from 4 different states, with multiple airline schedules
• all out-of-state runners flying in the morning of the race
• another runner who couldn’t make it to the course until 8PM on raceday
• a very small pool of potential volunteers (ended up buying 2 of the 3)
• multiple runners bail out due to other commitments
• last-second ringers bail to join other teams (thanks)
• a last-minute start time change from 4PM to 2PM
• a total of 9 runners actually toeing the line (supposed to be 12)

Putting together the vans and leg order became a cerebral puzzle that looked like a chess match versus a Google spreadsheet. It also reminded me a little bit of the logic portion of the GRE test: “Runner x, y, and z are flying from Utah at times A, B, and C. Runners t, u, and v are already in-state, but live in three different towns, and runner u has to work until 5PM. The 5:15 ferry has a 90% on-time rate. Runner y’s favorite color is blue, and Runner v hates hills and is allergic to peanuts. Our start time is 2PM, and Van 1 will be to Exch 6 by 6:15PM. Determine the leg order.“

Fortunately, I did well on the GRE, and our logistics for this race ended up coming together in the end as well. Van 1 made it to the 2PM start on time, Runner U caught the ferry and made it to Exch 11 in time to run his first leg, and the 9 guys on the team ran their guts out, and by all reports, had a fabulous time. Whew! The only real mishap was Van 1 putting itself in a ditch during Leg 2 (will post pictures when I get them). Fortunately, a kind passerby pulled them out.

Not only did the team run their guts out, but they managed to take 2nd place out of 153 teams (20:31:02, 6:39/mile), and came within 6 minutes of pulling off and upset and winning the race outright. Congrats to Runningshoes.com, with their winning time of 20:25:17 (6:37/mile). Not bad for a 6-man ultra team!

Lessons learned for future relays:

• a 12-person team is not necessary.
  • fewer people creates more room in the van
  • fewer people allows you to use a car, truck, or SUV if you want to save money
  • a faster person running extra legs will always be faster than adding slower people just for the sake of having 12 people
  • you can bond more with fewer people, and also develop a “underdog mentality”

Thanks a ton to Dave, Dale, Craig, Andy, Cody, Tim, Matt, Mark, and Aaron for their good spirits and fast running!

Andy, Matt, Aaron, Tim, Dale, and Craig (photographer: Dave)

Cody hands to Andy at Exch 30.

Van 2, also a drying rack and dormitory. Gotta love the smaller team.

Another year, another Wasatch Back Relay. This year my company, Marathon GIS, helped sponsor not one but two 12-man relay teams. Co-sponsors were the Fast Running Blog and the St. George Running Center. We divided up our pool of runners into the “blue” team (fast) and the “white” team (faster). (The general idea is the FRB / St. George Running Center racing team’s colors are blue and white…).

We had no problem assembling an ensemble cast of quality runners, thanks to the pool of talent available on the Fast Running Blog. And we needed everyone in that pool, since we suffered numerous injuries and bail-outs to key runners (including myself) during the approach to the race. Thank goodness for our alternates! Although I had my doubts at times, we did end up toeing the line with 12 runners on each team.

We had high aspirations for the white team to contend with perennial powerhouses BYU and Weber State, and perhaps win the race outright. The blue team also had a good chance at Top 3.

It turned out that Weber did not field a team this year, but BYU brought the house. From the gun, it was BYU all the way, and our white team was simply outclassed by a superior (and younger) gene pool. The result: 2nd place for the white team by about 35 minutes. Kudos to BYU. Maybe next year!

Our blue team outpaced the Runners Corner mixed team, Peak Endurance, and the 26.2 Running Company down the stretch to finish a respectable 3rd place, nearly an hour behind the white team. Great job guys!!

However, we did experience victory on the timed Ragnar leg, as the white team’s Seth Wold blitzed up the 4.0-mile, 1700ft ascent in…(not kidding)…29:06 (7:16/mile!). That was 2:30 (38s/mile) ahead of the 2nd place BYU runner. I believe he broke his own record from last year. Awesome job Seth!

Unfortunately, I could not run due to my foot (and total lack of fitness), but was happy to help out by driving the Blue team Van 1. I brought my trusty video camera and shot as much footage as I could during daylight, adding my own witty and charming commentary where I could. (note that witty and charming commentary completely evaporates on day 2). I’ve uploaded the string of videos to YouTube for everyone’s enjoyment. Sorry about the poor quality, but YouTube is lame like that. You get what you pay for. Also, sorry for no video transitions, theme songs, or other movie magic. Time is money, and I’m a lazy, lazy man. But for the ’soundtrack’, you can just listen to our awesome mix tape playing in the van instead.

2008 Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back Top Teams Results (546 total finishers)

1. BYU Cross Country: 17:19:34 (5:45/mile!)
2. Fast Running Blog / St. George Running Center “white”: 17:54:16 (5:57/mile)
3. Fast Running Blog / St. George Running Center “blue”: 18:54:03 (6:17/mile)
4. 26.2 Running Company: 19:29:49
5. Peak Performance: 19:32:13
6. Runners Corner: 19:41:01