Concussions and BoSho

The last two weeks have been mildly turbulent in life and on the trail. For no good reason at all I have been in a foul mood. I am unable to muster much positivity and have had to really push myself to get up and get going.

 

I visited my chiropractor to get adjusted after the ski crash. After a detailed account she was sure that I was concussed. She mentioned that the pink substance that had drained from my nose was indeed spinal fluid. I have had no headaches but am consistent with other symptoms of a concussion. Mood swings, trouble sleeping, dizziness are all things that I have experienced more than usual in the last two weeks. I am not convinced that I have or had a concussion but it would explain a lot as to my training.

 

Last Saturday I decided to shoot for 15 BoSho miles. The shoreline is so great this time of year and offers a great variety of terrain. I started my run at Hogle Zoo heading North. I felt great for the first 5 miles. I was running a 7.5 mile out and back and really had to dig deep in the last 2.5 miles of the out. I stopped and walked a few times and while walking convinced myself that my heart is not in it yet. Maybe it wasn't.

 

A turn around on an out and back is always a great refreshment. As I turned around I started to find my stride again. Running strong down Dry Creek. I slugged through the mileage from Dry Creek to Red Butte. It was at Red Butte that I ran into Jeff Stowell and QB. Seeing them lifted my spirits and we were all able to finish strong. Jeff had some chocolate milks in his cooler that he shared. They chased all my blues away.

 

Tuesday night I played on Grandeur for a bit and had my first great spill of the season. I bloodied up my leg good!

 

Saturday was the BoSho Marathon. The BSM is a great bandit event in SLC. The ultra community all meets up for a run of 26.2. The entry fee is whatever you would like to contribute to the aid station. The aid station is placed at mile 9 and you also catch it at mile 21.

 

My plans for this years BSM were to see how it goes. My fitness is not where I want it and my head/heart are still in training as well. If I could get 18 miles minimum I would be happy.

 

I ran the first 6 miles with Matt Bennett, my boss from work. He is a strong athlete and ran a great race. I felt really good through the first four miles. I felt stronger in the climbs than I did on anything runnable. The climb up Dry Creek was good and I was even able to pass three people on the Unkle Effer climb. I ran walked down to the 8.5 mile mark. I got more and more light headed. I decided to lay down for a minute. I laid in the grass for about 5 minutes and felt much better. I made my way into the aid station with the plan of putting myself back together working in my mind.

 

While in the aid station I had a coke, cookie and three handfuls of potato chips. The nice aid station worker accidentally doused my pack with water while filling my pack. Everything was wet. I left feeling like I was going to have to dig deep for the next few hours. No matter what tactic I tried I could not get my head right. There was not a positive thought in there.

 

I ran well down into City Creek and began my climb up toward North Salt Lake. I love me some good switchbacks and felt pretty good in the climbs. As was the entire day the climbs were not my issue.

 

At the 12.5 mile mark I was met by an amazing lookout point. I decided to take advantage of it and sat down and enjoyed the view for a few moments. This is why I like to do all of this.

 

I stood back up and began to weigh my options. I had been shooting for a sub 7 hour finish. As I stood right now I was about right on pace for that calculating about a minute per mile fade. I knew what was ahead and I knew what was behind. The previous year I had run out of water at the top of the Meridian climb and had to limp back to the aid station that they were packing up. I had barely caught them in time to fill up my water.  Thinking of that I decided to turn around and head back. I had calculated that my total mileage on the day would be 20 ish miles.

 

I descended the switchbacks and made my way back down into City Creek. The climb out of City Creek was my best of the day. Some of the leaders were coming back through and I was able to hold serve with them in the climb. I recognize that they had 6 miles on me but I climbed it well.

 

I re-entered the aid station and had another Coke and a handful of chips. I realized that eating those chips was the first food I had eaten in almost an hour and a half. That was a huge mistake. I have to figure out my nutrition. Nothing sounded even remotely edible.

 

For the first time of the day the climb out of the aid station hurt. I fought my way all of the way back up to the main shoreline trail. I ran into QB and Kara and they saved my bacon. They made a Mark sandwich, Kara in front pacing, me in the middle and , QB pushing from the back. We ran to the top of Dry Creek. I thanked them for their help and let them go so they could bomb the descent of Dry Creek. I shuffled my way down hill. I have now been going for three hours on only a coke and some chips. As I climbed out of Dry Creek I saw QB and Kara only a few hundred yards ahead. They saw me and waited for me to join them. The three of us ran the last 1 mile to the finish line.

 

My day ended up being 20.5 miles in just over 6 hours. It was a long good day. I struggled mightily. It was a great wake up call on how far I need to go to get this done this year. I am more aware than ever that I need to get my race nutrition figured out. I will be experimenting a lot over the next few weeks.

A Great Utah Day...

Yesterday was a great day. It was one of those "Utah is the best place ever type of days!!" I started out the day by skiing at Solitude with John, Dustin and Gordon. These three are the best friends that any guy could ever ask for. They kept me laughing so hard all day. Whether it was Gordon throwing snowballs at Tate or Peterson pretending to be out of control, my sides really got a work out. I need to do that way more often. Laughter is an amazing drug!

 

There was hardly anyone on the mountain and we skied right on to every lift of the day. Conditions were great for a spring ski day. Solitude in word and deed. That resort incapsulates what the Wasatch really is. Steep. Unforgiving. Remote. Beautiful!

 

Coming down one of the runs I fell quite hard. It knocked me out and totally jacked my back. I can't remember that last time I hurt like that. I have no idea of what or how it happened. All I can remember is waking up with a pink substance draining from my nose and goggles stuck in my mouth. Full on yard sale! My phone even came out of my zipped pocket. I eventually gathered all my gear, dusted myself off and caught up to my friends. We finished the day with 13 runs, 13 ski miles and 13K of vert. Tate and Peterson hit a top speed of 65 MPH!!! Not bad for 4 hours of skiing.

 

I knew I wanted to get some trail miles in but was not sure how to make it happen logistically. I had a few errands to attend to and wanted to go watch a trail running movie that was showing at Brewvies that night. I determined that rather than watch trail running, I would run my errands and then hit the trail. Lunch, car wash, REI (a staple) and some time with the fam all were tended to.

 

I threw my gear together and headed for BoSho. The Bonneville Shoreline trail (BoSho) is rolling and offers both runnable and climb worthy terrain. As I started out I felt very strong. I reminded myself that it was early and anyone can feel good for the first few miles.

 

I ran past the Huntsman Cancer Institute where my friend Bryce was as he fought cancer to the end. Thinking of him invigorated me and I pushed my early feel good pace a touch harder. I was running an out and back and before I knew it my watch chimed to turn around. I had run all but the climb up above Red Butte. I have never done that before. I ate a Lara bar and began my way back to the barn.

 

I continued to feel strong. In fact I felt stronger with each mile. I came to a hill and thought this is where I walk. I encouraged myself to "just try" and run up. I shortened my stride into what I call my chip stride. As in chip away at the mountain. Soon I realized that I had crested the top running the entire distance.

 

A final push back to the car ended my run with a euphoric feeling. It was only 10 total miles but I negative split the last five miles by 15 minutes. The thoughts of "you keep this up and you will finish the Wasatch again" came to mind. It was encouraging and exciting.

 

In the next weeks I will push myself hard. I hope to eclipse a 20 miler in the month of April. My foot is feeling 95% and improving.

Running Up For Air 2014 - Mark

Salt Lake City's air quality worsens every year. This last winter we had worse air quality than Beijing, China 3 consecutive days. On a "red air day" 15 minutes outside is roughly the equivalent of smoking a half pack of cigarettes. Last year in SLC there were 22 red air days. SLCers that spent anytime outside roughly smoked 11 packs of cigarettes. It is a disgusting problem!! Jared Campbell, a local ultra-runner, organized a fund raiser for Breathe Utah. Breathe Utah addresses the root causes of air pollution in Utah by engaging affected local communities, creating partnerships and fostering collaboration. Read more about them at www.breatheutah.org Jared's fundraiser is called Running Up For Air (RUFA).

The fundraiser consists of runners/hikers summiting Granduer Peak via the west side route. The route has over 3,300 feet of vert in just over two miles. It is extremely taxing. Each time a runner/hiker summits a pledge or donation is made. My goal this year was 3-5 summits. Jared's was 15. He is an animal. 

This was my first day of major climbing since my surgery. I was unsure what to expect but excited to spend a day on the hill with several friends. On Friday night the wind and rain beat against our house. It kept me up a fair part of the night. I was really looking forward to a great nights rest but it was not to be. As such I started an hour later than the other runners. I figured I would see them coming down as I was headed up. 

I started my first lap and felt really good. I was taking it easy but pleased with my pace. A little under half way up I saw Jared and Luke Nelson coming down. These two are legit! Luke took second at the Wasatch a few years back and is a member of Patagonia's ultra team. They were both jumping into the wind and it was moving them back a bit. It was crazy. The wind howled more than I had ever seen. It beat against me so hard a couple of times that I became fearful that it would blow me off of one of the many open faces. 

I trudged up the hill and ran into many other great runners and great running friends. The higher I went the more the winds beat and the icier the conditions. I ended up putting on my micro-spikes and that helped with the ice. Nothing would help with the wind. At one point I literally had to lay down to protect myself. Many runners making their way down said that it had literally blown them off of their feet. I saw this happen to two different runners. The other report was that the wind calmed on the summit. I heard it was peaceful up there. 

I pushed on and ran into QB and Kara. It is always good to see them. I reached the summit and was greeted with beautiful clear skies and temporary respite from the wind. I ran into a great gal named Bethany. She was flying up the hill and we had a nice chat on the summit. We would leap frog each other on the way down. 

The decent was awesome until about a quarter mile from the bottom. That is when I realized that I do not have the quads that I once did. They were FRIED. It hurt bad! When I reached the bottom I was pleased with the first go. I decided to drive home, shower, get fresh clothes and shoes and head back for lap 2. 

I felt good for the bottom half of lap 2. I ran into Ty Draney who I have seen at a race or two. He is the race director for El Vacquero Loco in Afton, WY. He is a very strong athlete and later this year will attempt a double Bear 100 or in his case Bear 200. We climbed together for a bit and had a nice chat. He is a good dude. 

I hit the hole and really started to struggle through the wind. I caloried up and started to feel better but I had no bounce in my legs. After a grudge match I reached the summit for the second time of the day. Conditions on the way down were brutal. I can best describe it as running down a very steep grade on soft butter. I fell three separate times. One of which was feet to shoulders. OUCH! My foot began to ache and by the time I reached the bottom I had a pronounced limp. I figured two summits would be enough today. 

I look forward to climbing this mountain several more times this summer. It is an essential trainer for the Wasatch. Today I can barely walk. My quads are DESTROYED. My foot is sore but not injured. I will continue to nurse it and ease my way back in. All in all it was a great day. Jared finished with 12 summits. I was able to raise $620 to donate to Breathe Utah. I was pumped about that.  I will likely remember that wind for the rest of my life.

Here is a view from the top. Summit 1 and summit 2.

  

A Very Broad Update - Mark

I was thinking during my run yesterday that I would re-activate the blog.

I largely took 2013 off. Except for the following;
- In February of 2013 Luke and I ran the Moab Red Hot 55k. It was a fun time.
- In May Luke, Craig Hall and I ran the Grand Canyon R2R2R (I came up a few miles short as I was not feeling well. I did about 40 of the 44 miles that we should have done)
- In June I had my first official DNF at the Bighorn 50. I missed the cutoff at mile 35 by 6 minutes. Great race and I plan to redeem myself later this year.
- I paced at the Salt Flats 100, Wasatch and the Bear.

While pacing Craig Hall at the Wasatch I realized just how much I love this sport. I decided to give the Wasatch another go right then and there. On October 15th of 2013 I had foot surgery to repair a bunion. The surgery was a little more intense then planned and I left with two pins, 5 screws and a metal plate. The timeline for recovery still fit my Wasatch training plans so I decided to throw my name in the hat again.

Rehab went well and on almost every visit the doc and therapist told me that I was ahead of schedule. I started to "run" again on January 1st. I am taking it nice and easy but rebuilding a good base and feeling great about 2014.

On February 1st I dropped the family off at Park City Mountain Resort for a great day of skiing. I then traveled to Midway for the Wasatch 100 lottery. When I arrived my thoughts were that if I don't get into Wasatch that I would register for the Bear 100 the same day. That seemed like a good thought. With each name drawn I wanted the Wasatch more and more. The Bear became, as Luke puts it, like kissing your sister. About 2/3 of the way through the lottery I heard, "Mark Robbins from Cottonwood Heights, Utah". My heart raced and I realized that I was in again. Thoughts of excitement and feelings of nerves rushed through my body. Time to get to work.

I don't plan on doing many official races in 2014. My plans are to redeem myself at Bighorn in June and get my second Wasatch buckle in September. I will run the BoSho marathon, Granduer Peak fun run, maybe the Millcreek night run. I most likely will pace at the Buffalo, Salt Flats and the Bear. Should be a fun year!

My race strategy for 2014 is wide open except for two ideas that I have been thinking about. Strategy #1 is to run 15-25 lbs. lighter than my first Wasatch finish. Strategy #2 is to not set a goal time for finishing before the race but to get to Point Supreme (mile 76) and set a finish goal time there and push hard to the end.

I look forward to documenting my training and adventures on this blog. It is much more for me than anyone else. I see it as a journal of sorts. If you happen to read it I hope you enjoy. Thanks!