hicmndr's Thoughts

2009 FlatRock 25K

2009-09-28T14:05:00.003-05:00

Wow.

This weekend I ran the FlatRock 25K with my dad. All of my hardwork training this year has really paid off. I finished in 17th place with a time of 3:12:00. That pace really doesn't reflect how hard we pushed. On my normal training runs I average 10 minute miles with no problem. This trail is tough, tough tough. There is nowhere else in Kansas with terrain like this.

Before I get into the race report I should mention that I had never seen the trail before. When we picked up our race packets the night before I was shocked to discover that the Race Director, Eric Steele, was wearing a Badwater 2000 shirt. Up to this point I really thought Badwater was completely fictional. Nobody is that crazy right? Maybe he had it printed up as a joke? Not so much...

Eric then told us that the FlatRock 25K is as tough as a marathon. Uh-oh. The longest race I'd ever completed was a flat half marathon on pavement.

Talking with Eric made me question how painful this race would be...a Badwater finisher designed the course eh? Did I train hard enough? I went from running 15 miles a week to 30+ miles a week on the Clinton Lake and Shawnee Mission Park trails this year. Was I ready for this? At that point I decided that carbo-loading with Guinness would be helpful for multiple reasons.

So what's it like to run 25K on the toughest trail in Kansas?

I tried to position myself in the middle to back of the pack at the starting line as I didn't want to go out too fast on the asphalt road section that connects to the trail. I ran roughly a 8.5 minute pace on the asphalt section, which was just about right.

The first section of the trail is unbelievably difficult. The combination of slick rocks, mud and steep ascents and descents forced me to walk much more than I wanted to. It seemed like it took forever to go the 3.7 miles to the first aid station. About 2 minutes away from the aid station you could hear hard rock music blaring...totally awesome to have that audible message telling us that we had conquered the first quarter of the race. It ended up taking me 49 minutes to get there, which was about a minute per mile slower than I'd expected.

At this point my legs felt great and I kicked the pace up further since I thought the next section was supposed to be easy. While it definitely flattened out some, there were numerous steep sections, and slick stream crossings that managed to keep my pace slower than I wanted. 20 minutes into this section I was amazed to see a couple runners had already made the turnaround and had met up with us. This gave me false hope as I assumed the turnaround must be near. Little did I realize that one of the two runners was about to set the female course record. 23 minutes later we hit the turnaround point at 1:32:18.

At this point I was pleased that we'd made up some time. It had started to warm up some and I found myself going through water much faster. By mile 10 we caught up with some other runners and I chose to follow rather than pass as my legs were feeling tired. We hit the 3rd aid station at 2:21:00. Again slower than I'd hoped, but at this point all I cared about was finishing. I was willing to crawl if necessary. I popped open my Hammer Gel, refilled my water and took off.

The final fourth of the race is what it is all about. You remember how tough it was on the way out. But now your legs are shot, you are tired and you just want to be done. I would have been fantasizing about beer except my entire brain was focusing on not falling down. I found myself running on the flat parts and walking everything else. Very difficult to find a comfortable stride as the trail was either slick, steep or both. The last 20 minutes of the trail were a blur...it was all mental...didn't matter how tired I was I wanted to be done. The slower I went the longer it would be before I could sit down. So I pushed as much as I could.

Normally I absolutely HATE running on asphalt. The most beautiful sound of the day was hearing road noise...was that a car? Yes! We are at the end of the trail! Now we just have to sprint (haha) the last section on the road to the tent. I swear that Eric moved the finishing tent about a half mile further away while we were all out on the trail. We could see a couple runners ahead of us on the road, but there was no way we could possibly catch them so we ran a comfortable pace (or as fast as I could) to finish in 3:12:00. Tied for 17th place.

Crossing the finish line was a complete relief. I'd completed my first 25K. I didn't die. I called my wife. "So you are still alive?" Yep.

Within an hour of the race I was starving. I definitely should have ingested more calories during the race.

Within two hours of the race I begin pondering how much time I could have shaved off. A sub 3 hour finish next year? Definitely possible.

48 hours later as I'm writing this I'm contemplating doing the 50K in 2010.

361 days of training left...

Conquered the Chubb

2009-08-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

I did a killer trail run on Sunday. We were in St. Louis for a wedding so I took advantage of the opportunity to run the Chubb trail. The Chubb trail is 7 miles one direction. Half of the trail roughly parallels the Meramac river.

The other half is a giant rocky hill. Portions of the trail were so steep I had to walk at times.

I really need to get a small point and shoot camera to take with me on trails like this. My blackberry camera sucks and my DSLR is way too bulky to take with.

Click here for more pictures of the trail.

Best of all, this run was the longest run I've done. 15 miles (yes, the trail is only 14 miles round trip, but I somehow missed a switchback which added some mileage)

Starting to think I'm ready for Flat Rock in September

Training Progress

2009-07-31T19:33:00.002-05:00

Since switching from the VFF's to the Inov-8 212's for my longer runs, my training mileage has really picked up. Had a PR today on my normal trails at Shawnee Mission Park. 5.5 miles in 55 minutes.

56 days until Flat Rock and I'm feeling pretty good about where I am training wise. My goal is to break 4 hours at Flat Rock...starting to think maybe I can hit 3.5 hours.

Update

2009-07-30T16:13:00.003-05:00

Haven't been blogging like I planned to as I've been too busy pursuing barefoot / minimalist running, and working on my startup company.

I'm now running in VFF KSO's on my normal runs and Inov-8 212's on my long runs.

Planning on running the Flat Rock 25K in September.

More later...I promise.

Great workout

2009-01-05T20:24:00.003-06:00

Day 5 of the new year and my first day back in the office. The team went to lunch...I went running.I drove to SMP (Shawnee Mission Park) and had to settle for the paved path as the excellent mountain biking trails were closed due to wet conditions.

It was 23 degrees when I started, but within a few minutes it felt great.

The sky was clear, the air crisp and most importantly my legs and lung carried me for a solid 45 minutes. 5 days into the new year. 5 workouts. New Year's resolution so far so good.

I can already feel my mood improving. I seem to be much more level-headed at the office after a nice run.

Speaking of reoslutions, here is an excellent post on why so many of us fail at our New Year's Resolutions.

http://leangains.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-people-fail-their-new-years.html

265 days until Flat Rock...more later...

3 Days...3 Workouts

2009-01-03T19:33:00.003-06:00

So far so good. I've worked out at least 45 minutes a day in the new year. I was going to do a trail run today as it was unseasonably warm, but unfortunately the Shawnee Mission Park trails were closed due to wet conditions.

265 days until the Flat Rock 25K. I just ordered a pair of Inov-8 Roclite 315's based on some reviews I had read. I'll post a review as soon as I'm able to try them out.

Investing - My 2008 Mistakes

2009-01-01T19:47:00.001-06:00

2008 crushed my portfolio. Obviously it was the worst year since 1931 for the markets, but still I made some bad decisions and underperformed the market. What mistakes did I make?

In July I felt that there was too much uncertainty regarding the price of oil, and the US Presidential election. A little voice inside my head kept telling me to move at least half my portfolio to cash. I kept thinking that there was little potential for upside profits until the election was resolved. My mistake? I didn't listen to the voice. I listened to what I learned in school....you can't time the market.

My second mistake? As the US began issuing bailouts left and right I started buying ETF's that tracked metals and the energy sector. I didn't expect the mass loss in consumer confidence. I expected everyone to fear inflation and move out of equities into tangible assets. I bought. They fell. I bought more. They fell. I would buy more now, but I have no free cash to do so. I also bought solar stocks...they too have fallen.

My third mistake? Abandoning my investment principles. I believe you should buy for the long haul. Buy good companies at good prices. I also believe you should buy things you understand. I have a business degree, I can read annual reports and financial statements. I inherently don't trust mutual funds and etf's because I believe that most fund managers suck.

My portfolio was down 49% for the year. Clearly worse than the S&P 500. But my portfolio was much more aggressive than buying an S&P500 index fund.

More later on my new strategy for 2009...

First Workout of the new Year

2009-01-01T14:58:00.000-06:00

Well, so far so good. Did an hour on the elliptical trainer during my daugther's nap. 420 calories burned.

I will be posting a lot about working out, and more importantly how to juggle my busy schedule.

More later about me and my hectic life.

Thoughts for the New Year

2009-01-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

I've always intended to try blogging, but I've never felt like I had enough to say. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the economy, environment and life and decided to start expressing my thoughts online.

I've always found that New Year's resolutions are too easy to make and even easier to break.

This year I've decided to post my resolutions publically and use this blog to keep me honest.

Here are my resolutions for 2009:

Workout more - yeah, I know everyone says this. Specifically my goal is to work out 5 hours minimum per week.
Modify my diet to follow Precision Nutrition
Drop my body fat percentage to under 10%
Run the Flat Rock 25K in September
Focus on cutting costs and using the money to invest...this is a buying opportunity of a lifetime
Get rid of the Cyanobacteria in my 300 gallon reef tank

EcoTech Marine Vortech Pumps

2007-07-30T20:16:00.000-05:00

Wow.

These pumps are simply amazing. They put out an amazing amount of flow (3000gph). Best of all, the heat generating motor portion of the pump mounts on the outside of the aquarium so it helps keep the aquarium temperature in check.

Currently I have a Vortech mounted on each end of the aquarium. I'm intending to add at least one more Vortech to the mix when the new model comes out with the controller. I've owned a lot of different brands of pumps / powerheads, and this is the only one I've ever been truly happy with. The flow is strong, yet gentle due to how wide the flow is. I can't wait for the single and multi-controllers to come out!

DIY Stand

2007-07-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

My buddy Tim and I decided to overbuild the stand. And when I say overbuild I'm not exaggerating. The posts are 4"x6"'s. The cross braces are 4"x4"'s. The top is 3/4" plywood that is attached via liquid nails and countersunk screw. The plywood is covered with a high density foam.

The tank is a 300 gallon Tenecor acrylic tank with a trapezoid overflow box and dual overflow / return pipes.

Used Equipment

2007-07-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

As the 300 gallon tank is my first tank larger than 20 gallons I quickly began to get sticker shock over the prices of the components necessary to support the mixed reef I had in mind. It was at this point that I began watching the used forums on Reef Central. I ended up buying the following items used which saved me quite a bit of money:

AquaC EV400 Protein Skimmer
Velocity T4 return pump
PanWorld 150 pump for the protein skimmer
Ecotech Vortech pump
2 Used combination 400w metal halide / PC pendants
Used dual PFO 400w Ballast

This easily saved me a few hundred dollars.

Tank Arrival

2007-07-30T19:51:00.000-05:00

After an excruciating 4 weeks the tank has finally arrived! There were 2 tanks on the pallet, the 300 gallon display tank, and a 50 gallon tank intended for use as a refugium.

I was a little concerned that the tank wasn't shipped in a crate, but a quick inspection revealed it to be in perfect condition.

A couple of friends came over to help me move it to the basement. I was a little nervous about this...I'm a software developer by trade and as such am somewhat lacking in upper body strength (if only coffee built muscles). It turns out acrylic boxes are really challenging to hold on to. One of my friends decided to bend over and let it rest on his back while the other two of us "carried" each end. There were a couple of moments where I was sure we were going to drop it, but in the end we didn't and no one was injured.

300 Gallon In-Wall Reef

2007-07-30T17:08:00.000-05:00

After many months of planning and construction I just finished filling my in-wall dream tank with saltwater. Over the next few days I will be posting to document the build-out of this wonderful beast so that others may learn from my mistakes. I owe a huge amount of thanks to the members of Reef Central as it was an incredible resource for research and planning.

Stay tuned for the build-out and photo journey!