Updates from Marcus Barton

Slicker than Pig Snot

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:44:21 GMT

That sums up the XTERRA Panther Creek race in one sentence. O.K., I may be getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s back-track a bit.

XTERRA Panther Creek
Aug 2, 2009
800 meter swim, 16 mile mountain bike, 4.5 mile trail run

Andrew and I loaded up the truck and headed for Ashville. We were both pretty stoked about this race as we both knew it was a fun one. Andrew had raced Panther Creek back in 2007 as his first triathlon ever. Even though he missed it last year (due to a conflict), I was lucky enough to race it and have fun doing so (although I had a flat tire during the race). From our discussion of the course leading up to the event, we quickly discovered that the course he had raced in 2007 was quite different from the one I had raced there in 2008. This year, Andrew was looking forward to re-visiting the site of his first triathlon, and I had a vendetta to repay (race without flatting a tire).

Another reason that it would be a fun: we would be meeting lots of friends there. Some of them we had known for years, others we had met along the way racing different XTERRA venues. We stayed overnight with our friend, Ching in Asheville and she introduced me to several awesome restaurants in Asheville that only locals would know. Saturday morning, we went for breakfast at the Sunny Point Cafe and afterwards, we packed up the truck with our gear. Another friend, Brad, decided to drive up from Charlotte to spend the weekend at the race, as well. Although Brad and Ching wasn’t racing, all four of us loaded up in the truck, complete with Tybee (Ching’s friendly black lab), and headed for Panther Creek.

Andrew, Ching and Brad had decided to camp out at Panther Creek State Park. Being a light sleeper, I had decided to stay at a local hotel and not chance a noisy campground. Once we arrived to the campground, I became insanely jealous that I had done so. The campground was gorgeous and not another camper in sight. When we had discussed camping, I had envisioned the typical state park campground with everyone on top of each other, noisy, crowded, etc. However, the folks putting on the race had secured a private campground just for the race participants. We dropped off a load of stuff, setup the tents and headed for a pre-ride.

The weather was perfect. The trails were fast. It had rained in the previous days, so the course wasn’t dusty and the tires were hooking up good. While Andrew, Ching and Brad had plans on riding one lap of the two lap bike course at an easy pace, my intent was to only ride about 20 mins of it, with the last 10 mins or so with intervals of near race pace and recovery. So I’d take off on a short sprint then wait for them to catch up. During one of my short sprints, I came around a corner that looked flat, smooth and fast. Taking the curve, however, produced a nice little crash. The perfectly smooth curve was actually perfectly smooth clay. The remaining moisture from previous rain left it just slick enough that I skated right across and low-sided. Once off of the slick clay, the remaining part of the trail that I chose to slide across was small bits of rock and gravel. This produced a half-dollar size of road rash accented with a nice bruise from where I landed. Shortly after the crash, I proceeded back to the truck to do a short run and swim brick while the rest of the gang rode the rest of the course.

Later that evening, we met up with Crom and Dave for some good eating.

Race Day

I woke up around 4:45 which seemed way too early after Crom, Dave and I hung out way too late the night before. I had mostly everything ready to go, but wanted to hit the shower and get a meal in. When I walked out of the hotel, I was greeted by rain. A smile came upon my face as I knew the day would be interesting. I called Andrew to let him know I was on my way, wondering how well they slept with the rain.

Andrew, Ching and I loaded up the truck and headed to the transition area. We were the first to arrive and was greeted by a friendly race director and park ranger. We setup our transition and I took off on a warm up ride. Not wanting to chance a spill, I stuck to the pavement. After a warm up run, I headed down to the lake for a quick warm up swim. Before no time, it was time for the race to start.

The swim course was setup as a 400 meter, almost perfectly square, course. We had to do two laps around the course and then exit via a boat ramp. The water temperature was perfect for a swim. We took off and I drafted off of Andrew as we stretched out in front of the main pack. After turning the first buoy, I lost track of Andrew as he picked up the pace and I settled into mine. As always, the first lap I intermingled with other swimmers occasionally getting bumped or doing the bumping. By the time we rounded the last buoy to start the second lap, either they had pulled ahead of me or had dropped back, allowing open water to swim.

Andrew came out of the water in second place and I came out quite a few spots back. He must have had a smoking fast transition time, as he was already gone by the time I came into transition.

My transition went fairly smoothly. Earlier I had debated going sockless, but with the mud, I figured it was a blister waiting to happen. Also, since the trailhead within 5 feet of the transition area, it didn’t allot any time for doing things on the fly. Therefore, I had to spend a little extra time in transition to put on socks and gloves. Again, I could have done without the gloves, but I’ve found that in wet, muddy conditions, gloves are a must (for me anyhow).

~16 mile mountain bike course (two ~8 mile laps)

I dove into the trail and began a pretty fast pace. As a matter of fact, it was a bit too fast. I came flying around a corner and my mud-caked rear tire slid on a root, causing me to crash. It was fairly uneventful other than the fact that I came to a stop. Before the guy behind me could pass, I jumped back on the bike and took off. Proud that I made it rolling without getting passed, I picked the pace, only to crash again under similar circumstances. Again, I jumped back on as the guy behind me approached. Within 30 seconds or so, I went down AGAIN. This time, he passed me. Now keep in mind, this all happened within the first mile. Not a good sign.

OK. New game plan. Ride hard and fast, but a bit more cautiously. Kind of an oxymoron, right? The bike course consisted of a two-lap ride, so my thoughts were to see how the course would pan out (given the rain) on the first lap and then decide where I could push it and where I should pull back.

I kept up with the guy in front of me for the next few minutes and we, too, passed someone who had just crashed. It was like a war zone with riders down everywhere. We dumped out onto a fire road and I took the opportunity to pass him back. Shortly after, I came upon a relay team member. He asked if I wanted to pass and I told him that I did, but when it was safe. He signaled for me to pass and yielded. For the rest of the first lap, I would remain alone on my ride until, Bence Roemer passed me on a climb. I had spun out on a wet root, and he came riding up the hill, somehow maintaining vertical. By the time I got back on my bike, he had gone around the corner and I couldn’t seem to catch back up.

Coming through the transition area at the end of the first lap, they informed me that I was in 5th place. Having seen the course once, I had a game plan of where to try and make up ground. I felt as if I may have played it a little too cautiously on the first lap, but after 3 crashes in the first mile, I was a bit gun shy.

Towards the end of the second lap, my quads started to cramp up something fierce. I guess it was mainly due to my attempt to make up time. During one of my cramp sessions, a relay team member caught up to me and passed just before we dumped out of the trail. I headed into transition and attempted to be as quick as I could with two cramped quads. Attempting to take off my shoes by using the toe-to-heel method proved to be impossible. On the way out of transition, I grabbed a cup of water and headed into the muddy trail. Shortly after entering the run, I passed a relay team member.

4.5 mile trail (aka mud) run

It took about a mile to run through the cramps, but they eventually gave way. It seemed to coincide with the single-track trail turning into fire road. It was then that I decided to try and make up for lost time. I picked up my pace the best that I could but without it causing further cramps. The fire road ended at the edge of a park road where a park ranger was sitting, I ran past her and a water stop that began a lolly-pop loop section of the run. This section consisted of rolling hills of single track. Even though the hills were not steep or long at all, each uphill resulted in more quad cramping. I shortened my stride and reduced my pace in an effort to reduce the cramps. The only thing that seemed to help was getting the hill over with. Once starting down hill, it seemed manageable. Coming out of the lolly-pop section, I ran by someone who was heading into that section. “If he’s the 6th place guy, I should be able to hold him off,” I thought to myself. From there on out, my goal was to climb the hills the best that I could and just hammer the down hills. This continued throughout the run with much teeth gritting towards the end.

I finished in Panther Creek fashion which meant running all the way down the boat ramp and into the lake, where I was greeted by Tybee, the friendly lab.

Final Results:

Overall Place: 5th
Age Division Place: 2nd
Full results

Sorry, but I don’t have splits (yet). I’m still trying to run them down.

HUGE CONGRATS goes out to Andrew for winning the race, 1st place overall, securing him in number 1 spot for his age group in the Southeast and currently (as of this writing) also the number 1 spot nationally for his age group. Way to go, Andrew!!

After the race, we headed straight to Asheville and non-stop to the Wedge for some hard-earned cold ones. Later, we headed over to the Admiral for some food you would not believe.

Thanks to Ching and Brad for taking these awesome pics!

2nd Place Division Win at Xterra Uwharrie

Tue, 12 May 2009 06:31:16 GMT

4am. That’s what time the alarm went off. Uwharrie is just a little under 2 hours from my house. It’s just far enough for me to briefly consider camping but close enough for me to want to sleep in my own bed. I opted for the latter.

So with a race starting at 9am, why the hell would I get up at 4am (you might be thinking)? I’m a firm believer of getting there when transition opens (6:30) and getting all the setup done with time to spare. Doing so prevents any frantic rushing to get things done. The final result is time to just relax and gather my thoughts before the race starts. So at 4:30, Alba and I, in a packed truck (complete with dog) were off to the race.

For those of you that don’t know, Uwharrie is a National Forest consisting of around 52,000 acres. What a fitting venue for an Xterra. It consists of some of the oldest mountains in North America. Even though there are only around a 1,000 feet today, they were once over 20,000 feet in height at their peak.

The course that we had to race consists of shared-use trails that are not only used by hikers and bikers, but horses as well. This makes my third year racing the venue and I’ve yet to encounter any horse riders during a race (knock on wood) although I have seen plenty during practice rides.

Alba and I showed up right around 6:30 and I began setting up in transition. I met up with lots of folks. Included in the bunch were Andrew Jones and Peter Lilly. Also present was Xterra first-timer (and 2nd triathlon), Dirk Wuensche.

Transition Area

Andrew Jones and Peter Lilly

Dirk Wuensche

There were lots of familiar faces from training rides, other races and friends in general that seemed to be popping up everywhere. Even folks I had met online from different social sites. It seemed as if every time I turned around there was someone else saying hi. Some I expected to see and others were a complete surprise.

Speaking with friends in transition

Before you knew it, transition started filling up and people mulled about with wetsuits on waiting for the race briefing to start. The weather was shaping up for what would be an awesome day for a race. It was slightly cloudy and the temp was perfect for racing.

Transition Filling Up

While the sport (half-distance race) was getting kicked off, Andrew and I found a bench away from the crowd to suit up. The water had been 58 degrees just days before, so we were not looking forward to the swim. However, once we were suited up and in the water, we quickly realized that not only had the water warmed up quite a bit, but it actually felt pretty good. The two-lap, 500 meter, triangular swim was off with a blow from an air horn.

I settled into a pretty good pace and made it around the first two buoys without issue. After rounding the second buoy, the water was pretty choppy. Every time I breathed to my right side, I would get a mouth full of water. Not needing to hydrate this early in the race, I chose to stick to unilateral breathing to my left side until the last buoy.

Shortly after rounding the last buoy, and thus starting my second lap, I realized that someone was drafting me. Every time I breathed to the left, I could see him/her out of the corner of my eye. Most of the lead pack had already put some distance on me, so there wasn’t really anyone that I could draft behind. I was content with just keeping what felt like a good pace: not so fast that I’d blow up, but not so slow as to put me too far behind.

As I was running to transition, I was notified I was in 9th overall out of the water. I saw Andrew in transition as I crossed the timing mats, so I decided to give him a smack on his back as I ran by his rack. He seemed pretty surprised. I’m not sure if it was surprise that I was done already or if it was one of those surprises that someone was touching him (usually followed by the reactive response of an elbow to the nose).

My transition went fairly smoothly, although I’ve definitely had quicker and smoother. The bike course was still pretty wet from the rain the night before. During a pre-ride several weeks back, the course was in much worse shape. Back then, it was very, very muddy and quite torn up from a recent horse riding event. During the race, it wasn’t quite as muddy in the usual bad spots. Instead, some of the sections that were normally dry and very fast were now wet and “greasy”. On several occasions during the race, I felt as if I was out of control. Not a good position to be in with as fast as I was trying to ride.

The climbs were a little more difficult than usual since they were sloppy as well. I would get going good on a climb only to have my rear tire gum up and start to spin. I could only imagine what some of the other guys were going through that had low-knob tires or other types designed for drier weather.

Towards the end of my first lap of the two-lap bike course, I was barreling down a hill with a nasty little dip at the bottom. No sooner did I mentally remind myself to bunny-hop over the dip, I spotted someone lying on the ground and someone else who had just stopped. As I bunny-hopped across the dip, I asked if everyone was ok. Usually when asking, someone replies back with something along the lines of, “Yep, we’re fine”. But this time, I didn’t get any response. I came to a stop.

I looked back to see Kenny Brown standing there over someone who had just endo’d on the nasty dip. From the look on Kenny’s face, I could tell something was wrong. “Need a medic?” I asked. Kenny nodded. I laid my bike against a tree and ran down to see what was wrong. The person on the ground, was holding one arm bent and wrenching in pain. I asked if he thinks he broke his collar bone. He didn’t say much, but pointed to the huge bulge on top of his shoulder.

“We need to get you off the trail, buddy, before someone plows into you and makes it worse,” I told him. Kenny and I helped him up. He let out a loud grunt/groan/yelp as he stood up. We very slowly helped him walk over to a downed tree to sit on. He asked how far it was to get out of the woods. Knowing that we were a looooong ways in, I told him it was too far for him to try and walk. “Sit tight and I’ll send the medics in.”

I hopped back on my bike and continued on the course. Once I dumped out onto the road, I notified the volunteers that a medic was needed. They said that they were already on the way as one of the previous riders that had passed while Kenny and I were helping had told them about the situation. Feeling relieved that they were already a step ahead of me and that someone was on the way, I commenced my assault to try and make up for lost time.

My second lap was a bit more intense than the first with my attempt to make up time and position. It was also faster than my first since I had already seen the course and knew where I could go fast and where I needed to be cautious. I seemed to be surrounded by crashes as I witnessed two more, although they were slow-speed “off-course events”.

Towards the tail end of the second lap, my quads began to cramp on one of the last climbs. I decided to hop off and hoof it up the hill on foot and to give me an opportunity to stretch my quads. It seemed to do the trick as they loosened up before getting to the top of the hill. I quickly learned that moving = no seizing. There were two others walking the same hill which made me feel a little better about doing it myself. (By the way, walking hills in Uwharrie is not uncommon). I made my way down the gravel road, through the parking lot and into transition.

Rolling into transition, I decided to attempt a rolling dismount, something that works pretty well in road triathlons. Although, the terrain leading up to transition didn’t allow me much time to get my feet out of my shoes, I attempted to do so with shoes still on. I unclipped my left foot, but left it remaining on the pedal. I swung my right foot over the seat brought it in between me and the bike, then stuck it out toe-forward as if I was pointing to the dismount line. When I stuck my toe out, my right quad immediately seized.

With my right leg stiff as a board, I hopped off the left pedal and hobbled the rest of the way back to my rack. I bent the right leg a couple of times to loosen it. The relief was short-lived. As soon as I attempted to take one of my shoes off, BOTH of my quads seized. I grabbed the bike rack with both hands, bent over with my head between my arms and tried my best to cover up the yelp I let out. As I stood there feeling like a pirate with two peg legs, I quickly remembered moving helped. I danced around a bit bending the legs several times. Somewhere in the midst of doing my little dance, I managed to change shoes and hobble out of transition. I ran down the short paved path towards the trail head, trying my best to regain control of my legs.

Upon diving into the single-track trail that ran along the edge of the lake, I almost immediately passed one runner that I had been leap-frogging with on the bike leg. We chatted a bit in between our panting and I slowly pulled away from him. Within a mile or two, I came upon another runner that went by the name of “Beach”. I ran behind him for a short distance but passed him as he cramped up trying to jump over a large tree across the trail. He said he was going to keep me company for a while and I told him that I welcomed it. We chatted about him being from Asheville, biking, the course, you name it. Anything to keep both of our minds off of the cramping. I kept giving him updates on what was coming in way of trail since this was his first time at Uwharrie.

After hitting the water stop at the boat launch and running through the camping area, we both had a few issues with cramps. I finally decided (no disrespect meant to Beach) that I needed to enter my own little world to work through the rest of the race. I picked up the pace a little and tried to make up for lost time on the downhills. The cramps seemed to subside and before I knew it I was alone.

In the final mile or so of the race, there’s one last hill climb that I had already decided that I would power-walk vs. run. Once I reached the top, I heard a noise that caused me to look down the hill. Low and behold, it was Mike Miller (fellow Studio-7 athlete). “Come on, Mike!” I yelled. He let out a groan of pain/exhaustion.

“Come on and pick it up or I’m gonna tell on you to Sonni! (his coach)” Mike picked up the pace and caught up with me. I slowly picked up the pace and occasionally he’d drift back and then pick it up again. I’m not sure if he knew I was doing that or not. He asked how much further it was to the end. When I told him it was only about a mile, I could feel the relief of tension from him. It helped me too just saying it.

As we exited the trail and into the parking lot, he passes me on the left headed to the finish. I stayed right behind him all the way up the hill figuring that the hill would take whatever was left out of him and I could pass him back. Sure enough, right at the top of the hill he started slowing down. I made a move to pass him back and the crowd started cheering us both on. Their sudden increase in cheering must have given him the clue that I was attempting to pass him, so he looked back. When he saw I was right on his tail and gaining, he sprinted toward the finish line. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t catch him and he finished one second in front of me.

Trying to catch Mike (he’s behind the spectator)

I finished 14th overall and 2nd in my division. It was a tough but fun and interesting race.

Full results can be found here: Results

Big shout-out to my buddy, Andrew Jones for his 2nd place finish overall and first in his division. That’s 75 points for you, Andrew! Also, big congrats goes to Dirk Wuensche and Kenny Brown for completing their first Xterra!!

Andrew Jones

Kenny and Dirk

Special thanks always goes out to my wife, all-around race supporter and photographer, Alba. Her cheering gets me through races.

Catching Up

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:48:50 GMT

Been a while. So let’s see… recap…

Spent two days up in Uwharrie last weekend with my good friend, Andrew. Had several other good friends head up for one day festivities as well. It was great to ride with you all. Dirk, I hope you end up doing Uwharrie. John and crew, my apologies for being so burnt out from the previous day’s activity. You can also officially call me “crash”.

Andrew and I camped overnight and enjoyed two days of running and riding. For those of you that think mountain bikes beat up muddy trails, you should see what the horses have done.

Also met some great, excited new triathletes at the transition clinic at REI. I look forward to seeing them at the races.

Be on the lookout for a complete writeup from me on the new GU Chomps!!!

Upcoming? A “warmup” sprint tri this Sunday. :)

is ready for a training ride/run!!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:23:58 GMT

is ready for a training ride/run!!

Four Days of Rain = Getting Nowhere

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:21:25 GMT

Four Days of Rain = Getting Nowhere

All the rain sure is making it tough to get the miles in. I’ve had to resort to other measures.

From yesterday’s workout…

Number of GU Energy Gels consumed = 4

Number of calories expended = over 1700

Time spent on road bike = 2 hours

Miles traveled = ZERO

New Blog Location

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:49:51 GMT

BLOG: http://marcbarton.spaces.live.com

1st place division win

Sat, 17 May 2008 20:34:33 GMT

May 17

Ramble Half Marathon Race Report

Race Name: Ramble Half Marathon Trail Run 2008

Location: Uwharrie National Forrest, Troy, NC

Date: 17 May 2008

Time: ~0900

Total Number of Racers: 203

It was a perfect day for a race. There were a TON more people than I think anyone expected, so the race started a bit late to allow everyone to get checked in.

Everyone started off with a countdown from race director, Tim Long. As we piled into the gravel road, I settled into a fairly fast pace behind Stan Austin. I felt the pace was a little too quick of a start. No sooner that I thought it, Stan slowed his pace a bit and we settled into the run. Diving into the trail from the gravel road, we were clearly in the top 10 folks of the race.

The first half of the race was fairly uneventful, other than the fact that I figured out that I left my waterbottle at the start. It wasn't an overly hot day, so I thought I could deal without it. As we passed a few people, we came on some moderate down-hill sections which Stan was a speed demon at negotiating. I tried my best to keep up with him as we ran down the technical sections in what can only be described as on a very fine line between control and complete loss of control. There were several times I just knew I was going to eat it.

Even though I couldn't keep up with Evel Knievel Stan Austin on the down hills, I usually caught up with him on the climbs. We played this back and forth game for most of the race.

The race course consisted of a figure 8 style course. At about a little less than the half-way point, the trail dumps us back out at the finish line. After a 25 yard sprint across an open area, it dives us back into the trail. Stan and I come out into the open area back to back.

As I came out, my wife, Alba is standing there taking a picture. She holds out the water bottle I had forgotten and I snag it diving back into the trail. In the process, I pass Stan who had decided to grab water from the water stop. We almost ran into each other as we reenter the trail. I give him the motion to get back in front of me. He politely responded for me to go ahead. I inform him that I like his pace and would prefer he hop up front instead of just passing me later.

Not more than 50 yards back into the trail begins what will be a frequent occurence during this second half loop: a steep, steep, rocky climb. In the very rocky trails of Uwharrie, a fall could lead to a loss of teeth, broken bones or a concussion.

As we get about half-way up the first steep hill, Stan and I pass a couple of fellow racers. Further along the second half, Stan begins to extend the distance between the two of us. We come across two other runners who we'd be following several paces back for most of the race. They had stopped for some reason and we pass. At this point, Stan really picks the pace up a bit. He later tells me that he did so to ensure a decent lead on the guys we had just passed. I had the same thought as I picked my pace up as well, both to extend my lead but to also try and catch up with Stan.

We dump back out onto the gravel road we had raced up in the beginning. Stan is nowhere in sight. This proved to be somewhat deflating as I had hoped to have caught up by now. Stan would later report that he attempted to keep just ahead of me to keep out of my sight. His strategy had proven to work just as he planned. Had I seen him around one of the turns ahead, I would have been motivated to catch up.

I wouldn't see him again until a turn-around point on the course. We both passed one more person in the last mile of the course which included the turn-around point.

It was a great race and I suffered no falls, injuries or any major problems.

Finish time: 1:29:31

Age Division Finish: 1st Place

Overall Finish: 7th Place
Results: http://www.racescapes.com/results/RAMBLE.HTM

1st Place Win at Xterra Uwharrie

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:19:20 GMT

1st Place in My Age Division

I raced in the Xterra Uhwarrie (open class) offroad triathlon today. It was a grueling race with some serious climbs, rocky throughout, boulders, mud, you name it... By the time I transitioned into the run, both quads, hams and glutes were cramping. I ran thinking that eventually they'd ease up, but they never did. I ran a slooooow 9:05 pace.

I didn't have any major spills or issues on the bike, but fell 4 times on the run. I just couldn't seem to keep my feet picked up since they were cramping.

I finished 1st in my age division and 17th overall. My finish time was 3 hours, 8 minutes and some change (first place finished at 2:38.

Special thanks goes out to Jeremy Jenks for being my running partner for 98% of the run. I was a hurting camper and your companionship got me through it.

MORE PICTURES at http://www.speedylizard.com/gallery/albums/36.aspx

Disappointing First Race

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:51:52 GMT

So Xterra Fort Yargo was a bit disappointing for me. Not because of the event itself. I thought the venue was awesome, the people were great and the race was all around fun. However, I was a bit disappointed in my performance.

I could come up with all kinds of excuses about not being able to train as much as I've wanted, not getting a good night's sleep the night prior, how I played defeating mind games with myself during the swim, the silly crash I took close to the finish of the bike leg, how I my front brakes were messed up (braking = on) after the crash, or how I just didn't seem to fuel or hydrate properly prior to running.

What it really comes down to is I just didn't perform to my level of expectation or how I have during the past. In the past, during my sprint (sport) off-road triathlons, I could get away with some of that nonsense and still fair pretty good in the competition. Now that I am doing longer distances as part of the points series, that has to come to a stop.

My next race is this Sunday at the Xterra Uwharrie. I look forward to the race with enthusiasm and vigor.

Drop me a comment to wish me luck or to throw some advice my way. I'll glady accept either. :-)

First Xterra of the Season about a week away

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:42:58 GMT

Xterra Fort Yargo is a week away (April 26th) and I'm very excited about the first race of the season.

Tomorrow, I'm heading up to Uwharrie to pre-ride and pre-run the course that will be used for the May 4th Xterra Uwharrie. It'll be my last long ride and run as I will begin to taper my training. This will allow optimum recovery before the race.

See you on the trails!

Marcus

Run Your First 50k Without Bothering With a Marath...

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:11:46 GMT

As my buddy, Tim Long, starts to pull away at mile 27, I look over my shoulder and see no one in sight. I begin to wonder how and if I am going to finish this race. It seems that as long as I keep going, I’ll be in at least 5th place. That is, of course, if I can keep going. How did I get here? Why did I sign up for this? The mind games begin.

So let’s exam just how I did get here.

Just two weeks ago, I ran my longest race ever: a 14 mile trail race. It was a tough race and I came in 23rd overall out of about 200 people, finishing the race at 1 hour and 45 minutes (1:45). The course was beautiful, the people were great and I was content with it being the maximum distance to which I would personally compete for quite some time.

Four days later, I became horribly sick and it seemed to last forever. But by Monday afternoon, after being sick for 4 solid days, I finally felt good enough to resume normal activities and began planning my Tuesday return to work. Even though I was still very stopped up at work on Tuesday, I felt 1000% better than I did over the weekend.

It was 4 days before the ultra marathon when Tim began his cunning and well calculated plan of enticing me with text messages. They arrived in the form of a barrage of compliments, suggestions, motivation, inspirations, and rationale as to why I should run the 50K race with him. After about a half dozen messages flying back and forth, he gave up the pursuit. However, Tim is a sly species. The seed had been planted. His work was done until it was time to harvest.

It’s the day before the race and Tim was back with round 2 of the “Ultramarathon” text messaging campaign. I had been thinking about it all week and he was wearing me down. But I wasn’t going to admit to it, especially since I was also thinking about alternate activities for the weekend. . I hadn’t done much more than think about how it seemed impossible to run that far. I hadn’t properly prepared or trained for it. However, he assured me that I could do it. He said it would be hard, but not impossible. I responded with how stupid I thought it would be to attempt such a thing without any upfront training. I didn’t give him an answer.

Later that night, I talked it over with my wife, Alba, and we went over all the pros and cons. After all the debate, she suggested that I give it a try, but that if I didn’t finish, the attempt would still be an accomplishment. My decision was made and I sent Tim a text message to give him the good news. It was 8:30 pm the night before the race.

Race day. Its 4:30 am, three hours prior to race start, and the alarm goes off. Time to eat. I hydrated well the night before and I was just as eager to get to the bathroom as the dog was to go outside. . I ate breakfast and began my ritual of getting all of my stuff together. However, something was different. I wasn’t feeling as confident and excited as I normally did before a race. I felt dreadfully unprepared, even though I had everything I needed.

Since I had time to spare, I hopped on the laptop and started working out some calculations and ran into a slight problem; the pace calculator I was using only calculated up to a marathon distance (26.2 miles), not an Ultra. According to the calculator, I should be able to do a marathon by running an average pace of 7:30. I knew there’d be no way I would be able to sustain that without any training. With a little more searching, I dug up the times from previous races on the same course and finally settled on 8:30 as a goal pace. That would put me at the finish line well under 4.5 hours. After finishing up on the laptop, I gave Alba a kiss and she warned me to be careful and not to overdo it.

The weather was cloudy and cold, around 45 degrees. Standing there at the start line in my long sleeve shirt, tights and beanie, I guzzled down some of the water to wash down two electrolyte capsules. I was carrying two water bottles, one with water and the other with an energy drink. In my back pocket, I have 4 energy gels. After a quick announcement from the race director, we’re off and running. Tim and I settle into a comfortable 8:30 pace.

The first few miles were cheerful with lots of banter. At the first water stop, he realized that in his rush, the only food source he had was a granola bar and I realized that in my rush, I forgot my watch. I agreed to share my energy gels and he agreed to keep track of our time.

Everything continued as planned, complete with a 3 minute power-walk break after the first hour of running. At mile 13, the first aches and pains began for the both of us. Tim complained about pain on the top of one his feet and the outside of my left knee began to ache. It wasn’t long before they seemed to just go away. We knew they would be back, but at the time, as long as it was bearable, we didn’t care. As we approached mile 15, we both passed the guy in third place. I’m feeling great emotionally as we seem to be doing outstanding even though my knee was hurting off and on.

Just before the 16 mile point, we came upon another water stop and grabbed a cupful of energy drink. As we walked away, stretching, Tim commented on how great it feels to stop for a few seconds to which I agreed. We rushed out of the water stop to prevent the guy we had recently passed from passing us back. This was short lived as I begin to feel a hotspot on my left heel. Rather than run through it and deal with the impending blister, I stopped to retie my shoes a bit tighter. While retying my shoes, the guy passes us. No problem, I thought, I knew we could overtake him again with no problem. And we did.

Once again, that small victory would be short lived as I realized that I tied my laces too tight. So we stopped so that I could loosen them, meanwhile getting passed… again. After another short stint of running, they’re still too tight, so we stopped yet again, allowing the 3rd place guy to increase his distance between us. It wasn’t long before we caught back up to him and Tim suggested that we simply hold back until the last couple of miles before we attempt another pass. The constant mental ups and downs were taking a toll on both of us.

Mile 23. The aches increased and the knee pain had returned. My legs just weren’t working as well as they normally did, but at least they were still working. I suggested another 3 minute power walk even though it means Mr. 3rd place would gain an even stronger lead on us. I was just as tired of holding Tim back as I am sure he was of being held back. If he wouldn’t have stayed with me, he probably could have won the race. I told him to go on ahead, but he insisted on sticking with me. He could see that I was hurting more and we began to hatch out a plan. We agreed that he would stick with me until after the normal marathon distance of 26.2 miles and at mile 27, he’d pick up his pace and I’d continue to keep trucking along the best that I could. Tim knows I need stats to keep me preoccupied, so he handed me his watch.

For the next couple of miles, my condition began to worsen. My legs seem to be cramping from what I believed was not only exhaustion, but a lack of electrolytes. I realized that the capsules I had been lugging all day were in the pouch attached to my water bottle. The problem? I had passed it off to our trusty water stop lady to be refilled and returned at the next encounter. We realized that we hadn’t seen her in a while and I began to wonder if she’d gotten committed to helping a hurt runner. With each pounding cramp, I began to get more and more nervous. Deep down, I knew the electrolyte capsules wouldn’t be an immediate fix if at all. However, at that point, I would have taken anything that would have mentally distracted me from the pain, even if it didn’t do anything physically. Someone could have handed me a placebo, told me they were electrolyte tablets and I would have believed they helped. No sooner did these thoughts start running through my head that we saw the water stop lady driving towards us. She had stopped for the guy in 3rd place who appeared to be having trouble getting up a hill. He was walking about ¾ of a mile ahead of us. She handed my water bottle thru the window and asked how we’re doing. We walked briefly as I quickly downed the two capsules and guzzled some water; then we we’re off running again.

As we passed the 26.2 mile mark, Tim congratulated me that I had just ran my first marathon in under 4 hours. Only 5 more miles to go. Less than two 5Ks. No problem. We stopped at the next water stop which was manned by a gentleman who helped us with a glass of energy drink. He informed Tim that the guy in 3rd place, although already almost a mile ahead of us, was really hurting and that he seemed to have fallen apart in the past couple of miles. “Kind of sounds like me,” I reply. Knowing that he could overcome the third place guy, Tim now had the motivation he needed. I, on the other hand, knew that there was no way I could have increased my pace.

So back to where this article begins. At mile 27, Tim asked me the time and began to pull away, mentally crunching the numbers as to how he would commence his assault. In no time he was out of sight among the hills and curves. I looked over my shoulder and realized I’m securely in 5th place (later I would find out I was not correct in my placement). Just had to keep moving. Sounds simple, but it was anything except simple. As I began to play the mental battle with myself, I constantly reminded myself of my wife, Alba. She has multiple sclerosis. If she can brave the daily mental and physical pains, then I could tough the remainder of the race out. She’s a constant reminder that no matter how bad my races get, that I have to continue. My pain will subside shortly after the race. Hers won’t.

I continued on with some of the worst runner’s form I think is possible. My head was down and my eyes squinted from the pain. I felt as if I was running like the hunchback from Notre Dame. As I approached mile 28, the pit stop girl passed me from behind and pulled over. “Need anything?” she asked. As I shook my head no, she continued, “Water? Gatorade? Pretzels?” My ears perked, eyes lit up and my slouch went away. The pretzels were a welcomed addition to the run, as I had prematurely ran out of energy gels since I shared one with Tim. “Ohhhh, pretzels... I’ll definitely take some of those,” I answer. She gave me a handful and I kept on running, which at this point had become a little more than a shuffle. The only difference between my shuffle and power walking was the fact that both my feet were off the ground at some point during my stride.

Between the cold air and the level of my breathing, it was impossible to breathe through my nose. This made eating the pretzels particularly difficult. I popped in almost the entire handful at once. That was a big mistake. Not only did the pretzels remove what little bit of moisture I had in my mouth, but I accidently inhaled a small piece of pretzel. When this happened, I immediately began to cough, producing small clouds of pretzel dust in front of me. Looking like a steam locomotive, I quickly chugged a mouthful of water and washed the pretzel paste down. After the pretzel incident, I came upon a small hill and decided to walk a bit. The small bit turned into almost half of a mile. Between gagging on the pretzels and my entire lower body hurting, it was a welcomed break.

Looking down at Tim’s watch, I could see that I had already busted my goal of 4.5 hours, so it was time to set a new goal. As long as I kept running, I knew I should be able to make it in less than 5 hours. Running was harder than ever. With each step, I would give out a small grunt as I winced in pain. I muffled them at mile 30 when once again, the pit stop lady showed up. She hopped out of her car and asked if I need anything. At first, I shook my head no. Passing her car, I said, “Yeah, I could use something.” As she looked up to see what I needed, I continued, “… a ride.” She grinned and shook her head no. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Previously, I had made the mental commitment that I would run the last mile no matter how badly it hurt. However, just after passing the pit stop lady at the 30 mile mark, I came upon a small hill, where once again, I chose to walk a bit more. But it needed to be a short break. What if Alba was at the end and saw me walking. I had to be brave like her and run. About that time, I saw Tim. He was about a half mile ahead of me and waving his arms. He had already finished and had walked back to greet me. As I started running again, the pain was horrible. I began my step-grunt-step-grunt pattern again. Once I got to him, he began to run with me telling me that the end was only about 4 mailboxes ahead. “Run up the driveway. At the end of the parking area, you’ll see the finish line,” he stated. As I looked down at Tim’s watch, I realized I needed to pick up the pace to be sure and finish under 5 hours. “Got it,” I replied, acknowledging his logistics. I pulled away from him, pouring on everything I had to pick up my pace. When I looked up from Tim’s watch, I saw Alba standing there cheering me home. I was SO happy to see her and sorely needed the additional motivation she was providing. After I finish at 4:55, (and in 4th place!!) she and I walked for a bit. Well, she walked and I limped.

After the race, we sat around for a spell and partook of the post race food. Tim and I chatted for a while about the highlights of the race. He seemed to be more excited than me that I finished the race. Of course, the only emotion I could show was pain. My legs were cramping and both my knees felt like they could lock up at any second.

The ride home was grueling. I had driven there in my truck which is a 5 speed, manual transmission. Pressing the clutch to shift gears was no fun when your legs feel like mine did. But we made it home in one piece.

After taking a heavenly shower, I did some quick stretching and resigned to the couch where I began icing my knees. I began to reflect on the day’s events and lessons learned. Rather than lose the thoughts I started to write them down. They included:

Never run a race without properly training for it. This includes a gradually increasing weekly mileage leading up to race day with one long day on the weekend. The long day should also gradually increase in distance. Finally, the training should begin to taper a week or two before race day
Do not do any heavy strength training the week of race day that includes lower body. I had performed a lower body workout on Tuesday.
Do not perform any heavy lower body cardio the week of race day. My mistake was going mountain bike riding (a hard ride) on Thursday.
Hydrate well the week of the race.
Gradually increase your carbohydrates the week of the race. This will make sure your glycogen stores are at their peak on race day (your primary source of fuel).
Some folks don’t have any problems eating solid foods while racing. Personally, I’d be seeing that food twice if I ate it during the race. Therefore, I eat my last major meal 3 hours prior to race start to ensure it’s had plenty of time to digest.
Have extra sources of food on hand during the race. If I had a few extra energy gels, I could have loaned some out without sacrificing my own.
Drink both water and an energy/electrolyte drink throughout the duration of your race. Not one or the other…both. Too much of one or the other will wreak negative effects on your body. On excessively hot days, drink more electrolytes. I personally use electrolyte capsules to supplement my liquid sources. That way I can just concentrate on drinking 50/50 (water/electrolyte,energy drink).
Eat a recovery meal immediately following the race. It should consist of (as closely as possible) 4 parts carbohydrates to 1 part protein. Another recovery meal should be consumed again within two hours of the end of the race. There are numerous recovery drinks out there with this 4:1 ratio that work great.
Continue to hydrate after the race. Your body needs water to assist in repair. I continue hydrating well into the day after the race.

As I am writing the list in my head, I had been laying on the couch with my legs propped up and outstretched. After a while, I decided to lift one of my legs, bending it at the knee. All of the muscles and tendons that had been laying there stretched began to crumple as they became relaxed. Everything immediately cramps up completely causing me to yelp out in pain. Alba comes over and asks how she can help. We both start rubbing out the cramp which seems to go the entire length of my leg. After about 5 minutes, it begins to subside.

So you may be asking yourself, “If he’s in so much pain, will he ever do one of these again?” As I lay here icing both knees, writing this article, I too ask myself that question. However, after about 30 seconds, that question gets overshadowed by another: Which is harder: a road 50K or a trail 50K? I guess I’ll have to run one on the trail to find out.

14 Mile Trail Run

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:41:57 GMT

Race report

14 miles
Approx 300 runners
Moderate trail difficulty
Couple of really rocky, technical spots
Finished 1:45:22
7:33 average pace
6th in my age group
Very close race.. 2nd and 3rd in my age group fineshed 1 minute ahead of me :-(

I fell twice (no injuries). If you do the calculation, the amount of time i lost with falling, i probably could have placed. :-(

As for the race, it was an awesome course and the most well organized race i've ran. The entire course was well marked, complete with mile markers. Plenty of volunteers, paramedics, and firemen. Waterstops were abound.

I'm definately going back next year.

http://www.runattherock.com

Last Minute Cancellation turns into 3rd place fini...

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:12:30 GMT

At 8pm on Friday, an email was sent out from the staff at the US National Whitewater Center stating that they were canceling the 10 Mile Trail Run due to rain.

I can understand their reason.... they want to preserve the trail and racing on a muddy trail ends up in some big-time erosion..

Oh well... So I'm sitting at my computer, mouth gaping open, as I have put in time and effort to prepare for this race. Matter of fact, I had *just* completed getting my gear all together in prep.

So I begin to scramble to find another race to be held on Saturday, as I cannot let my sponsors down. I had scheduled to race and to represent... so shall it be.

The best I could find was the Goody Goes Global 5k. Although I was really wanting a trail race and something with a bit more distance, this was the only thing even remotely close. So I decide to race it. Besides it was for a good cause.

The group was small (a little over 50 runners) and the course was hilly. The hills were moderate for the first 2 miles. The last mile was ran through a park. The side walks were very curvy (almost switchbacks in spots). The hills were a bit more steep as well. The sidewalks and bridges were wet. I slipped on one bridge. I caught myself but lost my Spy Optic Scoop HS glasses as they tumbled off the bridge and into the creek bed. Time for a new pair.

I finished 3rd overall with a time of 20:17 (6:32 pace)(results). Pretty good finish considering I had been training for an endurance run, not a 3 mile sprint. Phtotos coming soon!

Special thanks goes to my sponsors whose gear helped me in this race

4th Place Overall

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:53:53 GMT

It was a beautiful day for a 7-mile trail race. It was a great, fast trail (Lake Norman as always) with a few "sleeper" hills that aren't terribly steep, but seem to go on forever.

I kept a decent pace and was doing very well. With about a mile and half left, I had secured, I started to hatch a plan on taking over third. The guy in third seemed to be running a fairly steady pace, but had slowed ever so slightly. I figured I would hold back until the last 100 yards or so at which time I would pour it on. By the time he would realize he was being passed, he wouldn't have the time ot the ability to catch up.

Once I had my plan all figured out, my left quad began to cramp. I tried to run thru it but had to stop for 10-15 seconds to work it out. By the time I resumed running, third place had a significant lead on me. :-(

I finished 4th overall and 1st place in my age group at just a little over 42 minutes.

Results can be viewed at:http://www.sharksbite.com/apply1_files/STEAMER07.HTM.

Updates

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:14:02 GMT

Sorry I've neglected my blog. After Xterra Southeast, I took some needed time off. I'm sitting here gathering together my gear for the Summer Steamer 10k I'll be racing in tomorrow. It's actually a 7 mile trail race. It's supposed to be BEAUTIFUL weather tomorrow and I'm stoked.

I have a NEW SPONSOR!!!

Would like to send out a big welcome to Crank Brothers!

Some of you have asked about some of my gear and things I use in my offroad triathlons, well, here's two of them:

I personally use the Candy SL pedals:

http://www.crankbrothers.com/candy_sl.php

These pedals are AWESOME at shedding mud when your ride goes on the dirty side. When doing Xterra triathlons, nothing beats them for their durability and mud shedding design.

Also, packed away in my seat bag is a multi-17 tool:

http://www.crankbrothers.com/multi17.php

When you want a to carry the maximum ability, in the lightest weight possible, reach for one of the Crank Brothers multi-tools.

If you haven't already, stop by and check out the awesome line of Crank Brothers pedals, cranks, tools & more!!!

-Marcus

www.SpeedyLizard.com

Xterra Pelham (Southeast)

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:05:56 GMT

Great race!!!

Finished 9th Overall (out of 73 athletes) and 2nd in my agegroup!!

Check out the pics in the photo album...

You can also find more pictures here: http://www.speedylizard.com/gallery/albums/30.aspx

For the official results visit: http://www.xterraplanet.com/races/view_results.cfm?race_id=541

Xterra about a week away

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 20:49:50 GMT

So training for the Xterra Southeast has not be going as well as I have wanted. Work has been super busy and I just can't seem to get my training time in. I'm still looking forward to the event as it is going to be a blast.

I'll keep you posted with results, pics and more!! Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the photos from my last Xterra!

3rd Place Overall: Uwharrie Xterra Triathlon (Spor...

Wed, 09 May 2007 10:50:01 GMT

Race: Xterra Uwharrie Triathlon (Sprint)
Distances: 500m Swim, 12k Mtn Bike, 5k trail run (more about these later)
My Place: 3rd Overall
Pictures at: http://www.speedylizard.com/gallery/albums/28.aspx
Results posted at: http://www.racescapes.com/results.asp

Weather: The day started off kind of rainy. It appeared that it was going to be a fairly crappy day. However by the time race started, the rain stopped, clouds went away and the sun came out.

Race Snafus: The bike course ended up to be 12 miles instead of 12k. This was confirmed by the timing staff and numerous guys with speedos on their bikes. Not sure if the people who set the course up just goofed, thought 1k = 1m or if there was a communication problem, “Yeah, Bubba, the course needs to be 12k.” “Ok, 12 miles it is.” Personally, I think t the 5k run was a 5 mile run as well. The guy who came in first took over 35 minutes to do the 5k.

Swim:
Triangular course with an in-water start. Water temp: 67 degrees. Between the high winds and all the fishing boats speeding by, there was quite a bit of “surf”. Personally, I had a few “issues” with the swim as this is only the second time I’ve done an open water swim. First, because of a late race briefing, I had no time to warm up. I spent any potential warmup time fighting with my right goggle trying to get it to seal. After turning around the second buoy, we’re supposed to head for shore. My goggles were completely fogged over and the sun was staring us right in the face. The only way I made it to shore was to follow everyone else. Near shore, my knee hit a basketball-size rock. It was more of a brush, but scared me. It could have been much worse. I stood up but realized I was still too far from the exit, so I went back to swimming. I was in 18th position coming out of the water. ?

Personal improvements needed: Don’t forget to get anti-fog for the goggles. Need to work on sighting. Need to work on not starting too fast.

Transition 1:
I took the race directors recommendation to wear aqua shoes. It was a bit awkward in the water and may have even slowed me down a little. However, I passed numerous people on the 75 yard run from the water to transition while they tiptoed through the rocks and debris. My transition was very well organized, but I still need to work on what I need to do in what order. Getting out of the full wetsuit and getting into my shoes was a breeze. I had trouble getting my shirt on. Should have toweled off a little first. I leave transition forgetting my shades (proved not to be a problem).

Personal improvements needed: Wear the tri-top under the wetsuit. It cost me valuable time putting it on.

Bike:
Bike course is laid out in a “lollipop” fashion. Out of transition, we had to ride for a mile or so on slag gravel road. As always it’s an uphill out of transition and the road consisted of several ups and downs. Since there are no mountain bike trails, we’re riding on horse trails.

Once we dive onto the trail, it would prove to be a preview of things to come. A long uphill rock garden. For that matter, about 75-80% of the course *is* a rock garden (think the very beginning of Goat Hill at USNWC or the first small uphill right after you leave the bowl at Anne Springs). If it wasn’t rocky, it was muddy. If it wasn’t rocky or muddy, it was both. There were 5 hills that were not climbable. Everyone I talked to did it on foot. One hill in particular Tod warned me about. It was all rock and almost straight up. I just thought he was exaggerating. Once I arrive to it, I immediately knew which one it was. I would be surprised to see a horse climb it without trouble. There was another hill that seemed to go on forever.

The horses also seemed to do an excellent job at creating these two foot wide by two foot deep ravines. There’s no way to ride on one side or the other of the ravine, so you’re stuck in this groove.

Numerous large logs that you can’t really jump or ride over. Four or five very rocky creek crossings ranging from 6 inches to a foot deep.

My bike gave me numerous problems once I shifted into the lower gears. It kept skipping. I was so frustrated that when it came time for me to hit the downhills, I just went for it. It’s amazing how speed can carry you over a rocky terrain.

At one point, the course dumped us back out onto a blacktop road for a mile or two. We finish up the bike course by returning down the same slag rock road back to transition. All-in-all, I passed quite a few people on the bike. Several of them while they were walking their bike up a hill (and I ran mine).

Personal improvements needed: Get the bike checked. Shifting into the low gears sucked. Also make sure the rebound on the shocks are set correctly. Don't forget the speedo and move "Sharkie" over so you can attempt to get into an aero position on any road sections. Practice climbing hills with the bike over the shoulder. Carry fuel on the bike. Consume plenty of water while on the bike to hydrate for the run.

Transition 2:
About a mile into the bike ride, I realize that I took my timing chip off in order to get the swimsuit off. And I left it in transition. So priority one was to dismount and get the chip to scan it at the transition entrance. I yelled it to the race marshal and she said it was ok. Other than that, transition went very smoothly. I came out of transition in 8th place.

Personal improvements needed: Practice dismounts. Have additional fuel ready to be grabbed for the run.

Run:
The course was a lot of fun. We think that they made the same mistake with the run as it seemed more like 5 miles than 5k. It ran around the lakes edge for the most part with some gravel road running. There were numerous large trees that you had to climb over and two that you had to literally crawl under. Some steep rocky climbs and challenging hills. There were two sections that I found particularly interesting. First, there was a really steep climb that had lots of overgrowth. At first I thought I had turned off of the course route, but I hadn’t. The second was about 100 feet or so of *solid* rock that was slanted towards the lake (with a dropoff). That would not have been fun to run over when wet. My quads were cramping quite a bit, but I ran through it.

Personal improvements needed: Run faster. ;-).

I finished third. :-)

Just Walked 50 Miles

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:21:25 GMT

To help raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Check out http://www.TeamTC.org for photos and blogs..

I need your help!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:25:57 GMT

The number of people living with multiple sclerosis increases every hour of every day. This astonishing rate is not going to slow down, let alone stop, until we've found a cure. Research has made some incredible advances recently, but the world can still only offer disease management drugs and therapies to the 400,000 people living with MS in America.

I will be walking 50 miles to raise money for the National MS Society. Please donate a flat amount of money to help. NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL.

This event is a challenge - and an opportunity - for everyone involved, participants and donors alike. With commitment to this cause, we can all be part of a historic undertaking. The funds raised from the MS Challenge Walk will not only support research for a cure, but also provide programs which address the needs of hundreds of thousands of people living with MS right now.

These programs have directly benefited my family and friends, so we know the intense value of having them around.

IF YOU CHOOSE TO SPONSOR ME FOR NO OTHER REASON, do so because we choose to walk for those who sometimes can't.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE FOR MY WALK.

2nd Place Overall !

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:15:43 GMT

Leprechaun Leap 5k
Clover, SC
3/17/2007
2nd Place Overall
Time: 17:58
Pace: 5:47

Photos from the event posted.

Intense Tire's System 4

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:51:03 GMT

The System 4 tires from Intense Tire are awesome. What a great tire. Shortly after installing the tires, I rode the Lake Norman State Park trail in North Carolina. This trail is not very technical but is a very fast trail with its long sweeping corners.

This provided a great opportunity to try out the speed of these tires. They were very fast on the long downhills and did an outstanding job grabbing the corners. On the uphill climbs, they dug in well and provided plenty of traction.

Next, to try the tires on a more technical course. :-)

Stay tuned.

Don't you just love new gear?

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 20:26:47 GMT

Just got two of these in the mail today! I'll be installing them on the bike tomorrow.

Welcome Sock Guy!

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:13:16 GMT

I am very excited about the new sponsorship by Sock Guy. I've used their products for years and have ALWAYS been very pleased with their gear.

My favorites are all in the Channel-Air(tm) socks which are designed with 5 channels of padded cushioning and 4 channels of mesh for increased air flow. They have the right cushioning where needed, but plenty of air flow everywhere else.

In particular, I like the low-cut white or black.
http://www.sockguy.com/boston-low.html

Even though they are lower cut than the traditional Sock Guy design, you can still get some cool designs if desired. Here's an example:
http://www.sockguy.com/CHLCTRI.html

Fiber Q&A

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:56:53 GMT

Q: What's the difference between insoluble and soluble fiber, and how much do I need of each?

A: Insoluble fiber swells when introduced to water (think sponge). Once it's bulked up in your intestines, it pushes waste material through, easing constipation and reducing the likeliness of hemorrhoids, colon cancer, and diverticulitis (an inflammation condition of the large intestine). Soluble fiber, on the other hand, dissolves in water, forming a gel that binds cholesterol in your intestinal tract, which, in turn, lowers blood-cholesterol levels and heart disease risk and steadies blood -sugar levels to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.

For optimal health, you need a balanced mix of both kinds of fiber: 38 grams total daily for men, 25 grams for women. Good sources of insoluble fiber include whole-grain breads, bran cereal, and vegetables complete with their skins. For top sources of soluble fiber, reach for fruits, beans (garbanzo, lentils, and pinto), and oats. (Article Source).

If you like pasta, you can also get both types of fiber from FiberWise pasta. Three of thier products (Spagetti, Elbows and Spirals) all come with 4g of soluble and 8g of insoluble fiber per serving.