Yetifunk

Monday:
4 sets of each:
Kettlebell (KB) deadlift
KB Squat Pull
KB two hand swing
KB Single Press
KB Figure 8

Tuesday:
4 mile run at easy pace.

Wednesday:
Hill repeats. 1 minute at 5% incline followed by 30 seconds at 0%. Repeat 10 times.

Thursday:
4 sets of each:
Kettlebell (KB) deadlift
KB Squat Pull
KB two hand swing
KB Single Press
KB Figure 8

Easy 4 mile run.

Friday:
Easy 4 mile run.

Saturday:
5k race at 9AM
10kt race at 10AM.

Sunday:
Easy 9 mile run.

admin Training

The race

The race started at 7Am on Monday morning, 1 February. I parked my car, pulled out my sled and hooked up the harness before walking into the ice rink to check in. After checking in I put on my Yaktraks, a metal/rubber contraption to put over your shoes in order to provide traction on ice and snow. Someone started yelling for us to get to the starting line so I put on my gloves, walked to my car, hooked into my sled and moved to the starting line. The mountain bikers moved to the front, skiers pulled in behind the bikers, and the foot competitors settled in to the back of the pack.

About 5 minutes after 7AM someone yelled “Come on, let’s go”. I don’t know if that was the start signal or a cold racer but the bikers started moving . I waited for a few minutes while the skiers began gliding down the trail and then I started walking. I shuffled for a few minutes trying to get warm. The thermometer was reading negative 21 degrees and my breath was causing ice to form on my face. After a few minutes everything but my feet was warm.

I was pulling a 40 pound sled that had all of my survival gear and enough food to eat on the trail. I also carried 2 thermoses with hot water and I wore a camelback underneath my fleece to keep the water from freezing. The trail was an old railroad bed and was flat. I kept to a fast walk, keeping with my pre-race plan of going slow and steady for the full sixty hours.

At about 10AM I made it to the turnout on to the Arrowhead trail, turned east off the railroad bed onto the trail and kept hiking. I was feeling pretty good and kept drinking water and eating Gorp every few minutes. Traveling in cold weather is more a heat regulation exercise than anything else. Provide water and food to fuel the body, remove/add layers to prevent sweat. Cold? Add a layer. Check your base layer. Is it damp? Remove a layer. You removed a layer and now your hands are cold. Put on the heavier gloves. Getting cold again. Have you been drinking enough water?

Four hours in and I made it to the 18 mile mark. I stopped, dropped a layer refilled the camelback and spent about 10 minutes just eating. A few minutes later I started moving again. About 2 hours later I heard someone yell my name. It was Tim Bowers, a runner from Minnesota I had met the night before at the pre-race pasta dinner. He was walking with Bill Bradley, a well known endurance athlete out of Santa Rosa, California. His motto is “Show up and suffer.” He isn’t an elite athlete in terms of speed but he gets it done through sheer guts. We had formulated a plan to keep a slow steady pace, sleep at midnight, and optimize for finishing in under 60 hours, not for finishing fast. The course was flat and we continued to make good time.

The course started to get slightly hilly and the sun started to go down. We met up with a few other runners including a Samoan who was using a child’s stroller on skis as his sled and was making good time. A snowmobiler told us the checkpoint was about 4 miles out and we picked up the pace a bit. After 4 miles we were starting to get nervous. Two miles later we found the turnoff for the checkpoint. There is nothing worse than a bad distance for a runner.

I parked the sled, grabbed my empty thermos and headed into the checkpoint/general store, mile 36 of the race. I bought a can of pringles, bean dip, hot chocolate, 3 snickers, and a slice of pizza and ate all but one snickers in a half hour. I shoved the snickers in my pocket for later and then filled up my camelback and my thermos with hot water. Tim had a really big blister he was getting patched on his heel. We stayed a bit longer than planned and ended up not leaving the checkpoint until 9PM. The temperature was dropping fast and I added a 300 gram fleece.

Tim and I started down the trail. Bill decided to get some sleep before going on and stayed at the checkpoint. The temperature continued to drop and I realized I couldn’t feel my nose. I pulled on a balaclava to protect my nose but this began to cause another problem. The face mask caused my breath to come up in front of my face. The temperature was about 15 below so the moisture in my breath began to freeze onto my glasses. I finally took off my glasses so I could at least see somewhat. Now I had another problem. My breath was freezing on my eyelashes. My eyelashes continued to get heavier and heavier. I finally had to take the balaclava off my nose, remove my glove and use the heat from my bare fingers to warm my eyelids and melt the ice on my eyelashes. Then I would shove my hands into gloves to warm them. A few minutes later my nose would get cold so I would pull up the balaclava and restart the cycle.

The trail continued to get rougher and I was losing steam. Tim was in better shape then me (he runs two marathons a month) and he was forced to continually wait for me. At around 11:45 we decided to sleep for a while and pulled off the trail. We tried to pack down the snow but it was so cold that we couldn’t pack it down. We finally rolled out our sleeping bags and climbed in fully clothed. This is when I realized that I am too big for my sleeping bag when I wear my shoes. I could either keep my legs bent and stay warm or straighten my legs which popped my head out of the bag and freeze. I played this game for about 3 hours, waking up once when a volunteer on a snowmobile stopped to make sure we were ok. At 3:30 AM we woke up and continued walking.

At 6AM I started falling asleep on my feet. I would suddenly wake up standing still in the middle of the trail with no idea how long I had been standing there. The cold weather, long distance and heavy load was taking its toll. Tim was often a long way ahead. He could see how bad I was struggling and suggested that we stop for a quick nap. We slept for about 40 minutes and then got up and continued walking. The temperature began to warm up as the sun rose in the sky but I couldn’t seem to shake the lows. At 11AM (28 hours into the race) something switched on and I went back to my normal ultra pace and started eating up the miles. The hills were still bad but I was starting to feel slightly better.

My long time in a funk took its toll though. It was now halfway through the day and we weren’t at the halfway point yet. Tim and I started talking about strategy for when we got to checkpoint 2, Melgeorges resort. We figured that we could take 30 minutes and keep trucking with the potential to hit at least 100 miles before 60 hours. I was tired but other than that felt ok so I thought this was feasible. The last 5 hours to checkpoint two seemed to take forever even though I was finally able to put down a decent pace. Tim and I split up as he moved ahead. I kept talking myself into running for 5 minutes, 2 minutes, until I made it to that tree over there. Anything I could do to try and drive the pace towards 4 miles per hour.

A snowmobile volunteer stopped to check on me. I asked him how far to the checkpoint and he said 2.5 miles including 1 mile across Elephant Lake. I thanked him as he drove off. Fifteen yards later I passed a sign for Melgeorges. 2 Miles! Woohooo! My pace picked up again and 10 minutes later I made it to the lake and started across. The wind was cold and it was getting dark. I was hungry and my camelback was empty. I didn’t care. On the other side of this lake was the checkpoint.

At 4:30 PM I walked into the hut that was checkpoint two, 72 miles into the race. Tim was sitting there eating grilled cheese and soup, getting ready to head back out. The next 45 miles were supposed to be the hardest miles on the course. I would love to say I was ready to go and got robbed by the cutoff but the truth is I was pretty close to exhausted. Of course, there is no published cutoff and there is an ultra axiom,”just keep moving, you can always feel better”. It was obvious that Tim was pretty upset when they told him he couldn’t go on. I felt for him. I was struggling but he looked good. He had planned his time to get in around this time and just keep trucking and I really think he could have done it. On the flip side, I get that you are putting volunteers at uneccesary risk by asking them to patrol long stretches of trail for one runner who probably won’t make the final cutoff.

Everyone left the cabin except for Tim, me and Joy (the volunteer in charge of that checkpoint). We decided to wait up for Bill who had refused a ride to the cabin even though he was 13 miles out at 3PM. We sat around eating and warming up. We got worried when Bill hadn’t shown up by 9PM. At 10:30 I told Tim I was going to bed but to wake me up if Bill didn’t show and we needed to go look for him. I woke up at 12:30 AM to Bill’s laugh. He had arrived at the resort around 9PM but thought that the restaurant was the checkpoint. The restaurant was closed so he figured everyone had left, rolled out his sleeping bag in the parking lot and went to sleep. Tim found him at 12:30 and showed him where the cabin was. We told lies while eating more for a couple of hours and then racked out.

At the end of the day I covered 72 miles in temperatures varying from plus 10 to minus 21 degrees pulling a 40 pound sled in 34 hours. I made it to the second checkpoint under my own power and did not need a rescue. I did not finish the race.

Is ultra-marathon the right word?

Is Arrowhead really an ultra-marathon? For those of you who have read my previous posts you know I get sick of the ultra scene sometimes. Aid stations. Hundreds of people all over a trail. Safety net on safety net. Arrowhead has none of these. There are three checkpoints. All are at least 35 miles apart. In most ultras you carry a water bottle. At Arrowhead you carry everything you need for 3 days outside. Those who don’t know how to use what they carry often suffer severe medical penalties. Quite frankly, Arrowhead is something different but I liked it…and it beat me down.

What went wrong?

I would love to say the weather was horrible. Unfortunately, while conditions were harsh they were actually better than last year. I would love to say I got injured. I have some pretty nasty blisters but nothing that would prevent me from finishing. Did I have the wrong gear? I actually had more experience in those types of conditions than many of the people in that race and had the right gear for the job. Yeah, I could make improvements but nothing in my gear prevented me from finishing. Bottom line, my training wasn’t where it needed to be.

What I’ll do different next year

Training:

I liked the idea that Tim had of just doing lots of marathons as training runs. This should give you a solid base of endurance while getting you out to visit different parts of the country. I think I need to take it one step further though and do some of these races (and potentially 50 milers) wearing a pack and carrying weight, or dragging a tire. If I had been in better shape I would have finished. Don’t get me wrong, I think this race is harder than Leadville, but that doesn’t change the root cause of my failure. It is a totally different ball game when you are dragging 40 pounds. I went 100 miles in 29 hours at Leadville. Dragging a sled in cold weather I went 72 miles in 34 hours (30 hours if you remove the time spent sleeping). I obviously need to up my game.

Gear:

If the weather had dropped to negative 40 (as it has in the past) my feet would have had problems. In fact, with the shoes I was wearing I would have had to drop or deal with frostbite. Tim had mukluks which he said worked well and were rated to negative 40. This is especially important as I struggled with horrible blisters on my heals that were caused by swelling in my feet. Tim had similar blisters but was able to switch to the mukluks and walk naturally. I had to change my gait to walk with blisters in running shoes. I will be bringing a pair of mukluks next year.

I brought too much fuel. The rules stated that I needed to finish with a minimum of 8 oz of fuel. I brought the minimum required plus 12 oz for melting snow. The checkpoints are close enough that 2 thermoses will get you through. Don’t bring extra fuel.

The sled I brought is perfect for variable conditions. However, the trail was well packed. A sled with runners will produce less friction and reduce the amount of work needed to pull it. I will build my own sled for next year using old skis as runners.

Would I do it again?

I think I have to. I’m pretty confident I can finish any standard ultra at this point barring injury. This race is something different though. I can’t stop until I make it across that finish line. Pierre, the race director (and race founder) gave me a ride back to my car this morning. I spoke with him briefly before leaving, thanking him for such a great event. As he shook my hand he said “Don’t worry, most people try more than once before making it.” That is what’s great about events like this. No one asks you why you would try something like this. They understand that you are pushing your limits and sometimes that means failure. Not really though, its only failure if you quit trying. I guess I should plan on some vacation in February next year. I have a race to finish.

admin Races, Trip Report

Well, its the day before the race. I don’t feel ready but I’m here and I’ll be eating up the miles tomorrow.

Getting up here was not easy. I hit a pothole doing 70 mph and bent the rim on one of my wheels. The only dealership in the rural part of Minnesota I was in at the time does not stock Subaru parts. So I decided to try and just keep inflating the tire every few hours. It got me up here but the tire died this morning. So I’m now riding on a donut and almost froze while changing the tire. To make matters worse a bottle of febreeze exploded in my car so my goggles stank.

Passed the gear check this morning after finding some reflective tape I pinned to my jacket. I’ll be carrying about 25 lbs for the race.

Final gear list:

Sled
Sleeping bag
compass
map
22 ounces of fuel
stove
gloves
mittens
balaclava
down jacket
fleece pants
neoprene socks
wool socks
fleece shirt
polypro
lightweight running pants
wind pants
shell
fleece vest
2 thermos
camelback
5 bags of trail mix
two bags of goldfish
2 packages of ramen
pot
hat
20 ft of cord
4 feet of duct tape (wrapped around my sled harness)
knife
SPOT GPS beacon

The SPOT beacon is a new toy I bought that should allow everyone to track my progress real time here.

The forecast for tonight is negative 18 degrees. I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit nervous about this one. I got to remember to have fun, eat and drink a lot, and if it gets bad, accept the suck factor and keep moving. My biggest concern is frostbite on my toes.

Wendy will update here if I can get through to her on the phone at all.

admin Uncategorized

It is 5:45 AM here in Oklahoma. I just made a pot of coffee with the last of the Dunkin’ Donuts blend and am getting ready to start the drive up to Minnesota. To make matters interesting we had an ice storm here last night. This impacts what I do for a living so I had to spend more time at work than planned executing a few contingencies. Consequently, I need to make some stops on the way North for supplies.

Believe it or not the weather actually looks pretty mild in International falls. The forecast for next week is lows of about 3 degrees and highs of about 17 with a chance of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m still going to set myself up mentally for negative 30 but it might not be that bad. I will also be bringing my cross country skis just in case it does dump snow over the weekend. I have done no training on them but they are better than snowshoes in deep snow so I’ll be prepared.

I bought lithium batteries for my helmet cam (which will be a sled cam for this race) so I may be able to get some classic footage of what a burrito looks like at mile 68 and what it looks like again at mile 90. This of course brings me to the contest for cool yeti gear. In honor of the Olympics I would like to post the best essay arguing for inclusion of arctic ultra marathons in the winter Olympics. The successful entry will include a detailed analysis of the excitement that comes from watching people move at slow rates of speed for several days at a time, and a reference to the bronzed adonis like figure of the ultra athlete. What do you win? One of two t-shirts (your choice). Option 1: “PETY (people for the ethical treatment of yetis)” shirt. Option 2: “Yetis piss excellence” shirt. Send all entries to admin@yetifunk.com.

And there is still time to donate. The link is to the right under “Yeti Fundraising”. All proceeds go directly to the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

admin Ramblings

That’s right…we’re 11 days out and the donations started flowing. Many thanks to everyone!

I got an email from the race director today with some last minute info and I’m starting to get excited. There is a lot to post today so let’s get this shindig started…

The last 3 days of workouts:

Can you say “Hopeless Pass”? Over and over every day from Thursday through Sunday. On Sunday I did an hour and a half on the treadmill and then called it good. I take Monday’s off from training and then did hill sprints tonight wearing my vibram 5 finger shoes. All in all I feel pretty good.

Gear list

The following is the gear I will be dragging along with me on the race:

Mandatory

* Minus-20F degrees sleeping bag or colder rating
* Insulated sleeping pad
* Bivy sack or tent (space blankets do not count)
* Firestarter (matches or lighter)
* Stove to heat water
* 8 fl. oz. fuel at ALL times (either white gas, alcohol or 2 cannisters of propane/butane 100 g. each or 12 Esbit tablets)
* Pot (min. volume is 1 pint)
* 2-qt (64 fl. oz.) or just under 2 litres, insulated water container (the weight of water is not counted in the minimum weight)
* Headlamp or flashlight
* Flashing red LED lights, both on front and back of sled or bike (or on backpack if skier). Also, the DNR requires that everyone have at least 10 square inches of reflective material on front and back of the person for this race. Clarification: Two lights total are required, one on the front of the bike, sled or racer (runner or skier with backpack), one on the back of the bike, sled or racer (runner or skier with backpack). Each light must have a minimum of three flashing red LEDS.
* Whistle on string around neck to call for help.
* 1-day of food at ALL times (3000 calories) (tip: a pound of butter or jar of peanut bar is about 3200 calories)
* 15 lbs of gear at ALL times

Recommended Gear (in addition to mandatory gear to makeup the 15 lbs. total)

* Full wind suit
* Extreme conditions mittens & head gear
* Down sweater
* Spare poly-pro shirt
* Neoprene socks or equivalent
* Over-boots
* Gaitors for snowshoers
* Duct tape
* Knife or micro leatherman
* Map and compass
* Reflective clothing, with at least 10 sq. in of reflective material on front and back of person.
* 5,000-7,000 calories of food (tip: Gorp or peanuts don’t freeze solid.)
* Sleds for runners and snowshoers (or backpack)
* Assorted tools suitable for bicycling, skiing or snowshoeing.

Strategy:

This race is 135 miles long and must completed in under 60 hours. The temperature got down to negative 36 degrees last year. The race is completely unsupported meaning I have to bring everything with me that I might need for up to 3 days on the trail. Sweating in weather that cold is dangerous. What does this all boil down to? That’s right, slow and steady. I’m going to try and average 3 miles per hour including all stops to melt snow for water. This breaks out as a 5 minute run followed by 25 minutes walking, repeat for 60 hours. I’m going to try and complete the first 36 hours without sleeping although I will play that one by ear. If I start to move at less than 3 miles per hour I’ll sleep for an hour and then keep going.

I am getting really excited. This is less a race and more an outdoor adventure. I love the fact that you have to be self-sufficient on this race and carry everything you need. This is going to be awesome!

A short description of the race:

3 race categories: Bike, ski, or foot (I’ll be competing on foot)
Distance: 135 miles
Starting line: International Falls MN
Finish Line: Tower MN
Support: Huh?
Finishing percent: 40% (and every racer had to post their resume to get in)

Here is a pretty good write-up from a mountain bike competitor:

http://gearjunkie.com/arrowhead-135-ultramarathon

And you should be able to get status updates during the race here:

http://www.arrowheadultra.com/blogger/blogger.html

The race starts on 1 February. Check back often. I have some cool stuff coming up as part of the lead up for the race!

I will be posting more on my gear, we might have a competition for some cool Yeti gear and many other things.

And don’t forget that you can still support the Children’s Tumor Foundation by clicking on the link marked “Yetifunk Fundraising” to the right!

admin Ramblings, Training

Today’s workout was a rehash of the Hopeless Pass workout: 3 minutes walking at 10% incline, 3 minutes running at 0% incline, 7.5 minute miles. Repeat for about 30 minutes.

Running on a treadmill isn’t fun but I was listening to my “Run till I puke” mix, a fine mix including the following:

Rock Superstar (Cypress Hill)
Killing in the Name (Rage Against the Machine)
For Whom The Bell Tolls (Metallica)
Thunder Kiss ‘65 (Rob Zombie)
Welcome Home: Sanitarium (Metallica)
Face the Pain (Stemm)

Believe it or not a couple of scientists did a study and found that cyclists listening to metal go 10% further an hour than cyclists listening to classical music. It makes a treadmill less boring.

I did a lot of thinking during this workout. The Hopeless Pass workout is difficult but not aerobically challenging. I designed it to help with Hopeless pass, the killer mountain pass that you climb twice during Leadville (at miles 45 and 55). In two weeks I’m going to be driving to Minnesota to run the Arrowhead 135. Working for an online retailer hasn’t left a lot of time for prep over the last 4 months. I know I’m not nearly in the same shape as I was for Leadville. And for this race I’ll be dragging a sled with 25 pounds of gear in weather that got down to negative 36 degrees fahrenheit during last year’s race. I have covered long distances in cold weather before so I should be ok. This race is going to be mostly mental. Its easy to blow that off now but the mental side gets tough your second night by yourself in cold weather when you are exhausted. And for some reason my throat always cramps in really cold weather which is really painful.

I got my new sleeping bag, gaiters, and yaktraks in the mail yesterday. My sled should be delivered tomorrow. I will start dialing in my diet for the race next week and start growing out the facial hair. If I’m going to race in sub-zero temps I am totally going Grizzly Adams.

I’ve only raised 200 bucks this year which is pretty disappointing but I know the economy sucks. Last time I managed to raise about 1500 bucks. Still, if anyone stumbles on this blog and feels generous there is a link to the right. All funds go directly to the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

admin Ramblings, Training

Sunday’s Workout

2.5 hour pack run.

Carried a small pack, 2 water bottles, a down jacket, an extra fleece, gu, and a 25 lbs kettlebell.

Ran 10 minutes, walked 20 minutes for the first hour.
Ran most of the last 1.5 hours.

This left me incredibly sore for the next two days and convinced me that a sled is the right way to go for the Arrowhead 135. I called Wilderness Engineering on Monday and the sled I’ll be racing with was Fedexed on Tuesday. This company supplies the Marine Corps with their pulks so I have used the system before. My only concern is the lack of training time I’ll have with it before the race.

Only 2 weeks to race day. I’m starting to get the pre-race jitters.

admin Training

Today’s workout:

Treadmill speed workout:
4 minute warmup.
5 sets of:
2 minutes at 7 minute miles
1 minute at 9 minute miles
2 minute cool-down

Strength workout:
4 sets of squats
4 sets of curls
4 sets bench press
4 sets standing rows
4 sets of shrugs
4 sets of back extensions
4 sets of leg raisers
4 sets of pull downs
4 sets of dips.

Gear:
Just bought a sleeping bag that is rated to negative 20 for the race (this is required). I’m trying to determine whether to use a pulk or a pack on race day. I’m leaning towards a pack just because I haven’t had any time to train with a sled. I’ll be doing a long run tomorrow and then look at doing a long run home from work on Friday (about 45 miles.)

I am definitely not ready for this race but I am going to go and have as much fun as possible.

admin Strength, Training, Treadmill

Late post. Been meaning to put this up for the last couple of days and kept getting sidetracked.

4 sets of the “Hopeless Pass” treadmill workout:

2 minute warmup
sets of:
3 minutes at 10% incline
3 minutes at 0% incline.

Repeat.

admin Training

Pack Run in the snow:

9 miles in 1 hour 34 minutes.

The weather wasn’t too bad but the drivers were dodgey. It felt pretty good.

admin Training