2023 Year In Review
Start Slow, Finished By mid-June

Last year ended on a slow note, and this continued into the new year. My first scheduled race was the 12-Hour race on the track at the Alexander County 24. I had run well there in the 6-Hour last year and hoped to follow up with a solid performance. This was my first race after rehabbing an ankle injury, so there was some uncertainty in overall fitness. I was putting in a solid race until the sun came out. I quickly overheated and was struggling. Given that I was experiencing dizziness and being light headed, I opted to stop early with only a little over 21 miles after about 5 1/2 hours.

At Dawn to Dusk to Dawn (D3), I was hoping to run about 7:45 for the 50K. I was holding steady for about 36K and was on pace for 7:25 before fading the last 14K. It was still encouraging and I anticipated running better at Six Days in the Dome.

Next up was a training run at What the Duck 12-Hour. This was strictly a social run and I planned to stop after about 20 miles. I was bothered by the heat again being Memorial Day weekend, but given it was only two weeks after D3, that wasn't an immediate concern. Six Days in the Dome was indoors around an ice rink.

Six Days in the Dome was a challenge to even reach 50K. Following What the Duck 12-Hour, there was obviously something else going on as I was struggling with both long runs and intense workouts. With careful monitoring of my effort and judcious breaks when needed, I did manage a little more than 50K, but only with great effort. The rest of the summer was a bust. At my next cardiologist appointment, I discovered that I was back in a-fib and had been all summer. That explained the poor results at races and struggles in training.

Moving into Fall I scheduled a heart ablation to correct the a-fib, then a heart catheterization to check for possible blockages as I was getting out of breath very easily. Through this my streak of almost 5 1/2 years of 100 mile months ended. Training fell to very low levels with a couple weeks not even reaching double digit miles. As the year is rapping up, I'm very gradually rebuilding my base and fitness, but recovery is still an issue. If no more unexpected obstacles arise, I hope to begin the 2024 racing season in March with a 6-hour race to evaluate my fitness. I am committed to Six Days in the Dome again for the 12-Hour race, and the 6-hour race will help me set a reasonable goal.

2023 Six Days in the Dome 12-Hour
Hoping to Endure

Circumstances have altered to where this is not the peak goal race I had planned. My a-fib has returned and has had a marked effect on my training and racing. With the combination of a-fib and pacemaker, I can't seem to get my heart rate over 120 bpm, which seriously limits blood flow when my muscles demand it. As a result, I've been unable to run anything intense such as intervals or tempo runs. Even what should be normal pacing has been difficult to maintain for more than 5-6 miles. The net result has been stopping short of 6 hours at my last two 12-hour races after running about 20 miles. I've discussed this with my cardiologist and we are pursuing a promising course of action, but in the meantime my challenge is how to adjust my racing strategy to allow me run a more acceptable distance and continue for the full 12 hours.

I'm still leery of relying on flying, besides I want to bring additional gear such as my chair and sleeping bag, so I took two days to drive to Milwaukee. The first day was longer than I had initially planned, so I skipped an easy shake out run. As a result I arrived in Milwaukee hours before check in time. That worked out well as Bill and Mike were already at the Pettit National Ice Center setting up for the races beginning the next day, and I was able to add another set of hands to help. After checking in to my hotel by early evening I was able to get in a short run to loosen up some from the two day drive.

The 12-hour race did not start until noon, so I was able to sleep in, so to speak, considering my usual experience of waking up every two hours the night before a race. Nonetheless I was back at the Pettit Center before 9:00 AM to watch the start of the 24 and 48 hour races. I set up my personal area on the bleachers, which bordered the outside lane of the track, so anything I wanted there was within easy reach. Mainly I kept my Gatorade and water bottle there. The aid station provided all I needed in the way of food. Since I had planned to run and walk in lane two and leave lane one available to the faster runners, I was only a step away from anything I needed. The track had only three lanes. The added distance in lane two would be irrelevant unless the day turned into a disaster and I was struggling to reach even 50K.

There were only five of us starting the 12-hour at noon. Four more would start on Saturday and the final 12-hour runner on Sunday. One of the runners was attempting to set national age group records for 50 miles and 100 kilometers while the rest of us plodded around the track at a more sedate pace. He beat both records and stopped. His 100K total was still enough to win the 12-hour race as the second place runner barely reached 50 miles. I wasn't sure how I would respond to the race conditions and physical challenges I had been facing. The temperature was maintained at about 55F, so I was wearing double layers, a long sleeve shirt over a short sleeve shirt, and my warm up pants. At least I didn't have the added challenge of combating heat and sun. Most of the time I was comfortable, though I was cool at times when I was walking slowly.

I began the race slowly at a very easy effort. I had learned from my training runs that I would quickly tire if I attempted to run my normal pace. It was still a bit disappointing to see that my run-walk average pace was barely under 15:00, maybe 14:45, to start. I was pretty consistent with that for the first 3 miles, then began some gradual slowing. The average pace was also impacted by short pauses at the aid station and port-a-potty, but moving pace was now averaging about 15:30-16:00 through 16 miles. That's when I needed the first of seven breaks that I eventually took ranging from six to 32 minutes. Those totaled well over two hours for me to sit and recover from pushing the pace a little too hard or simply continuing long enough that I needed a rest. Between the rest and the slow pace dictated by my medical issues, they limited me to far less than the 40 plus miles I normally expect at a 12 hour race. Eventually I worked out that I could maintain about a 5:15 per lap pace for about 2.5-3 miles before needing a short rest. I think that works out to about an 19:00 mile. In any case I reached 50K, what I had set as an absolute minimum distance, at 10:43:39 when I finished lap 113. I took one of my longer breaks at that point, then continued on to 120 laps. I was in need of more rest at that point, although I could have pushed through if there had been a strong incentive to do so. There wasn't, so I rested until there were 12 minutes left, enough time for me to walk two more laps and have a small cushion if I was walking really slow. I finished at 11:58:35 with 33.6171 miles. Given all that I'd been dealing with physically and medically, I was quite pleased to exceed my minimum distance and last the full 12 hours.

The rest of the racing season this year is in abeyance until my medical issues are resolved, which may not be until late September while I work with my cardiologist. I'm not too upset about that as I struggle with the summer heat and hadn't planned any races until October anyway. Likely I will stick with fixed time races, skipping the 50K races I had considered, if and when I return to racing this year.

2023 Dawn to Dusk to Dawn 50K
Looking For Confirmation

After a late fall and winter healing from and rehabbing torn tendons in my left ankle, I had hoped to prove my fitness at the Alexander County 12-Hour race in Taylorsvile, NC, last month. Instead I ran into heat problems less than six hours into the race and chose to retire instead of risking a medical emergency. I was particularly disappointed in this because I was running strong approaching the five hour mark and anticipated meeting my 40 mile goal with room to spare.

With only four weeks between races there was little time to train after allowing time for recovery and taper. Since I didn't run a full race effort, I was able to shorten the recovery time and get in some good workouts including one set of back to back long runs before easing into my taper for D3. I began tracking long range weather forecast over two weeks before. D3 weather can be very warm when it isn't a torrential downpour. Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperative in my attempts to acclimate to the heat. High temperatures have remained in the 50s Fahrenheit, often accompanied by a cold rain. The best I've been able to do is overdress and take hot baths hoping that will elicit some response.

After all that fretting over the weather, race day arrived with near perfect weather as far as I was concerned, overcast with a light drizzle and the high about 72F. All the street parking was taken by the 24-hour runners, so I parked in the school parking lot, which meant a slightly longer walk to the track. That wasn't an issue as I set up my personal aid station, but I wasn't looking forward to carrying everything back to the car after the race. This was my 7th Dawn to Dusk to Dawn race, so there were a lot of familiar faces and friends to greet. I would be seeing them many times on the track as they lapped me, but it was doubtful that any of them would be moving slow enough to share a few laps. All that remained now was waiting for the last minute instructions from the race director and getting started.

There's not a whole lot to say about circling a track for 125 laps, so this will be concise and only significant details will be related. The first lap would give a good indication of how the entire race would unfold. The next real checkpoint wouldn't come until around 20K, 50 laps. The first few laps were easy and quick for me so the taper accomplished what it was supposed to do. Settling in to my run 1:00, walk 1:00 routine I averaged about 3:26 per lap for the first 10K with most of the variation dependent on when my walk breaks occurred. Not unexpected the second 10K was a little slower with more brief breaks to grab something to eat and drink. Even so the average was 3:32.8 and still well within my target range. More importantly I still felt like I could maintain the effort and keep close to that pace for quite a while yet. The gradual slowing continued through 30K while maintaining much the same effort with the average lap at 3:39.2 for that 10K and 3:32.7 overall. At this point my dream goal of 7:20 was unattainable, the question remaining being whether I could hold this pace for the last 20K to finish under 7:30. Previous race results made this historically highly unlikely. Somewhat surprisingly I maintained the 3:39 pace for another 6K before I admitted that I needed to walk to prevent a full blown crash and burn. Until the final lap I slogged through at a 17:50 pace. Granted that was not as bad as some races where I had slowed to 20:00 or worse, but I had hoped to be able to walk at least a sub-17:00 pace. At this point all I focused on was one foot in front of the other and counting down the laps, with an occasional mental calculation to be sure I would finish under 8 hours. I managed to summon enough energy to pick up the pace a little the last 3K and even to "sprint" the last lap in 3:26 to finish 8th out of the 12 starters in 7:55:49. Having expended all that energy, it was a blessing for two friends to help carry my gear back to my car, a task I had not been looking forward to.

Looking back I believe much of the lack of energy for the final 35 laps was my inability to take in sufficient calories. I was consuming some, but mostly from liquids in the form of a sports drink, because any time I ate solid food my stomach started to feel queasy. And if I drank too much, I felt bloated and uncomfortable. The fare was not my favorite PBJ and grilled cheese, so I was relying more on chips and other snacks. By the time the PBJ was available I was already experiencing stomach issues and it wasn't enough to completely settle them. I didn't even consider the pizza until after I finished. Normally I can eat anything the aid station offers, so I'm not sure why my stomach revolted this time. Overall I'm encouraged by the race though the final time wasn't what I had hoped or expected. Next up is a fun race, What the Duck 12-Hour, where I will be part of a team. Socializing will take precedence to running, though it will still count as a long run for me as I prepare for the 12-Hour race at 6 Days in the Dome in June.

2023 Alexander County 12-Hour
Post-Injury Return to Racing

My last race was seven and a half months ago on Labor Day weekend. I had to cancel my last race of 2022 in October due to an ankle injury, then spent all winter healing and rehabbing the ankle. This is my first race since returning to normal training and will be a test of where my fitness is. I have hopes of reaching 40 miles, a goal which eluded me last year. The weather promises to be more of a factor than I had anticipated. Despite having a mild winter, I have not had time or opportunity to acclimate to the temperatures forecast for the race which are expected to reach the mid- to upper 70s with little cloud cover. My training has been going well, though I haven't run as many long runs as would like. Those that I have run have gone well and at a faster than expected pace for the effort. I think I can attribute that to all the long walks I took while rehabbing my ankle and waiting for clearance to resume running.

Last year I was fine with driving straight through in one day to get to the race, so that's what I did this year. The major change I made was staying at a different hotel. The location in Statesville was what appealed to me because there is a Waffle House within walking distance. There aren't any near me and I've come to enjoy eating there when traveling through Virginia and North Carolina, quick service, hot food, reasonable prices, and I like the breakfast style menu offerings. I went for a short shake out run, cleaned up, ate supper at the Waffle House, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. I had no concerns about the morning because I tend to wake up every couple hours the night before a race, so it's almost impossible for me to oversleep. The hotel breakfast opened at 6:30 AM which gave me ample time to eat and drive to the race for an 8:00 AM start.

I met up with the few people I knew there from other races, then waked over to the starting line on the track after opening remarks and the national anthem. As usual I started slowly, quickly dropping toward the back of the field, though not last. With three races, 6-hour, 12-hour, and 24-hour, there were 29 runners total. I kept a very steady run one minute, walk one minute for the first 18 miles. Lap time varied within an acceptable range, mostly between 3:20 and 3:30 on the track which is certified at 400.68 meters. Of course my Garmin distant didn't match but it was working out to averaging about a 14:15 pace including time for aid station stops and port-a-potty breaks. That was well within hopes and expectations, and also about what I ran last year in the 6-hour race. I was still going strong at that point when the sun came out and it heated up quickly. I think it was more than just the heat, rather the direct sunlight that adversely affected me. My lap times slowed to 4:30-5:15, even with applying ice to my neck and head, even longer as I incorporated more walking. For a short while we had some cloud cover and I was able to get in a couple laps just under 4:00, but when the sun came back out I headed to the aid station for more ice.

It wasn't until I stopped moving while waiting for ice that I realized I was having significant heat problems. Fortunately I admitted to feeling a little dizzy (hard to deny that when I'm leaning over with my head resting on the table), and they called over the EMT on site. While I was drinking more cold Gatorade and eating pretzels, he was checking me over. His biggest concern, and the numbers surprised me as well, was my blood pressure was 90 over 60 with a weak pulse. That was not good. He continued to monitor me, though he also commented that I was getting back some color and my BP was returning to normal. I think if I'd been on my own, I might have tried to get back on the track to run more, but knowing what my vital signs were convinced me that would not have been a good idea, and that I should follow his advice and call it a day. Mostly likely I would have been right back where I was in a mile or so if I had tried to continue.

My final numbers were 21.1625 miles in 5:19:42, far short of what I wanted. Up to the point where the heat affected me, I was moving very strongly and confident that fitness wise I could have gone quite a bit farther before increasing my walking time or dropping to a steady walk. As I write this almost a week after the race, I'm recovering much quicker than I scheduled time for, which confirms that my fitness is good and fatigue played little or no part in my needing to stop early. My next race is 50K, also on a track, and I have a month to acclimate more to the heat and see what I can do to delay or prevent the onset of heat issues.