23 Nov-27 Dec

23-29 NOV -- 5:29:39 -- 37.57 miles -- 3400 elevation gain

30 NOV-6 DEC -- 2:40:04 -- 19.95 miles -- 1577 elevation gain

7-13 DEC -- 4:16:36 -- 32.74 miles -- 475 elevation gain (running)
                 -- 20:00 -- 4.84 miles (biking)

14-20 DEC -- 1:51:44 -- 24.90 miles -- 135 elevation gain

21-27 DEC -- 5:21:40 -- 40.54 miles -- 1872 elevation gain

19 Oct-22 Nov

I've got lots of catching up to do.  Work has been crazy and I started another graduate class 4 weeks ago.  I'm going to list just the totals for the last few weeks.


19-25 OCT -- 4:22:01 -- 29.87 miles -- 925 elevation gain (running)
                   -- 26:30 -- 6.34 miles (biking)

26 OCT-01 NOV -- 3:09:39 -- 23.71 miles -- 167 elevation gain (all running)

02-08 NOV -- 6:36:55 -- 39.90 miles -- 88 elevation gain (running)
                    -- 20:35 -- 4.41 miles (biking)

09-15 NOV -- 2:05:44 -- 15.97 miles -- 83 elevation gain (all running)

16-22 NOV -- 2:11:09 -- 16.17 miles -- 1489 elevation gain (running)
                    -- 1:07:47 -- 15.53 miles (biking)


I ran the Croatan 24-Hour on 7 Nov.  Well, I ran 6 hours of it.  I was feeling great, was in second place, covered about 40 miles in 6 hours, but when my photographer showed up with Little Man I realized that I didn't want to be away from them all day.  So, I left.  We went home and took a nap together, then we played on his slide in the living room and ate animal crackers all night.  Totally worth giving up a potential podium finish.

Over the past few days I've been completely swamped with real work and school work, but during my first break in schedule (possibly this coming week during the long weekend) I am going to write a few posts on here.  Two posts, in particular, because I feel like I've cheated you all since I haven't been writing on here regularly. 

During a run a few days ago I was thinking about my short running career that began in 2007 when I finished my first ultra (JFK 50).  I was thinking back, remembering the happy times, remembering the lousy times, and trying to rack and stack them both into a list of the top 10 best memories and top 10 worst memories.  Thus, I will write those two posts.  My photographer has agreed to assist me in conjuring up memories since she has been on the receiving end of nearly all complaints and expressions of gratitude over the past 8 years. 

To be honest, I'm looking forward to writing again.  Lately I've been writing about International Business in my free time which isn't nearly as interesting as I expect these two posts to be...

05-18 Oct

05 OCT -- 32:56 -- 4.54 miles -- 29 elevation gain
              -- 21:11 -- 2.00 miles -- 845 elevation gain
06 OCT -- 31:41 -- 3.50 miles -- 554 elevation gain
07 OCT -- 32:09 -- 4.40 miles -- 34 elevation gain
08 OCT -- 24:01 -- 3.20 miles -- 30 elevation gain
09 OCT -- 30:50 -- 3.13 miles -- 23 elevation gain
10 OCT -- 1:15:06 -- 10.04 miles -- 59 elevation gain
11 OCT -- 45:51 -- 6.27 miles -- 42 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 4:07:54 -- 37.08 miles -- 1616 elevation gain





12 OCT -- 1:27:33 -- 11.48 -- 78 elevation gain
13 OCT -- off
14 OCT -- 33:01 -- 4.42 miles -- 36 elevation gain
15 OCT -- off
16 OCT -- off
17 OCT -- 2:38:22 -- 20.34 miles -- 164 elevation gain
18 OCT -- off -- upper body weightlifting and crossfit

TOTAL -- 4:38:56 -- 36.24 miles -- 278 elevation gain

Two ok weeks.  I ran enough miles to sustain whatever cardio level I'm at currently, but not enough miles or focused workouts to make any strides towards getting faster.  I'm happy with my pace and comfort level on my longer runs, but my foot and toe are still bothering me.  The Croatan 24 Hour race is in 3 weeks and I feel more than ready to cover 100+ miles, but my foot will need to hold up for 24 hours.

28 Sep-04 Oct

28 SEP -- off -- did some push ups and crunches...
29 SEP -- 24:34 -- 3.05 miles -- 29 elevation gain
             -- 22:30 -- 2.25 miles -- 891 elevation gain
30 SEP -- 33:50 -- 4.42 miles -- 27 elevation gain
01 OCT -- 15:00 -- 3.60 miles (biking)
02 OCT -- 25:30 -- 6.02 miles (biking)
03 OCT -- 31:41 -- 3.50 miles -- 554 elevation gain
04 OCT -- 59:07 -- 7.89 miles -- 46 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 2:51:42 -- 21.11 miles -- 1547 elevation gain (running)
              -- 40:30 -- 9.62 miles (biking)

We got really busy at work this week and were on a 24-hour recall to potentially deploy, so I got in some workouts when I could.  Next week will be better!

14-27 Sep

14 SEP -- 52:30 -- 5.56 miles -- 56 elevation gain
             -- bike 19:04 -- 4.66 miles
15 SEP -- bike 28:04 -- 6.71 miles
             -- 14:41 -- 1.97 miles (first run in new Hokas)
16 SEP -- 27:36 -- 3.14 miles -- 4 elevation gain
             -- 27:56 -- 3.98 miles -- 46 elevation gain
17 SEP -- bike 24:00 -- 5.90 miles
18 SEP -- 59:14 -- 6.59 miles -- 54 elevation gain
19 SEP -- 43:25 -- 4.35 miles -- 34 elevation gain
             -- 1:14:36 -- 9.81 miles -- 56 elevation gain
20 SEP -- 29:54 -- 2.50 miles -- 1148 elevation gain (treadmill)

TOTAL -- 5:29:52 -- 37.90 miles -- 1421 elevation gain (running)
              -- 1:11:08 -- 17.27 miles (biking)



21 SEP -- 1:01:41 -- 7.14 miles -- 45 elevation gain
22 SEP -- bike 38:00 -- 9.32 miles
23 SEP -- 1:02:58 -- 8.68 miles -- 72 elevation gain
24 SEP -- off
25 SEP -- 32:12 -- 3.00 miles -- 1085 elevation gain
26 SEP -- bike 35:00 -- 8.51 miles
27 SEP -- 3:22:33 -- 25.01 miles -- 164 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 5:59:23 -- 43.83 miles -- 1366 elevation gain (running)
              -- 1:13:00 -- 17.83 miles (biking)

I got out for a long run today, my longest since April.  It rained the entire time.  I felt good but, as expected, my foot annoyed me and continued hurting throughout the day.  Last week I received my custom-fit orthotics but I haven't ran with them yet.  I put a pair in my work boots and they feel ok walking around at work - they hurt the first 2 days but I got used to them later in the week.  I'm still hesitant to start running in them but I'll give it a try this coming week.  The Croatan 24-hour race is in a few weeks and I still intend to run it. 

31 Aug-13 Sep

31 AUG -- bike 19:03 -- 4.66 miles
01 SEP -- run 11:35 -- 1.37 miles -- 10 elevation gain (morning)
             -- swim 1000 meters
             -- run 11:48 -- 1.38 miles -- 33 elevation gain
             -- bike 18:04 -- 4.60 miles (afternoon)
02 SEP -- 0.5 mile sprint -- 100 ammo can presses in 2:00 -- Maneuver Under Fire in 2:04 (CFT)
03 SEP -- bike 26:04 -- 6.27 miles
04 SEP -- 50 pull ups -- 100 push ups -- 150 squats -- modified MURPH w/flak jacket (morning)
             -- run 1:11:24 -- 9.02 miles -- 66 elevation gain
05 SEP -- run 49:20 -- 6.28 miles -- 39 elevation gain
06 SEP -- run 1:10:50 -- 8.36 miles -- 58 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 3:38:01 -- 26.91 miles -- 214 elevation gain (running)
              -- 1:03:11 -- 15.53 miles (biking)

Finally got back into running on a more permanent basis.  Foot still annoying and an entire month off didn't heal it.  Had an MRI on Friday, get the results next week.



07 SEP -- 52:54 -- 7.01 miles -- 42 elevation gain
08 SEP -- 46:20 -- 6.13 miles -- 44 elevation gain
09 SEP -- bike 24:00 -- 5.78 miles
10 SEP -- 18:42 -- 1.50 miles -- 25 elevation gain (run to o-course w/flak jacket)
             -- obstacle course x 2
             -- 15:09 -- 1.50 miles -- 25 elevation gain (run back from o-course w/flak jacket)
11 SEP -- 11:00 -- 1.38 miles -- 11 elevation gain
             -- swim 750 meters
             -- 11:40 -- 1.35 miles -- 4 elevation gain
12 SEP -- 1:54:15 -- 14.38 miles -- 169 elevation gain
13 SEP -- off -- rest

TOTAL -- 4:30:00 -- 33.25 miles -- 320 elevation gain (running)
              -- 24:00 -- 5.78 miles (biking)

It feels good to really get back into running and I missed it!  We've started combat-type conditioning at work 3 days each week, which has cut into my training, but it helps me to maintain muscle and cardio.  I'm going to start biking less and running more.  I got the results of my MRI on Friday - bruised sesamoid bone, and tendonitis in my big toe with some fluid also present.  I'll continue to tape down my toe during the day and during runs.  The Doc said it could get worse, get better, or just hang out like it has been for months.  My custom orthotics should be ready to wear next week or the week after, and I'm hoping they help my foot more than hurt it.  It's trial and error from here on out, but I can keep running which is good news. 

I did 14+ miles yesterday and it felt awesome!  The humidity and heat were very low, it was about 75 degrees with rain and decent wind, and it felt so good to run shirtless again and feel a breeze to keep me cool.  I wasn't fast (averaged 7:57/mile), but I didn't suffer from heat exhaustion like I had been early in the summer when the heat index was over 100 degrees on the daily.  I made a discovery as well - my toe and foot felt okay until 45 minutes into the run, the pain increased from then until about 1:15, then it all sort of went numb until I finished around 2 hours.  Karl Meltzer suffers from a similar issue where he "hangs on" for about 40 miles in a 100 mile race, then his foot goes numb and he is able to start cranking out the miles.  Who knows whether or not we have the same injury, but it's comforting to know that others deal with similar nagging injuries and have been running throughout them for years.  During my deployment next year I don't anticipate running too much so there is a potential for this to go away altogether.  Time will tell. 

10-30 Aug

10 AUG -- 30:54 -- 7.76 miles
11 AUG -- 41:39 -- 10.56 miles
12 AUG -- 20:00 -- 5.40 miles
13 AUG -- 32:18 -- 8.07 miles
               -- 30:49 -- 8.07 miles
14 AUG -- 35:08 -- 9.32 miles
15 AUG -- 23:43 -- 5.96 miles
               -- 42:09 -- 10.87 miles
16 AUG -- 49:07 -- 12.42 miles
               -- 34:45 -- 9.01 miles

TOTAL -- 5:40:32 -- 87.45 miles

Better week than the last, and I pushed close to 100 miles.  Work is getting more and more demanding but I've been able to workout twice a day, although they are short workouts.  Missing running but my cycle is set up in front of my 22" TV w/DVD player so it takes my mind off being immobile. 



17 AUG -- 25:04 -- 6.40 miles
18 AUG -- swim 1600 meters (morning)
               -- 12:40 -- 3.23 miles (afternoon)
19 AUG -- 1 mile run -- 100 pull ups -- 200 push ups -- 300 squats -- 1 mile run (foot felt ok...)
20 AUG -- 30:07 -- 7.58 miles
               -- 20:00 -- 5.09 miles
21 AUG -- 31:20 -- 8.07 miles
               -- 19:40 -- 5.09 miles
22 AUG -- 38:58 -- 9.81 miles
23 AUG -- 26:24 -- 6.71 miles

TOTAL -- 3:24:13 -- 51.99 miles

Less miles this week on the bike but the workout on Wednesday morning smoked me.  I took my foot out of the boot because it was putting pressure on the wrong spots and making my foot throb all day.  I walked around all weekend without it and the pain went away, so it's in the back of my closet for now.  I've been taping my big toe down every morning and it's been helping, no pain throughout the day walking around in boots. 



24 AUG -- 37:58 -- 9.69 miles
               -- 20:15 -- 5.22 miles
25 AUG -- 20:03 -- 4.84 miles
               -- 35:49 -- 9.32 miles
26 AUG -- 26:12 -- 6.58 miles
               -- 23:05 -- 5.90 miles
27 AUG -- 31:52 -- 8.07 miles
               -- 17:39 -- 4.53 miles
28 AUG -- (first run in a month...)
               -- 17:39 -- 4.53 miles
29 AUG -- (second run in a month...)
30 AUG -- off (first day off in a month...)

TOTAL BIKING -- 3:56:17 -- 60.06 miles

TOTAL RUNNING -- 2:12:09 -- 16.57 miles -- 140 elevation gain

Two workouts a day from M-F this week, felt great!  I took an entire month off of running and finally decided to head out for a few miles on Friday morning - felt really good, didn't lose stamina or endurance thanks to the biking, but the pain in my toe and foot is still there.  Very disappointing.  I have an MRI this coming Friday morning to help determine what the problem is.  It hasn't gotten any worse but it hasn't gone away either.  So, on Saturday I said screw it and ran 13 miles - I really missed running and I enjoyed the freedom, but the second half was annoying dealing with a nagging pain coming from my big toe.  To make the situation even worse, the foot doctor called me earlier in the week and said the machine he used to scan my feet for custom orthotics last week was broken and I need to go back for a re-scan, thus setting me back another two weeks until I could potentially run pain-free.  Silly technology.  I'm going to get back into running this week, but in the back of my mind I'm wondering whether or not my foot will be back in a boot or be getting sliced open by a surgeon in the coming weeks...

03-09 Aug

03 AUG -- off -- crossfit day!
04 AUG -- 43:04 - 11.00 miles
05 AUG -- 45:17 -- 11.75 miles
06 AUG -- off -- realized I hadn't taken a day off in awhile
07 AUG -- 20:00 -- 4.97 miles (my Tauki exercise bike came in the mail!)
08 AUG -- 42:27 -- 10.93 miles
               -- 24:27 -- 6.21 miles
09 AUG -- 34:21 -- 9.32 miles
               -- 35:34 -- 9.38 miles

TOTAL -- 4:05:10 -- 63.56 miles

Since I'm not a cyclist I have no idea if 63 miles for the week is good or not.  I have no goals of breaking certain miles per week, although 100 miles sounds like a reasonable challenge.  I'm basing my work load on the amount of time I spend riding.  After talking to a few triathletes around work, I can tell you with 100% certainty that I'm not following doctrine...  Don't care. 

I was running upwards of 5 hours per week, so I imagine I'll need to cycle that much, or more, to sustain my cardio for the next 5 weeks.  Week 1 was a success, in my opinion.  My quads are tender and my metabolism hasn't slowed down, so I must be getting something out of the workouts. 

I've read a few articles and watched a few YouTube videos for workout ideas.  I'll keep grinding away, but tomorrow is crossfit day in the garage to the bike will have to wait until Tuesday.

27Jul-02 Aug

27 JUL -- 31:54 -- 4.54 miles -- 26 elevation gain
28 JUL -- 26:40 -- 2.00 miles -- 1003 elevation gain
29 JUL -- 44:35 -- 6.22 miles -- 43 elevation gain
30 JUL -- 10:30 -- 1.31 miles -- 13 elevation gain
             -- stationary bike 8 miles
             -- 9:52 -- 1.28 miles -- 4 elevation gain (morning)
             -- 10:04 -- 1.29 miles -- 13 elevation gain
             -- stationary bike 6 miles
             -- 9:23 -- 1.27 miles -- 4 elevation gain (afternoon)
31 JUL -- 30:00 -- 3.00 miles -- 25 elevation gain (unit run)
01 AUG -- off -- stationary bike 12 miles -- 35:00
02 AUG -- off -- stationary bike 16 miles -- 46:32

TOTAL --

Well, bad news.  It was inevitable and I couldn't keep lying to myself.  I finally saw the podiatrist and took his advice, and so this:

A possible fracture of the sesamoid bone, but the MRI I have in 5 weeks will confirm whether or not a fracture exists.  X-rays were negative, which is always positive. 

I only cried once before I realized this could be a good thing and found creative ways to fill the void: biking, ab workouts, reading, crawling races versus Eli, etc. etc.  Adapt and overcome.  I might have to lay off the beer and cookies for awhile (as I sit here with a beer...), but it is what it is.

In any event, for the next 6 weeks I won't be running.  I'm not supposed to bear any weight on my right foot at all, but that's nearly impossible for anyone to do.  The Doc has given me permission to bike, however, so bike I shall.  I've been looking online for a road bike and a stationary bike for the garage.  We'll see what turns up. 

I think a 6-week break will be good.  My foot pain started last October and got worse, got better for a short time, then got worse again over the last week.  Clearly, I'm not happy about having my foot in a boot for 6 weeks, but rather than tinker around with gear or inserts or orthotics or other crap, I'm following strict Doc's orders and fixing this darn injury the first go around. 

This blog will continue as a temporary biking blog and will continue as a running blog in a few weeks.

13-26 Jul

13 JUL -- off -- cross fit work out in the garage
14 JUL -- 34:57 -- 5.15 miles -- 8 elevation gain
15 JUL -- 11:13 -- 1.39 miles -- 10 elevation gain
             -- swim 1000 meters
             -- 18:25 -- 2.22 miles -- 22 elevation gain
16 JUL -- 13:27 -- 1.86 miles -- 20 elevation gain
             -- 32:15 -- 3.40 miles -- 20 elevation gain (Fartlek run)
             -- 12:14 -- 1.77 miles -- 10 elevation gain
             -- 11:32 -- 1.00 miles -- 422 elevation gain
17 JUL -- 32:48 -- 4.43 miles -- 31 elevation gain
             -- 21:38 -- 2.00 miles -- 739 elevation gain
18 JUL -- 1:39:51 -- 13.11 miles -- 56 elevation gain
19 JUL -- 1:04:48 -- 8.38 miles -- 49 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 5:53:08 -- 44.71 miles -- 1387 elevation gain

Foot pain starting to dissipate slightly.  I switched to my Hokas full time after realizing many of my other shoes have 500-800 miles on them and need replaced.  My Hokas has probably 350-ish miles on them, although I haven't been keeping track of my mile-per-shoe...maybe an idea for my next pair...I think I'll do that.  It'll be good data for other runners, although many factors need to be considered: running surface, stride of the runner, and so on.  Regardless, someone somewhere will get something out of the data, and it's easy to track, so I'll help out the community.





20 JUL -- off -- cross fit workout in the garage
21 JUL -- 10:55 -- 1.38 miles -- 17 elevation gain
             -- 12:02 -- 0.27 miles -- 1000 elevation gain (Stairmaster)
             -- 9:50 -- 1.35 miles -- 4 elevation gain
22 JUL -- 43:29 -- 6.19 miles -- 36 elevation gain
23 JUL -- off -- duty
24 JUL -- 26:30 -- 2.50 miles -- 924 elevation gain
             -- 30:22 -- 3.76 miles -- 16 elevation gain
25 JUL -- 1:47:01 -- 14.49 miles -- 120 elevation gain
26 JUL -- 9:53 -- 1.31 miles -- 18 elevation gain
             -- 16:28 -- 0.40 miles -- 1500 elevation gain  (Stairmaster)
             -- 10:52 -- 1.00 miles -- 449 elevation gain
             -- 9:07 -- 1.27 miles -- 4 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 4:46:29 -- 33.92 miles -- 4088 elevation gain

Mondays somehow turned into cross fit days.  I've never done cross fit before so I don't know where this came from.  I don't even know if I'm doing it right, so to speak.  If there's a cross fit inspector aboard Camp Lejeune then please know that your services are requested.

Aside from my Monday's spent jumping over milk crates in my garage, I've been getting in the mood to race again.  It's been since Bull Run in April. 

After running on flat roads for a few months I've been getting faster and faster.  I've been able to maintain 3,000-4,000 feet of elevation gain some weeks by steady treadmill and stairmaster workouts, but I realize nothing substitutes real trail running.  I'm considering taking another crack at Grindstone this October, but I don't know my work schedule.  It's filling fast but it's expensive (over $200 I believe) so I'd rather not throw my money away if I can avoid it.  But, if I sign up and things don't pan out, there's nothing else I'd rather throw money at than the ultrarunning community. 

Tristin signed up for a 100-miler in October which also motivates me to start racing again.  I'll likely see him at a wedding later in October and it would be awesome to share tales of running in the woods.

06-12 Jul

06 JUL -- off -- upper body weightlifting
07 JUL -- 11:44 -- 1.35 miles -- 10 elevation gain
             -- swim 700 meters
             -- 28:12 -- 3.28 miles -- 6 elevation gain
             -- 20:04 -- 2.00 miles -- 739 elevation gain
08 JUL -- 10:30 -- 1.34 miles -- 10 elevation gain
             -- 12:08 -- 0.27 miles -- 1000 elevation gain
             -- 10:44 -- 1.00 miles -- 317 elevation gain
             -- 10:05 -- 1.30 miles -- 4 elevation gain
09 JUL -- off
10 JUL -- 37:08 -- 5.20 miles -- 30 elevation gain
11 JUL -- 1:22:46 -- 11.09 miles -- 57 elevation gain
12 JUL -- 30:18 -- 3.00 miles -- 950 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 4:13:39 -- 29.83 miles -- 3123 elevation gain

Well, I was consistently running 50-60 miles per week in Virginia where I had a selection of trails and locations.  Here in NC I am beyond bored.  This week I'm going to focus on elevation and smoke myself on the treadmill and Stairmaster every day - hopefully that'll keep things interesting.

Congratulations to Scott Jurek for taking on the AT this summer and finishing today with a new record!

Not-so-little Little Man

This guy is getting big.  He's almost outgrown his first car seat already.  Those things aren't cheap.

 

The last picture taken in our house in VA, the day before we moved.  Notice there aren't 100 pairs of shoes on my photographer's side of the closet.

 

He chases that basketball up and down the driveway in his go-cart

 

He got to the mail before we did.  Luckily it was useless coupons.
 

Bath time is generally more fun for me than for Eli.  Check out that farmers tan!

 

 

 

From just this past weekend.  What a ham sandwich,

 

08 Jun-05 Jul

08 JUN -- 31:08 -- 4.02 miles -- 28 elevation gain
09 JUN -- off
10 JUN -- 39:39 -- 5.27 miles -- 44 elevation gain
11 JUN -- 20:19 -- 2.06 miles -- 34 elevation gain (Fartlek run)
12 JUN -- 24:55 -- 2.50 miles -- 726 elevation gain
13 JUN -- off
14 JUN -- 1:06:47 -- 8.65 miles -- 51 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 3:02:48 -- 22.50 miles -- 883 elevation gain

Very slow and easy week.  Work was real busy and Eli wasn't sleeping well.  Pain in my right foot/big toe has been getting worse and slowing me down.  Time to schedule an appointment...




15 JUN -- 21:05 -- 2.00 miles -- 686 elevation gain
             -- 33:07 -- 4.45 miles -- 19 elevation gain
16 JUN -- 21:38 -- 2.00 miles -- 792 elevation gain (morning)
             -- upper body weightlifting (afternoon)
17 JUN -- 18:07 -- 2.08 miles -- 28 elevation gain
             -- swim 800 meters
             -- 12:02 -- 1.41 miles -- 4 elevation gain
18 JUN -- 41:42 -- 5.22 miles -- 12 elevation gain
19 JUN -- 41:34 -- 4.72 miles -- 21 elevation gain
20 JUN -- 1:22:06 -- 10.40 miles -- 65 elevation gain
21 JUN -- off

TOTAL -- 4:31:21 -- 32.28 miles -- 1627  elevation gain

Getting real bored with my running options.  Foot and toe still hurting.  Morton's Neuroma sounds about right.  Still dragging my feet (no pun intended) on making an appointment though....




22 JUN -- 51:11 -- 6.47 miles -- 34 elevation gain
23 JUN -- 11:21 -- 138 miles -- 13 elevation gain
             -- swim 1200 meters
             -- 11:26 -- 1.38 miles -- 4 elevation gain
24 JUN -- 40:15 -- 5.07 miles -- 30 elevation gain
25 JUN -- 10:11 -- 1.33 miles -- 14 elevation gain
             -- 12:48 -- 0.31 miles -- 1150 elevation gain (Stairmaster)
             -- 9:55 -- 1.31 miles -- 4 elevation gain
26 JUN -- 21:59 -- 2.00 miles -- 792 elevation gain
27 JUN -- 1:34:06 -- 12.25 miles -- 93 elevation gain
28 JUN -- 28:08 -- 3.72 miles -- 37 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 4:51:20 -- 35.22 miles -- 2171 elevation gain

Solid week with no rest day.  Toe and foot still annoying.  Finally scheduled an appointment for 7 Jul to see what's up.  Mileage has decreased significantly since moving to NC, mostly because I've succumbed to the boredom and monotony of running the same routes day after day after day.  I need to find a way to mix it up, but there truly are limited options here. 




29 JUN -- off
30 JUN -- 31:08 -- 3.00 miles -- 1188 elevation gain
01 JUL -- 37:12 -- 5.11 miles -- 20 elevation gain
02 JUL -- 41:22 -- 4.94 miles -- 46 elevation gain (Fartlek run)
03 JUL -- 1:04:21 -- 8.25 miles -- 39 elevation gain
04 JUL -- 40:15 -- 3.08 miles -- 19 elevation gain (Family run with Kari and my brother)
05 JUL -- 56:12 -- 7.49 miles -- 39 elevation gain
             -- 12:58 -- 0.30 miles -- 1100 elevation gain
             -- 9:57 -- 1.27 miles -- 4 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 4:53:25 -- 33.44 miles -- 2455 elevation gain

A decent week.  I've only taken 1 rest day in 2 weeks, but I'm not getting in the mileage and time on my feet like I used to.  The only ways to get elevation training remain the treadmill and the Stairmaster.  The Doc is looking at my foot next week and it'll be nice to finally have a diagnosis.  My brother recently moved to Fayetteville, NC, a short drive from Camp Lejeune, and he's been here twice in the past few weeks.  It's nice to spend time with him, a luxury we haven't had in years.  I'm taking Monday off next week to take Eli to the aquarium before heading back to work on Tuesday.  I'm not registered for any races, but I've been looking.  I still don't have a desire to "race" but I'm very curious about how I'd perform at timed events.  I'm not keen on spending hours away from my family on Saturday/Sunday mornings, plus it's 100 degrees every day, so I might do an overnighter this coming weekend to get in a long run without losing playtime with Eli.

01-07 Jun

01 JUN -- 14:29 -- 1.30 miles -- 13 elevation gain
             -- 15:24 -- 0.32 miles -- 1200 elevation gain (stairmaster)
             -- 10:08 -- 1.29 miles -- 4 elevation gain
02 JUN -- 1:16:20 -- 10.03 miles -- 45 elevation gain
             -- 7:54 -- 0.16 miles -- 605 elevation gain (stairmaster)
             -- 9:25 -- 1.28 miles -- 4 elevation gain
03 JUN -- 11:54 -- 0.27 miles -- 1000 elevation gain
04 JUN -- 19:46 -- 3.01 miles -- 32 elevation gain
             -- 22:18 -- 2.98 miles -- 13 elevation gain
05 JUN -- off -- played slow pitch softball
06 JUN -- 1:43:54 -- 13.51 miles -- 70 elevation gain
07 JUN -- 37:12 -- 5.09 miles -- 20 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 5:28:44 -- 39.24 miles -- 3006 elevation gain

I'll continue to track my runs to the gym, the stairmaster workout, and the run home afterwards as separate workouts on here, but I'm tracking them as one continuous workout in my statistics for the year.  Although I stop my watch and reset it while I'm on the stairmaster, the whole workout is really just one run separated by a few doors and a flight of steps to the machine.  I don't want my total number of runs for the year to be inflated, which would happen if I counted each Stairmaster workout as 3 separate runs.  That's not confusing...

I'm finding that running around here continues to get more and more boring.  It will be a constant struggle to find happiness in running on flat, long, boring stretches on base.  There's a park outside the gate (Croatan National Forest) which has some cool trails from what I've seen and read online, but it's an hour and twenty minutes away - longer than my drive was to Shenandoah from our house in Fredericksburg.  I've been aimlessly running down dirt roads and through tall grassy fields looking for some type of new adventure, but they almost always lead to concrete or one of a thousand dirt tank trails on base that all look the same.  It's no use. 

This week, I'm going to start training hard for elevation on a treadmill.  Like many times in the past, Microsoft Excel has saved the planet by allowing me to plug and chug some simple numbers from the treadmill post-workout to tell me my elevation gain.  Microsoft has my vote for President, but don't tell my iPhone... 

I'm still thinking hard about signing up for some timed events in the summer or fall.  I'd really like to do a 12-hour event - I've never done one and I'm curious to see how many miles I can cover.  But I'm still not mentally comfortable with registering for any races.  My work schedule will largely dictate my race schedule over the next few years anyway.  Likewise, I'm still not keen on racing towards a finish line - those races aren't fun right now.  If the Marine Corps would give me 3 months off then I'd already be in the rental car heading south to Springer Mountain in GA to tackle the Appalachian Trail... 

11-31 May

11 MAY -- 1:17:00 -- 10.45 miles -- 456 elevation gain
12 MAY -- off
13 MAY -- 1:28:59 -- 10.67 miles -- 777 elevation gain (my last trail run in VA)
               -- 29:26 -- 1.95 miles -- 59 elevation gain (family run)
14 MAY -- 28:25 -- 4.20 miles -- 215 elevation gain
15 MAY -- 1:03:18 -- 8.12 miles -- 343 elevation gain
16 MAY -- 1:36:37 -- 11.67 miles -- 720 elevation gain
17 MAY -- off -- packing

TOTAL -- 6:23:45 -- 47.06 miles -- 2570 elevation gain

My last trail run was on the Fredericksburg Battlefield trails, my favorite close-to-home trail running location.  Unfortunately, the remainder of the miles this week were on roads and sidewalks near my neighborhood due to time restrictions as we prepared to move. 





18 MAY -- 31:48 -- 4.13 miles -- 207 elevation gain
               -- 35:00 -- 4.54 miles -- 197 elevation gain
19 MAY -- 1:30:00 -- 3.00 miles -- 174 elevation gain (mowing the lawn one final time...)
20 MAY -- 30:26 -- 4.13 miles -- 231 elevation gain
21 MAY -- off -- packed the entire house into a Penske truck in one day with the help of Alex P.
22 MAY -- off -- driving to Camp Lejeune -- but I did like 15 push ups in the morning with Eli
23 MAY -- off -- unloaded the entire truck in less than 3 hours with the help of my neighbors!
24 MAY -- 40:15 -- 5.29 miles -- 37 elevation gain (first run in flat Camp Lejeune)

TOTAL -- 3:47:29 -- 21.09 miles -- 846 elevation gain

Slow week for running since we had to pack the truck, make the move, and unpack the truck.  To be honest, I'm surprised I had the energy and motivation to run when I did.  Huge thanks to Alex P. and my awesome neighbors to take time out of their Memorial Day weekend to help me move our crap.





25 MAY -- 49:25 -- 3.05 miles -- 31 elevation gain
26 MAY -- off -- unpacking and interior decorating consumed my day
27 MAY -- 40:53 -- 5.13 miles -- 16 elevation gain
28 MAY -- 11:45 -- 1.39 miles -- 19 elevation gain (ran to the gym to use the Stairmaster...)
               -- 16:45 -- 0.28 miles -- 1488 elevation gain (Stairmaster)
               -- 15:34 -- 1.94 miles -- 19 elevation gain (took the long way home from the gym...)
               -- 29:21 -- 4.05 miles -- 39 elevation gain (why not...)
29 MAY -- 40:54 -- 5.20 miles -- 47 elevation gain
30 MAY -- 50:00 -- 6.45 miles -- 33 elevation gain
31 MAY -- 1:12:50 -- 9.48 miles -- 65 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 5:27:27 -- 36.97 miles -- 1757 elevation gain

Let me explain the Stairmaster workout before questions come up.  I did a little research - I did everything except physically measure the stairs on the machine I used with a tape measure.  I didn't remember the brand of the machine I used, so I used the most commonly referenced average of 17" per step.  After a little excel work, I translated the number of steps I climbed into mileage and elevation gain.  Simple.  Not really translatable to actual training and who knows if it will be good enough to sustain previous training, but it's really my only option.  I anticipate a lot of Stairmaster workouts between now and 2017.  And since I'll be spending so much time climbing steps, I felt that I should include it in my mileage and elevation statistics.  Right or wrong, who knows, but it's my blog and my study.  At the end of my running career, once (if?) I've reached my 10,000 hours or 100,000 miles or whatever the coolest milestone is to reach, if you have beef with it at that point then you can call me out.  Or, call me out right now and offer up a better solution to tracking this stuff - I'm open for suggestions. 

Camp Lejeune is the flattest place in the universe.  This is going to be a very long couple of years.  The nearest mountains are a few hours to the west, say, 3 hours drive to Raleigh.  The real mountains are in western NC about 6-7 hours away.  I'll most likely make the 5-6 hour drive back to VA before heading west to foreign trails.  I might take on some new challenges during my time at this duty station - possibly more timed events (24 hour, 48 hour, etc.) than races with actual finish lines.  The flat, never ending miles of service roads aboard Camp Lejeune make trail running possible but training for elevation impossible.  I might also have to trade my treadmill in for a Stairmaster...any takers?

27 Apr-10 May

27 APR -- 1:30:00 -- 3.00 miles -- 214 elevation gain
28 APR -- stationary bike 4 miles (morning)
              -- upper body weightlifting (afternoon)
29 APR -- stationary bike 10 miles
              -- 30:00 -- 1.50 miles -- 110 elevation gain
30 APR -- swim 1200 meters (morning)
              -- 10:15 -- 1.00 miles -- 85 elevation gain (afternoon)
              -- stationary bike 4 miles -- upper body weightlifting (also afternoon)
01 MAY -- off
02 MAY -- 52:21 -- 5.86 miles -- 726 elevation gain (24-hour ATR team relay race)
                -- 54:07 -- 6.01 miles -- 729 elevation gain
                -- 52:57 -- 5.81 miles -- 747 elevation gain
                -- 56:01 -- 6.02 miles -- 778 elevation gain
03 MAY -- 1:44:15 -- 6.10 miles -- 793 elevation gain (sweeping the 24-hour ATR course)
               -- 40:00 -- 2.00 miles -- 190 elevation gain (family walk)

TOTAL -- 7:39:56 -- 35.80 miles -- 4262 elevation gain

Heck of a week.  Did a little swimming, biking, and running.  The 24-hour Adventure Trail Run was fun and served as a great final race before moving to NC.  I got some bro time with Alex, Scott, Dave, Jack, and Snipes.  Kari and Eli even made an appearance and made some PB&J sandwiches in the kitchen.  When I wasn't running I tried to make myself useful wherever needed - timing, the aid station, or eating as much as I could (which isn't really useful to anyone other than me).  It was a great race with a positive and motivating environment, as always is present at Athletic Equation events.





04 MAY -- 42:05 -- 3.84 miles -- 604 elevation gain
               -- 40 pull ups -- 150 ammo can presses -- upper body weightlifting
05 MAY -- stationary bike 9 miles (morning)
               -- 29:24 -- 2.88 miles -- 363 elevation gain (afternoon)
06 MAY -- 47:01 -- 6.02 miles -- 400 elevation gain
07 MAY -- stationary bike 3 miles -- upper body weightlifting (morning)
               -- 1:30:00 -- 3.00 miles -- 174 elevation gain (mowing the grass in the afternoon)
08 MAY -- stationary bike 10 miles
               -- 9:35 -- 1.00 miles -- 55 elevation gain
09 MAY -- 1:00:22 -- 8.40 miles -- 292 elevation gain
10 MAY -- 41:58 -- 5.77 miles -- 372 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 5:20:25 -- 30.91 miles -- 2260 elevation gain

Did some more biking and some running here and there.  This was my last week at Expeditionary Warfare School, so now I am on vacation until 7 Jun.  I hope to get in some decent longer runs during my break, but we also need to pack the house and move to NC.  I've been spending every second I can with Eli over the past 4 days and it's been too fun.  I've already shortened a run so I could get home by the time he woke up from his nap so we could hang out.  It's hard to willingly be absent from home to go running, but I'll need to get in a few longer training runs to stay in shape. 

13-26 Apr

13 APR -- 26:10 -- 3.03 miles -- 16 elevation gain (another Physical Fitness Test)
14 APR -- off -- rest
15 APR -- stationary bike 5 miles
16 APR -- swim 1600 meters
17 APR -- stationary bike 6 miles (morning)
              -- upper body weightlifting (afternoon)
18 APR -- off
19 APR -- off

TOTAL -- 26:10 -- 3.03 miles -- 16 elevation gain

A total of 16 feet of elevation for the week is an all-time low!  Took a full week to recover from Bull Run, except for the 3-mile PFT on Monday morning.





20 APR -- 10:00 -- 1.00 miles -- 145 elevation gain
21 APR -- swim 1600 meters (morning)
              -- upper body weightlifting (afternoon)
22 APR -- 31:21 -- 4.08 miles -- 192 elevation gain
23 APR -- 9:00 -- 1.00 miles -- 75 elevation gain
24 APR -- off
25 APR -- 9:08:17 -- 58.71 miles -- 884 elevation gain (C&O Canal 100)
26 APR -- 45:00 -- 1.00 miles -- 89 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 10:43:38 -- 65.79 miles -- 1385 elevation gain

So, another drop from C&O Canal 100 on Saturday.  I hit the 50 mile mark at 7:40:00 and was feeling great all the way to the point where I dropped.  I should have kept running - I felt really good, my legs were feeling good, I had a lot left in the tank, I was in third place, and I was on pace to break 16 hours if I kept my pace below 9:30 per mile.  I just didn't care whether or not I finished the race, so I stopped and went home...





I believe I've hit a point in ultraRACING where it isn't fun anymore, but ultraRUNNING still has my deepest interests.  It really bothered me to know that I would (most likely) have finished under 17 hours, possibly even under 16 hours, and there's no fun in that.  Most of you, as you read this, are thinking I'm an idiot for giving up such a great race with a great time, and you're right.  But I just don't care to say "I did it."  Also, an overwhelming feeling of guilt swept over me the last few miles that I did run, and I felt that I needed to be home with my family instead of being selfish and chasing meaningless goals all weekend.  I hope you don't take offense to that.  It's how I feel about ultraRACING at this point.  Simply put, my racing hobby isn't aligning with my personal interests right now. 

Maybe I raced too much over the past few years and sucked all the fun out of it.  Maybe I put too much pressure on myself to beat my watch every race.  Who knows.  But what I do know is that I'm done racing for awhile.  I still really enjoy testing my body through endurance running and I don't intend to stop training, but I'll be training only to satisfy my personal curiosities about pushing my body to the limits.  I might race once in awhile with some friends or to keep my ultraracing flame burning, but I won't be racing every month anymore.  Right now my priorities are spending time with family, preparing to change jobs, finishing my MBA, and watching my son discover the world. 

I have aspirations of finding new limits and finding new ways to incorporate endurance running in my life.  I want to run across the country one day, the long way, not the short way.  I'm talking San Diego to Boston, or Seattle to Miami.  And I won't be finishing in Times Square with a hoard of media and cameras.  I'll probably walk the last day with my son on a skateboard and my wife dragging my ass the rest of the way to the coastline.

Maybe I'll run the entire Appalachian Trail.  Or, maybe I'll make my own damn challenge and run wherever I want.  I'd really like to be a college professor one day and take a sabbatical to complete some nonsensical running challenge for 6 months and call it "research."

I also wouldn't mind having my own television show where I travel around the globe running the best trails and eating the best foods, all while giving viewers a glimpse of the life of an endurance athlete.  As popular as ultrarunning has become over the past few years, there are still masses of people around the world who can't fathom that someone could run 50 miles in one day, let alone 100 miles in 16 hours.  Those folks should be exposed to our culture.  Maybe this show would be inspiring to people.  Maybe it could show people that they can go almost anywhere and do almost anything with just their two legs.  Or that people can do something amazing with nothing more than a pair of shoes and a little desire to push the limits of what they thought was possible.  I'd give Anthony Bourdain a run for his money. 

My high school baseball coach used to say that it takes no talent to hustle, and he couldn't have been more right!  It really doesn't take any talent to run, only the motivation and desire to do so.  You don't need to be fast or look good while you do it, trust me.  I ran my first 50 mile race in basketball shorts and basketball shoes, and I was unaware that I looked like a clown in my headband and cotton t-shirt.  I'm telling you...anyone can go run 50 miles today, right now.  It might take you 20 hours, and you might have to walk the last 40 miles, but you can go cover 50 miles of ground right now! 

For me, I'm doing some searching deep down to find a new challenge to test my personal limits.  My 10,000 hours study will continue, without a doubt.  I'll continue running because I truly enjoy the sport, but I'm done racing and done executing race-specific training until I can find new ways to challenge myself.  I have no interest in achieving new PRs at any ultra distances, and I won't be trying to win any races anytime soon.  I am, however, intrigued about where else my feet can take me.  I look forward to new trails, new locations, and new opportunities to test myself when we move to North Carolina in a few weeks.  I'm going to really miss Shenandoah National Park, Buck Hollow trail, Hazel Mountain, Prince William Forest, Quantico base trails, and all the other places I've been running around in VA since 2012, but it's time for a change and time to find new places to run (not that I had a choice). 

Lastly, I'm honestly amazed that over 1,000 people have read my most recent post about 10,000 hours of ultrarunning.  I hope that all of those readers enjoyed it and that it stirred up conversations within groups of runners.  It's a shame that NOBODY left a comment though.  Strange.  I was really hoping to create some dialogue and that someone would call me out for something so that we could continue with an academic and professional discussion about an interesting topic.  I've heard that a few folks left comments on Facebook somewhere - it's unfortunate that I don't have Facebook...  I suppose I'll never know whether I'm onto something or if I have tunnel vision and I'm lost somewhere out in right field.

10,000 Hours of Ultrarunning

10,000 HOURS OF ULTRARUNNING

AJ Cillo

I’ve been much busier than anticipated lately and, to be honest, I’ve been quite lazy about writing on here.  But, I’m feeling refreshed after my grad class ended and I finished my 2,000-word paper for work, so I’ll finally write this post.  I’ve been wanting to for a while because I’m interested in where I can go with the data.

After doing much more research about this, it appears that many people have written about running in relation to the 10,000 hours theory.  Some things were well written and made sense, some were self-indulging but offered great alleys into other topics of research.  That’s my opinion, of course.  And that’s the beauty of this blog – it’s mine and I can write what I want.  If you’ve read my posts in the past then you know that I’m critical of many people and many things, but none more than myself.  I genuinely enjoy making fun of myself, whether I’m telling the truth or making up a bunch of lies – you’ll never know.  I’m a humble person and I don’t like to be the center of attention, but on here I like to lay it all out for the reader.  I’m not hiding behind my words and I’ll gladly have these discussions in person.  But nobody ever asks.

A brief refresher about this theory.  Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers claims that it takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill, sport, trade, etc.  Reaching mastery, therefore, classifies that individual as an expert in that field.  Gladwell describes a few historical examples to illustrate his point, all of which have been used all over the internet since his book was published.  The Beatles, violin players, and chess players form the heart of his argument.  If you do a quick Loogle search about the 10,000 hours theory and spend 10 minutes reading the first few hits then you will have a decent understanding of the wave tops.  You certainly don’t need to rush over to amazon.com to buy Gladwell’s book, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. 

Ok.  Up front, I’ll give you my running statistics from 12 Feb 2014 to 12 Feb 2015, an entire year’s worth of running:

Number of runs:              246

Total running time:          371 hours, 41 minutes, 52 seconds

Total Distance:                  2,111.06 miles

Average Pace:                   10:34 per mile

Total Elevation Gain:       219,441 feet

Average Miles/Month:   175.92

Average Miles/Week:     40.60

Average Miles/Day:         5.78

Average Miles/Run:         8.58

Average Elevation/Run:  892 feet of gain

Average time per run:     1.51 hours

I want to break down each data set, for my own satisfaction.  Feel free to read on if you’re interested. 

The number of runs, 246, is not entirely accurate but is within +/- 5 runs.  During the summer I remember lumping together morning and afternoon runs a handful of times, then logging them as a single run.  Oh well.  This isn’t necessarily critical to the study but I wanted to point it out anyway.  Some of the runs were races, some were more like hikes, some were actual hikes, some were walks with my photographer during her (our) pregnancy, some were simple training runs, and some were meant to keep me from punching someone in the chest.  I counted them all as “runs” because they were all adding to my mileage and adding to time spent on my feet (which I’m more interested in than the mileage). 

I want to really dissect the time, distance, and elevation stats, so I will come back to them at the end.

Average pace was 10:34 per mile – not bad I suppose.  I calculated this using “running time”, meaning that when I stopped to sleep for a few hours during 3 Days at the Fair, I also stopped my running time which affected average pace.  I find this more practical than averaging my pace including stoppage time because, ultimately, I want to test the accuracy of the notion that spending 10,000 hours practicing something will make you an expert in that field/sport/hobby/etc.  If I had included stoppage time in my calculations I could probably add 30-40 hours onto my total running time, which isn’t accurate and will skew the data for this study.  In theory, I would reach 10,000 hours of running months or years sooner if I included stoppage time.  This isn’t soccer.  Or futbol.

I averaged just over 40 miles per week, based on a 365-day calendar, 12 months, and 7-day weeks.  I’m not satisfied or dissatisfied with this number – makes no difference to me.  Deep down, I wish I had trained more and harder, but who doesn’t.  I’d say 95% of those miles were focused, meaningful, purpose-related miles and only a few runs were “junk” miles simply to burn some calories so I could eat cookies later that day.  However, over the summer while I was working at Officer Candidates School, the majority of my runs and hikes were not directly focused on training for races but were scripted, prescribed events that didn’t allow for any flexibility.  Nonetheless, I counted the fartlek courses, hikes, sprint workouts, and other courses we ran towards my mileage and running time.  On the flip side, the nature of working there meant walking everywhere, at a fast pace, every day, all the time.  Thus, I probably walked or hiked 30-40 miles back and forth across the parade deck that I never accounted for because I didn’t have the time or patience to mess with my watch in front of candidates all day.  Consequently, I probably didn’t account for 7-10 hours as a result.  In the long run, this won’t tremendously affect the study and I will account for this data separately and consider it the alpha, or delta, or difference, or (whatever) of the results. 

I ran 246 times for a total of 2,111.06 miles – an average of 8.58 miles each run.  Keep in mind that I took plenty of days off but also ran multiple times on other days.  Also, my races and longer training runs skewed this number slightly.  For example, 3 Days at the Fair tallied 120 miles over a weekend, Bull Run and JFK tallied 50 miles each of those days, etc. etc.  If I consider the data without the longer runs, I most likely average between 4-6 miles during a typical training run.  Although I care more about quality than quantity, I would like to increase my miles per run this upcoming year to 6-8 miles, but that will require larger chunks of time which I probably won’t be afforded due to the workload of my next job. 

Elevation gain was a planning factor for every run.  Sometimes, I deliberately ran particular routes because of the elevation they offered.  I oftentimes ran hill repeats as well, especially in/around the I-95 corridor where the biggest hill I’ve found over the past 3 years has less than 300 feet of gain.  On average, I climbed just under 900 feet during each run.  Not bad.  Not good.  But, considering where I live and the limited options I have when compared to west coasters, I’m satisfied with that number.  I wish the number was closer to 2,000 feet, but it is what it is.  I can’t afford, nor do I have the time, to make the hour and 15 minute trip to the Shenandoah Mountains on a daily basis.  If I lived in Colorado Springs I’d have those trails memorized by the end of the first month…and I’d have long hair, a beard, and wear sunglasses to bed.  But for now, I’ll settle with being a mediocre runner at 40 miles per week and continue giving up my time to provide the warm blanket of freedom that covers my wife and son every night.

Ok, now to the meat and potatoes of this paper: distance and time spent running.  I also found a few other studies out there that were very interesting to me.  I’ll discuss all of this below.

First, a quick reminder that all of my statistics were tracked using my Garmin 310XT GPS watch.  2,111.06 miles over a period of 371 hours, 41 minutes, 52 seconds (371:41:52).  Again, average pace was 10:34 per mile and each run lasted roughly 90 minutes (1.51 hours).  My mileage averages were 5.78 per day, 40.60 per week, and 175.92 per month.  I’ve told a few people these numbers and they raised their eyebrows at me.  Some standard responses followed: “I don’t think I drove my car that far last year”, “That’s insane”, “That’s why you’re so skinny”, and “How did your knees not fall off?”  But is it really that impressive?  After doing some research, it appears that I’m still on the JV squad.

Andy Jones-Wilkins wrote an article on 22 March 2013 on the topic of running for 10,000 hours.  In it, he proclaimed the following: “But I can say, for me, this 10,000 hour rule has proven true. For the past 20 years I have run roughly 600-700 hours a year (with a few inevitable “breaks” for injuries). So, as of now, that is right around Gladwell’s magic number.”  I didn’t see any hard and fast numbers anywhere else in the article, and it’s hard to do the math with a potential delta of +/- 100 hours, but I think his numbers would look something like the data below.

I assumed that he held a pace roughly the same as I did at 10:34 per mile, and I think that’s reasonable considering he is, after all, Andy Jones-Wilkins.  Thus, he ran roughly twice as much as I did.  Let’s call it 80% more due to the 100 hour swing in his reporting.  So, taking my numbers and making them all “roughly” 80% bigger would result with this:

Roughly 600-700 hours per year (?)

Roughly 3,800 miles per year, for 20 consecutive years (How did his knees not fall off???)

Roughly 316 miles per month

Roughly 73 miles per week, every week, for over 1,000 continuous weeks…

Roughly 10.4 miles per day

These numbers are really high.  Like, roughly 80% higher than mine!  Think about this: if Andy had decided to take a day off, at an average of 10.4 miles per day, he had to run over 20 miles the next day to make up for it...for 20…straight…years…  Can you imagine what his Monday run was like if he decided to take a weekend vacation???  Obviously, there were 100 mile races in there, a lot of them.  And there were taper weeks, 50 mile races, 40 mile training runs, etc. etc.  I’m not oblivious to the training cycles and other factors that contribute to these numbers.  But, clearly, I’m not at the top of my field if other folks are putting in these kinds of numbers.  With the absence of solid data, however, can we really trust these numbers?  Are they inflated?  Who knows and who cares…  Andy’s been crushing the sport of ultrarunning for nearly longer than I’ve been alive, so I’m certainly not going to question him.  Furthermore, he got it right at the end of his article when he wrote, “And, while I don’t pretend to think that I have mastered this craft like Gates and the Beatles have mastered theirs, I can say that this is one place in my life that I have achieved a level of success and satisfaction with which I am content. And, I dare say, for a middle-aged guy putting one foot in front of the other, contentment is about as good as it gets.”  The best part is that we don’t need a GPS watch to measure his level of humility here…or maybe we do…

But did Andy peak after 10,000 hours, or did he peak earlier into his career?  Since the article was written two years ago, he should be over 11,000 hours by now.  So, does the 10,000 hours theory translate to more and more mastery in the sport of ultrarunning?  Heck no.  He was certainly faster 10 years ago than he is today, even with all the added deliberate practice.  Gladwell’s theory applies to things such as chess, playing the violin, and other things, but I don’t think ultrarunning is one of them.  Alex Hutchinson would agree (refer to his article at the bottom).  Nature vs Nurture?  (do I hear a Wedding Crashers quote?).  Are there naturals, or do all experts practice incessantly to reach mastery?  My head hurts…  Anyway, another runner named Steve Magness mentioned this in an article as well when he said, “The problem is that we've oversimplified genetics and talent. Talent has almost become a negative word. It’s often used in the context that if someone is talented they don’t work hard, as in “oh, he’s just really talented,” to explain a person’s success.”

Karl Meltzer might disagree with this, though, because he hasn’t really lost a step over the years, nor has he made any significant improvements since the early 2000’s.  He’s been at the top of the sport since the day he stepped onto the trail.  To illustrate, consider the following.  In 2011 he ran the Wasatch 100 in 20:59:53.  He ran the same race in 20:08:00 in 1998, 20:54:18 in 2002, 20:46:35 in 2003, 20:06:08 in 2004, and 20:18:58 in 2006.  This is the epitome of consistency over time.  On the flip side, he won the Massanutten Mountain 100 in 18:40:23 at 46 years old in 2014, which was an hour and 20 minutes faster than his time in 2005 at 37.  He is the ageless wonder, much like the 71-year old Gary Knipling who continues to finish 100 mile races after 23+ years of ultrarunning (his first recorded ultrarace was the Vermont 100 in 1992, according to www.ultrasignup.com). 

Going back to Steve Magness – I ran across two articles that he wrote recently.  Both are listed as (scholarly) references at the bottom of this paper.  According to Steve’s website he is the cross country coach for the University of Houston.  He also stated that he coached Nike runners for a year and a half before heading to Houston.  Unlike Andy, Steve apparently tracked and logged his runs from 01 November 2001 to 12 May 2012, right around ten and a half years.  This captured his runs from his junior year in high school until he was 27 years old.  He claimed his mileage added up to 44,000 miles during that time.  But, he explained later in his article, “Of course I didn’t have my freshman and sophomore year recorded [in high school], so it’s more like mile ~9,000 in a 48,000mi journey, but you get the point...”  He was making the claim that he reached “mastery” around mile 9,000 of the 48,000 he ran, or, as better explained in time rather than distance, around 3.5 years into his career.  Doing the math I was able to quickly convert years into hours, as the study is focused on hours based on the title of his article (“Why Gladwell’s 10,000 rule is just plain wrong”).  I assume that 9,000 miles and 3.5 years into his career equates to 1,050 hours using a 7:00 minute per mile pace.  I am also assuming that, since he arbitrarily declared that he ran 2,000 miles during each his freshman and sophomore years in high school (4,000 miles, divided by two years), I calculate that he ran a total of 48,000 miles over 12.5 years.  Thus, his numbers would look like this: (roughly, of course)

800 hours per year (?)

3,840 miles per year

320 miles per month

73.8 miles per week, every week, for 650 weeks

10.5 miles per day

These are eerily similar to Andy’s numbers.  In fact, Andy ran 10.4 miles per day, Steve ran 10.5.  Again, these are all numbers I pretty much pulled from thin air using the little bit of information they gave me in their articles.  There are numerous external factors that would affect this data such as pace per mile, stoppage time, etc.  But one thing sticks out like a hooker in church: Andy reached 10,000 hours in 20 years, Steve in 12.5 years, but the rest of their numbers are the same.  How did that happen?  Something isn’t jiving.  But, in Steve’s defense, he wrote, “Add in my freshman and sophomore year plus all the strength, biomechanics, and extra work and you’re looking at easily over 10,000 hours of training.”  So, maybe Steve’s numbers sway to the left if his total run time is 12,000 hours, or even 15,000 hours.  All of his numbers would decrease: miles per year, miles per month, miles per week, time per run, etc.  Something that only interests ultrarunners is the elevation statistic, so it isn’t surprising that he didn’t track it. 

So is this proof that Microsoft Excel works?  Did Andy drastically miscalculate how many hours he ran?  Or did Steve miscalculate the number of hours he put in?  I’m sure that Steve’s pace per mile during his 10,000 hours was nearly half what Andy’s was, which could have significant impacts on the rest of their data.  I’m not saying that my way of logging runs, using a Garmin GPS watch and Excel, is the correct way to do this study, but it sure makes sense to me.  Nonetheless, I’m still at the mercy of Garmin’s device to correctly track mileage and elevation.  It’s hard to screw up time spent running – any watch can do this.  Either way, I’d still buy some shares of Microsoft if you have some disposable income under your mattress… 

Something else I noticed while reading Steve’s articles is that he contradicted himself.  Again, that’s my opinion, of course.  The title of one of his articles is “Why ‘Gladwell’s’ 10,000 rule is just plain wrong”, which tells me he isn’t a believer in the theory.  He gave it that title because in his personal running career he peaked much earlier than 10,000 hours – around 1,050 hours.  But if you interpret the 10,000 hour theory in other ways, it clearly paid dividends.  To illustrate, consider that he is currently a college cross country coach and has coached Nike runners in the past.  Evidently, running for 10,000 hours gave him the credibility and expertise he needed to initially be placed in those positions.  But, the title of his article claims that the 10,000 hour rule is baloney.  Sure, maybe he hit his peak running performance when he was younger, but he still compiled experience and knowledge along the way to 10,000 hours.  Maybe he wasn’t an expert runner, but he certainly gained an expert reputation within the field.  If he hadn’t ran ~48,000 miles and upwards of 12,000 hours, would he be coaching college runners today?  Would he have coached Nike runners?  Hence, there is a contradiction.

In any event, I don’t have the time, energy, money, running shoe inventory, patience, iTunes playlist, or interest to sustain running 74 miles/week for 1 year – let alone 10.5 or 12.5 of them.  I have a lot of respect for Andy and Steve, and for cross country runners everywhere, because I know guys and gals are putting in 70-80 miles per week all around the country.  In the end, I still can’t fathom running that many miles on a weekly basis for 10+ years.  But one day soon, the 2-hour barrier will be broken in the marathon distance by one of those runners – it certainly won’t be one of us older guys.  It’ll be a younger runner, probably in college or a recent graduate, only 3,000-5,000 hours into his running career.  Certainly Meb isn’t going to get any faster in his old age.  I don’t foresee Ryan Hall breaking two hours.  In fact, after feeling my heart sink as I watched Ryan Hall drop from the Olympic marathon a few years ago, I don’t think much of him at all anymore.

But, a fellow named Dennis Kimetto recently ran a marathon in 2:02:57, so the human race is getting closer and closer to breaking the barrier (Todd Hargrove article).  What’s fascinating about Kimetto is that nobody has a record of him running a race prior to 2011.  Has he mysteriously reached 10,000 hours of running from his home on the other side of the world?  Has he always deliberately practiced running, or was it simply the only way to get from point A to point B?  Just four years ago he was a farmer…  I would call Kimetto a Black Swan, but that’s just me.  By the way, his 2:02:57 marathon equates to 4:41 per mile…

Moving on…  I averaged just 1.5 hours per run during the last year, for an average of 40 miles per week.  Doing quick math yet again, I would have to spend nearly 3 hours running on 246 days out of the year to reach 73 miles per week.  Albeit, that is using my average pace of 10:34 per mile.  Magness ran competitively in both high school and college, neither of which I did, and I’m sure he spent at least 3 days each week on the track, whereas I spend 0 days ever on the track.  I’m sure he put in his mileage on the track with Nike runners as well.  His pace per mile had to be in the 6:00-7:00 minute range during his 10,000 hours, maybe even sub-6:00, meaning he spent far less time running 73 miles per week than it would take me on the trails in my clunkers.

I came across many other interesting articles and writings during my research.  Some of the stuff I read was pertinent to this paper, some a little less relevant.  Here are some other things that are loosely related but still good knowledge to have. 

Maria Popova explained in her article: “Ericsson finds world-class champions – whether weight-lifters, pianists, or a dog-sled team – tend to limit arduous practice to about four hours a day.  Rest and restoring physical and mental energy get built into the training regimen.  They seek to push themselves and their bodies to the max, but not so much that their focus gets diminished in the practice session.  Optimal practice maintains optimal concentration.”  Right off the bat, it should be obvious to nearly everyone that 4 hours of running every day is not sustainable for 10,000 hours.  Again, this applies the 10,000 hour theory to only certain sports, trades, hobbies, fields, etc., and ultrarunning isn’t one of them.  It can’t be.  Running for 4 hours every day until reaching 10,000 hours would take 2,500 days, or 6.8 years.  Depending on pace, someone could easily run a marathon a day in that time, totaling mileage to an astronomical 65,500 miles over that short period.  Sure, Dean Karnazes ran across the country, did 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, etc., but can he run for 4 hours every day for 2,500 days?  That isn’t a dare, Dean.  Just me putting my thoughts onto paper.  In contrast to all this, if someone practiced chess, playing the violin, reading, knitting, or painting for 4 hours a day, then they might truly be an expert in their field.  This leads to more questions…

Is there a maximum heart rate tied to this?  For instance, elevating your heart rate above a certain level might take away training value to whatever it is you’re practicing.  Playing soccer for 10,000 hours might be beneficial for someone, but only if she keeps her heart rate below a certain level so that she can remain focused on improving a particular ability rather than switching into survival mode.  The fight or flight concept isn’t new, but does it apply to the 10,000 hour theory?  I’m not smart enough to answer that, but maybe someone else wants to research it…  Furthermore, practicing soccer for 10,000 hours might work if the individual can stay healthy and receive feedback.  Staying healthy is obviously essential to continued practice, but the feedback loop is essential to continued accurate practice.  It should be evident that practicing something incorrectly for 10,000 hours doesn’t mean you’re an expert.  However, it could result in being an expert idiot.  The first thing that comes to mind is something my college baseball coach once told me.  He said, “I don’t care if you put the bat between your legs and hit the ball that way, as long as you’re efficient it doesn’t matter to me.”  Hence, if I practice hitting with the bat between my legs for 10,000 hours, I might be able to rack up base hits and homeruns, but I’m going to look like a real idiot the entire time.  Then again, my coach was kind of an idiot, so take that for what it’s worth.  Or, if you don’t care what people think of you, then swing away!  That’s why I run without a shirt every chance I get.  And because my nipples chafe.

There is a YouTube documentary/series called “10,000 Hours” by a basketball player named Devin Williams.  It’s entertaining and pertinent to the study, but you won’t learn much scholarly information from it.  This was more of a shout out to Devin, who I don’t know but I’ve learned to really like simply by watching his series on YouTube. 

I found a really good definition of deliberate practice in an article, which was essentially just an excerpt from Cathy Utzschneider’s book Mastering Running.  Cathy explains, “Deliberate practice is practice aimed at reaching goals just beyond your present level of competence; it involves focusing on your weaknesses and specific needs, practicing your skills repeatedly, and continually adjusting them with feedback from a coach or teacher.”  I really like this.  It’s exactly what I always thought deliberate practice meant but I could never put it so eloquently into words. 

Cathy also wrote, “One reason it takes more than a few years to achieve one’s best result is simple: it takes that long to figure out the mix of physical and mental training habits, including strength training, patience, and race strategy that work best for you, and that mix changes over time.”  I completely agree!  However, I think the timeline to reach mastery can be shortened with good coaching, establishing good practice/training habits at the forefront, and a good feedback loop from experienced people in that field.

Cathy made another point in the little bit of her book that I read.  She wrote, “Masters runner Priscilla Welch started running at age 34 and achieved her personal best in the marathon 8 years later, at age 42, running 2:26:51 (Rodgers and Welch 1991). Older legs can be fresher legs. It took the female masters runners in my doctoral dissertation an average of 7.5 years to reach their best times, whether they started running in their teens or after age 30 (Utzschneider 2002).”  Here is a picture which helps to explain this.  I copied it from the website listed in my references.

 

 

This reminds me of Rob Krar and how he appeared from thin air to storm onto ultrarunning podiums all over the west coast.  Albeit, he was in and out of running his entire life, and at different points took years away from the sport due to surgeries.  But he was never competitive in ultrarunning before 2012.  Now he has back-to-back UROY awards above his fireplace. 

But Cathy – finally!  Someone who did legitimate research on this topic, rather than some young punk just writing aimlessly without an agenda about his annual statistics on a blog…  Thank you, Cathy.  I just bought the Kindle version of your book.

There is one last article I’d like to break down here by a gentlemen named Christopher Russell.  He wrote, “We hear a lot of new-agey talk about getting into flow states these days.  A flow state is when you’re ‘in the zone’ when everything just flows effortlessly and perfectly from you without thought or direction.”  Although I’ve never heard the term flow state, I understand the philosophy of being in the zone.  He also wrote, “In a flow state people report a feeling of confidence and well-being and peaceful bliss.  They report that time either slows down or that it speeds up to facilitate the flow state.  They know what to do without thinking about it, like an inner voice is making the decisions, the right decisions, seamlessly, every step of the way.”  I couldn’t agree more, Christopher!  During numerous longer runs or races I remember completely losing track of time, place, weather, breathing, eating and drinking.  I seemed to sort of float along the trail until something external to the sound of my shoes hitting the dirt, such as hearing another person or hearing something out of place in the woods like a plane or sirens, finally broke me from my trance-like state.  Surprisingly, I sometimes “wake up” from these episodes feeling groggy and suddenly realizing the pain.  I think Russell hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “The flow state doesn’t happen magically.  It can only be accessed through hours of practice.”

Russell also wrote two things that I went back to read a few more times so I could get a grasp on the concepts.  First, he stated, “I propose that the Zone 2 and long easy form runs are the physical practices that enables flow.  This repetition creates a physical memory that you draw from without thought.  These training runs are your 10,000 hours of practice.”  I partially agree.  The guy that runs the same 8 mile route, at the same speed, at the same time every day, is not the expert runner once he hits 3,000 hours, 5,000 hours, 10,000 hours, or even 20,000 hours.  I think the expert is the well-rounded runner who has trained outside of his/her comfort zone to determine every area for which practice is needed.  It’s the guy who reads about running, writes about running, listens to stories from other runners, and accepts criticism from others.  For example, I rarely step foot on a track, therefore I probably won’t ever be an expert runner because I probably won’t develop the fast-twitch muscles needed for speed, and I probably couldn’t hang with the local high school cross country team during their track workout.  But I read about track workouts, and I’ve done some longer training runs with high school track and cross country coaches and soaked up every word they said. 

On the other hand, someone like Steve Magness, who has spent years (although he’s the same age as me) training on the track, doing longer runs, etc., might be more qualified as an expert.  Do I think he IS an expert in the field of running?  Not really.  Do I think Andy is an expert in ultrarunning?  Not really.  But then again there’s no true way to measure whether they are or aren’t, so I can’t be wrong.  Do I think Alberto Salazar is an expert in the sport of running?  Yes.  He has years and years, and more years, of experience and being around runners of different calibers from which he draws his training programs.  I think he is more well-rounded and knowledgeable about running than anyone else, anywhere.  It’s sort of like History majors…we always want to poke fun at them while we’re in college, but now we all work for one…probably because they spent 10,000 hours reading and studying while the rest of us spent 10,000 hours partying, running, hooping…

This brings up arguably the most important and most debatable question that we should all be scrambling to answer: What defines someone as an expert runner? 

Many questions branch off from this: What is the unit of measure to determine whether or not someone is an expert runner?  Is it a question of quality or quantity, meaning the number of races won or the number of races raced?  Or is it a matter of neither quality nor quantity of racing, but of quality or quantity of coaching experiences?  Or is it simply the educated runner who has read every piece of literature, every magazine, every article, etc., but who has never won a race?  Is it the runner who has logged 100,000 lifetime miles?  200,000 lifetime miles?  Is it Scott Jurek?  Is it Dean Karnazes?  Is it Kimetto?  Does someone have to look like a runner to be considered an expert?  If so then Salazar is out.  How do we define mastery in ultrarunning?  We can take this in so many different directions that it boggles my mind.  How people define an expert runner could be drastically different than what people perceive an expert runner to actually be.  This is fundamental to the study, but I’m not about to offer a solution to this just yet.

The second thing Christopher wrote that made me physically laugh was, “You become a mystic being – a flow warrior.”  This is awesome!  I don’t agree or disagree, it’s simply just too crunchy for me…

At the end of the day, I had fun researching and writing about this theory.  Reaching 10,000 hours, for me, seems out of reach until my 50’s, which is fine.  I’ll continue logging my training and racing simply because I’m a math geek and I think Microsoft Excel is possibly the greatest invention ever.  I know my brother Alex would agree.  He’s an accountant. I’ve seen his work.  It’s well above average. 

After reading this you might be thinking, “What was his argument?”  That’s because I didn’t really make one.  It’s too early into my running career to be scientific about this stuff.  Plus, I haven’t done legitimate research.  I’ve merely read a few articles, books, and magazines.  This paper was mostly an exercise in copy-and-paste and compare-and-contrast.  I intend to continue writing about this as the years go on and I continue to work towards 10,000 hours of running.  Not because I want to reach 10,000 hours, but because I enjoy running and racing.  I still contemplate many questions, though. 

First, and most importantly, how many hours have I racked up so far?  I’ve only logged the last year and some change, but what about the previous 28 years of my life?  What about 2012 and 2013, when I raced about 10 times each year?  How many hours did I spend training for those races?  I don’t have a clue.

What counts as time spent running?  Do the times I spent chasing frisbees at the park when I was 7 years old count towards my 10,000 hours?  If so, how do I measure the amount of hours I spent running 20 years ago?  I’m certainly not going to throw a guestimate on a spreadsheet.  If I ran to the mailbox and back to get my mail, but I focused really hard on landing softly on the balls of my feet, should I add 23 seconds towards my 10,000 hours?  I might be getting a little ridiculous with this, but seriously…that all counts, right?  Before every football practice, baseball practice, and basketball practice, we would do some warm up laps around the field/court, some suicides, sprints, you name it.  Do those count?  What about the running during the practices themselves?  Does that count?  During football we were always running, but we were mostly focused on something else – carrying the ball, catching the ball, chasing the dude with the ball, etc.  So, since I wasn’t deliberately practicing running, do all those hours and hours count towards this study?  Should I consider other fitness activities towards my 10,000 hours of running, since they also increase stamina and may contribute to decreased 5k times, 10k times, etc.? 

I like where this could go and I really enjoy thinking and writing about it.  In another year, look for the dash-2 to this paper…

Feel free to comment on this post and let me know what you think.  Am I jacked up?  Did I say anything that doesn’t make any sense at all?  Don’t be afraid to tell me I’m an idiot, as long as you have some ammo to back it up. 

 

References

Alex Hutchinson.  August 22, 2013.  “On Malcolm Gladwell and ‘Naturals’.”  Runner’s World. 

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/on-malcolm-gladwell-and-naturals

Andy Jones-Wilkins.  March 22, 2013.  “Running and the 10,000 Hour Rule.”  iRunFar.

http://www.irunfar.com/2013/03/running-and-the-10000-hour-rule.html

Cathy Utzschneider.  “Ten Years or 10,000 Hours to Excellence.”  Human Kinetics.  Excerpt from

Mastering Running. 

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/ten-years-or-10000-hours-to-excellence

Christopher Russell.  May 28, 2014.  “Finding Flow in your running and your 10,000 hours.”  Run Run

                Live.  http://runrunlive.com/finding-flow-in-your-running-and-your-10000-hours

Maria Popova.  “Debunking the Myth of the 10,000-Hours Rule: What It Actually Takes to Reach Genius-

Level Excellence.”  Brain Pickings.  http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/22/daniel-goleman-

focus-10000-hours-myth/

Steve Magness.  “The 10,000 hr rule and why talent and genes matter.”  The Science of Running. 

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2010/07/10000hr-rule-and-why-talent-and-genes.html

Steve Magness.  “Why ‘Gladwell’s’ 10,000 rule is just plain wrong.”  The Science of Running. 

                http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2014/03/why-gladwells-10000-rule-is-just-plain.html

Todd Hargrove.  October 2, 2014.  “10,000 Hours and Marathon Records.”  Better Movement. 

http://www.bettermovement.org/2014/10000-hours-and-marathon-records/

Ultra Signup.  http://ultrasignup.com/