Training Update T-9

First and foremost, another thanks to those who have helped me by donating to the Fisher House Foundation in the past week.  Thanks to those who have donated recently:

- Charlie Gander - phenomenal boss at Cycle Dynamics in CT
- Brian Carius - much thanks cousin!

Another week has come and gone, and my first week back stateside has had its ups and downs for training.  Unfortunately, something about a 17-hour trip back to the US from Kyrghystan and being back in the US didn't agree with me, and throughout the week I have been fighting a flu that has had me feeling under the weather and coughing.  Nevertheless, I have pushed on with training and tried to get back on track.  Due to the 14-hour time zone change, and feeling sick, I took Monday off, but tried to make up for it with the rest of the week.

Monday - off (recovery)
Tuesday - 1:21
Wednesday - 1:25
Thursday - 1:33
Friday - 1:01
Saturday - 3:42
Sunday - 1:04 (active recovery)

Total for the week =  606 minutes, or 10 hours, 6 minutes, which translates to about 70-75 miles worth of solid running.  Considering I had to take Monday off, this has been a great week for me in my mind.

Importantly, however, this week I added what I am just simply calling my new "playground" of routes.  As is much-needed for my Western States preparation, my playground has a ton of new hills thanks to the elevation changes found in parts of Alaska.  Fortunately, part of Fort Wainwright's topography has two phenomenal hills for training.  I will be looking to incorporate at least one of them in every run to help prep my legs for the "ups and downs" (literally) of Western States in June.

 About two-thirds of the way up Birch Hill back road.  You can see the third bit of fun in the distance.

I'll have some pictures up later this week about these new routes, which are some fun leg-breakers, as well as a post about my new upcoming plan to shamelessly promote myself to corporations in the name of charity.  This week I will also look to push back over the 90-minute mark for all of my training runs, as well as boost my long run day again to a higher mark, and get that much closer to distance shape.


Please continue to support my run and donate to the phenomenal Fisher House Foundation!

The Hydration Situation...

Anyone who has done a race above 5 miles, or even gone out for a run in a hot day, has, at the very least, some appreciation for the role that hydration can play in a physical activity like running. Anyone who has done a long run has come home, parched, searching for an ice cold glass of water that helps to seal the accomplishment of a run and begin the relaxation of post-running bliss.

Running ultra-distance, however, takes dehydration to a new level, both physically and psychologically. Drinking water, or any sorts of sports drink, can contribute to mental stability that there is support for you, that your body has the ability to replenish itself, that there is, in some shape or form, a liquid parachute to help push you through numerous other "walls" (physical and psychological) that you may encounter. Drinking small sips of cool water is enhanced by a 100-degree day, or being in mile 25 of a 50 mile run. A gulp of Gatorade, or some other sugary-sweet sports drink can have the same caloric and energizing effect as a large of gummi worms (delicious).

Therefore, a problem that I have encountered in the past has been balancing my personal tradition of abstaining from water and nutrition during a run, and the absolute necessity to do so in longer races. Much in deference to my father and his running tradition, I was raised to appreciate running for what it truly is: a testament to the incredible endurance and resourcefulness of the human body, and the ability of the mind to push the body on beyond its perceived breaking point. This mentality has been lost over the years, as more people view the marathon distance (26.2 miles) as simply an experience to be had, a distance to be crossed. The viewpoint of simply completing a marathon without physically exhausting yourself beyond your perceived breaking point lacks respect to the history of the marathon, in which the Greek messenger Pheidippides raced back on foot to tell of the Greek victory over the mighty Persians, crying "victory" before he collapsed of exhaustion. To respect and revere the marathon (and further distances), to honor those who have run it through trial and triumph before you, and to embrace the challenge and pain that inevitably accompanies it, is something that I have held dear since I ran my first marathon at the age of 15 in 2000 with my father.

Therefore, while I neglect nutrition and hydration in training out of tradition and comfort, it puts me in a terrible position in actual preparation for the critical support it provides in a race. Several times I have had large problems with this attitude, most significantly in two instances:

- Lake Placid Ironman (2006) - I had been told to take in at least 1 bottle of water, 1 bottle of sports drink, and an additional 200-300 calories every hour on the 112-mile bike segment in preparation for the 26.2 marathon. Instead, I took in about 1 bottle of water and 100-150 calories each hour. Needless to say, this came back to bite me during the run, and I have very little memory of the final 3 miles of the 26.2 mile run. In all, I lost a total of 17 pounds that day when they brought me into the medical tent, and I had to receive 4 liters of fluid via an IV before I was allowed to leave.

- LOST 118-mile Ultramarathon (2009) - this is my only DNF (did not finish) in my entire history of running. I dropped at mile 80 of the race, because I had taken in only about 4-5 bottles of water, and only a few hundred calories during that time. This is my largest inspiration for force-feeding myself on my training runs now.

All running and no water makes this Brandon dehydrated and disoriented.

Therefore, as I completed my nearly 3-hour run last Sunday, running in 80-degree unbreaking sunlight in Kandahar, I began to encounter the issue that I have found so many times before. Out of nutritional necessity (and the right and intelligent insistence of my wife, Erin) I am trying to work hydration and nutrition more and more into my training to ensure that I ready to take on fluids and food during the WS100. When I get home, I will begin to incorporate GU gels and sports drinks, and will soon try to use "normal food" (PB&J's, etc.) to increase variety and help train my stomach.

Will all this pay off and help me to complete the WS100 that lies ahead of me?

Hope so.



Please donate to the Fisher House Foundation Here!

T-10

First and foremost, the amount of donations that have been generously given in the last week are astounding, and we are growing by leaps and bounds on our way to $10,000 in support of the wonderful Fisher House Foundation.  A huge thanks to the following people for their incredible support in the last week on our way to that goal:

- Lauren Morales
- Robert Capodanno
- Brian McGovern
- Michael Bishop
- Peter Hornak - Old racing buddy from back in the early days of my running career!
- Robert Strauss
- Thomas Ayoub
- Francis Counselman
- Rebecca Smith-Coggins
- Kerryann Broderick
- Terry Kowalenko
- Annie Collier
- Bryan Jordan
- James Jones
- Christina Doukeris
- Patrick Minicus
- Daniel DeBarba

We are now up to $3,100 and nearly one-third on our way to the goal of $10,000 for such an incredible organization!


Please donate to the Fisher House Foundation in support of my Western States 100-Mile Run!

One of the coolest things is right now, we have received donations from all over the country, including New York, Indiana, Connecticut, Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, California, Virginia... pretty cool!

My training this week broke down as follows:

- Monday - 50-minute recovery run
- Tuesday - 1:32
- Wednesday - 1:28
- Thursday - 1:31
- Friday - 1:18 - Sandy trails at transition between Afghanistan and Alaska
- Saturday - 1:33 - More sandy trails before late night travel to come home to Alaska
- Sunday - no run (travel home to Alaska!)

Running on the sandy trails at Manas Air Force Base.  It was like running on a beach in most areas.

Training week total - 8:12 (or 492 minutes) translates into 60-65 miles... not where I wanted to get up to, but I could not do a full long run due to time constraints with travel (see below)... I will definitely make up for it this coming week, don't worry!

This past week has been more about major travel than running, but I have tried as best I can to push forward with my training nevertheless.  This week I successfully redeployed from Afghanistan back to Alaska, and after a year abroad in Kandahar Province, I am back at Fort Wainwright, running once again in clear dust-free skies and with a lot more green trees (and a lot less brown desert) around me.  The travel took me into a third country for a few days, and then on a 17-18 hour journey home, crossing a total of 14 time zones in the process, but finally arriving on Sunday afternoon to my wonderful wife, Erin, and my now-huge son Jackson.  I am so thrilled to be back with them, but much to their dismay, I can't necessarily throw aside my running now that I am home.

Arriving home on Sunday to a happy wife and son!

I have thankfully found a pair of solid hills that will help me prep for the elevation ups and downs that I will encounter at Western States.  Birch Hill is part of Fort Wainwright's ski hills, and has a perfect 3-mile long hard hill that will help push my quads.  Approach Hill sits on the east end of the Fort Wainwright runway and provides a solid 1-1.5 mile loop up and down an extended hill that will help compliment the rough Birch Hill.  I will take pictures of them this week and post soon.

In the meantime, I am readjusting to a new time zone (lots of impromptu naps... again to the dismay of Erin and Jackson!) and getting back into the swing of things back in America.  Again, thanks to all of the incredible support above!

Please donate to the Fisher House Foundation in support of my Western States 100-Mile Run! 

Training Week T-11

First and foremost, I have to give thanks to those who have given to the Fisher House Foundation in the past week since I last posted:

- Michael and Kathleen Carius ("the 'rents")
- Noam Ron ("dude")
- The Phillips Family
- Ari Perkins
- Joseph Wilkinson
- Elizabeth Kassapidis
- Jon and Lauren Austin


















We are nearing $2,000 already, and it is great to see so much support for such a wonderful organization! Thanks for everyone's contributions and support!

This past week has certainly been a growing experience with boosting my mileage, as well as dealing with some higher temperatures. All have helped me prepare.


Monday - 45:00 - active-recovery run from the long run on Sunday.
Tuesday - 1:28 - solid morning run with cool breezes before the sun rose, and started to bake me just as I was finishing up.
Wednesday - 1:25
Thursday - 1:28
Friday - 1:21 - midday
Saturday - 1:23
Sunday - 2:43 - started a little late in the morning, finished up before midday. High temperatures and (purposeful) lack of water were good training for my body to help retain water and adjust to the heat in preparation for the canyons of Squaw Valley to Auburn.

Total time for the week = 10 hours, 33 minutes
Total mileage for the week = 74.5 - 79 miles

This week was all about pushing myself further to get my mileage up in preparation for the long runs ahead, but, as is the case with some of my improvised training, I also was able to successfully begin adjusting to higher temperatures here in Afghanistan. Due to some "environmental challenges" with sleeping (read: C-130 gunship practice runs shooting in early hours), I overslept some mornings and therefore had to run midday. With the extra elevation of KAF, and the sun burning at full strength, the 85-plus degree temps were loads of fun. As was my long run, which I successfully navigated with only one 16-ounce bottle of water.

Overall, another solid week of increasing running length and getting back into long distance with full force. I am looking to further boost this and scratch the surface of doing over 90 minutes for a run each morning, and possibly popping up to a 1:45-2 hour in the mid-week to complement the long runs on Sunday.

Thanks again for everyone's support! If you still want to contribute to the Fisher House Foundation, please see the link below!

Support the mission of the Fisher House Foundation to help our military service members and their families here!

Training Continues

First and foremost, I would like to say much thanks to the Allred Family and Jennifer Cody for starting off the donations for the Fisher House Foundation. I really appreciate the starting boost!


Please click here to donate to the Fisher House Foundation!

It is hard to say what "week" of training I am on right now... I wish I could hammer out a "week 1", "week 2" etc. schedule... but my training has become a bit more "organic" than that. Looking ahead, I am approximately 75 days away from race day, and therefore I am going to simply start naming my weeks with the "T-minus" names.

Therefore, last week was T-12... and my schedule consisted of the following:

Monday - 32-minute recovery run in the evening (long run the day before)
Tuesday - 1:20 in the mid-day heat
Wednesday - 1:14 in the morning, 36-minutes in the evening
Thursday - 1:22 wake-up run
Friday - 1:15 in the morning, 31-minutes in the evening
Saturday - 1:21 in the morning
Sunday - 2:31 mid-morning run (in some fine Kandahar heat)

Therefore total time for the week was 9:35, which at my pace of about 8 minutes/mile would come to be about 70-75 miles for the week.

As I mentioned in the opening post, I had previously been doing a lot of 2-a-day runs to build up my daily and weekly mileage. However, as I have looked to increase my mileage, I have found that these excess miles in the evening have become more and more to fit the term "junk miles". I personally have never been a fan of that title, as I feel that any miles on your feet are solid miles, but I think that I need to be giving my body more time to rest between runs, and with these 2-a-days, the current rest is just not cutting it. Therefore, after taking an easy 45-minute run today to recover from yesterday, I am dropping the evening runs in favor of weights and rowing, and returning to my traditional routine of long runs in the morning. I will be looking to push for about 10-12 miles per day (approximately 90-100 minutes). With that as well, my training totals will be bumped up greatly, which they need to be to build up mileage and be fully prepared for the "big show" in June. Needless to say, I'm actually excited.

I'll be keeping everyone posted in the next few days with some more posts and information! Until then, thanks again for everyone's support!

Please click here to donate to the Fisher House Foundation!