Editors Note: The following was taken from Paul’s blog with his permission, if you would like to read more his blog is on his website at: http://dewittwoodworking.blogspot.com/

Paul also makes fine furniture and you can see some of it at: http://www.dewittwoodworking.com/

Sunday, October 7, 2007

10/01 - 10/07 Log and Heartland Thoughts

After my 75-mile beach week, I took it easier last week and will back off even more this week prior to the Heartland 100 on 10/13. I have never run a 100 before where it was being used as a "long run" but that is sort of the way I'm approaching this one. This will be my only run over 3.5 hours, so it is an opportunity to experiment with a few things. In particular, I am going to try to mix walking in right from the beginning. For the 24 Hour race, I know there is no way to run the whole way (for me anyway). In previous 100s (LT100, Vermont, and WS100 DNF) I have let the course dictate where I walked, but that obviously won't work at a flat race like ATY. Also, I have found that 8:30 pace just isn't comfortable for me, so while that is about the average pace I'm shooting for at ATY, I think it makes more sense for me to run a bit faster than that, and then mix in walking.

Heartland Prediction: 14:29, which would be about goal pace for ATY, and Eric Clifton's CR is 14:30 so I'd love to get one of his records. When I think of Kansas I think of wind, so that could be a factor.

Notes on Training below:

Palmer Lake is .83 miles around. I have started doing laps around it on some of my runs just to get used to running on perfectly flat dirt.

Treadmill Hill workout. I normally do one hill workout and one flat workout a week. I will start that up after the 100 mile race but just did a moderate hill workout this week to see how my hamstring would hold up. The min on/off means I ran the whole time at 8:00 pace, but for 25:00 I alternated a minute of flat with a minute of 6% hill. My normal hill workouts are either 4 miles at 8:00 pace/7% hill, or 30:00 on/off at 8:00 pace and an 11% hill.

Mon 10/01 – 0
Tue 10/02 – 1:50:00, including 10 miles in 71:55 around Palmer Lake
Wed 10/03 – 0
Thu 10/04 – 1:10:00, including 5 miles in 37:20 around Palmer Lake
Fri 10/05 – 1:05:00 @ 8:00 pace on Treadmill, with 25:00 of min on/off (6% hill)
Sat 10/06 – 1:50:00 slow/rolling/windy. Greenland Open Space.
Sun 10/07 – 50:00 Greenland Open Space.
Week – 6:45:00 / 55 miles

Monday, October 15, 2007

Heartland 100 Brief Report

I ran the Heartland 100 on Saturday in Cassoday KS and managed to break Eric Clifton's course record; I ran 14:26 and his record was 14:30. 5-time winner Mark Henderson from Texas was 2nd (I believe about 17:35) and Carrie Sauter from Maryland won the women's race in about 20 hours. Carrie ironically was also using the race as a training run for ATY, though she will be well warmed up by the time I start my 24-hour race, since she is doing the 72-hour event in Arizona. The results should be posted in the next day or so (http://www.ksultrarunners.org/).

My biggest worry prior to the race was wind, and there was plenty of that on Saturday, along with some lightning, rain, and a brief period of hail. But, the rolling prairie lands of the Flint Hills turned out to be a beautiful place to run. While I think of Kansas as being flat, it was nice and rolling the whole way. I believe the course has 6000 feet of climbing (and descent) so it never gets boring at all.

This was primarily a training run for ATY, and in that sense it went well. I stuck with my plan of walking 5 minutes per hour the whole race except for the last 2 hours when I became concerned about missing the record. I ate one gel every 25 minutes the whole race, and drank water the whole way rather than any sports drink. For salt, I just took a pill each time I started to feel cramps starting; it probably worked out to about 2 per hour. I believe the high temp was around 78 degrees, so that should be about the same as at ATY (hopefully minus the wind).

Overall a very well organized event put on by some very dedicated volunteers. The course markings were perfect and my wife Judy had no problems getting from one crew station to the next. The whole vibe was great and I'd highly recommend this race to anyone looking for a more lowkey 50 or 100-mile experience next fall.