Endure the Bear 50k

Hail, Lightning, Thunder, Flash Floods, and 5th Place. 
6 hours of mountain high fun!

Bulldog 50k

7th PLACE in BULLDOG 50k and one more 15 mile loop for fun!

Well, it's been one week since my Leadville let down, and after the Bulldog 50k, my confidence is beginning to come back. I went into the race with the specific goal of finishing, and feeling like I had a lot left, and then do the Bulldog loop of 15 miles, one more time.

What should I have done differently in Leadville?

In-Depth Conversation with Myself.

On the drive back from Colorado, I had a lot of time to contemplate what went wrong in Leadville. Did I go out too hard? I don't think so, my legs felt great, I wasn't even sore the next day, and I was actually 10 minutes behind my predicted time at mile 40. I felt I was running within my capabilities. Was it my eating? Was it the altitude? I believe it was a mixture of both. First, I arrived 3 days before the race to acclimate to the elevation, but I have since learned, that was the worst thing I could have done. I should have either arrived the day of the race, or a week or two before. With just 3 days, my body was constantly fatiguing, trying to recover from the altitude, and it wasn't long enough. Add the fact, I was eating more calories than normal, trying not to bonk, I put my body into the red zone, and I was unable to recover. I couldn't get enough blood to my stomach to digest food, which was then compounded by my pace up the mountain, and that I was going above 12,600 ft. It became a perfect storm and I was relegated to vomiting and dry heaving for 7 hours. To make maters worse, since I was unable to hold anything down, I was dehydrated and my blood sugar was down in the gutter. 13.5 lbs down from the start of the race, there was no coming back from this.

LEADVILLE 100 mile trail run

 Altitude Sickness: Stops me in my tracks

Elevation Training

Training Weekend at Elevation

The BADWATER 135 Experience

PACING DANNY WESTERGAARD AT BADWATER

I have been wanting to compete in the toughest foot race on the planet, and that race is the Badwater 135. This is a 135 mile race from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in July, with temperatures reaching 128 degrees!! The first step towards that goal was taken, I was able to pace my good friend Danny Westergaard as he completed his 8th double Badwater. A unfathomable as 135 miles in unforgiving heat seems, Danny does it twice! 

"Athletes to Know" Interview with Thomas Podell

INJURED!@#$*

PLANTAR FASCIITIS


Being extremely excited about my fitness level. I never took time to heal after my last 50 mile race... The result: INJURY.
For the last three weeks I haven't been running due to an extremely painful injury to my feet called Plantar Fasciitis. It is an overuse injury(Of Course) that deals with the ligament Fascai that connects the heel to the forefoot, and is being pulled away from the heel. Every footstrike the Fascia contracts to support the arch of your foot and also to take the energy displaced at impact and use it for toe-off.

Del Cerro Park: AFTER THE FIRES

3RD PLACE: North Country 50 mile Race

7:38:53...

I absolutely demolished this race! I set my PR in the 50 mile by over 2 hours, and my finishing time has me in the top 150 fastest 50 mile times of the year! All this with 13,000 ft. of elevation gain thrown in... I was in second throughout the entire race, but the duo of starting too fast (I wanted 3:35 for the first 25 miles, but posted 3:15) and falling 9 times, took its toll. I was eventually passed with 12 miles left. Disappointed and tired, I was beginning to fade, when I spotted the fourth and fifth place runners right behind me at mile 42. From that point I rationalized the pain and pushed through it, opening up a 22 minute gap between myself and fourth place in just 8 miles. I had conceded second place, but there was no chance I was going to give up third. During those final 3 miles something miraculous happened. Every twig that snapped, and any movement that rustled the bushes, I believed was fourth place bearing down, breathing fire, ready to run me over! That fear of losing created an entirely new pain threshold. I dropped the hammer and it didn't phase me. Crossing the finish line I still had enough left for another 25 miles. I felt solid. I felt strong. I felt ready for 100 miles!

Ultra Bio: KARL MELTZER

What can you say, Karl is a Beast, with an ego to match! He is undoubtedly one of the best ultra runners in the country and has dominated the scene for more than 10 years. Karl began running in the Wasatch Mountains in the summer of 1990 and ran his first ultra, the Wasatch 100, six years later. In 1998, he returned to the Wasatch 100 winning his first ultra and setting a new course record. Winning his first ultra at age 30, he set a goal to win 25 more ultras by the time he turned 40. Now Karl, at 40, has nearly doubled that goal having won 49 ultras in 99 starts. Of these, 25 were of the 100 mile distance including 6 wins at the Wasatch 100 and 4 Hardrock 100 wins (considered by many to be the world's most difficult 100 mile trail race).

Karl typically trains 60-80 miles a week. All miles are done on mountainous terrain and he incorporates tempo running into his trail running. He says that he bases most of his training runs on how he feels rather than following a particular training plan. He just simply likes to run.

Along with making his living as a professional ultrarunner, Karl provides ultrarunning coaching services (www.karlmeltzer.com), runs an ultrarunning training camp through the University of Utah, and serves as the race director for the Speedgoat 50K. The Speedgoat 50K is held at Snowbird, UT in July, and the course designed by Meltzer, is considered one of the toughest with over 10,000 feet of gain.