The Corbin Run

This weekend Gill, myself, Rebecca Phalen and Alyssa Godesky went for a run in the middle district of the Shenandoah National Park. We started a few miles from Skyland, a beautiful mountain resort with a great horseback riding program. The run was about 3 hours, straight down the mountain, and straight back up.
About 5 minutes into the run, we saw a very large coyote on the trail, which was totally unimpressed by our presence: we were definitely more excited to see him than he was to see us. Coyotes in this area look more like large labradors, and that's because many are coyote/wolf hybrid: I am not making this up, and actually read it on National Geographic.
The highlight of the run was definitely Corbin Cabin. George Corbin built the cabin at the beginning of the 1900, and lived there before that area was the Shenandoah National Park. Gill and I see evidence of old homesites all over the Park, from old chimneys, to stone walls, to isolated tombstones.  George's wife, Nee, died in childbirth, and is now believed to haunt the cabin and the woods.  Here is more information on the Corbin cabin.
On the way up from Nicholson Hollow (the trail where the Corbin cabin is located), we reached the Blue Ridge Parkway right below Stony Man. On the way back to the car on the Appalachian Trail, we enjoyed incredible views of the Western Valley.
The loop was technical because of all the leaves, but the climbs were intense, and I was done by the end.
I tried the new Clif gels and LOVED them: the chocolate is incredible. I am glad they changed to maltodextrin, as the gels hit my system much quicker.
George Corbin, Corbin Cabin, the coyote/wolf and the Western Valley
              

Iron MT 50K, “Shake, Rattle and Roll!”

Iron MT 50K, “Shake, Rattle and Roll!”

I decided to take time away from serious training after a very disappointing DNF at the Western States 100 Miler in June. As I mentioned in my post, “As the Stomach Turns”, I got very sick and had to drop at mile 80. This left me without the motivation to jump back into training for another 100 miler. Time away from training has been great, since I decided to get back to the basics and just have fun. My idea of down time is probably a little different than most, as I have spent a good amount of time running up and down mountains with Francesca. There is something refreshing about not being so serious about every workout and not logging every mile. And, hold on tight, I’ve even taken an extra day off here and there!

So, fast forward to 9 weeks P.W.S (Post Western States), I decided at the last minute to jump into the Iron Mountain 50K (probably more like 30 miles). This proved to be a great decision and I had A LOT of fun.

The Shake: the weather here in Charlottesville VA leading up to the race has been brutal! Out of Africa hot. So, on race morning, we awoke to temperatures in the 40’s, and it never reached more that 70 degrees during the race. Standing there on the starting line, I was shaking my bony butt off, but no complaints: wow, this felt good!

The Rattle: the website describes the course as “Technical”, and we all know this to be code for ROCKS! I must admit that very rocky terrain is not my favorite to race over. Let me be more clear, I HATE SUPER ROCKY TRAILS. But, for some reason, I’ve done fairly well in rocky races. About a year ago I finished 4th overall at the North Face Endurance 50K at Bear Mountain, NY. This course looked like a bomb had exploded and left the course with ONLY rocks to run over. Anyway, I knew what I had signed up for, so I couldn’t complain. I caught a toe while running fast on downhills at least half a dozen times, but, here and there, I was able to do a “Spiderman” to keep from incurring major trauma. A “Spiderman” is why we do core work! As you catch your toe and are propelled forward, you are able to land on your hands and toes, much like doing a push-up. It will rattle you to the your core, but saves a lot of skin. Got to love Spiddy…

The Roll: Well, Spiddy took a break and my luck ran out in the last 3 miles along the jeep road from hell. I did a “Pete Rose”, better know as sliding/rolling over rocks and roots. I paid my dues to the trails gods, at least until the next race.

How did it go? All in all, pretty well; aerobically, I felt good, but I just seemed to lack some leg speed. I think the time away from serious training has been good for my mind and body. I didn’t run super fast, finished 9th overall, but I never got very tired and had very little soreness after the race.

So, get out there this fall and “Shake, Rattle and please remember to Roll!

Gill

Wore “Wildcats”, great over the technical terrainron MT 50K, “Shake, Rattle and Roll!”

I decided to take time away from serious training after a very disappointing DNF at the Western States 100 Miler in June. As I mentioned in my post, “As the Stomach Turns”, I got very sick and had to drop at mile 80. This left me without the motivation to jump back into training for another 100 miler. Time away from training has been great, since I decided to get back to the basics and just have fun. My idea of down time is probably a little different than most, as I have spent a good amount of time running up and down mountains with Francesca. There is something refreshing about not being so serious about every workout and not logging every mile. And, hold on tight, I’ve even taken an extra day off here and there!

So, fast forward to 9 weeks P.W.S (Post Western States), I decided at the last minute to jump into the Iron Mountain 50K (probably more like 30 miles). This proved to be a great decision and I had A LOT of fun.

The Shake: the weather here in Charlottesville VA leading up to the race has been brutal! Out of Africa hot. So, on race morning, we awoke to temperatures in the 40’s, and it never reached more that 70 degrees during the race. Standing there on the starting line, I was shaking my bony butt off, but no complaints: wow, this felt good!

The Rattle: the website describes the course as “Technical”, and we all know this to be code for ROCKS! I must admit that very rocky terrain is not my favorite to race over. Let me be more clear, I HATE SUPER ROCKY TRAILS. But, for some reason, I’ve done fairly well in rocky races. About a year ago I finished 4th overall at the North Face Endurance 50K at Bear Mountain, NY. This course looked like a bomb had exploded and left the course with ONLY rocks to run over. Anyway, I knew what I had signed up for, so I couldn’t complain. I caught a toe while running fast on downhills at least half a dozen times, but, here and there, I was able to do a “Spiderman” to keep from incurring major trauma. A “Spiderman” is why we do core work! As you catch your toe and are propelled forward, you are able to land on your hands and toes, much like doing a push-up. It will rattle you to the your core, but saves a lot of skin. Got to love Spiddy…

The Roll: Well, Spiddy took a break and my luck ran out in the last 3 miles along the jeep road from hell. I did a “Pete Rose”, better know as sliding/rolling over rocks and roots. I paid my dues to the trails gods, at least until the next race.

How did it go? All in all, pretty well; aerobically, I felt good, but I just seemed to lack some leg speed. I think the time away from serious training has been good for my mind and body. I didn’t run super fast, finished 9th overall, but I never got very tired and had very little soreness after the race.

So, get out there this fall and “Shake, Rattle and please remember to Roll!

Gill

Wore “Wildcats”, great over the technical terrain

Get Moving Charlottesville Radio Show

You can now watch Gill and Francesca’s Radio Show “Get Moving Charlottesville on YouTube. The show is every Monday at 8:45AM. http://www.youtube.com/user/CvilleRunningCompany#p/a/u/0/r1vzYLIgnuw

“As the Stomach Turns” Gill’s 2010 Western States

I’m not big on writing a turn-by-turn recap of my races; honestly, I don’t see how people remember all those details! However, I will try to summarize my 2010 Western States.

For the past few years, I have been snake bit during 100 milers with stomach issues. I’ve run over 100 ultras and 20 plus 100 milers and recently, for some unknown reason, I can’t seem to avoid horrible stomach issues in 100’s after about 40 miles. I trained hard this year in preparation for WS, and I worked with a dietician (who is also an ultra runner) to try and avoid any major stomach issues. All the training runs and preparation races went well. With Western States approaching, I developed a plan that broke the race into thirds, adjusting my hydration/nutrition plan as the mileage increased.

The race started well. With all the snow in the high country, I decided to go out at a conservative pace and I took it very easy to Robinson Flats (located at mile 30). My plans called for:
an average of about 300 calories per hour (60/70grams of Carbs)
between 300-700mg of sodium per hour
20 to 50oz of fluids per hour depending on the heat

Just outside of Millers Defeat, I started having issues with my stomach. This continued to worsen through the canyons; I really couldn’t push the pace along this section and lost time especially on the climbs to Devil’s Thumb and Michigan Bluff. My crew did a great job trying to help me turn things around, and Francesca was even texting with our dietician looking for advice. Once I arrived at Foresthill, everything I ate or drank immediately made me nauseous. I spent extra time at Foresthill with my crew before heading down California Street, but nothing seemed to improve the situation. I had picked up my pacer, Alyssa Godesky at Foresthill. She did everything she could think of to help me as we proceeded down to the Rucky Chucky, but things only got worse. By now, everything that went in, came back out! By the time I arrived at Green Gate (mile 80), I hadn’t had any real sustenance for over 25 miles and had to call it a day.

So what happened? Because my stomach issues have been associated with dehydration in the past, I was topping off my bottles in between aid stations from the creeks along the course. This is a common practice at WS and since I’ve run the race twice before, I knew where all the good water sports were located. In hindsight, I think I was over drinking early in the race. Also, I had planned to get most of my sodium from my electrolyte drinks and avoid taking sodium capsules, because they seem to be too strong. I changed this strategy early (in the first 10 miles) by taking 1 to 2 S-caps per hour, because I was getting stitches along my sides in the high country. Mistakenly, I continued to drink the electrolyte drink and probably put too much sodium into my stomach.

So, what did I learn? As my running coach Scott Jurek pointed how, TRUST YOUR TRAINING and avoid making any major changes on race day. Well, onward to Leadville in August. This will be my 4th time running this terrific event and I’m really looking forward to the high mountains and the cool temperatures. Oh yes, and not seeing the contents of my stomach along the way!