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50k training: quick and dirty ‘stuff’ review

50k training: quick and dirty ‘stuff’ review

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I generally don’t write (or haven’t written, I should say) gear reviews because there is no shortage of posts out there on this very subject–and often written by people much better-versed in this topic than me–but a few friends had inquired about some stuff I’ve used for this training cycle, so I thought I’d throw it all down here for your edification. None of the links are affiliates; in other words, I paid for everything I’m using and am not getting any sort of kick-back to help promote it. Basically: these are my opinions. Promise. 🙂

  • Ultimate Direction (UD) women’s ultra vesta. I originally learned about the UD brand when I was a ZOOMA Napa Valley ’14 ambassador, though at the time I wasn’t using any of their products. UD worked with Scott Jurek’s wife, Jenny, also a kickass runner, to design this ergonomically-appropriate-for-women hydration vest, so when I saw that it had the Jurek seal of approval, I felt like it had more credibility than some of the other systems out there. Since moving to CA, I’ve had to get used to carrying my own fluids on my run (world’s smallest violin here, I know), and for a long time, I was simply using a Nathan belt. Nathan worked for a long time for me–the better part of this year, in fact–but eventually, I think it began to kinda fuck with my hips some and exacerbate some long-dormant ITBS. I had high hopes for this vest, and it has been wonderful. I honestly can’t feel it when I wear it–it’s pretty much like a second skin now–and I think it’s only chafed me maaaaaaybe once in the past 3-4 months. My only complaint? The bottles’ lids are kinda finicky (to me), so if you’re not super careful to shut them as tightly as possible, you’ll be reminded of your errors when you go to run and have a bunch of water fly up and hit you in the face or go barreling up your nose.  You can definitely use other bottles in place of the UD ones though–and for a while, I was using my Nathan ones instead–but honestly, my issue is probably more user error than anything.
from the UD website
from the UD website

 

recycled pic from a MP summit with Saurabh, but this is a decent profile view of the vest. On the front I've got 2 10-oz (ish) Nathan bottles (plus I managed to stick my Note 4 behind one of the water bottles), and on the back side, I've got a small fridge's worth of food and another 20 oz of fluids in the UD bottles.
recycled pic from a MP summit with Saurabh, but this is a decent profile view of the vest. On the front I’ve got 2 10-oz (ish) Nathan bottles (plus I managed to stick my Note 4 behind one of the water bottles), and on the back side, I’ve got a small fridge’s worth of food and another 20 oz of fluids in the UD bottles. On my run on Sunday, the pack also contained two headlamps, a jacket, and food, so yea… you can get a lot in there.
another recycled pic so you can see the back view of the vest. the way that the vest sits on my chest makes me pretty much forget it's there; no bouncing, no chafing, nothing. for sizing reference, I ordered a M/L but probably could have gone down to the S because there's not much up top. if you do go for the larger size, though, and find that it's a bit bigger than you were anticipating, you can pull the straps so the vest becomes snug with chest/sternum and it'll be allllllll good.
another recycled pic so you can see the back view of the vest. the way that the vest sits on my chest makes me pretty much forget it’s there; no bouncing, no chafing, nothing. for sizing reference, I ordered a M/L but probably could have gone down to the S because there’s not much on me up top (barely pushing a 34B, for reference). if you do go for the larger size, though, and find that it’s a bit bigger than you were anticipating, you can pull the straps so the vest becomes snug with your chest/sternum and it’ll be allllllll good.

 

  • shoes. Honestly, whatever. If you want trail shoes, then go for it, but I haven’t made the plunge because I’ve felt perfectly fine alternating between Ghosts (which function similar to Hokas) and PureFlows. Some people swear by exclusively using trail shoes for trail running, while others say it doesn’t matter as much as we think. Whatever floats your boat, gang.

 

  • food/fuel. I think it’s a tad problematic to liken our bodies to machines or engines, buuuuuuuuut in the discourse of endurance running, I think it can actually be pretty helpful. That said, quality in = quality out. If your diet sucks, and you’re not rebounding and recovering from hours-long runs with nutrient-dense food, your subsequent runs and, in general, your body, will surely suffer. It’s not rocket science. It’s hard to recommend any one particular thing because our bodies all respond so differently to food (especially mid-run!), but here’s a smattering of what’s worked for me, in no particular order: pancakes, naan, clementines, bananas, pepitas, pbj on white bread, super salty pretzels, and variably, nuun. When I’m out for several hours and am refueling with non-gel (read: real food) items, I tend to go for the stuff that’s going to give me calories as quickly as possible and, hopefully, with as few gastrointestinal issues as possible. My stomach can react absolutely horrendously to eating while running (hello, the 10+ times I had to go ‘bond with nature’ on my Saturday run, ugh!), so if you’re anything like me, I can’t recommend enough experimenting early and often throughout your training.  If, however, you’ve got a stomach of steel… you’re lucky.

 

  • socks. Whatever. Injinji–the crazy toe socks–work well for me, but I don’t discriminate. Honestly, whatever is clean is what I wear. Again, some people swear by a certain brand, or a certain thickness; I think it’s all just a matter of personal preference (and how well your socks and shoes jibe in terms of friction, moisture, and the like). I tend to swing Injinji and thin, but YMMV.

 

  • safety items: a headlamp and vest. My life schedule necessitates that I usually run between the hours of 4-6 a.m., and in Chicago, while a bit sketchy in some areas, it wouldn’t be that big a deal because the lakefront is completely illuminated. Here, though, I feel like the city of SJ goes to sleep at sunset and doesn’t awaken until well after sunrise; it is super dark here, even on the city streets! Shortly after I moved here, friends recommended the Black Diamond headlamp, and honestly, like the UD vest, it has been one of my best running investments this year. That little sucker is BRIGHT on the roads/trails and super comfortable on my head: no bouncing, no moving, nada.
pic from amazon, where I purchased this gem
pic from amazon, where I purchased this gem

For a vest, honestly, I think anything could work, as long as it’s bright and visible, but I’ve been wearing this guy for most of this year, and it’s been great. The less I notice something on the run, the happier I am. 🙂

 

  • reference/inspiration. I don’t know what I don’t know, so I turn to folks who have done this stuff before to show me the way. A couple sites, beyond my friends and cross-country/international training buddies, that have been especially helpful:
  1. strengthrunning.com. There’s lots of crap information on the webz about running, much of it nearly dangerously inaccurate, so this guy and his site is like a beacon of light on a stormy sea… or something. Anyway, he knows his stuff. Here’s a good one: http://strengthrunning.com/2014/08/how-to-become-an-ultramarathoner-5-steps-to-running-your-first-ultra/.
  2. rockcreekrunner.com. Recently relocated to NC but originally from DC, Doug knows trails and trail running and is determined to let people in on the little secret that trails and ultras are FANTASTIC. His site has lots of good, useful, and accessible information for runners who are looking to make the leap from marathons to ultras, and I appreciate his candor in his approach. He actually makes this stuff sound more fun than crazy 🙂  A good one: http://www.rockcreekrunner.com/2012/11/15/42-reasons-to-trail-run/.
  3. http://chrisultra.blogspot.com/.  For you IL-based folks, a downstate guy, who’s vegetarian, who’s been doing ultras for a good long while. Lots of good information on his site (especially if you’re looking to run some longer ones in IL). It’s been fun to follow his training since we connected in RYBQ in 2012. A good one from him:   http://chrisultra.blogspot.com/2014/09/my-ultra-running-advice.html.
  4. http://www.NoMeatAthlete.com. But of course. Matt’s another vegan ultra runner who’s got lots of good reference and inspiration up his sleeve, and it’s through him that I learned about Jason, and Doug, and Chris. Like the other guys, Matt’s got a lot of really great info on his site about going ultra, in addition to some good vegan lifestyle-centered stuff, too. One of the reasons I like Matt’s site and value what he has to say is because he’s married and has two small children at home and still manages to figure out how to get shit done and do crazy stuff, like train for and complete a 100-miler. One of his best: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/you-can-run-an-ultramarathon/.
  5. http://www.dirtytrailshoes.com/. Scott was an SF Marathon Ambassador this year, which is how I got to know him and began to follow his training on Strava (which is another great source of motivation, by the way). Scott’s well-versed in trails and ultras and has a ton of good information on his site, including some really excellent gear reviews. He also has some great race reviews and recaps of Bay Area races–super helpful to me since I’m still learning the area here and again, don’t know what I don’t know. Thanks, Scott!!! 🙂
  6. http://www.irunfar.com/. So. much. information. If you’re interested in stateside or international races, run-of-the-mill 50ks or crazy-ass, days-long races of attrition (hello, multi-stage!), chances are it’s covered here somewhere. Awesome, awesome resource. It’s from this site that I learned about Relentless Forward Progress and from where I’ve based a lot of my training for this forthcoming 50k. For more info about RFP: http://www.irunfar.com/rfp.Relentless-Forward-Progress-cover-250x375-200x300

 

I think that’s about it. There are certainly tons and tons more products, websites, books, or training guides out there I haven’t yet come upon, so I’d love to hear your recommendations. I think there’s definitely many opportunities for this stuff to go both ways between ultras and marathoning–what works in one might actually still work in the other–so let me know if you’ve come upon something recently that really gets you jazzed that might work in both marathon and ultra training.

Have an amazing Thanksgiving! It’s the busiest day of the year for runners (no joke!) and also one of my top three favorite holidays. 🙂

20 days ’til the 50k, baby!

Bay bound

Bay bound

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If you know me personally or have read any of my tweets, posts here, or Dailymile entries within the past few months, and especially, the past few weeks, you’ll know that major life changes are underfoot and that I’ve felt pretty emotionally volatile and vulnerable—totally attractive combination, btw—as a result.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? The short of it is that my husband got an incredible career opportunity, and we decided to take it, even though it necessitates a cross-country move to the Bay Area. We recently sold our condo here and in about a month’s time, my daughter and I will join my husband out west.

Hello, San Jose
Hello, San Jose

I’ve ridden some hard highs and some low lows about this. For a while, probably the first 4-6 weeks, it was just there. I knew it was going to happen, but without knowing when we’d move (because my daughter and I wouldn’t join him out west until we sold), I didn’t pay the pending reality any mind. With marathon training for Chicago and NYC, and teaching this quarter, I think I had very little mental real estate to devote to thinking about The Big M(ove). It would happen when it would happen.

Welcome to the land of Erin denial, folks.

Once we sold, about 10 days ago, the reality obviously started to hit me significantly harder—but in ways I wouldn’t expect. Signing the real estate sale paperwork was purely transactional and numbing. Sending the ‘update on moving west’ email to my close friends and family though, where I apprised everyone of our sale, took me exponentially longer to write than it should have, in no small part because I had to stop writing nearly every paragraph to bawl (not kidding) and then tend to my daughter, since mommy’s crying had awoken her from her sleep that night (the mother of the year nominations are surely flooding the committee’s office for that one).

I wake her up at night, but then she takes my spot in bed. It all evens out.
I wake her up at night, but then she takes my spot in bed. It all evens out.

I’m finding that when I begin to think of my relationship with this city, the city I’ve called home since I was 18 years old (and thus, for basically all of my adult life), I quickly realize that I’ve made this city such a huge part of who I am—for better or for worse—and the thought of splitting from her leaves me feeling hella scared, nervous, and entirely, totally, 100% vulnerable, in a way I haven’t been in over a decade.

The unknown is scary, folks. Rationally, it’s not, but emotionally? Viscerally? Damn near terrifying.

However, the more I begin to think “rationally” about the move—since rationally, I’m 100% on board with it; it’s the emotional aspect that’s making me falter—I am quickly realizing that I need to take a page from my marathon training and racing experience.

The metaphor might be tenuous at best, but the applicability is very much there.

When I trained for my first marathon back in 2007, I had no fuckin’ idea what I was getting myself into. I was incredibly excited about the prospect and super eager to see if I could run a marathon at all (because normal people can’t run marathons, right??). Though I had an amazing support system and an incredible group of teammates, many of whom had run many a mary, I was blissfully and mildly oblivious about the effort before me. I mean, I knew it’d be work, but…

I full-body JUMPED into the marathon training process, under good guidance and coaching, and with as much information as I could gather when left to my own devices, and it was an amazing experience and, obviously, something that has profoundly changed my life.

It would be in my best interests to do the same with The Big M.

I need to full-body submerge myself in the move, the next chapter of my life, without looking back, without wondering what if I can’t do this or what if I’m alone or what if it sucks or what if I never find X or whatever.

I won’t have answers to any of those trepidations unless and—more importantly—until I try.

And this is so very, very much the same in the business of marathon training and racing.

I always link to Matt’s article about burning your effin boats when it comes time to goal-set, and while starting completely anew in the Bay isn’t exactly a goal of mine, per se, it is nevertheless presenting me with an amazing opportunity, once I begin to think about it in those terms. Starting fresh in a new city, with a new group of people, in a place where I have no history behind me and no ‘destiny’ before me, is something that many people would love to have, and it’s in my best interests to capitalize on this. I mean… duh, Erin.

I am lucky to personally know exactly 3 people—all runners—who live in SF proper, but otherwise, the Bay is all new territory for me.

The tremendous opportunity that comes with a clean slate is something that I’m just now fully beginning to realize, since I haven’t been in this position for the past, oh, 12 years.

This is a time to try new things—run new races, run other distances, run with other groups of people, to really truly go outside my comfort zone, making myself vulnerable in the process, and just see what the hell happens. Matt (I am such a fangirl) recently had a fantastic post about setting really enormous and huge and scary goals, beyond just setting your boats ablaze, and I totally have one.

Told you, total fangirl. With Matt at the Chicago Diner in Logan Square, post-Chicago Marathon. (Matt's pic, taken from http://www.nomeatathlete.com/book-tour-recap/). :)
Told you, total fangirl. With Matt at the Chicago Diner in Logan Square, post-Chicago Marathon. (Matt’s pic, taken from http://www.nomeatathlete.com/book-tour-recap/). 🙂

Perhaps I laid the foundation here in Chicago, since this is where I was when I articulated it, but the work, the intentionality, will begin in the Bay.

Where it’ll end, where the goal will manifest, remains to be seen… but it’ll begin in the Bay.

I’m a huge proponent of running and racing (and living…?) without regrets, and what better way to put this ideology into action than in the newest installment of my life’s story.

And in the really strange timing department, in the late summer, months before any of this move stuff transpired, on a whim, I decided to apply to be a social media ambassador for the San Francisco Marathon, which I had run in 2010, freshly and unknowingly pregnant. I have always raved about how cool the race was and how it’d be one I’d actually run again, in no small part because I wanted to run it non-pregnant (and because my training that summer was sub-sub-par). My memory has failed me, so I can’t recount exactly what I wrote in my application—something about running postpartum, I think?–but I’m in. I’m now part of the group of “social media ambassadors” for a race in my new hometown (or home area, anyway). In the process, I’m “meeting” lots of Bay Area runners and, consequently, beginning to learn about some of the area’s best running groups, clubs, trails, races, and the like.

Boom. In. I should have edited the irrelevant stuff from the pic. Oops.
Boom. In. I should have edited the irrelevant stuff from the pic. Oops.

I took a chance, albeit a low-risk chance, and somehow, not only did the chance work out in my favor, but it also has already connected me to a community of runners who’ll surely help me find my bearings and who, I hope, will be my fast friends. I am genuinely excited to meet this group of people over the next few months, to support each other’s training efforts and goals, much as I do currently and will continue to do for my Chicago-based running family, Bootleggers or otherwise, and though I will be making the Chicago-Bay Area move with very mixed emotions, I am finding peace in knowing that I already have a handful of semi-perfect run strangers with whom I can rundezvous.

Though I can’t yet say I’m excited or even really looking forward to the move, I am intrigued to see what will happen in the next chapter of my (running) life.

The move isn’t a goal that I set for myself, nor is it necessarily a risk that I would emotionally throw myself into taking; however, that it was given to me, and that I fully support it, shows me that I am more ready for it than I realize.

As in running, sometimes the biggest risk is in stagnation.

Remove the comfort, dispose of the familiar, kick out the crutches beneath you, and see what the hell happens.

Happy Thanksgiving, run family.