It seems like no two weeks have been the same as I continue to train for my first 100 mile race. This week was really busy at work, so I had to adjust my training plan accordingly. I had intended on running at least 4-5 hours this past Saturday, but life got in the way and I settled for a faster 34 km (21 mi.) run on Friday after work.

Late Sunday afternoon I headed out into the rain to RB for a run. RB is training for the half-marathon in Karlsruhe in three weeks, so we have been running together for the past month or two. The rain let up as we started, so we ran about 19.9 km (12 mi.) before she said she had enough. As we ran by her house to drop her off, it started to rain again, so I quickly headed out for another 5-6 km before heading home. I ended up with 26 km (16 mi.) for the day, 101 km (63 mi.) for the week.

This coming Friday I am taking a half day of vacation so Birgit and I can run a longer section of the 100 Mile route, probably around 45-50 km (up to 30 mi.). On Sunday is RB's last long run, she want to run a hilly 26 km route over Durlach, I'm looking forward to it!

This is basically my last week of training before I start tapering for the 100 mile race. However on September 12, Birgit and I are running a hilly marathon in Pirmasens, Germany at race pace - 100 mile race pace that is, I guess it won't wear us down too much ;-)

Putting on the Miles

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I have continued to average around 60-65 miles a week for the last month in preparation for the KuSuH 100 event. On Saturday Brigit and I sent 10 hours on the course, running up and down vineyards and what seemingly must have been every hilly peak in the region. The course does not have mountains like most 100 mile events, but it sure has enough hills to make up for it.

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Much of the course is still not marked, so we lost a lot of time on Saturday trying to find the right path to take. We have a five page description of the course, but if you get off track there is no way to follow the description until you are back to a known point on the course - a warning for us on race day.

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In any case we covered around 56 km (35 mi.) on Saturday, including a large part of the course that will be run through the night. We hope to cover the remaining parts over the next couple weeks, then its taper time until September 25th!

Training on the KuSuH 100 Trail

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This past week was another high mileage week, just over 62 miles in five runs. On Saturday I picked up Birgit at 7:30 a.m. and we drove to Bretten to run a portion of the 100 mile course. Much to our delight part of the course was already marked, so we were able to follow the paint markings for several hours. The course was much rougher than any other race course I've seen so far in Germany, with single trail, treks across fields, some log hopping and lots of berries and burning nettle to keep us alert. Still fairly civilized for a trail race course, especially compared to those in the USA I have heard about.

After roughly 12 miles the course was no longer marked so we had to rely on the course description and a couple maps that we had with us, we only got lost misplaced a couple times ;-) We ran about 30 km (18 mi.) of the course before looking for a short cut back to Bretten. We ended up with almost 38 km (23.5 mi.) in just over 6 hours. This works out to almost a walking pace, but we wasted at least a half hour stopping to check our maps, so I guess our race pace will be faster.

I feel the run gave us a pretty good orientation of what to expect on race day. With a 28 hour time limit we are going to have to proceed at a pretty dedicated pace, especially during the daylight hours. For the night portions good lights are going to be critical, the white dots of paint that marked the trail will be easy to miss in the dark.

We hope to run a couple more portions of the trail before the race, preferably those that will be run during the night. Next time I will have to remember to bring my camera - sorry Art!

Training for 100 Miles

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My training for the KuSuH 100 Mile event on September 25 is going pretty well. The good news is that my physiotherapy for my back pain is starting to help, I'm running smoother and slightly faster. The bad news is my job workload is requiring more and more time and life is entirely too busy, a stressful situation in any case.

The time is too short until the event to follow any particular training schedule. Other than going from 4 days a week running to 5, and increasing my long run distance slightly, I am training like I always train for an ultra.

Here is my training plan for this week:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 16 km (10 mi.) @ 5:30/km (8:51/mi.) pace
Wednesday: 16 km @ 6:15/km (10:04/mi.) pace
Thursday: 90 minutes hilly route
Friday: Crosstraining
Saturday: 4-5 hour run (partially on hilly route)
Sunday: 2-3 hour run

Last week this worked out to a total of about 100 kilometers (62 miles), which is my weekly mileage goal over the next 4-5 weeks.

Two weeks before the 100 Mile event I will be running a hilly marathon in Pirmasens, Germany with my 100 Mile running partner Birgit. This will be our final dress rehearsal, long enough to stretch out the legs, short enough to recover for the main event.

This coming Saturday we want to run 4-5 hours over part of the 100 Mile route, this will at least give us a little taste of what is coming.

I was standing chatting with some friends at my running club right after a run one night a couple weeks ago and heard RB talking about a duathlon that was being offered in our area on July 24. For those that don't know a duathlon is a run-bike-run combination, not to be confused with the biathlon, which is the official term for the Olympic sport of skiing and shooting.

In any case RB was interested in doing the running part as a team member of a relay team. No one responded when she asked around if anyone wanted to do the cycling part, so next thing I head was my big mouth saying I would do it, "By the way, how far do I have to cycle...?"

I then learned it was 34 kilometers, yeah 21 miles how bad could that be, right! I mean I just cycled 20 km during my Triathlon the week before...in any case I would be doing it with RB, joy! We quickly formed our strategy, which basically consisted of showing up at the event.

So this past Saturday I picked RB up about an hour and half before the duathlon was to start and we made our way to the next town, Graben where the event was held. Several members of the cycling club are also members of our running club, so we were among friends as we signed in. One of our running friends showed me where to park my CUBE and walked us through the event. Then we chilled out and waited for the briefing that was to be held at 1:30 p.m., a half hour before the start. After the briefing we made last minute checks and got ready to race.

The duathlon consisted of 34 km (21 mi.) of cycling sandwiched between two 4 km (2.5 mi.) runs. RB would start the event with her first 4 km run, which consisted of a 2 km out and back course. The Graben Duathlon is a small event, this year there were 72 individual starters and 14 relay teams. I heard there was more signed up this year, but it had rained the morning of the event, so I guess several decided to stay home.

As RB lined up at the start I stood with other friends from the running club that had arrived to lend their support. We sent RB off with our cheers, than I went to warm-up. The other relay team members were lingering or warming up, the most taking a small loop with their bikes. I warmed up with a short run, than rode around the block with my CUBE just to make sure everything was set.

I had estimated RB would need around 23 minutes, but knew never to underestimate her. Shortly after 22 minutes she rounded the corner and I was ready, she only needed to run over to my bike and tap my shoulder and I could set out. This accomplished, I ran with my CUBE across the small parking lot to the mounting point where I could mount my bike and take off. An official made sure I had my helmet and I was off.

I did my best to pick up the pace, but right away was fighting a headwind that my friend Joseph had warned me about earlier. As I left town I passed an intersection where a roughly 10K loop began, from Graben to Liedolsheim to Russheim, then back to Graben. Cyclists had to complete three of these loops.

This was the second year of the duathlon and friends had mentioned that the road to Liedolsheim was the fastest part of the loop. Unfortunately on this day this was the part with the strongest headwind, rather than making time I grew slower! By the time I completed the roughly 3 km to Liedolsheim I felt like I had just cycled through the hills of the Black Forest, despite the relatively level course. I tried not to think about the fact that I had to repeat this two more times as I entered the town. In Liedolsheim the organizers had closed one lane of the local road to traffic for the event, I was able to weave my way through unbehindered.

I was able to gain speed as I left Leidolsheim and made my way over the 2 km to Russheim. About two minutes out the first wave of cyclist on their second loop flew by, amazing! I tried to pick up the pace a bit, with limited success. Soon I reached the outskirts of Russheim, where we turned right and headed over an approximately 4 km stretch that would complete the loop. Part of this was over open fields and I was again fighting a headwind. Cyclist continued to fly by on occasion as I completed my first loop.

Upon completing the loop I was quite surprised to see that I had only cycled about 6-7 kilometer, I thought the course was longer, but at the pitifall speed that I was cycling I was glad. During my triathlon I average around 27 KPH (kilometer per hour), I was barely managing 17-18.

Discouraged I rounded the corner and tried to push harder as I began my second loop. I pedaled and pedaled, feeling like I was making progress, but couldn't get any faster than 18 KPH. Even on the faster stretch between Liedolsheim and Russheim I could only manage 21!

I fought these demons as I circled, I didn't feel like was going any slower than by my Triathlon. My thoughts were interrupted as I rounded the corner by Russheim and sas a cyclist on the horizon, finally a chance to catch someone! I sprang forward with renewed effort and managed to catch and pass the cyclist after a few minutes, she was breathing hard, easy prey. I fixed my sights on the next and soon forgot about my pitiful speed problem.

As I rounded the curve and started my third loop I was soon upon the next cyclist, but they were giving up ground without a fight, I needed almost 3 kilometers to catch and pass him. I continued to pump my legs through Liedolsheim, hoping to catch another cyclist or two before the finish. As I rounded the loop by Russheim I saw two far ahead of me, it would be rough.

My quads were crying by the time I reached the end of the loop and turned back into Graben, around a kilometer to go. The two cyclist had maintained their lead and I was pumping like crazy to try to give RB a good start on her second 4 km loop.

I wound my way back to the small parking lot and dismounted, tapping RB on her shoulder as she asked me how I was, out of breath I grunted and she was off. I returned my CUBE to the rack and caught my breath, chatting with Joseph for a couple minutes.

I stowed my CUBE in the car and grabbed RB's sweater, thinking she might need it when she's done, somehow my brain didn't register that it was 27°C (80°F) outside. My sanity was again tested when Joseph asked me what my average speed was, I said around 17 KPH. He said that's not possible, I had finished the 34 km in around 1:14:00 (later it would dawn on me my Odometer was set to miles)!

I waited for RB for a bit with Joseph and started wondering if she was suffering on the course, so decided I needed some fresh air and ran out to meet her. After 3-4 minutes I came up on RB and we ran to the finish together, I stopped just before and let her cross the finish line.

We chomped on some watermelon and chatted a bit with Joseph, until he had to leave, then picked up some food. We listened to the awards ceremony as we ate, we were the 13th relay team out of 14, the most were members of triathlon and cycling clubs, we had little chance of keeping up with them. We were pleased that we beat at least one team, and by over 5 minutes! A friend of ours that also did the relay won a 5th place prize, but had already left, so we collected it for him - we could drop it off on the way home.

After the awards ceremony we said our goodbyes to those we knew and I drove RB home. It was a nice change of pace from our normal running, I hope we can do it again next year.

Last Sunday (July 18), my wife came down with a summer flu the couple days leading up to this past weekend, so we couldn't travel as we planned. Being resourceful, I quickly scanned the marathon listings for my part of Germany and came up with a good training opportunity, the Hornisgrinde Marathon.

The Hornisgrinde begins in the middle of the Northern Black Forest, about 20 km from Baden-Baden, in Hundseck, directly on the Black Forest Highway 500. Hundseck is basically a collection of restaurants and ski lodges, open year around to tourists, hikers, skiers and normal folks looking to escape the city heat. The Black Forest Highway, or Schwarzwaldhochstrasse as it is called in German, is one of the oldest and best known vacation routes in Germany. The highest mountain in the area is the Hornisgrinde at 1164 meters (3818 feet). The is was in Hundseck has an elevation of around 900 meters.

On Saturday night it rained in most of the region, cooling the area from a daily high-90's (°F) that we have been having for weeks to a mild, almost fresh 14°C (57°F) when I arrived in Hundseck around 7 a.m., about 1 ½ hours before the 8:30 a.m. Start.

The Hornisgrinde Marathon is quite small compared to most in the region, this year drawing 223 half-marathon runners on Saturday and 220 marathon runners on Sunday. On Sunday at 8:00 a.m. was also a 10 km event, which drew 146 runners. As I picked up my Start number I noticed how relaxed the atmosphere was compared to most "city" marathons in the area. The family atmosphere, together with a beautiful course and good food afterward guarantee that the runners keep coming back - it was my fourth year running the marathon. I greeted a couple people that I knew, then made my way back to the car to get ready.

The aid stations for the marathon are well stocked and sufficient, most runners don't even need to carry a water bottle, but I was using the race for a training run for my 100 mile event in September. I elected to wear my CamelBak backpack with 2 liters of isotonic drink and other things that I would be carrying during the 100 (long sleeve shirt, snacks, first aid kit, lights, toilet paper etc.).

It was a bit cool outside as I made my way to the Start about 10 minutes before the race, but like most I chose shorts and a short-sleeve shirt, the sun was out and it would warm up quickly. I lined up towards the back of the pack and after a few minutes we were off.

The first several kilometers are over a narrow foresting path, making it difficult to pass, so I patiently matched the pace of those around me until it thinned out a bit. My best time for this race was last year, when I finished in 4:00:25, but on this day I was in no particular hurry - I planned on around 5 hours.

It was truly a beautiful morning to be running, sunshine, blue sky - I settled into a comfortable pace and tried to enjoy the scenery as best I could without tripping over any stones or roots along the way. The first half of the marathon is mostly downhill or flat, I passed the 10 km marker in around 59 minutes, much faster than I planned on, but I decided to keep up the pace for awhile.

Most of the course is through the forest on dirt and gravel logging roads, with an occasional single track or small section of asphalt road linking the various trails together. I cruised over the second 10 km in roughly the same time as the first, but soon after this the course started going uphill. I passed the halfway point somewhere around 2 hours and 10 minutes, I really wasn't paying too much attention to my Garmin, I just wanted to enjoy the run.

The second half of the course grew increasingly harder, including a gentle, but continuous climb between kilometer 31-41. I eased up on the pace through this part, I wanted to continue my training the next day.

At last I heard the cheering crowd at the finish line, about a mile before the finish. But I didn't get too excited about this, I knew what lay ahead, namely a steep climb up to the finish line! I shifted to a lower gear and chugged my way up the hill, catching several that chose to walk the unforgiving climb. Finally I rounded the last corner and trampled up a steep bank to the parking lot that would bring me to the finish line. I eased my way over the finish line, finishing in 4:32:50, about a half hour faster than planned, and about an hour and fifty minutes behind the first place finisher.

After showering I enjoyed some good food before heading back to the house. The Hornisgrinde marathon will always remain on of my favorites. The organization is great, the scenic course one of the best in the area and with enough challenge to keep it interesting!

Reports from previous years:

Hornisgrinde Marathon 2009

Hornisgrinde Marathon 2008

Hornisgrinde Marathon 2007

Hornisgrinde Half-Marathon 2005

Okay, no one besides Art responded to my gentle hints:

http://www.breakingthetape.com/runningwithjack/2010/06/recovery-week-and-a-little-sec.html

http://www.breakingthetape.com/runningwithjack/2010/06/another-ultra-this-weekend.html

http://www.breakingthetape.com/runningwithjack/2010/07/race-report-the-fidelitas-80k.html

So I guess I will have to be more direct. My running friend Birgit, who completed the 100K race in Biel and the 50 Mile Fidelitas Night Run with me in June, will be joining me for the main event for 2010, the Kraichgau and Stromber and Heuchelberg 100 Mile Trail!

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The 1st Annual Kraichgau und Stromber und Heuchelberg (KuSuH, und = and) takes place on September 25th and 26 in Oberderdingen, Germany, about 30-40 minutes away from where we live. Participation is by invitation only, with a maximum of 25 participants. Potential participants send a postcard or letter listing their experience to the organizers and those entrants that deem to qualify are notified of their acceptance. Birgit and I landed two of the last three available slots.

The course offers roughly 2500 meters (7500 feet) of elevation change, nothing too high or too long, just lots and lots of shorter climbs. We will have 28 hours to complete the event, runners age 60 and over are allowed 30 hours, runners age 65 and over are allowed 32 hours and so on.

We have both taken 2-3 weeks off from hard training since the 50 mile race in June, now its time to start picking up the mileage. Birgit is on vacation for another week, so this weekend I plan on running a training marathon in the Black Forest. Also planned are a couple training marathons at the beginning of September, a good dress rehearsal for the main event.

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