Chapter 2- “Trust Fibonacci my friend…now go for a run!”

Chapter 2- “Trust Fibonacci my friend…now go for a run!”

A brief word on Fibonacci and training:

My training, regardless of the event and specific training program, is superimposed with a cycle of train vs. rest based on theories relating Fibonacci’s Number/Golden Ratio. This ratio is discussed in terms of training cycles and the bodies natural biorhythms in a book, Consistent Winning: A Remarkable New Training System That Lets You Peak on Demand by Ronald D. Sandler and Dennis D. Lobstein. Doug (aka Dr. Doug or Doppler Doug) brought this book to my attention about two years ago and I haven’t turned back since. The basic premise of the program is to time your work out days with rest days in a ratio that matches Fibonacci’s Number. This will result in a “peak” performance on race day…REALLY…it will! The ratio training begins 81 days out from race day and follows a sequence into the final 21 days, 7 days, and finally 3 days. Everyone is familiar with the feeling you get some days that says, “holy cow! I feel great today!” That is the feeling this leaves you with on race day.

4:01am Saturday June 7, 2008:

When the disco music played through my cell phone, I had been asleep for around 4 hours. This easily matched the sleep I had gotten the past few nights. I was expecting something of a fever or a last a nasty flu hangover. What I had was 97.6 and a feeling of total euphoria. It was race day. Doug peeled himself off his sleeping mat, Gary and I crawled out of our motel beds, and each of felt the same thing…Game on. It was an energy that I can’t put into words. A feeling shared by three competitors, believers in our bodies, and believers in the healing energy that friendship brings. With a good morning call to Em, the circle was complete; our race team was ready for 100 miles.

As we were getting ready to leave the motel and head to the race start, Gary breathed a final sigh of relief and told me, “You know we couldn’t have let you run with that fever. No one could say that yesterday, but that kind of fever could kill you on a racecourse. But I knew you were going to break it. Today is going to kick ass!”

Doug looked me in the eyes and asked, “Are you surprised?”

“About my fever? No, I knew it would break after you said you were coming to the motel,” I said with a humble confidence.

Then, like only Doug can do, he turned my appreciation into an unparalleled confidence, “I just brought some herbs, but you have to remember that you trained for today, for today Luke, not yesterday. Trust Fibonacci my friend…now go for a run.”

Race Start:



Race start was exactly what I expected. Anyone reading this that has experienced racing, whether it be 100 miles or a 5k, you know this rush. For those of you reading this that thrive on this moment like I do…you not only know this rush, but you chase it and embrace it every opportunity you get.

To combat some of the negative stomach effects this rush can bring, Dr. Doug kept looking at me, laughing with Gary about my energy, and asking me to open wide while he slid a dropper of rescue remedy under my tongue.

Timmo and Jason, the absolutely incredible race directors gave the race briefing at 5:55am. This was it. It was such a high, that right now, exactly two weeks later writing this, I am high just from the memory. Timmo warned us all of the heat that may be coming, the rain that “could” follow, and how to read the marking on the course (which according to Gary was the best flagged course he has ever been on), and then he got us ready to go.

The finals butterflies floated around in my stomach; that guys calves are twice the size of mine, all these people have gators around their shoes…am I going to be screwed without them, oh my gosh! THE FURTHEST I HAVE EVER RUN IS 38 MILES! “Runners ready? GO!!!” (38 miles…really. which, out of pure fear of 100 miles, I may have exaggerated to some of you)

Chapter 1- 102.4... The fever that tried to sideline me.

Chapter 1- 102.4∞- The fever that tried to sideline me.

Playing hooky from school was the best choice on Friday. Gary was flying in at 7:45am and planned to be meeting Emily at the airport. This, of course, would not due. I managed to pull a “sick” day and tag along with Em to pick up our Canadian counterpart. The surprise attack was easy; I crouch in the back on the floor and jump out to surprise Gary…FOR 15 MINUTES! Once Gary was finally coming towards the car, I was more than ready to get out of the fetal position. While Em and Gary were hugging I slowly pushed the back door open and made my way awkwardly out of the car. The reason to tell this entire story is this: Gary saw the backdoor opening slowly and actually thought, “Wow! Spencer is already car doors from his seat, that’s pretty advanced.”

Friday with Gary:

Friday was half good and half awful. After getting back to Madison and settling in with short naps, we made our way to the Arboretum to have a quick run and show Gary my home court. It was hot! But, we had a great run and Gary was more than impressed with our little trail system in the middle of the city. Lunchtime. It is hard to come to Madison and not enjoy some of our excellent Southwest/Mexican food. The top of the heap is definitely the Eldorado Grill on Willy street, or for faster chow you can gorge at Tex Tubb;s Taco Palace or Pasqual’s. We hit up some good Mexican food with the sole intention of beginning the pre-race gorging of food. But then…

Sometime between the run and the third bite of my burrito, the small cold that I’d been fighting for two days began a downward spiral into a feverish flu. By the time we picked up Spencer at 3 I was feeling achy all over and couldn’t believe what was happening. At 4:30 I took my temperature and almost lost my mind when I saw 101.8∞. Quickly I was on the phone with Doug and Jenny asking the only couple I’ve met with the ability to make such things disappear, how to make it do just that. Within 10 minutes I was drinking hot ginger tea, wearing heavy sweats, and in bed beneath two down comforters. After twenty minutes I finally broke a sweat, announcing to Emily…”I’m Sweating!!!”

While the sweat gave me temporary relief, it did not find it’s way to the roots of my fever. I took an hour and a half nap, got up, put Spencer to sleep, and loaded the car to head to the motel. Nobody was really discussing the question of “what if.” What if I wake up with this fever? What if I start vomiting? What if I can’t run the race?

At 8pm Gary got our good luck kisses from Em (I think Gary got a bigger kiss than meJ), and headed to the motel about an hour and a half away. On the trip, Gary got the distinct pleasure of seeing other sides of Wisconsin. Outside of Fort Atkinson, we made a pit stop at Piggly Wiggly. First of all, for those non-Wisconsinites, the Pig is a grocery store, and this particular Pig has…wait for it… wait for it… you guessed it, carpet. Gary was beside himself as he walked the carpet-lined isles of the Pig. As we headed down the road away from the Pig Gary caught rural WI secret number two: a license plate that read, “McCain till the death.” Oh the multiple layers of irony and entertainment in 4 simple words.

THIS IS GETTING LONG….

At the rustic motel my temperature persisted. In fact, it climbed to a constant 102.4. At 9pm Doug called to get a feel for how I was feeling and where my head was at the moment. After a brief conversation Doug was in his car and headed to our motel. While I felt selfish saying yes to his offer to come and help drop the fever, I knew that it was my last ditch effort to race. For the next hour fifteen, Gary and I settled in to the Family Guy and tried to forget about everything….Yeah, that didn’t work. I was up down and sideways trying to focus on packing my bags, eating some food (which I had been unable to do for the majority of the afternoon and evening), and preparing my mind for anything. Emily and I were staying in regular contact and I could tell she felt a certain ease and comfort knowing that Doug was on his way and Gary was there.

At 11pm the good doctor walked into our room bearing his bag of Chinese treats. He went right to work mixing me a drink with Ban lan gen. I prepared for a nasty taste and was delighted with a sweet enough disguise. He then placed two “ear seeds“ on each ear stimulating points that encourage a drop in body temperature. One last text goodnight to my Emily and Off to bed!

I laid awake for about 25 minutes concentrating on a wonderful energy in the room and in my body. I felt many things working together to break my fever. It was almost a out-of-body feeling. Then at about 20 minutes, I felt “it”, something pushed the fever right out of me and I KNEW I would be racing in about 6 hours. I slept 4 of the best hours of my life.

4am…97.6…Race Day

A reader's guide to my 100 miles

It takes a while to run 100 miles, however, it pales in comparison to how long it takes to write about the experience. Capturing the physical journey alone is a daunting challenge, but if I manage to even crack the surface of the emotional experience, I will be surprised. So, consider this a warning…this blog may get carried away. I am going to make a concerted effort to contain each section as best I can. Here is a list of Chapters that may help navigate to an area of interest before setting off on the endurance event of reading this nonsense.

Chapter 1- 102.4∞- The fever that tried to sideline me.

Chapter 2- “Trust Fibonacci my friend…now go for a run!”

Chapter 3- The Heat

Chapter 4- Rain, Tornados, and the hour of doubt

Chapter 5/6- The next 50 miles and thoughts on Team Laga

To shake or not to shake...

So Gary, I think you are the one person who may occasionally check this out, and if there are others, by all means, you as well, to shake or not to shake?

My training is hitting a mark of consistency right now. It may not be the exact mark I would idealize, but I am happy to be out pounding on some miles, and doing it in more fun and creative ways than I have ever done before. However, with this training schedule, an already oddly efficient metabolism, and a very active job, I am losing weight that I don’t necessarily want to be losing. I have had this before, but was a little too green to realize that it was really working against my training and overall well-being. This time I think I see the problem, but am having trouble taking in the calories, while still eating healthy food.

I start each day with 3 eggs (2 whites, one yolk) with mozz cheese, a bagel, fake butter and a cup of coffee. If I run in the morning (rather than the night before) I add a Gatorade to that. That is a whopping 400 calories give or take 25. Throughout the day I snack on pretzels, apples, sometimes bananas, water, a bagel, and an occasional teacher’s lounge brownie or some other crappy sugar treat. Then at night I have added a sandwich when I get home and then dinner. After dinner I’ll add a grapefruit or some other fruit.

That is a ton of eating that comes to only over 300 calories (between 3000- and 3400 depending on the “treats” and beer some nights). My resting metabolic rate is 1975 calories. That is sitting in a chair all frickin day…I have never done that in my life. On run days, I had a trainer (the guy that did my MBR and lactic acid threshold testing) estimate that I should be taking in between 3500-4000 on regular run/work days, and 5000 on long run/snowshoes days. HOLY SHIT!

So…what do you do? Do you drink high calorie shakes? Do you masturbate less? What do you do?

Pilot to Co-Pilot…we have liftoff

1/11/08

My Niece Anna turned 5 today and my dad turned 61J
Happy Birthday!

In late night conversations between two usually incoherent fools, tentative agreements were made to go for a run. Gary, the idiot described in my first entry, expressed his intent to, “make you hate me the last 40 miles!”

Gary is coming to WI. I couldn’t begin to describe the strength, focus, and fear this gives me. I am a wealthy person in many ways, and this one. I have friends that push me and believe in my crazy goals. Then there is Gary, a drunken fool who can run faster and further than most people on earth. I assumed, when he told me that he was coming, that he was coming to try to break the very aggressive course record. I was wrong. Instead, he is coming to drag my sorry ass through the final 40 miles of the race.

The Kettle100 ultramarathon allows for racers to run with a pacer from the 100k point through to the finish. These final 40 miles are the most difficult, have the most severe elevation change, and covers the roughest terrain. I ran this 40-mile portion during last years Kettle100 as my first go at an Ultramarathon. This year I only will have to run 60 miles prior to getting to this point. BUT, when I get there…THERE WILL BE GARY!

Homemade energy bars

Luke’s Homemade Energy Bars

Nutritional information/serving (roughly)

1 batch makes 12 servings
*info does not include the additional ingredients at the bottom
Calories- 223
Protein- 6.4g
Carbohydrates- 36.75g
Dietary Fiber- 2.75g
Fat-6.75g

2 C- Oats
2 Tbls- Turbinado Sugar
4 Tbls- Rice Protein
1 1/2 Tbls- Ground Flax Seed
1 1/2 tsp- Wheat Gluten
1 tsp- Sea salt
1 Tbls- Cinnamon
1/3 C- Oat Bran
1/8 tsp- nutmeg
1/2 C- Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 C- Yogurt
1 C- Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 C- Applesauce
2 Tbls- Canola Oil
*(Sometimes I will also add peanut butter, raisins, nuts, or anything else that sounds good)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients (only 1 of the Tablespoons of Canola) and stir like crazy. Eat as many raw scoops as you like and bake the rest. Prepare a non-stick muffin pan (I use a large 12 serving muffin pan) or a bake dish with the remaining Tablespoon of Canola oil.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until ready. Let the muffins sit for at least 10 minutes to firm and cool.

Christmas, then a change of direction for the blog...i promise

1/1/08- Spencer’s first Holiday Season

AFTER THIS ENTRY THE DIRECTION AND NOT SO RIVETING DIRECTION OF THIS BLOG WILL CHANGE. But since this entry is already written…here it is:

Run- The weather has been absolutely insane in Appleton (we are home for the holidays). A blizzard started as a rainstorm and changed to a snowstorm with 50 MPH winds. On Saturday I got out to Bouboltz Nature Preserve for a great but soggy snowshoe run. It was the first run on my new Atlas Dual Trac running snowshoes. They are fantastic; better than the older version than I rented. Sunday morning came with a overbearing mix of snow and wind. Emily and I hit the basement for a workout. I replicated much of the work that I did at Core Fitness and managed to do some serious damage to myself. I had a great 45 minute workout and I feel it today!

After getting back to Madison on Christmas night my running holiday began. I began following my scheduled plan for the Kettle 100. This week was a 37 mile week, which I completed all but 7 miles of on snow shoes. Sunday the 30th I gave myself one of the hardest runs I’ve ever had. I ran 15 miles on snowshoes through thick powder for much of it. The running snowshoes are not designed for powder at all. They have a very small footprint and sink quickly into powder; this made for an ass-kicking workout. At the 45-minute mark, with a LONG run left, I decided it would be fun to follow a great summer trail that crosses a ravine. In I went…both feet went through the ice and into shin deep ice water. After pulling myself out and taking a second to regroup, I decided that I had to keep going and hope it wouldn’t get too cold. I ended up with an incredible run that felt more like a race than a Sunday long training run. Monday came with that soreness that feels so good. I did an hour of yoga for the first time in quite a while and it felt terrific!
New Years day, Sarah N dragged me out for my four miler…and with that ends break. My running now, if it is going to happen like it has to, will be at 4:30 in the morning.Yuck!

12/22/07- Snowshoes (heavy wet snow, trails) 45 minutes
12/23/07- Core, leg workout, 45 minutes

Holidays-

As a student, the thought of the holiday break was enough to drive me out of my skin. With any luck there was ample snow on the ground and much sledding would be done over break! I knew that I didn’t have to worry about schoolwork or teachers for two whole weeks. This, I can assure you, pales in comparison to the abundant joy and elation experienced this year, my first year as a teacher. Knowing that I don’t have to make Nick or Martha (all names with ALWAYS be false) get back on task or stop batting each other around for two whole weeks…I can’t even explainJ My first big chunk of the year is under my belt and I am feeling great! Somehow I picked the perfect gig for me. But I’m on break right now and don’t really feel like talking about teaching. So, onto the boy.

Spencer’s first Holiday Season-

This break was made perfect because of Emily and Spencer. In two weeks I have been able to put Spencer down for every nap but one, feed him sweet potatoes and avocados everyday, and play with him to no end.

Instead of continuing to add to this entry, I will post it now (1/5/08) and begin a new entry. The direction of this blog needs to change. I’m bored writing it, I can’t imagine how fun it is to read.