$50 for 50 Miles: a Kat Portillo fundraiser
“Your body gets used to do what you ask of it. If you don’t ask much it won’t give you much, but if you ask a lot, it will give you a lot.” – Cameron Hanes
On 22 June 2019, I will be competing in my first 50 Mile (80.4 Km) running race at the Oregon Old Cascadia in Blue River, Oregon. After the Mnt Wilson double, this is my next step to build up towards my first 100 Miler in 2020. This will also be my main physical goal for 2019, and a stepping stone to greater things to come within the next decade.
The 50 Mile course at Old Cascadia, featuring an out-and-back profile and 12,500ft of cumulative gain (and another 12,500 back down!)
I am joining the StrongWithKat team and pairing this effort with a fundraising drive called “$50 for 50 Miles” for Maj Katherine Portillo (USAF, ret). Kat Portillo is a medically retired Air Force Major with 19 years of service who was involved in a motor vehicle accident in December of 2015 that left her paralyzed below the shoulders. A former competitive triathlete and pro card body builder, she continues to mentor and inspire the next generation of military and civilian leaders with her never quit attitude. Anya Fedotova did an excellent interview with her in Episode 3 of her Blue Grit Podcast. Unfortunately, Kat’s medical benefits only cover a portion of the 24hr nursing care she requires. She, and her husband Pavel, are required to cover the remainder of the nursing costs out of pocket totaling upwards of $100,000 a year.
Kat and Pavel are some of the most wonderful people you will ever get a chance to meet, so I am happy to contribute whatever I can. We had a tremendous turnout at our Body Armor fundraiser workout in November, raising over $3000, enough to cover 210 nursing hours for Kat. The team’s goal for this 50 Miler will be to raise $5000 under the project title “$50 for 50 Miles”..
Photo courtesy of Kat Portillo and Pavel Ythjall
I will personally donate $50 on the 22nd of each month until race day on 22 June. My hope is for others to help out to whatever extent they can, whether that is a monetary donation or simply helping to spread the word. I will also post short monthly updates from now until June with my training progress and the many valuable lessons learned along the way. Lets help out a great Airman and a great American citizen in the process!
Photo courtesy of Kat Portillo and Pavel Ythjall
T-2 Months Update: Exploring New Trails
March was a pretty busy month both at TPS and racing, so I missed the T-3 Month update. Instead, the BayShore 70.4 triathlon and LA Marathon summaries from March will have to do! We are now only 2 months away from the big race, and the prep is going as well as I could hope for given how busy they keep me here at Edwards AFB. Updated training totals are below. Putting in time on the bike and in the pool, in addition to increasing my hiking miles, continues to be helpful in strengthening my cardio base while conserving my legs.
One of the greatest aspects of undertaking a brand new challenge is all the learning you get to do in preparation. This will be my first 50 miler, and I have been learning a ton of useful tips and tricks on how to optimize my performance (and finish the race) through podcasts and books such as Training For Ultra, The Pain Cave, Humans of Ultrarunning, The Ginger Runner, and Born to Run. A few of the more important lessons are summarized below:
1) Hike early and often, plenty of miles to exercise your reserves in the second half of the race.
2) Don’t rush the uphills: if you can’t see the top, hike. If you are debating whether to run or hike, hike.
3) Race by feel. I have started doing most of my long distance training (~20 mile runs) without looking at my Garmin watch. Although the usage of heart-rate is still valid to monitor effort, evaluating perceived effort through feel is a skill that will translate well in the longer distance races.
4) Calories and hydration. Eat early and often, and drink plenty of fluids with electrolytes. I find myself on average exerting less effort as I did at the IronMan distances, so I have been tweaking my nutrition a bit to support myself for the longer runs. I typically consume about 400 calories and at least 32 fluid ounces of water with around 400mg of electrolytes/sodium an hour.
5) Emphasize a positive mindset (i.e. don’t get carried away or upset with heavy headwinds, rains, or rough terrain). Enjoy the views and the opportunity to be outside!
In addition to the biking and swimming, I have definitely gained a lot more respect and appreciation for getting off the beaten path in the last few weeks and really getting in quality miles on foot. Hiking offers a great way to explore local trails and soak in some magnificent views. I increase the workload on my legs by wearing a 30lbs weight vest in addition to a 15lbs ruck. Below are some of the trails that we have got to experience the last few weeks in the LA-area.
Crystal Cove State Park Loop Trail
Placerita Canyon Waterfall Trail
Newport Back Bay Loop Trail
Santa Anna River Trail
Tehachapi Mountain Trail
Mount Wilson Trail
Jones Peak at the end of Bailey Canyon Trail
Tehachapi to Walker Pass Pacific Crest Trail
T-4 Months Update: Setting Goals
On March 9th I will be incorporating one of my favorite triathlon races in my 50 miler workup, along with the LA marathon on March 24th. The Bayshore 70.4 half IronMan distance triathlon in Long Beach is a grass-roots event that has taken place for the last ten years in early March. It was my first half and second overall triathlon when I participated in 2017, and intend to come back every year. This event has helped me grow my triathlon game tremendously, and the results from last year were a good testament to that (2018 race report here).
The obvious goal this year is to improve on my performance from last year. I ran a 5:02:10 last year and got 12th overall (4th age group). I was also in the middle of my training block for my first full IronMan at that time, so my fitness was strong. This year, the true test will be to see where my baseline fitness stands. The last two months have been a good experience in trying to optimize and get the most out of my training during a period of time with plenty of other priorities competing for time. Nevertheless, my A, B, and C goals are below:
A goal - sub 5-hours for the day.
This is the big goal. For me to go sub 5 hours for the day, the race will have to be perfect. I have to be on point with my nutrition throughout the race, try and stay with the front pack in the swim, avoid any mechanical issues or flats on the bike, and keep my body temperature low during the fast run. I will be hurting for sure after this push, but it will be worth it.
B goal – same vicinity as last year’s result (5:02:00 – 5:10:00)
With my preparations for my first IronMan, last year’s race was a vast improvement over 2017. I was simply able to put in more hours last year than I can this year, but I believe I am training smarter and more efficiently this year. We will see if that pays off!
C goal – self explanatory
This year my main priority is doing well at Test Pilot School, a year-long Master’s program/gauntlet of hard work and long hours. My second priority is to execute a proper build up to my first 50-mile run in June, coupled with the two races in March. I have had significantly less time to train this year than I had last year for this race, so I have been testing the waters by trying to train smarter and more efficiently the last 3 months.
For the swim, I have been turning shorter swim workouts into hard training sessions by using paddles for the first time. Incorporating paddles into your swim workout should result in a strong push/pull phase and a higher elbow catch. My average 100yd pace in the pool has been steadily coming down over the course of the last two months, and I am excited to see if it will play a big role in lowering my swim time on March 9th.
I procured a Wahoo Kickr smart bike trainer in December and am a big fan of the amount of flexibility it provides in tuning in your bike training. During the week, I workout early in the morning (0400-0500), and having the option to get a structured bike workout in inside during the winter pays dividends. I am trying to become smarter with my power-based approach to biking, and the stationary smart trainer has helped quiet a bit over the last two months.
For the run, I have been much more focused on heart rate zone training than I have in the past. The idea is to keep your run training inside zone 2 (~140bpm for me on the run). This meant I started my run training at a slower pace (about 9:30min/mile average over 10 miles), but after only a month I have noticed improvements on the order of 30 seconds per mile at the same effort. This approach will critical in executing a smart 50 mile (and ultimately a 100 mile) training approach. Since the half IronMan will have a fast flat run course, I have been inserting a few fast (7:20-7:30 average pace) 10 mile training efforts with great results.
I am excited to get back into race mode in two weeks. Training numbers for the month are below:
T-5 Months Update: So it begins
Although I have been adamant about keeping up a solid baseline level of cardio after my IronMan in May, most of my focus during the second half of last year was to wrap up my aircraft Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) rating. When I passed my checkride in October, it was time to start gearing up for the next challenge. I had been thinking about my next physical challenge ever since I crossed the finish line at Santa Rosa last May, and now it was time to commit and start the grind.
I decided that challenge would be a 100 Mile run, after doing a 50 Miler first of course. Since I love the multi-sport nature of triathlon and running is probably my 4th favorite discipline of them all (after biking, swimming, and eating), I knew from the start that my build up to the fifty (and eventually the hundred) would involve a lot of triathlon cross-training. This conveniently will also help me conserve my legs and joints and reduce the shear mileage of ground pounding ahead of me. I realize I will still have to put in some significant mileage on foot, but combining soft surface/trail running with a solid baseline cardio build up through the swim-bike-run approach will go a long way.
I started gearing up towards the “fitty” in earnest at the start of December. My training numbers to date (22 Jan) are below. A few missed bike and swim numbers here and there partially because of a move to a new Air Force base and holiday pool closures, but overall numbers I am happy with.
This big training block included my first ultra run event (the Mnt Wilson double on 29 Dec). Expect to see more balanced swim-bike-run workouts next month as well as I am gearing up to compete in the BayShore 70.4 Half IronMan distance triathlon on 09 March, a fun event I competed in last year as well.
