Brandon Fuller

Quad Rock 50 2012

That did not go as planned.

The inaugural Quad Rock 50 was being held just outside Fort Collins at the Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park. My Fort Collins buddies run those trails and I knew they were worthy. I figured being that the race was in May, we would have some good heat and that would set me up for a nice hot training run for Western States (which is a notoriously hot course). Quick hour from home up there. Good deal.

The week before didn't go as planned. I tapered a bit. Didn't sleep well. Worked a lot. Then sometime about 9 PM on Friday night I sat down and figured out my drop bag and race gear. Not a second before that had I given it any thought. This is in contrast to the yarn grid from years go that took over our dining room table for months in preparation for the LT100. So it was casual. I packed in all I needed and went to bed. Woke up to light rain and 40 degrees. It had been 80 earlier in the week. I hadn't run in a shirt in 30-45 days. Now I was wondering where my gloves were. Mood was bitter.

Got to the start in no time and checked in and retreated back to the truck to stay warm. Joined up with JT and we sat together before there were just minutes to go. Said hi to a ton of people at the start. Everybody was out to run the Fort today! Nick sent us off into the dark. A couple miles of new singletrack through a meadow started the day. I felt fresh in the legs and took the chance to do the usual and get up front a bit in front of the crowd. About a mile in, IT STARTED. Bowel pain. I have to shit. I had gone nicely just before the race too. But there was more. Damn it. So at mile 4 exactly I made my first stop in the bushes on the day. A freight train of people came by as I sat for about 5 minutes. Damn it. Oh well.

From there we started the climb up to Towers and I felt pretty strong. I was hiking while people around me were running. My hiking might have improved. But that didn't last long. I have to go. Again! I pulled up again. Lost more time. Let's just get this out and done and then relax and move it up. Nada. It was a train wreck. Between mile 0 to mile 10's aid station, I racked up 5 stops. JT was plodding along after his 3 hour marathon last weekend in Jersey. I would pop out of the bushes as he was running by. I would dust him only to have to stop again in a few miles. Then come out again and there he was. So I just started running with him. Figured it would be a long day and its better to share it with a dear friend.

And so the day continued. The joke was on me. I crapped over 15 separate occasions through the race. I ruined that park up there. At one point, I shit out some corn. The funny thing is...I can't remember the last time I ate corn. I wasn't just pooping. I was cleansing. Out of my control.

Things did get better later in the day. I had some good stretches in the 30 mile range. I had lost JT. But I found myself kicking it up. Had people on my tail and was able to run hard and avoid the pass. Had fun in the moment. But I think that burnt up too much good fuel as I started getting just plain tired around mile 40. If I didn't have that DNF monkey on my back, I would have been looking for a ride home. As I came into the mile 40 aid station, JT was there downing a PBR. As he exited the aid station, I swung in and grabbed food and moved out. I caught up hiking up the hill and went to his pace. He was having trouble descending. I couldn't climb. What a pair! So we hiked and talked for the next few miles.

I had another stop around mile 43 and he gapped me. But we had a big downhill section, so I passed him and ran hard. Figured I had him cooked now...but honestly I knew better. JT came back and caught me at the bottom of the downhill. Then he just moved away from me on the slightly uphill miles back through the valley to the finish. I was under 12 hours no matter how I finished so I ran/walked it in. I didn't care. Survived.

All in all, it was a bad race performance for me. I asked JT what my issue was... Not enough taper? Not enough training? Or do I just suck? He went with the later. I had hope to build some confidence from the race going into Western but it didn't happen. Probably shoved me backwards. So I have some thinking to do around a few things:

+ Pre-race Food - Before Boston, I was like measuring my food so I ate right. Before this race, I didn't care at all. I was actually starving. The taper caused me to stock up food in my bowels and when I finally started moving again, it emptied. I cannot afford to 0 mile taper before a race.

+ During-race Food - I stayed on sugar and coke all day. Seemed OK. I tried out the applesauce plan and I think it was money. I still didn't hit it as well as I should of. When the race got to the late miles, I threw in the towel and just ground it out. I should have experimented. That's why I was there.

+ Shoes - I blistered in my Crosslite 2.0s. Surprised. My socks were wet all day from going off trail. I should have swapped socks at 25.

+ Legs - My quads were great. My calves and ankles went to hell. I should have worn the post in my shoe too.

+ Trails - Those were some different trails. Lots of ups and downs while ascending and descending. Like running Flagstaff-kind-of-stuff if it was stapled on Green. Does that make any sense. Just different. Body not used to the constant change. I run a lot of road here.

+ Lungs - Limiting factor on the climbs. Was just out of breath all day. More time in Leadville before WS100?

+ Taper - I feel like I did it wrong. Or just didn't peak correctly.

+ Beard - Its gone. Cut it when I got home. Didn't work.

Part of this whole thing makes me want to quit this whole thing. Whine. The other part of me wants to break it all down. I can't figure out why I can't just nail one of these ultras for once. I just keep telling myself I haven't cashed that check yet. If its at WS100 or LT100 this year, it will be worth it. I will try to guide my luck towards making that happen in the meantime.

Chalking it up to sucking and being a long training run a month from the biggest race of my life (so far).

I went 51.42 miles with an elevation gain of 10,608 feet in 11:41:44, which is an average pace of 13:39. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.

Bib #190

I have been cleared to run! All 3 boxes are now green. And the bib assignment. Meh. When they asked me what number I wanted on the form, I entered #666 but I guess they don't print them that high.

Weekly Training Summary (67.61 miles / 13:16:25)

Now my name is M.C.A. I've got a license to kill
I think you know what time it is, it's time to get ill
Now what do we have here, an outlaw and his beer
I run this land, you understand, I make myself clear
- Beastie Boys

Breakdown

Mon - Green Mountain
Tue - Green Mountain
Wed - Green Mountain
Thu - Green Mountain / Acupuncture
Fri - 15M
Sat - Turquoise Lake
Sun - Powerline / Sugarloaf

Thoughts

Time was the goal.

I had a conference in Boulder this week so I got the opportunity to run Green Mountain daily. I had a great time on Mon coming back down Bear Canyon. Such a fun long stretch and things were just clicking. Really enjoyed the moment.

On Tues, I got out with JV and Aron Ralston. It was the 9th anniversary of Aron's rescue and he was reminiscing a bit with us on the descent. During some part of that story and my reflection on our own morality, I took a nasty left foot plant and twisted my ankle something fierce. I wanted to cry. But here is Aron telling us what it felt like cutting his own arm off. Guess I can man up and make it down the mountain. Slowly.

On Wed, I climbed up Bear Canyon and felt a pretty good rhythm. My ankle was oh so touchy though. I came down Ranger just to find myself on some less rocky trail to minimize my need to stabilize myself. I returned to Green Mountain on Thursday but felt a sense of fatigue. 4 days in a row had taken its toll on me. I proceeded straight over to my acupuncture appointment from the trail. Same needling. And we didn't make any follow-up appointment...for now. I think I am good.

Friday was hot here so I opted for a 2 hour run on roads around home. The bank's sign said 85 degrees and that was nice. Felt like WS100 preparation. But that was enough heat for me today. We escaped to the high county for the weekend.

I spent the weekend on my old stomping grounds. Opening up trails in Leadville so to speak. I traveled around Turquoise Lake on Saturday. Totally snow free! Then opted to get up Powerline on Sunday before the storm hit. Our activities got snowed out in the afternoon and we lost power. So we headed back to the Front Range.

13-14 hours in a week on roads gets me 100 miles so I feel like I stayed consistent to the plan this week even though the miles did not add up to it. Most days involved 2 hour outings which is the key metric for me right now. I felt good early in the week but really fatigued later in the week. Running in Leadville was hard. Its clear I lost my lungs. I know how to get them back though. I have just been away for too long this spring.

I feel so much more mellow this season about training. I don't think its bad, just different. I just go out and work through the day pretty casually. Whereas I used to have to amp up just a bit for a traverse around the lake. Now its just Saturday. I feel like some new level of comfort with what I have become. But I am also getting nervous about my lack of speed. A marathon scares the crap out of me right now. But 50 miles? No big deal.

1st race of 2012 next Saturday. So its a bit of a taper week. Figuring on running 100 miles total for the week. Front loading the week with 50, then taper for 2 days, then race, then recover. I don't have big goals for Saturday. Its a new course so nobody really knows the splits that well. Maybe I can PR at 50 miles since its not run at 10,000 feet. But more over, I just hope to have a smooth day and maybe run a bit harder towards the end if I am feeling it.

Run: Powerline / Sugarloaf (7.45 mi)

After yesterday's relatively flat outing, I wanted to go get a taste of what the higher up county looked like. So I jumped in the car and drove a couple miles over to Powerline to maximize my time. The water crossing at the bottom is really nice right now. Last spring, I turned back because it was a lake and there was no way through. It was a bit windy out today and the clouds were coming and going. A storm was blowing in so I gave myself an hour up before I would turn. Unless the snow became too painful.

Nice and dry out so far. At about 2 miles up there was snow along the sides in the shade but nothing you had to mess with.

I was getting close to the course summit when the snow finally built up and got me off my run. I was postholing through it just to get a bit further and finish out my hour climb. But it hurt. Standing on snow then dropping down until your balls touch the snow hurts. That ice burns!

I got under where the power lines cross the trail and turned back. I wasn't getting any value from this run any longer. Time to head down.

This is such a crunchy man-carved trail. Its so awful. Why do we like it so much then?

Back at home, I jumped in the shower right as our power went out. We have a well so I got about 1 minute of water before it stopped flowing. There I stand freezing with shampoo in my hair and no water. Kim came in with a jug of water she had from last year's race and poured it over my head. Whoa! That was cold. I got cleaned up the best I could. Took the kids for some ATV rides around the neighborhood then back through the forest by the cemetery. We found 3 huge deer legs back there. Not fresh. Ew? The bone collector wasn't interested in these. Too much meat on them. Finally got out of town just as winter tries to give it one last go.

I went 7.45 miles with an elevation gain of 1,636 feet in 01:32:05, which is an average pace of 12:22. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.

Run: Turquoise Lake (15.40 mi)

First run around the lake this season! Snow free. A few humans here and there. Mostly out fishing. A huge set of trees is down along the Turquoise Lake Trail near the biggest drainage stream. I had to go down to the shore to go around it. Once on the shoreline, I figured why return to the trail. The lake is really dry at the west end so I ran up the middle of the lake bed floor. There is sort of a road along parts of it. Jumped between small islands at some point to avoid water. Pretty uneventful otherwise.

Thought I would have some sort of moment on my first return to Mayqueen. But I didn't. I was like "meh" and moved on. Fully knowing I will be back there for years to come.

The road back was tiring. After being away for quite a few weeks, I have lost most of my acclimatization. Bonked at the end but just good to be back at it. Spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Favorite view.

The boat ramp.

Clean trail.

Tree blockage!

Running down in the lake.

Where's the water? Confused how there is no water in the spring but its totally full in the winter.

Welcome back to your nightmare.

Got another souvenir on my run for our resident bone collector!

I went 15.40 miles with an elevation gain of 1,044 feet in 02:42:36, which is an average pace of 10:34. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.

My WS100 General Information Form

Think they will read that out loud while I circle the track at Placer High School? Hope so.

Weekly Training Summary (100.28 miles / 14:55:18)

I don't need no nine mil glock
These hands are deadly guns
From smokin, drinkin, bein a thug
I sip hypnotyq from a coffee mug
I keep a healthy state of mind
I only drink and drive at night
I know Karate
I know Jujitsu
I drive like a gangsta when I'm coming to see you
- Kennedy

Breakdown

Mon - 15M / Acupuncture
Tue - 10M / 5M
Wed - Mesa-BearCanyon-Green-Superflag / 5M
Thu - 10M / 5M
Fri - 5M / 10M
Sat - 0M
Sun - 20M / Bonus: 1M with a lawnmower

Thoughts

Back from the sickness with rage. I got back on the 100 mile week train this week to try and recover what was lost last week while I was sick. I wasn't 100% early in the week but every day got better until I forgot about it. Had some good warmer runs early in the week. Need more time in the heat.

On Wed, I opted to stop my Sanitas trips and go back to the big boy mountain. But I combined it with more distance by getting a longer climb through Bear Canyon and then coming back down the quad-pounding way via Superflag. The ascent felt good and controlled. Not fast but felt normal. The descent was choppy on the road mostly. Just not as fluid on the turnover but the quads held up just fine. Not a fast outing overall but I felt confident when I was done.

The rest of the week was focused on just getting miles in because I planned for Saturday off while volunteering at the Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race. After that day off, I figured Sunday would be awesome but it wasn't. Very stiff by the end of the run.

Overall, glad to have the base building week in the bag. I am going to change things up this coming week. I have a conference in Boulder at the St. Julien so that should provide me a great opportunity to do "Green Days" this week. I think those are going to be better for me than another 100M week. So I will look to do some back to back mountains this week in between conference sessions. Then its back to Leadville next weekend for the start of the snowless season up there. Turquoise Lake is plowed out and I hope to take advantage of that.

My dead butt syndrome has subsided a bit but still nags. Its not a burden, just a bother.

Starting to think more and more about Western. I still need to start my course homework. Then I need to figure out what to take and what to tell my crew to have on hand for me. I was thinking of starting with this rider from Slayer that I saw and adding and subtracting a few things. Its pretty close otherwise.

Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race

My upcoming race at Western States has a service requirement. Ugh. So months ago I set out to find an opportunity that would be a good fit for me. The choices given are either supporting a running event or doing trail work. Trail work seemed obviously but there aren't a lot of opportunities for it in the spring and I have to have my service complete by May 12th. So I poked around and found out about this race through Simon, who was timing the race as Colorado's premier race timing company.

I emailed the race director and told her I would like to volunteer. I harassed her for the next few months about the gig. If I don't get this service done, no Western States for me. Ahhh! Anyway, she graciously put me on as aid station 2 captain. What? Captain! That sounded important. I signed up for the all day shift and prepared to come help runner achieve their dreams of 25K or 50K.

Woke up at 4 AM and made the drive down to Colorado Springs. Was at the start by 6 AM. It was cold out. Its one thing when you are running but when you are standing around, it gets chilly. I had my TNF down jacket on with hat and gloves and pants. Brrr. It was a bit breezy all day which was kind of annoying. But the day warmed up enough. I got my aid station all setup in no time and then started getting anal about the configuration of the table. Which direction would I stack things to grab them best? How much should we have out to start? Little things bothered me like we had the Heed drink next to the water. Both are mostly clear. Which is which? Harder to tell if you are running through. So I swapped positions with the Coke so it was easier to tell. Found out we were not provided any salt (other than chips and stuff) so I went to the car and got a bottle of S-Caps to distribute. No runners were going to lack at my station!

My station was in at mile 8 on the course which happened to be close to the start/finish. So I ran over to the start to see all the runners off. Talked to Koop, Burch, Hornsby, Wooten, Rickey, and others and wished them luck. I sort of wished I was running since the field was small and light but I was also excited to see how it is in the "other side". And they are off! (L: Wyatt, C: Burch, R: Koop)

1/4 mile and the gap is there already. There was money on the line here today but I guess not enough to draw more names out. Collegiate Peaks was at the same time today and a lot of folks went over there for the 50 mile option.

Burch and Koop were neck and neck all day. They would come into the aid station in a tear and give us a good run for our money. I tried my best to anticipate their needs. Burch was filling a bottle so we had 1 guy always stationed with a pitcher to fill him. Koop was waterless and was grabbing cups in both hands. We would see runners 4 times on the day so we had a good feel for what they needed on the return trips.

The 2 leaders threw a big gap on the field. It was probably 20 minutes or so until Wyatt came through. But that meant he had no pressure to run faster to the front. He just had to watch the back.

Here comes Carson! Carson and I ran together at some of the Front Range Fat Ass events this year. Glad to see him out there!

Here comes Ed Baxter! Ed completed the first ever Inclinathon a few weeks ago. That's a 26,000 vertical foot marathon. Damn.

Here comes Koop again. He was viciously drinking that water as he came through. I thought he would eat the cups.

Wyatt came through again but stayed for a sec to get fluids in.

I had a dozen of random folks come introduce themselves to me. "Brandon of Leadville? What are you doing here?" Fun to be out mingling and supporting. Totally a different crowd though. These were a lot of aspiring ultra runners. Trying that 25K distance as a jump from road 1/2s. I remember when. It was fun to chat about running. But sometimes you get a reality check as I heard, "Hey, Brandon Fuller!" With a smile, I turned. The runner proceeds to yell out, "You suck!". JT's henchmen would not let my presence in his backyard go unnoticed. Oddly, he was up in Boulder today. Coward.

Anyway, I had to stay on my toes. Leaders came back by only a mile from the finish. Burch had just enough jump on Koop and took the win. He looked strong. Not sure that I could have held pace from the aid station to the finish along side of him. Koop came by seconds later. Always so close on the day.

We manned our aid station and watched all but about 4 runners come back through. I was tired after the long day so I wrapped up, tore down, and got on my way back home. I stopped by JT's house and found him hiding from me up on his roof!

On the drive back home as I headed out of Colorado Springs, traffic was all jammed up. The speed limit went to 75 and this right lane was added so there were now 3 lanes. So I went to the right and started driving the speed limit of 75 and I was passing this huge herd of cars who were still at 65 bumper to bumper. Some truck pulled over into my lane had made me slow way down. Then he got back over. Next thing I know, I get pulled over by an unmarked cop car. What's the problem? I know I was going the speed limit I told him. You were passing on the right he tells me. That is apparently illegal. And I was following that truck that pulled in front of me too closely. I proceeded to give this guy a lecture on how the law actually reads that slower traffic needs to move right and they were not. They were driving under the speed limit as well. Why not pull them over? How can you give me a ticket for passing at a lawful speed? On the right? Am I not free to drive the speed limit in that lane too? What's the speed limit in the left lane vs. the right lane? Oh, 75. How fast as I going? 75, he tells me. He proceeds to then ask me about the truck. Explained that he pulled out in front of me and I avoided an accident. I wasn't tailgating him. Merely slowing and recovering. I know how to drive on someone's ass and I wasn't doing it. He left and and returned with a knocked down citation of "Following too closely". Really? The other passing on the right thing was portrayed to be a major deal and this was more minor. So I bit my lip and took it. Felt ripped off after a day of honest volunteering to be pulled over and arbitrarily dealt a citation. And I won't go argue it in El Paso County Court since it would cost me the ticket in gas to return.

Oh well, my service form is signed and in the mail. I paid my money, won the lottery, and did my service. Next up -- run the most famous ultra in the land!

View all photos from this event.

UPDATE: Pikes Peak Sports had a few shots of me working hard!

Supervising the carb intake...

Seeing what Wyatt needs...

Filling up Burch...

Feverishly tweeting results to the zero people following the #cmtr hashtag...

Weekly Training Summary (53.92 miles / 8:32:07)

I've got a kill 'em all
Give a shit
License to hate
I'm that one shot
One kill
Bringer of pain
-5FDP

Breakdown

Mon - 0M / Acupuncture
Tue - Mount Sanitas x 2 / 5M
Wed - 0M
Thu - 10M
Fri - 8.5M / 5M
Sat - 10M
Sun - 8.5M

Thoughts

That didn't go as planned...at all. Late the week before, we had Reagan sick home from school with this puking disease. After some late night clean-ups, we had her cured. Then Sydney got it into the weekend. Then my worst nightmare...my wife got it. When Mom is down, I get little slack for running. The worst of that was on Wednesday when Kim was barely lucid and never left the bed. I really really was tempted to leave a 2 year old roam the house and run but I just never got there. And by the time everyone was in bed, I was just plain worn out. So I bailed on the day.

I thought I had personally escaped all of this but it hit me on Thursday afternoon when I deposited my Chipotle into the toilet via my mouth. Sucks. I was in bed myself for 14 hours straight fighting off the major symptoms. I had gotten my morning run in but failed for the afternoon. On Friday, I forced myself through the morning run with run/walk combos. Just good to be outside and trying to move stuff through the body.

We had various activities over the weekend but no runs I did in the morning ever felt good. Gut was way off. So I opted not to pull doubles over the weekend and just admit defeat and re-group. Its Monday as I write this and I still haven't had a solid bowel movement since Thursday. I founded Team Shart and all but there is only so much crapping on a run that one is interested in during the span of a week. Luckily, the park bathrooms are open now so that has helped me in that I am not totally defacing the eastern side of Boulder County any longer. Ok, enough crap talk.

Hoping to return to plan this week although I am not 100% yet. My wife is and she is 2 days ahead of me. So by tomorrow I figure. Hopefully, just a small setback that I can write off to rest. I guess.

Weekly Training Summary (100.04 miles / 16:03:05)

Rewound the future to the present
Paused it, don't ask how
Fuck the past motherfucker
He's the shit right now
-Eminem

Breakdown

Mon - 8M / 12M
Tue - Sanitas x 2
Wed - 10M / Acupuncture
Thu - 10M / 5M
Fri - Bear Peak & Green Mountain with JV & GZ
Sat - 20M
Sun - 11M (Treadmill because the wind is getting old)

Thoughts

Tired of all the whining in myself and the community lately. There is no source of motivation to be had. Everyone is tired, or hurt, or exploring other things. But as the days count down to Squaw Valley, I can only think one thing for myself...focus. No distractions. I need to prioritize and focus my efforts for this one big test. I won't get a second chance (odds and all). I have one shot at the WS100. GZ asked me my goal for it was during our run this week. I simply muttered, "Finish". Its not that its not a worthy goal but it is the only true goal. I have learned from my mistakes and I am ready to be tested again. Do I want to run faster and achieve some time goal? Sure. But I am trying to not get myself wrapped up in it. What I am getting myself caught up in is trying to convert as much of the training I have done in a 1:1 ratio to output on race day. All in all, that is the one thing that draws me into races. When I look back at races that I have done well and felt good about, its when race day came and I converted a great portion of my efforts into results. Maximizing that conversion is what is going to count for this race.

My butt is interestingly better coming into the weekend. I forced myself to sleep on my back all week with my foot uncovered. Small stuff but it works. This keeps my ankle in the 90 degree position. Keeps all the muscles stretched. This works. I learned it before and I am reapplying it now. Back to acupuncture tomorrow. It beat me up last week afterward but the next morning, things were great. Feeling confident that I can nip this given the load this week and the injury improved in spite of it.

Can't decide when its time to chop the beard. The Wayne Static look-a-like is getting closer daily.