Peacock 54 -- 2010 (Caution: Work in Progress)

Note:  This is not a complete report, and I am still working on it.  But to maintain some timeliness I have decided to post it now as I work on it....thanks

I hadn't been hitting the trails at Peacocks this year.  I burned out on the 24 hour sessions last year, and frankly I was just tired of hard roads and despite the fact that they are not paved those jeep roads up on Peacocks are like concrete during the summer. I also just don't like the drive, or get up at 3:00 AM. In any event the race this year was something I had been thinking about and reluctantly decided I needed to do. I did not, however, go into it unprepared, as I learned my lesson at the Triple Trek. I spent a day getting my gear together, packing the car, and even found time to mentally run the race in my mind, which caused me to change a few things in my stashes.  The preparation made all the difference. 
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Injury or Soreness Whose to Choose?

Yesterday I was walking around the house and I suddenly felt this pain in my hamstring.  I had been working in the yard, but not really exerting myself.  The night before I had had some pain on my climb up to the bench but it was in my foot and knee and had nothing to do with my leg.  So it was an unpleasant surprise to feel this pain back there.  It is an area that is problematic with runners.  And it concerned me right away.
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Hey!! Even the NY Times confirms my training plan.

Sometimes you do things because you believe they are right.  You don't just start out doing them, it takes years sometimes to get 'in the groove',  and then you find yourself doing things in a certain way.  If you read over the last few weeks of my training routines you will see that I have been concentrating on repeats, and the mental and physical routines one must establish to improve.  So I would like to present to you this rather primitive and basic approach to training as found in the New York Times. Article
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Turned Right onto the Road...

Turned right onto the road and headed up valley.  Did a PDice-bench run. Can not really call it a repeat as I ran into some foot problems and decided to slow pace it home.  But the up times were personally impressive with a 14:25 to the Falls, a 39:20 to the Pie Stand, and a 53:10 to the Grassy Knoll.  Sat on the Bench for a minute and headed back down.  But as I said I felt some heel pain in my right foot, some strange pain in my left knee, and stopped the real pushing.  Made it back to the Pie Stand in 1:12 and down and out in about 1:58. 
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None Too Far

Ok, so not everyday is some kind of great run.  I had work Sunday morning, and then came home and crashed and before I knew it the clock was reading 4:00PM. I was eyeing the beers in the frig when I finally got my gear on and headed off, turning left out of the driveway toward the Nature Center rather than right toward Pairodice. I got there, wandered up the road, and began the run to find I was already slow by Three Balls. Not too slow just not fast. I pushed on with no real change in my enthusiasm or energy and reached the top in a non stellar 17:30. 

I picked up some speed on the Stair Cases and into Mountain Apples, doing OK up Twisters, hitting the top their in 21 something, and pushed down Ginger Shorts and onto Easies.  My mind drifted a bit, as it is prone to do on the first section of easies, but I dropped back into gear and ran hard to the top of Smokey's hitting it around 25.  The push down Rooty Run was fast, but nothing great  and I found myself coming around big bend at about 30+. 
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A New Repeat.

I worked in the yard for about five hours, took some time to lift a bit, then ate, gauged my time, and finally made it to the trail head by 4:00.  This time I headed straight up the valley to do a Manoa-Jackass Repeat.  The guys have been working on the trail so I figured those bad section would be gone from the Falls Trail and, frankly, I needed a bit of a change.  I walked up the trail thinking my last run with Fish and a 60 to the bench.   So when I hit the turn in the road I was ready and pushed from the beginning, though I quickly realized the morning's work was a bit heavier than I had anticipated.  But I'm'always slow out of the blocks.  So I just rolled with it.  I pushed up the trail, winding my way around the tourists with a graceful precision and without upsetting them.  I hit the turn at about 16+ and felt it was good.  Off of the slippery tourist path I felt energy coming into my muscles and I pushed, actually jogging and running easily in places.  I put my head down and pushed the straights, was quick through the muddy and rocky valleys,  and made good time through the rocky bambo nightmare.  By the time I hit the switches I was jogging most of the straights.  I was sounding like a train, or a mad beast, breathing hard, and whooshing, and hissing, and grunting and screaming out loud great bellowing 'Arrrggghhhh's.  I was moving up sections of the trail faster than I believe I have ever done.  You know when you are on, just as you know when you are off.  And today I was ON as I hit that hill and pushed up toward the Pie Stand.
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Nature Center-Pair-o-Dice Over and Back

The Fish Man and I did an over and back as we both needed to get some other things done on Monday. So a quick 14 looked like the ticket. We headed across the bridge just after 8:15.  We pushed to the top of Hog Back in 15:20 or so, down and back up Twisters in just over 19, then down into Ginger Short and back up Easies to the top of Smokies in under 23, then down Rooty Run, down the Washboard, past Two Trees and Foot Prints to the stream,  running hard around Big Bend we hit the three-way in 26 something.   We Pushed up Mangos, me trying to concentrate on the trail as this is the part my mind drifts.  Up the Dirt Slide, over the roots, hit the switchback, turn and head toward the Rock Steps and the Lookout.  I was breathing hard, gasping to be honest.  We pushed up, O2 levels at bare minimum, through Cathedrals, to the Nahuina Trail Head, under 29, took the turn and with Fishy at my back telling me it was runnable we pushed on hard into the Dark Forest.
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Po'uli'uli: Out with the Night Marchers

I was laggin behind Zadoc and Rob out of Pair-a-dice as I just could not seem to get it together. You know how it goes. You forget all the rules you have down so well and then you find yourself out there ten minutes into the run totally unprepared to actually be there. My lights were not powered up, my hand held in particular was about as bright as some star sitting 20 light years off. My socks were not fitting well as I had walked around the house in them for a few minutes before putting on my shoes, I had a eaten a Mexican meal at lunch and the beans were growlin in my gut, I pulled on my bladder hose and ripped the mouth piece right off-which took me five minutes to find and get set properly. But I just pushed on, knowing that sooner or later I'd get it together and all the problems would settle out. That is what constant training does more than anything else. It gives you confidence to face all the screw-ups you basically inflict upon yourself. The trail is neutral, you are your own worst enemy.

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Repeats repeated repeatedly

Nothing like getting your lines down if you have the opportunity. The lines, you know, those particular paths along the trails that can help you shave the minutes off your time. On those rooty, rocky, muddy trails of the first stage of the HURT loop they are critical, or at least that is how I see it. And, not to be overlooked, are those mental paths, that labyrinth of thought, that leads you in and out of cardio limits, oxygen deficiency, muscle wasting, and just outright too dumb to quit perseverance. The lines; it is what I am working on now in a never ending succession of runs along the first few miles of the HURT loop.

Physically it sounds like a challenge; Up Hogsback, Cross-over to Center Trail, then up Mangoes, to Nahuina, up the hillside to the top of the ridge at Tantalus Road, and then, to add to the insult, to gut out the training, its up Concretes to the second of the bumps. The last part, concretes, is not on the HURT loop, but it a nice brutal end to an hour of difficult work-out.

As this is primarily a one-way work-out the down is less spectacular and done at a good, but not reckless pace. I only really time the up.

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