Preparing for my first 50-miler, Leona Divide 50

Leona Divide 50 Miles of What?

This will be my first 50 mile race and longest run to date. I have previously run the Los Angeles Marathon about every year since 2008 and I've taken on a few 50k's, including the Bulldog 50k (usually in August) in the Santa Monica Mountains and also Leona Divide 50k (last year).

Bulldog 50k, 2014 (photo credit:

ROBERT EDINGTON) 

Every successive year, I've had the the chance to get a personal record (PR) at Bulldog, but the Leona Divide 50 miler (2015) is a different animal.

I have a family, full-time work as a consulting Behavioral Specialist, and I've also took on the role of being an assistant pole-vaulting coach at a local high school. I've gotten really good at never bringing work home. My daughter demands my attention, which I do not mind, but so does my wife. I usually am going out on a run after dinner is done, and most of my domestic duties are in order. I often struggle with this balance, but I think I am improving. I've been better at putting those (damn) dishes away and making dinner before being asked, but I slip, focusing on my Strava splits and total mileage sometimes. My wife usually picks up the slack and is patient...until she's not. I'm sometimes running on thin ice.

My Strategy
This year I think I have over-thought my strategy, but maybe not. After I ran and PR'd at the LA Marathon (3:30:37), I needed to focus on adding elevation into my training and getting use to the dirt terrain. I've incorporated some trails during my LAM training, but not as many as I needed to for Leona. So after LAM is where my race specific training began. I needed to incorporate mile hill repeats into my run. I had figured post-LAM that Leona would be about 190-ish feet per mile average for the 50 miles (according to some others' Strava data), and at least get that average in my runs as often as possible. The hills at my house usually average about 235 feet per mile, so I was in good hands. However, considering my personal, parental and financial responsibilities, I was limited on time, so I was incorporating a higher-intensity/average mile volume strategy versus a high volume/low intensity approach. I know theoretically this type of training will work, but I was still nervous. I've had been able to recover from marathons in a couple days for the past two years, compared to whole weeks when I started, so I had comfort knowing my body had adapted to the pounding.

Now bring on the mile repeats! 
I needed to train specifically. I did a mile up and mile down on my street, which was boring as hell, but I knew I needed to build the strength in my climbing legs and benefit from the better heart-rate recovery it would bring me. Each repeat was about 360 feet of climbing, but on roads. On my other runs, I would try to incorporate between 60 to 90 minute runs. If I wasn't able to hit the trails before sunset, I would go to the roads, but pick up the intensity. However my long runs I would try and make sure they were race specific and on the trails.

Collateral Damage
Two weeks until Leona I had unfortunately hit a minor setback.  I hit the local trail early that Saturday, hoping to leave little impact to my family responsibilities, and planned on pushing out about 20+ miles of trail bliss. What I came back home with was 14.5 miles of total suck. The hills seemed to have sucked the life out from my legs, and the fuel I was taking in seemed to not help a bit! I had figured at the time it was because the boot camp style workouts (Go 100 Citizens!!!)

I've been doing every Friday mornings finally broke me. I would purposely try and do a run before Friday's workouts, going in tired, and follow it up with a long run after, making sure I was experiencing what it may feel like at Leona. Maybe I over trained? Nope! Fortunately I had not over trained but unfortunately I was getting sick. I started feeling the symptoms an hour after my run. No surprise. I have a little one at home and I also work with children, and if you know or work with kids, you are always reminding them to cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze. My immune system was collateral damage.

Experimenting
After some rest, it was ready to continue my training in Monday. I increased my hill repeats and started to test my sweat rate in the sun. I had become a stickler about this, as I would always drill it into the runners I would train for the LAM. Good thing I did, because I was sweating more than normal compared to my fall training heading into the LAM, so I made the adjustment. I also started using a new fuel source, Tailwind Nutrition. I have transitioned from using GU to Clif Shots because for some reason, after 16 or so miles, I would get cramps or gut bombs. During the Leona 50k I had used Clif shots all the way without a gut bomb, but unfortunately I still felt low on energy. I wasn't sure why. I was shoving those things in as often as my stomach would allow.

My Pockefuel grill

My last long run was coming up and my friend Brenda offered to help me out by mountain biking along side me up Magic Mountain Peak (4,860 ft). The plan was for her to hold my extra water bottles and hand them to me. NOPE! about a couple miles in, she found out she had a flat. She quickly found a place to hide the bike and ran alongside me on foot. She had a race the next day and I wasn't going to have to run with me; She also knew it wouldn't be smart. So she went up 6 miles with me and I ran up ahead. She planned to hike a mile or two, then wait for me on the way down. I had tried my new Tailwind Nutrition and then also experimented with mixing two gels into one of my bottles. Most of the way up, I noticed that the bottle with the gel was taking forever to dilute, and imagined that's partially why I wasn't getting the calories I needed; My stomach wasn't absorbing the calories fast enough. "No gels for this race" I thought. I ran low on water on my way down from Magic Mountain Peak, but my sweat rate strategy going up was on point, and I was getting enough liquids in. 28 miles in and another experiment complete.

Tailwind Nutrition. My fuel of choice.

Final Thoughts Leading into the Leona Divide 50 mile

Mile 11 of the LD50

After my training and getting down my hydration and nutrition, I'm feeling comfortable heading into the Leona Divide 50 miler (on April 18th). I've trained harder than I needed to, with the little time I've had. I even had time to scout the trail earlier with my occasional trail buddy, and ultra runner, "100 Mile" Mike. (I don't really call him that, but it's funny, haha.)
That gives me more insight to what to expect and how to fuel myself accordingly. Twenty miles is still unknown to me and I worry about the muscle pain I get after long distances. I'm hoping the strength and plyometric workouts I've done will help push that further back. I will not have my family there to cheer me on, but my good friends Brenda and Michael will be there to crew me at every accessible aide station. My first goal is to finish. My second goal is to maybe get under 9 hours or finish in the top 25. I guess I will see because it is all theory until it's executed.

Cheers to Leona Divide from Magic Mtn Peak!