One More Step In The Right Direction

One More Step In The Right Direction by Josh Irvan

The Vision

Back in August of 2013 Joe Fejes had a vision. That vision became a reality when “6 Days in the Dome” was created. Thanks to him many runners where able to push themselves to “Big Miles” over a weeks time and see what they are truly made of.  I am one of those runners who was given the chance to test myself. Thanks for the opportunity Joe. It’s greatly appreciated!

Running on a Track

I spent the better part of a year training just for this race. My friend, Bill Schultz who has run more 6 day races than anyone else in the field, lent his wisdom and advice to me which payed off big. I only needed to listen and turn the information he told me into something I could understand and use. 

So, how do you train for a race that is 144 hours long? I now have run 1 and frankly I still am not sure how to answer that question. I did a variety of things. First, I ran mostly on flat surfaces including treadmills, tracks and flat road courses. I thought that this would help get my body adapted to running on flat surfaces. Hills seemed a bit pointless if you are staying on a track for a week. 

Second, I ran a lot on tracks changing direction every 3 miles. These track work outs varied in length from 7 to 19 miles and the pace was slow. Really slow! I practiced with the hand held bottle that I would carry in the race so I could get use to using it.  Under normal circumstances I’d rather use something that would keep me running hands free. 

Jeff Russell, John Geesler, Bill Schultz, Josh Irvan and Phil 

McCarthy out to dinner the night before at Hard Rock.

Third, I ran a lot. What I mean by this is that I had a lot of workouts. I may do 7 miles at lunch and then go and run another 10 to 12 miles with my wife Sue at night. Some days it was even triple workouts. The workouts varied in intensity, and I had huge weekly milage in comparison to past years. It worked out to doing 12 to 14 running workouts a week not including core work and strength training and my weekly cycle class. 

Fourth, I trained a lot of the time without a shirt and hat. Sounds silly, but effective. I had seen over the past few years many of the top level ultra runners like Joe, and Serge run with no shirt. I usually run with a shirt and a hat. Bill told me about the benefits of cooling the body down. Sounds simple enough, but I wanted to become use to doing those kinds of things long before I hit the track at “The Dome”.  I also trained most of the time with no ipod in order for that to become a special treat, and not something I become dependent upon. 

Last, I trained a lot of the time late at night in the dark when I’d would rather be in a warm bed asleep. I didn’t sleep a lot during this training. I was running all the time. And I felt like I did everything I could to prepare going into a race that was 4,300 miles away from Pennsylvania.

The Dome

On August 4th the race started. Athletes from all over the world converged on Anchorage. Some chased records, others chased competitors and some just wanted to see, if given the chance, how far they could go in 6 days. Anything passed 2 days would be the farthest I’ve gone not counting the poor 72 hour race I ran in New Jersey early this year. 

“The Dome” is a 413 meter long track covered by an inflatable covering. It has an air lock and in a sense is like a giant ballon that keeps the air conditioned air inside and the track dry. Good conditions for running far if you don’t want to tackle the weather which hampered my performance at my previous race. I hate running in the rain. 

The surface of the track was harder than expected. I trained a lot on my high school track which was much softer. “The Dome’s” track was like running on concrete. Not as forgiving as asphalt. It was fast though and that was what people wanted in order to push for “Big Miles”. Bathroom and shower facilities were provided and with the aid station being on the opposite end of the track gave an ideal scenario for my race plan to unfold.

My Plan

Months before the race, Bill Schultz, Mike Dobbies and I talked about various race plans I could implement. Mike (Joe Fejes stats guy) ran the numbers and Bill gave sagely advice in which I would weave into something I could use on the track. The basic concept was simple, stay in control and don’t push myself to hard to soon. I wanted to run between 78 to 88 miles a day for the 6 days. Anywhere in there would be good enough so that I could recharge for another day and be able to leave room for plenty of breaks. 

By the time Day 1 was over, to many runners went out way to fast. With a  2 hour delayed start and a badly designed race data board that  wasn’t helping runners know what place they where at, or what mile they where on threw many of them off. I was frustrated also do to the fact the only information given out at all was number of laps which didn’t help me much. 

No one wants to calculate distances hundreds of laps into a six day event. By The middle of Day 2, after much complaint by runners, the data board was fixed and runners could get all the information at a glance. The runners name, place, lap times,  and milage; it was finally all there. My Day 1 total was great 88.66 miles; right where I needed to be.

Rest 

During the race it took me awhile to formulate a sleep and rest plan. Although I have rested in other races this one was a lot longer. I found that laying on a blanket on the track by my table, with my legs elevated on a chair, helped me get back to running sooner. I laid their in my sweat pants and long sleeve shirt. I massaged my legs with “The Stick”. I would set my alarm between 45 minutes to 1 hour later and then get up. I would also  put my ipod on and tune out my surroundings with an audio book. 

Putting Mineral Ice on my legs helped also. With a little bit of food and drink I could get back to running and stay with it for longer periods of time. If I needed to take a longer break I would take a shower first and then an hour down. I tried the first night sleeping in the RV, that Bill and I rented, but found it was to far away from the track and the 4 hours I spent their wasn’t as effective as the track side rest periods.  Rick Shick, Joe Fejes crew man, commented on how I would rise from the dead like Lazarus and get back to running strong again and again. 

Marrylou Corino and Bill Schultz sharing some miles.

The only time I had real trouble was at 5AM on Day 5. I deviated from that plan and tried to take a short break on one of the high jump crash pads near the timing area. That didn’t work at all. I didn’t have my legs raised high enough so the fluid build-up didn’t drain. When I sat up I almost passed out. But thanks to Andy Noise who gave me some water, Israel Archuletta who brought me over some food and Garry Cantrell (Laz) who offered words of encouragement, I was back on my feet and running within 30 minutes.  Note to self: Never change what’s working for you during a race (rookie mistake oops!).

Running Strategy

During the race I tried to run the way I trained.  I spent about 6 months practicing running in the opposite direction on a track. Creating different patterns such as running U’s or walking curves and running straights helped immensely. Also using the markings on the track to play various mind games helped keep my focus and stave off boredom. I didn’t even train with my ipod all that much. I wanted that to be a special treat. All of these things helped me race that much better. 

If I wanted to try and catch another runner I would either run full laps or U’s and if I needed to have more recovery I would race walk various curves or straights depending on the scenario. All of this worked well for me. The layout of the track helped with this greatly depending on if I needed to get food, hit the bathroom, or stop at my table for supplies etc.

All Aboard

A train is a long line of runners working together for mutual advantage in order to capitalize off each others energy and drafting efficiency. I will say that running in trains with the other runners wasn’t exactly what I expected. The trains started to roll around Day 3 with John Geesler, Joe Fejes, Ed Compton and myself starting one of first ones. It was a bit crazy.  Some of these trains went for an hour or more at a good clip, much faster than what was normally going on at the track. 

John Geesler leads the train.

Bill Schultz told me back in the day runners would switch leaders in order to share the workload kind of like an old track indian run. Not in this case. The lead runner would run until they were fried out and then the train would die or that runner would drop off away from the train and a fresher runner would take his or her place. Many people lead a train during the event, so it evened out in the end. It was a lot of fun, but hard work as well.

Food Intake

The food at the event was good. It was set up more like a self serve buffet than an aid station, but it worked well enough to supply the necessary calories the runners needed. It was reported that the runners burned from 50,000 to 60,000 calories during the event. I had no food issues during the race. I just ate a lot. Some things that worked well for me where the fajitas, fig newtons, Oreos, pizza, chili, eggs sandwiches, Coffee, ginger ale, bananas, oranges, red and green grapes, pasta, and gator aid.

The best thing I found that would really get my engine cranking was glazed donuts and root beer. I ran out of ginger ale by Day 3 and John Geesler was nice enough to share his root beer with me. That stuff was amazing. Easy on the stomach and man did it fuel me for hours. One can goes a long way in this sport. Thanks John!

My weight stayed pretty consistent.  I was 143 pounds at the start of the race. By the end of the race I was down to 137 pounds. Hydration was solid also. I never was to a point where I needed to make up lost fluid.

The Race Begins

I’ve been running most of my life. So I’m not a rookie when it comes to racing hard or pushing myself in a workout. But during the last 3 Days of racing, I was really tested. Other than running in the trains that happened periodically I raced  and ran with some very top level runners. On the second half of Day 3 I ran hard with Phil McCarthy. We swapped stories about various races we have run and ran some fast miles together. It was challenging but fun. When we where done Phil cruised through the 200 mile mark and I crossed 190 miles. Tough running!  In the later stages of the event Phil gave me some pointers on running form and how he refined his technique over the years. Very helpful. Thanks Phil!

On Day 4, Martin Fryer helped me tape up my left foot to prevent a rubbing issue become worse. A small pad was taped to the bottom of my foot to give me enough relief in order for me to continue running well. The pad stayed in place for the next few days until the event was over. Thanks Martin! 

During that time I was racing Liz Bauer. She is such a tough competitor. Liz seldom left the track. If I went down for an hour she would eat away at my lead and then pull away. Then when I got up I had to work to gain back the ground I had lost. During one night, we went back and forth for a few hours. She would run and I would run. She would walk and then I would walk. This went on for a long time until she went down for an extended nap and then I would run long stretches to try and make up lost ground or build a lead so I could take rest also. This was very taxing mentally.  

Racing on 2 Fronts

During Days 5 and 6 lots of things happened. By this time many top level runners had pulled out do to numerous injuries. Anybody who survived past Day 2 was in it for the long haul. I tried to run a controlled race. I didn’t want to push so hard I wouldn’t have anything left for the end of the race. Other runners ran extremely hard the first 3 Days and payed for it in the end. At the end of Day 1 I was in 18th place. By the end of Day 4, I was in the top 5. 

Phil McCarthy was a head of me at that point along with Kenji Okiyama and David Johnson. After Johnson left after Day 4, it came down to Kenji, Liz, Phil and myself for the top spots. Joe Fejes was way out in front racing himself for the Stu Mittleman record. And he was on pace for that. 

When Phil made his final push against Kenji it was impressive to watch two champions fighting it out.  After that battle, Kenji stayed in second place and Phil went down for another rest. I was way behind Phil at that point and needed to make up serious ground on him in-order to regain 3rd place. With the help of Jennifer Aradi, who was kind enough to crew for me during Phil’s absence from the track, I was able to get things rolling. Jen had been crewing for both Phil and me. Thats the nice thing about ultra-running. Runners helping runners to elevate each others performances. Very Cool! Every lap Jen was there to help fill a water bottle or hand me a piece of food. It was most helpful and all I needed to do was run hard. And I did. I’m not sure the pace, but it wasn’t slow.

I found that during the race putting my cold, ice filled water bottle next to my chest, or on my neck helped keep me

Jen at the timing table.

from getting nauseous. Red grapes, oranges and cookies powered me through the next few hours. Finally after a lot of effort I passed Phil and regained 3rd place over all. 

I tried to catch Kenji to.  He had a huge lead on me. He to was feeling the strain from battling Phil a few hour earlier. When he went down I pushed hard again. I chopped his lead down from 17 miles ahead of me to 11. But in that time 2 things happened. Phil got up from his break and Kenji was working with the other Japanese runners to keep him fueled and protected. I was waging a war on two fronts. Being pushed by Phil from behind and trying to catch Kenji from the front. I felt squeezed. In the end with about 2 hours to go, Phil wasn’t pushing to try and catch me and I wasn’t making anymore ground up on Kenji. Kenji and I were holding positions. 

I took an extended walking break and walked with Kenji. We talked for a few laps about work, family, and training.  He didn’t speak much English so it was a slow go. He showed me different types of running and shuffling techniques similar to what Phil showed me a few days earlier. It was a good conversation. 

The race against Kenji was over. And we both new it. He went and talked with Phil for awhile and I ran with another Japanese runner named Suzuki. He was in the 24 hour race on Day 6. A nice guy who had spent sometime in Philadelphia as a grad student.  We talked about various Philadelphia races including “20 in 24” which we both have run. We clicked off about 5 more miles together. It was fun to run some fast and fun miles towards the end of my race.

Its Over

After my run with Suzuki, I left the track with 2 hours to go in the race. I was mentally fried. I could have gone further maybe 470 or 472, but the push wasn’t there. I met Bill back at the RV and gathered my shower stuff. Once back on the track, I walked 2 more laps to get my 465.17 miles. David Johnson was there cheering us on and I stopped to chat with him for a moment. It was good to see him again.

Japanese Team: Kenji, Kuroda and Suzuki after the race.

Final Thoughts

Now that I have had more than a week to digest “The Dome” I found that it was an amazing experience. It taught me a lot about running. Specifically my running. I learned things that I could use in my other races and I truly understand what it means to “Endure”.  Which is much different than having endurance. 

Having patience, being disciplined, working hard in training, race preparation, and making smart decisions during a race helped me greatly with this. Most importantly, I had the ability to listen to the advice from people more experienced than myself and shape that advice into something I could use during my race. Most helpful! 

I look forward to “3 Days at the Fair” 72 hour race next May. That should be really interesting now. Thanks Alaska. It’s been Memorable. 

Race Highlights

Watching Zach Bitter run a 12:08 100 mile. Wow!!

Watching Traci Falbo destroy multiple 48 Hour records. Impressive!

Being present to see Joe Fejes race to break Stu Mittleman’s record of 577 with a  580.30. Amazing!

Seeing Yolanda Holder race walking past 400 miles. Stunning!

Watching Andrew Snope run bear foot for a new record over 136.98. On that track Tough Stuff!

Running with Bill Schultz, my friend, who banged out 340 miles for an age group record. Thanks for the help, advice and

Phil and Joe on the track.

encouragement. I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for you.

Running chatting with my friend Marry Lou Corino from Canada who ran 410.17 miles. It was lots of fun. See you and Dan in New Jersey in May if not November. 

Running with John Geesler, joking with and drinking his root beer. Much appreciated.

Running with Phil McCarthy, Thanks for the running tips and stories. Great to talk with you. Good Luck at 24 Hour Nationals.

Thanks Jennifer Aradi, for the crew help and beer. Your the best!

Thanks to Martin Fryer for taping my foot and for the words of encouragement. Huge help.

Running and joking with David Johnson who is a beast of a runner and great guy. “Dave I still can’t believe those people thought we were having some kind of Flea Market or sale. What where they thinking.”

Running with all the Japanese runners. What a great experience! (Kenji, Kuroda, Suzuki)

Running with Liz Bauer. What a tough competitor. Hope you enjoy all the mountains you want to climb. 23,000 plus feet was it?

Running with Ed Ettinghausen “The Jester” Good Running with you Ed. And my names Josh not Todd like you thought from Day 4 to the end of the race. But I guess things got a bit fuzzy after Day 3.

Liz walking strong.

Thanks Mike Dobbies for all the help, support and running the numbers. Most helpful to a successful 3rd place.

And all of these other folks who I talked with many time over the week: Tony Covarrubias, Mark Mccaslin, Francesca Carmichael, Gregg Ellis, Jameelah Abdul-Rahim Mujaahid, Bob Davidson and his wife, Andy Noise, Ed Compton, Joel Gat, Israel Archuletta, Roy Pirrung and his wife, and Val Nunes.

And Lastly Thanks to Garry Cantrell (Laz) who gave me words of encouragement, help and advice.