Taking it to the Edge!!
The Essentials:
The gates at Dillingham airfield open up between 6:30 and 7:00 AM on Saturday morning.. Meet in the parking lot behind the tower. You will likely find a diverse group of people there who will sort themselves out by speed and ability by the time they finish the first two miles. If you plan to do the full thirty you are advised to leave a stash at the bottom of long road, which is on the mauka side just before the Ranch gates.
At least one group will be leaving Long Road at 5:00 AM. If you are going out earlier, later, or on Friday or Sunday please post as a comment. Aloha. Mikem
The Rant:
Taking it to the Edge! Facing your Fears! Being Scarred Shitless but Going Anyway! Doing Really Stupid Stuff to Show you are a Radical YoYo…….all these ideas seem to be taking over the sports 'space' lately. Just last week some poor sob jumped off a fifty foot tower at Nu'uanu Reservoir into water he had no idea of, while his 'friends' stood by like bean bags waiting for him to come up. He didn't, and after an appropriate time, just enough, I assume, not to intrude on his 'action' they called for help.
It isn't much different on the trail lately. Mainland clowns seem to think it's 'Bear' (Grills) to go off trail and 'rough it', while destroying the vegetation and creating erosion channels. Others climb to the top of Manoa Falls, some getting seriously hurt or stuck. All seem to take it as a matter of course that an emergency vehicle, crew or some 'hiker' with a light is going to help them out. I went up the Falls Trail the other night and some of the people were actually quite put-off that I did not offer to help them down the dark trail. They had no light, no shoes, no water, no brains, but they did have a lot of attitude (Don't help me and I'll sue your ass!) . It happens every day now. The Falls trail is being ruined up near the junction with Aihuilama,. These people don't listen, don't care about the land, just expect to be kept alive.
So why the rant here on this sight? Well as good as we are, from my perspective, this attitude seems to be seeping in here as well. Here its a bit more extreme in the sense of what we are talking about, but it's the same general kind of 'take care of me if I fail' ' attitude. We are still recovering from one terrible accident, to feel a surge of this naïve irresponsibility slipping in is quite disconcerting.
If you fear something it is likely that you are correct. If your body says 'No Damn Way!' then you ought to listen to your body. It is not Heroic to ignore your fear. Going out and doing things you don't know about or find scare the shit out of you is just really stupid, and dangerous for you and all those around you.
Let me make this clear. No one among us is against doing extreme things. It is often mystical and provides a greater meaning to life. But I don't see any newbies doing the stuff that inspires. I see the veterans doing it. I don't see people going out and blindly facing their fears. What I see is people who come up against things they might fear, spending months or years working on the problems and then going out and doing things where the risk has been reduced to a minimum. Facing ones fears is much more highly complicated than jumping off a tower into a pool of dark water. It takes intelligence, time and experience to face one's fears, whereas stupidity is an instantaneous process.
Training is that thread of sanity and caution that we weave into all our bizarre sounding adventures. If you go about doing any ultra run through a staged approach then the actual experience is highly calculated, and reasonably safe. Training has provided you with a great many check points, safety markers, and understandings that allow you to run through the adventure or race as if you are just letting yourself hang all out there. Training is when you can come up against the impossible and fail, when you can go home and sleep on the problem and come back the next week and deal with it. Training is supposed to provide you with 99 percent of the answers to the situations that will arise when you do it 'for real'. Without training, well, you are just being stupid, and any success is more luck than skill.
Peacocks is a grand example of the need to train. First of all, you need to know where you are going. The trails are a maze, and you need to go a few times with others before you even understand what is going on with the route. Secondly water is always an issue. Today's 'go light' mentality is really for people who do 'extreme' ten milers, not for an ultra-thirty at Peacocks. And of course its a lot of up and down, more than you are likely to see anywhere else in a 100K. You need to take that into account and prepare for it.
When I get nasty and exhibit old man edginess on this site it is generally because I sense an inability to comprehend. As I have said before, it is a real pain in the ass to have to stop during a race and help somebody who is passed out on the trail or road. It is even worse when I find they do not have enough water or electrolytes, or nutrition. I have actually told people….'Go back down dude, because if you try and get to the other side, you will likely die up here.' These people were facing their fears, unfortunately they did not have fear sufficient for the situation, fear that caused them to prepare, or turn around when it got out of hand.
There are a number of approaches to the last weeks of training before a big race. Many like the approach that Steve V. advocates in the following post. Introduction of foreign words and concepts works for some I guess. We have come far enough in this process that french words don't always mean sissy stuff. (Though you are likely buying into some world war type commitmant down the line.)
Tapour is fine, but you best not drink while you do it, and I would advise that you have your intervals down over at Peacocks first. Remember that a lot of people get their assess kicked AFTER they run back up Peacocks in the hot late morning sun. Many fewer get it done again in the late afternoon on the second try. You need to think about the whole race and what some sections will do to you. You need to have a plan, not just a 'go nuts dude!' type attitude. Revisit the sections you have the most problems with. Think about a race plan, and then try that Tapour stuff. It might help.
That said, everyone is always welcome to come out and train with us, even when during a Tapour…. We love to have new people, as many of the veteran runners have talked to each other so much they find it hard to converse. If you come you will find a helpful and welcoming group of people ready to assist you on your run and provide hours of advice, if you seek it. Just remember, we set the rules. It doesn’t matter how tough you think you are. If you were as tough as you think you are you would not question the very minor stipulations we put on things. If you are new you should do the trails with others first. You need to carry extra water and nutrition. Listen to those with experience around you, look at what they are carrying and do at least the same. —People get pulled off of the Peacock plateau regularly for lack of water and sufficient supplies. We do want that to be anyone associated with our running group.
ALSO: Check out the North Shore Tapour run in the post below.
The gates at Dillingham airfield open up between 6:30 and 7:00 AM on Saturday morning.. Meet in the parking lot behind the tower. You will likely find a diverse group of people there who will sort themselves out by speed and ability by the time they finish the first two miles. If you plan to do the full thirty you are advised to leave a stash at the bottom of long road, which is on the mauka side just before the Ranch gates.
At least one group will be leaving Long Road at 5:00 AM. If you are going out earlier, later, or on Friday or Sunday please post as a comment. Aloha. Mikem