Monday January 8th
Started the morning with a nice 5k around one of my favorite loops in Muskogee, OK. Its a shared flat bike path that that starts right off the highway but nicely ducks into trees, laps around the sports complex I played soccer at growing up, opens up a bit and allows a few glimpses of my parents' land and barn, and passes by my dad's old office. I can't tell if it was the nostalgia or the fact the temps were close to 40 degrees F, but it felt great! My legs wanted to go fast and I let them! Strava link is below:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/Todd_Reutlinger
After the run I spent the rest of the day trying to get the best possible deal I could on a Nissan NV200 (shout out to Momma Bear for calling every dealer in Oklahoma and Texas!). Pictures will be posted soon on my instagram, @toddrunswild/
I spent the evening catching up with some friends from high school, doing laundry, and repacking and organizing my belongings. Tuesday I get back on the road and head to a warmer climate!
Stay Warm and Run Wild!
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Monday, January 8, 2018
Sunday January 7th
After looking at different adventure vehicles all day yesterday, it was time to clear my head and think about. The best place for me to think? On my feet, running fast. Started the day running a couple of laps on a .8 mi loop in my hometown. After being stuck in a car, traveling across half the country, my legs needed to let go. I planned on a long run, but I started to get a nagging pain in my left glute. It is way too early in the training plan to hurt myself, so I cut the run short. Despite it being a shorter run, I was still satisfied with my speed on the run (2 miles @ sub 7 min). I spent the rest of the day visiting with a couple of friends in Tulsa and Muskogee and doing a bunch of research on a few specific compact cargo vans and conversions.
The plan for Monday is to get a new vehicle, repack, and get ready to continue my adventure.
Be Patient and Run Wild!
After looking at different adventure vehicles all day yesterday, it was time to clear my head and think about. The best place for me to think? On my feet, running fast. Started the day running a couple of laps on a .8 mi loop in my hometown. After being stuck in a car, traveling across half the country, my legs needed to let go. I planned on a long run, but I started to get a nagging pain in my left glute. It is way too early in the training plan to hurt myself, so I cut the run short. Despite it being a shorter run, I was still satisfied with my speed on the run (2 miles @ sub 7 min). I spent the rest of the day visiting with a couple of friends in Tulsa and Muskogee and doing a bunch of research on a few specific compact cargo vans and conversions.
The plan for Monday is to get a new vehicle, repack, and get ready to continue my adventure.
Be Patient and Run Wild!
Sunday, January 7, 2018
From St. Louis to Oklahoma
January 6th
After a few days of rest and relaxation I was back on the road. This time it was a quick 6 hour drive. It was 6 degrees when I left St. Louis and I was layered up and ready for a drive with no heat. Was I shocked when the heat started in my car? Yes. Was I going to question it or assume it was going to work the whole drive? No. I plugged in the electric blanket, placed it on my lap and was off and moving.
The heater stayed on the whole time and so did all my layers, mostly because I was scared my car may not start back up if I stopped to remove layers. This was the point in which I realized this car would not make it the planned trip the rest of this month and that I needed to develop another plan. More on that next time.
I made it safely to my parent's house in Muskogee around 3pm and unloaded everything out of the vehicle that tried to kill me and started to figure out what my vehicle plan was going to be. Regardless, it was good to be home and be out of freezing temperatures and snow, at least for now.
Stay Positive and Run Wild
After a few days of rest and relaxation I was back on the road. This time it was a quick 6 hour drive. It was 6 degrees when I left St. Louis and I was layered up and ready for a drive with no heat. Was I shocked when the heat started in my car? Yes. Was I going to question it or assume it was going to work the whole drive? No. I plugged in the electric blanket, placed it on my lap and was off and moving.
The heater stayed on the whole time and so did all my layers, mostly because I was scared my car may not start back up if I stopped to remove layers. This was the point in which I realized this car would not make it the planned trip the rest of this month and that I needed to develop another plan. More on that next time.
I made it safely to my parent's house in Muskogee around 3pm and unloaded everything out of the vehicle that tried to kill me and started to figure out what my vehicle plan was going to be. Regardless, it was good to be home and be out of freezing temperatures and snow, at least for now.
Stay Positive and Run Wild
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Northeast to St. Louis
January 3rd
Let's try again! After a short 3.6mi run, Catalina and I drove back over to Massachusetts to pick up my van, move all my belongings back into the death machine, and I was on my way. Car was running, but not running great. Regardless, I had to get off the East Coast before the Blizzard came while still trying to avoid the lake effect around Erie, PA (both my girlfriend and I have had terrible winter driving stories around that area). It looked like once I got to Columbus, Ohio (12hr drive) I could stop for a short nap before continuing on to St. Louis (6hr drive from Ohio).
Once again, things did not go as planned. I ended up driving in snow for 3 hours from western Pennsylvania to central Ohio. That was fine, I live in Maine. I can handle a light dusting. What I couldn't handle was my heat going out at 6am. This normally would not be a big issue, except this happens to be the week the whole country is experiencing a deep freeze and the real feel was -10F outside. Looks like I have no choice but to just drive straight to St. Louis and sleep at Adam's place when I get there. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, minus me spilling coffee all over the coffee station at 4am. Whoops!
Made it safe around 1pm EST and I immediately took a (much needed) shower, grabbed some fish and chips and a beer-Amra IPA by Destihl. It was nice to be out of the vehicle and catching up with a familiar face. But now, I nap!
I've included a timetable of events below:
6am - Wakeup
3pm - Cat and I drive 2.5 hours to grab the van from the shop
5:45pm - Get the van loaded and start driving
4am - I spill coffee in the petrol station
6am - No more heat. This was also the time I planned to stop to nap. Guess not!
1pm - Arrive safe in St. Louis
Total of 22 hours of driving, over 30 hours awake.
Nutrition: 5 Lara bars, 6(?) cups of coffee, 500ml of Coca-cola, 1 redbull, and a lot of Orbit bubblegum.
Stay warm and run wild!
Let's try again! After a short 3.6mi run, Catalina and I drove back over to Massachusetts to pick up my van, move all my belongings back into the death machine, and I was on my way. Car was running, but not running great. Regardless, I had to get off the East Coast before the Blizzard came while still trying to avoid the lake effect around Erie, PA (both my girlfriend and I have had terrible winter driving stories around that area). It looked like once I got to Columbus, Ohio (12hr drive) I could stop for a short nap before continuing on to St. Louis (6hr drive from Ohio).
Once again, things did not go as planned. I ended up driving in snow for 3 hours from western Pennsylvania to central Ohio. That was fine, I live in Maine. I can handle a light dusting. What I couldn't handle was my heat going out at 6am. This normally would not be a big issue, except this happens to be the week the whole country is experiencing a deep freeze and the real feel was -10F outside. Looks like I have no choice but to just drive straight to St. Louis and sleep at Adam's place when I get there. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, minus me spilling coffee all over the coffee station at 4am. Whoops!
Made it safe around 1pm EST and I immediately took a (much needed) shower, grabbed some fish and chips and a beer-Amra IPA by Destihl. It was nice to be out of the vehicle and catching up with a familiar face. But now, I nap!
I've included a timetable of events below:
6am - Wakeup
3pm - Cat and I drive 2.5 hours to grab the van from the shop
5:45pm - Get the van loaded and start driving
4am - I spill coffee in the petrol station
6am - No more heat. This was also the time I planned to stop to nap. Guess not!
1pm - Arrive safe in St. Louis
Total of 22 hours of driving, over 30 hours awake.
Nutrition: 5 Lara bars, 6(?) cups of coffee, 500ml of Coca-cola, 1 redbull, and a lot of Orbit bubblegum.
Stay warm and run wild!
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Off on a Great Adventure...then not!
So the last few weeks have been a frantic mess, to say the least. However, it has all been hopefully resolved.
THE BUILDUP
The last few months I have been planning a super awesome adventure that was prompted last winter while snowboarding with my partner, Catalina. We rediscovered that we love skiing and snowboarding and, even more, we discovered that we loved doing these activities with each other. So we set out to find the best season pass to maximize mountain time without killing our wallets. After weighing some options and looking at blackout dates other passes had, we decided on the MAX Pass. It allows us 5 days each at 44 different mountains across United States and Canada, with no blackout dates. Our favorite local mountains were on it (Sugarloaf and Sunday River), along with some noteworthy mountains in Colorado, and glorious Big Sky in Montana. If we wanted to have a great snow season and maximize the pass, we were going to go out west.
A PLAN TAKES SHAPE
So we are going to ski bum it for a few weeks? Do nothing besides ski, drive, and camp out of a van? And do it cheaply? We started researching and looking into different camper van rental companies out west and soon found out how expensive this trip might actually become. At some point we realized that it would be cheaper just to buy a used van, rather than renting one for a few weeks. So that's what I did. I BOUGHT A VAN!
THE DETAILS
Alright, so we are doing the thing! But, when? We figured it out: I would drive out with the van and the gear and Catalina would fly out to meet me in Salt Lake City (considerably cheaper than flying into Bozeman). Catalina put her time off request in for 2 weeks and I confirmed with my job that talking off all of January was alright with them.
*Shoutout to Fleet Feet Sports Maine Running Company for supporting my ambitions and goals!!!*
I called some friends and sorted out some running and meetup dates:
Monday January 1-Run with the store and drive to Troy, NY and meet up with Kenny
Tuesday January 2-Morning Run, Snowboard, drive to Pittsburgh and meet up with Katie
Wednesday January 3-Morning Run, Snowboard, Drive to St. Louis and meet up with Adam
Thursday January 4-Long Run in Forest Park
Friday January 5- Run Downtown STL and drive to Minneapolis and meet up with Ethan
Saturday January 6- Work an event for The Seatery (www.theSeaterymn.com) with Ethan
Sunday January 7-Snowboard,???
Jan 8- jan 15 ???????????
Tuesday January 16-Catalina flies into Salt Lake City
Jan 17- Jan 28- Snowboard, Run, Appreciate
Monday January 29- Catalina flies out of Denver
THE DEPARTURE
The van is loaded with all my gear and a futon. I have everything I need for snowboarding, running, cooking, and staying warm. I am ready and excited. The van has already been to a couple of mountains already, so I know it is road ready. I give Catalina a goodbye and I'm off and running.
Two hours go by with no problem.
And then it happened.
My car starts accelerating like crazy. I apply the brakes, but the engine is still revving. I realize how bad this situation can become real quick. I have a runaway car. Some quick thinking allowed me throw it into neutral, apply the brakes, come to a stop, and turn the car off. At this point I'm experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions: "Shit, my trip is over." "This could've ended poorly." "I'm so glad I'm safe." "How am I going to get out west?" "What do I do tonight?"
I call my insurance and they send a tow truck. Catalina suggests I contact our neighbor who was driving back from Connecticut to Portland. He had just left Connecticut and would be driving right past where I broke down. What a great coincidence! So my car broke down, but I get a warm ride home with my neighbor and a DOGGO! Given the circumstances, it wasn't all bad.
January 2nd
I had planned on snowboarding in New York, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. I was still hellbent on getting on my board that day. I drove to the repair shop and they told me they would look at it later that day. I spent the rest of the day at Wachusett Mountain with only a few other people on the mountain and it was glorious. I had time to clear my head and think about all the possibilities for the trip. Ideally, its a quick and cheap fix and I get back on the road. If my car is ruined, I take out a loan and buy a Nissan NV200. That put me at ease. Upon returning to Portland that night, I got a call from the shop saying my van is good to go. All they had to do was clean up the throttle body. I'll be picking it up and trying again on the night of the third.
To be continued...
THE BUILDUP
The last few months I have been planning a super awesome adventure that was prompted last winter while snowboarding with my partner, Catalina. We rediscovered that we love skiing and snowboarding and, even more, we discovered that we loved doing these activities with each other. So we set out to find the best season pass to maximize mountain time without killing our wallets. After weighing some options and looking at blackout dates other passes had, we decided on the MAX Pass. It allows us 5 days each at 44 different mountains across United States and Canada, with no blackout dates. Our favorite local mountains were on it (Sugarloaf and Sunday River), along with some noteworthy mountains in Colorado, and glorious Big Sky in Montana. If we wanted to have a great snow season and maximize the pass, we were going to go out west.
A PLAN TAKES SHAPE
So we are going to ski bum it for a few weeks? Do nothing besides ski, drive, and camp out of a van? And do it cheaply? We started researching and looking into different camper van rental companies out west and soon found out how expensive this trip might actually become. At some point we realized that it would be cheaper just to buy a used van, rather than renting one for a few weeks. So that's what I did. I BOUGHT A VAN!
THE DETAILS
Alright, so we are doing the thing! But, when? We figured it out: I would drive out with the van and the gear and Catalina would fly out to meet me in Salt Lake City (considerably cheaper than flying into Bozeman). Catalina put her time off request in for 2 weeks and I confirmed with my job that talking off all of January was alright with them.
*Shoutout to Fleet Feet Sports Maine Running Company for supporting my ambitions and goals!!!*
I called some friends and sorted out some running and meetup dates:
Monday January 1-Run with the store and drive to Troy, NY and meet up with Kenny
Tuesday January 2-Morning Run, Snowboard, drive to Pittsburgh and meet up with Katie
Wednesday January 3-Morning Run, Snowboard, Drive to St. Louis and meet up with Adam
Thursday January 4-Long Run in Forest Park
Friday January 5- Run Downtown STL and drive to Minneapolis and meet up with Ethan
Saturday January 6- Work an event for The Seatery (www.theSeaterymn.com) with Ethan
Sunday January 7-Snowboard,???
Jan 8- jan 15 ???????????
Tuesday January 16-Catalina flies into Salt Lake City
Jan 17- Jan 28- Snowboard, Run, Appreciate
Monday January 29- Catalina flies out of Denver
THE DEPARTURE
The van is loaded with all my gear and a futon. I have everything I need for snowboarding, running, cooking, and staying warm. I am ready and excited. The van has already been to a couple of mountains already, so I know it is road ready. I give Catalina a goodbye and I'm off and running.
Two hours go by with no problem.
And then it happened.
My car starts accelerating like crazy. I apply the brakes, but the engine is still revving. I realize how bad this situation can become real quick. I have a runaway car. Some quick thinking allowed me throw it into neutral, apply the brakes, come to a stop, and turn the car off. At this point I'm experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions: "Shit, my trip is over." "This could've ended poorly." "I'm so glad I'm safe." "How am I going to get out west?" "What do I do tonight?"
I call my insurance and they send a tow truck. Catalina suggests I contact our neighbor who was driving back from Connecticut to Portland. He had just left Connecticut and would be driving right past where I broke down. What a great coincidence! So my car broke down, but I get a warm ride home with my neighbor and a DOGGO! Given the circumstances, it wasn't all bad.
January 2nd
I had planned on snowboarding in New York, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. I was still hellbent on getting on my board that day. I drove to the repair shop and they told me they would look at it later that day. I spent the rest of the day at Wachusett Mountain with only a few other people on the mountain and it was glorious. I had time to clear my head and think about all the possibilities for the trip. Ideally, its a quick and cheap fix and I get back on the road. If my car is ruined, I take out a loan and buy a Nissan NV200. That put me at ease. Upon returning to Portland that night, I got a call from the shop saying my van is good to go. All they had to do was clean up the throttle body. I'll be picking it up and trying again on the night of the third.
To be continued...
Monday, December 18, 2017
The Training Plan
So what exactly does my training plan look like?
I spent hours researching and adjusting my training plan to fit my needs in order to get my ideal outcomes. I bought a giant wall calendar that I stare at every day to keep everything organized for this upcoming year. I took time to put the pieces in place. I wanted to train hard and have a road map to do that, but also make sure I had weeks I could relax. During this winter I wanted to make sure I had time to snowboard along with running and not have to sacrifice one over the other.
Generally speaking, I will be doing speed work on Monday, recovery run on Tuesday, sub 8 minute splits on Wednesday, long runs with sub 9 splits on Friday, Saturday will be recovery run day. This leaves me with Thursday and Sunday as my days off from running, which will hopefully be spent snowboarding.
My focus from now until early February will be speed and working on increasing my oxygen efficiency. Focus will then shift to tempo runs, nutrition, and learning how to run loops in preparation for the DFL 12 Hour Race. After DFL I will be running a few races and running hills to get ready for Vermont.
Signing up for a race can be a frightening experience, but planning out how I will accomplish these goals brings some calm to the situation. This is a plan for me. This is not a plan for everyone. We all have different strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. As of right now, I don't feel comfortable running 100 mile weeks, so I'm not going to create a training plan with 100 mile weeks. I also don't have many runs past 24 miles. Others might feel comfortable running high mileage weeks and running many ultra races as part of training. I'm not in that boat.
My training plan is below.
Run wild.
I spent hours researching and adjusting my training plan to fit my needs in order to get my ideal outcomes. I bought a giant wall calendar that I stare at every day to keep everything organized for this upcoming year. I took time to put the pieces in place. I wanted to train hard and have a road map to do that, but also make sure I had weeks I could relax. During this winter I wanted to make sure I had time to snowboard along with running and not have to sacrifice one over the other.
Generally speaking, I will be doing speed work on Monday, recovery run on Tuesday, sub 8 minute splits on Wednesday, long runs with sub 9 splits on Friday, Saturday will be recovery run day. This leaves me with Thursday and Sunday as my days off from running, which will hopefully be spent snowboarding.
My focus from now until early February will be speed and working on increasing my oxygen efficiency. Focus will then shift to tempo runs, nutrition, and learning how to run loops in preparation for the DFL 12 Hour Race. After DFL I will be running a few races and running hills to get ready for Vermont.
Signing up for a race can be a frightening experience, but planning out how I will accomplish these goals brings some calm to the situation. This is a plan for me. This is not a plan for everyone. We all have different strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. As of right now, I don't feel comfortable running 100 mile weeks, so I'm not going to create a training plan with 100 mile weeks. I also don't have many runs past 24 miles. Others might feel comfortable running high mileage weeks and running many ultra races as part of training. I'm not in that boat.
My training plan is below.
Run wild.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Why Do I Run?
Why do I wake up before the sun rises and go out into the unforgiving Maine cold?
Why do I spend hours creating race and training plans for myself?
Why do I exhaust myself mentally and physically on a weekend afternoon?
Passion. That is the simple answer.
I entered my first race the summer before my senior year of college in 2012. It was the Jaycee's Soybean Festival 5k in Mexico, Missouri. I ended up winning it, not because I had an impressive time, but only because there was also a 10k event that all the faster runners entered instead. A few weeks later, I was signed up and running the Roots'n'Blues'n'BBQ 10k in Columbia, Missouri. I ended up placing 40th in a time of 48:21 Results. I was exhausted, but proud. The next year I moved to Philadelphia and ran my first half-marathon and did it under 2 hours. This was the first time I felt "runner's high" and I was addicted. I upped my training miles and started an actual routine. I wanted to run and complete my first ultramarathon. That time came in the middle of Black Rock Desert in Nevada on August 27, 2014. It was the most fun and most demanding thing I had ever done at the time. Running four big loops around the desert with the happiest and friendliest people I had ever met. I ended up being the 3rd youngest finisher that year with a time of 6:00:47 for 50k. results
The rest is history. I went on to run my first marathon back in Philadelphia and completed my first trail 50k at Orcas Island in January 2017 and I won't be stopping anytime soon.
So, yes, passion is why I run. But what does passion mean?
It means I like feeling good about myself when I'm running in the morning while others are sleeping.
It means I enjoy having time to clear my head or think things through while powerhiking steep elevation.
It means I wake up smiling knowing I am healthy and get to utilize my body today.
It means that in an ever changing, sometimes hostile world, I have the pleasure of knowing I have control over at least one thing.
It means I have goals that I want to and will accomplish.
This is why I run.
Stay warm and run wild,
Todd
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