Mile 17 or so and I still look damn good.
Training:
This weekend I completed my first ever Ultramarathon. The race was 50.2 miles long, with a little over a mile in elevation gain throughout the race, all on mountain trails. As far as training goes, all I knew was that I needed to get the miles in and prepare myself for being on my feet for many hours. I was already running 30 miles per week in order to prepare for a marathon 2.5 months earlier so I just added an even longer run to my marathon training. My training consisted of loosely the Navy Personal Training Guide (PTG at sealswcc.com) in addition with a run of between 15 and 20 miles. I peaked at 45 miles per week, and a single day in which I covered 30 miles. I then tapered for 2 weeks prior to the race.
Preparation:
I started eating/drinking more about 2 days before the race. About +700 calories per day and well over a gallon of water per day. The morning of the race, I hadn't slept mostly because I was nervous. Also, I had brought a loaf of bread, nutella and some apples which made up my breakfast. Not that bad actually. I decided that caffeine would be important so I drank a decarbonated red bull. Didn't do much stretching, probably a mistake.
As with the marathon I ran, I used two socks, one thin and one think in addition with tape on my big toes. Also Vaseline got put on my areas likely to chaff + some tape on my nipples. Chaffed nipples was my most debilitating injury during the marathon.
Breakfast of Champions
My feet taped up at mile 30, I changed my shoes and socks then.
The course:
The course was along the Pacific Crest Trail in Mt. Hood national forest Oregon. It was 99.99% on dirt trail which was an awesome experience. I had only done one training run on a trail prior, probably could have used some more practice. It sure was fun though running downhill. On the course, there were 4 major uphill to contend with, all of them about 600-900ft. It was definitely a wise idea to walk them. The trail was covered by old growth forest, so the fact that it was 90 degree out was bearable although not comfortable. Aid stations were present about every 6 miles with water, heed and other stuff and I got to have a personal drop bag every 10 miles.
Course profile. The course was out and back twice, start point in the middle.
Race Gear:
I wanted to buy a hydration bladder for the race but I didn't get around to it. Instead, I just carried a water bottle in my hand and bottles of gatorade in my backpack. This was not ideal because I had to use time to put gatorade in the bottle when I ran out. Also the backpack was about 10lb although I didn't really notice it. I ran Asics enduro shoes with green superfeet inserts. At mile 30, I swapped my shoes and socks for the exact same pair, this didn't make much difference. My feet still hurt by then.
My Goal:
Well, because I had no idea how well I would do and nothing to compare, I thought of my marathon time of 3:30 and decided I would double it and add 2 hours for a slightly slower running pace and a good deal of walking up hills. Making my goal 9:00. This turned out to be a bad estimate because I didn't really account for that I spent probably 40-50 minutes at aid stations.
The Race:
Mile 0 to Mile 20
First of all, the entire group of runners went the wrong direction for about 75 meters right at the start so after everyone turned it around, we got to running the actual course. I knew I wanted to go out slow, and gauge where I was at but it was hard to tell when looking at a runner if he/she is going to do an 8 hour or a 12 hour time so I stuck to the back third of the pack. By mile 10, I knew I was faster than that so I started to work on catching and passing people and I hit the 10 mile station at about an 8.5 hour pace. I thought a good reward/food would be a PB&J with a Red Bull. Looking back on that, that was a pretty stupid idea. The PB&J was very dry and did not sit well at all. The red bull was alright though and the caffeine helped. Between the 4 aid station on this section, I drank about 40-60 oz of gatorade/water and had 2 GU gels. I liked the GU gels better than when I had them on the marathon which makes me think that my pain during it was due to dehydration. At the aid stations, I would always eat some candy too. I am pretty sure that I was eating almost as many calories as I was expending.
Also during this section, I fell twice and rolled my left ankle bad. The first time gave me a limp but running through it solved the problem and I didn't feel it again until the next day. Infact, it still hurts right now 3 days later but it is getting better. I have gotten this injury before and it always resolves its self in a week or so.
Mile 20-30
This is where it started to hurt mentally and physically. Mile 23-30 was a very flat section and the fact that I had just run a marathon and still had another marathon to go was nagging at me. I knew I could not quit though, the memory of quitting probably would have hurt worse than the next 20 some miles. I also caught up with a girl named April who I would see a lot of in the next 15 miles. She would pass me in every aid station until mile 40 because I would take my sweet time while I would catch up to and pass her on the course.
At the mile 30 aid station, I put a can of chicken noodle soup in my drop bag which was probably the greatest idea ever. It was delicious and stayed where it was put nicely. Also, I swapped my shoes with an old pair of Asics that I had and reVasolined my nether region. At this point, it was getting pretty hot out and I stopped having to pee. I must have been getting dehydrated despite drinking 1.4-1.9 gallons during the final parts of the race. Note to self, get that hydration bladder so I can pack more liquid with me.
Mile 30-40
I had hit the 30 mile aid station at 9:20 pace and completing the race in 9 hours was not looking good so at this point I adjusted my goal to be a finish of less than 10 hours. There were two pretty big up hill in the section which tested me, but I was far enough along that I never quit moving up them because I didn't want to finish in double digit hours. I saw quite a few runners walking down the hill who had given up with 20-15 miles to go, lucky them. By this time, some muscle between my gluts and hams but further on the inside of my leg was screaming while I was walking the hills. I guess I needed to walk some steep hills during my training. Other than that, I felt good for a person who had been putting out for 5 hours. Around mile 34, I decided that it was time to see what I had left in me and I started pushing. Despite being told 5 or 6 miles to the next aid station, it started feeling like 8ish miles between each station. The hill up to the turn around at mile 40 (right side of the course profile) was brutal and never ending. I would ask runners how far to the aid station and it seemed like it was moving away from me. I stopped eating much at this point with the end drawing close. A mistake in hindsight. The major exception was the aid station at mile 40, they had fruit popsicles which were amazing. I mixed one in a bottle with red bull and gatorade to create a slushy.
Mile 40 - 50.2
At this point, there was not much walking going on. I wanted to finish under 10 hours bad. Marching up the biggest uphill on the course, I passed about 8 people who might as well have been crawling at that point. At the bottom of that hill I knelt down at a stream and soaked myself, hoping to prevent myself from sweating for a little bit. I reached the final aid station at mile 45 with 45 minutes until 10 hours. Needless to say, I didn't stay long and started running hard. It hurt to do but I wanted it. I must have passed another 8 runners during the final leg. Being in the tree, I had no idea how much farther I had to go so when 9:54 came around on my stop watch I started thinking I would not make it. Finally, I saw a man who told me 400 meters to go and I sprinted to the finish, finishing in 9:57 and some change.
Legs and feet, notice the contrast from mile 30 up top.
Post Race
I placed 32 out of 128 who started. Not quite top 25% but pretty close. I am very happy with my finish at my first Ultra, I beat out quite a few guys who were experienced ultra runners who I would not have given myself a chance against at 5 am that morning. Now that I have finished this goal, I am looking forward to competing in a 100 miler, perhaps in September.
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