This past Sunday I completed my third ultra, the (8th annual) Ironmaster’s Challenge 50K. I like reading about longer races like this one prior to competing in them, so as I followed with my other two ultra’s I completed, I’m writing a review of the event for others to learn from. You can read my first and second race reviews by clicking on their respective links, found here and here.
Event Overview
As stated, this was a 50K, with the race website stating the total distance at 31.5 miles. There was also a 15K event held too. My Garmin GPS watch showed 30.69 miles at the end (even with one wrong turn adding about a half mile) but I’m not worried about the distance difference. The race starts out in Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Cumberland County, PA and runs through Michaux State Forest. Also on the race website is listed >5300 feet of elevation gain. My watch showed 5003 ft upon finishing and again I’m not worried about the difference. Along the course was 3 check points as there was a cutoff for the finish time (10 hours).
The course offers a little of everything—minimal road running, single track, gravel and dirt roads, and some rock scrambling early near “Sunset Rocks” which is a nice overlook. There was a couple of nice outlooks along the course and I probably should have took time to enjoy them more than the few second I did look around. I guess the racer instinct was in me to keep moving. There was about four significant climbs from what I recall with one of them coming about mile 28 which just never seemed to stop and I found to be difficult.
The weather at the start was comfortable, being in the low 60’s. I was glad that it was cloudy as I started sweating early. As the race progressed, the sun started peaking through the clouds more and more and by the last several miles and through the remaining afternoon the sun stayed out and it really seemed to get hot.
Training Notes
I basically started training for this event at the beginning of the calendar year. I focused on getting in as much hillwork as I could—which is needed and I do suggest—and running on trails to increase my abilities with uneven surfaces. I got in several long runs of 2500 ft of elevation gain but still feel like I could have used more hill training honestly. My longest long run was 25 miles. I found training for this event difficult early in my training simply because I was doing it all outside in the winter—which I do not like the cold! Depending on how bad the winter is, successfully completing long trail runs can be tricky and difficult to pull off. I feel I was only able to do the proper training because of a mild winter which didn’t include much snow.
The Course
My early miles seemed slow to me which was mostly due to two good climbs fairly early in the course. Mile 2 was basically a rock scramble for a good bit of time but I enjoy that so it was fun even if it did slow me down. I took it easy through the early miles since even though I felt good I knew I might not feel near as well later if I pushed too hard early. Right after the first water station, just before mile 4, I made a wrong turn. I don’t think it was marked particularly well since I (and another guy I was running with) encountered a group of 8-10 runners that also missed the same turn. After the race I heard of many other runners missing a different section of the course but for the most part it was marked well.
The course through the first 15-20 miles was quite winding. There were technical sections and some easier running mixed in but just about a mix of everything. At times you felt like you were running through a traditional forest and other sections where you were running parallel to and crossing small runs and streams all with the accompanying rhododendron that it had more of jungle feel to it. Still other sections were more pine trees, so there definitely was a mix.
At the half marathon distance my time was 2:50, which again I thought seemed slow. I felt pretty good at check point 2 which was about 19.5 miles into the race. There was a long(er) flat section just after the check point which I liked that lead to another long climb. Coming down that same hill though was fun as it took a much shorter route along a well traveled hiking path. I was interested by the different looks we runners received from the various hikers climbing up the steep path. On the road section below the hill was a spring, and since I still had the cup from the last aid station I filled it up with water and poured it over me. Man was that ever cooling and refreshing!
Upon passing the scenic Laurel Lake, there was a lengthy climb. The grade was distinct in two aspects—first was long gradual ascent up a dirt fire road followed by a turn into the woods for another long climb that was anything but gradual. As stated before, it came about mile 28 in the race and really slowed me down. I felt like I was never getting to the top of that hill!‚ it literally seemed like it went on forever. The remaining miles were mostly downhill and the finish line was right at the Ironmaster’s Mansion back within Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
Aid Stations
I thought the aid stations were great in this event. There were 4 water stations with food/drink and the same at a minimum of 2 of the check points too. Some of the food I saw at the aid station included fruit (apple slices, bananas, grapes), small bags of pretzels, and various flavors of gels. Regarding hydration, Gatorade and water was available. Personally, I stuck to carrying water in my Fuelbelt and drank Gatorade at the aid station. I ate mostly fruit from the aid stations just grabbing one bag of pretzels. The other food I ate was trail mix, a packet of almond butter, and a granola bar I carried with me. I retrospect I probably should have grabbed a gel or too.
I’d also like to say the volunteers at the aid station were very friendly, as they would ask how you’re doing, what you needed and were great at asking if you needed water bottle(s) filled.
Other Race Mentionables
In addition to the food at the aid stations, there was food after the race as well! Each runner/hiker of the event got a goodie bag that was quite complimentary! For the cost of $70 (or $80 depending on when you signed up), there was a ticket for the food (pulled pork or a hot dog, chips, pasta salad, cookie or muffin, water or sports drink), two tickets for a cup of beer, a tech race t-shirt, a winter beanie, and some smaller misc items. Not bad to go along with a well run and scenic race course!
Final Thoughts
My official finish time was 6:29:29, which was 20th place overall out of 120 total participants for the 50K distance. I have to say despite the difficult hills in the course I liked this event and would by all means try it again. The only real thing I’d dislike about it would be doing a good bit of the training in the winter. Everything else I like about the event: a scenic route (also close to home), friendly volunteers, friendly runners, and a challenging but fun course.
I guess my one regret was that I didn’t take time to look around and truly enjoy the course as much as I should have but I did have a good time pushing myself and seeing how well I could do from a time perspective. I kinda figured that I put too much work in my training to not give the this an honest effort. Nonetheless, I will consider this event again and recommend it if you don’t mind starting your training in the winter!
So give this race a thought next year if it’s not too far away for you. Please feel free to write if you have any questions or comments and thank you for reading!
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Burnout
I think sometimes in life we all experience a time where, intentionally or not, we bite off more than we can chew. I feel as if I have slowly fallen into this scenario with my running while training for two distance races, and in this post I discuss what had lead up to me feeling this way and my tips for working through it and preventing it.
This year, I signed up for both a marathon and ultramarathon (50K) in the late spring. Both races are local and ones I never ran before, so I thought they would be good candidates for testing myself in preparation for building up my distance running resume. However in training for them I’ve found I’m having more times when I’m either not into the run when I’m running or having lacking the motivation to even start the run.
The one thing that I knew would challenge me the most is running outside (since I’m without the luxury of owning a treadmill or having a gym membership) to complete all my training. Living in the Northeast, this can be difficult since any running outside can get tricky due to the short days and winter weather. While this winter was fairly mild where I live, I still find running outdoors to be difficult due to an intolerance to cold temperatures. I toughed it out and got through the winter months. Now there are more daylight hours and the temperature is finally staying tolerable—and even get warm now fairly consistently.
In that process of toughing it out and building up my mileage to be properly trained, I think the mileage has taken a toll on me mentally. Last year, in training for my first two ultra’s, albeit both in a late summer timeframe, my main mindset was increasing distance starting at the beginning of the calendar year—which I did successfully and completed one of my highest yearly mileages. This year, with an earlier goal race, I had to accelerate this process again. Comparing this year to last year, by February 1st, I had double the distance. By April 1st, I had an additional 150 miles logged. This acceleration has lead to some burnout though.
In realizing and assessing my burnout, I thought it might make for a good topic to share with others to provide information and ideas.
• Reassess your goal(s)
This topic wasn’t the first thing that came to mind to me, but eventually I learned that generally speaking, this is probably the one of the best things you can do.
Asking yourself “how important is this to me?” and “why am I feeling this way?” are questions that get you thinking from a broader sense and seeing things from a different perspective. If training is becoming stale, too intense, or too boring then completing a self assessment can tell you if you need to take a break, alter your training, or perhaps delay things until another time when you are better able to handle the training volume/intensity (or both) in order to reach your goals.
Sometimes these questions will have difficult answers. And sometimes the answer(s) you arrive at will likely be something unpleasant as you think you should be able to otherwise work through.
In my case, having already signed up and paid the money for my goal races prior to having the feelings of being burnout–and having a strong desire to compete in these events, I didn’t feel like not doing these events at all was the right choice for me.
What I have found is that picking spring endurance events which require me to log more mileage in the winter is probably not best for me. I prefer running in warmer conditions and “forcing” a lot of miles in the winter to train seems like it is not a choice in the long term as by the time spring and longer days with warmer temperatures are here, I have less desire to get out and continue with running. Thus, to deal with my burnout I have turned to my next topic…
• Alter your training
Likely one of the quickest and easiest things you can do with your running is alter the way your approach your weekly routine. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut but doing something fresh and new is a way to bring some vitality back into your running—and there’s a lot you can experiment with such as volume, intensity, location, or the type of workout you complete.
If your burnout is from volume, which can be more than likely, then I’d definitely recommend reducing your mileage and taking a break. Taking a week or two to reduce volume and increase recovery could leave you to having more energy when you get back into your regular routine—and in that time you won’t have lost that much fitness.
For me, right now this is the reason I feel I’m experiencing feelings of burnout. I had to safely but with a moderately quick time ramp up mile weekly mileage in order to get into the longer duration of long runs for knowing how I’ll react on race day of running with tired legs and how to get myself to the finish line when climbs in the last miles make me want to just take a break. Completing this higher running volume when it was colder and sometimes in the dark proved to be near my limits of how much I could push myself before I experience simply not liking running anymore.
Intensity is another aspect that can easily lead to burnout. Again my suggestion is to mix in a week every month of lower intensity, which again leads to faster recovery time. While working on speed is often important to many runners, a lower intensity run will help to build your aerobic base—so don’t think that running slower is not worth it.
Conversely, mixing in some higher intensity running might be good to mix in now and then if you often complete most of your mile at a slow pace, such a during training for long distance events.
Changing the location of where you run is a great way to mix things up too if that is a option for you. I know personally this helps me a lot in getting through some runs. Mostly run on the roads?—why not try a trail or head to a track if you can? Experiment and see what might work for you.
Lastly, mix up your type of running to change things. Completing track workouts, tempo runs, and fartleks can all address some of the aforementioned means of altering your training and help to prevent burnout.
• Review how your changes are working or not working
This may seem obvious, but always take time to review any changes that you make. That way you weed out anything not working for you—which is nonproductive, and focus on what is working for you—so you can use it as a positive learning experience and possibly apply it in other means as well.
Either your mind or body will likely let you know when you’re feeling burnout but try to get in the habit of making assessments, say quarterly or even monthly, of what you’re experiencing with your running—and most importantly prevent burnout before it ever begins!
For me, I have made it through my longest training run with my goal races being now 2 and 5 weeks away. At this point I will be reducing my volume and running at some different locations to work through my feelings of burnout—the worst of which is in the past now. I also am starting to feel reinvigorated from both the warmth outside and all the growth I see in nature when I’m out trail running, each making getting in miles a lot easier!
In closing, I hope some the above tips and advice help if you too have been feeling burnout. My suggestion would be to try one change at a time to find out what works best for you because with altering too many things at once, it is harder to derive at what truly caused a change and know what works best.
This year, I signed up for both a marathon and ultramarathon (50K) in the late spring. Both races are local and ones I never ran before, so I thought they would be good candidates for testing myself in preparation for building up my distance running resume. However in training for them I’ve found I’m having more times when I’m either not into the run when I’m running or having lacking the motivation to even start the run.
The one thing that I knew would challenge me the most is running outside (since I’m without the luxury of owning a treadmill or having a gym membership) to complete all my training. Living in the Northeast, this can be difficult since any running outside can get tricky due to the short days and winter weather. While this winter was fairly mild where I live, I still find running outdoors to be difficult due to an intolerance to cold temperatures. I toughed it out and got through the winter months. Now there are more daylight hours and the temperature is finally staying tolerable—and even get warm now fairly consistently.
In that process of toughing it out and building up my mileage to be properly trained, I think the mileage has taken a toll on me mentally. Last year, in training for my first two ultra’s, albeit both in a late summer timeframe, my main mindset was increasing distance starting at the beginning of the calendar year—which I did successfully and completed one of my highest yearly mileages. This year, with an earlier goal race, I had to accelerate this process again. Comparing this year to last year, by February 1st, I had double the distance. By April 1st, I had an additional 150 miles logged. This acceleration has lead to some burnout though.
In realizing and assessing my burnout, I thought it might make for a good topic to share with others to provide information and ideas.
• Reassess your goal(s)
This topic wasn’t the first thing that came to mind to me, but eventually I learned that generally speaking, this is probably the one of the best things you can do.
Asking yourself “how important is this to me?” and “why am I feeling this way?” are questions that get you thinking from a broader sense and seeing things from a different perspective. If training is becoming stale, too intense, or too boring then completing a self assessment can tell you if you need to take a break, alter your training, or perhaps delay things until another time when you are better able to handle the training volume/intensity (or both) in order to reach your goals.
Sometimes these questions will have difficult answers. And sometimes the answer(s) you arrive at will likely be something unpleasant as you think you should be able to otherwise work through.
In my case, having already signed up and paid the money for my goal races prior to having the feelings of being burnout–and having a strong desire to compete in these events, I didn’t feel like not doing these events at all was the right choice for me.
What I have found is that picking spring endurance events which require me to log more mileage in the winter is probably not best for me. I prefer running in warmer conditions and “forcing” a lot of miles in the winter to train seems like it is not a choice in the long term as by the time spring and longer days with warmer temperatures are here, I have less desire to get out and continue with running. Thus, to deal with my burnout I have turned to my next topic…
• Alter your training
Likely one of the quickest and easiest things you can do with your running is alter the way your approach your weekly routine. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut but doing something fresh and new is a way to bring some vitality back into your running—and there’s a lot you can experiment with such as volume, intensity, location, or the type of workout you complete.
If your burnout is from volume, which can be more than likely, then I’d definitely recommend reducing your mileage and taking a break. Taking a week or two to reduce volume and increase recovery could leave you to having more energy when you get back into your regular routine—and in that time you won’t have lost that much fitness.
For me, right now this is the reason I feel I’m experiencing feelings of burnout. I had to safely but with a moderately quick time ramp up mile weekly mileage in order to get into the longer duration of long runs for knowing how I’ll react on race day of running with tired legs and how to get myself to the finish line when climbs in the last miles make me want to just take a break. Completing this higher running volume when it was colder and sometimes in the dark proved to be near my limits of how much I could push myself before I experience simply not liking running anymore.
Intensity is another aspect that can easily lead to burnout. Again my suggestion is to mix in a week every month of lower intensity, which again leads to faster recovery time. While working on speed is often important to many runners, a lower intensity run will help to build your aerobic base—so don’t think that running slower is not worth it.
Conversely, mixing in some higher intensity running might be good to mix in now and then if you often complete most of your mile at a slow pace, such a during training for long distance events.
Changing the location of where you run is a great way to mix things up too if that is a option for you. I know personally this helps me a lot in getting through some runs. Mostly run on the roads?—why not try a trail or head to a track if you can? Experiment and see what might work for you.
Lastly, mix up your type of running to change things. Completing track workouts, tempo runs, and fartleks can all address some of the aforementioned means of altering your training and help to prevent burnout.
• Review how your changes are working or not working
This may seem obvious, but always take time to review any changes that you make. That way you weed out anything not working for you—which is nonproductive, and focus on what is working for you—so you can use it as a positive learning experience and possibly apply it in other means as well.
Either your mind or body will likely let you know when you’re feeling burnout but try to get in the habit of making assessments, say quarterly or even monthly, of what you’re experiencing with your running—and most importantly prevent burnout before it ever begins!
For me, I have made it through my longest training run with my goal races being now 2 and 5 weeks away. At this point I will be reducing my volume and running at some different locations to work through my feelings of burnout—the worst of which is in the past now. I also am starting to feel reinvigorated from both the warmth outside and all the growth I see in nature when I’m out trail running, each making getting in miles a lot easier!
In closing, I hope some the above tips and advice help if you too have been feeling burnout. My suggestion would be to try one change at a time to find out what works best for you because with altering too many things at once, it is harder to derive at what truly caused a change and know what works best.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Advice on setting and achieving goals
One year is ending, a new one will soon be beginning. And it’s during this time when many people set goals to better themselves. While I don’t necessarily use the new year myself as a time to set goals (I implement goals as soon as I can reasonable pursue them), I thought now was a good time to write a blog post on goals and share what I found works for me regarding goal setting. While what works for me may not work for you, I hope this post at least inspires you to find something new and find what does work for you!
Many times the goals set at New Years are fitness related in order to achieve better health—which is great because without having optimal health I venture to say the vast majority of us work less at other goals and pursuits we have in life. Not to mention the fact that physical health can also affect our mental and emotional health too.
So let me get this post started. I’ll list a few main points and then discuss each more in-depth.
• Write down your goal(s)
It sounds simple but the act of putting pen to paper makes it a bit more official. I often think that the thought of my goal(s) in my head as a concept, and the act of actually writing down of the goal as an initial step in the journey to achieving it. I also suggest sticking to the paper and pen format too. It’s just my belief that it’s a little more tactile and thus productive than typing it on your digital device(s). That’s not say you can’t also add it to your device (it’s another means of “making it official”), but I find it’s just not the same as pen to paper. Either way, by moving from the thought/idea/concept in your head to writing down your goal(s), you now have a way hold yourself accountable!
• Break down your goal(s)
Cutting your goal down to smaller and more attainable achievements helps to take the enormity of the goal back to something that doesn’t seem as overwhelming sometimes—especially if you have a really big goal or if you’re a type A person. These smaller units become more achievable and make it easier to see positive progression which in turn makes you feel better about your overall progression toward your goal. Similarly, setting different degrees of a goal can also be helpful. For instance, say your goal is to lift a certain amount of weight. You could set mini goals of lifting say 70% of that weight, 85%, and finally the actual goal weight. This way in case something gets in the way (injury, work, other personal commitments) of you achieving your ultimate goal, you can still have a sense of accomplishment in achieving these smaller goals, and knowing while it may take longer, you are at least in progress with your goal.
• Envision
This is a big one for me personally! While training, envision yourself achieving your goal. For 2016, my big personal goal was to run my first ultramarathon, which as it turns out was going to be a 12 hr event. This was incredibly far more than I had ever taken on before and something I needed to put major time and effort into my training. Even during the initial training stages, I would envision myself being in my goal race while I was out training for it. It was good practice in that come race day, I had experience in knowing what to change when something isn’t going as I had planned. It was as much mental as it was physical—which I feel if you’re honest with yourself you’ll agree that’s the truth when trying to meet any goal that’s physical in nature. Finally, believe in that envisioning! Trust me on this point, you will be much more successful when you believe in that envisioning. It may take awhile to learn this skill but consistency is the key. To me, this envisioning is a powerful tool toward success!
• Develop a mantra
This is another act I highly recommend! Inevitably you’ll have some lows come along in your journey and having a mantra to say to yourself I’ve found to be a great way to get back on track and work toward positive progression. It can be one word, one sentence, or whatever you want it—just be sure you believe it! That is the key—believing it!
Don’t borrow a friend’s mantra unless it actually works for you. I’d really suggest finding your own honestly. Both you and your goal are unique—so why shouldn’t your mantra be unique too? One of my main mantra’s (in life) is “I trust that I am prepared.” This mantra holds me accountable constantly. Initially I adopted it in training for my first marathon, then applied it professionally when going back to college to get a new degree, and then again personally when training for my first ultramarathon. I successfully achieved all of these so you can see it works for me. While working toward my goal, if I don’t feel like I’m at the point where I should to be totally prepared to achieve my goal, then I know I have change what I’m doing or work harder or work smarter. And that leads me to my final main point.
• Review your goal(s) periodically
I also find this act to be instrumental in successful goal achievement. My personal suggestion is to review both your main goal and any sub-goals you established. In reviewing your goals, you once again hold yourself accountable for your progress, which I always feel is good. Related to my last previous main point, it also allows you to at the very least see, if not actually make, the necessary changes for positive progression. I feel reviewing your goal(s) also helps you weed out what isn’t working and thus allows for quicker growth by enabling you to focus on what is working.
I’d encourage you to at least try and see if a few of these work for you. You never know. Life constantly changes so just because it didn’t work before doesn’t mean it can’t be tweaked and work for you now—or just use it as a starting point. As long as you make forward progress that is the key! Good luck—you can do it! Get to it and accomplish something you didn’t think you were capable of!
Many times the goals set at New Years are fitness related in order to achieve better health—which is great because without having optimal health I venture to say the vast majority of us work less at other goals and pursuits we have in life. Not to mention the fact that physical health can also affect our mental and emotional health too.
So let me get this post started. I’ll list a few main points and then discuss each more in-depth.
• Write down your goal(s)
It sounds simple but the act of putting pen to paper makes it a bit more official. I often think that the thought of my goal(s) in my head as a concept, and the act of actually writing down of the goal as an initial step in the journey to achieving it. I also suggest sticking to the paper and pen format too. It’s just my belief that it’s a little more tactile and thus productive than typing it on your digital device(s). That’s not say you can’t also add it to your device (it’s another means of “making it official”), but I find it’s just not the same as pen to paper. Either way, by moving from the thought/idea/concept in your head to writing down your goal(s), you now have a way hold yourself accountable!
• Break down your goal(s)
Cutting your goal down to smaller and more attainable achievements helps to take the enormity of the goal back to something that doesn’t seem as overwhelming sometimes—especially if you have a really big goal or if you’re a type A person. These smaller units become more achievable and make it easier to see positive progression which in turn makes you feel better about your overall progression toward your goal. Similarly, setting different degrees of a goal can also be helpful. For instance, say your goal is to lift a certain amount of weight. You could set mini goals of lifting say 70% of that weight, 85%, and finally the actual goal weight. This way in case something gets in the way (injury, work, other personal commitments) of you achieving your ultimate goal, you can still have a sense of accomplishment in achieving these smaller goals, and knowing while it may take longer, you are at least in progress with your goal.
• Envision
This is a big one for me personally! While training, envision yourself achieving your goal. For 2016, my big personal goal was to run my first ultramarathon, which as it turns out was going to be a 12 hr event. This was incredibly far more than I had ever taken on before and something I needed to put major time and effort into my training. Even during the initial training stages, I would envision myself being in my goal race while I was out training for it. It was good practice in that come race day, I had experience in knowing what to change when something isn’t going as I had planned. It was as much mental as it was physical—which I feel if you’re honest with yourself you’ll agree that’s the truth when trying to meet any goal that’s physical in nature. Finally, believe in that envisioning! Trust me on this point, you will be much more successful when you believe in that envisioning. It may take awhile to learn this skill but consistency is the key. To me, this envisioning is a powerful tool toward success!
• Develop a mantra
This is another act I highly recommend! Inevitably you’ll have some lows come along in your journey and having a mantra to say to yourself I’ve found to be a great way to get back on track and work toward positive progression. It can be one word, one sentence, or whatever you want it—just be sure you believe it! That is the key—believing it!
Don’t borrow a friend’s mantra unless it actually works for you. I’d really suggest finding your own honestly. Both you and your goal are unique—so why shouldn’t your mantra be unique too? One of my main mantra’s (in life) is “I trust that I am prepared.” This mantra holds me accountable constantly. Initially I adopted it in training for my first marathon, then applied it professionally when going back to college to get a new degree, and then again personally when training for my first ultramarathon. I successfully achieved all of these so you can see it works for me. While working toward my goal, if I don’t feel like I’m at the point where I should to be totally prepared to achieve my goal, then I know I have change what I’m doing or work harder or work smarter. And that leads me to my final main point.
• Review your goal(s) periodically
I also find this act to be instrumental in successful goal achievement. My personal suggestion is to review both your main goal and any sub-goals you established. In reviewing your goals, you once again hold yourself accountable for your progress, which I always feel is good. Related to my last previous main point, it also allows you to at the very least see, if not actually make, the necessary changes for positive progression. I feel reviewing your goal(s) also helps you weed out what isn’t working and thus allows for quicker growth by enabling you to focus on what is working.
I’d encourage you to at least try and see if a few of these work for you. You never know. Life constantly changes so just because it didn’t work before doesn’t mean it can’t be tweaked and work for you now—or just use it as a starting point. As long as you make forward progress that is the key! Good luck—you can do it! Get to it and accomplish something you didn’t think you were capable of!
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Ultramarathon training and preparation
My last few posts have been race reviews and my thoughts on my experiences with running my first two ultramarathons. First was my 12 hour event, followed by a 40 mile race. Both of these were big jumps for me transitioning into the ultra world and essentially tests to see if I think I have what it takes to eventually pursue my ultimate running dream—running a 100 miler.
In those posts, I didn’t really go into any details regarding my preparation in training for these two important events. With some inquiries about how I did train for these events, I thought it was worthwhile to share my approach—so that’s the focus of this one.
With any long race, I think a lot of runners get asked the question somewhere along the line of “isn’t that hard?” Well to some degree the answer is yes. But mostly, if you trained properly, then the answer should lean toward no. I’ve heard and read of many people saying they want to run—and I’ll use the commonly mentioned marathon—only to do so and say they can barely walk for a week and then think running is horrible. In all likelihood, for whatever reason, they just failed to put in the work beforehand (in my opinion.) To have a good race experience, you really do have to have dedication in your training. From my past experiences, I have found this to be very true—and if you follow it I think you will be very well rewarded and surprise yourself on race day.
I’ll be honest about my training—it was only semi-structured. To be a tad more specific, each effort had it’s purpose and certain aspects of training had a focus, but scheduling how to work each of those efforts into my work week was…juggled, to say the least. During the vast majority of my training, I was working two jobs split between first and second shift, sometimes close to 60 hrs/wk. And there were a few weeks where I had worked 7 days a week, so long runs (run/hikes) didn’t exist. I didn’t stress about this. I knew I had an erratic work schedule and that fitting in long efforts would be challenging. It was just what had to be done. So while I like structure in my training, and these races were important to me, with my work situation at the time I was just going to have “wing it” to some degree on this whole ultra training thing.
My first two ultras were only 3 weeks apart—so in effect training for the first was the same as training for both. The longer race was first too, so I couldn’t use the first as a tune-up for the second. Tackling a 12 hour event—I went big(ger) for my first ultra.
Having these races already on my calendar for a long time, my training started very early in the year. Having a solid 8 months to build up my mileage was important since it would reduce the risk of me getting injured in pushing myself farther than I ever have before. After all, the quicker you ramp up your mileage, the more likely you are to develop an injury. While this is common sense, it is often forgotten.
Knowing these ultra’s I wanted to complete would be hours on end, I really didn’t focus my training on mileage. My main focus was building up the time I was spending on my feet. I think that is an important concept and one of the key points I’d like to stress. While I did have a mileage goal in mind (40-50 miles) for my first 12 hr ultra, I was realistic in knowing it would take me the vast majority if not all the 12 hrs to complete that goal. Plus there was the fact I had never ran/walked/hiked for anywhere near that timeframe either. I knew the miles would rack up for me—but only if I keep moving! If I’d stop because I was too tired after 6 or 8 or whatever hours, well then obviously mileage stops as well. So you can see how time and NOT distance becomes so important. On my long weekly efforts, I would only increase about 45 minutes to the total time I would complete, safely adding only 2–3 miles depending on terrain. My goal was to work up to a the equivalent of a full work day (8 hrs) of near constant movement (some combination of running, power hiking, etc.) I got in a few efforts around this time and figured that would be a good test for race day and that on race day I’d be able to dig a little deeper to complete the 12 hours.
Then within that focus of time for my training, it was just covering as many miles as I comfortably could without wearing myself out. I knew there was no way I could run the entire time for these ultras—and I was totally fine with knowing that. Very early in the year, my training did consist of solely running. My base for starting was around 7 miles. As I transitioned away from just running, one of main focuses was finding a good run/walk ratio. This is my second key point and was something that really challenged me! I experimented with different number of minutes walking and at different intervals for those walks, but most of that flies out the window so to speak when you’re on trails. The constant elevation changes would force me to hike when I “should” be running and other times the terrain would present me with opportunities to run when I was scheduled to walk. In experimenting with this run/walk ratio, what I eventually learned was two things—two very important things. Those were: 1) let the terrain ahead of you dictate whether you run or walk, and 2) listen to your body. These two items make up another key point and one I would definitely recommend for anyone training for an ultra distance event. What I found was discovering that perfect run/walk ratio only works if you’re running flat surfaces—which on most any trail ultra you are not! So I would follow my aforementioned two learned rules and then if my run/walk ratio worked within following those rules, I would apply it. If not, oh well. Expanding on my mentioning of terrain, I learned to play the hand you’re dealt so to speak. You see the hills in front of you won’t get any less steep no matter how much you wish and the rocky sections won’t suddenly become smooth either. So if you find yourself seeing your heart rate (HR) keep climbing and climbing (I’ll discuss this key point too shortly) but you feel like you’re barely moving, then honestly just ditch the running. What I’ve found is I can power hike just as fast on steeper inclines and keep your HR lower and conserve energy—trust me, you’ll need it. I also wouldn’t worry if I had long stretches of running because of a long downhill section during a time when I thought I should take a break with walking. Why not let gravity help you out? Unless you’re in actual pain, there’s no reason not to let gravity be your friend and cover the same distance using less energy.
I also tailored my training to the type of terrain I would face, and another point I can’t stress enough. Knowing the events I wanted to do were on trails, that is what I trained on. There was no way I wanted to be unprepared come race day. As much as I could, I sought out hilly, technical trails which would constantly challenge me—and they did! Not only would it prepare me mentally for that terrain, but I knew it would strengthen the stabilizing muscles in my feet and ankles, delaying the time these areas would fatigue. I know when I first started trail running I would feel a soreness afterward in my ankles so I knew strengthening was important for truly long distance. A few times out of necessity I trained on hilly roads, but believe me, it is just not the same. I would always suggest training on as close to the same surface and type of terrain as you’ll face on race day as much as you can.
Another item that helped me a lot was stair climbing. One of my jobs I averaged 7 to 8 miles of walking each workday. I believe this job helped me with my ultra training. Even though I obviously wasn’t running, I was spending long durations of time on my feet—again, my main goal. Also in this job was the availability of stairwells. Walking—or sometimes even jogging or running—as many flights of stairs as I could was also a substitution for any lack of running and a secondary method of hill training. For me, any day less than 15–20 flights of stairs was a disappointment. If I tackled 30+ flights—OK, now we’re talking’. Hit about 50 flights of stairs—now that was good day! Sure, it was hard, but I knew in the long run this was going to help strengthen me. I don’t have that job anymore and it will be interesting to see in the future if I notice a difference. I miss those stair workouts and really suggest if you have the opportunity to incorporate stair climbing into your training that you do so. It will really prepare you for steep climbs!
Now I’ll touch on the aforementioned topic of heart rate. Another aspect of my training that I incorporated was heart rate monitoring—and more specifically within that was what is known as zone 2 training. I had both read and heard about this concept in researching running and upon learning about it, thought it made sense and was applicable to what I was trying to accomplish. By no means though do you have to follow zone 2 training.
Many HR monitoring watches come with preset (or you create your own) training zones relating to a percentage of your maximum HR. A lower number zone relates to a smaller percentage of your max HR. The different types of workout you do fall into different zones—for instance a tempo run would fall in zone 3 or 4 since you’re running a bit faster and would have a higher HR or a speed workout on the track might fall in zone 4 or even 5 depending on the purpose of the workout. The thinking behind utilizing this method of training is since a ultramarathon consists of long distance running done at a slower pace, training should be kept at a slower pace and stay within zone 2. There’s little benefit to having a higher HR from running faster when realistically most runners while not be able to keep up that faster pace the entire time of their event. Eventually you become more efficient with your running within zone 2 and you do become faster.
One of the easiest and most common ways to determine your zone 2 is the formula: 180 minus your age. The result is the number you want to keep your HR below for distance training. If you are a seasoned runner who has been staying in shape then there is a slight deviation allowable to add 5 beats per minute to the result of your number but if you are new(er) to this training or newer to running in general then just stick to the basic formula.
I will attest to zone 2 training being difficult at least in its initial stages, and this is something I heard from many others. It was difficult to keep my HR that low. What I thought was slow running was actually raising my HR about what my max should be for zone 2—especially for hills and inclines. This showed me I likely wasn’t as fit as I thought I was. While this was frustrating, I did slow down (the vast majority of the time) and continue following this training regimen. There were many times where I needed to slow down to a walk (or hike depending on terrain) in order to keep my HR within zone 2. I will tell you that you do need to be patient with this regimen and it will take time to see results. For me it took a few months, which is rather common. However, if you stick to following zone 2 training for your distance running then you will see results and be able to run at a faster pace and still keep your HR lower.
One of the ways I learned to more easily stay within zone 2 was to alter how I breathed. While I realize some of you won’t be able to incorporate this, it was an effective method for me. To stay within zone 2, I would (in effect) force myself to breathe strictly through my nose. Obviously this restricted the amount of air I could take in within each breath. This lower volume of air would force me to slow down in order not to be out of breath. Thus the slower running kept my HR lower. Basically as long as I could solely breathe through my nose I was going to have a lower HR and stay within zone 2. Don’t get me wrong, this was not easy to do! I had to make a very conscious effort in my initial stages of trying this approach—but with practice I found this to be a very effective technique. At times, yes, I did need to breathe using my mouth but regardless I would always make a effort to keep my breathing controlled! I can’t stress enough using controlled breathing in order to follow zone 2 training. This is a great topic to read up on and one where you can do a search and find a ton of info on—perhaps a topic of a future blog post.
Transitioning back to other training techniques, something else I would do within my training efforts is I would envision myself being in an ultra. My suggestion is picture yourself adjust to all the feedback your body gives you. Learn to become confident in making changes as that feedback changes. Picture yourself having a good race and reaching that next aid station or the finish line. You’re going to experience lows in an ultra and the easier it is to break any negativity you have mentally or make changes based on how you feel physically the better off you’ll be.
For instance, in my 12 hr event, I started moderately too fast and only 20 miles into the race my quads basically felt like they were mostly spent. They were already tired and sore and I had over half my day still ahead of me. I remember the spot where I had to have a talk with myself—as if I was talking in third person. I told myself that I have to slow down or else you’ll never reach your goal or if you do you will feel worse than you ever expected to post-race. In my second ultra I was experiencing more prolonged discomfort in the back of my left knee and again I had to listen to my body and back off the running and do more walking/hiking. In each of these instances, it was adjusting my mindset in order to successfully complete the event—just as I had practiced in training.
Additionally, beyond the physical and mental prep with my training, was training and experimenting with other aspects of running I would face on race day. Within training, was learning what, how much, and when to eat. Same thing for hydration. Your training efforts is the time to experiment and nail down what works and what doesn’t—don’t be afraid to learn in your training so you have less stress and can have a better experience on race day! I also experiment with how I even carried my food and water, completing some efforts with my new hydration pack and others with my Fuelbelt to find out what worked best for me.
Overall, take some time and make a checklist of all the variables you can face on race day, and prep for these in your training—again, training is place to make mistakes and find out what work and what doesn’t. And if a mistake happens then learn from it and progress.
I realize this article is somewhat long—hey, just like an ultra! So I thought here at the end I’d try and pick out and list the best pieces of training advice and put them in quick list for you to sum up the article.
In those posts, I didn’t really go into any details regarding my preparation in training for these two important events. With some inquiries about how I did train for these events, I thought it was worthwhile to share my approach—so that’s the focus of this one.
With any long race, I think a lot of runners get asked the question somewhere along the line of “isn’t that hard?” Well to some degree the answer is yes. But mostly, if you trained properly, then the answer should lean toward no. I’ve heard and read of many people saying they want to run—and I’ll use the commonly mentioned marathon—only to do so and say they can barely walk for a week and then think running is horrible. In all likelihood, for whatever reason, they just failed to put in the work beforehand (in my opinion.) To have a good race experience, you really do have to have dedication in your training. From my past experiences, I have found this to be very true—and if you follow it I think you will be very well rewarded and surprise yourself on race day.
I’ll be honest about my training—it was only semi-structured. To be a tad more specific, each effort had it’s purpose and certain aspects of training had a focus, but scheduling how to work each of those efforts into my work week was…juggled, to say the least. During the vast majority of my training, I was working two jobs split between first and second shift, sometimes close to 60 hrs/wk. And there were a few weeks where I had worked 7 days a week, so long runs (run/hikes) didn’t exist. I didn’t stress about this. I knew I had an erratic work schedule and that fitting in long efforts would be challenging. It was just what had to be done. So while I like structure in my training, and these races were important to me, with my work situation at the time I was just going to have “wing it” to some degree on this whole ultra training thing.
My first two ultras were only 3 weeks apart—so in effect training for the first was the same as training for both. The longer race was first too, so I couldn’t use the first as a tune-up for the second. Tackling a 12 hour event—I went big(ger) for my first ultra.
Having these races already on my calendar for a long time, my training started very early in the year. Having a solid 8 months to build up my mileage was important since it would reduce the risk of me getting injured in pushing myself farther than I ever have before. After all, the quicker you ramp up your mileage, the more likely you are to develop an injury. While this is common sense, it is often forgotten.
Knowing these ultra’s I wanted to complete would be hours on end, I really didn’t focus my training on mileage. My main focus was building up the time I was spending on my feet. I think that is an important concept and one of the key points I’d like to stress. While I did have a mileage goal in mind (40-50 miles) for my first 12 hr ultra, I was realistic in knowing it would take me the vast majority if not all the 12 hrs to complete that goal. Plus there was the fact I had never ran/walked/hiked for anywhere near that timeframe either. I knew the miles would rack up for me—but only if I keep moving! If I’d stop because I was too tired after 6 or 8 or whatever hours, well then obviously mileage stops as well. So you can see how time and NOT distance becomes so important. On my long weekly efforts, I would only increase about 45 minutes to the total time I would complete, safely adding only 2–3 miles depending on terrain. My goal was to work up to a the equivalent of a full work day (8 hrs) of near constant movement (some combination of running, power hiking, etc.) I got in a few efforts around this time and figured that would be a good test for race day and that on race day I’d be able to dig a little deeper to complete the 12 hours.
Then within that focus of time for my training, it was just covering as many miles as I comfortably could without wearing myself out. I knew there was no way I could run the entire time for these ultras—and I was totally fine with knowing that. Very early in the year, my training did consist of solely running. My base for starting was around 7 miles. As I transitioned away from just running, one of main focuses was finding a good run/walk ratio. This is my second key point and was something that really challenged me! I experimented with different number of minutes walking and at different intervals for those walks, but most of that flies out the window so to speak when you’re on trails. The constant elevation changes would force me to hike when I “should” be running and other times the terrain would present me with opportunities to run when I was scheduled to walk. In experimenting with this run/walk ratio, what I eventually learned was two things—two very important things. Those were: 1) let the terrain ahead of you dictate whether you run or walk, and 2) listen to your body. These two items make up another key point and one I would definitely recommend for anyone training for an ultra distance event. What I found was discovering that perfect run/walk ratio only works if you’re running flat surfaces—which on most any trail ultra you are not! So I would follow my aforementioned two learned rules and then if my run/walk ratio worked within following those rules, I would apply it. If not, oh well. Expanding on my mentioning of terrain, I learned to play the hand you’re dealt so to speak. You see the hills in front of you won’t get any less steep no matter how much you wish and the rocky sections won’t suddenly become smooth either. So if you find yourself seeing your heart rate (HR) keep climbing and climbing (I’ll discuss this key point too shortly) but you feel like you’re barely moving, then honestly just ditch the running. What I’ve found is I can power hike just as fast on steeper inclines and keep your HR lower and conserve energy—trust me, you’ll need it. I also wouldn’t worry if I had long stretches of running because of a long downhill section during a time when I thought I should take a break with walking. Why not let gravity help you out? Unless you’re in actual pain, there’s no reason not to let gravity be your friend and cover the same distance using less energy.
I also tailored my training to the type of terrain I would face, and another point I can’t stress enough. Knowing the events I wanted to do were on trails, that is what I trained on. There was no way I wanted to be unprepared come race day. As much as I could, I sought out hilly, technical trails which would constantly challenge me—and they did! Not only would it prepare me mentally for that terrain, but I knew it would strengthen the stabilizing muscles in my feet and ankles, delaying the time these areas would fatigue. I know when I first started trail running I would feel a soreness afterward in my ankles so I knew strengthening was important for truly long distance. A few times out of necessity I trained on hilly roads, but believe me, it is just not the same. I would always suggest training on as close to the same surface and type of terrain as you’ll face on race day as much as you can.
Another item that helped me a lot was stair climbing. One of my jobs I averaged 7 to 8 miles of walking each workday. I believe this job helped me with my ultra training. Even though I obviously wasn’t running, I was spending long durations of time on my feet—again, my main goal. Also in this job was the availability of stairwells. Walking—or sometimes even jogging or running—as many flights of stairs as I could was also a substitution for any lack of running and a secondary method of hill training. For me, any day less than 15–20 flights of stairs was a disappointment. If I tackled 30+ flights—OK, now we’re talking’. Hit about 50 flights of stairs—now that was good day! Sure, it was hard, but I knew in the long run this was going to help strengthen me. I don’t have that job anymore and it will be interesting to see in the future if I notice a difference. I miss those stair workouts and really suggest if you have the opportunity to incorporate stair climbing into your training that you do so. It will really prepare you for steep climbs!
Now I’ll touch on the aforementioned topic of heart rate. Another aspect of my training that I incorporated was heart rate monitoring—and more specifically within that was what is known as zone 2 training. I had both read and heard about this concept in researching running and upon learning about it, thought it made sense and was applicable to what I was trying to accomplish. By no means though do you have to follow zone 2 training.
Many HR monitoring watches come with preset (or you create your own) training zones relating to a percentage of your maximum HR. A lower number zone relates to a smaller percentage of your max HR. The different types of workout you do fall into different zones—for instance a tempo run would fall in zone 3 or 4 since you’re running a bit faster and would have a higher HR or a speed workout on the track might fall in zone 4 or even 5 depending on the purpose of the workout. The thinking behind utilizing this method of training is since a ultramarathon consists of long distance running done at a slower pace, training should be kept at a slower pace and stay within zone 2. There’s little benefit to having a higher HR from running faster when realistically most runners while not be able to keep up that faster pace the entire time of their event. Eventually you become more efficient with your running within zone 2 and you do become faster.
One of the easiest and most common ways to determine your zone 2 is the formula: 180 minus your age. The result is the number you want to keep your HR below for distance training. If you are a seasoned runner who has been staying in shape then there is a slight deviation allowable to add 5 beats per minute to the result of your number but if you are new(er) to this training or newer to running in general then just stick to the basic formula.
I will attest to zone 2 training being difficult at least in its initial stages, and this is something I heard from many others. It was difficult to keep my HR that low. What I thought was slow running was actually raising my HR about what my max should be for zone 2—especially for hills and inclines. This showed me I likely wasn’t as fit as I thought I was. While this was frustrating, I did slow down (the vast majority of the time) and continue following this training regimen. There were many times where I needed to slow down to a walk (or hike depending on terrain) in order to keep my HR within zone 2. I will tell you that you do need to be patient with this regimen and it will take time to see results. For me it took a few months, which is rather common. However, if you stick to following zone 2 training for your distance running then you will see results and be able to run at a faster pace and still keep your HR lower.
One of the ways I learned to more easily stay within zone 2 was to alter how I breathed. While I realize some of you won’t be able to incorporate this, it was an effective method for me. To stay within zone 2, I would (in effect) force myself to breathe strictly through my nose. Obviously this restricted the amount of air I could take in within each breath. This lower volume of air would force me to slow down in order not to be out of breath. Thus the slower running kept my HR lower. Basically as long as I could solely breathe through my nose I was going to have a lower HR and stay within zone 2. Don’t get me wrong, this was not easy to do! I had to make a very conscious effort in my initial stages of trying this approach—but with practice I found this to be a very effective technique. At times, yes, I did need to breathe using my mouth but regardless I would always make a effort to keep my breathing controlled! I can’t stress enough using controlled breathing in order to follow zone 2 training. This is a great topic to read up on and one where you can do a search and find a ton of info on—perhaps a topic of a future blog post.
Transitioning back to other training techniques, something else I would do within my training efforts is I would envision myself being in an ultra. My suggestion is picture yourself adjust to all the feedback your body gives you. Learn to become confident in making changes as that feedback changes. Picture yourself having a good race and reaching that next aid station or the finish line. You’re going to experience lows in an ultra and the easier it is to break any negativity you have mentally or make changes based on how you feel physically the better off you’ll be.
For instance, in my 12 hr event, I started moderately too fast and only 20 miles into the race my quads basically felt like they were mostly spent. They were already tired and sore and I had over half my day still ahead of me. I remember the spot where I had to have a talk with myself—as if I was talking in third person. I told myself that I have to slow down or else you’ll never reach your goal or if you do you will feel worse than you ever expected to post-race. In my second ultra I was experiencing more prolonged discomfort in the back of my left knee and again I had to listen to my body and back off the running and do more walking/hiking. In each of these instances, it was adjusting my mindset in order to successfully complete the event—just as I had practiced in training.
Additionally, beyond the physical and mental prep with my training, was training and experimenting with other aspects of running I would face on race day. Within training, was learning what, how much, and when to eat. Same thing for hydration. Your training efforts is the time to experiment and nail down what works and what doesn’t—don’t be afraid to learn in your training so you have less stress and can have a better experience on race day! I also experiment with how I even carried my food and water, completing some efforts with my new hydration pack and others with my Fuelbelt to find out what worked best for me.
Overall, take some time and make a checklist of all the variables you can face on race day, and prep for these in your training—again, training is place to make mistakes and find out what work and what doesn’t. And if a mistake happens then learn from it and progress.
I realize this article is somewhat long—hey, just like an ultra! So I thought here at the end I’d try and pick out and list the best pieces of training advice and put them in quick list for you to sum up the article.
- Take your training seriously—don’t think that it’s all just going to “come together” on race day.
- Specificity—train as much as you can in conditions you’ll face on race day.
- Envisioning—picture yourself in a race while you train and learn to be confident in your ability to face different situations you encounter.
- Listen to your body—it’s giving you feedback for a reason and use that to get to the finish line.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Tackling Ultramarathon #2!
Hello readers! As I’m sure most of you do, you like hearing how other runners did at their races and hearing what their experience was like. You like hearing what went right, what went wrong, and everything in between. Well that’s basically what this post is: a summary of my latest race.
On Saturday I ran my second ultra marathon, completing the Trails for Tails Ultra Run and Relay. If you want to read more about the course itself you can find here in my race report. In my writing about my first ultra marathon I wrote the race report along with my experience of the event all in one report. I experimented with two separate posts this time and would appreciate any feedback or thoughts on which is better. As I stated before, this blog is a work in progress, and I would like to know what works better for readers.
This was my first time running this race. It was another local race that I’ve known about for years and kept my eye on. For my first few ultras I wanted to do something close so I wouldn’t have the stress of travel to deal with. The timing of the event also fit nicely into my training as I also just completed my first ultra 3 weeks prior and I would obviously be in shape and still have the fitness to complete this event. Coupled with the fact it was in September, I figured temperature would be much better for another ultra than one later or one early during summer months where it would be very hot.
For whatever reason, I felt very relaxed going into this race. Obviously with only one ultra I wasn’t a veteran but I guess since this race was short and had less elevation gain/loss I just wasn’t as concerned about this as much as my first ultra 3 weeks ago. And now having completed this event I’m not sure if the lack of concern on elevation gain/loss was a help or a hindrance.
I say this because this event kicked my butt pretty good! My first ultra was a 12 hour event with more elevation change and one where in my head I always was striving to get in 50 miles—which I did—and I didn’t even need the full 12 hours. This event was shorter (40 miles), and obviously would not take me as long to complete. Having been on the most of trails which the Trails for Tails event is held on, I knew there was nothing too great regarding elevation change. I guess those two factors lulled me into a false sense of security.
The course seemed to be tough for many factors. The first was likely pace. I had met another runner that I somewhat knew and in running with him was likely a little too fast too early for what I would have done otherwise. The pace seemed OK at the time but looking back was too quick with my level of experience for a distance this long. I had several mile splits below 10:00 miles—just too fast!
Secondly, I was not used to running on the shoreline section of the course. This part was soft, sloped, and somewhat rocky. That combination seemed to really fatigue my ankles quickly and bothered me throughout the rest of race any time I ran for an extended period. On later laps I learned to find slightly flatter sections on the shoreline as well as speedwalk more of it but it still bothered my ankle to a mild degree. I was not a fan of that shoreline section.
There also was some road running too which I think lulled me into a faster pace compared to if I was running on trails. It was this combination of factors that lead me to begin too quickly but at the same time challenge me that lead me to feel somewhat tired early on in the race. I could feel some tiredness and soreness already around mile 14 and it was then when I did the math in my head and realized that I still have a marathon distance ahead of me to get in the 40 miles I wanted to. That thought was slightly depressing. But it was a wake up call to truly slow down and start making changes.
I began consciously slowing down and walking any of steeper or longer inclines. I also started following my intended walk/run ratio that I should have started earlier. Following these I slowed down but I didn’t care. I didn’t even establish a time goal for this race (on purpose) so it was no use attempting to keep up the same pace I was at for the first one and half laps.
It was more than just my ankles that started to feel sore and tired though. I could feel some of that in my quads but additionally more so in my hamstrings. What bothered me the most was the back of left knee. Basically the more I kept running the more soreness I experienced. I resorted to more walking which wasn’t an issue but I could definitely feel it getting worse. This was a contrast from my first ultra where I seemed to have highs and lows but have periods of recovery. This race, physical issues just seemed to get progressively worse—period! To some degree I wonder if I was fully recovered from my other ultra 3 weeks ago. In my running in between these two races though I felt good and did not experience any issues. I had felt like recovery from that ultra went better than expected but perhaps I wasn’t recovered. The only other thing I can think of is I ran a 5K race hard six days prior to Trails For Tails, so in all likelihood I think that played a role in my recovery—having been OK up to that point but regressed after the hard 5K effort.
So as each of miles ticked by I just managed how I felt and what was ahead of me on the course. I ran downhills to take advantage of gravity and walked the vast majority of uphills—especially any of significance. And if I was feeling tired I likely extended my duration of walking before returning to running. I made sure to stop at the aid station and the start/finish line for food and liquid each time I arrived at each to make sure I didn’t get too hungry or thirsty. Thirst was my bigger issue as I found myself wanting to drink more on each lap. The aid station had a good variety of items which I also talk about in my race report. I think I grabbed something to eat every time I stopped at it which was necessary as my Garmin watch showed I burned almost 4500 calories.
Speaking of my Garmin, once again I had problems with it. At least it turned on for me for this ultra unlike my first. I thought it was fully charged (it showed it was) but just into my 4th lap the low battery warning came on. The watch still had some battery life in it and did last until mile 37 before it finally died on me. At least it got me through the vast majority of the race! Luckily just before starting that 4th lap I had stopped at my truck to grab my phone to eventually take pictures so I started the Mapmyhike app I have on it and was still able to have a sense of my pace.
With not a lot of runners in this event I ran a good bit of this race alone. I ran with other runners when I could but one thing I learned with distance running is you’ve got to run your own race. As I said about my earlier miles I had ran with someone who was mostly too fast for me and I couldn’t make that mistake again. Around lap 3, I was with some other runners off and on but they eventually passed me. It would have been stupid of me to keep up with them no matter how much it would have been nice to run with others.
I had every intention of finishing all 40 miles of this race. The soreness in the back of my knee definitely made this a challenge. I slowed down in my first ultra so all of me wouldn’t wear out. This time was different in that I had one part of me that was of more concern. Had I pushed too hard I feel like I could have possible done some damage, but the slowing down and walking more is what got me through to the end—because more so than my first ultra, when my knee was hurting I really was wishing in my head a few times for this just to be over. Now finishing this post nearly two days later I don’t believe I did any damage to my knee as I can walk, hike, go stairs, etc., but I will have to manage my return to running more closely. In the long run, having this issue was probably a good learning experience for me in knowing how to deal with a situation when it goes wrong.
The weather was very runner friendly this year for this race, cool in the morning with a high of 70 degrees and a light breeze blowing. It was cloudy all morning and then the sun came out in the afternoon which did warm it up. I was on my 5th and final lap at this point and the warmer it got the more I needed to drink.
In trying to wrap up thoughts on this race, I feel I learned a good bit from doing this event. I had to manage running 2 ultras within 3 weeks after never run one before. I was a delicate balance of running just the right amount to stay fresh but not too much that would make me tired. I think I got it mostly right with the exception of the fast 5K six days prior to this race. Going back to my knee, I learned how to manage what felt like something that if I’m not careful could really set me back. Again the slowing down really helped to ease the stress I was feeling in my knee. Most of all I learned not to think that any race of this length would be “simple.” I really feel like this experience put me in my place. It’s not that didn’t take this race serious but I think I had too much confidence in myself after my first ultra achieving or really surpassing my highest expectations.
I was happy with my finish for the race though. My official time for the 40 miles was 7 hrs 55 mins, which was good for 7th place overall. My final pace was 11:52 per mile, which was a full minute per mile faster than my first ultra. Considering the differences in elevation change when comparing the two, this pace sounds about right and one I’m content with considering my knee issue during the race.
Both my ultras so far I consider a success. I don’t know what will be next. Whatever it is, it will be another year. Whenever I complete another you will read about it here though! Stay tuned!
On Saturday I ran my second ultra marathon, completing the Trails for Tails Ultra Run and Relay. If you want to read more about the course itself you can find here in my race report. In my writing about my first ultra marathon I wrote the race report along with my experience of the event all in one report. I experimented with two separate posts this time and would appreciate any feedback or thoughts on which is better. As I stated before, this blog is a work in progress, and I would like to know what works better for readers.
This was my first time running this race. It was another local race that I’ve known about for years and kept my eye on. For my first few ultras I wanted to do something close so I wouldn’t have the stress of travel to deal with. The timing of the event also fit nicely into my training as I also just completed my first ultra 3 weeks prior and I would obviously be in shape and still have the fitness to complete this event. Coupled with the fact it was in September, I figured temperature would be much better for another ultra than one later or one early during summer months where it would be very hot.
For whatever reason, I felt very relaxed going into this race. Obviously with only one ultra I wasn’t a veteran but I guess since this race was short and had less elevation gain/loss I just wasn’t as concerned about this as much as my first ultra 3 weeks ago. And now having completed this event I’m not sure if the lack of concern on elevation gain/loss was a help or a hindrance.
I say this because this event kicked my butt pretty good! My first ultra was a 12 hour event with more elevation change and one where in my head I always was striving to get in 50 miles—which I did—and I didn’t even need the full 12 hours. This event was shorter (40 miles), and obviously would not take me as long to complete. Having been on the most of trails which the Trails for Tails event is held on, I knew there was nothing too great regarding elevation change. I guess those two factors lulled me into a false sense of security.
The course seemed to be tough for many factors. The first was likely pace. I had met another runner that I somewhat knew and in running with him was likely a little too fast too early for what I would have done otherwise. The pace seemed OK at the time but looking back was too quick with my level of experience for a distance this long. I had several mile splits below 10:00 miles—just too fast!
Secondly, I was not used to running on the shoreline section of the course. This part was soft, sloped, and somewhat rocky. That combination seemed to really fatigue my ankles quickly and bothered me throughout the rest of race any time I ran for an extended period. On later laps I learned to find slightly flatter sections on the shoreline as well as speedwalk more of it but it still bothered my ankle to a mild degree. I was not a fan of that shoreline section.
There also was some road running too which I think lulled me into a faster pace compared to if I was running on trails. It was this combination of factors that lead me to begin too quickly but at the same time challenge me that lead me to feel somewhat tired early on in the race. I could feel some tiredness and soreness already around mile 14 and it was then when I did the math in my head and realized that I still have a marathon distance ahead of me to get in the 40 miles I wanted to. That thought was slightly depressing. But it was a wake up call to truly slow down and start making changes.
I began consciously slowing down and walking any of steeper or longer inclines. I also started following my intended walk/run ratio that I should have started earlier. Following these I slowed down but I didn’t care. I didn’t even establish a time goal for this race (on purpose) so it was no use attempting to keep up the same pace I was at for the first one and half laps.
It was more than just my ankles that started to feel sore and tired though. I could feel some of that in my quads but additionally more so in my hamstrings. What bothered me the most was the back of left knee. Basically the more I kept running the more soreness I experienced. I resorted to more walking which wasn’t an issue but I could definitely feel it getting worse. This was a contrast from my first ultra where I seemed to have highs and lows but have periods of recovery. This race, physical issues just seemed to get progressively worse—period! To some degree I wonder if I was fully recovered from my other ultra 3 weeks ago. In my running in between these two races though I felt good and did not experience any issues. I had felt like recovery from that ultra went better than expected but perhaps I wasn’t recovered. The only other thing I can think of is I ran a 5K race hard six days prior to Trails For Tails, so in all likelihood I think that played a role in my recovery—having been OK up to that point but regressed after the hard 5K effort.
So as each of miles ticked by I just managed how I felt and what was ahead of me on the course. I ran downhills to take advantage of gravity and walked the vast majority of uphills—especially any of significance. And if I was feeling tired I likely extended my duration of walking before returning to running. I made sure to stop at the aid station and the start/finish line for food and liquid each time I arrived at each to make sure I didn’t get too hungry or thirsty. Thirst was my bigger issue as I found myself wanting to drink more on each lap. The aid station had a good variety of items which I also talk about in my race report. I think I grabbed something to eat every time I stopped at it which was necessary as my Garmin watch showed I burned almost 4500 calories.
Speaking of my Garmin, once again I had problems with it. At least it turned on for me for this ultra unlike my first. I thought it was fully charged (it showed it was) but just into my 4th lap the low battery warning came on. The watch still had some battery life in it and did last until mile 37 before it finally died on me. At least it got me through the vast majority of the race! Luckily just before starting that 4th lap I had stopped at my truck to grab my phone to eventually take pictures so I started the Mapmyhike app I have on it and was still able to have a sense of my pace.
With not a lot of runners in this event I ran a good bit of this race alone. I ran with other runners when I could but one thing I learned with distance running is you’ve got to run your own race. As I said about my earlier miles I had ran with someone who was mostly too fast for me and I couldn’t make that mistake again. Around lap 3, I was with some other runners off and on but they eventually passed me. It would have been stupid of me to keep up with them no matter how much it would have been nice to run with others.
I had every intention of finishing all 40 miles of this race. The soreness in the back of my knee definitely made this a challenge. I slowed down in my first ultra so all of me wouldn’t wear out. This time was different in that I had one part of me that was of more concern. Had I pushed too hard I feel like I could have possible done some damage, but the slowing down and walking more is what got me through to the end—because more so than my first ultra, when my knee was hurting I really was wishing in my head a few times for this just to be over. Now finishing this post nearly two days later I don’t believe I did any damage to my knee as I can walk, hike, go stairs, etc., but I will have to manage my return to running more closely. In the long run, having this issue was probably a good learning experience for me in knowing how to deal with a situation when it goes wrong.
The weather was very runner friendly this year for this race, cool in the morning with a high of 70 degrees and a light breeze blowing. It was cloudy all morning and then the sun came out in the afternoon which did warm it up. I was on my 5th and final lap at this point and the warmer it got the more I needed to drink.
In trying to wrap up thoughts on this race, I feel I learned a good bit from doing this event. I had to manage running 2 ultras within 3 weeks after never run one before. I was a delicate balance of running just the right amount to stay fresh but not too much that would make me tired. I think I got it mostly right with the exception of the fast 5K six days prior to this race. Going back to my knee, I learned how to manage what felt like something that if I’m not careful could really set me back. Again the slowing down really helped to ease the stress I was feeling in my knee. Most of all I learned not to think that any race of this length would be “simple.” I really feel like this experience put me in my place. It’s not that didn’t take this race serious but I think I had too much confidence in myself after my first ultra achieving or really surpassing my highest expectations.
I was happy with my finish for the race though. My official time for the 40 miles was 7 hrs 55 mins, which was good for 7th place overall. My final pace was 11:52 per mile, which was a full minute per mile faster than my first ultra. Considering the differences in elevation change when comparing the two, this pace sounds about right and one I’m content with considering my knee issue during the race.
Both my ultras so far I consider a success. I don’t know what will be next. Whatever it is, it will be another year. Whenever I complete another you will read about it here though! Stay tuned!
2016 Trails for Tails Race Report
Today I’m posting yet another race report. Since I am new to running ultras, I thought this is a good way to give something back, because if you’re like me, you like knowing a little something about an event prior to doing it for the first time. I feel this helps with both preparation and having a better experience at the event.
This race report is for the Trails for Tails Ultra Run and Relay which benefits a no kill animal shelter. As I said in my post of my experience of the event, which can be found here, this was my first time running this race, with the race itself having been held for about 9 years now. Trails for Tails is held at Codorus State Park not far from Hanover, PA. This is smaller event, I’m guessing less than 50 runners were at the start however I’m sure there were more that showed up later to run their part if they were on a relay team.
The event is 40 miles in length consisting of 5 laps of an 8 mile course. The course layout is nice in that you can drop out at any of the 8 mile intervals if you’re not into or capable of running the longer distances. The course has a larger 4 mile loop and then a smaller loop connected by a road section maybe a 1/2 mile long. Overall there is a mix of surfaces you be running on, including grass, dirt, paved roads, and the rocky/sandy shoreline of Lake Marburg. This mix of surfaces broke up the monotony but might not be for everyone depending on your preferences. With the exception of the shoreline section, I really liked the course and the fact it varied. Even though I thought I had quite a bit of ankle strength, the softer sloped surface of the shoreline really seemed to fatigue my ankles quickly. By the second any subsequent laps, on the sloped shoreline there were just a few spots that I found didn’t have as much slope to it and stuck to it was much as could as I found the angled running is what really challenged my ankles the most. The course had its share of rocks and roots and elevation change too but nothing extreme about any of them. There were several small fallen trees to go over but they were easily manageable and a guard rail at one point to go over too. To sum it up, about the time you got used to running on one surface it switched to another. The same held true regarding elevation change. The course was very well marked I thought, using a combination of spray paint arrows on the ground, ribbon, and a few plates with arrows. Having never run the course, I was slightly concerned with finding my way but I wasn’t in the lead to have to worry, and regardless it was marked well.
The staff at this event was great. The RD (race director) even sent me an email earlier in the week confirming he received my registration and that I was entered in the event. I thought it was nice, and likely a result of it being a low(er) number of runners, but the RD and the other volunteer at the start/finish line of each lap even called me by my first name when cheering and acknowledging completion of another lap. Again, really nice since this was the first time I ran the event and they didn’t know me prior.
The aid station volunteers were great too!, very eager to assist you and ask you what it is you need or were looking for. I made sure to say thank you to them when I passed the aid station the last time as I thought they did a great job!
I’m guessing if you’re reading this you’re also wondering what items were at the aid station. There was a little of everything really. Candy for anyone with a sweet tooth (me included), chips (and pretzels?) for those craving something salty, and a variety of other items. Some of the other food on hand included: trail mix, apples, bananas, pickle slices, pb&j sandwiches cut into pieces, turkey sandwiches cut in half. Regarding hydration—water, gatorade, soda, and Heed was available. A fair amount of the same items were at the start/finish line too. This aid station was right around mile 4 on the course and runners pass it a second time on each loop about a 1/2 mile before the start/finish line.
In summary, I did like this event after initially being unsure about it from the first lap. Once I found the flat(er) surface along the shoreline I was able to navigate that section easier as I felt my ankles almost throbbing after running the first lap. I also thought I’d dislike the long out-and-back road section connecting the two loops but this is where you would most often see the other runners and it was fun to give and receive encouraging words to/from the other runners. I guess I see the small number of runners as the only “downfall” to this race. With the except of that out-and-back road section, I didn’t really encounter too many other runners on the course after my first lap. While I did a lot of solo training and for the most part don’t mind it, after awhile running alone can get boring. But there was plenty I liked: the variation of the course, the friendliness of everyone, and the great aid station volunteers!
I would suggest this event to other runners who are within driving distance. It is a very affordable event which was a positive and all the volunteers were very supportive and helpful. Without the significant elevation change, the course is also more friendly to newbie ultrarunners such as myself. That’s not to say it’s easy but my point is it’s not daunting. If you like the camaraderie of other runners and big races this one is likely not for you though.
Will I run this event again? That I don’t know—as I am just getting breaking into ultrarunning and ultramarathoning and not sure yet what direction I will be taking and also how the time of this event fits in with others I may want to do. I will be keeping it on my race calendar though!
This race report is for the Trails for Tails Ultra Run and Relay which benefits a no kill animal shelter. As I said in my post of my experience of the event, which can be found here, this was my first time running this race, with the race itself having been held for about 9 years now. Trails for Tails is held at Codorus State Park not far from Hanover, PA. This is smaller event, I’m guessing less than 50 runners were at the start however I’m sure there were more that showed up later to run their part if they were on a relay team.
The event is 40 miles in length consisting of 5 laps of an 8 mile course. The course layout is nice in that you can drop out at any of the 8 mile intervals if you’re not into or capable of running the longer distances. The course has a larger 4 mile loop and then a smaller loop connected by a road section maybe a 1/2 mile long. Overall there is a mix of surfaces you be running on, including grass, dirt, paved roads, and the rocky/sandy shoreline of Lake Marburg. This mix of surfaces broke up the monotony but might not be for everyone depending on your preferences. With the exception of the shoreline section, I really liked the course and the fact it varied. Even though I thought I had quite a bit of ankle strength, the softer sloped surface of the shoreline really seemed to fatigue my ankles quickly. By the second any subsequent laps, on the sloped shoreline there were just a few spots that I found didn’t have as much slope to it and stuck to it was much as could as I found the angled running is what really challenged my ankles the most. The course had its share of rocks and roots and elevation change too but nothing extreme about any of them. There were several small fallen trees to go over but they were easily manageable and a guard rail at one point to go over too. To sum it up, about the time you got used to running on one surface it switched to another. The same held true regarding elevation change. The course was very well marked I thought, using a combination of spray paint arrows on the ground, ribbon, and a few plates with arrows. Having never run the course, I was slightly concerned with finding my way but I wasn’t in the lead to have to worry, and regardless it was marked well.
The staff at this event was great. The RD (race director) even sent me an email earlier in the week confirming he received my registration and that I was entered in the event. I thought it was nice, and likely a result of it being a low(er) number of runners, but the RD and the other volunteer at the start/finish line of each lap even called me by my first name when cheering and acknowledging completion of another lap. Again, really nice since this was the first time I ran the event and they didn’t know me prior.
The aid station volunteers were great too!, very eager to assist you and ask you what it is you need or were looking for. I made sure to say thank you to them when I passed the aid station the last time as I thought they did a great job!
I’m guessing if you’re reading this you’re also wondering what items were at the aid station. There was a little of everything really. Candy for anyone with a sweet tooth (me included), chips (and pretzels?) for those craving something salty, and a variety of other items. Some of the other food on hand included: trail mix, apples, bananas, pickle slices, pb&j sandwiches cut into pieces, turkey sandwiches cut in half. Regarding hydration—water, gatorade, soda, and Heed was available. A fair amount of the same items were at the start/finish line too. This aid station was right around mile 4 on the course and runners pass it a second time on each loop about a 1/2 mile before the start/finish line.
In summary, I did like this event after initially being unsure about it from the first lap. Once I found the flat(er) surface along the shoreline I was able to navigate that section easier as I felt my ankles almost throbbing after running the first lap. I also thought I’d dislike the long out-and-back road section connecting the two loops but this is where you would most often see the other runners and it was fun to give and receive encouraging words to/from the other runners. I guess I see the small number of runners as the only “downfall” to this race. With the except of that out-and-back road section, I didn’t really encounter too many other runners on the course after my first lap. While I did a lot of solo training and for the most part don’t mind it, after awhile running alone can get boring. But there was plenty I liked: the variation of the course, the friendliness of everyone, and the great aid station volunteers!
I would suggest this event to other runners who are within driving distance. It is a very affordable event which was a positive and all the volunteers were very supportive and helpful. Without the significant elevation change, the course is also more friendly to newbie ultrarunners such as myself. That’s not to say it’s easy but my point is it’s not daunting. If you like the camaraderie of other runners and big races this one is likely not for you though.
Will I run this event again? That I don’t know—as I am just getting breaking into ultrarunning and ultramarathoning and not sure yet what direction I will be taking and also how the time of this event fits in with others I may want to do. I will be keeping it on my race calendar though!
Thursday, September 8, 2016
2016 Labor Pain 12 Hour Endurance Run Race Report
This past Sunday I participated in my first ever ultramarathon, the Labor Pain 12 Hour Endurance Run, which was held just outside of Reading, PA. In this post I’ll talk about both the race itself, in the format of a race report, and also add in my thoughts and feelings on competing in this event.
I have wanted to try an ultramarathon for awhile, somewhat because it sounds like a novelty and somewhat because I truly want to see what I can accomplish. The runner in me was (mostly) ready to try this for years but making the decision to go back to college to learn a new career put the ultra dream on the back burner. This year was first since completing my degree that seriously training for an ultra was realistic.
Although training for this was difficult, I had it in my head that this was going to be the year I test myself. The easier route to entering the ultra world is a 50K, which there is one local that I’d love to try, but for whatever reason this fairly local 12 hour event is what truly intrigued me and was what would really put me to the test and let me know what I’m made of. Also, it was a big enough step to let me know I want to seriously consider my true dream of pursuing a 100 miler.
So back 6 months prior to now, when my longest run was only 6-7 miles, I began my training. I won’t go into a lot of detail about my training, I’ll just mention one aspect. As you might know, the training is the hard part—and the boring part. But it is what’s necessary to be successful on race day and make that a good experience. I found a quote I saved from Lance Armstrong that talks about training, “The more you suffer before the race, the less you will during and after." Let me just say that this is true! End of my commentary on training.
For the race itself, the Labor Pain 12 Hour Endurance Run consists of a 5 mile loop course that you run for as many laps as you can in 12 hours, or until you want to drop out after reaching whatever distance you want to cover. The course is run mostly on trails with just a few sections being run on grass or roads. Throw in going over a guard rail and a rock scramble right before the end of each lap and you really do have a little of everything practically. Your typical uphill and downhill sections were in this race but overall nothing TOO extreme—just enough to make it tough though! The course was very well marked, if you made a wrong turn it was likely your own fault!. Having never run a looped course, I wasn’t sure how it would go. But honestly it is nice for if you’re having a bad day and want to call it quits you can do so without worrying about get back to your vehicle. Unless something went terribly wrong this was not going to be me though!
I did arrive early enough though that I had enough time to get ready and be mentally prepared for this day. I got my race bib and handouts and returned to my vehicle and gathered everything I needed for the race. Soon enough runners were called to the starting line. Directions were given and then a countdown began. And just like that I was now in the biggest, longest, and most difficult race of my life to date! I would now find out just what I signed up for and what I’m really made of!
It took some seconds before everyone got moving but once everyone started there was an open stretch of driveway and road in the very beginning of the course for runners to get sorted out before shortly making a turn and going through someone’s yard—yes you read that correctly, the course does go through someone’s yard! Then it was uphill and finally headed into the woods, which was mostly singletrack so things came to halt here on the first lap but things again got sorted out and one was able to run again. The first mile or so was fairly easy before a long gradual uphill section of the course came and was one I learned to dread after about 3 laps of it. Luckily after that hill the course had a downhill section and then evened out for a good stretch with the aid station right at the half way mark of the course. I didn’t even bother to stop at the aid station on the first lap but did stop on each one after. Eventually another long(er) uphill section started with a steeper and more technical section at the top. From there it was a LONG mixed stretch of even and downhill running. This was great for making up time and being easier on the body.
It took me several loops to really remember the entire course, which sounds silly I guess but really when you’re attempting to stay out for the best part of 12 hrs there are so many other things on your mind—nutrition, hydration, fatigue, what’s aching or hurting. Managing all of these while staying in motion and shooting for a huge goal does wear on you from a mental perspective. Throw in all the body is telling you and it is easy to forget part of the course. Anyone that tells you a race this long isn’t at least partly mental is bs’ing you! I love running (and hiking) but I be honest, there were a few times where I was hurting and was ready for this to be over.
I didn’t truly feel like I had my strategy down until about 20 miles into the race. That was mostly because on my fourth (or fifth?) lap my quads were starting to kill me. I knew right there and then I needed to change what I doing or something will go seriously wrong. From there I consciously slowed down and basically power hiked any type of uphill. I knew by now there were other flat or downhill section later in the course where I could run again, but from here on out the uphills needed to managed better than what had the first few laps. This change did work and eventually I got a second wind in me where I felt good again and that I could push onward without the fear that I barely be able to walk after the race or the next day.
And that is a funny thing about ultras—the highs and lows. Eventually I started to tire again about the 7th lap into race (~32 miles) but again that somehow passed and I felt like pushing again. I remember really late in the race thinking “I think this is my 4th wind now”. And immediately after that thinking how funny it was to go right through your “2nd wind” and your “3rd wind” to a 4th! I’m still not convinced there’s a thing as a “4th wind” but I don’t know what else to call it!
During these laps the increased use of my muscles lead to minor cramping but thankfully nothing major. My cramping was felt in my calves mostly with just a little bit in my hamstring muscles. My quads were just sore off and on for most of the race and was what truly bothered me the most. Usually my feet get beat up and sore but somehow they did not on this race, which I am thankful for. That was a good surprise. The bad surprise was how much my ankles ached off and on. I guess since only probably half of steps were on solid surfaces these muscles had to work fairly hard for all the steps I took in 50 miles. The other surprise I had was the fact my chest was actually getting sore for I guess the hydration pack I was wearing might have been too tight and caused what I describe as a brush burn from it—never had this with the few times I wore my hydration pack.
As I completed each lap they felt just a tad bit harder which is compounded by the fact not everyone runs for all 12 hours so you encounter fewer people on each lap and at times you feel alone. I think most of us are familiar with the saying “misery loves company.” While I wasn’t in misery, I was always glad to see someone else still out there. I stuck to my plan in my head about how to last for 12 hours as best I could. My biggest piece of advice for anyone thinking of trying an ultra is: develop a sense of how you want to compete, but don’t be afraid to change it up on race day if the course (or your body or the weather) demands it. My basic strategy was to roughly run the first 2 laps and switch to a 4 minute run, 2 minute hike ratio in order to last 12 hours and not wear myself out. But I did realize in my training this would likely need modifying due to the terrain of the course—and that’s what I did running for longer if it was downhill or hiking for longer if it was uphill or I was cramping from running. Other pieces of advice are: drink before you are thirsty, eat before you are hungry, and above all else—listen to your body! As I spoke of in an earlier paragraph, had I not slowed down around lap 4 or 5 I’m almost certain lap 9 and 10 may have not been an option for me, I simply would have hurt too much to push onward.
It likely sounds funny to read, but I did have a lot of fun competing in this endurance running event. As I came across the start/finish line each time completing a lap I was realizing my ultimate goal of completing 50 miles was in reach. I had thought that milestone would only be achieved if everything went right, which it mostly did, but in all honesty I thought it would be way harder. I completed the 50 miles in 10:44:56. I actually had the option of heading out and attempting an 11 lap, but I told the ladies doing the timing that I was done. I do have some regrets about that. In just that moment I thought I would really have to push it to complete that 11th lap but I think even had I hiked it I still would have finished before the 12 hour cutoff. It was a split second decision—I was tired and low on water, and having met my highest goal I called it quits. Honestly the almost 11 hours I was out there seems all like a blur in retrospect.
Lastly, my final thought regarding this race: damn if I’m not looking forward to trying this again next year!
I have wanted to try an ultramarathon for awhile, somewhat because it sounds like a novelty and somewhat because I truly want to see what I can accomplish. The runner in me was (mostly) ready to try this for years but making the decision to go back to college to learn a new career put the ultra dream on the back burner. This year was first since completing my degree that seriously training for an ultra was realistic.
Although training for this was difficult, I had it in my head that this was going to be the year I test myself. The easier route to entering the ultra world is a 50K, which there is one local that I’d love to try, but for whatever reason this fairly local 12 hour event is what truly intrigued me and was what would really put me to the test and let me know what I’m made of. Also, it was a big enough step to let me know I want to seriously consider my true dream of pursuing a 100 miler.
So back 6 months prior to now, when my longest run was only 6-7 miles, I began my training. I won’t go into a lot of detail about my training, I’ll just mention one aspect. As you might know, the training is the hard part—and the boring part. But it is what’s necessary to be successful on race day and make that a good experience. I found a quote I saved from Lance Armstrong that talks about training, “The more you suffer before the race, the less you will during and after." Let me just say that this is true! End of my commentary on training.
For the race itself, the Labor Pain 12 Hour Endurance Run consists of a 5 mile loop course that you run for as many laps as you can in 12 hours, or until you want to drop out after reaching whatever distance you want to cover. The course is run mostly on trails with just a few sections being run on grass or roads. Throw in going over a guard rail and a rock scramble right before the end of each lap and you really do have a little of everything practically. Your typical uphill and downhill sections were in this race but overall nothing TOO extreme—just enough to make it tough though! The course was very well marked, if you made a wrong turn it was likely your own fault!. Having never run a looped course, I wasn’t sure how it would go. But honestly it is nice for if you’re having a bad day and want to call it quits you can do so without worrying about get back to your vehicle. Unless something went terribly wrong this was not going to be me though!
Some of my race gear: hydration pack, trail sneakers and sunglasses with polarized lenses
The race started a bit late, which I didn’t mind since I didn’t get to the race location as early as I wanted to. That was just one thing that didn’t go as planned. The other was I could not get my Garmin GPS watch to turn on. It is an older model that does need replaced and has been giving me problems but for the most part still starts up—as long as it is on the charger first! Well it decided not to cooperate for my biggest race ever! Kinda frustrating! I say this because I like have the heart rate, pace, lap splits, calories burned info—I’m just a nerd with that stuff. And knowing my overall pace during the race would have been nice because in my head I had rough ideas of what pace I’d need to reach 40, 45, and 50 miles. If I had that data I would post it here but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. So instead I ran wearing just my plain old Casio watch! There’s not even a stopwatch on it! I did fear my Garmin wouldn’t start so I didn’t stress about it, and in a way it was a little liberating running and not having all that data staring me in the face so to speak. I think by not having it I enjoyed the run more. Instead I ran by how I felt (perceived exertion) and listened to my body, which is what one should be doing. Like I said about me being a nerd with that data, sometimes I am a bit of a slave to my watch, looking at it too frequently.I did arrive early enough though that I had enough time to get ready and be mentally prepared for this day. I got my race bib and handouts and returned to my vehicle and gathered everything I needed for the race. Soon enough runners were called to the starting line. Directions were given and then a countdown began. And just like that I was now in the biggest, longest, and most difficult race of my life to date! I would now find out just what I signed up for and what I’m really made of!
It took some seconds before everyone got moving but once everyone started there was an open stretch of driveway and road in the very beginning of the course for runners to get sorted out before shortly making a turn and going through someone’s yard—yes you read that correctly, the course does go through someone’s yard! Then it was uphill and finally headed into the woods, which was mostly singletrack so things came to halt here on the first lap but things again got sorted out and one was able to run again. The first mile or so was fairly easy before a long gradual uphill section of the course came and was one I learned to dread after about 3 laps of it. Luckily after that hill the course had a downhill section and then evened out for a good stretch with the aid station right at the half way mark of the course. I didn’t even bother to stop at the aid station on the first lap but did stop on each one after. Eventually another long(er) uphill section started with a steeper and more technical section at the top. From there it was a LONG mixed stretch of even and downhill running. This was great for making up time and being easier on the body.
It took me several loops to really remember the entire course, which sounds silly I guess but really when you’re attempting to stay out for the best part of 12 hrs there are so many other things on your mind—nutrition, hydration, fatigue, what’s aching or hurting. Managing all of these while staying in motion and shooting for a huge goal does wear on you from a mental perspective. Throw in all the body is telling you and it is easy to forget part of the course. Anyone that tells you a race this long isn’t at least partly mental is bs’ing you! I love running (and hiking) but I be honest, there were a few times where I was hurting and was ready for this to be over.
I didn’t truly feel like I had my strategy down until about 20 miles into the race. That was mostly because on my fourth (or fifth?) lap my quads were starting to kill me. I knew right there and then I needed to change what I doing or something will go seriously wrong. From there I consciously slowed down and basically power hiked any type of uphill. I knew by now there were other flat or downhill section later in the course where I could run again, but from here on out the uphills needed to managed better than what had the first few laps. This change did work and eventually I got a second wind in me where I felt good again and that I could push onward without the fear that I barely be able to walk after the race or the next day.
And that is a funny thing about ultras—the highs and lows. Eventually I started to tire again about the 7th lap into race (~32 miles) but again that somehow passed and I felt like pushing again. I remember really late in the race thinking “I think this is my 4th wind now”. And immediately after that thinking how funny it was to go right through your “2nd wind” and your “3rd wind” to a 4th! I’m still not convinced there’s a thing as a “4th wind” but I don’t know what else to call it!
During these laps the increased use of my muscles lead to minor cramping but thankfully nothing major. My cramping was felt in my calves mostly with just a little bit in my hamstring muscles. My quads were just sore off and on for most of the race and was what truly bothered me the most. Usually my feet get beat up and sore but somehow they did not on this race, which I am thankful for. That was a good surprise. The bad surprise was how much my ankles ached off and on. I guess since only probably half of steps were on solid surfaces these muscles had to work fairly hard for all the steps I took in 50 miles. The other surprise I had was the fact my chest was actually getting sore for I guess the hydration pack I was wearing might have been too tight and caused what I describe as a brush burn from it—never had this with the few times I wore my hydration pack.
As I completed each lap they felt just a tad bit harder which is compounded by the fact not everyone runs for all 12 hours so you encounter fewer people on each lap and at times you feel alone. I think most of us are familiar with the saying “misery loves company.” While I wasn’t in misery, I was always glad to see someone else still out there. I stuck to my plan in my head about how to last for 12 hours as best I could. My biggest piece of advice for anyone thinking of trying an ultra is: develop a sense of how you want to compete, but don’t be afraid to change it up on race day if the course (or your body or the weather) demands it. My basic strategy was to roughly run the first 2 laps and switch to a 4 minute run, 2 minute hike ratio in order to last 12 hours and not wear myself out. But I did realize in my training this would likely need modifying due to the terrain of the course—and that’s what I did running for longer if it was downhill or hiking for longer if it was uphill or I was cramping from running. Other pieces of advice are: drink before you are thirsty, eat before you are hungry, and above all else—listen to your body! As I spoke of in an earlier paragraph, had I not slowed down around lap 4 or 5 I’m almost certain lap 9 and 10 may have not been an option for me, I simply would have hurt too much to push onward.
It likely sounds funny to read, but I did have a lot of fun competing in this endurance running event. As I came across the start/finish line each time completing a lap I was realizing my ultimate goal of completing 50 miles was in reach. I had thought that milestone would only be achieved if everything went right, which it mostly did, but in all honesty I thought it would be way harder. I completed the 50 miles in 10:44:56. I actually had the option of heading out and attempting an 11 lap, but I told the ladies doing the timing that I was done. I do have some regrets about that. In just that moment I thought I would really have to push it to complete that 11th lap but I think even had I hiked it I still would have finished before the 12 hour cutoff. It was a split second decision—I was tired and low on water, and having met my highest goal I called it quits. Honestly the almost 11 hours I was out there seems all like a blur in retrospect.
The sun was setting on a long day here at the start/finish area for the Labor Pain race.
Overall I ended up finishing in 36th place out of 290 runners. I am so astounded at this, never did I think that I’d finish this high! But that’s what I love about an event like this, everybody is pushing themselves and pushing for others to achieve what they likely thought they couldn’t! Prior to competing, I read that ultra running is a supportive community, and having now competed in a ultra, I definitely see this as true. This event turned out to be such a great experience for me. Yes, it was difficult but between the training and the actual event I learned I am capable of great things. It definitely did not discourage me from continuing to wonder about my dream of someday doing a 100 miler.Lastly, my final thought regarding this race: damn if I’m not looking forward to trying this again next year!
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