One minute I’m feeling great, on track for a huge 50 minute PR. Perhaps even my first sub 10 hour in the 50 mile distance. I’m easily keeping up with a huge pack of runners, maybe even with the mid pack of the 50kers. I checked the competition of my age group on ultrasignup and while I’m not clearly on the top, I have twice the race results than any of my peers. 26 results there vs the 13 I saw in the 50 mile group. Maybe I’ll win my age group (probably no award for it but still would feel nice). Then, all of sudden my IT band on my left leg flares up. I try to ignore it, hoping it would fade away but it lingers. Eventually I have to stop to attempt to stretch it out. I bend my left leg toward my butt but it hurts the farther up I go. In a moment I went from having what felt like would be my best 50 miler to a long day.
The Finger Lakes was my 4 th Ultra of the year in my build up to UTMB. It was supposed to be my longest run, a confidence booster towards the race. I had done two 50 milers in the early spring and a 50k two weeks ago where I got a massive PR. That 50k was followed by series of PRs in short distances further boosting my confidence in my abilities. It’s been a lackluster year compared to last year where I was PRing like crazy and getting them fairly easily. This year I have been fighting for each PR pretty hard and barely getting a few.
My IT band flared up two days ago, on July 4th, towards mile 40 of my 45ish mile bike ride. Despite resting the rest of that day and taking Friday off it didn’t fully heal by race morning. I shrugged it off and figured that after my muscles warm up, it’ll go away. I also started waking up with heel pain on my leg foot but it went away after a minute or so of walking so I thought nothing of it. Just some stiffness.
I ran the race two years ago where there was a torrential downpour as a training run for my first hundred miler. I dropped down to the 50k due to how crazy the weather was. I also ran it with no sleep, driving straight to the race after having hung out. I got met Akira who also ran the race through strava and we had communicated here and there about ultras and races. Akira was also running it this year as a tuneup for Twisted Branch 100k.
I woke up the morning of the race at midnight, the race started at 6:30 and I wanted to get there 5:45ish to do bib pickup, bathroom and warmup. I ended up leaving a bit later than expected and got there at 6 am. I originally had the Friday off and was planning to get there the day before but a sudden meeting Friday morning cancelled that. I still got to leave the office at around 3 pm so I was able to get some sleep in. With a 4.5 hour drive however, it wasn’t an ideal situation. For breakfast, I prefer eating 3 hours before the race so I ate some bread and peanut butter on the drive over. I wasn’t able to find any of my gels but I saw that the description of the race said that they had fully stocked aid stations. I interpreted that as including gels, though I did notice there was no nutrition sponsor.
I parked my car on the side of the road, changed into race gear and got bib pickup. There were only 3 porter-potties and a sizeable line so I wasn’t able to go to the bathroom before race. I briefly met Akira on the bathroom line before I decided I didn’t want to start the race late. I also was not able warmup but I figured that with 50 miles, I had plenty of time. The 50k and 50 milers went off together so I wanted to be cautious that I wasn’t running too fast I positioned myself mid-pack. I saw a couple of Dashing Whippets jerseys in the start. I learned of the race from a Brooklyn Trail Runners meetup event post (note, I ended up never running with the group).
The race started off without fanfare. We ran on a road for a little bit before breaking into single-track. I held back the effort level, it’s going to be a long day. The 50 miler consisted of three 16.5 mile loops with one .5 baby loop. My original plan was to average 13 minutes a mile the first loop, then 12 minutes a mile, and finally finish with 11 minutes a mile. However, I felt great in the first few miles despite holding back so much and found myself close to the 11 minutes a mile pace. The idea of achieving a massive PR in the 50 miler quickly took over my mind. The sub 10 in the 50 miler has been my goal since getting a 10:40 in the Cayuga trails 50 in my last ultra in 2018 (North Face SF got cancelled). This course was much easier in terms of elevation gain and there were good chunks on road which would lead to faster miles.
There ended up being no gels in the aid stations so I decided to eat peanut butter sandwiches (about a quarter of one each time) and drink up on Gatorade to get my calories. Theory wise it sounded like it could suffice but I know my body works best with gels. It was a super humid day. Within thirty minutes of running I looked like I took a dip in a lake from all the sweat. Despite the IT band problems I finished the first loop, 16.5 miles fairly well. I started struggling in the second loop. Akira caught up and another man - Paul I think. We ran together for a good chunk of the loop. Paul talked a bit about how NYC has a stranglehold on the Catskills, where he was from, due to it being where the city gets their water from. Eventually my IT band flared up and I lost both of them. It got so bad that I had to walk the last 3 miles in. Part of the course was on dirt road due to trail closure and I still wasn’t able to jog. I got looped by first place female doing the 50 miler. At this race, you have the option on race day to drop down from 50 miles to 50k which I did. I was still one of the last to finish the 50k and did worse than two years ago where I had no sleep and despite being so much fitter now. The course was also easier this year due to the trail closure which eliminated one of the hills. Afterwards I met with Akira and it was nice to talk with him a bit. I recall a woman asking me if I was okay and I responded that I was good. Another racer asked if I started cramping on, he saw me stop to stretch early on. Great community!
The race highlighted something I should have seen beforehand. I am willing to put the time into Ironman training and ultra marathon training simultaneously, something like 2.5 to 3 hours a day. However, after a month, it looks like I ended up over training. Perhaps it is possible but building a base for the Ironman training over a few months might have been a better, smarter approach.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Saturday, June 22, 2019
The road to UTMB - Chapter 4 - Vegan Power 50k
To be honest, I registered for this race because I’m vegan too and I was interested in meeting with and running with other vegan runners. It’s been on my radar since last year when I joined the facebook group for it. Over time I have been warming up to the idea of doing loops. I have always considered it boring but I have realized that when the going gets stuff, it’s much easier to imagine points you have to reach rather than miles (which might feel like forever at that point). Though it does work the other way, if the going is rough - you get the option to quit. I registered in December 2018 for the race and got an interesting intro to the facebook group “Vikram Singh’s ultrasignup page reads like a love story to painfully hard races…” which I hadn’t really thought about but I guess it is sort of true.
The long drive to Western MA from NYC had me fairly tired by the time I got to the race. Bib pickup was fairly quick. A plain white shirt with some hammer (nutrition sponsor) products. There was a real bathroom so I used that and then took a quick nap. The course is 6 laps on a 5 mile loop and the relay and 50k started together. Later in the day the 25k started. The loop was fairly flat trail with some roots here and there to keep you alert and a small muddy section. The race started with a small speech and it was mentioned that part of the reason of the race was to prove vegans could this without animal protein. I sort of thought that was odd since ultramarathons and being vegan seems to be pretty common.
The race started! The loop starts with a tiny uphill on a dirt road section before hitting the trails. As soon as we hit the trails, some of the people around me started breathing hard which was sort of alarming to me since it was very early in the race. I passed a few people shortly and ran behind a man wearing long pants. I thought it was a bit odd since it was summer but maybe he was from somewhere farther up or was doing the relay and just forgot shorts? Think it would have been doable for one or two loops. At the midpoint aid station I passed him. I got passed a little bit after by two people.
I ended a little behind a Lindsay and followed her till the end of the loop. At the start of the second loop I passed her but she was close behind. It sort of pushed me to keep the pace when you have someone behind you. Eventually we joined Juliene and started talking a bit. Lindsay has run the 25k race before and is now doing the 50k. Her brother is also running the race but she considered him the real runner (she ended up being 3rd place female). Juliene is also from NY - from Peekskill, NY and also a marathon maniac. She’s primarily a marathoner but has done the finger lakes 50 before. I think the company really helped me stay strong. I struggled on the fourth loop and we got passed by Lindsay. Juliene and I ran up to the last 2 miles together where I was able to pick it up slightly. I was a bit sad to lose her but we were close to finishing so I wasn’t too worried about her.
There isn’t much to say about the loop, it’s forested and exactly what the description says. It’s a singletrack that winds a lot so that makes it a bit more difficult but by the 4th and 5th loop, you’re an expert of the trail. Like I said earlier, you could start to visualize points instead of mileage so that helps you continue mentally. I finished in 5:45:47, an 11:06 pace and a massive PR in the 50k distance. A lot of the assist in this was due to running with people! Afterwards I hung out and cheered for a bit. They had vegan pizza which was so great. I took a picture with Juliene and just relaxed. Then there was some light rain and I went back to the car. I should have rested some more but I decided to start driving back. I had some sleepy miles on the wheel that wasn't smart. Eventually I stopped at a scenic point and took a quick nap.
This race gave me a strong confidence boost towards UTMB. Success seems to be on the horizon!
The long drive to Western MA from NYC had me fairly tired by the time I got to the race. Bib pickup was fairly quick. A plain white shirt with some hammer (nutrition sponsor) products. There was a real bathroom so I used that and then took a quick nap. The course is 6 laps on a 5 mile loop and the relay and 50k started together. Later in the day the 25k started. The loop was fairly flat trail with some roots here and there to keep you alert and a small muddy section. The race started with a small speech and it was mentioned that part of the reason of the race was to prove vegans could this without animal protein. I sort of thought that was odd since ultramarathons and being vegan seems to be pretty common.
The race started! The loop starts with a tiny uphill on a dirt road section before hitting the trails. As soon as we hit the trails, some of the people around me started breathing hard which was sort of alarming to me since it was very early in the race. I passed a few people shortly and ran behind a man wearing long pants. I thought it was a bit odd since it was summer but maybe he was from somewhere farther up or was doing the relay and just forgot shorts? Think it would have been doable for one or two loops. At the midpoint aid station I passed him. I got passed a little bit after by two people.
I ended a little behind a Lindsay and followed her till the end of the loop. At the start of the second loop I passed her but she was close behind. It sort of pushed me to keep the pace when you have someone behind you. Eventually we joined Juliene and started talking a bit. Lindsay has run the 25k race before and is now doing the 50k. Her brother is also running the race but she considered him the real runner (she ended up being 3rd place female). Juliene is also from NY - from Peekskill, NY and also a marathon maniac. She’s primarily a marathoner but has done the finger lakes 50 before. I think the company really helped me stay strong. I struggled on the fourth loop and we got passed by Lindsay. Juliene and I ran up to the last 2 miles together where I was able to pick it up slightly. I was a bit sad to lose her but we were close to finishing so I wasn’t too worried about her.
There isn’t much to say about the loop, it’s forested and exactly what the description says. It’s a singletrack that winds a lot so that makes it a bit more difficult but by the 4th and 5th loop, you’re an expert of the trail. Like I said earlier, you could start to visualize points instead of mileage so that helps you continue mentally. I finished in 5:45:47, an 11:06 pace and a massive PR in the 50k distance. A lot of the assist in this was due to running with people! Afterwards I hung out and cheered for a bit. They had vegan pizza which was so great. I took a picture with Juliene and just relaxed. Then there was some light rain and I went back to the car. I should have rested some more but I decided to start driving back. I had some sleepy miles on the wheel that wasn't smart. Eventually I stopped at a scenic point and took a quick nap.
This race gave me a strong confidence boost towards UTMB. Success seems to be on the horizon!
Sunday, June 9, 2019
The road to UTMB - Chapter 3 - Eagleman 70.3
Eagleman 70.3 was my third go at the Half Ironman distance and a buildup race to Lake Placid Ironman. The idea of doing it came from David. David DNF the swim course of the Syracuse 70.3 and signed up for Eagleman afterwards. I borrowed David’s swimsuit for my second go at Lake Placid 70.3 where I finally got through the swim and finished the race getting my first half ironman finish. When returning was when I first learned of the race. I told Jessica who has been interested in doing a half ironman and then my triathlon friends. Slowly there ended up being a group of six of going, five of us from the Queens Distance Runners team!
Five of us, Cathy, David, Matt, Yin, and I, along with Cathy’s boyfriend David rented a cottage about 20ish minutes from the race. I picked David and Matt up and used the bike rack I got from a friend Omar. It was only my second time using the bike rack and I needed some help from David in setting it up. It actually is pretty simple but it’s a bit nerve racking watching your bike hit bumps on the rear view mirror. We stopped by a dinner on our drive down Only problem with random dinners is the difficulty in getting vegan food without asking for modifications but I think I was okay with the food. We only stayed for one night so leaving NYC Saturday morning, bib pickup and bike drop and then racing Sunday.
We found street parking close to the Great Salt marshes easy enough and simply cycled the two blocks or so into the race village. We got our bibs which took quite a while to pick up. My previous two pickups at Lake Placid have been quick and smooth. I learned that the swim course had been moved to another side due to the water being too choppy. As soon as I heard this, I started thinking that the swim may be cancelled. I hadn’t prepared at all for the half ironman and the swim has always scared me. Sure I was still running and I tried jamming in a few bikes rides the week before but it was the swim that I was most worried about. Cathy and the others caught up and we attended orientation together. We learned that the swim course was supposedly in shallow water which was a big relief. It also led to quite a few jokes about our swim strategy. Cathy and Yin decided to swim a bit. I wanted to swim, however I also wanted to just relax for the race. Can’t cramp anything in at this point so I chose not to swim. My car, David, Matt and I were starving so we ate a Mexican place. I wanted to get this potato dish but the cheese was already mixed in it so I got it with avocado and black beans instead. How I wish there were easier vegan options. Then some grocery shopping and onwards to the cottage. The other group had already got in and were now leaving to get groceries and eat dinner. I thought of joining them for ice cream afters, a place had sorbet options, but I wanted to focus on relaxing and not doing too much do declined.
Race day came and the first thing we were relieved to see was that the race was wetsuit legal. Two days before the water temperature was too high and yesterday the water temperature was just barely below. A little bit after, just as I was about to start putting my wetsuit on, it was announced that the swim was cancelled due to safety boats not being able to be on the course. I jumped up for joy! The swim was freaking me out that morning. Then came the long wait to start the bike course. The atmosphere of the race became more chill. I met another man from Queens, Christian who was a strong swimmer and obvious disappointed. I hung out here and there with my friends trying to kill the time. Eventually we were off and boy did the bike start off fast. I made it to 18-19 miles an hour which was fast for me but I thought I could hold it since it was a flat course. I was still easily getting passed. About 20 miles in I started feeling pain from the bike seat rubbing against my skin. I have always used bike shorts but I forgot them and was using a tri suit that was a bit too small for me. It probably didn’t provide enough padding, also my seat was a bit in an angle sit it dropped a year ago. I was using my road bike instead of my tri bike so I didn’t really spend time trying to fix it since I was doing tris and all. In short, just unprepared. Eventually the pain became so great that I had to start taking breaks after 25ish miles. I would have to stop pedaling and stand on the seat for a bit. Around mile 33ish I found a position where the pain was bearable. I still had a slow 8 miles. I slowed down a lot and the race was essentially over me. I finished the bike ride but already knowing I performed badly I did an easy 2 hour half marathon. I mostly passed older racers at this point. Not a great race on my part but it fired me up and got me to start considering serious training for the full Ironman at Lake Placid.
I was the second last of my friends to finish. I was able to eat a bit and drop some things and watch the last of us come in to the finish. We decided to do a celebratory some time later. Our car ate with Jessica and her boyfriend. I had some eggplant pasta dish, pretty sure it wasn’t vegan but I tend to be more vegetarian after races. The post food options for the half ironmans are always pretty disappointing (especially when you compare them to some of the trail races I have been to). David was really looking forward to getting a cinnabon on the drive back but they were all closed by the time we got north enough to the NJ rest areas.
If it was just the race itself, I would say it was a bad experience but having friends to drive around with and hang out before and after made the trip a good one. Grateful to have other crazies in my life!
Five of us, Cathy, David, Matt, Yin, and I, along with Cathy’s boyfriend David rented a cottage about 20ish minutes from the race. I picked David and Matt up and used the bike rack I got from a friend Omar. It was only my second time using the bike rack and I needed some help from David in setting it up. It actually is pretty simple but it’s a bit nerve racking watching your bike hit bumps on the rear view mirror. We stopped by a dinner on our drive down Only problem with random dinners is the difficulty in getting vegan food without asking for modifications but I think I was okay with the food. We only stayed for one night so leaving NYC Saturday morning, bib pickup and bike drop and then racing Sunday.
We found street parking close to the Great Salt marshes easy enough and simply cycled the two blocks or so into the race village. We got our bibs which took quite a while to pick up. My previous two pickups at Lake Placid have been quick and smooth. I learned that the swim course had been moved to another side due to the water being too choppy. As soon as I heard this, I started thinking that the swim may be cancelled. I hadn’t prepared at all for the half ironman and the swim has always scared me. Sure I was still running and I tried jamming in a few bikes rides the week before but it was the swim that I was most worried about. Cathy and the others caught up and we attended orientation together. We learned that the swim course was supposedly in shallow water which was a big relief. It also led to quite a few jokes about our swim strategy. Cathy and Yin decided to swim a bit. I wanted to swim, however I also wanted to just relax for the race. Can’t cramp anything in at this point so I chose not to swim. My car, David, Matt and I were starving so we ate a Mexican place. I wanted to get this potato dish but the cheese was already mixed in it so I got it with avocado and black beans instead. How I wish there were easier vegan options. Then some grocery shopping and onwards to the cottage. The other group had already got in and were now leaving to get groceries and eat dinner. I thought of joining them for ice cream afters, a place had sorbet options, but I wanted to focus on relaxing and not doing too much do declined.
Race day came and the first thing we were relieved to see was that the race was wetsuit legal. Two days before the water temperature was too high and yesterday the water temperature was just barely below. A little bit after, just as I was about to start putting my wetsuit on, it was announced that the swim was cancelled due to safety boats not being able to be on the course. I jumped up for joy! The swim was freaking me out that morning. Then came the long wait to start the bike course. The atmosphere of the race became more chill. I met another man from Queens, Christian who was a strong swimmer and obvious disappointed. I hung out here and there with my friends trying to kill the time. Eventually we were off and boy did the bike start off fast. I made it to 18-19 miles an hour which was fast for me but I thought I could hold it since it was a flat course. I was still easily getting passed. About 20 miles in I started feeling pain from the bike seat rubbing against my skin. I have always used bike shorts but I forgot them and was using a tri suit that was a bit too small for me. It probably didn’t provide enough padding, also my seat was a bit in an angle sit it dropped a year ago. I was using my road bike instead of my tri bike so I didn’t really spend time trying to fix it since I was doing tris and all. In short, just unprepared. Eventually the pain became so great that I had to start taking breaks after 25ish miles. I would have to stop pedaling and stand on the seat for a bit. Around mile 33ish I found a position where the pain was bearable. I still had a slow 8 miles. I slowed down a lot and the race was essentially over me. I finished the bike ride but already knowing I performed badly I did an easy 2 hour half marathon. I mostly passed older racers at this point. Not a great race on my part but it fired me up and got me to start considering serious training for the full Ironman at Lake Placid.
I was the second last of my friends to finish. I was able to eat a bit and drop some things and watch the last of us come in to the finish. We decided to do a celebratory some time later. Our car ate with Jessica and her boyfriend. I had some eggplant pasta dish, pretty sure it wasn’t vegan but I tend to be more vegetarian after races. The post food options for the half ironmans are always pretty disappointing (especially when you compare them to some of the trail races I have been to). David was really looking forward to getting a cinnabon on the drive back but they were all closed by the time we got north enough to the NJ rest areas.
If it was just the race itself, I would say it was a bad experience but having friends to drive around with and hang out before and after made the trip a good one. Grateful to have other crazies in my life!
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
The road to UTMB - Chapter 2 - North Face NY 2019
The North Face Bear
Mountain 50 miler is my eighth or ninth 50 miler, depending on if you count the
54 miler Maintou’s Revenge as a 50. This race was my first 50 miler
4 years ago. Back then, I went into races without training - I
easily got away with finishing marathons (at a slow 5 hours+) without worry of
DNF. Here I found myself chasing cutoffs
from around mile 20. I really didn’t think I would make it past the
first hard cut at mile 29. I was somewhat content with that, at
least I would have gotten a marathon in. I got a second wind and
made that cutoff with 10 minutes to spare. I saw the despair of the
back of the pack in ultras. People mentally
broken, struggling to move their bodies.
It’s a lot different than my experiences at road marathons. There, even the back of the pack is
cheerful. Here is looked more like
people trying to survive. I struggled
through to the next aid station where I got revived just in time from the
encouragement of the volunteers. I ran the rest of the race hard,
making it through the 41 mile hard cut off with 2 minutes to spare and the
final 14 hour cutoff with 4 minutes. The race taught me about low
points (“the wall”) that everyone experiences at marathons but it also taught
me about the high point that comes shortly after. I ran the 50k
version of the race in 2016 and the memories of the volunteers that cheered for
me rang strong in my head. I skipped 2017 and in 2018 I volunteered
at an aid station, I made a special point to try to encourage the back of the
packers and afterwards caught up with some friends and cheered on till the last
finishers. The area is also the location of my first and second
hikes. The first of which I was fairly overweight and struggled
through the whole way. So I had a lot of emotional attachment to the
location and race which I thought would be advantageous to my performance, more
so than simply having knowledge of the course. With Lake Somona as
my long run 3 week before and feeling well recovered, I felt like I was in good
shape for the race. It rained all night the day before the race which
I knew would lead to many muddy spots. This
removed the stress of any time goals.
I decided to not to do the official shakeout run with Dean Karnazes the day before because it started at 7 am and I thought it better to sleep in a bit more two days before since I won’t get that chance the night before the race (race started at 5 am but the last shuttle to the start from the parking lot left at 4:15 am). I did a short shakeout during lunch as I ran to bib pickup and back. I opted to go to work, go home straight afterwards and then sleep early. I figured if I slept at 8 pm, I could get almost 6 hours of sleep before waking up, set my bag and then make it to the shuttle bus to the start. I ended up going to sleep at 8:40 and got about 5 hours of sleep.
Things in the morning were going well till I realized I didn’t wash my QDR singlet from the Leatherman’s loop six days ago. I had left it in a bag in my car and it had skipped my usual laundry run. I didn’t have another tried and true racing shirt or singlet so I quickly put it into the washer on quick wash mode and then got in the dryer for 10ish minutes. I decided to just go with it and hang it in the car. A few minutes later, in the car I decided I should just wear it and let my body heat dry it out. Another lesson! Always pack your things beforehand. Making things a bit more complicated was my strategy of carrying water and gels via three methods for the race. With two drops bag points that I would hit at miles 23, 29, and 41 (you do hit the first bag drop point at mile 4 but that’s really too soon for anything) I would use my Ultimate Direction North racing vest (with the GPS/cell phone cover removed) till mile 23. Then I would drop the vest into my drop bag, grab some gels and a 16 oz. hand bottle for the next 6 mile loop which ends back at the same mile 23 bag drop. Next I would drop the bottle and get the vest back for the next 12 miles. At mile 41 I would once again drop the vest and use my hip belt that carries a 16 oz. bottle on the back for the last 9 miles. Why a hip belt the last 9 miles? Well once of the ascents on the last 9 miles is technical enough to need my hand to go up so I wanted two hands for that. The hip belt gets put on like a pair of shorts so it would a bit uncomfortable to put on after 41 miles on the leg but I figured it’ll be worth having the hands free for that one section of the climb. Fog hit sections of the drive up limiting my vision to just about half a block ahead of me to causing the drive to be slightly more stressful than normal.
Made it at 3:53 to the Anthony Wayne parking lot and got a shuttle bus to Bear Mountain around 4 am. I pulled out my drop bag tabs and attached them during the ride. At Bear Mountain I continued setting my drop bags, I grabbed a three of the huckleberry favored gels and put them in the drop bag going to camp Lanowa (mile 23, 29). Next was a porter potty bathroom visit, then drop the other two bags (one was a change of clothes that stayed at the finish). I went to bathroom again, I think more so of nerves, nothing came out. I met Ami briefly who was also doing the 50 miler. Among the chatter of the people I noticed a few West Point students and Canadians. The announcer at the start said some deep things - how millennials of star dusk lead us to be here today at this point to accomplish our destinies. I was in wave 3 and the waves went off just a minute after each other so it was pretty quick start. Instead of the 7 am start in California, the 5 am start required the use of a headlamp for the first half hour or so.
I blew past this first aid station. Runners seemed to have crowded up here for some reason. The next part was a short technical single track where it would be difficult to pass people so I would think people would want to keep moving. You had the option of dropping off your headlamp at this aid station so maybe that’s what people did. I simply packed it into my vest, along with the Queens Marathon beanie. Other than those two, my pack only had gels and water. I did a training run 2 weeks before and I knew exactly how this section of trail curved and moved. This was a bit surprising to me, since trails in the same area kind do tend to look the same and I only been in this area a couple of times over the last few years. I moved well in this section and soon we popped into seven lakes drive and started a short road section south. I didn’t however move well on the road and many pasted me here. This not moving well on the road would be a constant theme of the day. We soon merged left into the silver mines ski trail where immediately we were greeted with mud. For the most part, I would go straight through the mud, knowing that there will be mud spots later on and I didn’t want to waste precious energy avoiding them now. I continued pacing myself, it had spread out quite nicely but no real groups yet. I continued my strategy of jogging the uphill’s but with more room I started running down hard. My quads didn’t get sore from 10,500 feet of loss that Lake Sonoma had so I wasn’t worried at all about them here (less than 7,000 feet of loss). Bear Mountain descends were steeper so you moved faster downhill with gravity’s help anyway so it made sense to not hold back. This was more to my liking, perhaps because it’s more familiar.
Learning from Lake Sonoma that a gel every 30 minutes wasn’t enough I decided to eat a gel every 25 minutes. I started off with 6 gels and would restock in the hammer gels the race provides. I would always leave an aid station with at least 4 gels on me. Unlike Lake Sonoma, aid stations here were more frequent, most were 4ish miles apart. As I passed by Silver Mine Lake I recalled looking at the lake for the first time 4 years ago. Back then, I saw pockets of steam rising from the lake. It was incredible beautify with the sun rising in the background. Today it was cloudy and I saw no such effect. The route climbs out of the ski trail to a single track climb. I hiked most of it up. It then descents quickly to the Silver Mine aid station at mile 8.7. I grabbed a few chips, ate a small piece of white potato and refilled my 8 oz. bottle with water (I carried a 16 oz. bottle and a 8 oz. bottle in the front of my vest with a backup 8 oz. in the back). I stuck to drinking only water the first 35 miles.
Steady
Out of the aid station, the trail starts fairly easy. Somehow, I still trip over a small rock on a turn which causes the runner in front of me to ask if I am okay. I reply that I’m grateful for the toe guards that trail shoes have. We soon merges with the long path and the trail gets technical. While there are no great mountain ascents, the trail is still fairly rocky. On a steep technical descent that a runner in front of me struggles with, I decide to pass her by going off to the side and end up slipping, landing on my butt. I get up immediately with no pain which helps relieve any fear I had of future descents (I know I can’t get hurt, even if I fall). I occasional hit rocks but the toe guards on my trail shoes protect my feet. Each hit though wakes me up and I start paying attention more. Groups start to form but I’m not interested. I don’t allow anyone to pace me. The ascents, descents, and the rock hopping of technical terrain makes it difficult to pace with effort levels. I often slowed down on the flat, non-rocky terrain to check myself and my effort level. During these straight stretches I often fall behind the group. Then over descents and technical terrain I easily catch up. It’s way too early to start attacking anything and I don’t want to make any extra effort to keep up with anyone. Eventually I end up leading the group.
We pass by beautiful
Lake Skannatati and the aid station there. At the aid station I ate more
potatoes and left a bit full. I didn’t want to take a gel while having a full
stomach so I skipped my next gel. As we move along, I notice the Times
Square rock and immediately recognize the area. I’m in one of my favorite
areas of Harriman state park! As we approach mile 20, I briefly talk with
another runner. He has done the race a few times and we talk about the
course and how most of the elevation gain is almost over with. We exit
onto a road and make our way to Camp Lanowa. On this road section to the
camp I easily get passed by the group. I catch up to a woman, Veronica
who is doing her first 50 miler. I told her I’m doing my 9th depending on
if you count a 54 miler. She immediately asked if it was Manotu’s Revenge
which surprised me. When I asked on what inspired her to do her first 50
miler she says she lives close by and wanted to show her 4 year son that mommy
could do fun things. I mentioned that I was feeling hungry and she offer
a gel but I declined. I wanted to stay faithful to my 25 minute
gel. I would learn from the race that my body is better able to process
the gels than real food. Gels simply made me feel like I had more energy
than real food and I don’t feel stuffed.
This sort of goes against the preference for real food ideals I
hold. I started feeling a side stich as I
got closer to the aid station and I figure it may have been because the running
vest was on too tight, limiting my breath.
Doesn’t matter as I was to switch to handheld soon.
At the aid station I stick to my strategy of switching water carrying methods to the handle held bottle. My bib number 10 gets me an upfront placement of my drop bag and I am able to get everything I need quickly (though I do see how having a crew could turn my 2 minutes at the aid station to 20-30 seconds). Despite having gels in the drop bag I grab a few from the aid station in case they run out on my return. The route goes on an uphill where a group of West Point College kids past me. I past Veronica as well. A man with an English accent catches up to me and I offer to let him pass. He declines saying we are going about the same speed. He asks about the flag on the back of my singlet and I replied that it was the flag of Queens County. He was happy to have learned something new on the trails. This reminded me of a 50 miler in Arizona where a man name Jeff taught me all the plants around while we ran together. The trail turns into a wide gravel fire tower roads. I yo-yo with a college age looking kid. Every time I passed him I would say the typical trail running encourage thing. “Good job”, “nice work”, etc. On the third one he thanked me and said I was helping him which made me feel good. On a flooded section, I dashed straight across while the English accent man goes to the side to avoid. He jokes about alligators in the swamp. I remark that I’m happy there were no rocks in it (looking at you Lake Sonoma). He soon passes me and catches up to another man. He probably started talking to him as the man looked like he was struggling and then all of a sudden got super powered when they started running together. I slowly fell behind them. This section is 6 miles long but the easy of the gravel trail makes it short time wise. Back on the road heading to back to Camp Lanowa I get passed by Veronica and the college age looking kid I was going back and forth with. I got my bib marked by a woman who recognized the singlet. She mentioned that she thinks her cousin was part of the team, Valerie Lores, to which I responded that yes, I know her!
Fire!
Back to the racing vest. In my rush in the morning I forgot to pack my anti-fatigue pills into my racing vest and had left them at this drop bag. I made sure to pick those up but I forgot to empty out the headlamp and my beanie from my vest. I loaded up on potatoes and once again felt full. I would skip my next two gels, opting to take the anti-fatigue pills instead. The North Face Endurance Challenge races allows pacers for their 50 milers. Pacers here are different than pacers in road races. A pacer in an ultra joins a specific runner in the latter part of their race. In this race, a pacer could join either at mile 29 and/or mile 41. So you could have one pacer run 12 miles with you, then have another run the last 9 with you, have one pacer run 21 miles with you or simply have a pacer run the last 9 miles with you. Veronica got her pacer and mentioned that her legs feel fine but she just went out too fast. They then charged on ahead. Pacers are definitely a huge advantage in races. The trail now went onto old fire roads. Wide but muddy at many spots. I tried catching up to Veronica and the group around her. I was starting to feel tired and would have liked to at least be around people. My shoelace got untied twice on my left foot and by the second time I went to fix it, I lost sight of everyone. Alone, the pain started creeping in but I welcomed it. I knew I would start hurting at mile 30 something. Learning to beat the pain is what I came for. I rallied in my mind thinking about it. I told myself that this is what I came for, that I today I say no to the god of death. The announcer words about this being my destiny rang in my head. I was able to keep my effort level high.
Soon I met another runner, Adam who grew up in Westchester and now resides in Manhattan. When I asked about what inspired him he said he heard about ultras back when he was in college and decided that he would do one day when he got older. He then turned thirty and decided it had to be soon. He did the Bear Mountain trail marathon 2 years ago, the 50k last year and is now the 50 miler. On a downhill I decide to go down fast and Adam gets stuck behind someone. On the following road section Adam catches up again. I feel that he could go faster but he decides to stick around and talk. It’s his first 50 and he is being cautious. I walk a bit and then use the cones marking the course as points to start jogging between. Back into the trails I continue talking with Adam, we talk about triathlons, my goal race of UTMB, the difficultly of training on trails in the city. I asked if he was part of any running club or team and he said he had odd hours making it difficult to run with others. I briefly talk about my 100 miler and he says he can’t imagine doing it but he likes the idea of doing a hundred. Talking makes the miles click away. On a descent I lose him a bit but I keep an eye out to see out hoping he catches up.
I make it to Tiorati aid station, here 4 years ago is where I got revived thanks to the encouragement of the volunteers. Back then, by the time I arrived they had ran out of water. A volunteer has some in his car and ran to get me some. There was no real food left, just cliff gels and I got my pack filled with ice while I waited for the water. I was advised not to drink too much and to book the next 10k to make the cutoff. They told me that I could make it and that I could even see the Pacquiao vs Mayflower fight later at night.
As I finish stocking up in the present, I see Adam pass by, not stopping at all. I pass a man with tattoos on both his arms. We been going back and forth for miles and we will continue for a quite few more. The trail is rolling hills and I make it to the next aid station, Owl Swamp. The aid station looks different but when I reached here 4 years ago, they were already packing. Back then, I asked how I was doing on time and the man looked at his watched and asked if I really wanted to know. The women tells me to run what’s runnable. I immediately start sprinting uphill before she yells out her statement. I realize that I should hike technical uphill, that being desperate doesn’t mean being stupid.
Past the aid station in the present, the trail goes uphill a bit and then has a long downhill descent. The downhill helps I gain momentum and I realize that I can’t stop, I have to keep using the momentum I am getting from the downhill. I ran through the muddy, swampy area harder than ever, passing many people. The trail merges with the 50k and marathon route. I thought merging with these runners would be a boost since I could say hi to more people but the ones I started catching were struggling, death walking marathoners. I try to say encouraging words but most don’t respond, clearly they are beyond their element. Near the end of the long descent is a short uphill and I complain to some 50k runners about it. I could see the Palisades Parkway on the side and I know I am close to Anthony Wayne parking lot. I’m close to the mile 41 aid station. I kept thinking in my head that even if I walk the last 7 miles it won’t be so bad. Here I was running strong to mile 41.
You can’t outrun death
At the aid station, I struggled a bit to find my drop bag, not as neatly organized as Camp Lanowa. Once found, I stick to my plan - drop the vest and put on my hip belt. I refueled my bottle with heed, stocked up on gel and ate some more potatoes. There is a road section, maybe a quarter mile long before it merges with a mountain bike trail. I’m very familiar with this area as I hiked and trained here quite a few times. However shortly after I leave the aid station, I find that I could barely move my legs. I can’t even walk at a normal pace. I’m shocked at the betrayal of my body. My mind quickly enters into a negative headspace. UTMB now seems impossible. I can’t even do 41 miles, how am I going to do one of the hardest 100 milers in the world? In Europe, with over 4x the elevation gain of this race? I decide that I should stick to marathons and 50ks; that I’ll quit after this. Anthony Wayne is the parking lot where I parked my car and I think of how great it would be if I could jump in my car and just sleep (I didn’t have my car keys however). I strongly thought about turning around and heading back to the aid station to DNF. I tell myself that I didn’t have anything left to prove, that I already did 50 miles plenty of times; that it would be okay to DNF. Even with those thoughts swarming in my head, I guess I was too stubborn, I continued forward. In my quarter mile zombie walk, 9 people walked pasted by. Three told me that I could comfortably hike the rest of the 9 miles and finish the race. Yea, that’s really what I want to hear.
When I finally made it to the trail, I slowly found some movement in my legs. Soon I am able to run downhill's and jog the flats. As I gained momentum I realize that my legs had gotten stiff; I had probably spent too much time at the last aid station standing around. With this knowledge I decided that I would keep moving the rest of the race. I hiked up the technical bald face climb, the same climb which lead to my decision of using the hip belt over another handheld. On the steep descent that followed I told a runner about how what I just learned…that continuing to move is critical at this stage. Soon I pasted by two Achilles guides guiding a runner for the 50k. One of the women recognized my QDR singlet and asked if I knew Kevin and Jeff Munoz to which I said yes. They were trying to get their runner to start running. I wished I could stayed a bit longer to chat but I knew I had to keep moving. I was trying to outrun the death of my legs. A little past I saw a ranger that was coming to help a blinder runner. I guess to help out the Achilles group. I didn’t realize at that point but running blind in this kind of terrain is simply amazing. I would imagine Rock the Ridge type of gravel road “trails” to be better suited. Perhaps even the Greenbelt 50k or the road 50k championships in Long Island. Pretty amazing. I soon pasted the runner with the arm tattoos, for like the fourth time. I also encouraged him to keep moving.
Home
At the next aid station I refilled my bottle with heed. I was slightly annoyed that I had to refill from the Gatorade jug instead of a gallon bottle which would have been faster. I was racing against my body’s clock. If I linger too long, I knew that my legs would get stiff again. 4 years ago I was here stuffing my face with M&Ms and taking my time through the aid station. A volunteer advised me to not spend too much time. I didn’t understand at first but shortly after I learned why. My legs stiffen up back then as well and it took quite a while to get them back.
Now here I was, refilled my bottle while doing toe ups, toe taps to keep my legs moving. I rushed out of the aid station and almost forgot to thank the volunteers. As I moved on, I started hitting an emotional high. It was probably the strongest feeling I had during a run in a long time. The pain from my body simply disappeared. The stiffness, soreness, even mental tiredness of being awake since 1:40 am slowly faded gone. All doubt disappeared too. There simply wasn’t any room for anything but running now. The trigger felt like it was purely emotional. I held back tears. I hit many highs after low points over the years but this felt completely new. With my refreshed body I started running like the race just started. To sort of explain how strong this state was, I caught up to and passed people at miles 46-49 that passed me at mile 30.
I met a man, one of whom tried to encourage me on back when I was zombie walking. He commented that I got a second wind and I joked that I was back from the dead. I then proceed to run the steep and long uphill up Timp’s pass. The descent was very rocky and I was slightly upset that I couldn’t take full advantage of the downhills as I had to careful with my steps. A runner commented that she would rather go up that rocky section seven times than descend it. As I continued along on single track, some people had to step off the trail to let me pass. I cried at the realization of how painful it must be to stop your momentum, even if you are just walking, to let me pass. I started breathing harder, maybe going more into animal mode but after a mile or so I calmed down. The pain never returned. I caught up to a man I haven’t seen since mile 20. He commented that this was his 5th Bear Mountain and he keeps coming back to it despite all the pain he feels now. He also had a high a little bit ago but it weaned out. He was running strong and we ran side to side. Eventually He went over to the side when the trail narrowed to allow me to past. I wasn’t planning on speeding up but I decided to not waste his efforts to allow me to past. I ran faster. He encouraged me to continue to ride the unicorn. I caught up to Veronica and her pacer, still going strong and told her she was killing it. Like the first aid station of the race, I blew through the last one. I immediately thanked the volunteers as I went through. I past a bunch others from shorter distances and I tried to encourage them. They said positive things to me as well. I knew I was home and that spurned me on.
Out of the underpass tunnel back to Bear Mountain, two women encouraged me on, yelling QDR. I was only able to read the word “trail” on their gray shirts. Heading towards the finish I got slightly confused on where to go. A women running in front of me made a right and left and I followed. Without her, I was ready to run straight through the parking lot to the finish. (This being said, the race is super well marked and organized, they definitely went all out to make sure you don’t get lost). I managed a final sprint to the finish, around 7:20 minutes a mile pace.
After finishing I saw the runner in front of me use a hand sanitizer which I used as well. Pretty cool that they had it, they also had sun screen and breakfast at the morning, definitely a step above many other races. I grabbed two of my drop bags - the finish line one and the Camp Lawona bag. My Anthony Wayne’s bag did not come in yet. I proceed then to get hammer recovery drink and food. Sadly the only vegetarian option was pasta salad so I got a whole plate of pasta salad with a sprite can. I then sat on a table and slowly started eating. Despite surviving mostly on gels the whole day I didn’t have much of an appetite. I knew food was important however. I talked at the table with a bunch of other finishers. A man talked about the Spartan Ultra beast in Killington being harder despite being 20 miles shorter. Two men, when I mentioned I will be doing UTMB, spoke of the beauty of Chaminix (France, where the race starts and ends). I met a runner from Brooklyn, Nate and we talked quite a bit about triathlons as a gateway drug to ultras, his Bigfoot 200 race coming up and my UTMB race. He is running the Vermont 100 next to continue his build up. I confessed that I been looking at the 200s for quite some time but been too chicken to pull the trigger. Ami soon found me and told me she DNF at mile 35. She couldn’t run anymore and didn’t want to hike the remaining 15 miles. Having DNFed 3 ultras in a row 3 years ago I tried to optimistic about it and told her not to doubt her decision in the future. Nate got joined by his group, a Japanese runner from Harlem and another runner, John, who volunteered as a sweep. I didn’t notice it before but it seems that there are quite a lot of Filipinos in ultras (at least in NY).
In the shuttle bus back I talked with a man from Westchester. He was also doing the Vermont 100 and was impressed that I was doing UTMB. He joked about me taking on Killian to which I replied I’ll bring some bees. We talked a bit about training spots in Westchester - Rockefeller State Park was his favorite. I dropped Ami off in Astoria which was nice since I got someone to talk to on the drive back.
Despite the finishing times of Lake Sonoma and Bear Mountain being quite close, the race experiences were polar opposites. With no out and backs in the course in Bear Mountain I didn’t see any of the front pack. While I always enjoy company, I stuck to my own pace, dictated by my effort level. With better pacing I was able to avoid bonking till mile 41 versus the mile 13 at Sonoma. When that low point finally did hit me though, it hit a lot harder than any of my low points in California. In return, my high was so much stronger and I felt like I finished stronger than 3 weeks ago (it’s hard to compare times between trail races since terrain is a major impact on time). I was able to talk with more people, both during and after the race in New York than California. While the calves did hurt at points during beginning parts of the race, it was the quads that got trashed this time around. Perhaps my calves are finally getting use to zero drop shoes? Or perhaps this indicates the amount of elevation loss is not the only factor to quad soreness, terrain and speed might have been a more important variables. Or perhaps all the hops and jumps that technical terrain demands does a number on the quads as well?
UTMB, my goal race of the year, seems more daunting for me than ever before though. A little more than 3 months to try to change that.
I decided to not to do the official shakeout run with Dean Karnazes the day before because it started at 7 am and I thought it better to sleep in a bit more two days before since I won’t get that chance the night before the race (race started at 5 am but the last shuttle to the start from the parking lot left at 4:15 am). I did a short shakeout during lunch as I ran to bib pickup and back. I opted to go to work, go home straight afterwards and then sleep early. I figured if I slept at 8 pm, I could get almost 6 hours of sleep before waking up, set my bag and then make it to the shuttle bus to the start. I ended up going to sleep at 8:40 and got about 5 hours of sleep.
Things in the morning were going well till I realized I didn’t wash my QDR singlet from the Leatherman’s loop six days ago. I had left it in a bag in my car and it had skipped my usual laundry run. I didn’t have another tried and true racing shirt or singlet so I quickly put it into the washer on quick wash mode and then got in the dryer for 10ish minutes. I decided to just go with it and hang it in the car. A few minutes later, in the car I decided I should just wear it and let my body heat dry it out. Another lesson! Always pack your things beforehand. Making things a bit more complicated was my strategy of carrying water and gels via three methods for the race. With two drops bag points that I would hit at miles 23, 29, and 41 (you do hit the first bag drop point at mile 4 but that’s really too soon for anything) I would use my Ultimate Direction North racing vest (with the GPS/cell phone cover removed) till mile 23. Then I would drop the vest into my drop bag, grab some gels and a 16 oz. hand bottle for the next 6 mile loop which ends back at the same mile 23 bag drop. Next I would drop the bottle and get the vest back for the next 12 miles. At mile 41 I would once again drop the vest and use my hip belt that carries a 16 oz. bottle on the back for the last 9 miles. Why a hip belt the last 9 miles? Well once of the ascents on the last 9 miles is technical enough to need my hand to go up so I wanted two hands for that. The hip belt gets put on like a pair of shorts so it would a bit uncomfortable to put on after 41 miles on the leg but I figured it’ll be worth having the hands free for that one section of the climb. Fog hit sections of the drive up limiting my vision to just about half a block ahead of me to causing the drive to be slightly more stressful than normal.
Made it at 3:53 to the Anthony Wayne parking lot and got a shuttle bus to Bear Mountain around 4 am. I pulled out my drop bag tabs and attached them during the ride. At Bear Mountain I continued setting my drop bags, I grabbed a three of the huckleberry favored gels and put them in the drop bag going to camp Lanowa (mile 23, 29). Next was a porter potty bathroom visit, then drop the other two bags (one was a change of clothes that stayed at the finish). I went to bathroom again, I think more so of nerves, nothing came out. I met Ami briefly who was also doing the 50 miler. Among the chatter of the people I noticed a few West Point students and Canadians. The announcer at the start said some deep things - how millennials of star dusk lead us to be here today at this point to accomplish our destinies. I was in wave 3 and the waves went off just a minute after each other so it was pretty quick start. Instead of the 7 am start in California, the 5 am start required the use of a headlamp for the first half hour or so.
Hold
Knowing I went
out too fast in Lake Sonoma I decided to start off slower this
time. With 3 miles of gradual uphill right away, I didn’t set a pace
goal but rather went with effort level. Placement going into single
track is usually important in trail races but I did a preview of the first 7.5
miles a week after Sonoma where I decided I should make a move on the road
portion of seven lakes drive and along the preceding wide ski trail 6 miles in
if I still felt like I was moving too slow. The race quickly got
congested and I was aghast that people were trying to avoid mud. It’s
spring in NY, there’s going to be mud. I ended up walking a bit more
than I wanted to due to the congestion. Perhaps I should have tried
to out faster? Still had plenty of miles
for placement though. Ami who started a
wave behind me caught up for a brief moment and then lost her. She
did a 20 mile run two weeks ago at a good pace so I thought she would probably
pass me at some point. She was probably being extra cautious, it
being her first 50 miler and all. I
started out with my Queen’s marathon beanie but it soon got too hot so I
removed it. The headlamp on my bare forehead didn’t feel as
comfortable but I knew it was only for a few minutes longer. I
continued up conga line till the first aid station at Anthony
Wayne. I blew past this first aid station. Runners seemed to have crowded up here for some reason. The next part was a short technical single track where it would be difficult to pass people so I would think people would want to keep moving. You had the option of dropping off your headlamp at this aid station so maybe that’s what people did. I simply packed it into my vest, along with the Queens Marathon beanie. Other than those two, my pack only had gels and water. I did a training run 2 weeks before and I knew exactly how this section of trail curved and moved. This was a bit surprising to me, since trails in the same area kind do tend to look the same and I only been in this area a couple of times over the last few years. I moved well in this section and soon we popped into seven lakes drive and started a short road section south. I didn’t however move well on the road and many pasted me here. This not moving well on the road would be a constant theme of the day. We soon merged left into the silver mines ski trail where immediately we were greeted with mud. For the most part, I would go straight through the mud, knowing that there will be mud spots later on and I didn’t want to waste precious energy avoiding them now. I continued pacing myself, it had spread out quite nicely but no real groups yet. I continued my strategy of jogging the uphill’s but with more room I started running down hard. My quads didn’t get sore from 10,500 feet of loss that Lake Sonoma had so I wasn’t worried at all about them here (less than 7,000 feet of loss). Bear Mountain descends were steeper so you moved faster downhill with gravity’s help anyway so it made sense to not hold back. This was more to my liking, perhaps because it’s more familiar.
Learning from Lake Sonoma that a gel every 30 minutes wasn’t enough I decided to eat a gel every 25 minutes. I started off with 6 gels and would restock in the hammer gels the race provides. I would always leave an aid station with at least 4 gels on me. Unlike Lake Sonoma, aid stations here were more frequent, most were 4ish miles apart. As I passed by Silver Mine Lake I recalled looking at the lake for the first time 4 years ago. Back then, I saw pockets of steam rising from the lake. It was incredible beautify with the sun rising in the background. Today it was cloudy and I saw no such effect. The route climbs out of the ski trail to a single track climb. I hiked most of it up. It then descents quickly to the Silver Mine aid station at mile 8.7. I grabbed a few chips, ate a small piece of white potato and refilled my 8 oz. bottle with water (I carried a 16 oz. bottle and a 8 oz. bottle in the front of my vest with a backup 8 oz. in the back). I stuck to drinking only water the first 35 miles.
Steady
Out of the aid station, the trail starts fairly easy. Somehow, I still trip over a small rock on a turn which causes the runner in front of me to ask if I am okay. I reply that I’m grateful for the toe guards that trail shoes have. We soon merges with the long path and the trail gets technical. While there are no great mountain ascents, the trail is still fairly rocky. On a steep technical descent that a runner in front of me struggles with, I decide to pass her by going off to the side and end up slipping, landing on my butt. I get up immediately with no pain which helps relieve any fear I had of future descents (I know I can’t get hurt, even if I fall). I occasional hit rocks but the toe guards on my trail shoes protect my feet. Each hit though wakes me up and I start paying attention more. Groups start to form but I’m not interested. I don’t allow anyone to pace me. The ascents, descents, and the rock hopping of technical terrain makes it difficult to pace with effort levels. I often slowed down on the flat, non-rocky terrain to check myself and my effort level. During these straight stretches I often fall behind the group. Then over descents and technical terrain I easily catch up. It’s way too early to start attacking anything and I don’t want to make any extra effort to keep up with anyone. Eventually I end up leading the group.
At the aid station I stick to my strategy of switching water carrying methods to the handle held bottle. My bib number 10 gets me an upfront placement of my drop bag and I am able to get everything I need quickly (though I do see how having a crew could turn my 2 minutes at the aid station to 20-30 seconds). Despite having gels in the drop bag I grab a few from the aid station in case they run out on my return. The route goes on an uphill where a group of West Point College kids past me. I past Veronica as well. A man with an English accent catches up to me and I offer to let him pass. He declines saying we are going about the same speed. He asks about the flag on the back of my singlet and I replied that it was the flag of Queens County. He was happy to have learned something new on the trails. This reminded me of a 50 miler in Arizona where a man name Jeff taught me all the plants around while we ran together. The trail turns into a wide gravel fire tower roads. I yo-yo with a college age looking kid. Every time I passed him I would say the typical trail running encourage thing. “Good job”, “nice work”, etc. On the third one he thanked me and said I was helping him which made me feel good. On a flooded section, I dashed straight across while the English accent man goes to the side to avoid. He jokes about alligators in the swamp. I remark that I’m happy there were no rocks in it (looking at you Lake Sonoma). He soon passes me and catches up to another man. He probably started talking to him as the man looked like he was struggling and then all of a sudden got super powered when they started running together. I slowly fell behind them. This section is 6 miles long but the easy of the gravel trail makes it short time wise. Back on the road heading to back to Camp Lanowa I get passed by Veronica and the college age looking kid I was going back and forth with. I got my bib marked by a woman who recognized the singlet. She mentioned that she thinks her cousin was part of the team, Valerie Lores, to which I responded that yes, I know her!
Fire!
Back to the racing vest. In my rush in the morning I forgot to pack my anti-fatigue pills into my racing vest and had left them at this drop bag. I made sure to pick those up but I forgot to empty out the headlamp and my beanie from my vest. I loaded up on potatoes and once again felt full. I would skip my next two gels, opting to take the anti-fatigue pills instead. The North Face Endurance Challenge races allows pacers for their 50 milers. Pacers here are different than pacers in road races. A pacer in an ultra joins a specific runner in the latter part of their race. In this race, a pacer could join either at mile 29 and/or mile 41. So you could have one pacer run 12 miles with you, then have another run the last 9 with you, have one pacer run 21 miles with you or simply have a pacer run the last 9 miles with you. Veronica got her pacer and mentioned that her legs feel fine but she just went out too fast. They then charged on ahead. Pacers are definitely a huge advantage in races. The trail now went onto old fire roads. Wide but muddy at many spots. I tried catching up to Veronica and the group around her. I was starting to feel tired and would have liked to at least be around people. My shoelace got untied twice on my left foot and by the second time I went to fix it, I lost sight of everyone. Alone, the pain started creeping in but I welcomed it. I knew I would start hurting at mile 30 something. Learning to beat the pain is what I came for. I rallied in my mind thinking about it. I told myself that this is what I came for, that I today I say no to the god of death. The announcer words about this being my destiny rang in my head. I was able to keep my effort level high.
Soon I met another runner, Adam who grew up in Westchester and now resides in Manhattan. When I asked about what inspired him he said he heard about ultras back when he was in college and decided that he would do one day when he got older. He then turned thirty and decided it had to be soon. He did the Bear Mountain trail marathon 2 years ago, the 50k last year and is now the 50 miler. On a downhill I decide to go down fast and Adam gets stuck behind someone. On the following road section Adam catches up again. I feel that he could go faster but he decides to stick around and talk. It’s his first 50 and he is being cautious. I walk a bit and then use the cones marking the course as points to start jogging between. Back into the trails I continue talking with Adam, we talk about triathlons, my goal race of UTMB, the difficultly of training on trails in the city. I asked if he was part of any running club or team and he said he had odd hours making it difficult to run with others. I briefly talk about my 100 miler and he says he can’t imagine doing it but he likes the idea of doing a hundred. Talking makes the miles click away. On a descent I lose him a bit but I keep an eye out to see out hoping he catches up.
I make it to Tiorati aid station, here 4 years ago is where I got revived thanks to the encouragement of the volunteers. Back then, by the time I arrived they had ran out of water. A volunteer has some in his car and ran to get me some. There was no real food left, just cliff gels and I got my pack filled with ice while I waited for the water. I was advised not to drink too much and to book the next 10k to make the cutoff. They told me that I could make it and that I could even see the Pacquiao vs Mayflower fight later at night.
As I finish stocking up in the present, I see Adam pass by, not stopping at all. I pass a man with tattoos on both his arms. We been going back and forth for miles and we will continue for a quite few more. The trail is rolling hills and I make it to the next aid station, Owl Swamp. The aid station looks different but when I reached here 4 years ago, they were already packing. Back then, I asked how I was doing on time and the man looked at his watched and asked if I really wanted to know. The women tells me to run what’s runnable. I immediately start sprinting uphill before she yells out her statement. I realize that I should hike technical uphill, that being desperate doesn’t mean being stupid.
Past the aid station in the present, the trail goes uphill a bit and then has a long downhill descent. The downhill helps I gain momentum and I realize that I can’t stop, I have to keep using the momentum I am getting from the downhill. I ran through the muddy, swampy area harder than ever, passing many people. The trail merges with the 50k and marathon route. I thought merging with these runners would be a boost since I could say hi to more people but the ones I started catching were struggling, death walking marathoners. I try to say encouraging words but most don’t respond, clearly they are beyond their element. Near the end of the long descent is a short uphill and I complain to some 50k runners about it. I could see the Palisades Parkway on the side and I know I am close to Anthony Wayne parking lot. I’m close to the mile 41 aid station. I kept thinking in my head that even if I walk the last 7 miles it won’t be so bad. Here I was running strong to mile 41.
You can’t outrun death
At the aid station, I struggled a bit to find my drop bag, not as neatly organized as Camp Lanowa. Once found, I stick to my plan - drop the vest and put on my hip belt. I refueled my bottle with heed, stocked up on gel and ate some more potatoes. There is a road section, maybe a quarter mile long before it merges with a mountain bike trail. I’m very familiar with this area as I hiked and trained here quite a few times. However shortly after I leave the aid station, I find that I could barely move my legs. I can’t even walk at a normal pace. I’m shocked at the betrayal of my body. My mind quickly enters into a negative headspace. UTMB now seems impossible. I can’t even do 41 miles, how am I going to do one of the hardest 100 milers in the world? In Europe, with over 4x the elevation gain of this race? I decide that I should stick to marathons and 50ks; that I’ll quit after this. Anthony Wayne is the parking lot where I parked my car and I think of how great it would be if I could jump in my car and just sleep (I didn’t have my car keys however). I strongly thought about turning around and heading back to the aid station to DNF. I tell myself that I didn’t have anything left to prove, that I already did 50 miles plenty of times; that it would be okay to DNF. Even with those thoughts swarming in my head, I guess I was too stubborn, I continued forward. In my quarter mile zombie walk, 9 people walked pasted by. Three told me that I could comfortably hike the rest of the 9 miles and finish the race. Yea, that’s really what I want to hear.
When I finally made it to the trail, I slowly found some movement in my legs. Soon I am able to run downhill's and jog the flats. As I gained momentum I realize that my legs had gotten stiff; I had probably spent too much time at the last aid station standing around. With this knowledge I decided that I would keep moving the rest of the race. I hiked up the technical bald face climb, the same climb which lead to my decision of using the hip belt over another handheld. On the steep descent that followed I told a runner about how what I just learned…that continuing to move is critical at this stage. Soon I pasted by two Achilles guides guiding a runner for the 50k. One of the women recognized my QDR singlet and asked if I knew Kevin and Jeff Munoz to which I said yes. They were trying to get their runner to start running. I wished I could stayed a bit longer to chat but I knew I had to keep moving. I was trying to outrun the death of my legs. A little past I saw a ranger that was coming to help a blinder runner. I guess to help out the Achilles group. I didn’t realize at that point but running blind in this kind of terrain is simply amazing. I would imagine Rock the Ridge type of gravel road “trails” to be better suited. Perhaps even the Greenbelt 50k or the road 50k championships in Long Island. Pretty amazing. I soon pasted the runner with the arm tattoos, for like the fourth time. I also encouraged him to keep moving.
At the next aid station I refilled my bottle with heed. I was slightly annoyed that I had to refill from the Gatorade jug instead of a gallon bottle which would have been faster. I was racing against my body’s clock. If I linger too long, I knew that my legs would get stiff again. 4 years ago I was here stuffing my face with M&Ms and taking my time through the aid station. A volunteer advised me to not spend too much time. I didn’t understand at first but shortly after I learned why. My legs stiffen up back then as well and it took quite a while to get them back.
Now here I was, refilled my bottle while doing toe ups, toe taps to keep my legs moving. I rushed out of the aid station and almost forgot to thank the volunteers. As I moved on, I started hitting an emotional high. It was probably the strongest feeling I had during a run in a long time. The pain from my body simply disappeared. The stiffness, soreness, even mental tiredness of being awake since 1:40 am slowly faded gone. All doubt disappeared too. There simply wasn’t any room for anything but running now. The trigger felt like it was purely emotional. I held back tears. I hit many highs after low points over the years but this felt completely new. With my refreshed body I started running like the race just started. To sort of explain how strong this state was, I caught up to and passed people at miles 46-49 that passed me at mile 30.
I met a man, one of whom tried to encourage me on back when I was zombie walking. He commented that I got a second wind and I joked that I was back from the dead. I then proceed to run the steep and long uphill up Timp’s pass. The descent was very rocky and I was slightly upset that I couldn’t take full advantage of the downhills as I had to careful with my steps. A runner commented that she would rather go up that rocky section seven times than descend it. As I continued along on single track, some people had to step off the trail to let me pass. I cried at the realization of how painful it must be to stop your momentum, even if you are just walking, to let me pass. I started breathing harder, maybe going more into animal mode but after a mile or so I calmed down. The pain never returned. I caught up to a man I haven’t seen since mile 20. He commented that this was his 5th Bear Mountain and he keeps coming back to it despite all the pain he feels now. He also had a high a little bit ago but it weaned out. He was running strong and we ran side to side. Eventually He went over to the side when the trail narrowed to allow me to past. I wasn’t planning on speeding up but I decided to not waste his efforts to allow me to past. I ran faster. He encouraged me to continue to ride the unicorn. I caught up to Veronica and her pacer, still going strong and told her she was killing it. Like the first aid station of the race, I blew through the last one. I immediately thanked the volunteers as I went through. I past a bunch others from shorter distances and I tried to encourage them. They said positive things to me as well. I knew I was home and that spurned me on.
Out of the underpass tunnel back to Bear Mountain, two women encouraged me on, yelling QDR. I was only able to read the word “trail” on their gray shirts. Heading towards the finish I got slightly confused on where to go. A women running in front of me made a right and left and I followed. Without her, I was ready to run straight through the parking lot to the finish. (This being said, the race is super well marked and organized, they definitely went all out to make sure you don’t get lost). I managed a final sprint to the finish, around 7:20 minutes a mile pace.
After finishing I saw the runner in front of me use a hand sanitizer which I used as well. Pretty cool that they had it, they also had sun screen and breakfast at the morning, definitely a step above many other races. I grabbed two of my drop bags - the finish line one and the Camp Lawona bag. My Anthony Wayne’s bag did not come in yet. I proceed then to get hammer recovery drink and food. Sadly the only vegetarian option was pasta salad so I got a whole plate of pasta salad with a sprite can. I then sat on a table and slowly started eating. Despite surviving mostly on gels the whole day I didn’t have much of an appetite. I knew food was important however. I talked at the table with a bunch of other finishers. A man talked about the Spartan Ultra beast in Killington being harder despite being 20 miles shorter. Two men, when I mentioned I will be doing UTMB, spoke of the beauty of Chaminix (France, where the race starts and ends). I met a runner from Brooklyn, Nate and we talked quite a bit about triathlons as a gateway drug to ultras, his Bigfoot 200 race coming up and my UTMB race. He is running the Vermont 100 next to continue his build up. I confessed that I been looking at the 200s for quite some time but been too chicken to pull the trigger. Ami soon found me and told me she DNF at mile 35. She couldn’t run anymore and didn’t want to hike the remaining 15 miles. Having DNFed 3 ultras in a row 3 years ago I tried to optimistic about it and told her not to doubt her decision in the future. Nate got joined by his group, a Japanese runner from Harlem and another runner, John, who volunteered as a sweep. I didn’t notice it before but it seems that there are quite a lot of Filipinos in ultras (at least in NY).
In the shuttle bus back I talked with a man from Westchester. He was also doing the Vermont 100 and was impressed that I was doing UTMB. He joked about me taking on Killian to which I replied I’ll bring some bees. We talked a bit about training spots in Westchester - Rockefeller State Park was his favorite. I dropped Ami off in Astoria which was nice since I got someone to talk to on the drive back.
Despite the finishing times of Lake Sonoma and Bear Mountain being quite close, the race experiences were polar opposites. With no out and backs in the course in Bear Mountain I didn’t see any of the front pack. While I always enjoy company, I stuck to my own pace, dictated by my effort level. With better pacing I was able to avoid bonking till mile 41 versus the mile 13 at Sonoma. When that low point finally did hit me though, it hit a lot harder than any of my low points in California. In return, my high was so much stronger and I felt like I finished stronger than 3 weeks ago (it’s hard to compare times between trail races since terrain is a major impact on time). I was able to talk with more people, both during and after the race in New York than California. While the calves did hurt at points during beginning parts of the race, it was the quads that got trashed this time around. Perhaps my calves are finally getting use to zero drop shoes? Or perhaps this indicates the amount of elevation loss is not the only factor to quad soreness, terrain and speed might have been a more important variables. Or perhaps all the hops and jumps that technical terrain demands does a number on the quads as well?
Perhaps the most
important lesson is that I really need to work on my mental game. I should know that low points come and go and
I should stay positive. I really let my
head go in a bad headspace, lucky I wasn’t around others. I heard that misery loves company and that
the negative headspace is contagious. I
need to devise ways to get through aid stations quicker and I’m going to have
to think hard about food. Could I
survive 100 miles on gels?
UTMB, my goal race of the year, seems more daunting for me than ever before though. A little more than 3 months to try to change that.
Thursday, April 18, 2019
The road to UTMB - Chapter 1 - Lake Sonoma 50
A goal: Sub 10 hours
B goal: Sub 11 hours C goal: Finish (sub 14 hours)
To put things into perspective of
the goal, I would say that the sub 10 effort on this course is equal to running
at 9:15ish pace on flats for 10 hours (at least for me).
Lake Sonoma is a competitive 50
miler and a Western States Golden ticket race. The top two Men and Women
get entry into Western States (a 100 miler whose usual route is via a lottery
with 2% chance of getting in). The course is an out and back on mostly
smooth single track trails. Despite the 10,500 feet of elevation gain,
it’s known for being a fast course, though it's said that nobody been able to
negative split the last 12 miles. The golden tickets attracts a lot
of elites to this race and it was my first time seeing so many. I probably
learned about the event through the ultra-runner podcast and joined the lottery
after North Face CA was cancelled (another competitive CA 50 miler).
The race was my first ultra of the
year and I decided to experiment with training. Instead of focusing on
the classic double long run, I focused on faster 10-14 mile runs. I spend
years running long distance events so the idea was that my body was already use
to the muscular demands of being on your feet for 10+ hours. Instead of
slow 20+ runs I would focus more on fitness by working on the mid distance -
10-14 mile running 7:30 pace or faster. I had a long string of races to
get me to that faster pace effort.
The day before
I decided to join the shakeout run held by the race organizers the day before. It was a 4 mile road run in the town of Healdsburg starting from Healdsburg Running Company. The route pass through some vineyards which was scenic but it was the yoga afterwards and the chance to talk to other runners that was attractive. Otherwise I would have probably done a 4-5 mile shakeout on the beginning/last miles of the race. I also was able to do packet pickup right when the running store opened. I forgot to pack nut butter, a higher calories food than gels but didn’t see any in the shop. At the shakeout, Salomon was doing shoe demos and I didn’t pack any road running shoes so I decided to try out their Sonic RA’s. The shoes felt normal so probably not something I would buy. The shakeout started off 9:15ish pace and progressed to 8:40ish. I fell behind a bit, keeping my pace to what was easy for me (9:20ish). Yoga was immediately after in the Coyote Sonoma. The restaurant had some nice open space in the front and yoga mats were already set up with some water. The yoga class was pretty good. Easier than a normal yoga class but enough to get some sort stretch. I did yoga the day before the SF marathon two years ago and found it useful. There was one move which enables you to put some body weight on your calves, it was like a foam roller for the calves that I think would be really useful when traveling.
I decided to join the shakeout run held by the race organizers the day before. It was a 4 mile road run in the town of Healdsburg starting from Healdsburg Running Company. The route pass through some vineyards which was scenic but it was the yoga afterwards and the chance to talk to other runners that was attractive. Otherwise I would have probably done a 4-5 mile shakeout on the beginning/last miles of the race. I also was able to do packet pickup right when the running store opened. I forgot to pack nut butter, a higher calories food than gels but didn’t see any in the shop. At the shakeout, Salomon was doing shoe demos and I didn’t pack any road running shoes so I decided to try out their Sonic RA’s. The shoes felt normal so probably not something I would buy. The shakeout started off 9:15ish pace and progressed to 8:40ish. I fell behind a bit, keeping my pace to what was easy for me (9:20ish). Yoga was immediately after in the Coyote Sonoma. The restaurant had some nice open space in the front and yoga mats were already set up with some water. The yoga class was pretty good. Easier than a normal yoga class but enough to get some sort stretch. I did yoga the day before the SF marathon two years ago and found it useful. There was one move which enables you to put some body weight on your calves, it was like a foam roller for the calves that I think would be really useful when traveling.
On the way back to the running store
I talked to another runner Amanda who was doing her second 50 miler. Originally
from VA she worked in CA now as a professional baker. At the stalls at
packet pickup I got a sample of squirrel nuts butter (chafing cream) and spun a
wheel at a bluff station to get a free bluff hat. This was probably the
most useful goodies ever as I planned to use both the next day. I chaffed
the last two races on the right nipple and I chaffed on the QDR easy run last
Monday in the same model of shorts I race in (the shorts might have been
slightly higher up than normal leaving some skin next to each other which I
could fix by keeping it at the normal location but not taking any chances,
cream everywhere). Some of the course was not shaded so I thought the hat
would be nice, plus in the many stream crossing of the race I could dip the hat
in the water to cool a bit. I also picked up cheap sunglasses from
Salomon station. Afterwards got lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant and
then drove to the Ranch at Lake Sonoma where the start is. The drive
over, you could see vineyards everywhere! At the start/finish location, I
met a volunteer who was setting up the finish line. He was from Hawaii
and also helps organize the HURT 100. He mentioned that they had a few NY
finishers. He suggested that I drive down the first 2.4 miles of the
course, the only part of the course that was on road, and see the turn into the
single track. Then he suggested that I go on marina road and see the
single road crossing at 50 miles, a quarter mile of the finish and
visualize. I did both and then headed to the hotel to check in and rest,
before heading out to eat dinner. I decided to stay in Santa Rosa instead
of Healdsburg, it was a 10 minute longer commute each way but saved over $50 a
day. I ate dinner at a vegan buffet style place, Gala’s Garden and went to
bed around 8:30. I laid everything I plan to use before going to sleep.
Race Morning!
I woke at 3:30. The race
started at 6:30 and I wanted to get breakfast in. I then set up a bit
more and took a 20 minute nap. I got a Yerba matte English mint can and
then proceeded to the race site. I got there about 5:45 which was a bit
later than I wanted. The parking lot was full so I had to do road side
parking. Making last minute adjustments to my drop bag and putting the
bib got me to the race around 6 am. I immediately went to a long porter
potty line. Took a little over 10 minutes. On the line, I overheard
a runner say that she’s from Midtown West (Manhattan). I then label my
drop bag, while I had the option of having two bags transported through the
course I decided to go with one at the halfway point. In that bag I had a
stick of gel and my anti fatigue capsules. A volunteer helped get my drop
bag at the right truck, spelling my name with a B.
My plan was to depend on mostly aid
stations for calories and hydration. My rabbit vert shorts comfortably
held 6 gels and still had one pocket for garbage gels. I also wore a
Nathan belt which held two longer science in sport gels and a 16 oz. water
bottle on the back. I also carried a 16 oz. bottle on one hand. I
was supposed to attach a collapsible cup to the belt but in my rush forgot to.
It was about 6:20 by the time I finished with the drop bags so I proceeded to
do a super quick warm up. Jogged a bit and did two strides at 7ish
minute pace. Got myself to the middle of the pack. In my rush I
didn’t switch my Garmin from road to trail run but I think that worked
out. My road setting had an alarm every 40 minutes to remind me to
eat. In my rushed state I only saw one elite - Camille who has set a
world record on the 100 mile distance. The race started promptly at 6:30.
The plan was to eat every 30
minutes. There was a water only station 4.5 miles in and then an aid
station with food 11.5 miles in. Thus I needed to carry enough gels to make it
that far with nutrition in point. The goal was to consume about 180-200
calories an hour and 8 ounces of water an hour. I wanted to finish the
first 25 miles of the race comfortably and then fight for my life the second
half.
Start - the magical miles
The race begun with the usual horn,
if there was a pre-race speech I completely missed it in my quick warm
up. I wanted to average an easy 9 minutes a mile doing the road
portion. I read a race recap from years ago where the guys going for a
top position went out sub 6 minutes. The first mile is rolling and I get
10 minutes, the second is downhill and I get 8:15. Good enough! The
course then goes to single track downhill and it harder to pace yourself as you
start flying.
The next 2.6 miles go by extremely
quick and I reflect on how lucky I am to be able to run this. Before I
knew it 5 miles had passed and now remember why I like trail running so
much. Road running is pretty much like being on a treadmill
comparably. I’m on the fast side for the downhills and jog the uphill.
I blast through the first water station at 4.5 miles having only drank about 4
ounces. The arches of my feet ache a bit but it soon disappears.
Possible because 25 miles on the superiors was not enough to break them
in. I past these two runners who are talking a lot and they soon catch me
on the next uphill. I feel like I’m holding back a lot on the following
downhill but I decided that it’s best to hold back and stick with them.
It’s only 7 miles in the race after all. I’m careful not to rush down the
downhills as I don’t want to blow the quads out. I been sick the last
week and a half and I feel some remains of a headache at mile 7. A group
forms, sometimes the leaders change between the two men that talk a lot and a
women with a pink vest, and we make our way to the first fully stocked aid
station.
No Such thing as a comfortable
marathon
I started to mentally struggle and
by mile 15 I felt like I’m in a bonk. I been sticking to the plan, a gel
every 30 minutes and an anti-fatigue capsule every 40 minutes. I decide
that I need more calories and I will eat a gel every 20 minutes instead.
I been feeling hot since 9 am so that might be contributing. I throw out
the idea of running a comfortable marathon, I already feel pretty tired.
It’s going to be a struggle to the end!
At the water station at mile 16.9, I
refill my handheld bottle with Gu brew and take another Gu gel. The Gu brew
taste like unsweetened ice tea which I love since the gels are sweet
enough. My body is reacting well to the gels and the next fully stocked
aid station is 1.9 miles away so I feel motivated to struggle along as I get to
stop again and eat in 20 something minutes. Another photographer is also
set up ha little past the water station. I find it difficult to look at
the photographer long enough to get a good picture and also look at ground long
enough to not trip. The equipment of the two photographers is much
fancier than what I am use to seeing in trail races (or even road races for
that matter).
I made it to the next aid station
and while looking around I notice something I never seen before. A Red
Bull. My first gel was caffeinated and I was planning to take another
caffeinated gel after 3 hours which I did but here was something with caffeine
and high calories. I chugged it down immediately. I also ate a few
chips and grabbed three more Gu gels.
The Climb
The next few 6 miles were almost all
uphill on a wide fire road type of trail. The men elites start blazing down on
their return from the turnaround point. In 3 hours, they had already
gotten 11 miles ahead of me! As I climbed uphill in a walk I said the
typical words of encouragement, “good job”, “nice work”. I passed a
couple people in the uphill but the no shade and heat made things a
struggle. A man in a green way too cool shirt walked with me. He
asked if it was my first Lake Sonoma to which I said yes and he said I was
doing pretty well. He pointed out Dakota Jones as he passed by. I
didn’t recognize him but definitely recognized the name. Dakota has won
the race twice before and is quoted as calling the course death by thousand
cuts. After a big climb, crew and speculators were set up encouraging us
forward. After the first few top runners past, the next ones were also
encouraging us as they passed by. 4 hours in I saw the elite women blaze
through. The top 4 were super close to each other, maybe two minutes
apart and they still had 20ish miles to go. The miles went by smoothly
with all the encouragement going around and then I hit single track which
immediately makes me feel better. Shortly after I make it to the
turnaround aid station. A volunteer quickly helps me refill both my
bottles. It’s clear on how quick he moves me long that he is an
experienced runner. I switch between Gu brew on my bottle and plain water
on my back pocket. I remove my bluff wrapped around my arm and put it in
my drop bag. I took it off my neck two minutes into the race. I
take another Red Bull before heading back. I forget to
restock my anti fatigue pills or use the squirrel but butter on my shoulders.
I also see the Hawaiian volunteer who gave me some tips the day
before.
Rise so high
I don’t if it was the second Red
Bull, being halfway done, or just the kindness of the volunteers but I start
feeling great. I feel like I’m supposed to be out here doing this, that
this is my destiny. My mind plays the crowd cheering my name.
Except it’s not Vikram, Vik, Vicky, or Vikbase (the name on my bib) that they
are chanting. It’s my oldest nickname, given to me by my uncle at birth,
Harry. A name that very few people know. My mind also starts
playing the hook to a pop radio song Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
“Off the deep end, watch as I dive in, I’ll never meet the
ground...sha-ha sha-ha we’re far from the shallow now.” Both these things
Killian describes in his book Run or Die and I wonder if reading it influenced
me to experience the same thing. The way back involves a .4 shortcut
(which gets made up later in the race) which I guess helps the single track
crowding a tad. A volunteer directs me to the turn. She looks up my
name and says some encouraging words. The trail goes back to the fire
road but this time it’s downhill for 5+ miles. The fire road makes it
easy to pass people climbing up. With my spirits high I encourage the
climbers. I say go, go, go “bib number” and then say good job. I
see Amanda too who says she doesn’t know if she could make it. I tell her
not to think negatively. I cruise to the aid station in high spirits to
where I got my first Red Bull. Here I take another Red Bull, I take some
squirrel but butter and apply it to the skin on my shoulders that were
rubbing. I also take a quarter of a peanut butter sandwich and more Gu
gels. A volunteer squeezes a cold water sponge on my neck and head before
sending a nice shock to the system.
The Low
Leaving the aid station, at mile
30.9 the high state I was in disappeared and I was back to the struggle.
A couple of runners past me and I am unable to keep up to their pace or even
long enough to grunt behind them. Soon I hit the photographer again and
on a patch of a rocky uphill I sprint uphill to look strong for the
photo. At the next water station I take another gel and refill the Gu
brew. I continue jogging along. The unrelenting heat with no shade
or stream crossing at this point of the race hurt mentally. I hit a wide
dirt road and after it winds a bit it goes back to single track. A woman
wearing a red vest catches up and I offer to let her pass. She says I’m
death walking too. I don’t if it was the pressure of having some behind
me, the offense of my pace being called death walk, or that simple exchange of
words but I was able to start jogging hard up the hills. She didn’t stray
far behind though. One thing I would notice is that others are able to
hike a lot faster than I could hike and then run downhill faster than me.
My jog uphill is only slightly faster than their hike. I would love to
adapt their strategy but I am not able to hike up that fast which reveals my
weakness in hiking. It’s a weakness I noticed since my first 50 miler
four years ago, something I thought I had improved on with better
fitness. My watch was short one mile by the first aid station (11.5 miles
in) so I looked at my watch and hoped it was off by at least 2 miles now.
I sort of lied to myself, saying that I must be close to the next aid
station. A little further down the man in the green way too cool shirt
runs down the opposite way and tells me that the aid station is less than 1.5
miles away. This motivates me and I keep up the effort. It feels
like forever but I eventually reach the aid station. I refill water and
Gu brew, take 4 gels and drink half a can of Red Bull. They have bacon,
bean and cheese tortillas at the aid station. I would have taken a
tortilla if it wasn’t the cheese. I see one being made with just bean on
it but I didn’t want to linger. I grabbed a few chips, wishing there was
more real food options. I didn’t stop to look or ask how many miles to
the next aid. Its mile 38 and I just need to make it to the next
one. Then I should be close enough to the finish.
Death Walking
Pass the aid station is the stream
crossing with rope. I went through it so smoothly in the morning and now
I was shuffling along it like an injured man. Shortly after the woman
with the red vest passes. On the downhill after another stream crossing I
notice something poke my left foot but I don’t want to stop to check it
out. I can’t ignore the feeling after a while so I stop and poke my
finger through my shoe. Don’t find anything so I conclude it must be
nothing. Again I feel it on the next downhill. I stop at the next
straightway and pull out the shoe and find three small rocks. Three
runners past by the time I get my shoe back on.
Why Suffer?
After a few hours of suffering alone
in the wood, the question of why creeps in. I started having doubts to
why I was even here. What was the point of this? Is the pursuit of
endurance even worth it? Isn’t this enough already? I don’t have
any emotional attachments to the race, I was kind of just there because all the
cool kids were. I had nothing to respond to my creeping doubts. In
one of his books, Dean Karnazes says something like suffering is the essence of
a life worth living but at that moment I wanted to be comfortable, I rather be
on the beach reading a book and watching the waves go pass by.
One foot at a time
I can’t get out the negative
headspace I start putting myself in so I try food again. I take two
gels 15 minutes apart to try to get out of the bonk state. Each gel gives
me about 8 minutes of being able to jog comfortably before I go back to
suffering mode. I feel a lot of salt on my skin and wonder I been
consuming enough electrolytes. I accidentally switch back to a
gel every 25 minutes, completely forgetting any sort of strategy I had.
Part of breaking down the overall goal is to have smaller goals that will help
you achieve the bigger goal. Getting in enough calories per hour was
supposed to be my smaller goal but I didn’t have the mental capacity to keep
track. I would have loved some sort of quick fix to get me moving
again. Eventually I ran out of gels and water. I was pretty numb to
finding out that I was out, my focus remained to just move on. I try to
take notice of the sunlight reflecting the leaves, how green everything is, the
branches and scenery. I feel okay for a bit but the mind eventually
wanders back to the pain. I’m just in survival mode. Eventually I
see the turn for the side trail for Island Pond aid station. You could
easy past by it and skip it but you get a 15 minute time penalty. A lot for
a .4 miles. I overheard a runner early in the race remarked that the real
penalty for skipping it was not having water for the last 6 miles. On my
descent down I see a man struggling to walk. It looks like he twisted his
ankle. He was sorry that he was unable to step out of the trail to let me
pass but it was easy enough to go around. I refilled the bottles both
with Gu brew and grabbed 3 gels for the final stretch. I saw a man with a
red shirt that was part of the group of runners I was in from around 7-11
miles. The limping runner makes it to the aid station as I leave.
He said he DNF long ago. I guess he had to make it to an aid station to
get help. I continue the short climb up to the main trail.
In mud you lie
I forced down one of the gels.
Back on the main trail I had 4.5 miles left. I started telling myself
that every few minutes I would be a quarter mile closer to finishing and let
that motivate me. Miles were like 16-17 minutes a mile at this point but
I didn’t care. I kept shuffling. The race ends on an uphill and I
was dreading the final uphill, I thought it would be a massive 2 mile climb
up. The downhills continued however and I was grateful for them. I
knew a death hike uphill would sap any remaining strength. At least on
the downhill I had some speed to get miles moving along and I really just
wanted the miles to click away. Eventually I get to 2 miles away. I
turn my head and see the runner with the red shirt approaching. Knowing
that he is as dead as me, I decide he will not catch me. I start running
hard, which at that point is 13 minutes a mile. I’m able to keep it up
and the next 1.5 miles go by in a good speed. I hit a muddy patch though
and walk through it. On the last mud patch my left foot sinks in and I
fall forward. My handheld bottle in my leg hand gets muddy as well.
I wasn’t drinking anything at this point anyway but now that option was
gone. The mud killed any momentum I had. I went back to death
walking. The course passed the barn where the finish line is. Like
you could see it but then you go off the side and climb uphill first. I
find it cruel in my broken state. I made it to Marina road where I
visualized the finish the day before. A car with a boat attached to it
zooms by. I wonder if they even noticed the half dead runner about to
cross. Cross the road and I know it’s just a quarter mile but I start
walking up the hill. I slap myself and go into a run. The barn
comes into view and I run into the finish. There’s two timing mats and I
hear my name and where I’m from announced. Upon finishing, I get a seat
right by the finish. One of the race organizers gets me a bottle of water
and I just sit for a while. I see another finisher also pretty
muddy. One of the runners that passed me 5 miles ago is also sitting
there. I told her I was happy she passed me. Those brief exchanges
of when people say good job as they pass by make you feel a tiny bit better in
the dark spots.
Dying
After sitting for a bit I decide to
walk a bit and collect my finisher vest (so much better than a medal) and my
finish line drop bag. A volunteer helps clean my muddy bottle. The
plan was to change my clothes in a porter potty but I decided I was too weak.
I grabbed another water bottle and fruit can drink and sat down. My calves
which have been complaining most of the race have now started screaming.
My belt had gotten under my singlet and chaffed me a bit and I had sunburn at
other areas but those were mere discomforts. I immediately consumed a
Unived recovery drink by mixing powder into my Gu brew bottle. It didn’t
mix well, I probably need a blender ball, but drank the liquid and solid chunks
anyway. Then I just sat there, waiting for my calves to stop
hurting. My feet got cold from my muddy shoes but I was too weak to
change them. I sat there shivering till a man name Troy came up and
offered to get something for me. He got me two slices of pizza (there
post-race pizza and Mexican food being cooked), along with chocolate milk, more
canned juice (by my request - I wanted things with high calories) and more
water. I ate the pizza (not vegan) and consumed everything else except
the milk. I’m pretty sure Troy was another runner too. I felt better
but still too weak to move around. He said things would get better.
I continued sitting. Eventually I got cold again and started shivering
again. A woman came and offered to get baked potato or tamales to which I
responded both. She got both and lucky for me, the vegetarian
tamale. The baked potato was a bit hot but ate both and felt
better. I saw the midtown west runner finish and Dean Karnazes finish to
my surprise. I looked closely at his bib and it read Karno which I know
is his nickname from his book “The road to Sparta”. The guy at the finish
covered in mud when i finished was the famous videographer Billy Yang. I
did not know he did ultras too. After sitting for about eighty minutes I
finally felt strong enough to start shaking out the legs. I finally
switched my shoes, usually the hotel towel I brought to wipe the mud. I
started walking back and forth 20 yards. I recalled my first marathon
when I was lying in a medical tent after finishing and the doctor commenting
how your body was able to go 26 miles and now you could barely move. 50
miles is a pretty unimaginable distance, even to me as someone that has done
the distance a few times. After a few minutes I started walking to my car
which was not in the parking lot but about a quarter mile away on the side of a
road. A volunteer from warmup springs saw me and offered a ride. I
hesitated at first but I really didn’t want to go on the downhill so I
accepted. She told me a lot of runners dropped, probably due to the heat.
I got to my car pretty quickly and thanked the volunteer. I spent another
30 minutes slowly changing in the car. I looked up the results too.
The women’s race was pretty close between 4 runners till the end and the men’s
race was between two people. I saw looked up Dean’s time and was kind of
surprised I beat him before seeing that he was 56 years old. He probably
ran to the start anyway and will run home. The runner I met yesterday
Amanda did end up dropping halfway. I myself DNF my third 50 miler.
There’s more variables to longer distances and finishing a distance once does
not guarantee future finishes.
After the 30 minutes of resting in
the car I drove back to the hotel. A bit tired I drove 5 mph under the
speed limit (comparably a lot better to my 100 where I was only able to drive
half the speed limit). A car with a boat attached to it sped past me, so
fast that a paddle fell out and got ran over by cars. Getting out of the
car after reaching the hotel my left quad started cramping leaving me leaning on
the car for support. Lucky it went away after a few seconds.
Finally made it to the bed I wanted during the dark moments and I found out
that I can’t sleep. My body was in survival mode for so long that it was
hard to turn off. I spent the next few hours reading and watching
everything Boston marathon. I decided I would eat an entire box of vegan
pizza the next day. Sweet things were not were appealing, I think due to
all the Gu gels. Regretted buying that Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar
before the race as my award for finishing the race now.
Results
Race performance wise, I did pretty
poorly. 11:26 is much slower than what I was aiming for. I hit the times I was pursuing for a bit over
60% of the distance before slowly ending up in a crawl. I probably could
have started off slower and done better but if anything the race shows me that
sub 10 hours is very possible for me and that I will soon be able to run the
entire 50 miles, even if it has a ton of elevation gain. I race to
explore the unknown. The hells I go through are just the price to pay.
Time to recover, reflect, readjust and try again!Food count:
27 gels – 2,700 calories. 21 of them Gu gels, 2 science in sport, 1 Unived caffeine, 1 Unived mandarin orange, 2 Hammer gels. Favorite flavor was the hoppy gu gels, it didn't taste sweet at all which I liked.
3/4 of a peanut butter jelly sandwich - 240
1 Oreos – 53 calories
Handful of potato chips – 137 calories
Liquids:
Red Bull – 3.5 cans
– 770 caloriesGu Brew – 70 oz – 1312.50 calories
Water – 98 oz
Estimated
Total: 5,212.50 calories
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