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!

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.

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.

At the aid station I gobble down half a peanut butter sandwich and pickup 2 Gu gels and refill my water.  I keep my handheld filled with pain water.  I haven’t started using the water in the back.  The group separates as warm-up time is over and people either linger in the aid station or start speeding up.  I hold the same effort level, keeping to the plan of getting to mile 25 comfortably.  My calves however start complaining but easy enough to ignore.  Shortly after departing the aid station, I see a man who he is clearly chaffing badly.  I feel sorry but nothing I could do.  He could turn back and get help from the aid, probably cost him like 4 minutes but he seemed determined to go forward.  I notice the back of my shoulders are rubbing and make a mental note to put squirrel nut butter on it.  The scenery gets nice and I see a runner, while walking quickly up a long incline, take her phone out and quickly snap a picture of the valley.  I am immediately jealous that I didn’t bring my phone.  Shortly after I see a professional looking photographer on the course.  A runner was approaching from behind me and I think she slowed down a bit for the photo before then passing me.  

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 calories
Gu Brew – 70 oz – 1312.50 calories
Water – 98 oz

Estimated Total:  5,212.50 calories

NJ marathon 2018

The NJ marathon was my 22^nd marathon, my 4^th marathon this year and my season A race!    

The training

I started training for this race the holiday week 2017 (around Christmas).  I started off with 5 weeks of base building, slowly ramping up my mileage.  I focused a lot on cross training (swimming, bouldering) at this time.  February I added strength training 3x and a core focused bootcamp 1x a week.  Then I had about 5 weeks of race (2 marathons + 1 ultra) where cross training went to zero and strength training to 1-2x a week.  I had about 6 weeks after the Georgia marathon to train solely for NJ and I wanted to focus on speed but I jumped into training too soon and got a strain.  I ignored it at first and continued on but the pain got worse to where it hurt while walking so I went into a 4 week taper (instead of the 2 weeks as I originally planned).  I cut my miles by half and skipped a few key workouts.  I spent a little more time on swimming and got back to strength training 2x a week.  I got to race day with plenty of rest and recovery but not feeling super confident because of the missed workouts.  I usually do short one week taper so two weeks was already a lot for me but 4 weeks!   :/.  The week of the race I ate more salads and greens, two days before I started eating more carbs.

The Day before

After a longer than expected drive (huge traffic different between leaving at 9 am and 10 am!), I made it to the expo with Francis and Neena.  Met Cathy + Nate inside the expo and met Rene on his way out.  I ended up talking to Rene for a while.  I took some notes since he was aiming for 2:50-2:55 marathon =O.  One thing I found important was his reminder to hydrate properly the day before, something with the traveling I was forgetting to do.

The expo was super small…even smaller than Atlanta and I got through it in less than 5 minutes.  No freebees but they had a cool photo print station.  Afterwards we did a shakeout run!  The shakeout run the day before a marathon is something I got from QDR.  I chose to jog on the beach barefoot for 30 minutes; it gave me a chance to enjoy the beach while I was still in the mood.  I was pretty sure that after the marathon the beach would be far from my mind.  I only did 2.5 miles in the thirty minutes but that’s okay, it was never the miles that mattered but time on my feet.  I also thought of the run as form work (as it been getting warmer I been doing a few short runs barefoot on grass as well).  Next was lunch where I got to walk around Long Branch and check the town out briefly before an early dinner on the way back (I drove back to Queens for the night).  I got to check out two vegan spots – Karma café and Vegan tree.

Once at home I found my blue sharpie in my archery bag (backup for initialing arrows) and wrote "This is what you came for" on my arm with an arrow pointing forward.  I wrote this as my mantra, I chose to come here to push myself to the breaking point - I'm here to dig deeper and find the strength to break through it.  It also reminds me that I'm here because I love it.  I focused a lot on the love I have received over the years through running.  From struggling to just jog a mile without stopping 5.5 years to learning what taper is two days before my first marathon to surviving a 100 miler to my PR streaks of today.  It has been a crazy journey and I'm grateful for all the support I have received over the years.  I been last place or near last place in quite a lot of races and I'm finally at a place where I’m getting a lot better (still baby steps).

 

I also prepared a running playlist.  Like the Georgia marathon I was planning to listen to music for miles 10-20.  In Atlanta I had the two songs that the iphone came with and just hated it.  This time I brought jaybird Run true wireless which allows me to play music on one ear (with one ear piece).  I also choose songs that people have recommended to me in the past for running.  I'm not much of a music fan but listening to those songs reminded me of the person who recommended it.  Then my laptop itunes wasn't syncing with my iphone so I had to transfer to dropbox and find an app that could play a playlist off dropbox.  I ended up with 4 hours of sleep.

 

The internal focus the night before gave me the confidence to aim for 3:30.  The week before, I debated what time to aim for.  I felt that 3:40 was a safe bet, 3:35 was mostly likely doable and that 3:30 was a bit crazy.  It adds up to just 12-13 seconds per mile but that add up to a lot over 26.2 miles.

 

Pre race

I arrived at the race parking lot at about 6 am, took maybe 5 minutes to park.  I like coming to the race 90 minutes early if I'm not staying within walking distance to the race.  It took me another 10 minutes to gather my stuff; I almost forgot my running shoes!  I had plenty of time to go to a real bathroom with a small line (waited like 5 minutes), met Jeff and Gabe, take team photos, do a 5 minute shakeout run (a habit I picked up from Julie during the NOLA marathon), take shelter from the rain with more hanging out, eat a waffle cookie and my gel and get close to the start of my corral.  I definitely didn't need any stress of rushing to the start line; the marathon is 100% mental!

 

Miles 1-10

I broke off the race to three sections.  I would stick to the 3:30 pace group for the first 10 miles.  Then I would cruise the next 10 miles with the help of music and then struggle though the real start of the race during the last 10k.  I started the race with Rinchen so we were close to the 3:20 pace group.  I had to back off slightly to allow the 3:30 to catch up.  They ended up passing by too quickly.  I struggled with the pace immediately, it felt more like a half marathon pace but I decided to hang on.  I also started chafing immediately, I'm not sure why but I just ignored it.  I found two Dashing Whippets and a Van Cortlandt runner going at 3:30 so I paced with them till mile 4 where I lost them.  As I approach mile 4 I was ready to eat my first gel but I decided to see if adjusting my shorts would fix the chafing problem which lead to me dropping the gel.  Did not stop to pick it up.  I usually take a gel 15 minutes before, first gel at mile 4 and then gels about every 3 miles till mile 20.  Then I switch over to drinking Gatorade.  This race I also ate a waffle cookie before the race because I felt hungry.  I guess my two bananas with chocolate 3 hours beforehand weren't cutting it.  I was able to keep the 3:30 within sight for this time.  Around mile 9 my feet started feeling sore.  I had decided to wear my minimalist Topo shoes instead of my 800+ miles wore out Brooks’s shoes mostly because the Brooks shoes had holes in them and it was raining.  I knew my feet would get sore but this was a bit early.

 

Mile 10-20

I was struggling at mile 10 but this is where I would use music!  Except that I have no idea how to turn on my earpiece.  At mile 11 I even tried looking it up on my phone but got general directions.  After fumbling for a bit I decided to just put the jaybird in my right ear and I got it to work at mile 12.  I like this setup - being able to listen to music in one ear but with the other ear open I am able to hear everything around me.  Mostly the cheers that spectaculars are giving!  A runner passes gives me a double high five and then runs on (she had quite the energy).  A man says go Queens, best borough to which I cheer at but then he continues and says next to Brooklyn to which I make a face.  My strategy was to get through the struggle of pace was by distracting myself.  I feed off the energy of spectaculars, swung my arms in dancing motions to some of the songs.  I probably was wasting energy but it kept me distracted.  Also around mile 10 Kathryn caught up and we run around each other for 3ish miles and then miles 13-15 together before she passed by.  At mile 15 I almost caught up to the 3:30 pace group too.  At miles 18 and 19 I saw Kathryn and Rinchen at the turnarounds which gave me a boost.  Around mile 20 I saw Francis and Cathy for another boost!  The turnaround was good mentally for this.

 

Miles 20 to 26.2

I lost sight of the 3:30 pace group and at this point I was slowing down.  It didn't feel like the wall, it kind of felt like I mentally faded.  I used mantras and then aimed for the buildings as targets to run strong to and then set another target.  Step by step.  I caught up to Nate who was also going for 3:30, I wish I saw him earlier and got a chance to work together with him towards our goals.  He was struggling at this point.  A team in training coach just started running with him and I guess was going to give him some pep talk.  The coach told me the course is all downhill from here and I joked that's what I been telling myself.  A runner says there is only 4.5 miles at which I dread thinking about.  At around mile 22 I see Kenny which gives a big boost.  The miles here were pretty empty of people so it was a bit rough mentally, the boost from music had long wore out and my midfoot felt like they had been burnt.  At mile 24, feeling the end of the run I started picking it up again.  Also there was more of a crowd which helped.  At 24.8ish, the ground became a smooth broadwalk and I was able to glide through (much to the happiness of my feet).  I run the last mile strong but just 10 feet or so shy from the finish I get a sudden cramp on my right hamstring.  It was so painful that it stopped my run and had me hop over the last few steps.  Not a great finishing pic :/.

 

I struggled to walk with the cramp and volunteers asked if I needed help but I figure I just needed some electrolytes.  The cramp went away and I immediately caught up with Rinchen, Rene, and Kathryn.  They had some awesome finishing times. I got my drop bag and went to the changing tent.  Realized I couldn’t pull my clothes on without holding on to something and then I met Mike.  I met him before in the easy run with Scott Jurek during his book event.  He offered me a seat and we caught up briefly.  Air relax boot massage with Cathy and Nate and lunch with some QDR people to end my NJ marathon experience.

Georgia marathon

The Georgia marathon was my 21^st marathon!  It was my third marathon of 2018, just two weeks after the New Orleans marathon!   It was my hilliest road marathon with 1534 feet of gain (hilliest trail marathon is still the Breakneck Point marathon with 10000 feet of gain).  The course was scenic and the crowds were awesome!  I felt a lot of love throughout the course and I’ll remember it as one my favorite races.

Recovery

Important to this race was to recover from the New Orleans marathon two weeks before.  I took two days off and then ended up running almost 12 miles which was too much.  So I took another two days off.  I hiked the Saturday and did one strength training session with a few boulder sessions.  Kept myself active but didn’t run too much.  I only did 17 miles that recovery week.  The week of the race the focus were on a medium slow run (7 miles) to regain some aerobic fitness on Tuesday and a track workout to practice running fast under some stress (2x2 miles after running 4 200s and then 2x400) on Thursday.  Special thanks to Kelvin for leading that workout and the rest of the queens distance runners for the company! 

Shakeout! – Day before race

I wanted to start my weekend in Georgia off with a sunrise from a mountain.  Found out that many state park s open at 7 am so had to go to a national forest.  In my search I found that Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the AT trail was only two hours away.  Despite it being cloudy and zero chance of sunrise I decided to drive up and do a morning trail run up and down the mountain.  Springer Mountain doesn’t have the best view either but it was more of a symbolic trip.  Shortest route is 2 miles and longest is about 10 miles and I found one that was 4 miles.  Perfect for a shakeout run!

After shakeout, it was a 2 hour drive back to eat lunch at Udipi Café in Duluth (NE of Atlanta) for some south Indian food.  Then to the expo center at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.  It was a tiny expo which made packet pickup quick.  Then the aquarium, 50% off with a promo code from the virtual goodie bag of the race.  The aquarium was similar to the NASA museum in Houston where they are focusing more on experiences rather than simply showing items.  I wanted to do dinner at Herban Fix but there was a 40 minute wait so dinner at mellow mushrooms.  I ended up eating a 14” pizza slice which was a fairly heavy dinner; something I don’t normally do (underestimated how big the pizza was).  Afterwards I did a scout of the starting/finishing area.

Race morning!

Six hours of sleep, a cliff bar mint chocolate bar that had some caffeine in it and a banana to get me to the starting line.  It took longer than I thought to get ready and I got in a 3 minute warmup jog instead of 5 minutes before heading to my corral.  I moved myself a little behind 3:45 pace group.  I planned to run with them for as long as I could.

The entire race is pretty much either uphill or downhill.  I know people always seek flat courses but I find hills to be mentally easier.  For the uphill I breathe in my nose and out my mouth and then was the downhill I breathe in and out my nose and focus on relaxing my breathing a bit.  You could always see the top of the hill on roads so while uphills are slowing you down you know you only have to stick at it for 2-3 minutes and then you got a nice downhill to enjoy.  The course is fairly scenic, a lot of beautiful green even in March!  The temperature started at 55 and climbed to 66 but it was fairly cloudy so I felt like it was near perfect.  I was afraid of getting hot so I sipped half a cup of water and threw the rest on my head at every water station.  There is also a half marathon and the course felt pretty crowded for the first 7 miles where the half marathoners split off.  They did do a good job separating the two races in the end though (otherwise I would have bumped into the walkers of the half near the end).  The course is also not completely closed to traffic and I saw one or two instances where a runner had to stop because a car was going through.  There was also food on the course!  I ate three half oranges and a half of a banana.  Fruit always feels better than gels.  They also had pretzels at one station and the volunteers were singing a rhyme for them (which I found cute) but I didn’t take any.  I used my usual gel strategy of one gel pre-race and then one at mile 4, afterwards one every 3 miles till mile 19.

I found parking within a 5 minute walk to the finish and about 10 minutes to the start line fairly easy (even with my truck).  A 7 am start in March after daylight savings starts means that you start the marathon in the dark but you get a glimpse of sunrise!  I was in corral B which went off 3-4 minutes after corral A.  I immediately lost the 3:45 group getting to the start line; I should have positioned myself right behind them.  I tried to go in with the same mentality as New Orleans where I wouldn’t look at my watch but I found myself looking at my pace most miles.  I didn’t do any calculations about end time or total pace; I guess I was just curious if I was keeping up. 

1-7

The start of the race felt pretty crowded.  That’s usually normal but I found myself weaving through more often than I’m use to.  The course starts of at a slight downhill with a few bumps for 3ish miles and then a short hill.  Mile 4 goes through historic MLK site. 

7 – 16

After mile 7 the course really cleared up with the half marathoners gone.  I could now see the 3:45 pace group ahead of me, maybe .2 miles ahead.  I would have loved to do a surge to catch up but too risky.  There were a lot of people here cheering.  A volunteer or member of the Atlanta track club rode by several times and gave tips multiple times.  It really helped out.  Mile 15 I particularly remember feeling a lot of love from the crowds.  Going through Decatur there were signs giving messages in sequence order.  Like a poem and “keep going” which kept me pretty entertained.    

Miles 16 to 22

Hit the druid hills and there was a lot of uphills with the steepest uphills being around mile 20.  I originally planned to try something I haven’t tried since my second marathon, listen to music!  I was going to put headphones at mile 12 but I felt so good that I finally decided to put them on at mile 16.  I hated it and by mile 20 I took them off.  I was still feeling great at this point but I was slowing down (and I knew it).  I saw the 3:45 pace group at mile 24 at a short out and back, about 3 minutes ahead of me.

Miles 22 to 26.2

Now back closer to downtown.  As my feet started hurting I started to struggle on the uphills around mile 23.  At mile 25 a marathon manic started talking to me.  It was her 31^st marathon and she was trying to do under 4 hours for all 50 states.  We talked a bit about 50 states and then she told me I had a bit more of a go.  With that I sped up a bit to the finish.  I kind of needed someone to tell me I still have a bit more go left.

There was much afterwards after the finish line besides your standard banana, pretzels and granola bars but I enjoyed the journey!

20th marathon - Rock and Roll NOLA

The Rock and Roll New Orleans was my 6th race this year and my 6th PR, beating my marathon PR set only 6 week before!  Conditions were fairly bad for me but through mediation I made it to mile 18 without too much of a struggle.  The next six miles were a struggle and then my toes started hurting causing the last two to be pure suffering.

Preconditions:  The biggest factor going to this race was that I ran a hard ultra 8 days before this race.   I ran the Mount Mitchell challenge, a 36ish mile race with 4,324 feet of elevation gain and my legs were still sore going into this race.  I also moved (across the street to anyone curious) midweek which took time away from some recovery swims and workouts.  I did manage to get in some easy pre-lunch runs and a shakeout run the day before.  The day of my flight we got hit by a noreaster which caused my flight to be cancelled and I got rebooked the following day arriving at NOLA at 6 pm.  The expo ended at 5 pm so I would have missed bib pickup.  It was a stressful morning.  I wasn’t able to find any earlier options but Rock and roll allowed me to do bib pickup on race day.  Having the day before to relax and walk around the city would have been great instead of traveling but guess this happens once in a while.

On the same flight to New Orleans I met Kieran who ran the QDR long run #2 in Alley Pond park a few weeks ago.  He also ran the Houston marathon as well and signed up for this race 2 weeks ago.  We talked for a bit and got a uber into the city.  Then I was off to the hotel and met up with teamate Julie.  Special thanks to Julie for dealing with the hotel booking issue, getting vegan pizza, granola, hammer and vega protein bars, and even a sandwich for tomorrow morning (that's dinner, breakfast and post race recovery covered)!  The race site was a 5 minutes walk from the hotel and we did a practice commute to race start.  Early to sleep afterwards.  Got 7ish hours.  Unfortunately heard a lot of in and other from neighbors through the night so I woke often.  Still felt pretty rested going into the race.

I ate a little bit of granola and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast 2 hours before.  I brought 6 Science in Sport gels with me to the race.  I got to use a few of them on my ultra the week before and while I think it has too much of a sugar taste I should finish my stack before buying more gels (I would probably think differently if this was my A race).  Got my bib without any issue and got a .6 warmup run in before the race.  I started doing warmup runs before races since the 2 mile race in Van Cortlandt I did with Kevin and Maria.  Before that, I didn't do any warmup runs or drills before a race.  I think it's been helpful!

Going into the race I had no idea what pace to run.  I told some of my friends that I was going to do a crash and burn where I would attempt to run the race for a massive PR and then hit the wall and struggle through it.  I figure the experience would help me for my A race in NJ in the end of April.  However, still being sore from the ultra brought back painful memories of the Chicago marathon where I attempted to PR in the marathon distance two weeks after my 100 miler.  Julie was aiming for a 3:36 goal and I decided that I didn't want her to wait too long for me so I should go for the crash and burn.  I would hit the wall and I would struggle to finish the marathon but that's okay.  

To delay hitting the wall I decided to not look at my watch at all (of course I could hear my watch beep and see the mile markers but I would not think about the distance left).  I wanted to just focus on moving right now.  I tried to not think at all.  Here and there I would change up my breathing (in and out of nose, mouth and mix of the two) and think briefly on cadence.  Sometimes I focused on relaxing my breathing, relaxing my arm swings and just stared far ahead, looking at the branches of trees.  My idea was that if I was running more relaxed I could delay hitting the wall.  I might have listen to a podcast about Japanese runners on my flight to NOLA.  I had to remind myself of this plenty of times during the race.  

The race started with an out and back along St. Charles street.  I remember mostly thinking about how unique the trees were in this stage.  Then it goes quickly through some of the touristy places of the till it hits the corner of City Park.  Then it follows City park and does two out and backs along Lake Pontchartrain before heading back along City Park and ending in the park.  A lot of the later miles had no shade and were on the boring side.  The course was very flat with a few small 30-40 feet gains from a few small bridges.

The race was hot!  It started in the 60s and ended in mid 70s but it felt hotter.  I ran in North Carolina the week before and NYC had a few spring days so I thought I was ready for the heat.  That quickly become untrue.  As always with heat I started consuming gels more often.  The race had three gel stations and at the first one (around mile 4) the gels were in a box.  Not wanting to lose speed I quickly reached in the box for a gel.  I ended up grabbing five and just ran with them in my hand.  I usually do one gel after 4ish miles and then one every 3 miles after but from miles 10-20 I was consuming one every 2 miles.  I grabbed another gel on the course as well and ended up only using two of mine.  After mile 20 I started drinking gatarode instead of gels and throwing a water cup over my head at every water station.

I was able to run at what I felt was a sub 3:50 pace for 18 miles.  Then I struggled to maintain pace for two miles before my brain started to slow me down.  After 20 I lost my meditative state as well and just struggled.  I'm normally pick it up after 20 miles but i wasn’t mentally strong enough.  I been here before so I kept moving, only thing I could do.  I definitively got passed by a quite a few people.  With 5k to go I broke my rule of not looking at time and distance left.  I realized I was comfortably in PR zone but still couldn't get myself to finish the last miles strong.  With 2 miles left, my toes started hurting and I couldn't block it out.  At the last bridge I noticed I was heel striking the ground, my running form was breaking down (something that has happened in my early marathons but not anytime recently, I blame it on my ultra the week before).

I saw Julie three times during the race and always tried to cheer her on.  I saw Kieran twice as well and waved.  He was pretty fast (he got a 3:16 something marathon).  I caught up with Julie around mile 16 and tried to tell her what I been telling myself the whole race about not thinking about distance or looking at watch.  Talking to her made me feel a lot better.  I started to encourage other people as I passed afterwards for a bit.  At around mile 18 I met a man from Mississippi who was doing his second marathon, also going for sub 3:50 and we talked for a bit before he had to slow down at a water station.

I was able to make a final push, sub 8 minute pace upon seeing the finish line.  Sadly that was only a .2 distance but I finished with a little more than a 4 minute PR.  Not too shabby!