Although I did the Caumsett 50k back in March, I feel like this race was my first real ultra. I learned a lot during this race, especially that there is a huge difference between a 50k and a 50 mile race. A 50k isn’t too far different from a marathon. A 50 miler is in another league completely.
I basically went in there with slightly more expectations for the 50 miler than I did for the 50k. For the 50k, I had no expectations. For the 50 miler, I was thinking I would maintain a pace of 7:50 to 8:30 per mile throughout. This is basically the range at which I run my easy pace or recovery runs with 8:00 being what i fall into most often. But, since this is on a trail and the course has a reputation of being hilly and uncomfortable, I decided to be extra conservative and stick to 8:30 miles. I later learned how naive I was about the distance, and got my ass handed to me as a result.
I travelled up to Maine with four other folks. Natalia, who is somewhat still new to ultras, but has at least a couple of 50s under her belt. Bob, who would not be running because he didn’t feel he was in racing condition, but would be crewing for us instead. Brian, who’s quite accomplished with 3rd place in Brazil’s 135 and is set to run Badwater this July. And Tony, who is also doing Badwater, and who I’ll be crewing for.
At the start, I thought to myself how I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was realizing how under prepared I was. I was the only one with no water bottle while most had two or a camelback. And, I had no gels or Perpetuum or any other kind of “nutrition”. I figured with the aid stations a couple of miles apart I’ll be fine.
The course was a 3.5 mile loop followed by 3 laps of a 25km loop.
I started out following Brian’s pace. I figured he knows what he’s doing so don’t pass him. Stick with him as long as things feel easy. We were maintaining 8:30s anyway, but it still felt slow. Because of congestion, he would get stuck behind on occasion, and before the first 3.5 miles, I lost him. He was behind me one minute, then he wasn’t the next.
Then I kept trying to find someone else to pace against. But, at this point everything already thinned out and there weren’t many around. Whoever I happened to latch on to, the pace would just be crazy with no consistency. Going uphill was ridiculously slow. Slower than I could run comfortably. Going so slow uphill actually felt harder than running an easy pace. If you’re the kind like me who prefers to run up stairs instead of walking them, you’ll understand what I mean. Then going downhill was ridiculously fast. Faster than I could run comfortably. Any faster I felt I would risk injury. Each time, I just wound up on my own again because I decided it was easier to keep even effort for up and down.
Somewhere around the halfway mark I saw a little over 3:30 on my Garmin. Average pace was slower than 8:30. I didn’t blow up at that point, but I knew it was coming. The surface of the fields were getting to me. With poor footing and running on slanted ground my feet were sliding within my shoes.
At the four hour mark, my Garmin gave a low battery warning. I also fell during the second lap and took a pretty nasty roll downhill a bit. Lucky, I wasn’t hurt at all. I cannot remember if I noticed my Garmin was off before or after the fall. But, I found out later the next day, the Garmin would never turn on again, which is why I don’t have splits for this report.
Coming around on the second part of the second lap with 20 miles to go, I stopped by Bob who was crewing for us and got some gels. I knew at that point I was going to crash and confided I wasn’t doing well. He gave me a salt tablet, along with a tylenol and words of encouragement.
Before I finished the second lap, climbing out of the second part uphill did me in. I was so nauseas, I considered calling it quits with 15 miles left. Then the thought of having to do just one 25km lap made it mentally easier, so I continued on.
The last lap wound up being a death march and I did my best to keep from puking the whole time. I was walking up hills and down steep declines. A lot of walking mixed into the running. I was dead tired and just wanted to stop. I never imagined it would get this bad.
Before finishing, Tony caught up to me and carried me out of the second part of the last lap (the same area where things went bad on the second lap). If he didn’t show up with Sid, who was pacing him, I would have easily dragged my ass along for an extra 15 minutes.
When we got to the aid station, he filled up his water bottle while I drank what I could and began sucking on oranges and kept sucking on oranges until he reminded me it was time to go. At this point we were on a mostly flat field and there was no way I could keep up with them, but with a mile left I knew I could get myself to the finish. Eventually, I did and was just so happy to be done.
The whole thing took me 8:50:40. I was out there for almost 9 hours. About 3:35 for the first half and 5:15 for the second half with the last 15 miles being the slowest. I’m not really happy about this. Not so much the time, but the execution.
I was toying with the idea of doing the Javelina Jundred 100 mile race in October, but I decided the time is not right for a number of reasons. I want to do another 50 before doing a 100, and I want to feel the 50 was successful. I wont put a time goal on it, at least not for now, but I’ll judge my success on how I run it. If I can maintain a consistent pace throughout the whole 50 miles, I’ll consider it a success.
Besides, a 100 mile race in October will take a different type of training than for a marathon. At the moment, I want to focus on another marathon in the fall. Training for a 100 will interfere with that. And, even if I could pull it off, I do not want to go out and just “do a 100″. I went out and “just did a 50 miler” last weekend, and in the end, I realized I was foolish for trying to wing it.
Despite that, I’m glad I did it and enjoyed the whole weekend as a result. The leg cramps, indigestion, and hiccups on the 6 hour ride home was even fun. I find people within the running community to be pretty cool, so naturally the people in the ultra running community seems to be ultra cool. The only regret I have is not better preparing myself for the distance; maybe more of a knowledge perspective rather than a physical one.
In the meantime, I’ve ordered a replacement for my Forerunner 305 and decided to upgrade to the 310xt instead of the new 405. I came very very close to getting the 405. I even had it in my virtual shopping cart, but after reading all the reviews, I realized everyone who loves the 405 never had a garmin previously, while everyone who hated it was comparing it to the forerunner 305. Plus, the fact that you can’t change things on the screen when it gets wet was the nail in the coffin.
And lastly, as a result of the poor footing and the 50 miles, I have something of an injury on my left big toe. It’s been cropping up, but I’ve been keeping it abated by taking a day off here and there. Now it hurts to walk so it might be a few days before I’m back to running. I figure, when the 310xt arrives, I’ll be ready to get back out there.
