Notes
So 1st 50k is now in the books and it was a pretty awesome day. Ran the Superior Spring 50k and it was an amazing experience. God knows why I decided on the Superior Hiking Trail as the spot for my first race distance past 26.2, especially since I've never hiked, let alone run there, but it made the day even more memorable with the challenging course. At the end of the day, the trail lived up to its rugged reputation although it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be based on some conversations I've had with other superior "vets." Lots of tree roots and rocks that required some serious dancing, and that's just what I wanted. Anyhow, on to the race: squeezed in about 4-5 hours of sleep surprisingly. Then laid in bed til 5, jumped in the shower, ate breakfast, applied a lot of body glide to my feet and elsewhere, got everything else ready and went downstairs to check in before the race with my wife. It was almost perfect weather for the day, 32 degrees and sunny at the start, with the forecast of temps quickly rising into the 40's and 50's as the day went on. (Later on with the sun it got a little warm, which is why I say "almost perfect.") RD John gave his quick pre-race briefing, which was basically, "the trail is in way better shape than anyone could've hoped for given the late snow melt up here, but you're gonna get really muddy. GO!" And off we went up the road to the trailhead. I started out with Rob, a trail buddy I met at Lebanon this winter, and we ended up running pretty closely throughout the race. It's an out and back course with about 7 large climbs out to Carlton Peak. There are 2 aid stations, which since it's an out and back the 50k'ers hit twice. The turnaround for 25k racers is the first aid station. I guess Rob and I went out too fast, which is kinda what I was thinking considering the chase pack for the leaders were generally in sight. The good news was that later on it seemed almost everyone else went out too fast. I was feeling great up as I rolled into the first aid station. Little behind on tailwind intake, which was all I was doing for nutrition at that point. Mixed up another bottle, thanked volunteers, and rolled out. The section from Oberg AS to Sawbill AS was drier with less elevation gain/loss, still felt pretty good, other than my damn left calf tightening up around mile 9. This was the stupid calf that had me resting way more than I wanted during taper period. All in all, feeling good though. Ran behind fellow DMer Jared for most of this section, which I didn't realize at the time but later learned when he introduced himself to some runners ahead of us on the hike up to Carlton. I'm sure he didn't know it was me trailing him, I was fairly quiet, alone in my thoughts and zoning out on the trail. Ran with the female winner through this portion as well. Even passed her once on a climb and mentioned she would probably be passing me in a few miles. 3 miles later, she did just that. Got to Sawbill AS, was able to take off my arm warmers and gloves since it had warmed considerably since 7am. I noticed I was still behind on tailwind intake, grabbed some salt pills, chips, and was on my way up for the hike up Carlton Peak. Now, this 2.2 mile hike up to the peak has the most runnable sections on the course but once you get closer to Carlton, you're practically rock climbing up there, but it was fun. Finally made it to the top where there were several volunteers with a cooler of Gatorade and some traditional beers. One of the guys running in my pack at the time cracked one open but I thought I'd wait til the finish. I just shook hands with the volunteer, took in the amazing scenery, and looked at my watch to see 2:25 split. Yup, way too fast... Probably more like 2:30 since I forgot to turn auto-pause off on my watch, but still...way. too. fast. Oh well, lessons were learned today. Halfway done and made my way back down and over to Sawbill AS for the 2nd time. I was hurting pretty bad coming in, and realized I needed food and more salt. And a quick potty break in the woods, so at least I was hydrated. On the stretch to the next aid station my pace slowed considerably and I started to feel pain I have never before felt while running. But I kept soldiering on, running flats and downhills, and hiking the ups as fast as I could. What was so surprising was that I had slowed so much here, I actually looked behind me several times since I was downright shocked that I hadn't been passed here at all. I was just alone in the woods, getting it done, catching up to Rob for a bit, then letting him go as I slowed to a walk. It was through this section that my kidneys actually started to hurt. I know, wtf. Finally made it to the last AS, but the hardest part of the run was up ahead. This is also where we start sharing the course with some of the slower 25kers. The effect of this is what was once a small section of mud when we went out is now a full on bog with mud and water up to your shin. There is a decent out of Oberg AS that turns into the biggest climb of the race, going up Moose Mtn. It hurt. My quads were shot, my calves were both knotted up. But I kept going and climbing. Towards the top my right calf was in full on spasm mode. It felt like a worm was winding its way through the top of my calf. Other weird pains made themselves known, some faded away, some didn't. I was pretty concerned one or both of my legs would lock up from cramps but I guess I danced on the edge of that by hiking when I needed to. It was both inspiring and frustrating to be passing 25k runners at this point. Many were polite and were in awe of us doing double the distance on that trail, but some were trying to own the trail and not really helping by playing chicken with me on the plank bridges. I don't have a problem taking one of the two planks and squeezing by you, just make an effort at looking like you're letting me by, like I am for you, ok? A couple runners started passing me by at this point, one was Lucas from my training group, which I was happy to see since he wanted to run a strong race and it seemed he was achieving that goal. Linked up with Colin here and also Cres, who was running the 25k as her 1st trail race. Welcome to the trails Cres! Slogged through the last big climb with Colin and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Finally made it to the last decent and across the final river bridge and there was the pavement! Ran it in and just wanted this to be done. Crossed the finish line in 5:36:39. Good for 27th out of 177 overall. 26th out of 135 males. Wife just made it back to see me finish, which was special for me.
So, takeaways from 1st 50k:
-pay better attention to nutrition and salt, I think a lot of my cramps were due to this.
-more hill training
-more hill training
-more hill training
-I still need to think about going out slower. I hesitate to say I should've kept it slower. I feel like my fitness from 2 weeks ago, with a good taper, would have allowed me to finish stronger. Maybe I'll just say run to your current fitness. ;)
We'll see how it goes in a little over a month at Afton.