Best wishes with your hundred--which one?
Oil Creek 100. I still don't have a good feel for how technical it is (pictures look pretty tame). Elevation is more than what I usually train on (Ice Age or similar) and looks like longer hills rather than more frequent like Ice Age.
My biggest problem will be that I cannot run a race without setting a time goal. Usually they are aggressive and this is probably a very bad idea for a first 100. But even if I do not admit to myself that I have a time goal, I will still have a time goal that I can't get out of my head. I unfortunately already checked out the past winners, compared times on courses I've run and so on...
Uh oh... now what?
I did not have trouble setting time goals. It was what happened as the day unwound that seemed
to cause a bit of discomfort. At the fifty-mile distance I could sense things were going well, fed off
the internal feel good and continued to push (goal was subseven, ran 6:31ish). At the 100-mile
distance the length (time) of waiting for proof that things were going well caught up with me. The
distance between aid stations gave me too much time to wonder about what all could go wrong.
The conversations in my head slowly turned from joyous songs of confidence to voices of fear and a
gnawing away of the same much needed confidence. At 62ish miles I admitted the sub24 was gone,
paused to change socks, and continued into the oncoming night. I did finish.
Find lots of ways to keep the confidence going.
**addendum: To me there is a lot of difference between running for time and racing. There
were a few times when as the day unfolded I realized good things could happen if I held
together. With no time in mind I found out how much fun chasing (and catching) was and
how much each pass built confidence and stoked the inner whatever. The mental side of
racing can receive tremendous boosts as the physical side seems to get stronger--oft'
resulting in some great (okay, at least good) last fifteen or twenty miles.
rgot
You'll ruin your knees!
Beer, for the shower.
+5
...I thought I was the only one that drank beer in the shower after an ultra!
The conversations in my head...
...heh, knowing you, I bet that can get loud!
""...the truth that someday, you will go for your last run. But not today—today you got to run." - Matt Crownover (after Western States)
Trail Monster
Oil Creek 100. I still don't have a good feel for how technical it is (pictures look pretty tame). Elevation is more than what I usually train on (Ice Age or similar) and looks like longer hills rather than more frequent like Ice Age. My biggest problem will be that I cannot run a race without setting a time goal. Usually they are aggressive and this is probably a very bad idea for a first 100. But even if I do not admit to myself that I have a time goal, I will still have a time goal that I can't get out of my head. I unfortunately already checked out the past winners, compared times on courses I've run and so on...
OC can fool you. Wolfkiel Run took out my buddy's knee on his second loop and there is one section they label 'the birthplace of rocks'. It's not an easy course by any means and has more elevation change then a lot of the mountain hundreds. Ill see you there!
And if you're interested, here's my report from 2011: http://www.endorphinmom.com/2011/10/oil-tycoon-in-making.html
2013 races:
3/17 Shamrock Marathon
4/20 North Coast 24 Hour
7/27 Burning RIver 100M
8/24 Baker 50M
10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)
My Blog
Brands I Heart:
FitFluential
INKnBURN
Altra Zero Drop
OC can fool you. Wolfkiel Run took out my buddy's knee on his second loop and there is one section they label 'the birthplace of rocks'. It's not an easy course by any means and has more elevation change then a lot of the mountain hundreds. Ill see you there! And if you're interested, here's my report from 2011: http://www.endorphinmom.com/2011/10/oil-tycoon-in-making.html
Thanks for the heads up! I by no means was underestimating the elevation change but the pictures of the course definitely didn't leave me with the impression of a highly technical course. If it is on par with Ice Age trail, I'm cool with that. So far, there is nothing that has led me to believe it is as technical (or moreso) than something like Superior Sawtooth. Is there something I'm missing that I should reconsider this as a very technical course?
**addendum: To me there is a lot of difference between running for time and racing.
I don't think these are mutually exclusive. I start with estimating my time/place based on previous leader finishing times. I try to start of conservative, but my goal is always to place as high as I can. But I'm not going to get sucked in to trying to race some guy who is a helluva lot faster than me. At least not until the distance starts to equalize things. Frankly, based on how I've seen you race, you don't get sucked into going out trying to crush from the start either.... Sometimes consistency prevails over raw speed, but you have to start somewhere, which generally means picking a goal pace.
I haven't run any of the races you named so I can't draw a comparison. However, OC is rated a 4,4 by Ultra Running magazine. That's pretty gnarly by most people's standards.
I don't think these are mutually exclusive. I start with estimating my time/place based on previous leader finishing times. I try to start off conservative, but my goal is always to place as high as I can. But I'm not going to get sucked into trying to race some guy who is a helluva lot faster than me. At least not until the distance starts to equalize things. Frankly, based on how I've seen you race, you don't get sucked into going out trying to crush from the start either.... Sometimes consistency prevails over raw speed, but you have to start somewhere, which generally means picking a goal pace.
I think a case of mistaken identity has happened. Except for a few runs in Texas and Arkansas, I have not
entered any ultras outside of Washington or Montana since 2004. My last overall win was in 1997. That
was here in the state of Washington. There have been a few age-group wins since then, but they were not
anything that anyone would notice... except AARP?
The reason I think of time and racing as different--when I was trying for a last sub5-hour trail 50k there was
no concern for anyone on the trail. All I was running against was my watch. At that same run a couple of
years later there were a lot of men with grey, some even white, hair or beards. We took a count. I think it
was fourteen of us in the 60-69 old coots division. No one up front knew what we were doing, but every time
a curve was rounded there were some of us looking for grey showing under a baseball cap of the next runner
up the trail. My favorite line from that day was as I was passing some guy, he looked over and muttered,
"Oh crap, another old guy." In the first instance, time was all that mattered to me. In the second, all I was
trying to be was the first greybeard home. Good times in the Siskiyous.
Faster Than Your Couch!
I think a case of mistaken identity has happened. Except for a few runs in Texas and Arkansas, I have not entered any ultras outside of Washington or Montana since 2004. My last overall win was in 1997. That was here in the state of Washington. There have been a few age-group wins since then, but they were not anything that anyone would notice... except AARP? The reason I think of time and racing as different--when I was trying for a last sub5-hour trail 50k there was no concern for anyone on the trail. All I was running against was my watch. At that same run a couple of years later there were a lot of men with grey, some even white, hair or beards. We took a count. I think it was fourteen of us in the 60-69 old coots division. No one up front knew what we were doing, but every time a curve was rounded there were some of us looking for grey showing under a baseball cap of the next runner up the trail. My favorite line from that day was as I was passing some guy, he looked over and muttered, "Oh crap, another old guy." In the first instance, time was all that mattered to me. In the second, all I was trying to be was the first greybeard home. Good times in the Siskiyous.
I agree that there's a difference between running for time and running for place.
If I run for time, I don't really care who passes me, and how the race unfolds for everyone by changing weather conditions, etc. I just take it for what it is and give my best at all times.
When I go for place, I run very strategically, constantly observing potential competitors, taking it easy when my place is not in danger, and running faster than I think is good at the time when I feel I could lose a place, relying on my magical power of recovery on easier stretches (which might kick in, or not). When racing, I am willing to drive myself into the ground, if it will save me a rank, or I dawdle around if my place is safe. When going for time, I push myself most of the time, but not beyond what I feel my limits are - it's more the overall race that counts, not the battle for a place.
That said, I have never won a race (overall 1st), and never been in the top five in larger races. Maybe it's different when you're in the lead than somewhere mid-pack, just worrying about your age group.
Run for fun.
... That said, I have never won a race (overall 1st), and never been in the top five in larger races. Maybe it's different when you're in the lead than somewhere mid-pack, just worrying about your age group.
...
I was never in the lead long enough or often enough to know how to behave while
there. My son was pedaling alongside me at one ultra (not pacing and totally
within the rules). We both kept being annoyed at the car a short distance behind
us. I asked Scott to go ask them to go away or something. He returned shortly,
sort of smiling, "It's the car assigned as safety escort for the lead runner."
We laughed. I had never been there before (overall lead), never thought of a car
or anything else... head full of fear of hearing footsteps that did not go away until
the last turn.
Age-group battles were usually fun--most of us knew each other. The top ten thingies
were headache makers and made running way more serious than I liked... especially
when Kathy went on by for first woman. She is all giggly on the way home from having
won (insert proverbial all she had to do was finish ... ) while I had worked myself
into a frothing at the mouth lather effort to be in the top ten. It's a cruel world.
I think a case of mistaken identity has happened.
Ahh, sorry I was thinking you were John Maas, who I haven't really met at a race either but was internet stalking his last win.
Anyway, I'm not saying when I have a time goal I forget about competition or spend the whole run checking my watch. Most ultras I have both a time and place goal, e.g. time X:YY and top 5, etc. Hell, I would argue that even the elites often go into races with time goals, even breaking the course record is a time goal.