Notes
Lake Chabot Trail Run 50km
November 7, 2015
The race director shouted “Go!” promptly at 8am with the sun shining directly into our faces and over 300 of us took off around the hilly trails of Lake Chabot in Castro Valley. This was a joint start for the ½ Marathon, 30km, Marathon, and 50km racers. I would be doing two laps plus another 5 mile out-and-back for the 50km distance, the second ultra for me of the year (and ever).
I tried to match my training to my previous cycle before the 6 hour run I did in July. So I had multiple back-to-back “long runs” of 12-16 miles, and a dress rehearsal long run of 24 miles four weeks prior. The Lake Chabot course is considered relatively “flat” compared to other ultras in the area, but I ran the ½ marathon course a couple weeks back and found it to be quite hilly indeed. My strategy was to walk all the up hills and run the down hills. The flat sections I would do a comfortable jog. My goal was to finish under 5:30 with 5:23 being a stretch goal. This is the time I ran for the first 50km of July's 6 hours run, but that was a much less hilly course.
The start was quite congested but within a ¼ mile it thinned out a little as folks adjusted to their paces. There was less than two miles of rolling bike path before the first of the three main hills and the start of the trail. It's mentally difficult to walk this early into a race, but I stuck to my plan. After an up of ½ mile, the trail plummets and I quickly re-passed all the folks who slowly passed me on the up, as well as several others who were bunching up. We then crossed a rickety wooden bridge and followed around the lake for a couple of miles until the second main hill. This one is steeper and a lot more people were walking it. At the top of this hill is the first of three aid stations at about 4.5 miles. I had my water belt on (4x10oz bottles) and seven 100 calorie Gu's in my pockets, so I would be only marginally dependent on the stations. This first station had a few people queued up for the water dispenser so I ran through it without stopping. Here began the single track.
There were lots of flat sections and downhill sections where it is difficult to pass others. I probably charged it more than I should have especially given how relatively crowded it seemed. We were strung out in single file for several miles. The third main hill is actually several short but steep hills that end more or less at the second aid station located at about 8.5 miles. I filled one of my now empty water bottles. My plan was to eat a Gu every 4 miles with water, and drink Gatorade every other 2 miles. From this station to the loop end is fire trail and bike path so despite runners in every direction, there is no congestion and everyone can pace as they wish.
I was in the vicinity of two runners who were chatting casually for miles. We exchanged pleasantries when I passed them on a short downhill, only to have them pass me right back as I walked the next uphill. The first loop ended with the majority of runners around me finishing the ½ marathon (about 200 of the 300), so very quickly I was running alone beginning the second loop. It was a strange sensation to be so isolated after running in a relative crowd for 13-ish miles. My time for the first loop was about 2:09, which is much faster than I had planned. I was shooting for under 2:20, however I noted that the course did appear short by over ½ mile.
The second loop is the same as the first and as I completed the first hill again, I saw the two chatting runners and we introduced ourselves (Sablle and Jorge). I passed them on the downhill and they passed me on the flats. I caught back up to them as they stopped at the 4.5 mile (now about 17 miles) aid station. They lingered and I refilled a bottle and took off. They passed me on the second hill, and I passed them again on the flats. They passed me on the next hill, and I caught up to them and we walked/ran together to the 8.5 (now 21 mile) aid station. Shortly before this I had a big scare as my left toe caught a rock on a downhill single track section and I stumbled before catching my balance (no fall). I refilled another bottle and took off as Sablle and Jorge lingered.
They passed me one final time up a hill before the bike path and I would not see them again until the finish. Sablle was told that she was the second place woman at this point. The second loop was noticeable slower for me compared to the first loop. I didn't have much foot pain that I've been fighting through recently, but there was a not-so-subtle fatigue factor that kept me from opening up my stride. I went through the marathon distance (two loops but actually short ~25 miles) in about 4:30:40. This meant that if I could manage sub 12:00 minute miles, I should reach my 5:30 goal.
The final out-and-back consisted of the bike path to the first hill, and then over/around that hill and back along the bike path. I saw a couple of 50km runners on the way out, but only a couple. I walked the hill and ran down considerable slower than before. I started running most of the bike path back trying not to walk too much of the hills. At mile 28 I started wondering if my legs were going to seize up as they did at that point in July's 6 hour run, but fortunately they never did. There were several 50km runners going out as I was coming back. I managed to pick up the pace slightly over the last ¾ miles or so and almost caught up to a woman in front of me (not Sablle).
I finished in 5:24:40, good enough for 11th out of the 26 50km finishers and 2nd out of the 5 50-59 year old males. My Garmin had the race at 29.52 miles which is almost exactly 11:00 mile average – slower than my goal pace, but the hills were non-trivial. Garmin had the elevation change at about 3800-3900 feet compared to the web site's stated elevation of 2670 feet.
Sablle had indeed passed the first place woman and won her gender in 5:20:27, while Jorge had some gastric issues at the completion of the second loop and had to open up the sluices at both ends (so to speak). He recovered though and went on to complete the 50km in 5:27:56.
Helen got a nice video of me finishing. The after party was very sparse as most of the shorter distance finishers had long left and very few were now coming in. I had a burger and a beer which was pretty awesome. The course was extremely well marked with colored ribbons and everyone had a great attitude. The weather couldn't have been better. I got a nice finisher's medal, a 50km finisher's coaster, and a 2nd place age group medal.
1: 9:48
2: 10:37
3: 10:34
4: 9:30
5: 12:34
6: 9:52
7: 11:26
8: 10:17
9: 11:22
10: 8:46
11: 10:38
12: 9:55
13: 9:47
14: 10:14
15: 12:19
16: 10:21
17: 13:46
18: 11:14
19: 10:54
20: 12:43
21: 13:50
22: 9:52
23: 11:32
24: 10:41
25: 10:45
26: 10:30
27: 13:25
28: 11:17
29: 11:04
30: 5:04 (0.52 mi on Garmin)