Notes
Wow. That was a whole hell of a lot of things and an experience. Watch Details:
6373 calories, 79,268 steps, average heart rate of 147. Huh, that's a little lower than I would have expected I think?
Conditions:
I would say it was a tiny bit warmer than I'd really like, but that's a quibble. We started in the low 50s with minimal wind - by the turnaround, the wind was picking up. But because it was a point to point, it was a tailwind almost all the way home. It was definitely starting to warm up by around mile 29-ish, but it was also shady enough that it wasn't too much of a problem.
Course Report:
Man, this is a pretty course if you're a fan of bucolic landscapes! I'm a fan, so this is pretty sweet. Also, there was less farm stink than you'd expect, which is always a pleasant surprise. The detour around the tunnel is rough, but in that kind of expected way - there's a tunnel because trains and short sharp hills create excellent videos but are terrible for actually being useful. Aid stations were very well spaced - the longest gap was Tin Can to Hollywood and even that was about 10K, which is reasonable. It was also pretty well marked; I was paranoid about missing the turns, so I had mentally reviewed the course more than reasonable. The turn at Golf Course road at mile 24 was a little less well marked, but that's compared to a broad flour swipe at mile 10.
Race Report, divided by Aid Stations:
Mile 0 to 3.8 (Tunnel Rd)
Problems start immediately - I started out way too fast and I needed to drop back way further. I can run 8:15 pace for a 50K (in theory) but I needed to be jogging much, much easier. That said, I ended up pushing up and running with Aidan starting around mile 2 of this section. He was an excellent guy to run with. No stop at the aid station this time by; we were still barely within sight of the leaders, which is incorrect.
3.8 to 9.5 (Hollywood)
Aidan and I ran this entire section together and that was a great choice - the detour started at the aid station. In hindsight, this is where I should have stopped to grab food and forced something else down. I had started eating my packet of clifBloks, but that's only 200 calories and I needed to be aiming for way more than that. This is also where Aidan made a comment along the lines of "I figured there'd be more people going out too hard", which earned a brief glance from me because we were those people at that time (*okay, to be precise, I was that person - Aidan ended up finishing 30 minutes ahead of me). We did stop at Hollywood and I got more water and swapped one bottle over to UCAN. At this point, I had eaten half the bloks or thereabouts. Note that my Hollywood split is 1:18:45, which is a big red flag.
9.5 to 15.6 (Tin Can Rd), 50K turnaround
Aidan peeled off to fertilize the swamp at mile 11-ish (he ended finishing in 8th, right behind his dad). At this point, I was cruising solo - in hindsight, this is where I should have started the run-walk to (a) wait for more people and (b) make eating on the run easier. I finished off the bloks and a vanilla gu around mile 14 or so and was feeling pretty solid at this point. I was definitely out over my skis, but it felt more subtle - this is where the lack of experience started to come firmly into place. At the aid station, I got some chips, had a pee, and then set off, now semi-solidly in third overall. Again, that's not at all where I should have been.
15.6 to 20.9 (Trail Rd)
This was a long, kind of lonely section. Again, I should have been forcing more slowness here with some walking, but my competitive/jealous spirit was not willing to start walking while in third (which is stupid, yes). We did run through some small town that had something going on - looking at the map, I think it was the Albany Lions Club? Weird to have an event at 8:30 AM on Saturday, but not as weird as I originally thought! Outside of that, this was not a particularly interesting or notable section. The aid station was nice and I did have a moment of deep confusion because I didn't recognize the pink flamingo as (a) pink or (b) a flamingo, so that was exciting. I grabbed a mini snickers bar here and that wasn't super pleasing.
20.9 to 25.9 (Putnam Park)
Systems were still okay at this point, but there were more warning lights flashing pretty hard. I was still mostly solo at this point, but there were more non-racers out on the course so there was starting to be a trickle of cyclists. At mile 24ish, we turned off the trail onto Golf Course Road, which was unpleasantly sunny - this section of the trail is almost completely canopy covered, so the extra sun wasn't ideal. Once I hit the park where we turned toward the lake, I realized that I was starting to flag pretty badly, so I committed to walking until I was passed by someone. The other factor in this was that I didn't see the turnaround and my watch was at 24.7, meaning that it was going to be comfortably over 50 miles. I did see the two leaders coming back around mile 25ish (somewhere between 24.5 and 25.6), which was a bit alarming. I also saw fourth and fifth before hitting the aid station. I took a long break at Putnam Park and started to get into a worse headspace. The aid station folks did help, but I should have been smarter and forced down way more food, even if I needed to walk back along the river while eating. I actually think I might have been too aggressive with aid stations in general, but I was very worried about burning too much time waiting. That's silly with where I'm at! Refueling was bad, but I had half a gatorade and too few pretzels - both of those should have been about twice as much. I also should have grabbed one of the clif bars for later, since the fruit snacks and solitary gu were good, but too small.
25.9 to 31.1 (Trail Rd)
I started walking a lot more aggressively for this section - there was a gentle climb up from the river that was all walking on the way back. This was also where I started very aggressively counting down, which I do not recommend. It works, but it was hard to get my head around it and force my brain to stay in the moment. The catastrophic calorie deficit was also not helping. I did manage 70-30 running walking for a good portion of this, but it was starting to get a little labored at this point. I had a good big handful of chips at the aid station with some ginger ale - the ginger ale was very pleasing, so I should remember to jam way more of that while running. There is also a cool covered bridge around mile 28 (I think). Also, we had to cross Golf Course Road again and that was SUPER confusing in the moment - the turn at mile 24 was on Golf Course Road and on the way in, I didn't see the road name.
31.1 to 36.2 (Tin Can Rd)
One other runner cruised through Trail Rd and the aid station folks bade me well to go chase him down - I really wasn't trying to, but I caught up with him around mile 32/33. I finished a run cycle as I caught him and struck up a conversation, really hoping that he'd be okay with some chatting to keep the legs rolling. Happily, Mike was and even better was a cool guy to talk to - former college wrestler, but had only started running at the beginning of COVID (!!!) We ended up staying together through Albany and something like mile 34ish - I was running a little quicker, but also starting to cramp up more urgently. At the Tin Can Rd aid station, I was really struggling. I would say this was around the point where the leg cramping was not awful, but in that pre-cramp shininess. Like it wasn't actually cramping, but it was seconds from locking up. I grabbed a tortilla here and if I had taken a bit better stock of the situation (aka next time), I would have housed a brat here. If I'm going to be hiking for the next 16 miles (which was the headspace at the time), food would have helped so much. And I wasn't hiking fast enough for my stomach to be off - of course, you need food in it to feel off! I did grab a plain tortilla because I knew I needed something more than just chips.
36.2 to 42.5 (Hollywood)
The tortilla was eventually pitched into the woods after about 3/4 of a mile after confirming that, no, actually this was a mistake. I want to say that I ran maybe 50 steps between these two aid stations? This was a long, long, LONG hike. I had my fruit snacks and the chocolate gu while hiking and that was good, which did confirm that I hadn't been smart with fueling. There was one stinky section on this path right around Zuehkle Road, which was surprising because it was very bucolic. This could be a very manure-y course, but it was not bad at all. This is where I think I lost by far the most time. The aid station at Hollywood was a struggle; I sat for probably the longest since the turnaround. But there were also so many people around, which was lovely. The aid station folks also gave me a beer that was lovely and didn't go directly to my head (I might have been a little out of it). I saw Mike again here, but he was definitely struggling again - happily, he tucked under 10! (I have no idea what his original goal was, but sub-10 feels like a good achievement). I also had about 15 tater tots while walking out of the aid station, which was something to moderate the beer a little bit.
42.5 to 48.8 (Tunnel Rd)
I started singing the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (because of course I did) here while sipping along. I had a not-IPA, since I don't have the beard to enjoy IPAs, which I thought was very funny. (Background - one of the spectators noticed my reaction to the IPA and he had a very stylish beard - the woman handing me the beer was a little non-plussed and I couldn't think of a good response). This was another fairly long walk - I guess it was more than 3 miles, which it didn't really feel like? I think having something cold helped a bit, as did the bandanna full of ice on the neck before everything melted. Around mile 45/46, the third place woman and her pacer went by. I had finished my beer, so I gave running a brief try and it was working a bit! I ended up catching up to there and we started chatting. I suspect the pacer realized that I was kind of in deep (thank you Jean or Julie - I completely spaced on your name) and that having another body would be good for the hilly detour. And boy howdy, that detour is somehow like 90% of the hills on the course! But having Hallie and her pacer forced me to modulate down more aggressively. Rolling into the aid station at the final turn was a good feeling. Here's where I made a minor error - since I was back to running, I figured I didn't need more water. I didn't really think about the cramping situation.
48.8 to 52 (Finish)
About .2 beyond the aid station my legs stopped rolling with the punches and the two women disappeared into the distance - Hallie did hang onto third female and they put at least 10 minutes into me for the last 4 miles. With them gone, I was back into the long hike mode - again, I can still hike at around 14-15 minute miles if I'm focusing and pushing a bit. I wasn't pushing too much, but I did also learn that my watch can only have 50 laps! I roughly split 50 at 9:07ish and 51 at 9:22 (or 9:21:xx high). The tenth overall runner did pass me in the last mile or so, but I was in no condition to chase; also, I didn't really realize he was tenth overall. Turning into the park was lovely and I did manage to get a little bit of downhill boost to get my legs rolling for the last quarter, even if I also walked the second-to-last uphill. The ground was a bit muddy through the last little bit and then I was done. Happily, Maria was waiting at the finish, which is always nice. Jean or Julie was also there and very kindly helped stretch out my left leg as it started to cramp a bit while I was laying down. (Yes, I don't recommend this - but I also didn't want to stand anymore). I did get a hug from the race director as well, which was very kind.
Post-Race Damage Report:
24 hours post race, the reports are stunningly good. I have one large blister on my right foot between big and second toe that's fluid-filled and wraps around a bit, but is not painful. Two other minor blisters that aren't overly noticeable. A minor (very minor) bit of rubbing on the left side of my chest where the buckle is on my vest. A bit of chafing between my knees. And that's it - no groin issues, minimal sunburn, no nipple issues. Vaseline is a hell of a product. Of course, legs don't feel great. The one point of serious concern is my lower back - it's not awful while sitting, but it's noticeable if I'm standing up or trying to grab something off the floor. That bears close monitoring and is definitely a sign that my core is way weaker than it should be.
Gear Report:
Shoes were Saucony Ride 13s starting with 350 miles in them - I think I needed a little more structure in the second half and should have switched to the Tempos. I didn't because the tempos are aggressive enough that they are a little worse for walking and I didn't want to. Socks were some older Balega hidden structures; good, but a little old and worn down. Shirt was the Bigfoot running neon shirt; shorts were Odlo boxer briefs - clothing was basically perfect. Vest is a camelbak something with floppy bottles and that was something to play around with more.
Takeaways:
1) Fueling is a massive problem for me with ultras. I need to figure out how to force down additional food if I'm going to be running this long. I think this is fixable with a bit of tweaking and being much smarter with what I'm drinking - aka double-checking that UCAN has calories.
2) Figure out what I like that's savory rather than sweet. Potato chips were good, so I probably should have worked with those more. I should really think about rice balls actually - I think that could hit the split point between savory and slightly more calorically dense (and I will eat the hell out of rice).
3) Be smarter about running with people more. This was a small enough race that I was solo for probably 50-60% of the race and that's doable. That said, the sections with Aidan, Mike, and Hailie and Jean (??) were so much better that it would have behooved me to be focused on dialing back hard.
4) More structured walking! If I'm focused on walking a bit harder, I can walk a touch under 15 minute miles, which is fast enough that 70-30 run/walk is around 10-11 minute miles. That's in the low 9s and theoretically more manageable.
5) Better training and specifically more core strength combined with potentially trying some different vests. I think the vest that I have is a tiny bit too small and the bottles are awkward. I think getting a proper CamelBak, like I had while biking, would be a good thought. I suspect it would get a little warm, but that's a correctable issue.
6) Back to fueling - I know this isn't news, but beer. That gave me just a little bump to keep the systems going and I do think that's something to poke around at. Maybe the Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic stuff as fueling?
7) Walk each and every hill, regardless of where in the course it was. The detour had some nice big rollers and the smart choice would have been to yank chute on the first hill to slow down.
Overall, this was something very cool. As far as I can remember, this is the farthest I've ever moved in a single day under my own power - I've never ridden more than 40 miles to the best of my memory. And that's something that I'm pretty proud of.