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| Mile 8 |
My training leading up to Speedgoat was stellar. For the last two months we have been in
the San Juan mountains of Colorado and my training has been exclusively in the
high alpine. My race at the San
Juan Solstice 50 was a great stepping-stone to getting into great mountain
running shape and I was very happy with my fitness going into the race.
Tuesday night of the week of the race I woke up with a sore
throat and by Wednesday I had a full on head cold. Wednesday, I wasn’t optimistic that I would be racing, but
still thought it wasn’t impossible to recover before the race. Thursday I felt pretty weak but not
terrible, so I decided to head to the race and see how it would work out. Thursday night I didn’t sleep well and
only got maybe 3 hours of sleep and my head cold was still there Friday
morning, but my legs and energy levels felt reasonable and so I decided to give
it a go.
Hydration, Nutrition, Gear:
I raced with Ryder sunglasses, a visor, Injinji socks and
Hoka Bondis. For hydration I used
my trusty 20oz Amphipod hand water bottle. For nutrition I used Vitrago. This race I further increased my
calorie intake to nearly 400 calories per hour, which is double what I was able
to do with EFS or GU. My stomach
felt fine the whole race and I never felt I was “bonking”. I know taking in double the calories
and furthermore, taking in double the calories of anyone else I know or race
against, is a HUGE advantage.
The pre-race was a serious social event. We all sort of hung out and chatted for
quite a bit before the race started, which wasn’t bad, but different. Karl gave the go and we began up the
mountain. Just a few minutes into
the race Ricky Gates and Killian were ahead, but had made a wrong turn and
Anton and I directed them back the right way. Over the next few miles Thomas Lorblanchet, Jason Loutit,
Anton, James Bonnet, Jorge Maravillia, Dylan Bowman and Max King shuffled back
and forth and stayed within visual range, but Ricky and Killian were out of
site up front. My body felt pretty
good and I didn’t notice any terrible flatness, but I also didn’t feel
outstanding either. I kept things
under control, but tried to make sure to keep the effort harder than a 50 mile
effort, as most of my races are 50 miles, not 50k, in distance.
I forgot my racing watch (women’s basic running timex), so I
was a little lost a few times on where I was in the race. I did know the mileage at most of
the aid stations. Getting to the
mile 8 summit seemed to take a long time and I’m not sure if that was a sign of
me not feeling great or if it was just not having a watch. At the summit, Ricky and Killian were
long gone and James, Loutitt, Anton and Max were out of site. I was running just behind Dylan and
Lorblanchet coming to the summit in around 8th place. I felt confident and was full of smiles
for all the awesome fans at the peak.
It was really cool having some people out to watch the race supporting,
cheering and just watching the athletes.
The next few miles down from the summit were OK, but from
about mile 10-14 I pretty much had a disaster. The whole day I struggled on the down hills and on this down
hill I was passed by close to 10 people.
I had no energy and I just wasn’t able to turn it on at all. The wheels had come off and the fatigue
from being sick was unavoidable. Before the turn around for the out and back I made the
decision that I was A) Going to just take it easy and jog and walk the rest of
the course as a training run or B)Drop when I got back to the other side of the
mountain. I was 100% decided on
this decision for at least 2 or 3 miles headed to the aid station at mile
15.
At the turn around we started back up-hill and within just a
few minutes I began to gain on the runners ahead of me. All of a sudden, in just a couple miles,
I was back in the top 10 and dropping or giving up on racing was out of my
mind. I was shocked. About a thousand feet below the ridge I
moved into 9th place with Bonnet just ahead of me and Dylan not far
ahead either. I passed Bonnet and
then Dylan. Dylan made the
comment, “I suck at climbing” and I replied back that he absolutely does not
and that we are just racing with the best climbers in the world today.
Less than a mile from the summit I caught up to Anton where
we caught and passed Lorblanchet and moved into 4th and 5th
place. I was feeling really good
at this point, but shortly after passing Lorblanchet, Anton put a minute or two
on me over the next few miles that I couldn’t cover (at around mile 20).
I was very happy to be in 5th place and had
certainly re-focused on racing after my earlier decision to totally
give-up. I have never had such a
huge change of heart during a race before and have only once before ever
decided to pretty much quit (DNF at Bandera this January). Heading back downhill I lost a lot of
ground to Lorblanchet, which was the trend the whole race. My downhill running was just
horrible. On the way down to the
final climb of the race, around mile 23 I think, I was passed by Lorblanchet
and moved into sixth place. On the
last climb I really, really slowed and was moving at a crawl. A kilometer from the top, Phillip
Reiter passed me and gave me some words of encouragement, as it was obvious I
was dying.
I probably lost around 4-8 minutes in the last climb over a
few miles. I was miserable and the
only thing that mattered to me was getting to the top and then finishing without
being passed. At the aid station
at the summit I took the longest break I have ever taken during a race. I drank two cups of water, filled my
hand water bottle and nearly fell down in exhaustion. I proceeded to use wet towels to soak my body with cold
water and then finally started down the trail. I needed a re-charge and break. Needless to say the last 5 miles were rough. I was dead set on not being passed on
the finish descent. I gave
everything I had getting down. I
was grunting, hugging and puffing the whole way. I played mind games where I would reward myself for getting
down the trail. My first rewards
were drinks of water, then it was pouring water on my head, then pouring the
remainder on my head and putting the bottle in my shorts and then finally taking
off my shirt.
My rewards were over and I still had another solid mile of
endless back and forth switchbacks.
The grade was really mellow for the last few miles, which was in one way
nice, but made the finish descent take forever.
I finished 7th in 5:44 and change (less than a minute
from the old course record) and accomplished my goal of not being passed on the
final descent. My legs are now
ridiculously sore from the final descent, but it was worth it. At the finish I was more exhausted than
I have been at any other ultra race.
I forced my body to perform in a compromised state and I am proud of how
well it did. I certainly know
being healthy for the race would have made a significant difference, but as it
is with endurance athletics, there is always (or almost always) something, some
factor, some excuse, some injury, change in training, a wrong turn, whatever, that
isn’t as we wanted or planned. I
had a few firsts this race and it overall it was a magnificent journey. I am
very happy with my result and more encouraged than ever on what I can do as a
trail runner.
Karl really put on an awesome race. Hanging out with friends, meeting new
people and of course racing against many of the best in the world made for a
fantastic weekend.
