Helfer and Brent 8/13
H
 |
| Gobbler's / Raymond |
 |
| Red Pine Lake, heading up Pfeifferhon |
 |
| Night run with Peter and Chris up Mormon Pioneer |
 |
| Helfer on Sunset Pass |
 |
| Gotta love summer in the Wasatch |
 |
| Coming off Lookout Peak |
 |
| Grandeur Peak |
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Summer Running
Sunday, August 7, 2011
2011 Speedgoat 50k Race Report
2 hours into the race, about 5,000 feet of vertical completed with about 7,000 still to go, and I find myself in the company of Nick Clark, Scott Jaime, and Joe Grant and we have just spent about 15 minutes climbing an extra 500+ feet of vertical in the wrong direction past 'Larry's Hole' aid station. As it turns out the pestering and increasingly insistent cries from aid station volunteers far below were directed towards us after all and not merely cheers for passing runners. A few expletives muttered, we clamored off the steep scree slope and back towards the aid station to pick up the correct trail, now in about 12th-15th places and with a newly found urgency to a run that had felt downright conversational to this point.
Karl Meltzer's sadistic brainchild, the Speedgoat 50k is a true mountain run that begins at Snowbird and climbs and descends a brutal 11,500 feet over the course of 31 miles over single track, jeep roads, creek beds, scree, talus, and snowfields with ropes placed for safety, all between 8,000 and 11,000 feet.
Bethany and I stayed up at Snowbird the night before with my sister Zoe graciously offering to watch Ada during our race. As we lined up at the start I felt groggy and it slowly dawned on me that I had done very little thinking or mental preparation for what lay ahead. A heavy (relatively speaking) 4 weeks of training had left my legs feeling pretty dead and I figured I would treat this run as a long training effort in the mountains rather than a real race. True to form, this intention lasted all of about 5 minutes until I found myself running all alone in no-mans land in 5th place with Nick, Joe, Scott, and one other dude running about 100 yards ahead. What the heck. I accelerated to catch up to the back of the lead pack thinking that if I blow up, I'll just have to blow up.
Happily, the running felt smooth and easy all the way over the first ascent of Hidden Peak. I found that I had a lower threshold than the other guys for breaking into a fast hike on the steeper stuff but didn't ever lose any ground in doing so and my breathing and effort felt controlled. At the same time I knew I was in over my head based on the company I was with which gave me a jolt of excitement. All in all it worked out pretty well mentally as I was just pretty damn pleased with myself to be climbing with the likes of these guys in a race like this.
We crested Hidden Peak as a group of four but then quickly spread out on the nasty technical traverse and descent off Baldy. Per usual form I was a wussy on the downhills and got gapped pretty significantly here despite the fact that I was wearing huge, baffoonishly-cushioned, downhill-confidence-inspiring, Meltzer-sanctioned clown shoes. Joe and I were a study in contrasts on this section as he basically floated down the steep loose terrain barely touching ground clad in the Tarahumara-esque New Balance MT 110 prototypes.
I gradually made up the gap on the climb to Larry's Hole where we then proceeded to lose between 20-25 minutes going off on flagged trail that we weren't supposed to be on for another 10 miles or so. Realizing that I wouldn't be in it for the win anyway it wasn't too big a deal to me but it was pretty energy-zapping to rejoin the course now having lost about 8 places or so. Somewhere in rejoining the course Scott Jaime fell back a bit and I didn't see him till the end of the race. I was able to pass a few folks on the long, difficult creek-bed descent to Pacific Mine but this was a tough stretch for me and I quickly lost sight of both Nick and Joe. On this stretch into the aid station I ran and chatted a bit with Andy Dorais, another resident physician at the Univ. of Utah in Emergency Medicine into the aid station.
I caught Nick and Joe at the aid station and headed out shortly after them (in the process learning that Karl had now designated $1000 bucks for the winner given the off-course meanderings.) Nick Pedatella, who had stayed on course, had about an 8 minute lead leaving the aid station. Joe and I traded places for a while, pulling each other up the interminable climb back up to Hidden Peak but about half way up things started going south and I began bonking in earnest: a state unimproved by a 500-700 foot near-vertical grunt off trail up the side of a slope that had me stopping every 5 steps to avoid what felt to be an impending black-out. Vision black around the edges, I finally topped out and took about a minute breather to regroup and get some calories and fluids in (had neglected this domain in my haste after going off course). I stumbled off towards the tunnel and another seemingly unending descent before the final climb up the Peruvian Ridge.
While I felt like shit on the whole descent I began to feel pretty good again climbing the long spine back up to Hidden Peak, due in part to the renewed commitment to nutrition but also because of the spectacular scenery. Despite climbing well I was now pretty far behind the two Nicks and Joe and knew that I didn't stand much of a chance of gaining ground on the 5 mile descent to the finish given my respective downhilling ability over the course of the day. I focused my efforts instead on enjoying the last hour or so of the run and maintaining my 4th place- which I did until the finish. 6:23:25. Without the detour this would have been close to 6:00 by my watch. At the finish I was surprised to learn that Nick Clark had passed Nick P in the final miles to take the win by a few scant minutes and Joe was not far behind for 3rd. Impressive stuff.
I hung out a bit at the finish line drinking some fluids and chatting and then cheered in Bethany, first Nannie to cross the finish line for a prize of 500 smackaroos and a nice new down puffy with a time of 6:44:30. I then spent the rest of the afternoon basking in her reflected glory and congratulating myself for staying ahead of her all day. In what has to be a first, she actually looked worse than I did upon finishing this one: probably something to do with having spent 2 weeks in Ghana with little running and then very minimal running for 2-3 weeks following due to injury. Our recovery for this one was not helped by the fact that later that evening we boarded a red-eye flight to Maine with a squirmy Ada and slept about 7 minutes total.
Chris Helfer, finishing his first ultramarathon ever, placed 32nd in an impressive 7:26, becoming so hypomanically-excited and disinhibited in the process that he then proceeded to immediately sign up for running over 3 times that distance at the Bear 100 in a short 8 weeks time. I like the cut of that man's jib.
A couple photos of the course from Tetsuro Ogato's FaceBook postings:
And check out some recent video of running in the Wasatch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g1b-ZAKNqY
Karl Meltzer's sadistic brainchild, the Speedgoat 50k is a true mountain run that begins at Snowbird and climbs and descends a brutal 11,500 feet over the course of 31 miles over single track, jeep roads, creek beds, scree, talus, and snowfields with ropes placed for safety, all between 8,000 and 11,000 feet.
Bethany and I stayed up at Snowbird the night before with my sister Zoe graciously offering to watch Ada during our race. As we lined up at the start I felt groggy and it slowly dawned on me that I had done very little thinking or mental preparation for what lay ahead. A heavy (relatively speaking) 4 weeks of training had left my legs feeling pretty dead and I figured I would treat this run as a long training effort in the mountains rather than a real race. True to form, this intention lasted all of about 5 minutes until I found myself running all alone in no-mans land in 5th place with Nick, Joe, Scott, and one other dude running about 100 yards ahead. What the heck. I accelerated to catch up to the back of the lead pack thinking that if I blow up, I'll just have to blow up.
Happily, the running felt smooth and easy all the way over the first ascent of Hidden Peak. I found that I had a lower threshold than the other guys for breaking into a fast hike on the steeper stuff but didn't ever lose any ground in doing so and my breathing and effort felt controlled. At the same time I knew I was in over my head based on the company I was with which gave me a jolt of excitement. All in all it worked out pretty well mentally as I was just pretty damn pleased with myself to be climbing with the likes of these guys in a race like this.
We crested Hidden Peak as a group of four but then quickly spread out on the nasty technical traverse and descent off Baldy. Per usual form I was a wussy on the downhills and got gapped pretty significantly here despite the fact that I was wearing huge, baffoonishly-cushioned, downhill-confidence-inspiring, Meltzer-sanctioned clown shoes. Joe and I were a study in contrasts on this section as he basically floated down the steep loose terrain barely touching ground clad in the Tarahumara-esque New Balance MT 110 prototypes.
I gradually made up the gap on the climb to Larry's Hole where we then proceeded to lose between 20-25 minutes going off on flagged trail that we weren't supposed to be on for another 10 miles or so. Realizing that I wouldn't be in it for the win anyway it wasn't too big a deal to me but it was pretty energy-zapping to rejoin the course now having lost about 8 places or so. Somewhere in rejoining the course Scott Jaime fell back a bit and I didn't see him till the end of the race. I was able to pass a few folks on the long, difficult creek-bed descent to Pacific Mine but this was a tough stretch for me and I quickly lost sight of both Nick and Joe. On this stretch into the aid station I ran and chatted a bit with Andy Dorais, another resident physician at the Univ. of Utah in Emergency Medicine into the aid station.
I caught Nick and Joe at the aid station and headed out shortly after them (in the process learning that Karl had now designated $1000 bucks for the winner given the off-course meanderings.) Nick Pedatella, who had stayed on course, had about an 8 minute lead leaving the aid station. Joe and I traded places for a while, pulling each other up the interminable climb back up to Hidden Peak but about half way up things started going south and I began bonking in earnest: a state unimproved by a 500-700 foot near-vertical grunt off trail up the side of a slope that had me stopping every 5 steps to avoid what felt to be an impending black-out. Vision black around the edges, I finally topped out and took about a minute breather to regroup and get some calories and fluids in (had neglected this domain in my haste after going off course). I stumbled off towards the tunnel and another seemingly unending descent before the final climb up the Peruvian Ridge.
While I felt like shit on the whole descent I began to feel pretty good again climbing the long spine back up to Hidden Peak, due in part to the renewed commitment to nutrition but also because of the spectacular scenery. Despite climbing well I was now pretty far behind the two Nicks and Joe and knew that I didn't stand much of a chance of gaining ground on the 5 mile descent to the finish given my respective downhilling ability over the course of the day. I focused my efforts instead on enjoying the last hour or so of the run and maintaining my 4th place- which I did until the finish. 6:23:25. Without the detour this would have been close to 6:00 by my watch. At the finish I was surprised to learn that Nick Clark had passed Nick P in the final miles to take the win by a few scant minutes and Joe was not far behind for 3rd. Impressive stuff.
I hung out a bit at the finish line drinking some fluids and chatting and then cheered in Bethany, first Nannie to cross the finish line for a prize of 500 smackaroos and a nice new down puffy with a time of 6:44:30. I then spent the rest of the afternoon basking in her reflected glory and congratulating myself for staying ahead of her all day. In what has to be a first, she actually looked worse than I did upon finishing this one: probably something to do with having spent 2 weeks in Ghana with little running and then very minimal running for 2-3 weeks following due to injury. Our recovery for this one was not helped by the fact that later that evening we boarded a red-eye flight to Maine with a squirmy Ada and slept about 7 minutes total.
Chris Helfer, finishing his first ultramarathon ever, placed 32nd in an impressive 7:26, becoming so hypomanically-excited and disinhibited in the process that he then proceeded to immediately sign up for running over 3 times that distance at the Bear 100 in a short 8 weeks time. I like the cut of that man's jib.
A couple photos of the course from Tetsuro Ogato's FaceBook postings:
Course profile from http://karlmeltzer.com:
And check out some recent video of running in the Wasatch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g1b-ZAKNqY
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Millcreek 50k 2011
It's about 2:00am, I'm all alone, and I come across a single man and his dog with 2 water jugs in the middle of the upper Millcreek wilderness. What a great event.
The Millcreek 50k is a low-key, no-entry fee, informal race that starts at 9pm and runs through the night. This year was an 'up' year so we started at the base of the west route up Grandeur Peak. About 40 or 50 folks started out (? unsure on the numbers here) with a low-key "Go!" and off we went ambling down Wasatch Blvd on the pavement for about 5 minutes or so before the trailhead. On the way up Grandeur I found myself in 3rd place behind Jared Campbell and one other guy who had a decent lead going up the steep grade. I plugged my headphones in my ears and just focused on maintaining an easy, relatively unlabored effort up the climb. About 2/3 up the 3000ft climb I caught up to them and we hiked together conversationally over the summit which we hit in about 56 minutes (estimated 50 minutes from the trailhead?). The sun had fallen below the horizon and we flipped our headlamps on just prior to the descent. Being a weenie on the downs I took my time and quickly lost sight of these guys. (Jared had one week prior finished 75 miles of the Hardrock 100 and certainly wasn't showing any signs of it- pretty damn impressive. I continue to be incredulous at the feats some of these ultrarunning folk pull off).
The descent was fun and I started really enjoying the feel of the evening as it cooled off and the increasing dark shrunk my field of vision to the narrow field of my headlamp. I ran fairly leisurely along pipeline, again reminding myself that this was just to be a relaxed training run and was pleased to finally catch back up to Jared heading up towards Elbow Fork. We ran together through the aid station at mile 9, crossing the road to run the steep up and down over to Terraces. We then began a tough climb up to Baker's Pass, passing the other fellow who'd been running with us in the process. I took the lead here and without really intending to started pulling away. It was a long climb and by the top I couldn't see any lights below me. At this point, under halfway through the race, we had already logged over 7000 vertical. I stopped for a bit, turned off my headlamp, and enjoyed the feeling of being on this ridge between Gobblers and Mt. Raymond in the full moonlight in the middle of the night without another soul around. Spectacular.
The course then followed a long, rolling, and side-hilling traverse over to Dog Lake with views into Big Cottonwood Canyon. The course markings were sparse through here and the trail was pretty overgrown: more than a few times I wondered if I was on the right trail but figured given my estimated whereabouts and direction that I was heading in the right direction anyhow. Took a couple benign diggers on this section but was feeling great. I had filled 2 bottles at mile 9 but was running low at this point and thinking it would be nice to restock with some water at Dog Lake. Coming into Dog Lake I took a mistaken right instead of going straight (no course markings here) and ended up losing some time noisily poking around some tent sites (sorry to the campers who made a couple questioning grunts). Little did they know there was a stinky ultrarunner poking around their site at 1am.
I finally got my bearings and had to backtrack a bit to the aid station, crossing paths with Jared in the process who was just heading towards Blunder Fork and then Desolation. It was one dude, his dog, and 2 jugs of water just hanging out in the middle of the woods all night. Amazing. Thanks to all the volunteers who supported us out there. I drank a full bottle then filled both of them and headed out. In my meandering I started having a bit of a rough patch and suddenly for the first time in the race didn't feel so great. The descent to Blunder Fork felt alright but I felt pretty out of juice on the steep climb towards Desolation. I ate some Shot Bloks, drank some water, and gradually started to feel better. By the time I got on the Wasatch Crest I felt great again and started picking up the pace. Having Jared now in front of me was a great carrot and I started actually feeling the competitive juices flow at this point. It was mainly downhill, much of it on pretty sweet singletrack so I just let it fly and for the first time in the night tried to run fast (which isn't saying much). Felt good on the descent to the Big Water trailhead but never caught sight of Jared- pretty amazing to be able to descend like that 1 week after a long effort at Hardrock. Rolled in to the finish in 6:18, about 7 minutes back from Jared but still over 20 minutes under the old course record. I then immediately ate 2 delicious hot pancakes with syrup. I tell you man, this was probably one of the coolest events I've ever done. Jason Berry was there having been forced to drop out at Dog Lake after taking a nasty fall and hurting his back. He, Jared, and I drove back down to the base of Millcreek together.
Needless to say, didn't get much sleep over the rest of the night but the legs felt pretty damn good the next day regardless. With a quick jaunt up Mt. Wire this AM that put me at over 17,000 vertical for the week and about 35,000 vertical for the last 2 weeks. Definitely wasn't doing that shit when I lived in Iowa...
Here's some photos from the Wasatch in early summer:
 |
| Unnamed peak above Neffs Canyon |
 |
| Lake Blanche |
 |
| It's July! |
 |
| Twin Peaks |
 |
| Mt. Wire |
 |
| Nice buttery singletrack around Red Butte |
Saturday, June 4, 2011
2011 Pocatello 50 Race Report
Stats: 54.4 miles; about 13,000 ft elevation gain, 13,000 ft descending.
Prerace:
Was a bit nervous for this one as I had cut back on my running significantly in the previous 3 weeks for a combination of factors (a lot of traveling and a hurt L. metatarsal). The week prior I had tested out my foot with a 2 hour run with about 3000 vertical and decided to give the race a go with a modified insole with a hole cut out around my 2nd metatarsal head. My dad, my sister, Billy, and GG the dog accompanied us to Pocatello where we wussed out and got a hotel- mainly because we were worried that Ada would keep other campers up with her nightly squeals. After attending the prerace briefing I decided to go with tights for the race given uncertain weather conditions and traumatic memories of last year (severe windchill, white-out conditions, borderline hypothermia). Went to bed around 9:30 and set the alarm for 4:00. Got up, drank some coffee, ate a bagel and a Clif Bar, and headed out to the race start at 6am. Bethany was scheduled to start her race (50k) at 8:30.
1st leg: 17 miles. I believe I hit this in 2:50 but, having the direction sense of an 11 year old girl, I had gotten off course for somewhere in the vicinity of 5-10 minutes having gone straight instead of up the steep off-trail section (which was actually marked quite well.) Was running somewhere around 10th-12th place for most of this section, trading places with Ty Draney a bunch. After going off course I probably pushed too hard up the steep bushwacking section and by the end of that first leg my hamstrings were a bit tighter than I would have liked. Otherwise, energy and spirits were high as I headed out on the 2nd leg.
2nd leg: Felt good initially but started feeling like shit during the 'Barkley section' which involved a long hike up a creek with ample snow and mud. Poles would have been nice here. At the aid station just past the top of the climb I stopped only very briefly to fill up my 1 handheld bottle (prob. should have hydrated more here). Started feeling a bit better but still ran very conservatively back towards Mink Creek.
3rd leg: at the Aid station prior to starting the long climb up to Scout Camp I was cheered on by my dad, Zoe, Billy, and Ada. Switched shoes (into Hokas) which I thought would help my foot which was starting to hurt a bit more. Felt totally awesome after seeing them and took off considerably faster, climbing well all the way up to Scout Camp which involved a seemingly interminable out and back through loose snow and mud. Saw some of the folks in front of me here including Matt Hart, Joelle Vaught, Christian Johnson, Jeremy Humphrey. Just after I left the aid station Mindy Campbell came through running the 50k and we exchanged high-fives. On the way back I saw some of the folks not far behind me including Ty, Greg Norrander, and Bryon Powell. All of these guys looked really strong and seemed to be moving significantly faster than I felt I was going which inspired me to pick up my pace a bit. I tried to push the pace on the downs (energy felt good, aerobically felt good, but was pretty limited by hamstrings that would seize up on me if my stride lengthened out too much). Hit the aid again, said hi to Dad, and headed out for the final 7 miles.
4th leg: This last stretch was pretty rough. I think at this point my dehydration was really starting to catch up to me as it was getting almost impossible to take in any calories without retching. I continued to try to do 1 Gu every 20-30 minutes but over that last couple hours it wasn't happening. Just before the downhill I saw Jeremy 200 yards in front of me but he must have taken off after that as I never saw him again. Fell twice on the slippery, muddy downhill and then tried to push it out as best I could over the last 1.5 miles of road. Finished 11th overall, 10th male. Bethany had apparently finished the 50k as 1st woman, 4th overall, looking fresh as a daisy per my dad.
Aftermath:
Immediately on finishing I knew something was up. I was psyched to hear that Bethany won the women's 50k but I couldn't take in any fluid or food and just felt all around awful. My sister drove me back to the hotel where all I could manage to do was lie in the fetal position wimpering, vomiting when I tried to drink water. This went on for another 4.5 hours until we collectively made the decision to head into the local ED for some IV fluids. By the time the first liter was done I felt 1000x better and after 3L I felt like a new man.
Reflections:
Overall I'm really pleased with my effort and performance. Felt like I ran as strong as I could all day and dealt with some significant adversity. Felt better running the downhills than I've ever felt and after the race while I definitely had some hamstring soreness my quads felt totally fine. I felt almost completely recovered 4-5 days after the race. This being said, I definitely have a lot to learn about running trail ultras and was super impressed by the performances of the top male and female finishers. I'm not sure how exactly one runs 8:17 on that course but it definitely involves something pretty special. Notable mistakes I made include carrying only 1 water bottle, not keeping up on salt, not recognizing my dehydration at an early enough stage where I could have done something about it, and probably being overly concerned with racing early in the race after getting off-course when I should have just focused on keeping my effort even and easy instead of pushing the pace to 'catch up.'
The mental aspect of these longer races is interesting. While I was never tempted to drop out, by the end of the race I was totally spent from worrying about whether my body and energy would hold up the whole time. That constant monitoring of my foot, the hamstring cramping, my caloric intake, etc... was pretty mentally draining and it was a relief to cross the finish line and just not have to think about all of it anymore.
I'll definitely be back to this race next year: fantastic course, excellent support, deep field, and a big sense of adventure. Thanks to Jared and Ryan for putting on a great event. Thanks to my dad who came all the way out from Maine (unable to run because of injury and illness) to support us, as well as Billy and Zoe. Without these guys it would have been tough to get myself to the ED when I needed it.
Prerace:
Was a bit nervous for this one as I had cut back on my running significantly in the previous 3 weeks for a combination of factors (a lot of traveling and a hurt L. metatarsal). The week prior I had tested out my foot with a 2 hour run with about 3000 vertical and decided to give the race a go with a modified insole with a hole cut out around my 2nd metatarsal head. My dad, my sister, Billy, and GG the dog accompanied us to Pocatello where we wussed out and got a hotel- mainly because we were worried that Ada would keep other campers up with her nightly squeals. After attending the prerace briefing I decided to go with tights for the race given uncertain weather conditions and traumatic memories of last year (severe windchill, white-out conditions, borderline hypothermia). Went to bed around 9:30 and set the alarm for 4:00. Got up, drank some coffee, ate a bagel and a Clif Bar, and headed out to the race start at 6am. Bethany was scheduled to start her race (50k) at 8:30.
1st leg: 17 miles. I believe I hit this in 2:50 but, having the direction sense of an 11 year old girl, I had gotten off course for somewhere in the vicinity of 5-10 minutes having gone straight instead of up the steep off-trail section (which was actually marked quite well.) Was running somewhere around 10th-12th place for most of this section, trading places with Ty Draney a bunch. After going off course I probably pushed too hard up the steep bushwacking section and by the end of that first leg my hamstrings were a bit tighter than I would have liked. Otherwise, energy and spirits were high as I headed out on the 2nd leg.
2nd leg: Felt good initially but started feeling like shit during the 'Barkley section' which involved a long hike up a creek with ample snow and mud. Poles would have been nice here. At the aid station just past the top of the climb I stopped only very briefly to fill up my 1 handheld bottle (prob. should have hydrated more here). Started feeling a bit better but still ran very conservatively back towards Mink Creek.
3rd leg: at the Aid station prior to starting the long climb up to Scout Camp I was cheered on by my dad, Zoe, Billy, and Ada. Switched shoes (into Hokas) which I thought would help my foot which was starting to hurt a bit more. Felt totally awesome after seeing them and took off considerably faster, climbing well all the way up to Scout Camp which involved a seemingly interminable out and back through loose snow and mud. Saw some of the folks in front of me here including Matt Hart, Joelle Vaught, Christian Johnson, Jeremy Humphrey. Just after I left the aid station Mindy Campbell came through running the 50k and we exchanged high-fives. On the way back I saw some of the folks not far behind me including Ty, Greg Norrander, and Bryon Powell. All of these guys looked really strong and seemed to be moving significantly faster than I felt I was going which inspired me to pick up my pace a bit. I tried to push the pace on the downs (energy felt good, aerobically felt good, but was pretty limited by hamstrings that would seize up on me if my stride lengthened out too much). Hit the aid again, said hi to Dad, and headed out for the final 7 miles.
4th leg: This last stretch was pretty rough. I think at this point my dehydration was really starting to catch up to me as it was getting almost impossible to take in any calories without retching. I continued to try to do 1 Gu every 20-30 minutes but over that last couple hours it wasn't happening. Just before the downhill I saw Jeremy 200 yards in front of me but he must have taken off after that as I never saw him again. Fell twice on the slippery, muddy downhill and then tried to push it out as best I could over the last 1.5 miles of road. Finished 11th overall, 10th male. Bethany had apparently finished the 50k as 1st woman, 4th overall, looking fresh as a daisy per my dad.
Aftermath:
Immediately on finishing I knew something was up. I was psyched to hear that Bethany won the women's 50k but I couldn't take in any fluid or food and just felt all around awful. My sister drove me back to the hotel where all I could manage to do was lie in the fetal position wimpering, vomiting when I tried to drink water. This went on for another 4.5 hours until we collectively made the decision to head into the local ED for some IV fluids. By the time the first liter was done I felt 1000x better and after 3L I felt like a new man.
Reflections:
Overall I'm really pleased with my effort and performance. Felt like I ran as strong as I could all day and dealt with some significant adversity. Felt better running the downhills than I've ever felt and after the race while I definitely had some hamstring soreness my quads felt totally fine. I felt almost completely recovered 4-5 days after the race. This being said, I definitely have a lot to learn about running trail ultras and was super impressed by the performances of the top male and female finishers. I'm not sure how exactly one runs 8:17 on that course but it definitely involves something pretty special. Notable mistakes I made include carrying only 1 water bottle, not keeping up on salt, not recognizing my dehydration at an early enough stage where I could have done something about it, and probably being overly concerned with racing early in the race after getting off-course when I should have just focused on keeping my effort even and easy instead of pushing the pace to 'catch up.'
The mental aspect of these longer races is interesting. While I was never tempted to drop out, by the end of the race I was totally spent from worrying about whether my body and energy would hold up the whole time. That constant monitoring of my foot, the hamstring cramping, my caloric intake, etc... was pretty mentally draining and it was a relief to cross the finish line and just not have to think about all of it anymore.
I'll definitely be back to this race next year: fantastic course, excellent support, deep field, and a big sense of adventure. Thanks to Jared and Ryan for putting on a great event. Thanks to my dad who came all the way out from Maine (unable to run because of injury and illness) to support us, as well as Billy and Zoe. Without these guys it would have been tough to get myself to the ED when I needed it.
Unofficial Results (taken from iRunFar.com)
50 Mile – Men
- Dakota Jones – 8:17:00
- Zach Miller – 8:24:39
- Mike Foote – 8:40:30
- Ryan Burch – 9:01:32
- Evan Honeyfeild – 9:04:13
- Luke Nelson – 9:09:45
- Matt Hart – 9:17:04
- Christian Johnson – 9:45:30
- Jeremy Humphrey – 9:46:57
- Ben Lewis – 9:51:16
- Ty Draney – 9:57:48
50k – Women
- Bethany Lewis – 6:12:24
- Jamie Williams – 7:07:06
- Emily Judd – 7:15:02
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Rim to Rim to Rim!
4/18-4/24
Mon- r2r2r Grand Canyon in 12:30. Av. Hr 132. 11,000 ft climbing. Ate Gu and shot blocks the whole way, felt strong. Quads tired.
Tues- off, driving home.
Wed- off, tired.
Thurs- 40 min easy from work. 200 vert.
Fri- 1:30 Bonneville. Easy. 1500 vert.
Sat- 2:00 Bonneville with Peter, north from City Creek. 2000 vert. Easy.
Sun- 1:20 with Rob, pipeline, easy. Then 30 min sugarhouse PM, easy. 1:50 total. 500 vert.
Totals= 18:30 running. 15,200 vert.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Upcoming R2R2R
Played it safe the last 3 weeks with consistent easy running and no faster workouts. Have hit 12 hour of running per week for several weeks in a row here- this past week with 8500+ feet of vertical. Nothing crazy but nice to have some consistent miles. Skipped the Antelope Island 50 miler because of my persistently tight R. calf so as to avoid seriously hurting myself and preventing a rim-to-rim-to-rim run April 18th. However, the smaller and faster LEWIS! not only won the women's 25k (in a final 150m sprint finish) but set a course record in the process and came in 3rd overall! Heading to Moab today for some hiking and running and then making the drive to the Grand Canyon Sunday morning for a R2R2R run the following morning. Planning on starting at S. Kaibob and heading down to Phantom Ranch, up N. Kaibob to the North Rim and then back the same way for a total of 42 miles and 26,000+ feet of vertical change. 
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Some Weekly Summaries
Still some lingering tightness in the R. calf but have been able to get in some solid miles, even if no high-intensity workouts. Hit about 80+ miles this past week which is decent. Hopeful about running the 50 mile Buffalo Run this coming weekend but won't do so unless the calf is 100%.
3/14-3/20
Mon: 1:20 easy, Bonneville. 1400 vert.
Tues: AM 40 min. 200 vert. Yoga.
Wed: 2:00 Bonneville 2100 vert.
Thurs: 1:30 total in 2 easy runs. 1200 vert. Got massage.
Fri: 2:00 Bonneville 2000 vert. Hokas.
Sat: 3:15 Long Run, Bonneville. 3500 vert. av hr 144. 1 hour with peter. 1:04 from Univ. to City Creek. Hokas.
Sun: 55 min Sugarhouse Park very easy. Av hr 132. Total vert 300 ft. Yoga.
Totals = 11:40 Running. Total Vert = 10,700 ft.
3/7-3/13
Total 11:20 easy running with 3:10 long run on Bonneville with 3,400 vert. Av hr 142. Total vert for the week about 6000.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)