I'm sorry you ended up in a position where you didn't feel you should race, Scheherazade, but coming back smiling from having some active fun is absolutely a huge win!
That's awesome, htrout! I actually had a similar experience over the weekend - all these ultra people take for bloody ever to get through an aid station or their crew stops, sitting down to have a cup of coffee or eat a sandwich. Every bit of my tri-dorkness is screaming GET UP AND GET OUT! I mean, I'd stop and pour cold water over myself while the volunteers filled my hand bottle with ice and water, and maybe scarf down a couple of slices of watermelon/orange/banana...I even had one crew stop that was around 5 or 6 minutes at the halfway point (put on hydration vest, re-apply body lube, get some bug spray on, eat a few bites of a turkey wrap, get rid of empty gel packets, grab a baggie of cookies), but even at that I felt like I was taking forever and I didn't even think of sitting down! Now admittedly I was chasing a distance goal that made me hustle - not to mention a lot of the other racers were doing the 24hr, not just the measly 12 I did - but this whole "have a seat and maybe think about going back out in a bit" thing just doesn't jive with the years I spent trying to keep my T1 under 90sec and T2 under a minute! Last week's goals: swim x 1: win run x 4 including 12-hour ultra: win core/strength x 2 (done): win mobility/stretch x 2: win
We camped in a field on Friday night in sweltering heat - I made chicken fried rice for my pre-race dinner on our single-burner camp stove, then we rolled into bed around 10:30.
Pre-race luxury - that's our yellow tent past my feet, and the caution tape marks the course. We were the last on the right before runners dodged into the woods.
Everyone else had already been in bed for about half an hour, but a group of about 6 rolled in around 11pm and made a hell of a racket setting up. I woke up at 1:30am to pee, then again at 4:40am to make porridge in the dark - not another soul was stirring, not even after first light broke around 5:10am.
Romantic breakfast by headlamp...for one.
Everything was still silent when I crawled back into the tent, setting another alarm for 6:30am. By that time, the other racers had come alive and legions of 32k, 6-hour and other 12-hour racers were showing up. Tanker made coffee and I got all my pre-race stuff done, then the 6-hour, 12-hour day & 24-hour racers all lined up for the 8am start, with the 32k going off at 8:30am.
It was 23c/73f at starting time and a heavy dew had fallen overnight, so it was already rather toasty within the first half-hour. We're in the middle of a drought, so the woods were bone dry with heaps of deep, energy-sucking sand and puffy, dusty leafmould that would hang in the air for a minute after a runner passed through - I was still blowing black dust out of my nose yesterday afternoon, and everyone's legs were black up their calves from the dust sticking to sweat. The only saving graces were the wind and shade, which we had for most of the course.
Even if you're familiar with topographical maps, this might not give you a decent impression of just how tough this loop is. This might do a better job:
It takes about 700 years to get to the little sign in the woods that shows the 2k cut-off point, and even on my first loop I'd already been through more than half of my hand bottle by the time I reached it. I'd have to tell Tank when I got to my crew stop to have my vest ready, since I'd need to carry more than one bottle as I slowed down and the extra strap I'd ordered hadn't come in on time.
For the most part, I was just happily frolicking through the first 2 loops. It was beautiful, there were lots of people I knew running, and I was feeling pretty good. After seeing my time for the first lap (with a portajohn stop to lose some extra weight), though, I was fairly certain I wouldn't be able to make my goal of 72km (9 loops) in the 12 hours. I knew that the climbing and descending would take its toll and my pace decay would be ruthless as the hours wore on and the heat continued to rise, but I just figured I'd do the best I could and see how it came out. I'd be totally happy just finishing, and 64km seemed pretty achievable - a nice, square number. Laps 1-3 were all just under 1h10m.
I kept up eating, drinking and taking in s!caps, chatted with people, and kept myself moving. I figured if I could get 5 laps done (40km) in the first 6hrs, I might just be able to pull off 72k. I started getting ice in my bottle to cool myself, and dumping water down my chest & back at the 4k aid station. I didn't stop at the start/finish, choosing rather to head directly to my crew stop where Tank would fill my bottles and I could pick up food/gels/whatever - no ice there, but I didn't want to stop twice. My 4th lap was a little slower at 1h12m.
I managed not to trip and fall on any of the myriad roots and rocks, and only jammed/rolled my left ankle once - incredible, given how clumsy I am and how technical the trail was (except, of course, where the photos were taken..). I did, however, kick a root REALLY EFFIN' HARD with my right big toe (while I was WALKING, no less) right around the 5-hour mark. It throbbed and hurt and I wondered how much damage I'd done, but told it I didn't have time for its whining - I still had a long way to go. Fortunately, it shut the hell up and was totally fine after about 15mins.
I managed to bring the 5th lap in right at 5h58m (lap time: 1h17m), but my right sock had got bunched up and was munching on my foot, so I stopped to sort that out (without taking my shoe off because I didn't want to see if the wet I'd felt in my shoe was my toe bleeding) and grab my vest, which meant I needed more lube (it chews on my neck if I'm not all greased up), and I scarfed back half of the turkey wrap with mustard I'd made that morning. After what felt like forever, I finally set off for the second half of my day. The sixth loop would bring me to 48k, which is the minimum qualifying standard for awards in the 12-hour day race...not that I figured I'd be winning anything, but it was nice to at least know I'd made the minimum distance.
I got bitten by a couple of deer flies on this lap, so ended up picking up a stick to scratch the bites (on the backs of my upper arms, so not easy to reach) and to whack any others that tried to get a piece of me. I was really slowing down a lot, though, and worrying that my 72k goal was slipping out of reach due to fatigue and pace decay. I'd never run more than 6h38m before, and this lap brought me to 7h26m, so it's not hard to see why I was beginning to fade. The hills were getting much harder, too, so I knew I'd done the right thing by having my trekking poles waiting for me. At 1h27m, I was a full 10mins slower than the prior lap and couldn't afford to slow down much more & still make my goal. I decided I wouldn't do my usual "tourist lap" with the camera because it would mean I would stop to get non-blurry photos, and since this was my A-race for the year I was pretty motivated to get those miles in. So, unfortunately no pretty trail pics this time.
I ditched the whacking stick (in my hand above) after getting sprayed with bug repellent, then headed out for lap 7. You feel like a total rock star running through the open field with all the other racers, their supporters, and the volunteers all cheering for you as you pass by. Back into the woods for more sandy, dusty fun, I ended up spending a lot of this loop chatting with a 24hr racer who was moving about the same speed. It made things go by a little more easily, but I ended up losing him on Dirty Boy's Confusion when I started running down a sketchy, rooty descent that he felt was safer to walk.
I had just over 3 hours left when I came through my crew stop (lap 7 took me 1h25m, so a couple of minutes quicker due to less time changing up gear), taking my first caffeinated gel of the day (if you haven't tried Gu's sea salt chocolate Roctane, you're missing out on pure gold for long, hot running) and grabbing my trekking poles. I got Tanker to stick them in the back of my vest to start and deployed them as I started to climb Happy Girl's Access, and while my shoulders HATED IT, I knew I'd made the right choice. I use poles when I backpack and they helped me keep a good walking cadence on flats & gentle rises, improved my posture (I'd been slouching while ascending & my lower back was starting to get sore, but that went away when I busted out the hardware), and took just enough strain off my quads on the climbs that I could keep running the downhills. I could also double-pole my way up a couple of really, really steep bits that I might have literally had to crawl otherwise. 8th lap was a decently consistent 1h26m.
I had 1h43m to pull off my final loop to make 72k, and I was reasonably confident I could do it. I had another shot of caffeinated gel before leaving my crew stop, and enjoyed the increased shade and decreased heat with the onset of evening (it was now about 6:20pm). I wasn't really feeling much worse than the previous lap, and I just focused on making steady progress. I got really, really hungry at this point, too - it has been awhile since I had any real food (I had been snacking on cookies, homemade salted vanilla crisp rice treats, and giant corn nuts earlier, plus that half a turkey wrap earlier, but had gone back to just gels while using the poles)
Through the 4k aid station with 55mins before time would run out, I knew I had it pretty much in the bag, but continued to push myself to run where I could so as not to let all that hard work go for naught through laziness and overconfidence. It was tough, though - you know you're hurting when you hate to take a deep breath and grit your teeth to make yourself run down a hill because it's so painful.
I stayed pretty chipper the whole way through, though - only had one minor tantrum when I was searching for the flask full of caffeinated gel and turned up 2 empty flasks sitting on top first, because that was just frustrating. Still got a kiss from Tank before heading out each time and told him I loved him, even after I yelled at him a little about WHY WOULD YOU PILE EMPTY FLASKS ON TOP??
And then, with about 13mins to spare despite taking things a touch easier on the final descents (so I'd be able to run through the field to the finish arch), I finally made the 72k I'd set out to do.
I usually run the clock right out at timed events, but the next checkpoint would be at 2k and it would take me at least 25mins to get there - then I'd have to turn around and walk back out again. So, I said forget that, and set about getting out of my sweaty, filthy, salt-encrusted kit. My Garmin actually says I did 73.4km, and the loop is actually reportedly 8.05km (which would give me 72.45km), but I'm not that fussy about it.
Had to do the best I could with wet wipes as the race director informed us there was only a "Polish shower" (garden hose with cold water only), but I couldn't have cared less. I sat in my chair with my feet up at my crew stop, cheering on the 24hr racers and the 12hr night race (that started at 8pm, when mine officially finished) in my Dirty Girls hoodie and took 3 whole hours to drink 1 tall can of beer! I finally couldn't stay awake any longer by 1:30am and crawled into the tent to snooze.
Successfully managed to get out of the tent unassisted on Sunday morning, in plenty of time to see the last half-hour of the 24-hour & 12-hour night race. Lots of dirty people - I seem to be one of the only ones who didn't take a header at some point on the course, and I heard there was some crawling happening up some of the nastier bits in the dark hours of the night. Not surprised - even with glow sticks all along the course, I couldn't imagine trying to negotiate that trail in the dark!
We got home around 1pm, and by 2pm I had finally scrubbed all the dirt and salt off and was merely in horrible pain. My legs are shredded, and even stupid stuff like the sides of my boobs hurt. When I'd take a halfway decent breath, the backs of my shoulders and my lats would hurt. The small victory for today has been standing up from a chair or the toilet without needing to use my arms!
I did get rather a shock on Sunday evening, though, when I finally bothered to check the results. It turns out I was 2nd of 4 in my age group, 3rd woman out of 9 and 5th overall out of the 19 racers who completed at least one lap! So not only did I apparently do surprisingly well - I was only 1 full lap behind the overall winners - but the girls owned the day at Dirty Girls with 3 out of the top 5 places going to females! The first male (3rd overall) only did 76k where as the ladies who took #1 & #2 both did 80km.
This week's goals: swim x 2 walk x 6 mobility/stretch x 3
Going camping on our motorcycles this weekend, so I'm not training. I'm not even sure if I'll bring running gear with me - will find out when I pack up on Friday night.
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ill advised racing inc.