Rocky Raccoon 50KM Race Report: 11/01/14
This may not have been the most ideal day to run a race
considering it’s the morning after Halloween and a day before the time changes
and falls back. I wanted to have an
organized run with aid stations to see where my performance is and also work
out any kinks, and pick up on a few things with trail running as I’m six weeks
out form my first hundred mile race. When
I registered I didn’t even think about it being the day after Halloween so of
course I took some heat from my better half.
Sunday probably would have been better but it is what it is. I didn’t let the race change our plans and
went trick-or-treating and pulled two munchkins in a wagon for a couple hours. We enjoyed the evening with some friends over
and I actually had some beer (one), sangria (one), and too many bowls of chili
(four). I got a lot of rest, more than
usual Thursday night knowing the night of the race would not be enough. The
night of, I went to bed after 11 p.m. and woke up at 4 a.m. I felt fine and had my gear and everything
ready to go. Breakfast was a banana and
coconut water on the ride to the race site.
It was the first time we’ve seen temperatures in the 40’s so I prepared
for the cooler temps. I had running
shorts, calf sleeves, arm warmers, gloves, head wrap to cover ears, and a hat. I arrived at Huntsville State Park around 5
a.m. and picked up my packet. I had a
few trips to the bathroom thanks to the chili, and then got a chance to warm up
with some stretching. The race began at 6 a.m.
The start of the race looped through the parking lot and
then onto the trails. I planned to take easy
but there was such a big group at the front that I decided to pick up the pace
and see if I could put a gap on anyone before entering the trail. I figured if I could get far enough ahead then
I could slow down and get into a rhythm and run my own race. With
it being dark enough the other runners would hopefully lose sight of me and wouldn’t
know where I am. Out of sight out of
mind! Well that didn’t work as another
guy took off and started out at a 6:40ish pace.
Not the pace I had planned so I set him up pretty good to build a
gap. Three of us ran together and it
was a tough course with lots of roots.
Within the first mile I rolled my ankle enough to make me wonder if
running this race was the right decision.
I had a headlamp on that worked well on some early morning training runs,
but it wasn’t bright enough to see well enough on these trails. Two of us were second and third and we started
to build a gap on fourth place. Just after four miles I tripped on a root and
went face first into sand. It didn’t
hurt but I was covered in it. I quickly
got up and closed the gap with second place.
I looked at my watch and realized it was beyond four miles so I took a
gel as my plan is to have a gel every four miles. The gel went down with quite a bit of sand
but didn’t think too much of it. There
was an out and back section and we got to see the leader. He was 2 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of us
at mile 5 so we quickly did the math and knew he was running about 30 seconds
faster per mile. I also noticed that he
didn’t have a water bottle as the other three of us each had our own. There
are a total of eight aid stations with five miles between stations two and
three. I knew he was going to have to
get liquids at every aid station which would add to his time where we could
skip a 2-3 stations if we wanted to.
There was a couple miles of jeep trails that I thought was pretty clear
of roots and I somehow found one and went down hard. I scraped up the left knee on this one and
also managed to lose my head lamp. It
must have hit the ground hard enough that it opened up the battery cover and
turned off. I panicked for a few seconds
because it was nowhere near light outside and I couldn’t see two feet in front
of me without it. I had a choice to
crawl around on the ground sweeping my hands through the sand with no guarantee
of quickly finding it, and not knowing if the batteries had falling out, or run
with the runner that was behind me and now had caught up with me. Second place was too far ahead so I made the
decision to leave it and run on this other guy’s heels. It got
very challenging as we got back onto single track trails with the roots. I kept
about 6-8 feet behind him and had to look in front of him to see the
trails. I was looking for large roots so
I could be prepared to lift my feet high enough to hopefully keep from
tripping. The problem was I didn’t know
where to step because it was pitch black in front of me. My feet and ankles were taking a beating as I
was stepping on everything. I went down
again a couple more times but the guy was nice enough to make sure I was okay and
would wait for me to get up. Every time
I fell my heart rate would spike about 15 bpm as my breathing would be all screwed
up. I had to focus on staying relaxed
and try to get my breathing under control.
We came to the second aid station at around 8.75 miles and passed second
place. The next aid station was five
miles so he stopped for water and then ran with us. I probably could have used a refill but I
wasn’t going to be left behind. He came
with us and it was much better being in the middle as I could now see my
footing. Somewhere around mile 10 there
was a steep down section of the trail and one area dropped about a foot. It happened to be at the same time I kicked a
root and I went flying in the air. I don’t
know how this happened but I landed backwards on my back with my feet in the
air. Fortunately there was sand at the
bottom and it cushioned the fall. I
think both guys were feeling bad for me at this point as one of them said
something. I jokingly replied this is
quite the haunted trail. It was just
becoming comical to me. I knew the sun
was going to come up soon and I had to pee really badly as all the falls
probably put a lot of pressure on my bladder.
I just couldn’t stop until there was enough light where I felt
comfortable running alone. The first chance
I got I stopped and relieved the bladder and stretched a little bit at the same
time. I let the other two go and to my
surprise they were starting to slow down.
I was back with both of them within a few minutes and decided to pass
them and do some of the work up front since I had been relying on them to take
the lead. For whatever reason both of
them kept running at that pace and didn’t go with me. I noticed earlier one of the guys had what
looked to me like racing flats. I knew
if my feet were hurting wearing Hoka’s that his feet had to be killing him so
maybe he wasn’t all that comfortable either.
I started putting some distance between us until I approached a section
of the trail that split and went three different directions. Every turn leading up to this had a sign with
an arrow and ribbons along the race course.
Both trails had ribbons and I was really confused. It was ribbon for about 50 feet and then it
stopped. I thought I was on the wrong trail
so I turned back and the other guys had caught up. I lost four minutes as we went on the other
trail and then turned around because those ribbons stopped as well. None of us remembered seeing any other trails
or signs leading up to this point so we decided to just go straight. It was mile 12 so I knew we should only be ¾ of
a mile away from the next aid station.
Again the guys didn’t come with me so I made it to the aid station about
40 seconds ahead of them. The
volunteers told me I was in first place which I was shocked and figured that
the first place runner took the wrong turn.
I told them it was very confusing ¾ of a mile back and that we almost
got off course and others will most likely do the same. As I came around to the starting line to
complete my first loop (didn’t know it was a two loop course…ha!) I quickly
refilled my bottle and went back out the same direction to do another loop. One of the guys shouted that I was second
place. I then realized the first place
guy missed about a mile and half of the first loop. My time for the first loop was 1:59 and not
knowing at the time his was 1:43. I was
now ahead of third place by two minutes and fourth place by three minutes. I changed my watch screen to display only my heart
rate and I ran the second loop just paying attention to heart rate. I didn’t want to get caught up into running a
certain pace and knew I would be better off finishing stronger if I paid
attention to heart rate and not let it get into the high 160’s. At the next out and back section of the jeep
trails, first place and I crossed paths and my overall time was 2:20. He looked really strong and I didn’t make it
to the turnaround point until 2:26 so knew he was 12 minutes ahead with 11
miles to go. I thought no way am I’m
going to make up that much time on this guy so I kept running my own race and
figured I would try to build a solid lead on second place. I passed third place and was now four minutes
ahead of him, and six minutes ahead of fourth place. My hamstrings were getting really tight and I had
to stop to stretch to hopefully loosen them up.
I’m sure it was helping but it didn’t feel like it. When I approached a self-serve aid station,
which was just after where I fell on the first loop and lost my headlamp, I
asked the volunteer if anyone turned one in.
He said he had two and I noticed one was mine. I put it back on my head and was glad I found
it so I could retire it from future trail races. It’s good for running on the street but that’s
about it. There was another seven miles
of single track trails and it was really pounding my legs. I would stop often to try and stretch and
also mash my fist into my hamstring as well as glutes to hopefully get them to
fire. My pace was low 7’s for one mile
and then upper 7’s to low 8’s for the next.
I was still running by heart rate and kept taking fluids and gels every
four miles. I felt comfortable and never
pushed it too much as I didn’t want to do more damage to the legs in hopes of
being able to recover from this race in a week.
I made it to the last aid station which is mile 28 and there he was. The first place runner was leaving the aid
station and we both made eye contact. He
looked in control but I couldn’t believe I just made up 12 minutes in eight
miles. All these thoughts went through
my head in a matter of seconds as I’m trying to figure out what challenges he
could have possibly be dealing with. Did
he have some bad GI issues and had to go to the bathroom, did he bonk because
he didn’t have a bottle with him and maybe not enough hydration or nutrition,
or did he know he cut the course short on the first loop and decided to wait
for me to catch up and make it a race to the finish. My bottle was getting very low on water and I
was planning to refill it there but didn’t think twice about stopping. I immediately took out a gel as I had some
water left and new I needed to get one in before I was completely out of
water. Within seconds I was on him and
went by him showing no pain. As I went
by he said you got this. I was thinking
there is no way he is going to let me go without a fight. I
figured it’s unlikely he could run a 6:40 pace as that is what he started the
race at and apparently had slowed down, but you never know what people have
left in the last couple miles. I just
went as fast as I could without completely blowing up and allowed my heart rate
to climb into the mid 170’s. I was
already uncomfortable with the tight hamstrings so why not pick up the pace and
get it over with sooner. My last three
miles were 7:06, 6:42, and 5:43. In the
last three miles I put an 8-10 minute gap on second place. It was the greatest feeling of satisfaction
crossing the finish line in first knowing I had to work hard and adapt to a bunch
of changing circumstances. At today’s effort
I definitely could not have continued another 69 miles so there is a high
probability that I will control my pace at the hundred miler so I can make it
to the finish line in one piece.
Official Time:
3:50?
Place: 1st Overall
Attire: Hoka
Clifton’s, Nike running shorts, Klean Athlete tech shirt, Nike arm sleeves,
Salomon EXO calf sleeves, cotton gloves.
Fuel: Banana and PowerGel
before race with coconut water, PowerGel every 3.75-4 miles with Gatorade or
water, Klean Recovery and Klean Protein
after race.
No comments:
Post a Comment