Well, I've got to the point where I really dread writing up a race report. I think it's because I tend to only write them for major events (e.g. 100s) and when I finish with one, my life is in such disarray from preparing for it that I never seem to have the time. I really intended on writing up one for Pinhoti 100 last fall but... life took over. Oh well, I ended up with a 12 hour flight to Spokane this time around so I got a chance to put a few of my ramblings down. Bottom line on this race: I was only in it for the qualifier, but the course was runnable so my head got big, I blew up, but finished respectable. Now for the rest...
The Why:
Western States is probably one of the hardest races to get in to. It's
been compared to the "Boston of 100 mile runs" as it was the first and
everyone wants to do it. The difference is that they only accept about
350 runners and about 100 of them are already guaranteed spots. With
over 3000 people applying that makes your odds pretty low.
Like Boston you also have to qualify. Qualifying used to be as simple as
running a verifiable 50 mile or 100 mile run within that races cutoff
time Not the easiest of tasks but there were enough around you could
find a race pretty easy.
Then last year came and they decided that with so many people trying to
get in, they needed to up the anti a bit. Rules changed such that now
there are only certain "named" races you can run to qualify and they
eliminated the 50 mile option and replaced it with a 100k option. 100k
is not that much more but they are not nearly as popular in North
America so as it turns out there are only about 5 in North America that are on the
list. When you further inspect the list, the vast majority are races
"out west". So for us poor souls in the southeast there are not a large
number of options without making it a major endeavor, particularly "easier" options (more on that later).
Of note, Western allows you to increase your odds of getting in by
showing you're serious about the event. They do this by allowing you to
keep your "name in the hat" for the lottery from previous years,
however only for consecutive years you apply. This means you have to
reapply, and re-qualify every year to increase your odds. If you miss a
year, you lose all previous "names in the hat" and start the whole
process over again. These days it seems it takes on average submitting 3
consecutive years before you get in and I suspect that will only get worse as the sport gets more popular.
So after pacing Rob Youngren a bit at Hardrock last year, I decided it was time to chase another one of my goals and start the process of qualifying for that race as well. Hardrock is
much more difficult, running up over multiple 13k' passes and summiting a
14er during the race in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Qualifying for
that race takes a finish of a much harder 100 mile run. These days there
are only one or two of these runs east of the Mississippi that will allow
you to qualify. I have chosen to run a race in October (Grindstone) to
test myself and see if I can qualify. The good news is that this race
is also a qualifier for Western. The bad news however is that with it being so difficult, I
suspect there is a possibility that I will not finish. That would be bad. As that race is in early October and the "time to qualify" for
Western starts/finishes in early November, if I do fail, I will not
have time to try again. I will lose all my previous "names in the
hat"!
All that long winded description to say... I needed a backup plan. (And
being the cheap bastard I am, I really don't want to have to go to some
"destination race" far out west and burn vacation I don't have, just to do it)
I had reviewed the list of races of Western qualifiers many times
looking for something reasonable in the southeast, or east, or midwest etc but found myself browsing again
and happened to notice this race, the Indiana Trail 100. Indiana's not
that far, perhaps that might be an option. Doing a bit more research, I
learn that it is a relatively flat course of 16.7mile loops. And it is
only a second year event and has plenty of open slots still available.
This could work! But... It's March 1st and the race is April 26th. That's exactly 8 weeks until race day and I haven't really been
training for anything lately. With a 2 week taper (I usually do 3 for
100) that leaves 6 weeks to ramp up. This could be interesting. But
hey, It has plenty of space, I don't have to commit yet. I'll start
training and see how it goes and sign up last minute. Let the fun begin.
Training goes fairly well at the start, then a setback. I decide to be a
good citizen and help out the SORBA group build a new trail on MS. Well
swinging a sledge hammer and pulling on a pry-bar to dig up rocks not
only ends me up with a puncture wound in my shin, but a few days later
the dreaded lower back pain sets in. Lesson learned, don't do things
out of the ordinary when your cramming in training. Lost a week of
training, but it's OK. Still pressing forward. I build up to my short term goal
of 75 mile week and things are looking good. Got in a back to back 30/20
mile weekend and planned to repeat that the following week. Then, another setback. Halfway through the week I start sniffling pretty bad, then
coughing. Still get my miles in through Thursday but by Saturday morning.
I'm feeling rough. Can barely get out of bed. Take off the weekend from running, go
to the doc on Monday and confirmed , ear infection and bronchitis are
setting in. I take my meds and am back to running by the next weekend but still
wheezing and coughing. And, by now I'm into taper and have blown my chance at
another big mile week. Time to think... after much serious consideration, I make the commitment and sign up for the race. Only thing left to do is
hang on for the ride.
The How
OK. Race weekend... I drive up with my crew of one, Olivia, on Thursday
afternoon and get about half way (in total it's an 8 hr drive up past Ft Wayne, IN) and then finish
up Friday. I wanted to get to the pre-race
briefing and packet pick up at
3pm
(these usually are required but seems this one was not). Also wanted to
get up there with plenty of daylight to set up tent. Major plus for
the race is the ability to group camp right at the start /finish. To be
honest, I've never camped before a major race, always opting for the
promise of good rest in a nice quality bed. But, I'm trying to do this on
the cheap and you can't beat waking up right at the start line.
Gun goes off at 6am
My "A" goal is to run each loop, 16.7 miles, in 3 hours. That would give
me a huge PR at 18 hours and from what I read, the course is flat and easy. That's
10:46/mile. Should be no big deal and even when I do a standard slow down at
the end I can get a solid sub 20 hr finish. B goal is to just keep it
respectable with a sub 24 and C goal, just finish under the cutoff of 30
hrs. By far, the only real goal is finish and get that qualifier.
Lap 1:
I start just off the lead pack to just try and establish a position.
Hard to know who's who as it is dark and more than half of these
people are only running the 50 mile option. The early parts of the loop are easy,
short cut grass trails through meadows with a few rollers but fairly
flat as promised. As I hang right behind what I figure is the lead
female for the 50 mile from around Boulder, CO (Heather Pietrykowski?), I note that I'm going too fast (9 min miles) but it's
early and I feel decent. Just running natural, so I continue on. After the first aid
station at 4.3 miles we go a bit longer (4.7) to the next. This drags
on a bit but I find myself establishing my position without many around
me. I guess there are probably about 20 people ahead of me with most of
them being 50 milers. The trail continues to be similar (grassy) but
with more trees around and a few muddy sections. It rolls a bit more than earlier and
has some grassy off camber sections that a bit annoying but still not bad.
As you get close to the next aid station you spend about a half mile on
road/dirt road into a campground. To this point I'm sticking with my
general nutrition plan but not too strictly. Just trying to get a GU or
block every hour and to keep drinking.
Coming out of the next aid the trail becomes pretty different. Twisty
turny, tight single track. Obviously a fairly new trail too as it is
not heavily traveled. Rollers are still there but tighter at times
making it harder to run. After about a mile you drop down at a boat ramp
and a gravel road between two lakes. (Side note... I see 2 large white objects on the far
side of the lake that catch my eye. Not sure what they are and can't
tell if they are moving) follow the road up a hill (became a designated walk
break every lap) as a couple other 100 mile runners catch me, Todd and Craig. I
camped next to Craig and we started talking. Up to this point the pace
was still too fast. Never seeing 10min pace on my watch and
occasionally seeing
8:30.
Running with these two keeps my pace up but we're talking and I don't
notice much. Craig is from north Kentucky, outside Cincinnati and seems to
have a fairly similar (but longer) history of hundreds and times. He
knows David Riddle and was also out there running Western the year I
quit at 30 and David came in 11th. (Was nice to hear someone else say
how the cold wasn't all good that year). Todd is from Chicago area and hasn't done
a 100 in a few years. I notice he is wearing the Skechers GRUs and we talk a
bit about Rob Youngren and Meb and the Skechers/Nike saga. Towards the end of this first lap, I notice I'm getting a bit
tired and tell myself to let these guys go
ahead at the turn but it was nice to pass the time. When we come back
to finish lap one I note the time,
2:36.
Ouch. That's gonna hurt later. I make a fairly quick turn, just
dropping off my long sleeve and restocking and head out deliberately
walking for a bit. During the turn I dumped my current bottle before
grabbing the replacement and noticed a couple spots of mold inside.
Swear I cleaned that well and inspected it before leaving home. No
bother though the new bottle is clean and I'll just reuse it.
 |
| It's all smiles after lap 1 |
Lap 2:
 |
| Lap 2 coming into the first aid station |
|
|
Not a whole lot to say. After walking for a little while I got tired of
that and started running again. Deliberately trying to keep it around 10
min miles this time. I was much more tired that I should have been
only 20 miles into the race and was still hoping to recover some.
Unfortunately my plan to recover didn't seem to work. By the 2nd aid
station (halfway through the loop) my stomach had gone sour. I tried to
keep moving but the 2nd half of this loop was tough. I was doing
everything I could to eat salt but it was a struggle. I do recall seeing
the 2 large white things in the lake again and was sure they had moved
some. My mind started telling me they could be swans. They were on the
far side of the lake but they looked huge.
Anyway. Continued to suffer through the 2nd lap, just moving forward and came in around
3:09 Actually not that bad but I was feeling rough. It had got hot and my stomach was toast.
When I got back to the start/finish I sat down and tried to eat
something. Nothing much was working. After sitting for at least a half
hour I asked for some ice in my hat and got up and started moving again.
Lap 3:
 |
| Suffering! |
It was a miserable time as the stomach still wasn't settled and I don't
recall much at all. I wasn't eating outside of a little broth here or
there. Just trying to keep moving forward. Running slowly whenever
possible and walking when I couldn't. Spent lots of time at aid stations
just staring at the table trying find something that I think I could eat, but just refill my bottle and take a pinch of salt or a couple pills. At the 1/2
way point they had some decent ramen noodle soup and I was able to get
some down. That seemed to help a bit but in general I was still
miserable and still moving slow. I had come to hate the next 5 miles to
the 4th aid station. Lots of rocks, roots and modest hills as the trail
meandered around the chain of lakes that the park is named after. At
one point you can see the finish across the lake and your hopes rise
only to realize that it's still another 5 miles to get back to that point. As
I passed the lake with the large white "things" I notice they are
gone... I'm convinced they must have been swans and to my delight I see
them plain as day a mile or so down the path in one of the other lakes. It could
be hallucinations but I sure don't think so. At least it brings a smile
to my face for a brief moment. Around this point, I also notice that my left ankle is rubbing on the top against the shoe tongue. I try to adjust but it still irritates. Slowly I go on. Finish the lap in
4:07 Ouch
Lap 4:
At this point, I'm definitely not on "A" goal pace and Olivia decides she is going with me. Even though I figure I'd rather have her later in the race, I'm obviously in no shape to complain and just go with it. She is not a trail
runner and really doesn't want to run over those roots etc in the dark, so we head out. More
of the same, jogging, walking, walking some more. It was good to have
someone along to talk with though and I end up describing upcoming
sections as we go. More soup at the half way point and I notice I'm
feeling a bit better but we still don't move too fast. My foot is still hurting on the top so we stop at a bench and do some doctoring. I notice nothing but undo the top lace and loosen things up. It does help a bit though and soon I
notice that we are running the crappy 5 mile section more than I have
since the first lap. We finish up the lap just as the sun is nearing
the horizon. Finish in 4:35. Double ouch! but I hardly even notice at the time.
Lap 5:
It's now starting to get dark. As I'm prone to do, I leave my headlamp off as long as possible and run
in the twilight. (I'm not a fan of the tunnel vision you get with the
headlamp.) When I finally do turn it on, I leave it on the dim wide
setting for as long as I can. I recall coming into the first aid
station and a worker asking me if he can get me some new batteries. Oh
well works for me. Eventually I will turn on the bright beam. At the
first aid station I start eating. Soup and orange slices go down in
fairly large quantities as I'm hungry but I still try to restrain some
as I know it can turn again at a moments notice. One thing of note is
that at the start of this loop I decide to turn off the GPS. I only had one low battery notice and know it will still last for a while but I'm
not sure it will last the whole run so I figure I'll just run based on
time of day. Better to have that than nothing.
So I can't remember the details but I note how long it took me to the
first aid station and start calculating when I should expect to be at
the next aid. Something like 55 mins for 4.3 miles, an even hour for 4.7 and
1:10
for the dreaded five mile section. This seems to work pretty well and I
find myself running almost the entire loop. The good news, I'm
rebounding and running, the bad news. I'm 65 miles into it and I'm
tired. So I run as fast as I can reasonably but it is not that fast.
Once I make the halfway aid station I'm smelling the barn a bit and
moving pretty well. Finish up the lap in
4:07
Lap 6:
Super quick turn and back at it. Trying to keep the momentum I had in
the last lap. Goes fairly well but it's 3 in the morning and I am tired.
Just keep going. Nutrition has been out the window since the first lap
but I'm still pounding soup and orange slices. Now that it is cool an
I'm feeling better I'm off the salt completely (for the past couple
loops). I'm still doing my time of day math and doing fairly well. When
I get to the 1/2 way aid there's a little crowd of suffering runners hanging around the
heater. It is cold now and if your not moving you're feeling it. Fortunately, I
don't get tempted and after more food move on. The aid station worker is
telling me I may make sub 24 if I keep moving. I do the quick math and
tell him I'm planning to hit 23. He chuckles and tells me good luck.
Well my legs are trashed at this point but I use the cold to get me
moving and warm up. With the smell of the barn at only 8 miles to go I
just do what I can. Finally I hit the beach leading to the Finish and start to
hammer it. Legs are turning over like a 5k as you mind detaches from
your body and I hit the finish in
22:40
(4:04 for the lap) and stagger over to get my buckle. Knowing that all that adrenaline
and burst of energy will be vanishing soon I grab what food I can (cold
pizza never tasted so good) and shove it in. Then I proceed to curl into
the fetal position on a hay bale shivering from the cold I have ignored
for hours. Mission accomplished
Lessons learned:
1. Respect your training. I was woefully under-trained for this event and
allowed my head to get big based on past performances while ignoring
the fact that I hadn't trained like past performances
2. Don't go out too fast. Related to #1 but even so, this is a well known problem I have. It's a long day. Be conservative
3. Sunscreen. I didn't even know it until 2 days later but I got burnt.
I'm certain that had some affect on my stomach and general blowup. I
whine about greasy sunscreen but just have to suck it up and do what ya gotta do.
4. Figure out the nutrition. I'm not sure what I learned here other than
I need to figure it out. It's not working the way it is.
5. Think about injuries. Not really sure what I should have done here, if anything different at all, but my ankle was injured around 50 miles and I kept running on it for another 50. Seems to be a repetitive motion type injury (go figure), similar to carpel tunnel in the wrist. Anyway, it seems stretching of the shins and looser laces is part of the solution.
6. Clean your frikken bottles! I swear I did, but obviously I didn't. Can't ignore that little bit of the back of my brain saying that a little mold can make your stomach turn... who knows.
7. You can fake 100! Well not really. I had experience and "enough
training" but Kathy and Rob always told me "you can fake a 50 but a 100 is
different". I definitely thought to myself more than once while running how I was somehow cheating on this race.
That's about it.
