How was the race, you ask. Let me tell you that Capitol Peaks 55 km trail run was no picnic, but I'd do it again in a second. It poured the day before and the trail was slick with mud, covered with puddles and roots, and in parts was deeply rutted from mountain bikes. I fell face first into a mud hole only two miles into the race. Okay, let's get to the stats...according to my GPS Forerunner 310XT, my longest climb was 2,657 feet up Capitol Peak; mile 15.9 of the race. The last quarter mile was quite steep and rocky and not really runable. Total ascent during the 35 miles was 12,411 feet with the same for descent (my elevation chart shown below is in meters). So, I fnished in 7 hours and 24 minutes and placed 9th out of 25women. There were a total of 67 runners participating in the 55 km (87 others ran the 50 mile race and one woman had a cast on each arm). Being the longest event I've ever run and the longest event in terms of time spent continuously engaged (unlike 24 hour relay races), this is another first for me.
I learned a lot from Capitol Peaks. First, I've never experienced low back pain in all my years of road marathons even close the spasms that were hitting me in the last nine miles. Apparently, ultra running on trails is a whole new experience in physical pain. Prior to the race, I understood this from a theoretical standpoint, but feeling it first-hand is a whole different story. Generally, only my legs are super sore from a long run, not my entire body! According to various websites I've scoured since Sunday, it's critical to weight train and strengthen one's upper body for the physical beating offered by trail running, particularly a course boasting significant elevation change. So, I've added two days of weight training to my fifty mile training schedule.
Second, it's been many a marathon since I've experienced the demobilizing lactic acid rush that almost stopped me in my tracks shortly after the last fully stocked aid station. It happened shortly after mile 26 which begs the question - after twenty-plus marathons, is my body simply programmed to run exactly 26.2 miles and not one pitiful, stride-length further? Seems like it. As I waved goodbye to my partner who had agreed to meet me with two miles left, I tried to trot a few feet and each of my thighs suddenly felt like fifty pounds of cement. I slowly moved forward back into the woods. Soon afterwards I approached a nasty climb in the afternoon sun, and I walked almost the entire hill. On the flats, I was able to run a bit, or rather shuffle sluggishly. The downhills were also runable but had their own special 'downhill' pain characterized by a sharp zinging in my thighs. I imagined tiny, but very heavy, Gremlins riding atop my legs. They had little, scissor-hands and, now done pouring all that cement into me, were visciously pinching my upper legs with every footfall and giggling in high-pitched voices.
Third, unlike the above distressing lessons, I learned semething positive about food intake (I have to admit, food is never distressing to me even when I'm otherwise in pain). With road marathons I'm generally good to go with two packets of GU. Here, I ate at every aid station and my intake totaled four quarter PBJ sandwiches, three large bananna chunks, 4 blocks of ShotBlocks, several pretzels and 1/2 packet of GU. Historically, running marathons, I've had a touchy stomach and vomited at the finish line my share of the time. Actually, once I lost it on my cousin's prize roses at mile 19 of the Twin Cities Marathon, but that's another story. Anyway, eating more food may help my stomach because it was my only body part, or so it seemed, that was not screaming at me by mile thirty.
Fourth, I now understand why walking is necessary for all but the front-runners in an ultramarathon. For much of the race I was exchanging places with a younger man. He would pass me on the downhills, and I would catch him repeatedly on the uphills while he walked and I ran. The last time I saw him was shortly after my break down following mile 26. He cooly breezed ahead maintaining his earlier easy stride while I struggled to move my legs. I need to practice walking up hills and running down, and I need to start walking within the first few miles of the race...not at 26.2.
Finally, it was wonderful to see my partner at mile 33 and run (ie. slowly trudge) the last two miles together. Among other things, she was clean, alert and didn't seem to have Gremlins hanging from her, and listening to her speak coherently helped me resist the urge to trip a younger, female runner who, after trailing me for 17 miles, passed me with under a mile to go. Is tripping allowed in ultras? Maybe I'll research that for my next post.
Here are the Garmin stats: Untitled by anne.johnson1 at Garmin Connect - Details
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