While I considered this one of my "A" races for the year, my only real goal for this race was to finish, I figured if everything went perfect I could be around 10 hours, but the conservative realistic goal was 11 hours. Being my first "real" Ultra Marathon (I did do the North Face 50K last year). This was an exhilarating, fun, painful, difficult, and amazing journey through the beautiful Kettle Moraine on the Ice Age Trail. The weather cooperated, mostly cloudy, 60ish at the start, and climbing to the low 70s with a bit of humidity, but not terrible my any definition. What a well run, supported and great way to jump into the Ultra world!
Gear & Nutrition: Tailwinds for 150 calorie/hour in water. I had decided to fuel with Tailwinds and use both my Nathan Back Pack and 18oz Hand Held, and the goal was 150 calories/hour with supplementing with the occasional GU if I wanted it, and whatever looked good at the AS. Altra Olympus Shoes, Hind Racing shorts, long sleeve, and Road Runner racing singlets, and HeadSweats and Nike running hats.
This race is divided into three sections, so my report will follow each of those.
Section 1: Nordic Trails to Confusion Corner (Mile 0-10.68 Miles) By far the "easiest" part of this race. The Nordic trails are a hiking/XC skiing trails, and while it has it's share of hills, there is nothing like what is to come once we get to the Ice Age Trail. My plan was to be somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 pace for this section, keeping an eye on my HR and never letting it get out of Z1. At AS 2 (the start/finish line) I changed out of my long sleeve into a singlet and hat, grabbed the Nathan 2 Liter back pack (tossed the hand held in the pack for later) and headed off for Section 2. I ran most of Section 1 this with my buddy Matthew. Felt great this whole section, after the quick change at Start/Finish, I hit "Confusion Corner" where we jump on the Ice Age Trail to head south for an out and back with a average pace of 10:10, and the HR well in check, legs feeling great.
Section 2: 23.22 Miles - Confusion Corner to Rice Lake and Back (Mile 10.68-33.9) Having done some training runs out here, I knew that the race was now really starting. The Ice Age Trail is mostly single track running, lots of rocks, roots and up and down climbing. My plan was to continue to monitor the HR and stay in Z1, but allowing it to creep up on the climbs. Was not concerning myself with pace too much, but was pretty happy with where the paces were. I was really looking forward to AS6 because I knew I'd see some friendly faces. I had lost Matthew somewhere near the end of section 1, but found some other folks to chat with along the way (I do love Ultra Runners, such a laid back group of people). This is the first taste of the real hills, and I hit them well, power hiking the ups, running the downs and flats. Still felt pretty good, HR not jumping too high, paces getting slower, but expected that with all the hills.
Hit AS 5 with the second bag drop. From here its about 4 miles to the turn around point, so I decided to leave my Nathan back pack here, and go with the Hand Held again. Refilled everything, grabbed some oranges and banana, and ran into my Buddy Matthew again. We also got to see the race winner as we left this AS (at 3:30 on my watch he was already 8 miles ahead of me, LOL) Still feeling pretty confident, pace still under 11:00, and knew I had a bunch of friends at the next AS only about 2 miles away. This section was quite challenging, very hilly, actually had several sets of rail road tie stair sections we had to climb. It was nice to have Matthew to talk with through here, and then AS6 was a big boost seeing my friends volunteer, Terry, Kristi and Bob. Stayed with Matt to the turn around, but after we left his pace was a bit quicker than I was comfortable at, so I let him go. Nice to start seeing the other runners along this section too, both in front of and behind me. Got to see my friends a second time as we went through the AS on the way back, then back to route 12 where I changed shirt/hat, switched back to the Nathan Back Pack with Tailwinds/water, tossed the hand held in there again and headed back toward confusion point. Still feeling OK past the marathon mark, and crossing the 50K distance, I was now in uncharted territory, every step from here on would be the furthest than I had ever run.
Section 3: 16.1 Miles Confusion Corner to Emma Carlin Trails and Back (Miles 33.9-Finish)
The hills and trail was beginning to take a toll on my body. Legs beginning to fatigue a bit, and the back was getting sore from all the bending over while climbing the steep hills, and my feet were really starting to feel it (never have had foot pain during a run before). I had another friend at AS 8, and I was very happy to see Joe. He ran with me for about to Indian Signal Hill (it was more of a hike than a run at this point) and venting about how uncomfortable my back and feet were helped restore a bit of sanity.
When I hit mile 35, the wheels started to come off a bit. My feet were quite sore, and made it difficult to run the downs or flats, and the hikes up were killing the back. My nutrition was right on, stomach feeling good, energy not bad, but I did not foresee the pain that the Ice Age Trail would put my back, legs and feet. Looking back I realize the mental part of running an Ultra had just kicked in. At this point I decided I just needed to try to keep my pacing under 15:00 miles, that would get me done in 3.5 hours. It was quite depressing to come to that conclusion, but had to deal with the reality of how I felt. Much of this section was run alone, with the occasional runner coming back and passing the a few runners. It was a boost each time to give the other runners's a "Good Work," or "Looking Good," and to get the same from them. Again, the Ultra Running community is so supportive and amazing. When I finally staggered into AS9 which was the last drop bag location, I ditched the back pack again, and decided to go with the hand held for the remainder of the race. Loaded up with more Tailwind and off to AS10 and the final turn around.
This was a long 3.2 miles, but I managed to maintain a mid 14:00 pace by running when I could, and walking when I had too. The Turnaround was quite a boost, 10 miles to go (about 2.5 hours at this pace) but hey, I can run 10 miles right! While the feet and back were still hurting, I was in a much better place mentally. I knew I could come in under the 11 hour goal and every step in this direction was toward the finish line rather than away from it. Slowest mile of the day was when I got back to AS9, I took my time loading up my water and Tailwind, decided not to change my shirt (I had packed a Superman shirt, but was not feeling very much like Superman at the time), and was off for the final stretch.
From AS 9 to the finish was kind of a blur. I remember almost beginning to cry at about mile 45 whiMy feet were really pounding, so I had to go pretty slow on the steep downhills, but was able to push my self to run a bit during the more easy downs and flats. I was actually passing quite a few people during this section, most of them hiking by this point, About a quarter mile from the finish my friend Terry and Dave were there at the top of the last hill, and Terry ran me home (though it was not much of a run for him at that point). Crossed the finish line at 10:33:25
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=46289&submit_action=select_result&re_NO=260#racetop what a great feeling!
What I learned:
1) I can do an Ultra Marathon
2) For a trail course like IA50, I need to spend more time training on the tougher terrain, I think the lack of training on the uneven surface of this type of trail was a big contributor to the foot pain.
3) You can never do enough hill training!
4) If an ultra is this well supported, I probably don't need my Nathan Backpack, I was much more comfortable when I just had the handheld.
5) I packed way to much stuff in my drop bags
6) Tailwinds is a great product for Ultra racing nutrition.
7) Runners are the most Awesome and supportive people in the world!
8) Even when I think I can't, I can still run another mile.
