My Ignominious Second Ultra Race Report
Buffalo Run 50k Race Report: My Ignominious Second Ultra
Abridged Version
It was almost mile 25, and I was gliding along a relatively flat section after climbing a series of switchbacks. Then BOOM! I was laying on the ground, looking at the world sideway. It happened so fast I didn’t even get to break my fall. I was laying on my side, feeling pain radiating from my knee. I laid that for what seemed like minutes but was probably actually just a few seconds. “Get up! Keep moving forward!” my internal voice told me.
I hauled myself to my feet and inspected the damage. My arm was scratched up. My knee had some deep gouges caked with dirt. I’d later discover a rock embedded in my hand, but didn’t notice it until after I drove home. My knee felt stiff. I walk slowly to test it. I had visions that my entire season was over. Good bye, Ironman Boulder. I ended up walking for about a mile until it loosened up enough for an easy jog.
I decided that my race was over and it was just going to be a long training day. I was doing this race for fun, so I wouldn’t gamble my season to push through the last 7 miles.
Up until I fell, I was having a good race, pretty much following my plan. I had averaged a 9:30/mile pace the first 16-mile loop of the course. That was hotter than I planned to run, and decided to go easier the second loop. I figured I could take it easy on the climbs and then push the pace the last 5 miles which is primarily flat or down hill. I projected I could handily beat my 10:00/mile pace from my first 50k. The course was 1.5 miles long, so I knew I wouldn’t set a PR. But those thoughts ended when I was dusting myself off.
I walked all the hills and step descents to avoid putting too much pressure on my knee. I got the to aid station about 5 miles from the finish and asked a volunteer how my leg looked. She said, “It looks like it hurts a lot.” But it wasn’t swollen, so I was hopeful there was no serious damage. I limped it in the rest of the way.
Key Take Aways
- 25 feet at a time. I let my focus drift and paid for it by eating dirt. If this had been the bike leg of an Ironman, I could have been serious injured. I need to watch what’s in front of me and stay out of my head. After all, that’s what I love about endurance sports.
- Be prepared to improvise. When I got to the aid station with drop bags at the end of the first loop, my drop bag wasn’t there. I scanned for it for a minute before quickly drawing up a Plan B. I would fill a .5L soft flask at each of the aid stations, which had highly watered down Hammer Hed. I’d need to suck down all the gels and nutrition I was carrying to get enough calories, and take S-Tabs for sodium. I maybe lost a minute searching for my bag.
- Keep moving forward, man, as Shaughn says. Even though I limped my way in the last 7 miles I stilled ended finishing in the top 1/3. The race director was flexible about letting 50k racers drop to the 25k after the first loop. About 50 runners did so. Otherwise, I would have probably finished even higher percentage wise.
- Any day you can carry yourself 32 miles under your own power is a good day. Since I was moving slower, I got to take in the scenery. I had breathtaking, panoramic views of the Salt Lake framed by the Wasatch Mountains. I thought, “man, I am lucky as hell to be out here doing this.”
What’s Next
Now begins the triathlon focus of my season as shown in my signature below. I did the outseason plan to regain my bike and swim fitness, and then spent the last three weeks on run focus. Apparently, I am doing the Ironman Altitude Tour with St George 70.3, Boulder 70.3, and Ironman Boulder. I had already signed up for the three races before WTC announced the tour. It’s kind of cool that I’ll get some sort of special medal for it.
I’m thinking there isn’t enough separation between Ironman Boulder on August 7th and the North Face Endurance Challenge 50-miler in Park City on September 24th. I need some quality time in the mountains to do a course with 10k of vertical. I may look at alternative 50-mile races, such as the Pony Express in October or the North Face Endurance Challenge in San Francisco in early December.
I need to recruit someone stupid enough to do R2R2R with me. Even in the middle of a race, I would have had to walk 2 miles to get help. That was a horrible feeling. Otherwise, I have a hiking R2R trip with some buddies planned at the end of August. We’re going to hike from North Rim to South Rim, staying the night at the Bright Angel Lodge. Then we’d take the shuttle back. I may run back for a R2R run, since I’d have my buddies waiting for me at North Rim.
Now I need to dig my tri bike out of the basement for the first time since Boulder 70.3 in June last year (it still has the race sticker on it) and get serious about triathlon training!
Comments
Here's what I discovered back when I was doing a lot of off road running in my Xterra days. Our brains seem to do a very good job at visually picking out potential obstructions even without being fully conscious ("focused") of what we're seeing. But like any other organ, the brain gets fatigued, and that "auto-pilot" function degrades over time. And since the brain runs solely on glucose, having nutritional issues (like trying to "run on fat-burning") can feed into it. So after a certain point (2-3 hours?), you'll need to *consciously* pay attention to the path before you, to make sure your feet go over any rocks or roots or small gullies in the route. Unlike on the road, where the surface is pretty much uniform, and there are no obstructions to consciously or unconsciously avoid.
And keep feeding yourself sugar, more than you think you might need for the muscular work.
Gabe-- That's a bummer about the fall, but still sounds like a great adventure. It should also set you up pretty well for the meat of your actual season. The longer the distances get (especially at faster speeds), the bigger the roots and rocks seem to become. Much of it is muscle fatigue AND mental fatigue. It just becomes a constant battle inside your brain to stay aware. But part of it is just the law of probabilities. I have had plenty of hard tumbles while trail running, even in the early stages of a run before muscle or mental fatigue could ever have become a factor. This is not all that different to the number of times I have gone over the handle bars of a mountain bike per mile ridden when compared to when I ride my road or tri bike on the road. Sometimes sh!t just happens. The longer you're out there, the more rocks and roots you have passed. Sooner or later one of them (or many of them) have a way of reaching out and grabbing your foot.
And yes, I agree that proper fueling is certainly important, but it is not the end all be all. I will firmly disagree with this statement by one of our resident sugar burners (a doctor and amazing "racer" that I happen have the utmost personal respect for)...
Brains can also be powered quite efficiently by ketones... So people who are fat adapted (which I know Gabe has experimented with) can certainly race on other fuels. For every couple Ultra-Runners who survives on a gu every 30 mins for 24-30 hours straight, there is one that does them with very little fuel or fat only types of fuel. Many of these guys are the ones winning some of the hardest and most gruelling ultra's out there. Note above that Tim Cronk also had tripping issues at the latter parts of his ultra races (pretty much everyone does) and he is a died in the wool sugar burner...
@Tim, insightful question. Fatigue definitely played a part. I've hooked my foot on rocks hundreds of times in the past without falling. I usually am able to engage my core to stay upright and whip my foot off the rock. My brain just wasn't working fast enough. It was a good lesson to be extra cautious when I get fatigued.
I'd love to do R2R2R with you! You'll probably rip my legs off.
@Al, you might be onto something with the nutrition. Since the race organizers lost my dropbag with my Taliwind Nutrition at the midpoint, I had to use the extremely watered down Hammer Hed on the course. I'd be surprised if it even had 100 calories/L. I usually have 400 calories/L with Tailwind. I usually can't sleep after a race because I'm too amped up, but I crashed immediately when I got home.
@JW, I've had a very lucky run on the trails. I started trail running back in 2004 when I lived in San Diego. Before becoming a triathlete, probably 75% of my running was on trails. In hundreds of trail runs I haven't fallen once, not once. I guess the odds were going to catch up with me.
I've been interested in the fat adapted endurance athletes lately. I'm hearing more and more about it on podcasts like Trail Runner Nation. I kind of assumed that endurance sports require sugar to keep the fires stoked. It's interesting that endurance athletes like Zach Bitter, who recently broke the 100-mile record, have had success with that approach. I'm too far into the season to stop committing carbocide this year, but it is something I may transition to next outseason.
congrats. leg ok ?
have been starting to consider some longer running races. watched a documentary about some races in the Alps (I think). maybe france/Switzerland. seems incredible.
watched Barkley Marathons documentary. have NO desire to do that one.
The knee is looking better. I'll go for an easy run this week to test it out. Strangely my other knee hurts more. I guess I put a lot of pressure on it limping in those last 7 miles.
I enjoyed the Barkley Marathons documentary. Ultras are nothing like that. The course is generally well or at least decently marked. You're not bushwhacking through thorny bushes or crawling through a drainage tunnel under a prison. I'd almost call the Barkley more of an adventure race.