My First 50-Mile Ultra Race Report!
Embedding the Word version of my race report to save the effort to transfer and reformat the content to the forums. Click the icon on the lower right to view in full screen.
Update: I added a link to a DPF download below in case the embedded Word document isn't working.
This is an embedded Microsoft Office document, powered by Office Online.Download the PDF: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AhrqS7wa__Ka8CN-A0Qrx_eZkQlR
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Leadman - Racers must complete each event within the allotted cut off time in order to move on and be eligible for the next. If a racer does not meet the required finish time, he or she will not be allowed to continue in the Leadman competition. However, the racer may continue racing as an individual by notifying Athlete Services at Leadville@lifetimefitness.com. The Leadville Race Series does not allow refunds, transfers or deferment in the midst of the Leadman competition.
Tim, makes Leadman seem more feasible. For the cost of one Ironman, you get five races. The key race for me would be the Leadville 100 Ultra. If I missed one the races, it still gives me a ticket to that iconic race. The only combination of races that gives me pause is the MTB 100 followed by the Ultra the next weekend. I think I would recover from the MTB in a week, but I've never spent 10 hours on a bike, making it uncharted territory. I can't imagine it is harder that 10 hours of running. I'm going to try to work in a epic MTB ride such as WRIAD in April or May to I can see how quickly I recover -- and have fun.
If you do it in 2018, I'd come out for one of the early races such as the Trail Marathon or 50 MTB/Run to do it with you. My goal would be to complete all the races in 2017. But the prize for me is the Leadville 100 Run. Luckily for me, Leadville is about a 6-7 hour drive. That's part of the attraction of doing it while I live in Utah. I could do the first two races as long weekends. I would probably stay for the week between the MTB 100 and Run 100 to get more altitude acclimatization.
I've done a bunch of research and reading on the Leadman. The below is a very detailed blog of all the training the dude put into Leadman. He even goes into how he structured his training program. I've read all the entries related to Leadman. It looks about like the typical volume that would go into an Ironman, probably less by EN standards. In most of the results I've seen participants opt to do the MTB 50 over the Run 50. I think it is so you can get in a good starting corral for the MTB 100, and it's probably also easier. This dude actually did the MTB 50 and then the Run 50 the next day for fun. That sounds really stupid, so of course I'm interested.
http://shadmika.blogspot.com/2015/01/kick-off-to-leadman-training-and-2015.html
I'm looking forward to following your Ultraman adventures to learn from you. I'd like to do one in 2018 or 2019. It would force me to improve my swim.
Great read Gabe thanks!
Biggest takeaways for me: Ninja is as ninja does - regardless of event. And mirroring elevation gain in training. That sounds so obvious but how you spelled it out was like a little light bulb moment.
Congratulations!
I have done a 50K ultra in at Bandera over extreme terrain in bad conditions and it was about all I could take. A 50 miler would be a whole other BIG bite for me. Just amazing work getting this 50 miler done my friend. Definitely and whole other animal apart from Ironman!
Good luck in the Series......you will come back from it a completely different athlete when it is complete!
SS
Thanks for the truly great read. Huge congrats! Having covered 26.2 on 17 different occasions, I've always questioned the sanity of those who leave unsatisfied and want to go double or quadruple that distance. But your report, literally, caused me for the first time to think that . . . maybe . . . someday.
MR
@Jenn, I'm a ninja apprentice compared to you!
The elevation thing is kind of obvious, but it's surprising how many athletes don't do it. The ah-ha moment for me was reading many elite ultrarunners such as Rob Krar don't even track their mileage but do track there elevation gain.
@Shaughn, you'd crush a 50-miler! In some ways, I think it is easier than a 50k because you are running stupid easy. It's basically like doing your IM run effort, without having swam 2.4mi and biked 112mi before.@Mike, maybe a new goal for after Kona? With your athletic ability, you'd be right up there at the front of the pack in an ultra. The pointy end of an ultra is much pointier than an Ironman. That is, there are fewer elite athletes in an ultra.
@Mark, thanks! I'll probably post my training plans in the forums and would love to get input from seasoned runners like you.
Gabe, I'd like to read the report, but it (the icon) doesn't appear either in the email or on the forum on my computer. But congratulations, and glad to hear you're going to test yourself over in my neck of the woods (Leadville) next summer.
Sorry about that. I added a link to download a PDF version of the document above. Hopefully, that will work for you.
Thanks, Clark! I can't take credit for that mantra -- I heard it from Rich when we spoke at the Pasadena Tri Club a couple years ago.
I'd still love to do R2R2R. I was hoping to squeeze it in this year but it didn't happen. After having a spill during the Buffalo Run 50k earlier this year and hobbling that last 7 miles to the finish, I decided I didn't want to do it alone since it's a long way from help if something goes wrong. I haven't found anyone stupid...I mean, adventurous...enough to do it with. I remember you were organizing a group to go last year. Did that I happen? If not, perhaps we could organize an EN group for sometime next year.