So what did you learn? You call out not getting any downhill training in, and even on a relatively flat 100 like BR you're still going to have quad damage if you haven't hardened them. Anything else? My reading of the last post indicates maybe you realize your inconsistent training makes doing this kind of thing pretty tough (which, btw, has always made your ability to finish some of the others remarkable)....is that it? Anything else?
I'm not trying to grill you, just curious and also selfish - if there is anything I can learn from others, I'm all about that. I heard a coach on a podcast the other day (Jeff Browning, I think) say the biggest benefit of having a coach for 100 mile training is that they can help you avoid 10 years of making mistakes and learning the associated lessons. I'm still not hiring a coach (yet), but I sure will crowdsource lessons from others in this crazy sport of ours whenever I can. And Ann Trason always has her athletes write down 3 things they did right and 3 things they did wrong after every race....with some of my races I'd have a hard time coming up with 3 good things and could (and have) written pages on all the things I screwed up.
Most importantly I hope you're not beating yourself up too much and enjoying some cold ones. Even without reaching your goals, and we all get that disappointment, you still ran 88 F'ing miles.
@SFBayDuck Been meaning to get back to you on this, just busy catching up at work. Not sure if I'll do a full race report because of time commitments. I'll toss out some general thoughts for now.
Things I learned:
1. I put myself in a bad position going into this race. Normal I focus on some long runs and some quality runs. This cycle I added more mileage than ever in my peak weeks, but it was a bunch of 10-13 mile runs stuffed together with the focus on them being in the heat. I also dedicated a lot of time to solving my back issue.disc issue. One decision in particular sums up where I veered astray. I had been pounding out the miles and finished 13 on July 2. On July 3 I chose to run 13 on a flat track baking in the sun over a mountain trail that would have been cooler and shaded. A week later I chose another sun bake over a downhill trail run because I didn't want to lose training time to let the quads recover. When I had a choice, I chose to run in the hotter part of the day. This lead to a bunch of flatter runs and runs that were at a slower pace. The end result is that I didn't have the turnover in my legs to build the bank of time I needed to do this. I was much better trained for this event mileage wise than Umstead 4 months ago, but most of my runs were at a pace 2 minutes slower.
2. Know the course. While BR is supposedly flat, it's really not. It's a bunch of short brutal climbs and descents sandwiched between long flatfish sections. I think there was about 8-9k of climbing which isn't much, but the grades of that 8-9k become significant when 40% of the course is very flat.
3. I ####ed up everything prep wise and had been so focused on heat training I didn't focus on the details. About a mile in I realized that I taken out my salt tablet and Advil bag the night before to snag a couple of Advil and didn't put it back. I knew I wanted sticks with me. I tested that they fit in the backpack, but I did't run with them (they were sticking out of the zippered part by about 2 inches). By mile 1.5 the zippers were sliding down and I felt my crap falling out everywhere. Stopped for a minute to get everything organized. With no way to secure the sticks, I had to carry them in my hands. Didn't highlight the crew plan well enough and my crew was at mile 25 when I was at mile 34, next crew accessible location was mile 51. I had planned to switch from a pack here to a fuel belt so the pack ended up shredding by underarms and triceps to a raw bloody mess. Went with a new thigh sleeve (long story related to my back) and I still have #### oozing out my upper thigh. All of these gut punches lead to mental doubt early on. Heck, I forget the nip guards that were staring me in the face in the morning. Even with slathering on the vaseline everywhere, it was a constant burned for 16 hours or so.
4. Stick to your plan. I've always done best when cutting weight during training and continuing right up until race day. This time I upped my calorie count from 1200-1500 to 2000 race week at the time I started a taper (I usually don't do much of a taper) and my weight ballooned from 222 to 232. I had read a bunch of stuff here and elsewhere about not cutting weigh prior to an event and decided to try that. I weighed in at 235 after the event despite burning 17000 calories. Usually I'll see a few guys bigger than me, but I think I had everyone covered at this event. This is always going to be a problem for me as years ago I weigh 195 and had a 29 inch waist. That thigh sleeve I was talking about earlier was an XL and my thigh was still 4 inches larger than the top end.
5. This probably just applies to a BOPer like me, but lay out your race plan weeks in advance and train to it, not set your plan based on you training results. Second race in the last year that I've done the race plan days before and knew I was likely ####ed. At shut-in in November I had to keep cutting times in my plan to unrealistic expectations to meet the cutoffs. I hadn't trained to a targeted pace I needed early to bank enough time. Missed the last cutoff by 2 minutes. Similar thing happened here. I didn't leave enough slush time for sections that were harder than expected. I also based aid station times on other events. My 2-3 minutes wasn't enough here because most stations were self serve and there were so many relay and other runners at this event, there was ofter a line to re-fill bladders from a cooler. I lost time here to my budget that I couldn't get back. Honestly I knew I was ####ed at mile 34. I fought back to give myself hope in miles 40-60, but give it all back over the next 15 miles. Made one last push around mile 70-75 to claw back enough time to have a slim shot, but that quickly faded. Also to to plan for nature breaks. Didn't had to deuce, but whizz stops do slow you down.
6. I'm probably not going to be a heat person. I used to love the heat, but 10-15 years ago I think I had a heat stroke bout in a bike event (had to stop 15 minutes in the middle of an event and felt like I was blacking out) and I've never been the same in the heat. My weight may also contribute to that. Some of my slowest times were in the exposed sections and my mile times improved late afternoon and early evening when the temps dropped and the shadows lengthened.
7. Marathon like training doesn't work for me in this sport. I'm much better off with really long runs, once a week shorter tempo runs, and speed work. I set al types of training time records for myself this cycle and it didn't help. I also tend to be more successful when I do positive split training. Pound the legs early in the run and then finish you runs on tired legs rather than conserve and finish strong. Most of my training runs were positive splits, but I think that was due to the heat and I never taxed the muscles like I should have. What works for me is doing less running, but more of it at race pace or faster.
8. Get your tech right. Totally screwed recharging the tech property or at the right times. Of the 26 hours, I only had music for maybe 7-8. Funniest part is I gave my dead phone to my crew at mile 76 to recharged and then I died like the phone. I was so freaking slowing at that point (45-50 min miles) that crew searched for me up the course thinking they had missed me (thinking no one could be that slow) and then went to the the finish. I had no way to call anyone and hitched a ride in. Couldn't get into my hotel room and had didn't know my gf phone number to have someone call her. Aux charger I bought the night before the event sucked. Racejoy ap provided by event management drained the phone battery.
What that went right...
1. Get yourself a pair of Rincons and the the carbon shoes. Between those and the injini socks, I only had two blisters on the toes and the bottom of the feet survived unscathed. Also for the first time ever my right ankle didn't sell and no heel or ankle pain. If the quads hadn't gone i could have done this.
2. Night running is getting easier. The night flew by, never was sleepy. Felt like everything except the quads could have gone 40 hours.
3. There may be some hope. Despite not sniffing a sub 10 minute mile in months, the mid 60 degree start produced some sub 10 minute miles early on and they were easy. I think I got though the first 12 or so miles at a 12 min average which included two fuel stops and fixing my backpack and one other stop for something stupid.
4. Other that the impending doomed that I was ####ed, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a race this much.
Moral of the story, don't be a BMdnf'er like me, be a BMF'er.
Duck...I was giving serious consideration to flying out to SLC to pace you, but quite honestly I don't want to be the first FBG pacer dropped by a BMF'er who's run 80 miles already about 5 miles into the run. I can see it now...I would have finished Wasatch but I had to help my pacer limp to an aid station after 5 miles and ####ed my race. Maybe sometime we can find a flat 100 to run together, but I suspect you are going to go places in this sport and I'll crew you one day after I retire. That said, got some plans to bounce back from this L so stay tuned.
Also since I might not do a race report,
@MAC_32 will like this. Somewhere around mile 70 we were going back through the bog of dispair or mud of misery and some girl lost her shoe in the shin deep mud and couldn't find it. Some other dude lost his and went back and found it. You were right, if it had rained this course would be unfathomable. The whole lot of you should be sued by PETA because those "bridle trails" with 30%+ grade and rutted out are animal cruelty.
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