Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Iron Mountain Trail 50-Miler
This is a very low-key event held near the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area in southwest Virginia. Previous runnings have only featured the 50-miler, but in an effort to attract more participants the race director offered three different distances this year – a 16-miler, a 30-miler, and the 50. He also offered a “no frills” option which allowed one to register for just $20 if they were willing to forego the race t-shirt, finisher’s award, and pre-race meal. Sign me up!
The race course had a little bit of everything – paved bike paths, single track trails, and jeep roads. It boasts about 9,000 ft of elevation gain, which I guess is respectable. Most of the trails are shared by horses, which made things even more interesting. My initial plan was to just use the race as a glorified training run, practice my nutrition plan and get an idea for what 50 miles “feels” like before the Mountain Masochist 50-Miler in November. But I got apprehensive and ended up doing a modified taper the week leading up to the race. In hindsight, this was probably a good thing.
We started out on a flat bike path for the first 5-miles or so. It was easy running and allowed everyone to warm up before we turned onto the more difficult trail sections. Once on the trail, the course climbs for about 10-miles. It’s a somewhat difficult section, but the combination of fresh legs and a conservative pace made it manageable. After the aid station at mile 16, the 50-milers were on their own. Things got pretty lonely, and I didn’t see or hear another runner from mile 22 to the finish. Fortunately, the aid station workers were top-notch. I never had to refill my own water bottle and was able to cut down on the time spent at the aid stations, something I have struggled with in previous ultras.
The second half of the race is mostly downhill, and I had planned on blitzing this section a lot faster than I had run the first half. But it just didn’t run as fast as I had hoped it would. Despite the net downhill, there were some long technical sections where I felt like I was river dancing as I dodged rocks on every single step. On tired legs, this sucks. Nonetheless, I held it together and felt relatively strong until the last 10-miles or so. As I started to fade, I concentrated on just maintaining a run, no matter how slow, on the flats and downhills, and just putting one foot in front of the other on the uphills.
It seemed like forever, but eventually the trail spit me back into the town of Damascus where I crossed the finish line to the raucous applause of the RD and the three runners who had finished ahead of me (full disclosure: only 16 of us started the 50). Finishing time was 9:45, about 45-minutes slower than I had hoped, but I ain’t complaining.
Lessons learned: (1) Electrolyte tablets are the bomb. I took one every hour on the hour and never once cramped up. (2) Elevation profiles can be deceiving and never tell the whole story. (3) Snakes still scare the shit out me.
Two years ago I would have told you that ultra-running is crazy, that its not real running, and that we’re just not meant to do it. Perhaps all of that is true. But I am so glad I gave it a chance this year. Its allowed me to challenge myself in new ways, meet a lot of amazing people, and take in some beautiful scenery. I’ve been running seriously for about 11 years now, but this year has by far been the most fun.
The race course had a little bit of everything – paved bike paths, single track trails, and jeep roads. It boasts about 9,000 ft of elevation gain, which I guess is respectable. Most of the trails are shared by horses, which made things even more interesting. My initial plan was to just use the race as a glorified training run, practice my nutrition plan and get an idea for what 50 miles “feels” like before the Mountain Masochist 50-Miler in November. But I got apprehensive and ended up doing a modified taper the week leading up to the race. In hindsight, this was probably a good thing.
We started out on a flat bike path for the first 5-miles or so. It was easy running and allowed everyone to warm up before we turned onto the more difficult trail sections. Once on the trail, the course climbs for about 10-miles. It’s a somewhat difficult section, but the combination of fresh legs and a conservative pace made it manageable. After the aid station at mile 16, the 50-milers were on their own. Things got pretty lonely, and I didn’t see or hear another runner from mile 22 to the finish. Fortunately, the aid station workers were top-notch. I never had to refill my own water bottle and was able to cut down on the time spent at the aid stations, something I have struggled with in previous ultras.
The second half of the race is mostly downhill, and I had planned on blitzing this section a lot faster than I had run the first half. But it just didn’t run as fast as I had hoped it would. Despite the net downhill, there were some long technical sections where I felt like I was river dancing as I dodged rocks on every single step. On tired legs, this sucks. Nonetheless, I held it together and felt relatively strong until the last 10-miles or so. As I started to fade, I concentrated on just maintaining a run, no matter how slow, on the flats and downhills, and just putting one foot in front of the other on the uphills.
It seemed like forever, but eventually the trail spit me back into the town of Damascus where I crossed the finish line to the raucous applause of the RD and the three runners who had finished ahead of me (full disclosure: only 16 of us started the 50). Finishing time was 9:45, about 45-minutes slower than I had hoped, but I ain’t complaining.
Lessons learned: (1) Electrolyte tablets are the bomb. I took one every hour on the hour and never once cramped up. (2) Elevation profiles can be deceiving and never tell the whole story. (3) Snakes still scare the shit out me.
Two years ago I would have told you that ultra-running is crazy, that its not real running, and that we’re just not meant to do it. Perhaps all of that is true. But I am so glad I gave it a chance this year. Its allowed me to challenge myself in new ways, meet a lot of amazing people, and take in some beautiful scenery. I’ve been running seriously for about 11 years now, but this year has by far been the most fun.
Friday, September 4, 2009
I am...
"Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of spaceships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets, apostles, and philosophers have insisted since the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense. The ultrarunners know this instinctively. And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being -- a call that asks who they are..."
- David Blaikie
- David Blaikie
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