I'm feeling pretty good. My right hamstring has been sore but feels much better today than yesterday. I took Sunday off, ran 3.4 Monday, and ran 9.3 this morning. It felt good to run today.
I was telling my running partners this morning that the race ended up, for me, being more like a really l-o-n-g training run. In hindsight, I ran with an average heart rate a few beats lower that I planned but that is better than running a few beats too high.
If I was to try to fine tune anything, I would think about increasing my water consumption per hour. 22 oz seemed fine for the first 3+ hours but later I really needed more. Also, I'm not really sure why I didn't want to take in any more of the Hammer Sustained Energy mix after 4 or 4.5 hours. It's neutral in flavor so it's not bad or anything. The orange slices were good later on. Maybe I should have grabbed some gummy bears to suck on for the last 6 or 8 miles. If I'm going to do a 50 miler next fall, I'll need to sort out what to do for a very long run.
Overall, I'm very happy with how I did. I don't see much to improve or change. Just a little fine tuning is all.
Oh yeah.... It wouldn't hurt to get my weekly miles up a bit more. I averaged 42 per week leading up to the Fargo Marathon. I increased up to the low 50s before tapering for Afton. I plan to average in the mid to upper 60s before the TC Marathon. I hope to be up in the 70s weekly training for a 50 mile race. That may be light, but with a family, there is only so much time I can take for me.
--Mark
Showing posts with label Afton 50K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afton 50K. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Afton 50K (cont.)
I posted earlier on my race day hydration/fueling plan and how that worked out. Now a little on the race.
The race organization was great. I arrived very early and walked around for 15 minutes until 5am. I got my race packet and awesome shirt. I just love the shirt. Can I wear it every day? I went back to the parking lot and chatted with a few folks. Some were old-timers at ultras, others were first-timers like me. Everyone was nice. I was nervous for the day but ready too.
I organized my drop bag with two bottles of a Hammer Sustained Energy mixture and a water bottle filled with ice and water. A nice woman showed me where to stow the bag. By race time I already went pee about 3 or 4 times. My running partner Jim showed up early and picked up his packet for the 25K. We talked about the race and other things and it was time for me to get to the starting line. I tried to place myself somewhere between 30% and 50% back from the start. That was likely where I would finish. Julie B. was right behind me and I said Hi. RD John said his pre-race stuff and off we went.
I felt OK but not really good as the race got going. My plan was to keep my heart rate just under 150 most of the time. My anerobic threshold is approx. 167 so I figured 150 would keep me aerobic and able to process the fuel I carried as well as helping prevent me from crashing and burning as I had done in the Fargo marathon.
Here is my heart rate chart for the race.
There were times I let my heart rate go a few beats over 150 but that was mostly going up hills. I had to walk all the hills to keep my heart rate down. My average heart rate for the first and second loops was 145 and 147, respectively. The overall average was 146 and watch recorded that I burned 4636 calories. Yikes. Did I run the race a bit conservatively? Maybe, but as a first timer at a 50K, I wanted to be as successful as I could be.
When I hit Aid station 3 I needed to fill my water bottle. I'm new at this but I took the top off before I got to the station. A nice woman there asked me if I wanted water and she filled my bottle in about 5 seconds. Awesome. I screwed the cover on and off I went. I couldn't believe how fast and helpful the aid station volunteers were. Just great!
By mile 8 or 9 I was feeling good. I was doing well and hydrating and fueling. Also I was taking an S-Cap every hour. I got to run with several people during the race. It was nice to talk to the guys on the course. There were other times I would look back behind me and in front of me while up in 'Africa' and not see a soul. I would wonder.... am I last?
Eventually, I passed what I thought was 26 or 27 miles. Now I have gone longer than ever before. My plan of racing by heart rate was paying off. My pace would suffer, though. I did the first loop in 2:34 and would do the second in 3:16. I think for this race it was better for me to hold my heart rate constant that to try to pick up the pace and have even splits. I wanted to finish without needing to walk. I mean, I wanted to finish by walking up hills and running everywhere else. I met that goal. Also, although I was trying not to set a hard time goal, I wanted to finish in under 6:00 and possibly in 5:30. I was so happy to cross the finish line at 5:50:33.
Now it is one day later and I can say that I'm looking forward to ultra races in the future.
edit: Now that the race results have been posted, I finished 54/129 overall and 12/29 in the male - 40's category.
--Mark
The race organization was great. I arrived very early and walked around for 15 minutes until 5am. I got my race packet and awesome shirt. I just love the shirt. Can I wear it every day? I went back to the parking lot and chatted with a few folks. Some were old-timers at ultras, others were first-timers like me. Everyone was nice. I was nervous for the day but ready too.
I organized my drop bag with two bottles of a Hammer Sustained Energy mixture and a water bottle filled with ice and water. A nice woman showed me where to stow the bag. By race time I already went pee about 3 or 4 times. My running partner Jim showed up early and picked up his packet for the 25K. We talked about the race and other things and it was time for me to get to the starting line. I tried to place myself somewhere between 30% and 50% back from the start. That was likely where I would finish. Julie B. was right behind me and I said Hi. RD John said his pre-race stuff and off we went.
I felt OK but not really good as the race got going. My plan was to keep my heart rate just under 150 most of the time. My anerobic threshold is approx. 167 so I figured 150 would keep me aerobic and able to process the fuel I carried as well as helping prevent me from crashing and burning as I had done in the Fargo marathon.
Here is my heart rate chart for the race.
There were times I let my heart rate go a few beats over 150 but that was mostly going up hills. I had to walk all the hills to keep my heart rate down. My average heart rate for the first and second loops was 145 and 147, respectively. The overall average was 146 and watch recorded that I burned 4636 calories. Yikes. Did I run the race a bit conservatively? Maybe, but as a first timer at a 50K, I wanted to be as successful as I could be.
When I hit Aid station 3 I needed to fill my water bottle. I'm new at this but I took the top off before I got to the station. A nice woman there asked me if I wanted water and she filled my bottle in about 5 seconds. Awesome. I screwed the cover on and off I went. I couldn't believe how fast and helpful the aid station volunteers were. Just great!
By mile 8 or 9 I was feeling good. I was doing well and hydrating and fueling. Also I was taking an S-Cap every hour. I got to run with several people during the race. It was nice to talk to the guys on the course. There were other times I would look back behind me and in front of me while up in 'Africa' and not see a soul. I would wonder.... am I last?
Eventually, I passed what I thought was 26 or 27 miles. Now I have gone longer than ever before. My plan of racing by heart rate was paying off. My pace would suffer, though. I did the first loop in 2:34 and would do the second in 3:16. I think for this race it was better for me to hold my heart rate constant that to try to pick up the pace and have even splits. I wanted to finish without needing to walk. I mean, I wanted to finish by walking up hills and running everywhere else. I met that goal. Also, although I was trying not to set a hard time goal, I wanted to finish in under 6:00 and possibly in 5:30. I was so happy to cross the finish line at 5:50:33.
Now it is one day later and I can say that I'm looking forward to ultra races in the future.
edit: Now that the race results have been posted, I finished 54/129 overall and 12/29 in the male - 40's category.
--Mark
Afton 50K fueling/hydration experiment results
I ran my first 50K on Saturday. I'm new at longer distances and am trying to correct as many of my mistakes as possible from my earlier race. I say race because my only long distance race before Afton was the Fargo Marathon in May. My issues from Fargo that I wanted to focus on were: GI problems, dehydration, muscle cramps. I know that some, if not all, of these problems are inter-related.
I read much of the available info from Hammer Nutrition. As a guideline, I decided that 22 oz of water per hour was a good place to start. I didn't drink anywhere near that much at Fargo and I have also read it is not good to drink too much. I bought a hand-held water bottle and have practiced with it three times at Afton and other long runs since May. My plan for the race was to down one hand-held per hour.
Fueling. I determined that any breakfast before a race, especially when I have GU or Hammer Gels while running a race or training run, can upset my stomach. I'm not a fan of finding a porta-potti on short notice so I'm skipping breakfast on race-day and not using any kind of GU or gel during the race. I settled on Sustained Energy (SE) from Hammer. I have a belt that hold two 10 oz bottles. I also have an extra two bottles. I planned to take about 220 calories per hour of SE. Assuming about a 3 hours 25K loop time at Afton, I mixed 3 scoops of SE per bottle. The calories per hour would work out just right if I finished both bottles by the end of a lap. I had anther two bottles (on ice) in my drop bag to swap-out when I finished lap one.
For electrolytes my plan was to take one S-Cap every hour on the dot. I kept to that plan throughout the race. I don't know if this means anything or not but I did not ever see any salt accumulating on my skin or shirt. I think the one S-Cap per hour was just about right.
I felt just OK at the start of the race. About 4 miles in, I had a little pain in my foot. At that point I was wondering about a DNF. I wasn't wearing my new running shoes but wore my old ones with my heel lift in the right shoe. I was questioning that choice of shoes for the day and then told myself the pain was just temporary and things clicked back into place and I was pain free again. I was up in the sun of the Africa loop now. Still I only felt just OK. About mile 8 or 9 I started to feel good. I kept to my plan of 22 oz of water per hour and finishing one of the SE bottle about every 1.5 hours.
At around the 4 hour point in the race I was nearly finished with my 3rd SE bottle. I was becoming more dehydrated and a little hungry and I was dreading one more taste of SE. I was just fine with the SE up to that point. Somewhere around this time I was at my final pass by Aid station 4. I had refilled my bottle a little while earlier from the other side (Aid station 3) and drained it. My thirst had been increasing so I let myself consume more water. My stop at aid station 4 was my first time I had stopped for food. I had 3 orange slices and a big piece of watermelon. Yummy. My stomach wanted to switch over from SE to fruit. I let it.
Now I just needed to make it to the finish. I'm still feeling good. I took a bit more SE up the meatgrinder hill but it didn't taste good. But does SE ever taste good? :-) I stopped at Aid station 5 and filled my water again and ate three more orange slices. I was fishing for encouragement so I told Jeffrey that every step I take is a new PR. He told me I was doing very well and will have a good finishing time. I don't remember what my time was then but I was on track to finish under 6 hours.
I said I felt good since mile 8 or 9. I felt good up to mile 29. Then I got some minor cramping in my quads. I changed my pace a tiny bit and fought with my mind again to make the pain go away. It did just as my foot pain had disappeared 25 miles earlier. I was lucky to just have that minor cramping for only one or two minutes. I steadily worked my way through the last two miles. As I approached the finish, a few runners were passing me and more were stacking up behind me. I let my heart rate go up beyond that soft-limit of 150 I held for the nearly 6 hours and ran as fast as I could towards the finish. I am very pleased with my 5:50 finish.
No major GI, Cramping, or Dehydration problems. This experiment was a success.
A few hours after the race I went to my health club to use a foam roller on my hamstrings and shower. The foam roller was not the best idea at the time. Using it put me on the edge of hamstring cramps. When I tried to get up off the floor from my mat, both hamstrings would cramp and I had to sit down. After a minute or so I tried again, cramped up, and sat down. I just sat there for a few minuted wondering if I was doomed to sit there all day. Maybe I would have to crawl my way to the locker room. :-) I had an idea. I rocked myself up onto my feet in a squatting position and then stood up. Hurray! No cramps.
I can't wait for my next 50K.
--Mark
I read much of the available info from Hammer Nutrition. As a guideline, I decided that 22 oz of water per hour was a good place to start. I didn't drink anywhere near that much at Fargo and I have also read it is not good to drink too much. I bought a hand-held water bottle and have practiced with it three times at Afton and other long runs since May. My plan for the race was to down one hand-held per hour.
Fueling. I determined that any breakfast before a race, especially when I have GU or Hammer Gels while running a race or training run, can upset my stomach. I'm not a fan of finding a porta-potti on short notice so I'm skipping breakfast on race-day and not using any kind of GU or gel during the race. I settled on Sustained Energy (SE) from Hammer. I have a belt that hold two 10 oz bottles. I also have an extra two bottles. I planned to take about 220 calories per hour of SE. Assuming about a 3 hours 25K loop time at Afton, I mixed 3 scoops of SE per bottle. The calories per hour would work out just right if I finished both bottles by the end of a lap. I had anther two bottles (on ice) in my drop bag to swap-out when I finished lap one.
For electrolytes my plan was to take one S-Cap every hour on the dot. I kept to that plan throughout the race. I don't know if this means anything or not but I did not ever see any salt accumulating on my skin or shirt. I think the one S-Cap per hour was just about right.
I felt just OK at the start of the race. About 4 miles in, I had a little pain in my foot. At that point I was wondering about a DNF. I wasn't wearing my new running shoes but wore my old ones with my heel lift in the right shoe. I was questioning that choice of shoes for the day and then told myself the pain was just temporary and things clicked back into place and I was pain free again. I was up in the sun of the Africa loop now. Still I only felt just OK. About mile 8 or 9 I started to feel good. I kept to my plan of 22 oz of water per hour and finishing one of the SE bottle about every 1.5 hours.
At around the 4 hour point in the race I was nearly finished with my 3rd SE bottle. I was becoming more dehydrated and a little hungry and I was dreading one more taste of SE. I was just fine with the SE up to that point. Somewhere around this time I was at my final pass by Aid station 4. I had refilled my bottle a little while earlier from the other side (Aid station 3) and drained it. My thirst had been increasing so I let myself consume more water. My stop at aid station 4 was my first time I had stopped for food. I had 3 orange slices and a big piece of watermelon. Yummy. My stomach wanted to switch over from SE to fruit. I let it.
Now I just needed to make it to the finish. I'm still feeling good. I took a bit more SE up the meatgrinder hill but it didn't taste good. But does SE ever taste good? :-) I stopped at Aid station 5 and filled my water again and ate three more orange slices. I was fishing for encouragement so I told Jeffrey that every step I take is a new PR. He told me I was doing very well and will have a good finishing time. I don't remember what my time was then but I was on track to finish under 6 hours.
I said I felt good since mile 8 or 9. I felt good up to mile 29. Then I got some minor cramping in my quads. I changed my pace a tiny bit and fought with my mind again to make the pain go away. It did just as my foot pain had disappeared 25 miles earlier. I was lucky to just have that minor cramping for only one or two minutes. I steadily worked my way through the last two miles. As I approached the finish, a few runners were passing me and more were stacking up behind me. I let my heart rate go up beyond that soft-limit of 150 I held for the nearly 6 hours and ran as fast as I could towards the finish. I am very pleased with my 5:50 finish.
No major GI, Cramping, or Dehydration problems. This experiment was a success.
A few hours after the race I went to my health club to use a foam roller on my hamstrings and shower. The foam roller was not the best idea at the time. Using it put me on the edge of hamstring cramps. When I tried to get up off the floor from my mat, both hamstrings would cramp and I had to sit down. After a minute or so I tried again, cramped up, and sat down. I just sat there for a few minuted wondering if I was doomed to sit there all day. Maybe I would have to crawl my way to the locker room. :-) I had an idea. I rocked myself up onto my feet in a squatting position and then stood up. Hurray! No cramps.
I can't wait for my next 50K.
--Mark
Monday, June 30, 2008
less than a week to the Afton 50K
I'm just on the edge of being ready for the Afton 50K on Saturday. I hope I'm more ready than not ready. I ran the 25K loop out there a few weeks ago with some friends. The lure of Afton was too much for one of the guys to resist so he signed up for the 25K. One of the other guys may sign up too. Looks like there will be a great turnout with 300+ registered for both races at this time.
I'm still staying with my plan to run the 50K. I don't care what my time is. I'll have a really successful race if the hills are the only places I walk.
The rest of the week I'm doing some heavy duty tapering.
--Mark
I'm still staying with my plan to run the 50K. I don't care what my time is. I'll have a really successful race if the hills are the only places I walk.
The rest of the week I'm doing some heavy duty tapering.
--Mark
Saturday, June 21, 2008
another nice Afton run
I did an early morning 25K Afton loop this morning with friends. My time was 2:45 which was a few minutes slower than last week but that was due to a few extra stops. So really I ran the loop at essentially the same pace as last Sunday. My heart rate averaged 136 vs Sunday's 144. I think the lower HR today was due mostly to running in lower temperature conditions. Today was my last practice loop at Afton before the race on July 5th. I feel really good right now and feel confident about the 50K.
I skipped breakfast before the run today. I wanted to see if that would help reduce intestinal problems. So far so good. My plan now is to have 2 10oz bottles with a 'Sustained Energy' mixture per loop in the race. I will also carry a 22 oz water bottle and refill as necessary. After the first loop I'll swap out the empty fuel bottles for two full ones (assuming there is a drop area I can do that.)
I trained for, and ran, the Fargo marathon with three friends. Two ran with me today. The third, Kim, ran Grandma's marathon this morning. She smoked it and got an 11 minute PR with a finish in 3:21. Awesome job Kim! When I recover from Afton, and Kim recovers from Grandma's, it will be full speed ahead training for the TC marathon.
Oh yeah. I broke 1000 miles for the year this morning. My previous yearly high was 920 (last year.) I should break 2000 by the end of the year.
woodtick watch: Today I used 3M Ultrathon insect repellent lotion on my legs. At our first stop about 60 minutes into the run I found one woodtick and one deertick crawling on my legs. I don't mind the woodticks but I HATE deer ticks. I had lyme disease about 10 years ago, and take my word for it, it's no fun to have. I assume that several more crawled on my during the run but they must have all dropped off after getting a taste of the repellent.
--Mark
I skipped breakfast before the run today. I wanted to see if that would help reduce intestinal problems. So far so good. My plan now is to have 2 10oz bottles with a 'Sustained Energy' mixture per loop in the race. I will also carry a 22 oz water bottle and refill as necessary. After the first loop I'll swap out the empty fuel bottles for two full ones (assuming there is a drop area I can do that.)
I trained for, and ran, the Fargo marathon with three friends. Two ran with me today. The third, Kim, ran Grandma's marathon this morning. She smoked it and got an 11 minute PR with a finish in 3:21. Awesome job Kim! When I recover from Afton, and Kim recovers from Grandma's, it will be full speed ahead training for the TC marathon.
Oh yeah. I broke 1000 miles for the year this morning. My previous yearly high was 920 (last year.) I should break 2000 by the end of the year.
woodtick watch: Today I used 3M Ultrathon insect repellent lotion on my legs. At our first stop about 60 minutes into the run I found one woodtick and one deertick crawling on my legs. I don't mind the woodticks but I HATE deer ticks. I had lyme disease about 10 years ago, and take my word for it, it's no fun to have. I assume that several more crawled on my during the run but they must have all dropped off after getting a taste of the repellent.
--Mark
Monday, June 16, 2008
A half-Afton test run
I went out Sunday afternoon to do a practice loop at Afton. This time I planned to keep my heart rate under 150 most of the time so it meant walking up most of the big hills. This strategy worked out very well and I felt good at the end of the 25K loop. Mine was probably 25.3K because I got off on the wrong trails a few times and had to backtrack.
I finished in 2:41 with an average HR of 144. Perfect.
All I know now is that I can have a very successful first loop but I know the second will be more difficult. My legs were somewhat tired near the end of the run yesterday. My plan is that if I can stay well down into the aerobic zone and consume Sustained Energy at a constant rate as well as keep hydrated, I have a chance of completing the 50K without a crash and burn.
I didn't see much wildlife but I did flush a turkey, heard some pheasants, and ran by a deer that just stood about 15 feet away. I also picked-up about 8 friendly woodticks. :-(
--Mark
I finished in 2:41 with an average HR of 144. Perfect.
All I know now is that I can have a very successful first loop but I know the second will be more difficult. My legs were somewhat tired near the end of the run yesterday. My plan is that if I can stay well down into the aerobic zone and consume Sustained Energy at a constant rate as well as keep hydrated, I have a chance of completing the 50K without a crash and burn.
I didn't see much wildlife but I did flush a turkey, heard some pheasants, and ran by a deer that just stood about 15 feet away. I also picked-up about 8 friendly woodticks. :-(
--Mark
Monday, April 14, 2008
5 weeks to Fargo
I had a great week last week. 53.9 miles total, I felt great during and after my second-to-the-last 20-miler, and I feel great now. No injuries.
Saturday I stopped into Run-n-Fun and bought my 'Marathon shoes'. They're Brooks Adrenaline GTS-8's. I've only ran in Brooks Adrenaline shoes except for my one day with ASICS. This morning I ran 9 in the new shoes and they felt great. I plan to put about 80 to 100 miles on them before Marathon day. I have three other pairs I rotate but they all have ~300 miles on them.
I'll be dipping my toes into the ultra-marathon waters this year. I'm signed up for the Afton 50K and also joined the Upper Midwest Trail Runners group. I didn't really want to sign-up for the Fab 5 Fifties series this year as I'm only running one race on the list. Well, I'm signed-up and I'm not dropping out. Next year I plan to run three 50K and two 50 mile races. Yikes!
Oh yeah, my next race is the Trail Mix 50K 4-person team race on Saturday. I only run 12.5K. My 4-person team all run at the same time and our finishing times are added together for the team time. It was great fun last year on the dry and fast course. I'm looking forward to some mud this year!
--Mark
Saturday I stopped into Run-n-Fun and bought my 'Marathon shoes'. They're Brooks Adrenaline GTS-8's. I've only ran in Brooks Adrenaline shoes except for my one day with ASICS. This morning I ran 9 in the new shoes and they felt great. I plan to put about 80 to 100 miles on them before Marathon day. I have three other pairs I rotate but they all have ~300 miles on them.
I'll be dipping my toes into the ultra-marathon waters this year. I'm signed up for the Afton 50K and also joined the Upper Midwest Trail Runners group. I didn't really want to sign-up for the Fab 5 Fifties series this year as I'm only running one race on the list. Well, I'm signed-up and I'm not dropping out. Next year I plan to run three 50K and two 50 mile races. Yikes!
Oh yeah, my next race is the Trail Mix 50K 4-person team race on Saturday. I only run 12.5K. My 4-person team all run at the same time and our finishing times are added together for the team time. It was great fun last year on the dry and fast course. I'm looking forward to some mud this year!
--Mark
Monday, March 31, 2008
Hills in July and hills this morning
I dropped off my registration for the Afton 50K in the mail this morning. It's a bit scary since last year the Afton 25K wore me out. I can always drop back to the 25K before race day but I'll be training for the 50K.
This morning a friend and I talked each other into doing some hills. I had planned to do some speed work today. We ran down to the West River Parkway over the Ford Bridge and ran the Locks and Dam #1 hill six times. That workout showed me that I have some work to do. I definitely have room for improvement. Next week will run the same hill eight times. Now that the snow is pretty much gone in the area (until tonight - ugh) I can do more of my running outside.
--Mark
This morning a friend and I talked each other into doing some hills. I had planned to do some speed work today. We ran down to the West River Parkway over the Ford Bridge and ran the Locks and Dam #1 hill six times. That workout showed me that I have some work to do. I definitely have room for improvement. Next week will run the same hill eight times. Now that the snow is pretty much gone in the area (until tonight - ugh) I can do more of my running outside.
--Mark
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