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

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

heart rates and other things

In my previous posting I stated I thought my average marathon HR should be 160. Steve's comment made me do a little more investigating and I went back to a website (runningtools.com) calculator I found months ago. You can enter your AT or max HR and it gives you HR averages for different race distances. I entered in 167 for my AT and 182 for my max and it gave me marathon HRs of 155 and 154, respectively.

This morning my regular running partners and I went out for a 9.3 mile run. Another one of our friends joined us for the first three miles. He pulled us along a little faster than we really wanted to go but I didn't say anything because his shirt had the phrase: Shut up and run. :-) After 3 miles he left us and we just kept the pace going. We finished the 9.3 in 1:09:12 or a 7:26 average pace. A new loop record for us. I'm not very 'pace aware' so I was thinking that this run better be at 8:00 or better or I have no chance in my next marathon. I have lost some confidence in my ability since my Fargo experience. Well, we had great running weather this morning with temps in the mid-50s and cloudy skies. My average HR was 144 for the run so this was a great confidence booster today.

So now my plan for Afton is to try to run/walk with a HR in the mid/lower 150s. At this moment I think it will give me my best chance for success (finishing just as I run out of energy).

My plan for the rest of the week:
Thursday - run 6.2
Friday - run 12
Saturday - rest
Sunday - run a loop at Afton in the afternoon heat!

--Mark