Race Report: Iron Mountain Trail Run 50 Miler

A little late, but better late than never.

Two years ago I swore that I would never run the IMTR 50 miler again. Apparently 2 years is just long enough to forget why I made that promise. A few friends had signed up with plans to rent the same house we'd stayed in 2 years ago...and well...it sounded like fun. We were going to hang out, drink beer, run a little, then drink more beer. By the time I actually got around to signing up, the race was full so I added my name to the wait list and promptly forgot about it until about 6 weeks out from the race when I received an email informing me that I got in. Whoopdidoo! Needless to say, I was probably a little undertrained as I stepped up to the starting line.

The first 4.5 miles were pancake flat along the Creeper Trail, a pretty footpath along a bubbling creek through a quaint, little town. Sounds nice, right?!? And it actually was; kind of boring, but your legs are nice and warmed up by the time you hit the Appalachian Trail and start to ascend the side of a mountain. The next 11ish miles were up and down (mostly up) along very rocky, narrow footpaths that weave along cliffs and creek beds. I can’t say I was appreciating the scenery as I walked along the trail, trying desperately to run, but unable to control my prosthesis as it bounced off rocks in all directions. I made up a little ground skidding down some rocks from a good tumble after catching my prosthesis on a rock, but as I got up noticed I could barely put weight on my prosthetic leg. 

A few runners stopped, but pressed on when I told them there wasn’t anything they could do to help. I took a few ginger steps, the pain sharp, but stable; not getting worse. I hobbled into the aid station at mile 15 and sat down to re-assess. In previous posts I've written about how it would take medical personnel to pull me off of a race course before I'd ever think about quitting, but on this particular day I had a harder time convincing myself to push on. I was thinking about the Uwharrie 100 I had in a few months and was concerned I might do some real damage that I wouldn't recover from quickly. But I could still walk so I pressed on. Actually, with each step, the pain in my leg subsided, but by now I was flirting with the time cut off and would need to keep a steady pace to finish under within 12 hours. 

At mile ~28ish I ran into one of my friends staying with us in the house we'd rented who'd just finished Western States 2 weeks before. He was hurting; fighting off cramps and spasms every time he picked up the pace, and had been facing the same question I had been for the past 15 miles- is this worth the finish? By then it felt good to be past the halfway point, but in reality we still faced about a marathon worth of running with at least 2 really long, really steep climbs before the finish. We walked/jogged together for awhile, trying to help each other probe these questions, in the back of our minds knowing that we would both push on. And that we did. I finally finished just under the cut-off, rounding the corner to the finish line amid many cheering fans. It was not the best race I'd ever run, not the fastest finish, but it was a reminder that with the right mindset I could do anything.

Umstead 100 Race Report

I should have known it was going to be an interesting day based on the way it started. On our way to the race I ran through a mental list of things to bring - running shoe - got it, food to last the entire day - got it, sunscreen - got it, running leg - oh crap, FORGOT IT. A u-turn and 10 minutes later I was racing through the house to grab the most essential running component I own. This meant that Alex (my fiancee) and I got to the race site with just 15 minutes to spare, enough time to throw my race bag along the side of the course, open a fold-out chair, and stand in line for the bathroom only to give up because I didn't want to miss the race start. We finally got to the start line at 5:58am...and then the gun went off.

With all the excitement of the morning, I barely had a chance to think about the actual race until it started. By that time I chose to settle into an easy 11:45 pace that put me in the middle of the pack with Alex, and had brought us through for lap 1 at 2:28:32, slightly slower than planned, but respectable. At that point Alex said, "see you tomorrow" (which luckily was not the case as we crossed paths a few more times on the course and after he finished), and I was on my own for the rest of the race.

I was able to stay with the pack most of the race this year.

I continued on in silence for a few miles until I realized that I was already focusing on my aches and pains...and it was way too early for that. I turned on an audiobook I had already listened to (so I wouldn't have to pay too much attention) to drown out the completely unproductive thoughts running through my head, which sounded something like this: "why am I doing this again?", "isn't 25 miles still considered a good, long run for the day?", "how many more laps do I have?", and so on and so on. The audiobook distracted me enough to get through lap 2 in 2:27:26, which was great for 25 miles, except I felt like I'd already run 50.

Now, to back track for a moment, I spent most of Friday evening packing up individual bags with everything I would need for each lap. Food, change of socks/shoes/clothes/liners/or whatever other item I thought I would need by that lap, ibuprofen, and pepto tablets. These bags were laid out neatly next to my chair to require as little thinking as possible as I came through the start/finish area for each lap since I'm notorious for wanting something for the next lap (I'll ruminate on it for miles before I get to the aid station) and then completely forget about it until I'm a quarter mile past the aid station. So I planned ahead. Poorly apparently. Because everything I needed was in the wrong bag and I didn't want any of the food I'd planned to eat.

Since nutrition had been such an issue during this race last year, I wanted to be particularly smart about it this year. I was going to take in ~100 calories in some form (shot blocks, slim jims, pb&j) every 3 miles and then ~200 calories at aid station (AS) #1 and AS#2, a good plan in theory, but not one that my GI system would go along with. Initially I settled on potato pieces covered in salt followed by a small cup of sweet tea and cookies at AS#1 and AS#2. By 11am the volunteers had started up the grills and were offering hot dogs, burgers, and chicken sandwiches. I have to admit, I was surprised by how well the hot dogs, potatoes, cookies, and sweet tea sat on lap 3 and 4.

Ginger ale and salt concoction prepared by Shannon. Not sure if I'll do that drink again! 

I crossed the 50 mile mark in 10:14:45, which was a good time for me, but my aches and pains were getting more noticeable and I'd already pulled out all my tricks to feel better (I'd already changed my shoes, my sock, and my liner). The next lap ended up being more of a mental feat than a physical one as I urged my body to keep going and try to enjoy the experience in the process. I started walking more, even slight hills that I could have easily run, because my head just wasn't in it and my nutrition started to go down the toilet. I needed a personal cheerleader, which was exactly what I got as I came in from lap 6 and asked for a pacer. My pacer, Rich, was a gregarious and efficient runner who might as well have been carrying pom poms as we quickly (or at least more quickly than last lap) ticked off the miles.

Some of the downhills were actually tougher than the uphills because of the breaking forces on the quads and  hip flexors.

I had also changed at this point into compression tights and a new sports bra, which put a new spring in my step. I felt better for some reason. Maybe it was the company. Or maybe it was the fact that I was 3/4 of the was done. Whatever it was, I found a second wind, which carried me through lap 7 and into lap 8 where I picked up a new pacer, Collin, who was even more aggressive than Rich. He had pulled his last pacee through to a top 10 finish for males and when I told him my desire to finish under 24 hours (I had 3 hrs 45 min to meet this goal), he asked what I thought about trying to finish in under 23 hours. I thought he was crazy.

The bottom of my left foot felt like it caught fire every time I took a step and my left hip flexor muscles would occasionally stop functioning. On top of that I could no longer take in more than a few sips of water and GU without feeling like I would get violently ill, and I had the hiccups (likely from all of the unprocessed hot dogs pressing against my diaphragm). Surprisingly, the only thing that still felt okay was my residual limb, which was tenuous at best and I knew could give out on me at any moment. Despite that, when he said run, I ran. And sometimes, even when he didn't say run, I ran anyways. It honestly felt good to run so I ran as much of the lap as I could, even if it was just a slow shuffle at some points. I didn't look at my watch. I didn't want to know how fast I needed to run. I just maintained the fastest pace that I could until I saw the lights of the start/finish line ahead. And then I smiled when I saw the clock, which read 22:55:24. It felt good to be done before the sun came up. It felt good to beat my goal. And Collin should be proud that he also pulled me in for 10th place overall for females!

Mile 61 at 12.hr 45min

Wow, exhaustion is slowly catching up with me. And it's getting quiet out on the course as 50 milers retire for the day. Going to have to start focusing on putting one foot in front of the other!

Mile 23.3 in 4:30

Walking up another hill. Whee! One hot spot on my good foot. And a little hip pain. Whoot

Mile 17 of Umstead

Feeling pretty good at 3hr 19min. Got some  tightness in my legs. Otherwise eating and drinking well.

Tapering

Truly, one of the most difficult periods of training is the taper. As the volume and intensity gradually drop off until race day the body begins to recover fully from the constant and demanding training. This is also about the time when your brain starts to question all the training you've done until now. Are you ready? Should you have done one more long run or another brick workout? Will it all come together on race day? Every rest day (and there should be more now that you're tapering) youll wonder if you should fit in one more workout. And this is when you must turn off your overactive brain and just trust in your training. You're about 2-3 weeks out from race day (or 1 week out from the Umstead 100 in my case right now) and there's nothing you can do now except recover. So sit back, relax and enjoy your easy weeks because race day is just around the corner!

This post comes at a time when I am indeed tapering so I am very familiar with this scenario. I have trained hard for this race, but there are a lot of unknowns on race day that you can't prepare for, especially during a 100 miler. I will do everything in my power to beat 24 hours, but only race day will tell if that'll be enough.

The flats of Florida

Ahhh...the good ol' flat asphalt of Florida. About as boring as running gets. Just slightly more exciting than pounding out the miles on a treadmill. Which, is exactly where I ended up today when the temperature reached 90 F and the wind gusts hit 25mph.

Floridians, please don't take offense. I actually learned to love running 12 years ago when I was high school cross country runner in Boca Raton. And every time I return to Florida I look forward to the endless flat roads that should be so fast. So why aren't they? I asked myself this question yesterday during my moderately fast (speed is relative when you're training for a hundred) tempo run yesterday.

After much debate with myself I settled on the fact that the run just becomes so monotonous that my mind goes numb and I stop pushing myself. There's no hill to push myself to the top of and there's no cruising downhill for a few minutes of needed recovery. The only change in speed and effort is when I tell myself to push it to the stop sign or when I let myself walk the last 0.2 miles home.

Except for this 7 mile bridge. I'd be happy to run this road a few time.
I biked it once with WWP, but still hope to run it some day in my life.

In the end, it's really not that bad. It just reminds me how much I love change in terrain and the excitement of trail running. It reminds of me of why I love to run. Which is a good thing less than 3 weeks out from Umstead 100 as I taper for the race and remind myself why I signed up in the first place.

Part 2 of my long run

Today marked the final day of my longest back-to-back runs for the Umstead 100. I woke up with heavy legs this morning after putting in 18 miles yesterday on the trails and thought, "this is perfect." It actually was exactly how I wanted to feel going into my long run today. Tired, fatigued, sore. My legs could attest to all of those.

I decided to hit a different set of trails today to bang out my next 20 miles and actually felt refreshed as my feet hit the trail. The first few miles were actually the worst, as my legs were still rebelling after my run yesterday, but once they caught on that I wasn't going to stop, they gave in and cooperated. By the end of the 20 miles I actually felt better than when I started.

I think these back-to-back weekend runs have been a superior way to train than just one long run. Of course, I won't really know until race day on April 6th, but for now I'm feeling stronger, faster, and less injured. The only complaint today was minor shin splints when I started and some rubbing on my residual limb where I had rubbed the skin raw yesterday. Luckily, a little Vaseline took care of that problem.

Longest run before Umstead

Today was the start of my longest run before the Umstead 100 miler on April 6th. Last year my longest run was 50 miles and afterwards my left calf was so tight that stretching it brought tears to my eyes. I frantically bought every contraption I could find that might help to loosen it- a compression sleeve, roller, etc. So this year I decided to approach my longest run a little bit differently. Instead of tackling it in one day I decided to spread it out over 2 days. This is not unusual in ultra training in order to get used to running on tired legs though most amputees avoid back-to-back long runs because of the stress on the residual limb, which often doesn't hold up with constant banging around in the prosthesis. However this is the plan Ive decided on since clearly my plan last year didn't work out! So
20 miles today and another 18 scheduled tomorrow. At least I'm feeling great after my first long run of the weekend. Even had a little photo op with Augustus Cho, from GI Jo: Retaliation, on the trails of North Forest. Ill let you know how tomorrow goes when my legs are sufficiently pooped to properly simulate the second half a 100 miler.

lap 3 of umstead

Well it's not often that you can post on a blog, text family and friends updates and listen to an audobook during a race. Lao 3 has been a little less fun but it's still going by quickly. 34 miles in 6:35

Race Morning

Less than 2 hours until race start and it's raining. Not just a drizzle, but real rain! Well I went into this expecting the unexpected so things are getting off to a good start!

Umstead 100 3/31/2012

The count down to the 2012 Umstead 100 mile ultra is about at an end. Tomorrow is the big day when 283 runners will sprint off the starting line at 6:00am to run a 12.5 mile loop 8 times most likely finishing up the following day. I will be attempting to blog from the course and Alex will no doubt be sending updates about my progress. Looking forward to the adventure. Please post encouraging words or send "your crazy" text messages to keep my entertained. :)

Pinehurst Triathlon

Woohoo! Last race of the season and boy was it a great event. Drove out the day before and was really liking the Pinehurst area. Dinner was interesting though and I have to write this down here just so you can appreciate "other" parts of North Carolina. I carpooled with some friends to Pinehurst who knew the area better than me so I let them pick the place for dinner. We settled on a large, local Italian restaurant that one of them had been to a couple years before. We were finally shown to a table after a 45 minute wait, despite the 25 minute wait we were quoted. Starving and pre-race, we all ordered large portions of pasta (or at least that's what we were expecting), but we were sadly disappointed when the waiter brought out 4 small bowls containing our dinner. Disappointed, we asked for our checks and got ready to go. And that's when we finally saw the most surprising sign I've ever seen - "No credit cards or debit cards accepted." wtf? We were all shocked and without enough cash to pay our bill. I might still be working in the kitchen washing dishes to pay off my dinner if it hadn't turned out that one of the girls with us happened to have her checkbook. And surprisingly the restaurant accepted personal checks. Just not credit cards or debit cards.

Back to racing though. Even though it was already mid-October the day started off at 75 degrees. I was actually a little hot getting into my wetsuit and was happy to get into the water, which was still cooler than the air temperature. The race went off on time at 8:00am and I was off to finish my final race of the season. Sadly I have no exciting events to report really except that it was a good race and I enjoyed the day! The bike was beautiful with rolling hills. The run was a little surprise though. I knew it was going to be a little hilly, but I wasn't expecting the constant hills nor the heat (it was pushing mid-80s by 10:30) in the October so I have to admit I was ill-prepared for the run. I will take the hills more seriously next year. No more training on flat courses.

Anyway, I finished 3rd open female (and would have been 4th in AG) with a time of 3:12:40.

2009 New York City Triathlon Race Report

My 5th New York City Triathlon and the last thing I was expecting was rain. That's mostly because it hasn't rained or even been close to raining during the last 4 years I've done the race. The rain continued while we set up our gear in the transition zone, but started to clear up about an hour before race start. It was going to be a great race day.

We watched as a bottle flew down the river while we waited for our wave to go off. The current was moving and we were all looking forward to a fast swim time. Another athlete on my team who usually beats me out of the water got out just after me. She's a friend on and off the course, but it still felt good to have beaten her for once. Not that it was about beating her. It just meant that my training had been worthwhile. I was getting faster.

With a sub-20 minute 1500 meter swim and I was back on land moving to the transition zone. I noted that a lot of bikes were still racked when I got back into the red transition area. A good sign that I was somewhere in the front of the pack. I switched out my running leg for my bike leg and grabbed my bike to start the 25 mile course down the Westside Highway.

A few drops of rain sprinkled down during the bike, but for the most part the roads had dried up, leaving the course fairly safe. I gunned it as soon as I hit the highway and just kept moving, passing scores of people who had gone off in the waves before me. The course was pretty much an out-and-back with only a couple technical turns, but with so many people on such a narrow course, bike handling skills were imperative.

The bike was relatively uneventful for me. I just put my head down and pumped my legs. It felt good to pull back into the transition zone. My dad and sister were there cheering me on and my boyfriend had managed to snag a PC handler credential so he was right there with me as I switched out my run leg for my bike leg. Usually at this point during the NYCT my energy has been sapped by the sun and I feel like I just have to survive the run. But not this year. Thanks to the cloud cover it was much cooler than usual and I was still feeling full of energy.

Running up 72nd from Riverside Park to Central Park is usually the hottest part of the run, but also the most supported by excited fans who gather on both sides of the road. Mile 1 brings you to the entrance of Central Park and the 3rd aid station and the first shaded part of the run. Then it's just another 5.2 miles up and down around the park to Dead End Rd and the finish line. I found a comfortable, yet challenging pace and held it, finally passing the one other female PC athlete who was in front of me. I didn't even know it until I finished that I was the champion. The ribbon was pulled out in front of me at the finish line and I put my hands up. A personal best by 7 minutes, 2009 PC National Champion, and first female PC overall finisher. And I would have finished 3rd in my old age group and was top 20 of 270 athletes in my latest 25-30 age group.

Counting Down to NYCT

Just a week and a half out before on of my big races of the season and training is going well.  These days workouts have been challenging and yet rewarding.  I feel comfortable with the distances so at this point I'm mostly focusing on speed.  So pretty much my whole body is sore from all of the intense workouts and I'm looking forward to my day off.  More to come...

Tour de France

Staying current...

Escape from Alcatraz

I did Escape from Alcatraz this weekend. Once I finally made it to the west coast. The weekend began with what was supposed to be a 7:30pm flight to Atlanta followed by a transcontinental flight to San Francisco. I fell asleep as the plane pulled out onto the tarmac and woke up 1.5 hours later in the same place. At 9:00pm we were supposed to be taxiing into our gate in Atlanta, but instead we were pulling back into the gate in Durham. Argh! Thank god for friendly, good-spirited people who were also on my flight. It was 11:00pm before we finally re-boarded the plane and departed from Durham, arriving in Atlanta 5 minutes after my flight to San Francisco closed. Two hours later I found myself sharing a room with 2 other girls who had also missed their flights (a chaplain from UNC and another girl about my age). We each pretty much paid $26 for a shower and for a bed to take a nap. Four hours of sleep and a shower and I was as good as new. At least for an hour or two.

I got into San Francisco at 11:00am PT the day before the race. I suppose I didn't even have time to get anxious about the race since I'd been so preoccupied prior to the race. It felt good to finally meet up with the other Team A Step Ahead athletes (Sandy, Amy, Jean, Marcos, Dave, Tommy, Jack, and Jeff) and support crew (Erik, Phil, and Balsley). Finally, all I had to do was focus on the race.

The race started off with everyone boarding a casino boat about an 1.5 hours before the race started. The physically challenged (PC) athletes and elites were ushered to the front of the boat where we hung out until the race start. We got to jump over the railing into the water to start the 1.5 miles swim through choppy, cold water back to shore. I knew beforehand that the sighting was going to be difficult. But didn't understand just how difficult until I was in the water looking for the landmark I was told to sight. And couldn't find it. So I picked another landmark and proceeded to overshoot the beach and had to fight the current back upstream until I found the shore. With numb hands and blue lips, I hopped out of the water, put on my leg and ran the 1 mile to the transition zone. By then I had some feeling back in my foot and I hit the hills hard. Long, fairly steep hills that just went on and on. Thank goodness for the compact crank on my new bike. I definitely went conservative on the bike because I didn't know what to expect and I think I could've gone faster looking back. That at least meant that I had legs for the run though. The run was more like an Exterra run, with lots of stairs, narrow single-file trails, a low tunnel, and a mile out and back on the beach. Running on the beach was pretty much agony, but at least that took us to the half way point and once I got up the 400 sand stairs (one of the things Escape from Alcatraz is famous for), it really was all downhill. I must've past 20 people during the last 3 miles, which pumped me up and kept me running faster and faster. So I finished 27th of 40 in my AG and 1st in my physically challenged category.

If you ever have the chance to do it, go for it. Escape from Alcatraz is a blast!

Beaverdam Triathlon Race Report

The nice thing about early season races is that there is very little pressure. At least that’s the way I look at them. I worked Beaverdam into my schedule as a training day and what a training day it proved to be. The morning was characteristically cold; the norm for an early morning in April and yet I felt unprepared. I was able to peel off one layer at a time during my warm-up and in the transition zone while I set out my gear. By 8:00am the temperature had risen to a stifling 48 degrees. I’m still impressed by all of the racers who were able to get in the water to warm up and then get back out to wait for the race start. Once I got in I knew there was no way I was getting out so I hung back on the beach with a handful of other racers to wait for my wave start.

8:06am. All of the female competitors lined up behind an imaginary line in the water and the race began. The swim was uneventful for the most part. I think I lost feeling in my hands by about the third buoy, which may have been about a ½ mile into the swim. I didn’t worry about that too much until I got out of the water. Then it became a problem. I fumbled for a while to unzip my wetsuit. With no dexterity in my fingers, it was all I could do to grip my wetsuit hard enough to even pull it off. But I couldn’t put my prosthesis on until I got my wetsuit off and I couldn’t get out of the sand until I put my leg on so there I was balancing on one leg while trying to shuck a wetsuit with numb hands. It wasn’t pretty. Nor was it quick. The slowest transition ever and unfortunately it counted against my swim.

Once on my bike, I realized how hard I had pushed my legs earlier in the week. I dropped down a couple gears and tried to just spin for awhile to get the blood moving again. After that I felt pretty good. The bike ended up being a beautiful ride once it warmed up a little more. At one point my prosthesis unclipped from my pedal and all of a sudden I was riding up a hill with one leg while trying desperately to clip my cleat back into my pedal. But it proved tricky since the pedal was spinning and I have pretty imprecise control over my prosthesis. Good thing I’ve been doing my isolated leg spins since it wasn’t until I crested the hill and could coast for a second that I was actually able to clip back in. At least it kept it interesting.

Overall, my swim and bike splits were pretty mediocre. But thankfully I still had legs for a decent run. Despite a couple fairly big hills, I was able to maintain a 7:45 pace, which I was initially a bit disappointed about. But a 7:45 pace gave me a 47:47 run, which was good enough to give me 4th overall in women in the run. If you couldn’t tell, I was a runner before I was a triathlete! So 4th in the run, 18th overall for women, and 3rd in my age group. I can be happy with that!

Forgot to post this during the US Open

Day 1 of the Main Draw

I think everyone in New York was on my train this morning headed to the US Open. I could barely get a seat on my way out to the Willets Point/Shea Stadium stop on the 7 train. But knowing that I would be standing for most of the day spurred me to push a little harder to take up that one remaining seat. Plus, I wanted to eat my breakfast sitting down.

I was surprised to find that even more people had already shown up at the Tennis Center. I knew it was going to be packed, but my imagination had failed in comparison to reality. I was both nervous and excited that this was the first day of the Main Draw and although it was no different than any of the qualifying round days, I still had a hard time pushing down the nerves. My team of six relieved the morning crew on Court 8 at around 1:00 PM and started off with a women’s match. I was sore from my 10 mile run the day before and my shoulder was a little tight (so my throws to the backs weren’t perfect), but I warmed up quickly and felt good by the end of the match.

While Nadal, Federer, Yankovic, and Blake won matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium, I fielded balls on the outer courts that skirt the main stadiums. Being assigned to a stadium court is a real honor and veterans put in many years to work their way up to those spots. Although my efforts might be in vain, I will continue to work my butt off, put in the hours, and hustle on my courts for a chance to do one stadium match this year.

Back to IM training

After 3 weeks in NY I am still trying to get back on track for the IM I've signed up for in November. When I signed up in January the race just seemed so far off, but now it's creeping up on my quickly and I need to get my butt in gear. It was tough to get all of my workouts in while living it up in the Hyatt in New York City with no bike, no running trails, and no swimming pool. The substitutes: stationary bike (with TV), treadmill (also with a TV), and ummm...upper body workouts. I got in a fair amount of mileage without ever moving an inch. Now the quality of those workouts is being put to the test as I continue to increase the volume of training. I logged a 19 mile run over the weekend followed by a 60 mile bike on Sunday. So far, the good news is that I am still relatively injury free (just some nagging knee pain that I hope will fade as I get back on the trail instead of concrete) and I am able to recover from one workout to the next quicker than ever. I am looking to put another long bike and run in this weekend as long as I can get all of my work done too. I have to be careful to avoid getting too rundown because I'm walking a fine line with overtraining.