Ok, I'm still a bit out of mind, but here's my report while still fresh in
my mind.

Background:
After my experience last August at Vermont 100, I decided to pick the
the next 100 to be a bit more benign, or more specifically, without
mountains. It wasn't the 90 degree heat that killed me at VT after
89 miles; it was the long down hills that gnawed my quads into
oblivion. It's hard to say that Umstead would be "easier" than VT,
but considering that the cause of my demise was so clear,
eliminating it could only help.

Leading up (aka the anti-taper):
Most of you who know me know that I like to do most everything
contrary to popular wisdom and advice. This was no exception.
I started my race year Feb 10 with the Holiday Lake 50k+ and
Umstead would be my 6th marathon or ultra this year. Last weekend
I ran the HAT run conservatively but still managed a 14 minute 50k PR in some quite muddy conditions. In my final training session for the 100, I ran
an easy 21 mile run the following day, just to work the kinks out. I
actually began my taper on Thursday, running 7 miles instead of my
usual 10, then Friday I cut the usual 8 down to 5. Without speed work,
I can tolerate a lot of easy mileage, all of which adds to endurance
and recovery without beating me up. I did get in my usual 4 miles of
swimming and some good cycling mileage this week.

My plan was to leave early on Friday afternoon to make the 300
mile drive to Raleigh, hopefully arriving at a reasonable hour. Instead
of getting out by 2:30, it really was 3:30 when we hit the road, which
put us in horrible traffic on the beltway and 95 south, with a 3 hour
drive just to get south of DC. I really need all that pounding of the
clutch pedal for hours! Because of the rush, dinner would
have to be fast food, the only option being a burger king near where
I had to stop for gas. Oh well - chicken sandwich with bacon and
cheese, fries and a coke - true ultra fare! I had received a kind offer from Rob
on the ultralist for a ride to the race since he was staying at the same
hotel where I was. However, I wanted to touch base with him before
too late. Well, by the time we made it to the hotel, it was about 10:30,
and then it was another two hours until I had everything ready to go
for the morning after my 4 am wake-up. Ultimately, I ended up sleeping
one solid hour before the alarm went off.

The race
It was nice and cool at the start, probably low 50s, with prospects for
a high of 72. I decided to go with the twinkie bike shirt today because
it seems to provide encouragement, or at least a laugh, to others around,
and I can store stuff in the pockets. This time, I decided to keep everything
simple - one drop bag with some miscellaneous stuff with a plan only
to get one item - my headlamp, which I would grab at the nearest time
to 7 pm. I carried one item - body glide, and it came in handy. (I
reapplied to the nips and inner thighs about three times when I
started to feel some warmth and it kept things in check. The only
think I ended up with was a welt on the back of my legs from the
short liner.) I did
glide my feet as well, because I did not want to deal with shoes after
the race began. I would go with my New Balance 906 shoes as they
are trailworthy for mild trails, but are comfortable for long distances
and not too heavy. No gels, no special nutrition items, or anything like that -
I would live on the food and drink provided. I didn't bother taking
supplemental electrolytes, but I did make sure I got enough sodium
in with the drinks and snacks that I ate. I also never take any drugs
in races (I'm allergic to ibuprofen anyway). So, what are my objectives?
My first is always to finish and finish feeling well. In this case, that would
mean less than 30 hours. Really I wanted less than 24 hours, sort of
the magic number for 100 milers. Dream goal, 20-21 hours, which I
would say my 50 mile races should translate to, if I'm adequately prepared.
Nonetheless, I would live with whatever my body gives me for the
day. As always, I don't go by pace, I go by heart rate (effort level)
and whatever pace I end up with is what I go with. I would basically run
with my typical training heart rate of about 140, with flexibility. My plan,
as always, would be to run most everything, and walk the steep hills
if my "wog" would bring my heart rate up by more than about 10 beats.
As it gets later in the race, I don't pay attention to heart rate as much -
in the early miles, this is important. As many would say, you don't want
to go out too fast, but the actual pace is not really important - it's the
effort (heart rate).
If you use such an approach (steady effort), you will run positive splits,
at least for a while, and throw in what you can at the end. In the 100,
there may be very little left at the end, no matter how fast you started.
The course consists of 8 12.5 mile loops on a very nice fine dirt surface,
which can be dusty when it's dry (as it was) and when cars, bikes, or
other runners go by. (I could swear that the loops got a bit longer every lap after 4). While I knew that this did not have mountainous
terrain, it appeared that it would be somewhat hilly, with a bit over
8000 ft of elevation gain, and 8000 ft of descent, about like my typical
training run hills. There were 2 or 3 nasty hills, and a couple of long
uphill and downhill stretches. Still, nothing like I encountered at Vermont.
For many hours, I paid no attention to my pace (didn't use the GPS because
the battery won't last for more than 10 hours). For the first loop, I kept my
heart rate in the high 130s into the 140s and finished in about 1:55, faster
than I expected. I allowed the HR to climb a bit in the second loop and
finished about 1-2 minutes slower. Third loop - a bit more heart rate
climb, and just under 2 hours again. At this point, I start thinking about
pace - with one more loop at similar pace, I will easily knock off a best
50 mile time (PR was set at JFK last year in 8:14). So, I kept the pace
and now watched my HR climb more rapidly. I wasn't sure if this was
basic HR drift, or if there were other factors involved. The sun had come
out and it was starting to heat up. I wasn't sure if it was just my effort
level, or if it was getting really hot. Then I was told at one of the aid
stations that the temp had hit 84 in spots. Just a bit higher than predicted!
Given that I hadn't run a warm run since January 5, my plan was to finish
the 50 strong with a best time, then cut way back with a lot of time in
bank, even for my dream time. At around 11, it was lunch time at
one of the aid stations and I had half a cheeseburger, which was
really the perfect thing - I remember thinking this was the best
cheeseburger I had ever had. Other than that, I had been eating
a combination of potato chips, pretzels, dried fruit, and cheese,
and drinking gatorade, sweet tea, pepsi, and water.
I finished the 50 in 7:55 or so, quite surprised, about a 20 minute
PR, but feeling good, and started cutting back. My next loop I
did in about 2:30 at a more comfortable pace, but the heat was eating
at me more and more. I started to worry about dehydration, hyponatremia,
and other problems, so I decided to reign things further under control.
Fortuitously, my running buddy had just finished her fourth loop
just before I finished my fifth, so I chased her down to try to run one or
two loops with her. This was perfect for me because it helped bring
my pace down and subsequently my heart rate. I took at lot of extra
time at aid stations to recover from the heat effects. In the first 5 loops,
I didn't walk any of the hills - I only walked when leaving the aid stations,
but now I would walk the big hills, but at the same time, I pushed
Melissa into puttering up the small hills, much to her chagrin. Even at
about 5 pm, the heat was still a factor and there really wasn't any
cloud cover. Now, we're just waiting for things to cool down a bit.
The next two loops were at around 2:50 pace, much more comfortable.
I knew that even 3 hour loops would get me a 20 hour time and I was
preparing for what I thought would be an inevitable death march for
however many miles. Mentally, the loop course eats away at you
in many ways. It's far too easy to just quit after one of the loops because
it's very inviting just to go inside and get comfy. You also tell yourself,
"I still have 3, 4 or whatever number of these things to do and I certainly
don't want to." However, the loops have much elevation variation and
twists and turns so that it does not feel like you're just running in circles.
Toward the end of the 7th loop, it became clear to me that I can beat 19 hours
if I can just keep up a moderate effort (but more than just a fast walk).
With about 1.5 miles to go in the 7th loop, I told Melissa I would hurry
ahead and try to arrange a pacer for her to help her through her last
two laps. Fortunately, there were pacers waiting to help. I quickly
scurried through the aid station at this point and scurried out, knowing
that I just need to finish the last loop in just under 3 hours. My body
was very fatigued at this point and I had to put in a major effort. Nonetheless,
I felt much worse at Vermont and I wasn't haunted by shot quads, overstressed
hamstrings, chafing or blisters. Also, thanks to those gaiters for keeping the
rocks out of my shoes! The last few miles were very much a struggle, but
I kept in mind that I did not want to waste the opportunity for sub-19, which
I may not ever see again! It was enough to keep my going. Fortunately, today
there would be no death march, just a bit of a slow down due to fatigue.
I ended up finishing the last lap slightly faster than the previous two, average
heart rate of about 130 and when I came I was told I was 10th overall in 18:53,
just before 1 am. This
absolutely floored me as I never place that high in ultras. I guess anything
can happen in a 100! Later when I looked at the updated results, it showed
me as #11, so I guess they found another later! I went inside and tried to
get some sleep on the floor, but it wasn't meant to be. I just rested and meditated
and caught all of the hustle and bustle going on with the race docs feverishly
working to fix people's feet before they were about to start their 5th, 6th, and
7th laps. I just couldn't imagine coming in, sitting down for a while, covering
my feet with gauze, duct tape, and whatnot, then heading out for 3 more
slow laps, starting at 2 in the morning! Then I saw the misery of many who
had dropped and couldn't take anymore. I reassured many that I had been
there very recently! After about 1.5 hours, I pulled myself up and started to
walk around to try to loosen up. I found that the more I walked around the
better I recovered, so I kept busy for a few hours. About 2 hours after the
race, I finally got the desire to eat (my stomach wasn't up to eating much
after a few hours of running in the heat). I think I ate about 5 meals between
around 2:30 and 8 am, including burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and omelet,
soup, and more stuff than I can even recall right now. It was a bit of a blur!

It was really great seeing merigayle, kimba07 (I hope you had
a satisfying finish!), and the others (was that dnadoc?) that
I ran into here and there! Congrats to all. This was anything
but easy!

------------------
MyRunningLog[/URL" target="_blank">
MyStuff[/URL" target="_blank">
Low Heart Rate Training FAQ[/URL" target="_blank">
My marathons and ultras[/URL" target="_blank">
My races and reports[/URL" target="_blank">

http://This message has been edited by leitnerj (edited Apr-02-2007).