My first ultra is the books and since it is going to rain all day and I can't ride, I figured it is time for some reflection. I always say how I love "bad" races. Of course they suck while you are doing them, but you learn a lot and grow so much more after them. They certainly can lead to good future races. They also test your mental toughness, which is a huge reason why I run.
Of course it would've been nice to have a decent first ultra, instead of a terrible one. At least I didn't DNF though and now I can look back on this race in the future if I'm struggling in an ultra. I see that my ultra running friends drop out of events from time to time. I'm sure that will happen to me to.
First, I have to look at my training of course. I've been running a lot on trails and kept everything to long runs. I did quite a few back to back 15 mile days and also biked a ton. I would've liked to have gone over 20 miles a little more often in training, but that was just tough to do when I was running alone and running through the heat of the afternoon in the summer. Have some long run training partners would certainly be a big help. I need to connect more with others in this area. Going beyond the marathon distance isn't really an individual thing.
I always feel like I can do more training. I'm doing 15 hours of working out a week between biking and running. In addition to long runs, I want to build my volume first from its current 40 miles of running and 100 miles of biking to 50 miles of running and 125 miles of biking a week. Then, I want to up it to 60 miles and 150 miles by the spring. This will require more commitment to running or riding in the morning. Just being able to get more and more long runs under my belt would be a huge plus.
I definitely need to work hills into my training more. I thought the heat would kill me yesterday, but it was actually the hills that were the culprit. I run at Jacobsburg a lot and that is relatively easy, so I can do a lot of miles. It didn't prepare me at all for this course though. I guess I need to make more trips out to Blue Marsh Lake since it isn't that far. That or I need to get some more long runs done at Trexler. I haven't been there since Quadzilla. I'd like to run the AT, but it is so rocky and there isn't a lot of elevation change after the intial climb to the top of the ridge.
I think another thing that hurt me yesterday was that I didn't slow down enough through aid stations. During training runs, I'd often run 5 miles and stop to refuel and rest for 5-10 minutes. That gave me some recovery. During this race, I stopped very briefly at the first couple aid stations and didn't eat much.
I don't feel as though I ran too hard at the beginning, but maybe an even slower pace would've helped. I was under a 10 minute pace after 10 miles. Granted, that was the easiest section of the race. I'm not sure if the pace was the problem. I think it was more of my legs just not being strong on the given day.
Part of the reason my legs failed could've been my taper or lack there of. I really didn't cut back until a week before. I was enjoying the nice weather too much and I didn't think this race would be as difficult as it was.
I definitely have to focus more on nutrition in the future. I don't think that affected me during this race, but it could be a big problem in longer races. I refilled my bottle at every aid station, but I had no game plan of how and what to eat. I just kind of grabbed whatever I felt like eating. I should have more of a plan in the future.
I can say without a doubt that I'll run another 50K and even a 50 miler as well. It's the first time ever that finishing was actually questionable. I've struggled in races before, but I was never challenged enough that I actually though about quitting altogether. During road races, I've found times where I couldn't hold the pace, but I was never debating stopping like I was yesterday. I was so done by the end that I probably couldn't have even moved much farther than I did. The challenge of just completing the task is exactly what I was looking for. I look forward to a future of many more ultras.
No comments:
Post a Comment