Mountain Madness 50k - 2012 Race Report

Date 11/28/2011

"I only have 1 goal this year, really, Sub 7:00 at MoMa 2012. That's it. Hyper focus time. I used 

to be a willy-nilly, schedule by the seat of his pants, non-structured type guy when it came to running. It worked because I never really had a big itch to scratch. 2012 is going to need to be a bit more focused since I'll have one, super duper A race and one major goal. MoMa. I know I can break 7. There haven't been a few hours that have gone by where I'm not thinking about next years race. I'm going to give a more structured (and periodized ::gasp!::) training schedule a try in 2012, starting in a few weeks. I have some friends who are real eager to help with this as kind of a pet project."

To which, a friend snarky Brit, Tom, said:

"Rob - Despite some serious 2011 milage and the absence of beard, my bet is won't break 7hrs at MOMA 2012. Prove me wrong boy. Words are cheap. Actions and results ate what count. "

In addition, I also smack-talked a pretty big bet with my buddy Chris who runs the NJ Trail and Ultrarunners site, the group that initially got me into trail running. The bet was, if I won, he had to fly to Colorado and do a race of my choosing. In reality, when I made that bet last year, I had NO chance of beating Chris. Last year, I did 8:07 and he beat me by almost an hour, something like 7:15. He took the bet (with witnesses). I don't normally bet on things that I know I won't win though. ever.

Supporters are great, but it's the naysayers that make it fun!

I was the first to register for the race. 

I enlisted the help of a few individuals (the A-Team), mainly, Lucho. I wanted to do everything possible, that was possible, and finish without a doubt that I did anything "wrong" throughout the year. No excuses. When I emailed him in December, he laughed at my enthusiasm, for a race that was a year away. The plan was to go through 2 training 'cycles'. Pick a decent race in April, train for it, figure out what's broke, and then fix it before October. We did that with Collegiate Peaks and for all intents and purposes, it was a shit show of a race, but, it proved to be key in figuring out that I had a serious nutrition problem. Hypoglycemia, as well as Reactive Hypoglycemia. Basically the more sugars/carbs I eat, the harder I crash due to an oversensitivity to insulin.

Shit. What do I do now? This is a big problem! I needed a complete, daily diet overhaul, as well as I needed to figure out race nutrition, just to finish! I enlisted the help of Dina at http://www.fuel4mance.com/. We basically changed up my day to day diet (which was easy in logistics, harder in execution!), and for a few months, we dialed in race nutrition to a very specific and detailed plan, that we knew would work. This took quite a bit of time, nutrition expertise, and a bit of experimenting. It wasn't easy. I'd go out on 5hr runs, knowing in the back of my head that I'd probably have to death march in with a hypoglycemic episode, just to test something out. Mentally, that was extremely draining. 

To summarize, I worked damn hard this year. 

I'm not great at race reports and don't really like them, but a friend asked for the following "must haves", which I'll answer:

- blow by blow account of your race vs your nemesis
 Well, I wouldn't call anyone a real 'nemesis', but, I'll say that I have always been the DFL guy in both, races and training, runs within the NJ Trail and Ultrarunning group. I've talked shit since moving out of state, that I would beat 'em all, and last year, I fell on my face and not only didn't beat anyone. I came in DFL. 

I wanted to beat every. single. one of my buddies. There are, of course, a few I really have no chance beating, but the core majority of shit talkers, I wanted to beat. I'll outline some characters:

Chris - 7:15 last year, guy I made bet with
Sean - Beat Chris last year. A ginger.
Tom - Silly Brit naysayer who's almost as good at shit-talking as me, who has always beaten Sean and Chris and is quite the distance runner, recently competing in the Jogle and is a Comrades alumni, stout 100mi runner, etc... 
A few other characters as well, but for this reports sake, that'll do.

The Start 
I was given the bib number "1"...

I lined up toward the back and within a half a mile, I was running with Chris and Tom. It was great to catch up and chit chat with both of them. It took my mind off pace/running. I wore my Garmin and heart rate monitor, but didn't look at it, I just had the Time of Day screen on. I felt really really good and wanted to run faster, but, Chris said he was shooting for 6:30-6:45 and I knew he could do it. And, I honestly didn't think I could. 7:00 was more realistic, but, if I was feeling good running with him, why not. I broke the first rule, right out of the gate. "Run your own race Rob!". He knows the course and he's run the race/course more times than me. I figured it would be smart to hang with him despite him gunning for a much faster time than I. Thoughts of "run your own race" constantly ran through my head. The first aid station that Laurie would be at would be around 9mi. Up until that point I ran with Chris and Tom....Tom had some time excuses (he was in from Shanghai) so he said he was only up for about 20mi or so. After about 8mi, Tom, a strong runner, was huffing a bit to keep up with Chris and I. I told him Laurie would be at the aid station and he said he was going to bail. In saying that, he said to Chris, and I quote "Chris, you've become a better runner than I"...then he DNFed. Wanker.

One down. 

 Chris, me, and Tom coming into the aid station at mile 9

I think Laurie, and others were surprised that I was running with Chris when we came into the aid station. Chris was doing the standard 1-handheld thing and I was doing the water pack thing. I'm just not confident with a handheld for that distance, especially since some of my nutrition was in flasks. This made my aid station stops a bit slower than Chris's. I could skip every other aid station, while he needed to re-fill, then catch-up, but on the other aid stations, I had to do the re-fill dance and then catch up. So, Chris leaves the aid station at mile 9 ahead of me, and I catch up pretty easy. The guy also doesn't piss and I had to piss a few times, which gave me anxiety about catching up again. While at the aid station we learned that Sean was quite a bit ahead of us. At this point Chris and I both wanted to beat Sean, but, we both played it super smart and though "Oh man he went out fast, he's GOTTA blow up". Right after the next aid station, at maybe mile 12, we caught Sean. He did not look good. He said "I went out a little fast, I have the dizzies". It was way too early for that shit and at that point Chris and I knew we had him if we didn't blow up ourselves, which, we were determined NOT to do. We looked back and Sean was gone...

Another down.

The next aid station was at around the halfway point and again, I ran in neck and neck with Chris. Surprising a few people I'm sure. I went into this race the complete underdog. Laurie was at this aid station and again I had to do the water pack dance, then catch up to Chris. I have to add that Chris knew the course well, which is HUGE in this race. It's VERY easy to get lost on unmarked trails despite the good course marking by Rick and team. If I didn't stay on his heels, I'd have surely gotten lost as the field was really spread out and there was no one to follow. He also had the beta on when the climbs were and what each section was like, which proved very helpful. 

We got to a section a few miles before the last big climb and it was cruising flat/downhill, albeit technical. Chris said "this is where I'm going to pull it back, so just let me know when you want to pass" - Man, this section was SO TEMPTING to want to FLY on. But, talking with Chris, he was well on pace for 6:45....and I admittedly, got scared to go any faster with the last climb coming up around mile 18. So, I stuck with him. We hit the climb and I think I'm glad I cooled it off in that section, the climb was easy on good legs. Shortly after the climb, around mile 20-21ish, Chris started doing some math and said "I need to make it to the next aid, 24mi by X time"....X time, was pretty fast and I could tell he wasn't feeling 100%. I said, "if you're going to make it we gotta push it man" and I started leading and pushing it pretty hard on the cruising downhill. We passed another NJ Trail and Ultrarunner guy, Dan, in this section and he seemed to be having a tough time. They both latched on to me and I towed them into the aid at mile 24.

Mile 24 was the start/finish. EVERYONE was there. People who DNS'ed peopel who DNF'ed, people who ran the shorter races, friends, family, etc... I felt like a fucking BOSS coming in first, feeling and looking fresh with those guys in tow. EVERY aid station I came in neck and neck with Chris and this one I came in ahead. I think that most folks were surprised to see this. It felt fucking awesome. Prior to miles 21-24, I thought I'd just hang on to Chris as long as I can, give it my best shot, then fade away late in the race. After mile 21, I thought, "Fuck, I can actually BEAT this guy!? I'm actually beating A LOT of guys!" 

Another down 

 "We're racing here!"

The fucking water pack again. This time Chris got out of the aid station way before me. Almost out of sight. I didn't even see him leave I just said "did Chris leave yet!?!". I knew Dan was still at the aid station and wasn't worried about him.  FUCK. FUCK FUCK. I PUSHED IT....HARD. I thought for SURE this was a bad move and that I was going to blow myself up....still with 7mi left. "Run your own race!" I caught him in about .5mi and at this point I knew I had to play a bit of a mental game, I was hurting SO BAD. When I caught him, I said something like, you have to give me credit for hanging on this long, I'm feeling great man, you suck for making me sprint to catch you though! We then exchanged words about finish times/goals and how many miles we thought were left and what paces we'd have to do. We calculated that we'd have to push super hard to hit sub 7...Chris walked a little roller. BOOM. I said 'we're going to have to run these rollers" and took out in front, and started building up a lead, looking over my shoulder. I felt STRONG (well strong compared to how I usually feel at 25mi), but fucking HURTING/TIRED. I tried to make it appear that I was fresh though. At around mile 29, Chris was in shouting distance behind me and I'd see him on switch backs. He wasn't wearing a Garmin and I noticed he wasn't doing the downhills well at all and that's where I was building the lead. He shouted wanting to know the mileage and I remember saying "I think 29", then I just kept on pushing. There was an emergency water station (just some gallons of water in the woods) and I knew he'd have to stop. After this, he was now out of sight. I wanted to push hard JUST to be out of sight so I can at least look fucking tired. I knew the last 3/4 mile we're my kind of downhill, and unless Chris rallied hard, I had it in the bag.

Another down.

 I caught up to another runner in an orange shirt while constantly looking over my shoulder for Chris's blue shirt. I tried to hang on to this orange shirt runner as best I could, and with about .5mi left, I thought I was both literally and figuratively, "out of the woods". Then, BOOM, I take a pretty epic digger and I'm bloody, flat out, and my calves and what felt like every muscle in BOTH legs, cramped up like I've never felt before. I screamed an expletive. The guy in front of me stopped and started running back toward me. I screamed angrily "JUST GO JUST GO GO GO!!!!" I couldn't get up. FUCK. 

 
I was on the ground, I look up behind me, still on the ground, and through the woods, I see Chris's blue shirt. FUCK. I'm not sure how I did it but I got up and dug as hard as I could. With about .25 left, you can see the finish around the lake and people can see you. I heard cheering and looked over my shoulder, I didn't see Chris.

I had it. I sprinted as hard as I could to the finish and soon as I crossed, I screamed and threw my water pack across the field. Fuck that thing. 

I did it...and not only that, I'd come in 6:48(!), 33 out of 71 finishers, and 90+ starters. Top 50% and faster than the average time....and...almost a 1:20 PR!!! I'll upload my Garmin data later. Chris, in 6:49

Felt damn good. Turns out the guy who finished right ahead of me is a 3:02 marathoner, and a 17:33 5ker. I saw a few guys in Boston shirts finish after me....

- key things from training that you felt made a difference in this race

This one is easy-
Proper training, which I owe all to Lucho. 
Figuring out my health/nutrition problems - Which I owe all to Dina
Running on similar trails, at altitude. The Walker Ranch 7.5mi loop was the perfect training trail for this race. I might have cursed doing hundreds of miles on it this year, but, I can't deny this played a huge part. 
...and, the biggest factor is, doing the above with a good group of friends in Boulder...who are all WAY FASTER THAN ME, with far more experience and knowledge. Basically, In Boulder, I'm still the DFL guy and most everyone I run with, is fast. really fast. If you can get past the demoralizing part of it, which I imagine many people can't, the benefits are just awesome. Everyone is a wealth of experience and knowledge that I absolutely leach off of and appreciate more than they will ever know. I really appreciate they even let me run with them. I'm pushed hard, and there wasn't a minute that went by in the race that I didn't think about something someone said, or a specific run I did with someone, or just general inspiration. For my Boulder friends reading, here are some things I thought about and a few people . 
- Bob Sweeney - Me: "Bob does it seem like I'm running too hard" - Bob: "You don't know how to run hard yet"
- The training weekend I did in Leadville with Lucho and Nate and a few others
- The 14mile "tempo" I did with Shad and Tim and Bob where my HR indicated I was beyond even 10k race effort.
- Suffering on Long's peak with Shad and Bob for a bunch of hours.
- Picking the brain of everyone at Brandon's annual Leadville party. 
- JV pacing me up Green and playing rabbit a lot
- Chasing after Brandon's old PR's on routes from a few years ago
- being suckered into doing a 1500m and a 4x400 relay by GZ

It sounds silly, but I totally believe that there is some sort of 'faster by proximity/osmosis' thing that goes on. It's contagious.

- key things in nutrition that you felt made a difference in this race

The absolute key, was changing my day to day diet. As far as race nutrition, though, it was REALLY hard to figure out. It boiled down to, as much UCAN as I can stomach (tastes like shit but works really well, I use it in a 5oz flask, full strength), to hopefully stabilize the blood sugar, then some Vega gels in between, and salt. Boy, that sounds fucking simple doesn't it? Well, figuring it out wasn't and I couldn't have done it without Dina. My actual nutrition plan was this:
1:00 Vega
1:30-2:00 UCAN + 3SS
2:30 Vega + 3SS
3:00 Vega
3:30 Vega + 3SS
4:00 Roctane
4:30 1/2 UCAN + Vega + 3SS
5:15 1/2 UCAN + Roctane
5:45 Vega + 3SS
6:00 Vega
6:30 Vega
I didn't vary from it much, although I might have had more UCAN, less vega. 

Then, recovery and eating well after running/long runs. This was pretty key. Adding Omega 3's, and really not ignoring what I ate after long runs. (and the post long run beer-in-the-hot-shower)

- and of course... my favorite - a what I learnt from this race section

Stupid slow in the beginning was worth it. I finished STRONG. I think I negative split each mile the last 7mi. My HR stayed consistent until the end pretty much.

Water packs suck when actually racing. I don't think I would have done better with bottles this time around, but I'm going to surely practice for next time. I trained A LOT with bottles and still just wasn't comfortable with them. I need to be.  

I learned that I can dig pretty deep with some motivation. I have never really dug deep like that in this long of a race as I usually fell apart early on. I really dug deep those that 7mi.

"Done, Done and I'm on to the next one..."

I'm not running this week. 

Some of the above photos courtesy of Mountain Peak Fitness as well as Seb and Julian.  

I'd like to thank Laurie too, because she's awesome.


I probably missed a bunch more people to thank that I'll think of.