I haven’t posted in a while…
I was sick 2 weeks ago for 1 week – fever, felt like crap.
The week before the race (yesterday): I kept all runs short. around 3 miles, three times throughout the week. Two days before the race, I went out with my brother and we did a little over 2 miles with a few strides to loosen up my legs. My Garmin watch said that my performance condition was +3.
The night before the race I had a decent sized dinner comprised of grilled vegetables, steak, and pasta. I also had a few Rx Bars.
I loaded on electrolytes starting 3 days out, until the night before my run. Just a few Nuun tablets throughout the day.
Gear: 1.5L bladder in a pack. 12oz water bottle (started with 2 Nuun tablets) 2 Watermelon Cliff Blocks (with double sodium). 2 Cliff Blocks with Caffeine. 4 Awesome Sauce Spring Gels. 2 gels with caffeine (100mg) – I forget the brand but they’re white with black writing – 100 100 on the front, 1 LMNT packet, 2 Spring gels with caffeine – Hill Helpers (or something like that). I consumed approx. 170oz of water (including low strength electrolyte fluids from the aid stations) and 20oz of extra strength electrolyte fluids from my 12oz water bottle in my pack.
1 earbud, playing music helped during the quiet parts of the race.
The morning of the race: 2 Rx Bars (chocolate and sea salt), water, and a pack of Cliff Blocks. The cliff blocks were about 30 minutes before the start of the race.
It was around 60°F (16C) and about 70% humidity the morning of the race. Sonia dropped me off at the metro at 5:45 (7:15 start). The first 10 miles of the race were smooth – I was hitting around an 8:30 pace (probably a little too fast but I wanted to capitalize on the cooler weather. I knew that the heat was going to slow my pace down. The mid 10 miles were decent and I started to have some knee pain around mile 18. The knee pain worsened until around mile 22/23 when it dissipated. I did butt-kicks to help stretch out my knees and that seemed to help.
Around mile 21 I started to become light-headed and knew that I needed to increase my hydration. I utilized every aid station (11 of them I think) besides one. On average, I would consume 2 cups of fluids at each aid station – 1 cup of electrolyte solution, 1 cup of water. The last set of 10 miles is where it became very tough. My pace slowed down (the 4:30 pace group passed me) and I wasn’t able to increase my pace to keep up with them. Around mile 25/26 is when things became very rough. My muscles were starting to seize up, just above my knees and biceps (when I was lifting my water bottle to my mouth). I quickly slammed a gel, water, and some LMNT to get fluids and electrolytes back into my system which helped.
Miles 27-31: I was doing the best I could to keep my pace. I had thoughts going through my mind, about what I would say to the paramedics if my body seized up and I was found spasming on the ground. It was something to the affect of an acute threat and then telling them that I would be finishing the race. Fortunately, it never came to that. The last 3 miles hurt. Badly.
I was not able to sprint across the finish line as I had given everything I had to the race and didn’t leave anything in reserve. Mission accomplished.
Thoughts for next race: Consume more liquids/electrolytes after 10 miles. Bring more gels and less cliff blocks. The gels with caffeine were very helpful. I would have definitely cramped up without the hydration pack and all of my supplies. More strength work would have helped I think, especially with the soreness/seizing in my arms. My watch was around 75% batter life after the race – started at 98%. It will be sufficient for the 50 miler.
I can barely walk today but I think I’ll recover quickly once I’m back at work tomorrow. I’ve signed up for the 50 miler in May. It’s almost time to start training again.
The support from my family, friends, and Sonia was amazing. Not just on the race day but throughout all of the training, early mornings, and being cranky because I was tired, hungry, or sore (typically, all of the above). They put up with everything and I am grateful for that.