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| ..Approx mile 44 getting rained on.. |
6 loops of doom! Last
Thursday I set out on a 50 mile + journey. I found a loop that had massive hill
climbs and lots of elevation change. The loop happened to be 8.6 miles. I did
the math and found that if I did it 6 times it would be 51.6 miles. The lap
format much like World’s Toughest Mudder is a nasty one when you throw in Ultra
distances in.
I parked my car at the trail head, gathered my gear and took
off at 6:30am. This trail was a Beast! Super steep and somewhat muddy from the night before. As most runners know the down hills are what tear your legs up..and they did just that. With
over 6,000 feet of elevation change and steep hill after steep hill I had to
grab my hiking poles. Hiking poles are my new favorite Ultra trail running
buddy!! They can assist you on the steep up hills and help you fight the
gravity of the downhill’s once your legs turn into jello. I was rained on,
chased by a cow (protecting her calf), and went through a nasty lightning
storm. I had my trusty 3.0 Liter Camel Bak that I carried the whole way. I went through some 600 ounces of
water, drank 2 quarts of pedialyte, and drank 8 servings of a
protein-electrolyte mix.
As always my family met me in support at some of the loops
with loads of encouragement and smiles, I could not stay for too long as part
of this training was trying to hit certain cut off times and only pit for certain
amounts of time. When you run 50 miles all by yourself and have no one to talk
to your mind plays games on you. This wasn't an ordinary race where there are
aid stations or spectators randomly cheering you on. This is out in the wilderness
all alone with you and only you. As strong as I have trained my body and mind,
the first one to give me doubts is always the mind. Its amazing what your mind does when it is in
a state of trauma-pain-danger, it’s the old fight or flight mechanism. My body
managed the terrain well, but the down hills break you! On one hand you need to
pick up the pace and run quickly down them, but on the other hand the eccentric
contractions blow out quads and this is where the hiking poles came into play.
I used them to break my fall so to speak going down hills putting weight on
them and letting my quads take a break.
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| ..Always Reppin the CO.. |
This was my 2nd 50 mile journey, and this trail was a beast!!! 12 hours and 37 minutes later I came out of the wilderness victorious.. I
could have ran faster if it were a “real race” but with the Leadville 100
drawing so near I didn't want to hurt myself. 50 is not so much of a time thing
as it is a mind thing. Most people with average training can get through 50 miles
with their “bodies” but its the mind that tells the body to stop or keep going and it (the mind) is much harder to train. This was more of a mind training than anything and that’s
why I picked the loop format. It would have been easier on the mind to keep
going on to 25 miles and turn around there…and not put myself through the same
hills and the same loop over and over and over again, but it made for a harder training session! This loop system also gave me the "pit area" which will be utilized at World's Toughest Mudder. Its like having my aid stations all at one location so if I was out of water etc I knew I had to make it back to the pit. Training is
winding down now as the Leadville 100 is only 16 days away. Focus is on making
sure my body is recovered properly and ready for war up in the mountains of Leadville. I plan on throwing in a 14er (14,000ft mountain climb) in this weekend with my dad and some buddies so that will be my last tough training session until the Leadville 100.
I want to end this by giving a huge thanks to the TOWN OF
GYPSUM (TOG) for sponsoring me with a an amazing donation. I love living in this community and I am very fortunate that it is such a supportive one. Nothing
beats the small mountain town communities!!! Some of the toughest
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