Thursday morning (Sept. 8th), I headed out to Bear Creek Lake Park for an attempt at a 50km long run on the Bear Chase Race course. Key word: attempt. I was lucky to get a 26.2 effort in.
After starting my morning off with a nice bowl of oatmeal with some berries and banana, I got to the park at about 8:15am. I was feeling pretty confident and up for the 50km (31mi) challenge - which would be my longest run ever. It's a little over two weeks until the race on Sunday, Sept. 25th and so this would be my last really long effort before that. I parked at the start/finish line and had my car prepped as my drop bag / aid station which I figured would work out great (and did). Each lap of the course, which I'd never run on before, is 12.5mi. So, I was planning on two laps plus an extra 3mi out and then back. 50km / 31mi - perfect. It was almost 8:30 by the time I got laced up, my GPS's sparked up (I was additionally using endomondo on my Android today so Chris could track my progress), and my backpack on. Not knowing where I was going exactly since the park has a plethora of trails - horse, bike, hike - I had three print-outs of maps and written directions with me. I figured the first lap would be a bit of a challenge, but then I'd be set directionally.
My first indication of any kind of problem was almost immediate. My resting HR before starting out was about 100. It should have been about 60. I shrugged it off. My body would acclimate I figured. I started out easy at about 10:00 pace. My HR went to 150... 160... and settled at about 163. For my effort it should have been about 148 or there abouts. Give it time, I thought. I'd have to slow and/or stop momentarily quite often to get my bearings so I figured it would settle down, but it never did. I took a few wrong turns on the first lap and finished with an extra mile (13.5mi) in 2.5hrs. I figured that lap number two would be about the same pace since now I knew the route to take and could take a bit easier pace without all the slowing and/or stopping. I had only one hot spot on my left big toe that developed after the three water crossings so I duct taped it. I topped up my PowerBar Perform Lemon-Lime, ate a 1/4 of a sun butter and jam sandwich, and off I went again. But, about 2.5 miles into lap two (16mi mark), my legs started to really hurt. Flats and downs were OK, but climbing was hurting. So, now I was walking a lot more, and my pace was slowing. By mile 20 the wheels pretty much fell off. Everything hurt - bad. I'd keep thinking to myself; "This is where the mental toughness comes in", but I was hoping to reach this point much later in my run. I still had 10 miles to go today, and if this were race day, I'd still have 30mi to go! The water crossings were a little slice of heaven and cooled me down nicely, but did little to help. I was hoping they'd have a positive effect on the legs, but no dice.
Now, the whole run I'd been fueling with GU Roctane, so I figured that a change-up was in order. I had a flask of EFS Liquid Shot with me, which I've used in the past, so I took a swig of that. A short time later, at mile 23, it felt like I was being stabbed in the stomach - no more running. Running made it shake and shaking was very bad. I didn't think I was going to puke, but was almost hoping for it thinking I might feel better afterwards. I contemplated going into a fetal position as I texted Chris with my issues. He suggested abandoning the 50k, and just get the 26.2 in - which I had already decided on and was hoping to be able to still make it through. I walked the rest of the way back to the car in agony and finished with 26.2 in 5:35. Average pace: 12:46. Average HR: 152 (thanks to that last 3mi bring it down!). 1700' of climbing. Fuel: 1 x GU Roctane every 30 minutes, 1 x S! Caps every hour, and about 100oz of PowerBar Perform.
My primary goal on this run was to familiarize myself with the course. That will help me immensely on race day. I'm going to start out at least 1:00 - 1:30 slower pace than with this effort. I don't know what was up with my HR, but can only guess at maybe I was fighting a bug. My HR always does that kind of thing when I'm sick, getting sick, or getting over being sick. I'll cross my fingers for race day that it'll be 'normal' - which should help protect my glycogen levels. As far as the stomach, I've been having some stomach problems lately (outside of running even) and so that probably contributed. I'll take in more H2O and less PowerBar drink during the race - probably a 50:50 ratio - and see if that helps. Two weeks to go...
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