2015 Clearwater 50K)

What I Expected, Not What I Hoped For

This was my first race since North Coast 24 when I developed a sore knee and couldn't continue for the full 24 hours. I had a lot of concerns, the foremost one being that even though my weekly mileage was back up to about 40 per week, I hadn't run even one workout as long as 3 hours or 15 miles. On the running I had been doing, I'd had no problems with the knee, and with how I felt on the long runs I had been able to get in, I had no doubts about finishing, though I was concerned (and rightfully so as the race revealed) about the 7 hour cutoff. Since I had not been running any farther that 13 miles, I effectively had a one week taper from my normal training. This was the most unusual taper I've eve had in that it consisted almost entirely of doing nothing. That wasn't really what I'd planned,but I simply was not motivated enough to run in the cold, and once I got to Florida it was too late to run anything meaningful.

The trip itself began on a good note. I had to stop by the pharmacy to refill a prescription for eczema. Normally this would not be running related, but it was causing small blistering on my feet - just one more thing to worry about. How would my feet, which were already irritated, hold up to 50K of pounding on pavement? When I arrived at the off-site parking lot I was immediately picked up by the shuttle van as the last passenger before heading to the airport. I was considered for pre-screening and was through security in minutes. My flights were on time; I didn't need to check any luggage; and my rental car was ready for me. Here's where things began to take another turn. I missed the exit from the airport, so had to do another circuit. Once out of the airport I hit rush hour traffic that rivaled Philadelphia's. A couple hours later after exiting the Interstate, I had to call my daughter three times to get directions either from making wrong turns of being confused by the directions. At least I made it there and had a nice, but short, visit with her and her husband before heading back to Clearwater early Saturday afternoon. The pre-race dinner and FE (forum encounter) was at Maggiano's. We eat plenty, talked at lot, and generally had a good time. It was odd that the non-runners outnumbered the runners by 6 to 4, but 2 spouses and 3 children weren't running along with one runner who lived nearby but isn't ready to start racing again. The runners were me, Holly (non-RW/RA), Lara, and her son Christian. Caitlin was a no-show.

I had a 5:00 am wake up call, which uncharacteristically, I did need to get me up in time. The hotel didn't serve breakfast early enough, a common failing of hotels. Don't they realize that many races start about the time they begin serving breakfast. After grabbing a breakfast of an Egg McMuffin and coffee, I found one of the last parking spaces in the main lot by the start. I was surprised how crowded it was. Last year with less parking available, I don't remember it being that bad. I looked around for my friends but didn't see anyone. Van spotted me. He was the only one I saw that I knew before the the race unless you count the volunteer at packet pickup who recognized me from the RW forums. While wandering around I managed to trip over the edge of a ramp. Between that and the printed race instructions, I opted at the last minute to take advantage of the early start at 6:35 am. In hindsight it was a very good choice for me even though I was fairly confident I would make the 7 hour cutoff. It also gave me a slight chance that everyone I knew wouldn't have left by the time I finished. I knew some needed to leave right away, but even the ones who didn't would be finishing over an hour ahead of me. Unless they had other reasons to stay, I could expect them to hang around waiting for me.

Since the early start was for 5M and HM walkers, and those who expected to be over 6 hours in the marathon or 6:30 in the 50K, I lined up in front expecting to be an early leader. It's the first time in a long time that my chip time and gun time have been the same. I did get out in or near the lead early but settled back because the runners in front were going faster than was prudent. I was going to say faster than I wanted to, but I'd really like to run a 50K at that pace. I'm just not ready yet. After winding around a few blocks we reach the large bridge over the bay to Clearwater Beach. I did run partway up, but decided walking the upside of the bridges would be better even if that disrupted my time schedule for walk breaks. I could always adjust with little problem. There was a lot of leap frogging among us early runners with some chatting as we moved along, but eventually we spread out so there was less of that. We were also restricted to the sidewalk until the lead car and runners passed us. I don't remember exactly where I was at the time, maybe between 3 and 4 miles, but he was flying and well ahead of anyone else. I think he ran 1:08 or so for the half. Christian caught up to be just before 5 miles running with a small group. I think he was about 15th then. He must have left them in the dust later because he finished 5th overall and first in his age group. Caitlin passed me about a mile later looking strong on her way to an age group win. I must have passed the turn around for the half just before Holly reached it as she also went on for an age group win. I keep some speedy company!

As I said the start felt too fast, so I backed off, then settled into a run 9 minute, walk one minute schedule adjusted for walking up the bridges. I felt pretty good and was moving well. The question was what would happen when I passed the distance of my longest training runs. A cold, detached assessment said that schedule was too ambitious, but I wanted to see what I could handle off the training I've been doing. I haven't adjusted my Garmin splits yet, but I did make note of and remember a few of the splits based on the mile markers. At 11 miles I was still at exactly a 12:00 pace. I had slowed just a little the last couple miles, but not by much. With my gradually slowing I shifter to a run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute pattern which I was able to hold through 20 miles. during that section of the course the Sun was now high enough to have a noted effect on me and the other runners. I wasn't hot yet - I don't think it got much over 70 all day - but there was no shade so we were getting direct sunlight on us. That's when I also started using the water to douse my head for cooling while continuing to drink Gatorade.

Somewhere around 20 to 21 miles is where I started to fall apart. I still had energy to run, but several problems were developing: 1) my right ankle was getting sore from my foot plant, 2) my right hip was starting to ache from the impact, and 3) my quads were sore and complaining. In runner parlance, my quads were trashed. It hurt to run up hill and downhill. I had outrun by conditioning. The real effect of that would no be apparent until I stopped after crossing the finish and later in the day. From being on a pace for a 6:20-6:30 finish, I saw my project finish time erode to 6:30, 6:35, 6:40, even 6:50 becoming questionable. Now I was really glad I had opted for the early start. If things got much worse I would be cutting it very close to stay under 7:00. By this time I was walking long stretches and only shuffling along for a couple minutes when I could see a discernible landmark ahead like another bridge, a street crossing, or an aid station. After slipping to over 16:30 for one mile, I decided that I couldn't let the projected finish time continue to slip. As long as I was shuffling more than running so I wasn't impacting the pavement hard enough to aggravate my sore ankle and hip, I found I could run longer, and even more surprising, run faster than I had been. My pace dropped to 15:00, then 14:30. When I passed 29 miles and had only a little over 2 to go, I tried to push it harder. While it was highly unlikely, I though it might still be possible to finish in 6:45. About this time the course started winding through a residential area rather being a long, straight street where it was hard to see progress other than when you passed a mile sign. With several runners in sight I made an effort to catch them. I passed one, then another, then a pair. Finally we turned a corner and I could see the bridge. It gave me a boost but also a shiver of dread knowing I had to run downhill on a spiral walk before reaching the park where the finish was. Recall that my quads are trashed. This was going to hurt! Unbelievably I passed another runner going down the spiral ramp, then caught up to two more as we turned into the park and could see the finish. One sprinted ahead as her little daughter was cheering loudly for her. I manged to hold off the other, that or she didn't bother trying to "sprint" with me. I must have opened it up to a sub-10:00 pace by then, which was the best I could do.

I think I did have a smile when I crossed the finish line, but as soon as I stopped, I bent over and could hardly move. Lara and her family were still there waiting for the awards ceremony to get her medal, so they helped me to a chair and got me something to eat and drink. When they announced the awards ceremony, Christian had to help me get out of the chair. Once up I could painfully shuffle over to where the awards were being presented, but for the first time in my life I felt, and probably looked, like the runners in those post-marathon videos that can't walk up and down stairs. I'm almost surprised I was able to drive back to my hotel where I soaked in a hot tub for a while. It was difficult and hurt every time I had to get up, though once I was moving for a little it got a lot better. Basically what I think happened was that I had pushed myself well beyond what I was trained for both in terms of pace and distance. The result was a lot more muscle damage resulting in the soreness and stiffness I experienced. Last year under Ian's coaching I was getting in more runs in the 18-26 mile range. That's almost double what my long runs have been even though my weekly mileage is higher this year. I half expected this, but hoped I could get by with a variation on how I used to train for marathons. Even there my long runs were falling short of what I wanted and what I did over the summer just couldn't carry me over this long. I have considerable doubt on what I can handle at Jackpot in a month. At least with a 24-hour goal I'll be walking a lot more much earlier in the race and hopefully won't trash my quads like I did this time. I don't know if an easier pace or more generous run/walk ration would have made a lot of difference, but I have to think it might.

For those interested in the numbers, my time was 6:45:40. I finished 100th of 135 overall and 1st of 2 in my AG.