2018 Naked Nick 25K

How Will I Do on Hills?

I hadn't planned to run any more races this year after Crooked Road 24, but I was unsure of my fitness for several of the races I was considering for next year and needed an assessment of my fitness, particularly my ability to run hills. This race was near enough that I could drive up the morning of the race and it was also inexpensive: no shirt, no bling, hence "naked". An added bonus was that it is at Blue Marsh Lake where Blues Cruise 50K is also run, so I could get an indication of whether I could possibly beat the cutoff time there.

We had rain leading up to race day with the possibility of more during the race, so trail conditions and mud were definitely on my mind. This is how the website describes the trails: "These trails are not very rocky or difficult but are true single track trails that require some attention. These trails are great for beginners and the speedy runners alike. The rolling elevation of the trails will keep everybody occupied. The course is not flat or supereasy but is doable for most with proper training." There was more asphalt and gravel roads than I expected as we moved between sections of the trail, but that turned out to be a huge relief from the mud.

With both the 25K and 50K starting at the same time it was crowded with at least 293 runners heading a short distance down a grassy incline to converge on a single track trail. I should have paid more attention to the start so I would know what to expect at the finish, but I was more concerned with staying on my feet and not slipping on wet grass. We slowed to a walk as we entered the single track, but not for the reason I expected. As I approached the congestion point, I could see ahead that runners were starting to run again but didn't understand why the slowdown until I reached that area. We were confronted with a path wide morass of mud and water. Someone had put down a narrow plank to try to bridge the mud, but to no avail. There simply wasn't any way around it. So I'm not even a third of a mile into the race and my shoes are cold, wet, and muddy.

There's not really a lot to say about the rest of the race. I periodically had to maneuver through mud and climb hills that sometimes brought me down to a 40:00 per mile pace by the time I reached the crest. At least on the downhills and flat I could could make up a little time, but never what I lost on the climbs. I did have one surprise as I looked up a side road and saw a gentleman with a rifle or shotgun cradled in his arm. I hadn't realized it was still hunting season and there was hunting in the area. He stopped at the next aid station while I was still there and had a nice chat with the volunteers asking about the race. At this point I also realized that the course was going to be longer than the advertised 25K. I had just finished the loop of the lollipop course and knew I had over 6 miles on the return, which would put the total mileage around 16.5, not 15.5. The final reading on my Garmin when I finished was 16.7 miles. I've seen readings from other runners that were even longer. When I reached the final aid station they confirmed the course was long, but at least the end was in sight and there weren't any more big climbs. That didn't mean there weren't more climbs, and the last one was simply cruel. After I navigated that last, and first, mud hole and came off the single track with the finish line in sight, it struck me hard that the grassy slope at the beginning was a lot longer and steeper than I realized. Some spectators said they hadn't seen anyone run up the slope in the last hour and a half, so I ended up walking to the finish.

I was so glad to finish and have the race be over, then surprised when I was handed a second place award for my age group, that I neglected to note the time or stop my watch until I was halfway across the pavilion walking toward the food. Checking the online results my time was 4:37:15 and I estimate it took me about 30 seconds at the beginning to reach the starting line (no chip timing in keeping with trying to keep the entry fee down). Hot soup, hot dogs, Coke, baked ziti, lots to choose from for post race refreshments. The soup was what really hit the spot.

For all the mud and hills I enjoyed the race, but unless I get a lot better on the hills, I'll never beat the cutoff for Blues Cruise 50K and will need to opt for the shorter distances for the Naked Bavarian and Naked Prussian races. This will have an influence on my 2019 race choices as well. Unfortunately the result was ambiguous enough that it will take some more training on hills, including Mt Misery as well as Mt Joy, to make any decisions.

2018 Crooked Road 24

Test My Fitness and Current Limits

After a fantastic race at Piedmont-8 I wanted to push myself just a little bit farther to see what my current limits are. A 12-hour race would have been my preference, but there weren't any that didn't require flying with all the hassles and attendant expenses that go with that. My second choice was to find a 24-hour race within driving distance and plan on running only 12 hours. Crooked Road 24 met all my requirements: about a 7 hour drive, loop course just over a mile, good size (180 entrants), and a good reputation. It helped that I knew several other runners who would be there.

With everything in place I set up a spreadsheet to see what would be a good pace, something with an easy to remember time per lap to minimize mental arithmetic during the race, and at a pace I hoped I could carry beyond the 50K distance. I had some concerns about this being only three weeks after Piedmont-8, but I had been running well in the interim and seemed reasonably recovered. I finally settled on 18:00 per lap which is a 15:17 pace per mile. That's a little slower than my average pace at Piedmont-8, so I hoped to stay on pace a little longer.

Despite all the planning, the weekend started off on the wrong foot. First of all we'd been hit by a good snow storm. Fortunately I only had five inches to clean off my car and the road were largely cleared by the time I was on the road. Then, already being on the turnpike and too far to bother turning back, I realized that of all the things to forget, I'd forgotten my running jacket and the gloves and ear warmer in its pockets. As a side note the temperature at the start of the race was expected to be about 35F. I figured I could endure a few laps using multiple layers and my rain jacket. That would have to do since I wasn't going to tun back to get them. What I expected to be about a six and a half hour drive turned into seven and a half. Traffic was at a standstill on US 11 getting from the turnpike to I-81. Then there was an accident on I-81 that brought traffic to a complete stop for 20-30 minutes. Finally getting into Rocky Mount an hour or more after I expected, I had problems finding the hotel. It seems the entrance is not on the road indicated by the address and the signage is non-descript enough that I missed it the first time driving by. I got to packet pickup with only 30 minutes to spare instead of the couple hours I'd planned.

So much for my traveling adventures. By that time all I wanted to do was grab something quick to eat and head back to the hotel, so I stopped at DQ. Nothing against DQ, because I expect the following events would have occurred regardless, but I couldn't eat anything after trying just a couple bites. I packed up the leftovers to take with me. What I had eaten I left - on the road - as I had to make a quick stop to avoid making a mess in the car. I fully expected at that point to spend the weekend in bed until I felt better and good enough to drive home.

I never got my 6:00 AM wake up call, so it was a good thing I woke at 6:17 AM on my own. I felt okay, so dressed for the race and ate breakfast. I met some friends there as I was leaving. We decided to start out together walking the first few laps. The walking was pretty brisk, so after a few laps I stopped to remove my rain jacket before I got too warm. A long sleeve shirt with a short sleeve shirt over it was fine by then and actually a little too warm by mid-afternoon. By that time I was on a roll and didn't want to take the time to change. Within another couple hours I was beginning to think about putting on the rain jacket again as the temperature was dropping as the sun got lower toward dusk. Obviously whatever upset my stomach the day before, I was fine now or I wouldn't still be moving on the course at dusk.

My plan was to keep my laps under 18:00 for as long as possible. I figured with walking the first few laps with my friend I'd have a little time to make up, but 18:00 per lap is 15:17 pace, so I didn't see that as a problem in the overall scheme. I was surprised to see our first lap time at 18:06 considering we also started near the back of the field. The next three laps were under 18:00, then we split up as I stopped to remove my jacket. I don't know what took me so long, but that lap was over 21:00, perhaps the aid station stop also added more than I realized. The next 23 laps were like clockwork, varying from 16:34 to 18:39 with the greater times due to bathroom breaks or longer than normal aid station stops. I walked while eating and sometimes to took longer to down a PBJ than others. I also had a slower lap when I had the privilege of walking part of it with Ann Trason. It wasn't until lap 30 as I reached 35 miles that I decided I needed to stop running and start walking if I wanted to continue. Running was tiring me out too fast. At that point speed was no longer a concern; I just wanted to keep moving until I reached 12 hours, then make a decision then on whether to continue. Pace and lap times varied wildly depending on stops for bathroom breaks, going to the car to get my headlamp, who I was walking with if anyone. At times I was walking 18 minute miles and other times closer to 22 minutes. I reached lap 34 which gave me 40 miles, a nice mark. Three more laps would get me to close to 12 hours. Another lap of two would get me a 12-hour PB, so sure, I'll continue. So I'm at 39 laps, might as well make it 40. Now at at 47+ miles. Two more laps plus a partial lap will get me to 50 miles. Sure, why not. I've got company with a first time ultra runner walking with me. The time is passing quickly as we chat, but I had to promise myself that would be my limit. I didn't want to push too hard considering how I felt yesterday, so when I finished lap 43 with 50.654 miles officially I informed the timers that I was done, collected a really unusual medal in the shape of a banjo, and went to thank the RD and tell him how much I enjoyed the race.

Overall I exceeded the time I expected to run going for over 14 hours. During the race my 50K split, 12-hour split, and 50M split were all AG PBs for me. There were markers for the marathon, 50K, 50M, 100K, and 100M so runners could at least take unofficial splits for personal recording though there were no timing mats there. The 12-hour split was my official time for the last complete lap before the 12-hour mark. I probably ran an additional .7 miles by the time we'd reached the full 12 hours. This wraps up my 2018 reason, at least as things stand now. I have nothing else planned and I'm looking over the choices for next year and what I want to start with after the very strong finish to this year.

2018 Piedmont 8-Hour

Ready to Push and Test Myself

After dealing with a bunch of medical issues in the first half of the year, including atrial fibrillation, I finally resolved all of them and had about 11 weeks to really focus on training for this race. I've been averaging close to 40 miles per week, so I felt much better prepared and was moderately confident I could reach my goal of 31.35 miles, i.e. 11 laps of the 2.85 mile loop on trails through Powhatan State Park, VA.

I paid more attention to final preparations than I usually do, keeping mileage low but including some intensity and not taking any extraneous rest days. Some of the runs were so fast that I was concerned I would have difficulties on race day keeping control of my early pace. As I recalled from last year the aid station had the typical, chips, bananas, oranges, cookies, etc.,but no more substantial food until lunch when hot dogs and hamburgers would be available. After Dr. Lovy's suggestions at North Coast 24 for more protein early in the race and carbs later, I brought my own fixing for PB&J sandwiches to supplement the aid station offerings.

As the weekend approached the Eastern seacoast was being threatened with a Nor'ester, so I was closely monitoring the weather forecast. Fortunately it moved further up the coast so Saturday morning's forecast was not bad at all. Temperatures looked okay. The temperature at the start was 46F with a light rain, so shorts and a long sleeve shirt were fine. I checked out a new route to get from my hotel to the race after I arrived on Friday. Apparently that didn't do much because I missed a turn, went way out of my way, and pulled into the parking lot as the race director was giving last minute instructions. Rushing around to get my number, back to the car to shed my warmups, then forgetting my vest and water bottles, I was 1:15 late getting to the start. Being a fixed time race with only complete laps counted, this was not an issue, but I did have to fight the urge to take off at a faster pace to catch up.

I reined in that impulse to try to catch up and tried to settle in on my planned pace. I needed to average a bit over 15:00 per mile to complete 11 laps. Anticipating a slowdown regardless of my starting pace, I was aiming for about 14:00 pace or a little over. Coming through the first lap at 39:26 was slightly too fast, but within my acceptable range. The only question was how long it was maintainable and how much would I slow when I eventually did. I was amazed when I kept close to that pace for the next 6 laps with an average of just about 40:00 per lap. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold that, but that didn't keep me from briefly fantasizing about running 12 laps and 34.2 miles. Lap 7 finally saw a small slowing of my pace as I ran that one in 42:01. I noticed both my running and my walking paces were slowing, not just my running. The big question now was how much more I would slow and would I basically implode like last year.

My next lap of 44:18 wasn't too bad, but lap 9 showed a huge drop off in pace at 50:26. I'm madly trying to compute what pace I needed for two more laps to still complete 11 and reach my goal. I'm thinking I may slow even more but I need 2 more laps in the 51-52 minute range if I'm to barely squeak in under the 8 hour limit. The one saving factor was that I was still running a little, mostly the downhills, but still running. Somewhere in there, maybe the carbs were finally kicking in, but I started feeling better and my pace actually increased. Lap 10 was 46:43 which meant I had a full 57 minutes to run my final lap. Not satisfied with that, I kept pushing and ran my last lap even faster in 42:52. I finished with over 14 minutes to spare, but obviously not enough time for another lap.

Next up is the Crooked Road 24 Hour in Rocky Mount, VA. I had initially planned to limit myself to 12 hours even though 12 hours is not an official option, but after seeing how I performed at Piedmont, I'm at least leaving open the option to go the full 24 hours. Some of the determining factors will be how well and how quickly I recover, how my training goes over the next 3-4 weeks, and what I decide about when and what my next race after that will be.

2018 North Coast 24 Endurance Race

On 6 Weeks of Training

This year has been a year of contending with injuries and medical issues, leaving me woefully under trained for the race. Early in the year I was dealing with a sore right heel, possibly plantar fasciitis and/or a heel spur. That proved to be my downfall at D3 where it took me almost 11 hours to hobble the 125 laps around the track for the 50K. After several months on very low mileage, I modified my foot plant slightly to shift the stress off the heel. That seemed to help, so I was able to start increasing my mileage just in time to also need to cope with summer heat and humidity. At D3 the EMTs who were called when I briefly passed out after the race mentioned a-fib on my ekg. The ER didn't make much of it and released me. Neither did Dr. Ashby's associate whom I saw the next day. It wasn't until July when I had my annual check up with my cardiologist that it was addressed. Once that was finally corrected in early August, I realized how much it had been affecting my running in slowing me down and limiting my mileage. So my serious training for NC 24 really started the second week of August. With the taper the training was only six weeks. As a result I threw out all mileage goals and focused simply on staying on the course as long as I could.

The weekend started well with a good weather forecast and an easy seven hour drive to Cleveland. I stopped at Edgewater Park and met several other NC 24 runners there, walked a few laps to refresh my memory and think about which sections would be good for my walk breaks. After I checked into the Travelodge I bumped into Nica and her crew, Dani. I joined them for an early dinner at a local Italian restaurant, then tried to relax and get some rest after laying out what I planned to wear at the race. Sleeping was fitful as usual, so I didn't need to set the alarm, though I had, just to be sure I would be up early. There didn't seem to be quite as many runners at the motel as in previous years for breakfast. I has my usual muffins and coffee since there's a limited selection, then headed over to the park about an hour before the start. There were only a few of us this year from the usual crew: me, Eric, Chris, and Michael. Charlotte Vaserhelyi, the Canadian champion, set up next to us so we were sharing the canopy and tables with her. I saw a lot of runners I knew as I walked up to pick up my bibs and goodie bag. Of course I also had to stop at the med tent to say hello to Paige and Dr. Frank (I can't remember her first name, but I think it's Leah), whom I've gotten to know over the last few years.

It was a little windy at the start, my hat blew off at one point, but we had 100% cloud cover and nice cool temperature. I was in no hurry at the beginning but I still was sub-14:00 for my first mile. I managed to slow down a little but was still hitting sub-15:00 for my each of my first nine miles. I felt fine, possibly because I was taking my walking breaks more frequently than I had in training. Beginning with mile ten I started looking for other runners whom I could walk with for a while, chat, and pass the time more quickly. That took my pace into the 17:00 range, though it dropped back to the 15s when I was running alone. This was fine as it was still well under the pace I had set as my absolute slowest that I wanted to run. About six hours and 25 laps into the race I made my first stop at the med tent. My hands were feeling puffy and a little swollen, so I wanted to see how I should adjust my food and fluid intake. While I was there they also worked on stretching me out as they noticed I was getting tight while they were checking me over. Back out on the course I continued as I had been, walking with other runners when I could or walking and jogging when I was by myself. I had another brief visit to the med tent around mile 30 to work on my legs which were really starting to feel the miles by then. Otherwise my only breaks were at the port-o-potties or to stop briefly to chat with someone, which really didn't slow me down much. Things started going downhill as I approached 40 laps. I continued until then before I stopped at the med tent again. My legs felt completely drained and my pace was over 20:00 per mile. I felt a lot better when I left the med tent, but it didn't last long, a sign that I was reaching my limits as a result of my limited training. When I found myself weaving slightly now and then, I realized I should stop again. I wasn't feeling bad, I just wasn't really steady on my feet. I sat in the med tent for an hour or so trying to recover and let the students practice on me with the various stretches. I suppose I could have wrapped myself in a blanket and tried to nap for several hours and possibly gotten back out for a few more laps, but there was no guarantee of that and I really did think I had pushed as far as I should, any more and I might push myself to where it would take too long to recover. I hadn't planned for this possibility either, so was ill prepared to handle it. I had deliberately not brought my tent and sleeping bag to specifically avoid the temptation to take a long break like that, and now that option was not realistic when I could have used it or at least tried it.

I was more than pleased with how long I had kept the pace I did considering only six weeks of preparation. While I don't have any definite race plans for the rest of the year, I have been considering several and didn't want to place those in jeopardy by overdoing it here. I have a couple options I'm considering. I enjoyed the Piedmont 8-Hour race last year. That's in five weeks at the end of October and should be a good match for my fitness. After that I could reevaluate before registering for another race, possibly Crooked Road in November. Or I could concentrate on preparing for another 24 hour race and end the year at Across the Years, a race I've wanted to go back to since I ran it in 2015. The two aren't mutually exclusive, but the way I would structure my training would be affected by whether I ran Piedmont or not.

2018 Dawn to Dusk to Dawn 50K

A Mixed Bag on Light Training

We've all been stalking the weather reports and it does not look anything like ideal conditions. The forecast has jumped from a high of 73 a week before the race to a high of 90 a couple days before. At this point no one knows what to expect. Some forecasts have increase the chance of rain from 10% to 100% with possible thunderstorms and heavy rain. I'll need to come prepared for almost anything, multiple changes of clothes, rain jackets, hats, many pairs of socks. I'm hoping there's no morning rain to make putting up the tent an issue.

This is my fifth D3, the first being the 24-hour race and the rest the 50K. Despite being well run, as Bill, the race director, says, "it's a race by runners for runners", I still have not performed particularly well. Much of that is of course due to my lack of adequate preparation and training. With my aversion to cold weather, getting in the requisite miles over the winter is a challenge for me. This year besides tough winter weather, I have been plagued by a sore heel, something that was bothered me since November. I adjusted my workouts to go for quality instead of quantity, running only 3-4 times a week, but making those workouts count more. I had to back off the high quality speed workouts because those seemed to aggravate my heel, so I concentrated mostly on getting in quality long runs. for me that meant runs of roughly two hours though that also meant only 9-10 miles. The goal will be to see how far I can maintain alternating run and walk before I need to shift to all walking. I'm not sure which will be the determining factor, the lack of training or soreness in the heel.

With the 50K not starting until 9:00 a.m., the 24-hour runners had already been on the track for over an hour before I arrived. I found a nice spot on the infield near where my friend Dennene had set up and put up my "little" three person tent. After that I wandered around to greet friends and pick up my ankle timing chip. That's the one that linked to the live results, while the bib chip served as a backup in case anything went wrong. At the start is was about 57, cloudy, and damp. He had had a little overnight rain but nothing was forecast or expected at the race until some time mid or late afternoon. I should have been finished well before it started. A lot of the runners were moving very quickly, possibly trying to bank some miles before the afternoon heat and sun. I'm not sure how wise that is, but maybe banking time or miles works better in ultras where you have a broader range of conditions and more opportunities to recovery.

In light of my preparation for this race I adjusted my strategy to run half a lap, walk half a lap from the very beginning, instead of running 300m and walking 100m. This seemed to work well and I still felt well in control able to maintain that effort when I reached 20K. Unfortunately by that time my heel was starting to hurt. Since running aggravated it, I opted to stop running and walk exclusively hoping it wouldn't get any worse and I'd be able to finish. You can see in my lap splits that they jump from around 3:35-3:45 per lap to 4:30-5:00 per lap, more if I stop for food and drink. Then twice, once in lap 82 and again in lap 93, I stopped to have the massage therapist work on my legs and feet to reduce the soreness. It did help temporarily but the soreness returned, which was the reason for the second pause. For a while I even kept pace with one of the old-timers in the 24-hour race and got my lap splits back down to the 4:30-4:35 range. But not to be outdone, with no warning at all my stomach rebelled with just over two miles left. This time I wasn't certain I'd be able to return to the track despite needing only 8 more laps. We started with plain water, then potato chips for salt, and finally ginger ale to hopefully sooth it a little. I finally felt well enough to ease back onto the track and one of the 24-hour runners, who apparently wasn't having the best of days either, walked the final two miles with me. The first rain drops started to fall with about 900m to go and by the time I finished it was a steady downpour. I waited out the worst of it huddled in the timer's tent before hobbling half a straightaway to my tent to change into dry clothes. My final time was 10:52:31.

Once I knew the heel soreness wasn't going away and would only get worse it was a constant mental battle to keep going knowing I had hours of that facing me. I tried to concentrate on counting down the laps, mentally marking off each 10K - 25 down, 100 to go; 50 down, 75 to go; then reversing that with 75 down, 50 to go. It was a big boost after I passed 25K and had run more laps than I had left. Reaching 100 laps and starting the final 10K made the end more real. Along the way I had a lot of encouragement from friends on the track that kept me focused on finishing. The few times when the walked more than a short way with me and we got into a real conversation made those laps go so much faster as well as distracting me from thinking about my heel. Unfortunately I could also see a lot of them on the side getting help from their crews. Many of them had stomach issues or other problems and had to stop early. Talking with the RD afterward he said it was the highest dropout rate they've ever had.

Now on to the post race events. I did walk a few laps around the track to cheer people and also grabbed half a grilled cheese sandwich, but that's all I ate after I finished and stupidly grabbed only a cup of coffee to drink. It was approaching 1:00 a.m. and I decided to take a long nap, then get up early to watch the finish of the 12-hour and 24-hour races. First order of business after waking up was to walk across the track to the porta-potties. I was getting ready to pee, then the next thing I knew I was hitting the ground outside. I have no recollection of opening the door or stepping down. All I know is I never peed and I was laying on the ground. I couldn't have been there too long because I hadn't finished assessing the damage when someone stopped and asked if I was okay. Despite my sometimes sardonic wit I didn't even think that was a stupid question to ask considering I was on the ground and and bleeding slightly from my face and hand. I have no idea who it was, but he half carried me to a bench and called one of the RDs. First thing he checked on was how alert I was and could I describe what happened. Meanwhile he had one of the cadets get water and a soda to get fluids and sugar in me. Another runner, possibly the one who found me, was a volunteer fireman and another was an EMT. Both suggested they call 911 so I could be thoroughly checked out. Somewhat against my wishes after the EMTs arrived, I agreed to let them transport me to the ER. I was already feeling much better and didn't think it was necessary, but deferred to their judgement since I have a habit of insisting I'm okay even when I'm not. The ER people were super sweet and reasonable. They really listened to what I told them and didn't just steamroll me through all sorts of tests. They did do blood work to check enzymes and electrolytes and also ordered a CAT scan because I did hit my head; they wanted to be sure the only damage was the superficial scrapes they could see. After getting all the results back and consulting with my primary car physician, they agreed I could go home. They did suggest I stay overnight but I thought that was unnecessary and overkill. So that's the end of my adventure. I'm home checking email, FB, and writing up this little report.

My next scheduled race is Rundle's Revenge in Alberta on June 24, a 25K trail race in the Canadian Rockies. Before I commit to anything else, I need to resolve the heel issue. Rundle's Revenge has a concurrent 50K race so I have time to hike the entire distance if needed. It may be time to take some time off to let the heel heal, and this seems like a good time for that.