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.