OK first, lets start here…
FAQ:
That about covers that stuff I get asked all the time.
Here is what happened yesterday.
The setting is a trail once used by the CIA to train cadets, before it was the CIA (OSS) and adjacent to where Marines and FBI are trained today.
After a week of not eating or sleeping properly on a trip to the West Coast, I landed then headed to the race. So in my head it was only 4am when it started and I don’t sleep on planes so I hadn’t slept since Thu.
I started training for this race beginning of Nov. I trained 5 or 6 days per week for three months and was just starting to feel like I was in a groove and making progress. My goal was to get a new PR. Then on the first day of February, I deadlifted 175 lbs. I have no business doing such a thing and I paid the price (sciatica). <ouch man
Here’s the thing about that, I think my trainer and I share responsibility in the foolish move that I ended up paying the price for. I mean, I did say, No, I cant (after two pulls) and he said, Do it. And I did. And then, I just kept working out.
I could have stopped. And during the weeks of significant pain that followed, I could have done more stretching, then worked from that to push ups then squats, and been strict with my nutrition etc but I didn’t – I got depressed and gained weight and got wicked out of shape.
So ironically all that workingout lead to me being less prepared rather than more.
It was 5 years ago, on the day, I did a Bad To The Bone series 50k. It was very hard (it is on a mountain). Until yesterday, it was my slowest 50k finish, at 10 hrs. BTTB races have waist high water and significant elevation. I ran that one an hour faster than the one yesterday. In fact, this is the slowest of 9 50ks Ive ever done, all on tough courses.
Loop one I was fine. I finished it feeling like I was possibly going to do 8 or more (each loop is 10k so 8 loops is 50 miles). Loop two the sciatica started talking to me. First a whisper, then a shout. It’s the first sensation of pain it’d given me for weeks. I thought I was healed. Maybe something like that never fully goes away though and can be aggravated and if ever I was going to exacerbate it, I guess running on choppy terrain on no sleep w no training, would be the way.
I however, was not going to at least do 5 loops so it would still be an ultra. Midway through loop 4, I wasn’t sure I could do one more. Every step I took on the left side felt like what I imagine being stabbed with a knife would feel like. And if I have learned one thing in ultra-running, it is that if you start favoring one side, something will go wrong on the other side (100% true).
Sure enough, I started feeling bad in a few different places. But the trail quality was perfect and the weather could not have been better and the best part, I hadn’t fallen (huge for me – long story). Probably because I was going so slow, but still. For perspective on the speed, I can run a 10k in an hour or less. I was doing these loops in about 90 mins, taking about a 10 minute break after each loop by the time you add up grabbing food and doing first aid and using the facilities (not to gross you out but my stomach was a disaster the whole time and its that time of the month on top of all that). Woohoo!
So I end loop 4 (marathon distance) and I just keep on going. As I said, it was a perfect day – and all the beauty of it overwrote the discomfort…
Loop 5 wasn’t that bad. By the way, it’s a lollipop loop, so after you head up the base, you can go left or right. Most people choose right, because they find its easier to do the majority of the climbing on fresher legs then zoom downhill to the finish. This really makes sense and I should have done it but I got this thing in my head a long time ago (Ive done this race 4 times) that I want to go in the same direction every time and since I went left the first time, it’s the only way I go.
When I finished loop 5, I knew I could do more. Alex, the RD, he knew it too, and told me he wouldn’t cut my timer chip off. Technically I could have rested and gone back out. Afterall, its whatever you can do in 24 hours, and I’d only been our there 11. I had 13 more hours to go. Maybe if I rested, or had a crew (aka nitro coffee) or took a few advil, I could knock out a few more loops. But I wanted to be in my bed for the first time in a week and I wanted to see my doggie and just be home. So I cut the chip off myself.
So Athletic Equation Trail Race #6 done. By far my favorite Trail Race series of all. Cant say enough about the crew and amenities and course. Love it
Final message, If I can do that, in the shape and condition I was in, anyone can.
And yes, I just signed up for my next one!!
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