Knickerbocker 60K

Summary:
9+ loops in Central Park, rolling hills, awesome weather, 37.2 miles
Time: 5h 6m 14s (official), 20/209 Overall, 5/50 Age group
26.2 time: 3h 20m 6s (unofficial)

This was the most efficient race I ran; not the running per se but the time spent in doing a non-local race. I reached NYC Friday evening, ran the race Saturday morning with just enough time to eat, shower, and shop a bit in SoHo before heading back home Saturday evening. Overall, I loved this race. Food was simple, I ate at Sbarro's before and after the race.

This was the first time I've done a loop course for an ultra or any other race. Unlike point-to-point races, it is easy to get bored in these but I loved every bit of it. After a couple of laps it becomes clear who is ahead of you and I had a great time playing tag with some of the runners. As with other races, I made new friends and caught up with old ones. As usual, Garmin sucks in ultras; the battery died after 35miles or so.

I love spectators with funny posters like the girl with "I want your legs", the dude with "Congrats, you ran farther than Geb", and the photographer from "BiteMeRoom Photography".

I'm back on the streets now with today's 3mile recovery jog that turned into a 5mile run.

The DC/VA North Face Endurance 50 mile Run

Summary

• Chip time: 9:36:02  Gun time: 9:36:20
• First ultramarathon
• Yucky weather: hot & humid
• Beautiful but torturous course 
• Multiple gear malfunction

My first official ultra is in the books. My expectations from this run was rather low since I was dealing with a lot of unknowns but I was surprised!

Pre-race (Friday)

Having picked up my packet from DC on Thursday, I checked in to my hotel in Sterling, VA on Friday. Everything went as planned. I spent most of Friday resting and eating. And I ate a lot! Two bowls of spaghetti, four large oatmeal raisin cookies (from Au Bon Pain), three bananas, and an apple cinnamon scone. I also drank two gallons of water.

Travel to this race was entirely on public transport and overall spending was around $15 each way.

Race morning

The race started at 5am so I was up by 1am. Pre-race breakfast included three bowls of cereal, a large banana, three tablespoons of peanut butter (recommend the "JIF to-go" packs), and three cups of hot tea.

I had three gear bags containing various stuff I thought would be useful, including a fresh pair of socks but after running the race, I'm convinced that I could have done without them -- I never once used my gear bags. With the gear bags checked in, I milled around the start line around 4:30am meeting & greeting people I had known only through email.

At the start line, I munched on a Clif bar and a banana and drank more water. I never knew I could drink that much! When the time arrived, I lined up and tried to turn on my head-lamp. All I saw a bright flash of light followed by darkness. Damn! This could not have burned out at a better time. After this, I decided to tailgate other runners, which might have worked in my advantage by preventing me from over-pacing in the beginning. But the sight at the starting of the race was nothing like I've seen before. Imagine a long stream of headlamps in the dark, like ants crawling up the terrain. Splendid!

In all this confusion and excitement, I forgot to turn on my Garmin until we had run half a mile or so. But turns out it did not really matter because 1) Garmin sucks on trails and is grossly inaccurate when you've too many sharp turns and 2) Even my 100% charged Garmin ran out of battery around 35 miles in the course. Bah-humbug!

The course itself was pretty. For an urban road runner, this course a treat to the eyes and torture to the legs. The course can be broken down to a long run to a place called Great Falls, and three 7 mile loops at Great Falls, followed by another long run back to the finish line. The loops at Great Falls are crazy with long uphills followed by rocky downhills and the long run to/from Great Falls involves a stream crossing and crossing a muck pit. I managed to somehow dodge the muck on my way to GF but on the way back I landed deep into the muck sinking both my feet and hand in it. Ugh! 

The next aid station from this muddy disaster was around 6-7 miles and I was already running low on water. I was hungry but could not eat the Gu due to low water supply. This was the most grueling and slowest part of my run. A big chunk of my running time was spent on this part. Finally when I reached the aid station, I was so grateful for the supply of fresh water, boiled potatoes and Gatorade. After this fuel replenishment, rest of the 8 mile run (approx estimate without Garmin) was the quickest I did leading to a strong finish. The total time was 9:36, around 30 mins more than my estimate but I am happy that it did not turn out into a disaster.

The finish line festivities included an expo and hot meal (burritos) for runners. I wolfed down two veggie burritos and drank enough water to feel bloated! Overall, it was a fun race. I met new people, and old internet friends. One interesting acquaintance was Ben from France, who ran this year's Boston marathon in 2:58! We had a nice chat about training methods, French, and a lot of random things. After I crossed the finish line I tried to find him but only saw him cross the finish line two hours later. It's interesting that speed training for a marathon does not translate to longer distances and vice versa -- I can never get close to that marathon time with my current training. I also met several ultra veterans and got some nice conversation along the way. It was both an enlightening and a humbling experience that a runner could hope for.

Post-race (Sunday)

After a nice dinner and a good night's sleep yesterday, I feel great & mostly recovered. I should be out on the streets very soon!

Taper blues

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend, enjoyed your barbecues, and listened to Sousa. For those of you running races next weekend and (hopefully) tapering, this might be a very frustrating time - a three day weekend passes by and nothing to put on the training log. Any other time, this would've been a perfect opportunity to shoot for higher mileage. Oh well. So here's how my taper is progressing in the last few weeks:

Not running as much is making me restless. I can't seem to remember how a long run feels like! On the one hand, I'm drooling at the thought of running long distance and on the other I'm a little nervous.

Here is some general wisdom on tapering:

• Sleep well (several days of 8+ hrs of sleep before the race).
• Cut down caffeine
• Reduce work stress (yeah, right!)
• Relax, do yoga or, if you can, meditate.
• Drink fluids. And then drink more.
• I don't drink alcohol but if you do, stop it at least three weeks before the race.
• Eat well

Tapering is hard to do

Here's my mileage for the last few weeks:

Week 18 - 65.5
Week 19 - 68.7
Week 20 - 70.1
Last week - 55.4

This week I'm planning to bring it down to 30. (I already did 11.4 yesterday). The projection for next week  (race week) will be easy 10 miles in the beginning of the week followed by 50 miles on race day (Saturday).

Taper is hard. Especially when you're used thinking I'm-bored-let-me-go-for-a-run and I get bored/distracted from work often :( So, this week I'm going to suck it up and taper!

What did I sign up for?

Here's a profile of the craziness (in a good way) I'm looking forward to in two weeks:

Over the next few days, I will be posting notes about my preparation for this run. The 32 mile run on Sunday was the best thing I ever did and I felt strong later to do an hour long Yoga and groceries (touch wood). Looking back into my training log, I feel excited about this race. But there are somethings I need to worry about:

1. Gear - I am running this without crew support. For the first time, I will have to worry about packing & changing gears in a race. The race also mandated a headlamp at start that I bought recently.

2. Distance - I'm now in taper mode as far as this race is concerned and most likely will not be doing a training run longer than 32 miles before the race. So, I have no idea what to expect during the additional 18 miles.

3. Race diet - I will be eating solid foods during a race for the first time. I have had little time to experiment what works but have to go beyond the traditional gels to keep going the additional distance.

4. Pacing - If you start with a wrong pace in marathons chances are you might only affect your time but in an ultra a bad starting pace can easily lead to a DNF or not making the cut off time.

5. Shoes - This race is mostly on the trails but I haven't run once in trail running shoes. Finding a shoe that works for you can take months. At this point, I don't see any way of experimenting with a trail shoe.

6. Starting point - As a car-less student runner, getting to a starting point in the middle of nowhere is something I've never had to worry about running marathons held in big cities.

There's a first for everything. Interestingly when I ran my first marathon without running any kind of race before I never had to think much. I just went there and did it. That's my attitude for this race too. Just go there and do it.

Sunday run: First 50K

Today's run was mental. Ever since I decided to do the 50 miler, the fact that I haven't run an ultra before was bothering me. I crossed that mental barrier today morning doing a 32 mile run; a tad bit more than the standard 50K but I was loving it! Also the great 60s weather helped a lot too. So, I did my first ultra without any fanfare or a medal to show.

Miles 1-10:
Apart from the mental prep, I set out two packs of Gu and a bottle of Gatorade -- something I never do in my usual long runs.  I started out as usual towards the Harbor and then headed towards Eastern ave passing through little Italy and the latino neighborhood. After a brief detour at the Patterson Park, I made my way back to the harbor expecting the bottle of Gatorade to be near the flower bed where I had hid it. It was gone!

Miles 11-20:
This was mostly in the Canton area. I took the familiar Boston St. route. At mile 18, I briefly stopped at a  Starbucks and downed the first pack of Gu with the free water. Still the loss of Gatorade was on my mind. I didn't know if I needed it but didn't want it to f*k with my mind.

Miles 21-32:
This is where I started running towards Fort McHenry. I had to stop at the Royal Farms on Key Hwy to buy a bottle of Gatorade. Peace of mind. I continued running to the Fort. My Fort runs are never boring. The gorgeous weather inspired people and geese alike to enjoy the Fort. I made 7 loops around the Fort and the beginning of my second loop I saw this lovely old couple setting up picnic basket at a table overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. By loop three, I saw them eating cereal. Loop four, the lady was spreading jelly over a croissant. This made me hungry! It was mile 25 and I thought if this was the actual race, I would be half done. The Gatorade was unopened, so I had to have it merely to justify my purchase. Two quick gulps and I continued my loops watching the couple with great interest. The romance, the spark they had at this ripe old age was amazing and inspiring. During one of my loops I saw them seated, holding hands, and the husband showing a bird to his wife using his binoculars. My faith in the world is reassured. This brief anthropological curiosity made me run without realizing how far I had gotten. It was mile 29 already. This was going to be my last loop; I waved at the couple and headed home. La vie est belle!

Here's what a 50K in Baltimore looks like:

32.01 miles in 04:37:12

A summary of the week that was:

Mon - 7 miles @ 7:08 min/mile

Tue  - 7 miles @ 7:30 min/mile

Wed - 8 miles @ 6:52 min/mile

Thu  - 3 miles @ 8:20 min/mile

Fri    - 3 miles @ 8:20 min/mile

Sat   - 9 miles @  9:00 min/mile

Sun  - 32 miles @ 8:39 min/mile

Out of the closet: 50 mile race

It's official. I'm coming out and admitting on this blog about my entry to the 50miler in DC on June 5th. 23 days people and I'm psyched! Although I registered for it more than a month back it took me a while to post it here; this reticence was from self-doubt due to the recent Piriformis injury.

The night before the Mountain Maryland Marathon, I was trying to calm my race nerves by shopping for other marathons to run before Chicago. After not finding anything interesting that was inexpensive, out of a whim I started looking for ultras in the neighborhood. I missed the HAT 50K run in Maryland but fortunately the North Face Endurance Challenge in DC was open.

Why 50mile? I don't know. Just to see if I can do it? Anybody who runs knows the effort is not proportional to distance. I've been having a consistent & reasonable mileage but under different conditions. Being in the city and not having a car, I rarely get to run on trails. Also I haven't run an ultra before. So, my expectations from this race is rather low. I'm running it as opposed to racing it. My goal for this race is to avoid a DNF.

I will leave you guys with the immortal words of the poet William Blake:

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom; for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough."