So, a week ago I ran my first ultra. It may be presumptuous to think anyone might be interested, but here’s a quick “race report”. I had wanted to do a 50-something before hitting 51 years (next July). I had been looking around for a local-ish trail 50k, and when I saw someone on Stuttgart Runners post a few weeks ago about the Schwäbisch Gmünd Albmarathon (50k), I decided to go for it. Bottom line: It was harder than I’d expected. I think it wasnt so much the length as it was the hills and the short-notice decision to do the event. I have a lot of base miles on my legs. Three weeks ago I had run a very long route to work. It was 23 miles, and when I was done, I thought, no problem! I could have gone another 7. Not that it didnt affect me -- of course I was sore, but I didnt have anything forcing me to stop except going to work. However, the terrain for the Albmarathon was different (see pics). For my base miles and 23-miler, I had mostly rolling terrain. The Albmarathon has beast-hills, and then a soul sucker at mile 25. Next time (and there will be a next time) Ill train more specifically. You hear often about specificity in training, and now I believe it. The base miles allowed me to finish (5:58 and change), but specific training would have made it easier and faster. The route was gorgeous, and the weather was cool but dry after a night’s rain. Some spectacular views when I stopped to look up. It was about 70% paved (bummer), but it went through great country side and hit the three Kaiserberg peaks that you couldn’t see until you came around back of the first one. Then you saw all three lined up waiting for you. The second half had some pretty decent single track and mud, but otherwise, it was pretty tame terrain — apart from the steepness for the peaks. It was fun to see lots of older folks out there cruising to 50k like it was nothing special. Saw a number of t-shirts (from the back!) that indicated they were finishers of the super-marathon (72.2km). Maybe one day... Im going to get a few more 50ks under my belt before thinking of the next milestone.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 11:36:18 +0000
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