There are Ultras, and there are ultras…50k seems to be pretty common and more and more people are going beyond 26.2, but in my book (just mine) a lot of 50ks are stretched out marathons…but Volcanic 50k is a legit Ultra.. Going into the V legs hurt a little but nothing out of the ordinary, my game plan same as always run as fast as possible for as long as possible, this is always a gamble my training plan usually looks like a mess during the week but every weekend I go long, the only thing I try to do training is practice, 30-40 min of a hard running twice a week, one long week in the middle, 1:30-2 hours, and 20-30 miles on sat or Sunday, but the kicker being elevation gains, at the end of the week, normal is about 50 miles, 25k of elevation change, always run a trail marathon a month or two out from your big race, and always enjoy every run, if you don’t feel it take a nap I am not doing this for money and naps are freaking awesome…. Weekend before the V, I screwed up, ran 30 ish miles with around 8500 of gain, around 5 hours. Tuesday 40 min and Wednesday 8 miles in the 6:20’s good tempo run ha ha took a couple days off, and prepped for The V… Race AM: scrambling no bread no PB I was a wreck….I am horrible I had figured out how to carry all my required gear, in UltrAspires Quantum ultraspire/product/quantum/ , and two hand helds, in a group of 200+ runners that all I am pretty sure had packs, and hand helds but I had a good idea of what I needed to finish and why I would need it, this is the importance of practice same shoes, same hat, same socks, same shorts, same shirt the only variable are the things we can’t control and effort…..and know your sweat rate. We headed up the first climb I rambling as normal, trying to get Jason Leman (ultra Stud) to give me a piggy back ride at the first rock garden, I try to get a feel of who is really going to push and who is running their own race, Jbob made it clear he didn’t give a shit what I did J but I pushed on, and realized at mile 2 the ole legs would be a pickle at some point of the day, that point was when the CR holder kicked her loose and that moment when I said, go get him don’t let him get away was the moment I should have sat down. If your chasing someone in the first third of a race, your are no longer running your race but theirs and you will find out real fast who is fitter. He was gone and my quads where pissed!! Now management… I kept him in sight but had a good group of dudes nipping at my heels,, who I knew would eventually catch me…it was awesome one thing I love about racing is when you toe that line, it’s a gamble you have no idea what the day holds, miles of rocks, totally exposed, dusty, hot, windy, it was awesome I love to talk shit, get people motivated and make this fun, but at the end of the day I leave it all on the course no regrets, always push, and smile.. At some point not sure when I was really feeling sorry for myself I had to have someone help me up, I thought it would be better to vomit on myself while laying in the trail but when the cramping started there was a little problem getting up ha ha…I ate well, I was prepared I just simple ran too hard too soon and I paid or it happily, for me its not salt or some other excuse its being honest in my effort, and paying for running beyond my ability. Guys started picking me off I was slipping from the front to 10th and I was happy as hell about it, why I did my best and I was still pushing, could have I done something different sure but I had fun as hell, met a lot of good peeps and saw an awesome mountain. being able to run your hand across a mountain side what was formed 30 years ago was surreal, you could brush the mountain side and it would just crumble erosion in its very early stages, creeks all mud as they cut their new drainages from the sandy mountain side, unstable footing like climbing a sand dune at times, and jumping on rocks and over that are car size you would feel move as you stepped on them just cant explain how awesome this was.. V-Fuel gels about every 30 min other than when I was walking which is much more then I will ever admit.. S-caps two every hour other than when I walked ….again a lot. J sucked on a trail butter from the start. Nike Wild Horse shoes Cotton socks. UA shorts with the liners cut out Eugene Running Co. hat Levis button up shirt, UltAspire buff around the neck UltrAspire Quantum waist pack. UltrApsire ISO Versa hand helds x2. Garmin 210 I forgot to charge died at mile 5 I think… I really have to hand it to the RD, well done brother…. Excellent event and one part that I am especially thankful for is there timing…I finished at the same time as 9th place, but he took it as I took that half short step at the finish that they caught…I don’t know the I guy but he reeled me in and was in much better shape than me and I know that I left it all out there..no regrets… All said and done, I am not hurt I was honest in my effort and I am always happy as hell to bust out another adventure especially on a course that even I would be worried about doing with out someone who knew the area or with out it being marked totally rugged, totally rad!! Defiantly going back……#allpartofit, #ultraspire All said and done, 10th place, 2nd in my age group, 6hours 58min. 33miles.. all single track, actually I think a better measurement would be how much of the course was there not a trail……..;) AND DONE!! .
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 17:49:41 +0000