October 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

This RR will be in two parts. I don't have time to write it in one sitting and I'm afraid I'll lose it if I come back tonight to finish it.

Race Report - Part 1

Glacier Hills 50K
Newton Hills State Park
Canton, SD (just south of Sioux Falls)
October 26, 2019, 6:00 AM Start

This race was awesome! I blew past my stretch goal and more importantly, I had a fantastic time. After such a rough start to the year with respect to races (DNF on my biggest race and two very slow finishes, my last three have really boosted my confidence and spirits, and give me hope for my long term goals.

This was my 5th race in the last 8 weekends and my 2nd ultra in 2 weeks.

A few days before this race, after analyzing the my recent races, my recent training, and the estimated difficulty of this race, I had a notion that I might have a chance of setting a 50K PR. For the most part, PR's between different ultras don't make much sense because there is so much different between different races it's like apples and oranges. Still, it's a benchmark, and with a perfect weather forecast, I saw a chance, and it greatly increased my anticipation.

Race Description
This race has three distance options, 20K, 30K, and 50K.  
Cutoff time for the 50K is 8 hours 
Course is a 10K double-loop run multiple times.
Average gain/loss of 120 feet mile, which I consider on the lower end of moderately hilly.  For comparison, my Loopet Loppet two weeks earlier had an average of 80 feet per mile and the Eugene Curnow Trail marathon back in July had 115 feet per mile.  
I found the loop on Strava as a segment so I knew what to expect and developed a plan on to approach it. This is described below.
This is just the 5th year for this race.  It's quite a small race, averaging just 20 runners in each of the last two years and just 11 in the two years before that (plus the 20K and 30K participants). 
This year the 50K had 41 runners, making it the smallest race I've ever been in.
In spite of the small field, it was a very well supported race, helped in part by having a main aid station at the start and end of each loop so you pass it twice on each loop.  

The Course - We ran the 2 mile south loop first, then the 4 mile north loop, both counterclockwise. The north loop was a horse trail. The aid station was in the middle of the start & stop points:
Training
None, at least not specifically for this race. All training was a carry-over from my 12 Hour Loopet Loppet two weeks prior. Though I had this race on my radar, I registered 8 days prior to the race, only after I knew I would be recovered well enough to finish.

Travel & Packet Pickup
Friday, after an unproductive day at work, I left at 1pm to make the 3.5 hour drive to Sioux Falls, with a few planned stops.

First stop was at the Mankato Brewery where I stopped for a flight of beers. The last time I was here Iloved the beers but this time it was just ok. One beer, called "Cake'd Up" was described as a "Festbier". They should have described it better...it actually tasted like birthday cake!!! What the heck! It was one of those beers that you have to try, but I has to force myself to finish the 4 oz taster glass.
The next stop was in Sioux Falls for packet pickup at a fancy outdoor store downtown (lots of high dollar clothes like Patagonia) where I picked up my bib, my awesomely soft and perfectly fitting hoodie, and a race logo sticker.

One of the sponsors of the race was a brewery called Woodgrain Brewery and it was only 2 blocks away. It's a taphouse, meaning they only serve their beer and no food, but they do allow you to bring food in from outside. I stopped a place called Fiero Pizza where they could cook a personal thin crust pizza for you in 2 minutes. I got one with sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, regular bacon and chicken, along with onions, green olives and tomatoes on a regular crust. (Speaking of Canadians, where the heck has @juliet3455 been?!?!) I took that beautiful pizza and walked another block to the brewery where I enjoyed it with a wonderful Czech Pils. I wanted more, but alas, I still had a couple of stops to make and a 45 minute drive to the park where I was going to spend the night.
From there it was a stop at a liquor store to see if I could find any new or hard to find bourbons (I found 3), then to the grocery store to buy bagels for my traditional pre-race breakfast. I also found some donut holes half price and bought those as well....chocolate and sugar cinnamon, yum!. Finally I stopped at a gas station to fill up my thermos full of coffee. If I first fill it with hot water to heat up the inside, then fill it with hot coffee, it will stay hot enough to drink the next morning, saving me the time of making coffee the next morning.

Finally, on to the park! Newton Hills State Park is about 45 minutes south of Sioux Falls. I had a camper cabin reserved for just $45 and was looking forward to sleeping in luxury, relative to my truck tent. The cabin was spartan, but perfectly cozy for my purpose. I immediately regretted not taking the entire day off. I'd would have enjoyed having a bonfire outside the cabin, sipping bourbon and pondering life.

I unloaded everything from my truck, pulled out everything I'd need for the next day, when through my lists for the third time and organized my running belt and drop box, then returned what I could back to my truck. Before bed I spent some time reading and having a bourbon night cap from the speed cup I use for racing. I set two alarms, 5 minutes apart and put the volume on the maximum.

I was wide awake, in spite of the bourbon, beer and pizza, but eventually fell into a deep sleep and had a dream where I was in an abandoned house and every so often a vehicle would drive by and we'd have to drop to the floor because they were looking for us. weird....

Race Prep

My first alarm was set for 4:10 AM. I woke up on my own at 4:09. I HATE when that happens! Up and at 'em! My first move is for my thermos of coffee. The next move was for donut holes.

I got dressed, packed up everything, then drove to the one bathroom with running water to take care of business and put in my contacts. Back to the cabin, lube up, load up, then a short drive to the race start. I got to the start just 9 minutes before the race so not a lot of time to hang out and talk to folks. I dropped off my drop box on the designated tarp then noticed they were setting up the aid station already so I went there to see how things were laid out and what they had available. It was the usual aid station fare of candy, fruit, bars, water, Scratch hydration drink, coffee, soda, hot broth, cookies, and a few surprises later on. Yes, eating is a larger part of ultra races.
Since the race was set up with multiple short loops I treated this like my 12 hour race two weeks earlier, which had a 5 mile loop and used the same packing list, with minor adjustments such as having my trekking poles in my drop box in case I wanted them for a later loop (never used them) and bringing what I would need for the overnight stay. Since I would never be more then 4 miles away from the aid station or my drop bag, and it was cool out, I left my hydration vest in my drop box and wore my running belt to carry just my phone and a few gels. I also brought an empty soft flask in my belt in case I decided to carry water or a hydration beverage later in the race.

The forecast looked perfect for a race, 36F at the start, warming to 50's and no rain. This meant shorts, short sleeve shirt, arm sleeves, a buff, wind layer, and light gloves. The wind layer and buff came off after just a couple of miles after I warmed up and the sleeves came off after the 3rd loop. The gloves came off and back on as needed.

My Salomon Sense Max 2 trail shoes have become my favorite shoes to race in and those are what I wore that day, along with Drymax mini-crew trail socks.

Race Strategy
As I mentioned in a previous post, in order to get a PR I needed to average a 12:30/mile pace throughout the race. Expecting a typical slowdown as the miles took their toll, I figured I'd need a pace of 11:30/mile for the first three loops to be successful.

Other strategies were to carry as little as possible, stop at the aid station at every chance to at least drink some hydration beverage and power hike at least one mile for a warm up.

The course elevation looked like this:
While there are three big climbs and a smaller climb which would likely have to be hiked, there is also plenty of flat and downhill to make up time. I particularly liked the looks of the big downhill at the end of the loop. I saw this as a section I could push if I needed to, to make my pace goals.

The thing about elevation charts, though, is that it's hard to translate what you see on the screen to what you see on the trail because the Y-axis scale, the elevation, is not standard for each race. The hills can look easier or harder depending on the scale of the Y-axis. Still, you read into it what you can, try to find race reports to describe it and take it as it comes. In this case, after the first loop I'd know what to expect and could adjust my strategy accordingly. As it turns out, I had this course elevation right in my head from the start, with the exception that the trail on one of the big hills was a quagmire of mud which required more time and effort than expected.

Pre Race
A couple minutes before 6AM we were called to the start area. A few pre-race announcements, and the countdown began. 5-4-3-2-1 GO!

And we were off...
Stay tune for Part 2!

durhammfp wrote: »

I have recently started C25K.....My goal is to finish this month at W7R2. ...

Goal met: I finished W7R2 this morning.

There is a chance I may get in one more run (W7R3) before the end of the month but I'm traveling this week so that may not happen.

Thanks everyone, for providing such a supportive environment here with this challenge.

10/1 6.5
10/2 4
10/3 3.1 and 1.5 walk
10/4 2.5 walk
10/5 Rest
10/6 6.2 Race
10/7 Rest
10/8 6.09
10/9 4 (interval speed work)
10/10/ 6.3
10/11 3 walk
10/12 9.05
10/13/ Rest
10/14 6.2
10/15-18 Sprained foot - Rest
10/19 8.02
10/20 Rest
10/21 6.2
10/22 3.85
10/23 6.2
10/24 4.0
10/25 Rest
10/26 10.18
10/27 Rest
10/28 6.2

@7lenny7 Great read! Can't wait for the rest. Love the photos as well. Well done so far!

Also to all the racers over the past weekend, congrats!

@katharmonic Went to the State Fair last Friday. Tried the deep fried olives - almost like tempura. Not bad. There was so much other "deep fried" things, the olives were tame by comparison.

Nice run today. Slow warm up then tempo middle miles then cool down mile.
Last week of running before we head to Mexico on Saturday. I do plan to do the @MobyCarp run on the Sunday..will have to scope out a place to run first though. Hopefully I can accomplish this on the beach. Kind of hesitant of running on the streets of Zihuatanejo.

Just shy of 100 miles for October, so I did meat goal and stretch goal.

Just checked my stats and already surpassed my October goal of 60 miles. It looks like I’ll end the month just over 70 miles after our running class meet up Wednesday. Our goal 5k race is this weekend. I really appreciate all the race reports everyone has been sharing. It helps me know a little more about what to expect. I’m anxiously awaiting @7lenny7 ‘s part 2 report. The cabin looks really cool.