My first ultra! I had been wanting to run an ultra for awhile, but it just never seemed to fit into my triathlon schedule. Despite a busy season with 3 full IRONMAN races and 3 70.3’s, I felt I had a large enough gap between Santa Cruz and IM Arizona to squeeze this in.
With an average run volume of only 20-30 miles/week, I wasn’t expecting to crush the race. But, I knew I should be able to run around my IM marathon pace of 6:40 from Lake Placid. I figure it’s only 6 miles farther without 6 hours of swim/bike beforehand.
I’ve never done an evening race before, so Saturday was spent trying to keep myself busy
without being on my feet too much. I opted to hop on the bike for an easy spin to get the legs moving a bit before getting groceries and doing my meal prep for the week. I dropped my car off at the finish line and my dad brought me to his house to relax for an hour before heading to the start line.
Before the race, I wrote out a detailed plan for my fluids and nutrition to be handed to me at any aid station where crew was allowed. This was so I could use exactly what I wanted, and they could keep it cold for me. I’ll roll through what I grabbed and consumed each step of the way as I go through the race.
The race started about 9 minutes late due to a lost bus. This was good in a sense that the temps were dropping, but it also meant a little less light. I thankfully started with a clip on light on my hat before grabbing my light vest at a later aid station. It was around 86 degrees and the sun was shining. I started with my running belt that had 20oz of water frozen solid to help cool my lower back and I planned to sip it throughout as it melted. I also had a gel for emergencies and a bottle of drink mix with 50g carbs, 600mg sodium and 200 calories (partially frozen).
I was near the front when the race started and was a little surprised at how slowly the guys ahead of me started. I quickly weaved my way through and took the lead less than 100 yards in. I tried to just settle into a steady effort targeting 6:40 pace. The first few miles I felt like I started too hard as my HR was already over 160bpm. I was tempted to look back to see if anyone went with me, but I kept my eyes forward. I felt hot but relatively comfortable and wondered if I screwed my race in the first 20 minutes as I hit 3 miles. Drinking the tailwind was already upsetting my stomach and I knew I was going to have GI issues down the road.
The first aid station was at 5.7 miles and crew was allowed. My dad was waiting for me with a cup of cold water to dump on myself, a new disposable bottle of drink mix and a PF90 gel that he was keeping cold. I yelled ahead to give me water instead of tailwind and he quickly made the switch. He also estimated a 2min gap to 2nd which meant I was 20s/mile faster.
As I kept going my stomach was getting worse and I knew I would want to make a pit stop before it got dark. Switching to water definitely helped, but the damage was done to my gut. And by skipping the electrolytes, I had to start working on that PF90 instead. I was also consuming my water at a rate that had me reaching for the belt bottle as well. My pace was fairly steady in the 6:40-6:50 range. At 10.8 miles I had a volunteer refill my disposable bottle while I took care of business. I estimate 45s and felt significantly better still clocking a 7:07 mile. This is where I was able to dial it up a bit more as the sun was mostly blocked by trees and the temps were starting to cool down closer to 80 degrees.
At 11 miles, my pace started to drop and my HR also dropped below 160 for the first time. This was a relief since I was trying to stay below 165 through 20ish miles. I started splitting low 6:30s and even saw a few 6:28s pop up at less effort than before. If you’ve ever heard of someone talking about reaching a flow state, this was it for me. From 11-18 miles I was motoring along feeling good. I did pause at another aid station around 15 miles to top off my water again, but they were efficient with the jug and I was off.
I knew I had more crew support at mile 19.2 and I wanted to use the bathroom again for hopefully the last time. I gave Drobs my belt to refill with water and ran a little off course to get to the bathrooms. I came out, had my dad get my light vest on, Drobs gave me my belt back and I got a fresh cold bottle of drink mix with another PF90 gel. At this point, I was a little over 2 hours in and had only consumed about 150g of carbs (drink mix, PF90 and a gel). My stomach was mostly settled and ready to take on another 50g tailwind along with another PF 90. This aid station was also the only timing mat on course and a key piece of information for me to get at the final aid station so I could know my gap for the final 5 miles.
Cheering Squad
Unfortunately the extra distance I ran to the bathroom was just that, extra distance on my watch. I estimated about 2 minutes for the entire excursion and knew I gave some time back to 2nd place (still clocked a 7:33, but that included the distance run off course…) This is where I really started to focus. Running in the dark has its own challenges, then you couple that with running 9mph. Everything felt like it was coming at me quickly and I was mentally tired from the additional concentration. Once I hit mile 23, I knew I had less than 1 hour to go, even if I slowed down to 7’s. I also knew that if I kept running 20s/mile faster than 2nd place early on and I actually sped up, it’s likely that I continued to put more time into him.
Now I was just focused on hitting the marathon mark and gutting out those final 5 miles. Despite telling myself I’d pull back and just secure the win, I ran a few more miles in the 6:20’s as I came to the final crew aid station. This is where my quads were starting to hurt. I walked alongside my dad to pour another cup of cold water over my head, grabbed a Maurten caffeinated gel and a final water. I was told I had an 8 minute gap based on the timing mat, but we knew I lost about 2 minutes since I crossed the mat before my pit stop. With less than 6 miles to go, I knew I had 1 min/mile on 2nd place and anything sub 7 pace was more insurance. I put my head down, finished the last of my PF90 and got to work. Now this part of the trail I had run many times as an out and back starting from the finish line, so I knew it well. The familiarity gave me a sense of comfort and I pretty much knew the win was there. At this point I wasn’t sure if the course record was in play, but I wasn’t going to regret not trying.
I was sitting closer to 6:40 pace as the lead 100 miler came into view. He was still running ~8min pace and it took a bit to reel him in. I came by with about 4 miles to go and we exchanged some encouragement. This gave me more reason to push because I didn’t want anyone on my heels as I came into the finish. I kept the gas on as I got to the final aid station at 29.5 miles. It was a self-serve water stop, and I just took a quick shower and guzzled some water. Once I hit mile 30 I was on the paved path and gave it everything I had. Knowing where I was at, I knew I actually had 1.5 miles. I got down to 6:20 pace and just kept leaning in as I hit mile 30. Shortly after the lights from the finish came into view and I had 1 last tunnel to run under. I turned off my front light (for pics of course) and let the crowd bring me in. Just like the red carpet in an IRONMAN, the pain melted away as I crossed the line to win my very first ultra. Also knowing that Fleet Feet Phil had won the 50 miler several hours prior, I was proud to represent and bring home the 50K win for Fleet Feet. And fortunately for Phil, I missed his course record by just over 3min. I managed to sneak under 3:30 and had a 16 minute gap on 2nd, so that was plenty for me to celebrate.
Few things to note for next time, whenever that may be:
Work my way into the electrolytes, maybe start with water the first few miles.
Be ready for a lot of bugs. Not sure I can do anything different but squint more.
It’s ok to go out hard even in a 50K. My HR actually recovered and dropped when I sped up later on.
Planning pays off and trust your crew to come through.
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| Always good to have PT on hand |
Up next, IRONMAN Arizona in 6 weeks to close out a long but fulfilling 2025.
