Fall 50 - Race Report

Since finishing the Ironman over 3 years ago, I haven't found something to truly drive me or motivate me to the extent that the Ironman did.  When I trained for the IM it consumed me (whether that's good or bad).  It became my lifestyle, it was me.  I was so focused on achieving my goal that a moment never passed in which the thought of the race didn't cross my mind.  It was always in the back of my mind.  There's an allure in a race of that distance.  In order to be successful at that distance, it takes a certain level of commitment, sacrifice, and devotion.  It's easy to see how those types of events consume you.  It's also easy to see what the draw is to them.  After taking two years with relatively no clear defined goal, I convinced Sarah to let me commit to another intense event...a 50 mile ultramarathon.  Ultramarathons have always had a special draw to them for me.  But, I was never willing to give up racing triathlon in order to focus solely on a running race.  But, 3 year post Ironman, I was ready for a new challenge.  I was ready to train for a 50 miler.  In April, I made the commitment and registered for the Fall 50; a point-to-point, 50 mile trek from the tip of the Door Peninsula down to the city of Sturgeon Bay.  In addition to setting my goal of running a 50 mile ultra, I have always wanted to "run the year."  Basically, you run an annual mileage totaling the year.  So this year, I figured was year was a better time as ever to run 2,016 total miles.

The concept is simple.  Start at the most northern point of Door County (Gills Rock) and run south, along the west shoreline, to Sunset Park in Sturgeon Bay.  The race itself is most popular for its relay race.  It actually was originally intended to be a relay race, but after a surprisingly large amount of interest in a solo event, they added a solo event.  This year, the relay event sold out in under 20 minutes!  For those not familiar with Wisconsin, Door County is considered one of the most beautiful areas in the state.  Plus, the race is run during the peak fall colors in Wisconsin, which just adds to the natural beauty of the area.  Door County is also known as the Cape Cod of the Midwest.  So, when you couple all of that with the large all you can eat and all you can drink after party, its very easy to see why the event is so popular.

Training for This Race

Prior to officially committing to the Fall 50, I began to plan out my 2016 race calendar.  I knew that if I were to run a 50 miler this year, I needed to put triathlons on the back burner for a year to focus on building a strong running base and build my weekly running mileage.  Not only did I want to simply increase my weekly running mileage, but I wanted to do it safely and run this year injury free.  As I began to structure my year, I planned out an early spring marathon, prior to traveling to Florida in May with my family.  I also wanted to race the Bellin 10k in June.  Other than that, I really wanted to focus on training.  After getting back from Florida, I focused on gradually increasing my weekly long run.  I still didn't have a specific training plan that I was following, I was just running based on feel.  I ran an 8k race on Memorial Day and then ran the Bellin 10k in June.  I continued to run based on feel throughout June and ended the month with a 20 mile long run.  I didn't start following a training plan until July 14th.  In preparations my first ultramarathon, I picked up a copy of Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning, by Hal Koerner with Adam W. Chase.  The book had several training plans for various distances, but I took the plan for 50 miles to 100k and tweaked it to fit my work schedule.  The main focal point of the training plan were back-to-back long runs on the weekends.  They start out pretty modest (relatively speaking, obviously), with distances ranging from 15/9 to 20/11.  Towards the final peak weeks before the taper starts the back-to-backs top out with a 25/20, 25/25, and a 30/7.  Below is my actual training plan.  You might be able to see some of the slight changes I made as I progressed, but I tried to stick to it as close as I could...but when you're a father of 3 daughters and are as busy as us, you NEED to make adjustments to survive.  All of my training runs were done at a MAFF pace.  I won't dive into Phil Maffetone and his training philosophies, but basically, he advocates for all training to be done below your MAFF heart rate (180-age).  I didn't do any speed work, tempo runs, track workouts, or fartlek runs.  All of my runs were done at a comfortable pace for that given distance.  All of my long runs were done at an easy sustainable pace. 

As you can see my training weeks consisted of 8 and 10 day "weeks."  But for a point of reference, my biggest training week (Monday-Sunday), was a 92 mile week.  My biggest training month was in August with a total mileage of 320.68, by far a personal record.  Most of my scheduled days were prescribed in ranges, with no real hard number for a given day.  I did this on purpose to allow myself some wiggle room depending on my personal schedule and/or how I was feeling on a given day.  I don't recall ever running the shorter mileage on any given day, but maybe I did on a day or two. 

Throughout the entire year, other than a minor neck issue/injury I dealt with in late January, early February, I stayed very healthy all year.  I never needed to take any significant time away from running or training.  I credit this to me devoting the entire year to gradually increasing my mileage, staying committed to foam rolling, listening to my body and never over pushing, and regular use of Hammer Nutrition's Tissue Rejuvenator. 

Prerace

The weeks leading up to the race, I was mentally ready for the race to be over with.  I've never really felt like that before.  It's not that I was getting sick of running or didn't want to race...don't get me wrong, I was still excited and couldn't wait to toe the start line, but I was just getting sick of the ridiculous amount of running I was doing.  It was getting to be routine for me to wake up at 3, 4 or 5 in the morning on my off days to get my run in before Sarah would leave for work.  I remember a couple days were I had my alarm set for 3am to get out the door and run 25 miles before 7:30 so Sarah could leave for work on time.  I was running 8-12 miles every day after work.  It was getting to me, I'll be honest.  It was getting mentally difficult to justify why I was doing it.  I stayed home from a family trip to a local farm with the kids so I could run 30 miles.  Yup, when you're busy taking care of 3 kids, 2 dogs, maintaining our house and yard, working 3rd shift with a difficult work schedule, jamming in 100 mile weeks on top of it all gets to be just a little much after a while.

During my last "long run" (16 miles), my right foot developed a minor ache in the tendon that connects the big toe to the heel.  I finished the run, but it definitely put a fear in the back of my mind during the final two weeks.  Luckily, as I continued to progress through my taper, I gradually felt better and better, not just in my foot, but overall.  I don't know if it was the drastic decrease in mileage or if my taper was just perfect, but I don't recall ever feeling so good in the final few days before a race.  During the final four days before the race, I took Hammer Nutrition's Race Day Boost as prescribed.  We left to head up to Sturgeon Bay around noon.  We booked a room at the local Super 8 Motel, which ended up being exactly what you'd expect from a cheap hotel...a roof over your head and a place to sleep.  The hotel had a pool which the kids loved, and let them swim pretty much all afternoon.  I went to the evening packet pick up at the host hotel and then we went out to Sonny's Pizzeria for dinner.  Evidently we were not the only one's who had this idea, as it was packed and it seemed like 95% of the crowd was running the relay.  The food was extremely good and would totally recommend going there for dinner when you're in the area, but probably not the night before the Fall 50, as we waited nearly 2 hours from the time we walked in to the time we got our food.  I ended up getting back to the hotel room later than I would have liked (8:30PM), but there really wasn't anything I could have done about it at that point.  My parents were also staying at the same hotel and had agreed to take two of our girls to allow them to sleep in there room to allow me to hopefully get a decent night's sleep.  I laid out my race outfit and finished off packing my hydration pack with the necessary nutrition and incidentals and was in bed shortly after 9.  The entire day before the race, I was extremely nervous/anxious.  More than I have been for any other race.  I'm not completely sure why, but I was.  My guess is that I was starting to get overwhelmed by the sheer distance I would be tackling the next day.  I have never run more than 32 miles, which is a long way to run, but still leaves another 18 miles to go.  I guess, the unknown of what lays ahead of me was mentally eating at my confidence.

When I registered for the event, I purchased the optional transportation from the finish line to the start line, which cost $15.  I would recommend taking advantage of this opportunity as it was a comfortable bus, which also had a bathroom on it.  The bus left at 5:30AM and made a brief stop at the host hotel to pick up additional runners.  We ended up getting to the race start around 6:40AM.  Only the solo runners started at 7AM to maximize day light and we had a total of 11 hours to finish the race.  Relay runners had wave starts assigned to them based on their projected finish times.  The first relay teams started running at 8AM and the last of the relay runners started at 10AM. 

As far as my personal goals, I really wasn't sure what to think would be realistic.  I've always thought that an 8 hour 50 mile race was the line between "elite age grouper" and just finishing.  So immediately, I set a goal of under 8 hours.  As my training continued, the more realistic a sub 8 hour 50 miler seemed.  Understanding that the race was long and so many things can happen throughout 50 miles, I had an overall goal of simply finishing.

Nutrition Plan

Throughout my training, I practiced finding a nutrition plan that would work for 7+ hours.  It's no secret that I'm sponsored for Hammer Nutrition.  I've been running for Hammer for 3 years now, not for their support, but because I truly believe they have the best endurance nutrition products available to athletes.  I've been using Hammer products ever since I got started in racing and their products work...period.   So over the past 4 months of training, I regularly used Hammer Perpetuem and Hammer Gels, with the idea that I would using them in the race.  Over my years of racing, I have dialed in my nutrition to know that I need about 125-130 calories per hour.  When developing my nutrition plan, I anticipated running for 8 hours, so with a little simple math (8 x 130 = 1,040) I figured I needed about 1,040 calories.  I knew I wanted to have some variety in my plan to keep my stomach from getting sick of taking in the same type of nutrition.  I planned on taking in Hammer Perpetuem, Hammer Gels, and Hammer Bars throughout the race.  Below, you can see my scheduled nutrition plan.

In addition to the calories taken, I planed on taking Endurance Aminos (2 capsules), Race Caps Supreme (1 capsule), Mito Caps (1 capsule), and Anti-Fatigue Caps (1 capsule), every hour starting at the two hour mark.  I also took, the same combination of capsules one hour prior to the race.  While traveling to the race start, I sipped on a water bottle with an Endurolytes Fizz tablet, to top off my electrolyte stores.

Equipment

New Balance Vazee Rush
Injinji Socks
Zensah Compression Calf Sleeves
Race Ready Shorts
Hammer Short Sleeve Running Shirt
Trek Arm Sleeves
Nathan Firestorm Hydration Backpack

I would like to say a quick word about Injinji socks.  I have never really worn Injinji socks, but this year, I bought a pair and wore them on a few of my long runs.  I ended up loving them and wearing them during the Fall 50.  I finished the race with not a single blister or hot spot on my feet.  Normally, when I wear normal running socks during a marathon, my toes usually get a blister or two.  Nothing that prevents me from finishing or running, but they make their usual post race appearances.  And that is always with the addition of Vaseline.  During the Fall 50, I wore Injinji socks and I didn't have one issue with my feet or toes.  I finished the race without a single blister or even a sign of chaffing.  I will forever wear Injinji socks during my long distance (half marathon on up) racing!  

Miles 0-25

I often talk about the Endurance Planet podcast that I regularly listen to for training advice.  On their "Ask the Coaches" show, Lucho (an ex-pro triathlete and elite ultrarunner) has said, numerous times, that during the start of an ultramarathon, if you think you're running slow....slow down.  So that was the mind set that I started with.  Start slow...then slow down.  I knew that there was absolutely NO benefit to saving a couple of minutes during the first half of the race.  My plan was to run super easy for the first 30 miles and focus on watching my heart rate.  My strategy was to keep my heart rate in the 120's for the first 10 or so and then keep it in the 130's through mile 30.  As the race started, I felt as though I was the only one running easy.  It seemed that 75% of the runners, started running easy, but considerably faster than me.  I did my best to ignore them, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wonder if I was running too easy.  I just kept telling myself that 50 miles is a long fucking way to run and to stick to the plan.

As the race started, I quickly learned that it would be pretty easy to keep my mind occupied on the scenery.  On Friday, I saw a social media post from the local Door County newspaper, claiming that the fall colors in Door County were just hitting their peak.  They were spot on.  You couldn't ask for prettier colors.  The combination of the beautiful colors and the shoreline of the Bay of Green Bay made the race course absolutely gorgeous.  As I continued to pass mile markers, I had only one rule during the race...to walk up all hills.  The first real hill came just before the 5 mile mark, just before first aid station.  The first 5 miles went by in the blink of an eye.  I first saw Sarah, the girls, and my parents at the 5 mile mark, as this was the first aid station/relay exchange point.  It was refreshing to see the girls, but I kept the fact that I still had a long day ahead of me in the back of my head.

The next leg of the race was a 6 mile stretch from Ellison Bay to Sister Bay.  As the race reached the 10 mile mark, the race had become super spread out.  It got to the point where I could only see one or two runners ahead of me and only another one or two runners behind me.  There was no one around me and so began the mind games.  I continued to focus on the scenery and the joy of being out on the road.  After leaving Sister Bay, we were faced with one of more steeper hills on the course.  I gladly walked up the hill and treated it as a nice break.  The next leg was a 7 mile leg that led us into Peninsula State Park, a part of the race, I was looking forward to.

From the start of the race, I had been wearing thin knit gloves.  The weather was actually really nice.  The temperatures were in the mid 30's at the start of the race and forecasted to reach the mid 50's during the afternoon.  There was a slight headwind, out of the south.  While in the state park, I official became cold.  The cool temperatures compounded with being in the shaded forest and the headwinds, my hands officially became cold.  My hands and feet are always first to get cold.  I seem to have poor circulation, which seems to make it that much worse.  After coming out of the state park, the sun began to come out more, which helped warm me up.  My hydration backpack allows me to rotate the mount piece to an on and off position.  The constant manipulation of the mouthpiece made my gloves wet, which didn't help at all keep my hands warm.  I decided to take my gloves off with hopes that taking a pair of wet gloves off would help warm up my hands.  I ended up being right.  With the sun out, my hands warmed up.  At this point, the miles continued to pass by without me even realizing it.  My nutrition plan seemed to be working great, and personally, I couldn't have felt better!

I continued to press forward and reached the half way mark around the 3:30 mark, right on track for where I wanted to be.

Miles 26-50

 

It was kind of neat passing the marathon mark of 26.2.  I found it to be ironic.  The 26.2 mark is generally seen as a huge deal.  Normally there is a large finish line, large crowds, bleachers, and a ton of hoopla.  In this race, there was a sign.  That was it, no line in the road, no people (I mean not a soul...no runners, no crowd, no no one), and definitely no hoopla.  It was refreshing to know that I was now over half way, less than a marathon to go....I could do this.  I took my first real break at aid station just after mile 28.  I needed to refill my hydration pack and refill my water bottle of Perpetuem.  It was a nice break.  My dad and a volunteer helped to refill my water bladder, while I was able to chat with Maya, Delaney, Harper, and Sarah.  After leaving the aid station, I felt rejuvenated and refreshed.  I felt like I did at mile 5.  I was super positive and motivated to finish the final 22 miles.

As I continued, it was around mile 30ish, that my hands began to get cold again....much colder than before.  The sun went away and the headwind became more definitive.  I continued to press on and told my dad that I needed the extra pair of gloves I had packed in my gear bag.  Unfortunately, I knew I would have to wait until the next aid station for the gloves.  The next aid station was at mile 36.  My dad gave me the gloves, but I literally couldn't put them on.  My hands were so cold that I had no dexterity in my fingers to even grasp the gloves and pull them on.  My dad attempted to help pull the gloves on, but I had no control over my fingers.  Every time he would try to pull the gloves onto my fingers, my pinkie and ring finger would involuntarily fold over.  It was frustrating beyond belief.  It was roughly at mile 35 that I officially wanted to quit.  Miles 35-45 were mentally the most difficult stretch I've had in any race.  It was at this point were every foot strike was painful.  I felt every single push off in my hamstrings.  It felt as though I was flirting with the line that divided failure and success.  It felt like I was so close to cramping up.  It was miserable.  My hands were numb, my legs hurt, and I just wanted to be done.  I've never felt this negative in a race before.  I've never been pushed so far to my physical limits.  The thought of quitting has never crossed my mind during a race before.  There were moments I honestly felt like just curling up in a ball and crying.  But I pushed on.  About a mile after getting my new pair of gloves, my dad found me and purchased a pack of hand warmers.  Those hand warmers made such a huge difference in my race.  My hands slowly warmed up and I started to feel "normal" again.

At roughly mile 44, I reached Monument Hill.  To quote the event guide, "Monument Point Road climbs 230 vertical feet in just over half a mile with a maximum grade of 14%.  No Kidding.  Sorry, it's the only way to get from point A to point B.  No shame in walking up it!"  I will admit, the hill was tougher than they described.  It was long, it was steep, and it was at the worst point in the race, mile 44...What.  The.  Hell.  As if we weren't tired enough as it was.  The hill seemed to never end.  There was a slight left hand curve and I thought the hill would level out after the turn, but oh was I wrong.  It continued.  It sucked and I walked it all, and I still struggled.  After getting to the top of the climb, my mood changed.  I made it to the final aid station.  Aid station #9.  I was now at mile 45.7.  Only 4.3 miles to go.  Leading up to this point, my strategy was to walk every 2 miles.  But by the time I got to this mile 45, I was pretty much walking at every mile marker.  At the final aid station, I opted to stop and take advantage of the nutrition they were offering.  I grabbed a cup of flat coke and a couple of cherry Jolly Rancher hard candies.  I remember how well my body handled coke during the Ironman, so I knew my body could handle it.  As far as the Jolly Ranchers, I was really craving something sweet and those hit the spot.  After leaving the aid station, I tried my best to keep my pace going and run to each mile marker and then take a short walking break.  But, I just couldn't.  Every time I would start running, my legs ached, my lungs hurt, and my heart rate sky rocketed.  I did my best to run as much as possible.  I would arbitrarily pick out a landmark and tell myself to run to that point.  After reaching that point, I'd "earn" my walk break.  I did this until mile marker 49.  Once I reached mile 49, I told myself, "there was no way I was going to walk the final mile, no matter how slow of a pace I could manage.  I did it.  I was able to "run" the final mile.  As I came into Sunset Park, I saw my dad with Maya and Delaney, who were ready to run across the finish line with me.  We had this planned ahead of time and it was so worth it.  It was probably the highlight of my day.  The three of us ran the final 100 yards of the race together and crossed the finish line hand-in-hand.  I crossed the finish line in 7:40:08 (9:13/mile pace) and I had no idea what place I finished in, I only knew that two people finished ahead of me, as they passed me during the final 2 miles and I just didn't have the energy to stick to their heels. 

Post Race

After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher's medal, which was the "Fall 50" logo with gold chain.  The hole of the zero was conveniently a bottle opener.  I had my entire support crew at the finish line waiting for me; my parents, Sarah and Harper, and my brother and his wife.  I immediately needed to get some warm clothes on, but I honestly didn't pack anything warm enough.  Just a pair of sweatpants and a thin cycling jacket.  It was better than nothing, but I would have loved a stocking cap and a warm hooded sweatshirt.  After I was able to catch my breath and we took some photos, I hit up the party tent, which was available to runners and the general public could enter for a small fee.  Once inside the tent (which was heated), you could take advantage of all you can eat pizza and all you can drink soda and beer....and the beer they offered was great beer.  Several craft breweries, many from Wisconsin.  The party tent really gets rocking toward the evening after many of the relay runners finish.  I don't imagine too many of the solo runners take advantage of the party atmosphere after trucking for 50 miles.  I know I couldn't.  I did have a couple of hard earned brews, however.  After drinking a few great craft beers, I met back up with my family, who figured out that I finished 13th overall and 3rd in my age group.  I was pumped!  I finished much higher than I anticipated and even placed in my age group!  I, by far, exceeded my expectations for my first ever ultramarathon!

After finishing, my brother asked me what was harder, this or the Ironman.  To me, it was a no brainer...the 50 miler was much tougher than the Ironman.  It was tougher to train for the Ironman just based purely on the amount of training volume necessary, but the event itself was easier.  See, during an Ironman, your day is broken up with 3 separate disciplines, swimming, biking, and running.  I was never doing one event for more than five and half hours.  But, in an ultramarathon, your stuck running for a long time....a very long time.  The constant pounding on your body adds up, it just continues to compound.  Each foot strike becomes harder and more painful than the last.  It gets to the point were you just want to lay down, but you know if you stop and lay down, you won't be able to get up.  It was, no doubt, the most mentally challenging thing I have ever attempted...and finished.  I was also asked if I would ever do it again.  Right then and there, without hesitation, said, "No fucking way!"  I even ruled out ever even thinking of doing a 100 miler.  I told my family that I was thrilled and happy and had no regrets of training for, and finishing the Fall 50, but was happy to never do it, or another ultramarathon again.

 

 

What's on Tap

Well, were do I go from here.  After finishing the Ironman, I had a similar void.  In endurance sports, the natural progression is to go longer.  Most people stop at the marathon, but I kept going.  I went up to 50 miles.  So now what, a 100k (62 miles)?  100 miles?  I really don't know.  I know I was adamant that I would never do another ultramarathon.  But similar to someone who swears off drinking the morning after a day long bender....the hangover eventual wears off and you are right back at it.  I don't know if I will ever run another 50 miler, or ever try my hand at a 100 miler.  But I know I'm open to thinking about it.  But it won't be for a few years.

This past year, I was reminded what it was like to be a parent of 3 kids and the amount of stress training for an event like this puts on my family.  I promised Sarah that 2017 would be a training plan free year and I would not compete in any events lasting longer than an hour (no marathons).  But, here I sit.  Part of me really wants to capitalize on my current running fitness and try to break 3 hours (a life long goal of mine) in a spring marathon.  The other part of me wants to do what I did in 2015 and just train as my life dictates and run a bunch of 5k's and 10k's with a sprint triathlon sprinkled into the mix.  But as for right now, I'm enjoying the time off from long runs and am enjoying the extra time with my kids.  Sarah and I are now devoting our spare time to working on our home and finishing our basement and replacing the flooring on the first floor.

So much like I did in the Fall 50, I'm taking my life, one mile at a time, by putting one foot in front of the other!

Thanks so much for reading!
Cheers!