High Cliff Ultra 25k - Race Report

I have never raced a trail run.  I have run on trails many of times, and I guess the 13.1 miles of the High Cliff Half Ironman has been on trails in High Cliff State Park.  But, I have never counted that as a trail race.  The trials were always pretty tame.  From what I've heard, the course of the High Cliff Ultra was tough.  It involved climbing and some pretty technical terrain.  So what the hell.  I signed up.  I originally singed up for the 50k.  I was going to use this as a training run for the Fall 50 in October.  But, if you read my race report from the Oshkosh Marathon, you'd know that I accepted a new position which completely changed my life schedule.  I gave up my extended days off for a normal schedule.  The change has been great, at least with my family.  But the change has really taken away my time to train, especially long.  Because of this, I changed my registration from the 50k to the 25k. 

Prerace

By choosing to run the 25k, I was able to sleep in a bit.  The race didn't start until 9am.  The 50k started at 8am.  Hindsight, I think the race could have been pushed ahead by an hour, both of them.  But, I took full advantage of the extra hour and stayed out a littler later than usual for me for a prerace night.  We had dinner at my in-laws Friday night for my brother-in-law and his boyfriend's birthday.  I also had a few beers with the family, since, after all, this is Wisconsin!  I got to bed around 10pm and then woke up around 6am.  I had a few cups of coffee and was on the road around 7:15ish.  After getting to the State Park, I picked up my bib and also found out that I won a raffle prize of an Ultimate Direction Buff.  I got my race bib and hung out in my truck for a few minutes.  I then got my warm up in, which was 2 miles.  I saw a family of deer in the park, which was really cool.  I saw a couple adult deer and two fawns.  After warming up, I went and hung out near the start line until the race started.

Nutrition Plan

This race was a waste-free race.  So there were no paper/plastic cups, no wrappers, no nothing.  I thought this was a great idea, considering how much waste there is at each individual aid station of any race with typical race cups.  With this in mind, I brought my handheld water bottle filled with a serving of Heed (100 calories).  I also brought a Hammer Gel, but ended up never taking it.  I also had my usual dosage of Anit-Fatigue Caps and Hammer Endurance Caps. 

Miles 0-5.5

The first 4 or so miles were the toughest miles I think I have ever raced.  I have run a ton of miles in High Cliff State Park.  But I have never run on many of the trails that the first 4-6 miles ran on.  Many of the first few miles were all on single track.  On top of being single track trails, much of it was over grown with brush.  Along with the over grown single track trails, there was the climbing.  And when I say climbing, I mean literally climbing.  There was a couple of sections of the trail where you had to use your hands and climb up a hill.  I am not complaining at all either, it was AWESOME.  It was so much fun.  It was hard.  Not only was it physically challenging, it was mentally challenging.  You had to try your hardest to get up and down the cliff edges, but you had to try your damnedest not to fall and break a leg.  I honestly think I went out too hard in the climbing and took everything out of my legs.  But, whatever, I had a great time!

Miles 5.5-15.5

As soon as I got to about mile 5 or so, the course really flattened out.  But this race was the tale of two stories, the hills and the heat.  So as soon as I was done battling the hills, I got to run on some flat trails, but they were out on the prairies of High Cliff State Park.  So, the wild flowers and scenery was great, but it also meant no shade.  And no shade means hot...as hell.  I knew going into this race it was only a 15.5 mile race.  With that being said, I knew that after I got up to the flat portion of the race, I could catch my breath and start pressing forward.  Sure, it all sounds great when I type it, but the truth is I could never catch my breath.  Plus with an 9:00 start time in early August, it really didn't take long for the heat and humidity to kick in.  By the time I got to the prairies, it was hot...hot, hot hot.  All I kept telling myself is I only had a few more miles left.  Whether that was 10 or 2, just a few more miles left...just keep pushing.  My miles kept ticking off, but at over 7:00 miles.  I was hoping I could fall into a groove after all the hills into a sub 7 pace.  But I never did.  Everything was closer to 8 minute miles.  I was fine with it considering I was in 4th or 5th place.  As I neared the finish the fist place female passed me and I was now in 5th place, 4th overall male.  My goal going into the race was a sub 2 hour race.  I finished 5th overall in 2:07, which was way slower than I had hoped.  I'm not sure if it was the hills or the heat, but probably both.  Either way, I was pumped and left loving the trail races.  The race was simple and fun.  It beat the hell out of the typical scenery of homes and streets.  I'd take the trails any day of the week over that.

Post Race

Not much of a post race here.  I wish there was, as they had fresh cooked fire roasted pizzas and craft sodas.  But I had to duck out nearly as soon as I finished to get to a family wedding.  So after finishing, I got my "medal" (which was a hand carved piece of wood) and grabbed a cookie and cup of soda.  I was personally soaked with sweat.  I ducked into a bathroom and then rung out my shorts and a good cup or so of sweat dripped from my shorts.  It was both cool and disgusting.  I then sat in front of the power blower to dry out completely.  I was close to fully dry and then jumped in the truck and headed home.

What's on Tap

I have just six and a half more training weeks until the Fox Cities Marathon.  Ever since the Oshkosh Marathon I have set my eyes on a PR at the Fox Cities.  But not just a PR, but a sub 3 hour PR.  This summer, I have been following the Hanson's Marathon Method Training Plan.  I bought and read the entire book and am now following the advanced training plan.  On top of following the advanced plan, I have been adding two miles to every non SOS (Something Of Substance) training run.  So for the past few months, I have been averaging roughly 60 miles per week with one rest day.  I won't dive into the meat and potatoes of the training plan and how it's been going, as I will save all that for my race report for that race.  But let me say that this has been something totally new for me and it has also been a very tough training schedule for me.  So at this point, I just need to keep my nose to the grind stone and keep pressing forward until September 23rd!

As always, thanks for reading and Cheers!

Oshkosh Marathon - Race Report

Alright, so lets be honest, I ran this race on April 29th and it is August 8th today.  I am already now two races down as far as Race Reports go and I'm already closer to my next marathon than I am to this race's race report.  But, as I tell my kids, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.  This was my second ever full marathon at the Oshkosh Marathon.  If I had the chance, I honestly wouldn't choose this race.  But, when I registered, I though this was the only spring marathon I could run, so I couldn't pass it up.  It's a cheap race and it's close to home, so I can't turn it down, especially when it's the only weekend I can race.  But towards the end of my training, I accepted a new position at my work and no longer work shift work.  I am now working straight days, Monday though Friday.  Sure, it sounds great, but, it's quite the change after 8 years of working night shift.  I gave up my extended "weekends" and all my spare time to train.  But, I didn't find out about the job change until a little over a month before the race, so it really didn't totally effect this training plan as one would think.  Honestly, the weather had a bigger effect on my training than my job change did.  But I sucked it up and did what I could with what I could.  That meant training many early mornings in sub-zero temperatures on top of trudging through some snow here and there.  Over the years, I have become accustom to it though.

Training for This Race

Going into this race, I really wanted to work on my weakness.  Even though I have run over a dozen marathons and even run a pretty successful 50 mile ultramarathon, I honestly think my weakness is long distance.  I guess to be more specific, running fast at long distances.  So with this training plan, I upped my usual long distance training runs.  This training plan, I scheduled long runs up to 24 miles, with the idea that this would help build my comfort with running long.  I also threw in my marathon standard of 800 repeats.  My training went well, other than dealing with the weather, as I stated earlier.

Prerace

I honestly don't totally remember exactly how my race morning went.  I remember getting up early as usual and got to the race site early (as usual).  The weather forecast was decent, a bit cold if you ask me, but for a late April race in Wisconsin, it was as good as you could ask for.  My warm up was good, I ran about a mile to a mile and a half and felt good at the end. 

Nutrition Plan

In the past, it has seemed that I have always struggled taken in calories towards the end of every marathon.  So, to hopefully circumvent this issue, I planned on taking in few calories, more spread out over the 26.2 miles.  I had planned on taking in 4 gels over the 26.2 miles.  Prior to the race, I took my usual dosage of 4 Hammer Anit-Fatigue Caps with 4 Endurance Aminos.

Miles 0-26.2

As soon as the race started I did my best to try and hold back and not succumb to the urge of starting out too fast.  After the first mile or so, I knew I started out a tad too fast.  I felt good though.  I didn't want to mess with what was feeling good.  Then, at about mile 2 or 3, I met up with an old friend from my YMCA days.  I ran with him for a few miles and talked a lot for my tastes.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed chatting with him and it sucks that it seems I only see him at races, but I hate talking while I run.  I mean, I absolutely HATE talking and having a conversation during races.  But, that is what I (we) did.  I don't regret it, but it sure did throw off my pace and my breathing.  I ended up pulling away from him around mile 6, which is right about the same time I took a minute or so to stop and put some band-aids on my nipples.  Sarah thankfully brought some for me since for whatever reason, I completely forgot.  Don't worry, my nipples thanked her later for bringing those for me.  I kept pushing on after that.  Everything was going really well.  Like really well.  No, I mean REALLY well.  My pace was all below my goal pace.  I felt good, like really good.  I was beginning to think this was going to be race.  The race that I finally break 3 hours.  Then, mile 19-20 hit me...as always.  I hit mile 20 and everything just seemed to slow down.  It was like molasses in December.  My breathing struggled and my legs felt like cement.  This has been my nemesis in my marathon races.  I don't know if it's a mental struggle or a purely a fitness struggle.  I'm thinking it's likely a combination of both.  Either way, I finished the race in 3:04 and change, which is the best time I have put up in a marathon since my BQ in 2009, when I ran a 3:03 and change.  So considering this is the best race I have ran in nearly 10 years on top of the fact that my training was so-so, I was left very motivated for what is to come.

Post Race

After the race, I hung around for a while with the family and some friends.  It was cool and windy, so I didn't stand around too long.  But enjoyed a good race.

What's on Tap 

Well, this is interesting.  If I had written this somewhat after the race, I would talk about running the High Cliff Ultra 25k in August or even my training strategies for the Fox Cities Marathon in September.  But here I am, 4 days after the Ultra 25k, and almost a month out of my fall marathon.  So, I guess I'll just say stay tuned for my race reports from those races, which I will do my best to get posted ASAP.

Thanks for reading and as always, cheers!