Wow that sucked!
A big shout out to Phil McCarthy 153+ and Connie Gardner 144+ our 2011 National 24 hour champions. Also to Deb Horn (131+) and Johnathon Savage (146+) for securing their spots on the 2012 National Team with 2nd place finishes. Finally Harvey Lewis (140+) and Lisa Bliss (125+) for putting up great races and getting 3rd place.
My race ... Easy - Not in shape and 20# heavy - Sounds like a broken record. Time to stop racing and start training. I will not make another attempt until I am ready.
Temperatures were reasonable, it did feel a bit warm on the part of the course with the wind at you back. From 11ish to when I dropped (10ish) we pushed a pretty decent wind for 40% of the course. At times maybe 5-10 MPH, a lot of the time 10-15+.
I came through the marathon in @ 3:55 ~ 9:00 pace and 50 miles in @ 7:45ish = 9:18 pace (Most of the drop was for bathroom breaks and stretching)
By 8 hours into the race my red shirt was dry and white from all the salt. I was sweating pretty hard and had taken 18-20 S-Caps.
About 12 hours in I just was not able to run at any pace into the wind and started turning 10+ minute laps. I realized that if something did not change I would not hit the minimum of 135 miles. For the next hour I tried different things to push it back down to the 9ish minute range. It was not going to happen, so I pulled the plug to fight another day.
I was well hydrated, nutrition was good and electrolytes were as good as they could be. So it comes down to my fitness level and weight were not anywhere close to what they need to be.
Time for a little less talking and hoping and more training. I do not see myself running another serious ultra until May or June 2012.
Good running to all!
I never know when pulling the plug is a good idea; I think I'd probably have kept going if there wasn't another good chance at 24 soon (what would be next? Across the Years, I think). But then again, I quit in a 50K in July.
ReplyDeleteThe names of the runners seem to match ultras: Savage Bliss.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteFor me I only had 1 purpose in the race - But up > 135. So I was fine with pulling the plug.
If I had gone all 24 and hit 127 - It would take be 6-8 weeks to recover completely. Now it will take 1-2 weeks.
If I wanted to try again this year it would be Accross the Years or Desert Solstice.
But 1st I must get the right shape - That will take much longer than 3 months. I am thinking May or June 2012 I will be ready + I will know much more what I need to do.
Michael