I wasn't sure when I signed up for the 56k if it would be a good idea to run that much 2 weeks prior to my first 100M attempt. But I thought what the heck, 4 loops meaning I can stop at any time and its really cool course. I drove up the same morning of the race and it was relatively cool when I got to the race site; however that was going to change quickly.
The first 2 loops were uneventful and went by fast and as expected. I wanted to be around the 3hr mark and I was roughly at 2:50. Before loop 3 I had to put on new socks since I was getting some hot spots (weird since I've not had any problems in the past, must be heat related) and the heat was really starting to get bad. Since loop 2 I started putting ice cubes in my cap at every aid station, but by loop three the ice really didn't matter much. I was hot no matter what I did, I even stopped several times to splash water from the lake but it wasn't even cold! So loop 3 was done in ~1:35 and then it was all about not hurting myself on loop 4. I changed shoes for the last lap to try a new pair and break them in before my next race and off I went. I walked a lot but kept somewhat of a pace at times. Total time was ~6:23 and was pain free except for the heat and some minor blisters. One thing I really did not do well in this race was eating. I could not eat anything from the aid stations except for a couple of watermelon slices which really didn't set in well. I did eat 6 GUs and 1 boost but I felt it was not enough. Surely heat related.
This was a good race because I had the chance to put in some good hours in really hot conditions and on somewhat more technical trails than BR100. I hope (pray) that the current heat wave is gone by July 30 because it could be a very long race if it not.
Congrats on the finish. Was nice talking to you.
ReplyDeleteCya at BR