Stumptown 50k Race Report (28 May 2023)
(Photo Credit: Dan Fauss @fullsendmedia)
Summary:
- The course was 50 km with 1200 meters of elevation gain (or about 31 miles/4000 ft of gain)
- Finished in 7:37. Overall winners had times of close to 4 hours
- I finished near the back of the pack, though there were still some who were out there after 8 or 9 hours.
Key Takeaways:
- hill repeats are OP. They are what got me to the finish line
- Unless you are familiar with the course, you’re probably going to go slower than you think
- Lube up if you don’t want to chafe
- Dial in your nutrition/water/salts or else you’re going to be in trouble
Ok, now the breakdown:
TRAINING
I started my training block with Jack Daniel’s in late January but the Q runs were too difficult to pull off in the middle of the week with a full time schedule. Plus the JD plan was geared more towards road marathons as opposed to ultra trail running. But I still used the principles.
Sundays were still a long day with stretches at faster pace.
Eventually I settled into a cadence of some 5k/10k threshold runs on tuesday/thursdays, long run Sundays the rest being easy days.
I kept up the volume with the goal of around 60km/week.
As the block went on, i added mini phases into my training. During mole hill March, I switched over to doing 100% hill work for two weeks. I resumed my standard routine as best as I could until middle of May, where I did another two week phase of hill repeats.
This hill i found is no joke. It’s a hill that goes up 100 meters over a distance of 0.8 km, with an average grade of 12%. It would take me 2 hours to do 8 hill repeats.
There is also a park with some trails that I’d run loops around to get more trail experience.
For equipment, I wanted to make sure I was prepared for everything during my first ultra. I kept a first aid kit, some extra Gus, an extra pair of socks and salt tablets in the back of the pack. It was hardest part to get to, but I considered that ok just because that was only in the event of an emergency.
NUTRITION
I set up my pack assuming I’d have to be self sustained. Doing back of the envelope calcs, I figured I’d need to carry enough calories to take me the distance. I had 3 sleeves of Oreos (~500 calories each sleeve), a bulk pack of Gu (1500 calories total) and 2 pouches of trail butter (800 calories each)
For hydration, I carried two extra 500 ml bottles of water with me, on top of the two flasks I already had that came with my Salomon ADV 12. The calculus comes from me doing a mini sweat test and finding out that I lose about 1.25 L of water through sweat per hour. I didn’t want to be on a position where I’d be an hour into the trail and not have water for potentially a few miles before I got to the next aid station. Thus the two bottles and the two flasks totaled about 2 L. Perfect.
PRE RACE
Pre race I talked to a few other runners and it’s kind of crazy how avid some of these people were. At least 2 people were using this 50k as “just a training run” and for one guy, he didn’t know he was going to sign up until the day before. Rip.
I asked for some advice and one of the veteran runners told me to powerhike up hills since it was useless to run, and in fact include that in my training. I told him that his advice made me feel validated, lol.
I told another runner my goal of averaging an 11 minute mile and she told me that sounded kind of ambitious. Being that she had run multiple ultras and that her goal was “just 13 minute miles” should have tipped me off that this was going to be harder than I expected.
RACE START
The time came to start and of course everyone was excited. Admittedly I went out a little too hot but at the same time everyone was kind of jumbled together and I wanted to keep up with this “train” of runners we had going on. It was like this for the first 6 miles or so as everyone was trying to find their pace.
After about an hour I start breaking out the Oreos, since I figure I should start eating and drinking during the uphills. I’d rather top off my calories before my body really needs them, right? My other goal was to get enough water in me so that I could completely replace the water lost through sweat.
By the first aid station (7.7 miles) I had gone through 1.5 L which I figure I was right on the money. I was on pace too, since in total I was still around 11-12 minute miles.
My strategy seems to be sound thus far, since I just filled up on water and rolled right through — no need to dilly dally around at the aid station!
Things spread out and now the giant train of runners bunched up instead into mini bunches! It was very fortuitous since it was nice to have someone ahead of me pacing.
Aid station 2 was about 14.5 miles and 2000 feet of elevation gain in and I still felt fresh and again rolled right through after just topping off. At that time I had finished off one sleeve of Oreos and was working through my second. I had dropped off a little, since we got there a little after 3 hours, but the pace was still around 12 minute miles. In my brain I was thinking 6 hours as a possibility still, since I had already gotten through half the elevation gain so it shouldn’t be as steep the rest of the way.
GETTING ON THE STRUGGLE BUS
About half way between AS 2 and 3 my hamstrings started tightening up. There were a few times that I thought I was going to cramp any minute, but kept it together and power hiked through parts where it got a little spicy. Remembering some other times I had hamstring cramps, I knew that cramps were when a muscle contracted and got stuck and couldn’t uncontract. So I made sure that I fully extended my legs at times so the hams could get a little respite every once in a while.
Cramps have always scared me, ever since my first big ones in my calves when I first started running. In the past if I cramped, the race was over for me.
I remember once running a marathon and seeing a lady in front of me stopping because of a cramp. I thought she was done for. But all she did was calmly stretch out her hamstrings, and off she went. Never saw her again!
I remember wishing I had that power.
By this time a lot of people were passing me. I think I was firmly on the 6ish hour finish time but slipped closer to 7 hours. I kept reminding myself that the only goal was to stay ahead of the cutoff, which was 1:30 PM at AS 3.
I tripped over a root and on the recovery I actually DID cramp my hamstring, but I managed to still stay on my two feet. At that point I remembered that lady from the Portland marathon, how calm she was! So I did the same thing— to just stood straight and leaned over, trying to touch my toes and giving my hams a break. AND IT WORKED!
I successfully fought and worked through the cramp and started moving again. I wasn’t in running condition but I was able to powerhike without my legs barking at me.
By then it was getting close to noon and I found myself stopping to pee a few more times than I like. I would try to go off trail and go discreetly but because the dense foliage, the cutbacks, and the steep drop offs, the best I could do is take a few steps off the trail, aim for a tree, and hope no one came by. I think I ended up flashing a runner or two. Not my proudest moment.
I got to aid station 3, which was the 20 mile mark, at about 12:30 PM which was almost exactly one hour ahead of the cutoff, so goal achieved.
WHEN I REALIZED MY NUTRITION PLAN WAS FLAWED
By then I was frigging sick of oreos, so I ended up eating maybe a handful of potato chips and a Gu from the aid station. The chips tasted like heaven and I felt almost immediately better after eating a Gu.
I knew I had a bulk 1 lb pouch in my pack but since I haven’t opened it yet, I didn’t want to just consume a little bit and have to throw away the rest of it after the race. That was probably my biggest mistake. I should have alternated Gu and Oreos every 45 minutes or so to keep my salt levels up.
My pee was clear and I was going like a racehorse every time I did have to go, so clearly I wasn’t dehydrated. I could have used more salts.
That realization had come about 4.5 hours too late, and I had 10 miles to go before I got to the end.
After Aid Station 3 I was in 100% power hike mode. Where it was flat I would try to shuffle as far as I could— shuffling i netted myself an 11 minute mile pace! But i also didn’t want to cramp again so those shuffles didn’t last too long.
I got to AS 4 a little after 2 pm and by then I was craving salts. I got another Gu, filled one of my 500 ml bottles with Gatorade, and had another handful of potato chips. I was done with Oreos for the day.
I drank the 500 ml Gatorade bottle in like 2 seconds and kept hiking along— I probably spent 5 minutes at AS 4 which was the longest I had spent at any station!
The last 4 miles were the most difficult. Flats were ok, but any downhills I dreaded. In comparison, I freaking destroyed any uphill sections. I lost almost no speed climbing a slope and even caught up with people on the uphill. THANK YOU MOLEHILL MARCH.
QUESTIONING MY SANITY
There were some moments of vulnerability during the course.
As people were blowing by me with ease, I was wondering if everyone was just waiting for me so they could finally close up.
Even though I was in a massive amount of pain, I reminded myself that I just needed to keep moving forward, I trained for this, the pain was the reward, and I EARNED THIS. Being out here is a privilege and I was grateful to soak in every minute of it.
I repeated this to myself several times until I started to hear cowbells. I turned the corner and there was the finish! I was handed a glass of water by a volunteer.
I thought it weird that it was glass, but didn’t think about it twice. I promptly drank the glass of water and went about looking for the “dirty cups bin” because I was done with it.
I approached another volunteer and asked her if the race hands out medals or belt buckles or something. She basically told me “you’re looking at it.”
The reward for a 50k was an unassuming glass with a picture of a tree on it. I was a little underwhelmed, but after thinking a little bit about it, I liked it!
I do have a little climate anxiety about all the extra swag that races hand out to runners. That this race was committed to minimal waste (it was cupless) and didn’t try to hand me a free race shirt or race hat or race bag, I appreciated the minimalism. Plus my glass has utility to it, I could at least do something with it (I’d drink out of it)
MAIN TAKEAWAYS
Things that worked:
- Hill repeats for days. Thanks for my molehill challenges, There was no hill I feared on the course. Easily my strongest aspect of the race. I was killing killed on the flats, but i caught up and even passed some people on the uphill. Of course when it got flat they killed me again but c’est la vie
- My clothing: wore a hat and dressed for warm weather. At no point did I feel over heated or exposed to the sun.
- My shoes (peg trail 3s) were just fine, as the course wasn’t very technical.
- My anti-chafing plan: I basically lubed up my feet, toes, nether regions, armpits, and any place that could have potentially chafed. I was happy it worked! No hotspots, no chafing, no blisters, nothing!
What didn’t work:
How I packed my kit— although I packed extra lube, a first aid kit extra calories, and extra water, I think I overdid it on the water and the calories. I packed 4000 calories in the form of Gu, Oreos, and trail butter.
I estimated that I was carrying at *least* 10 extra lbs on me. I probably would have gotten away with just the flasks of water and maybe one empty bottle. That and getting rid of some of the extra calories could have easily saved me 3-4 lbs, which makes a huge difference over 50km.
My nutrition and hydration:
I didn’t even touch the trail butter and was pretty sick of the Oreos after a sleeve.
In retrospect I should have tapped into the Gu pouch much earlier and supplemented with some Oreos. I could have trusted that the AS would have had at least water, but I couldn’t count on them to have exactly the food I was familiar with, so it was at least smart to carry my own calories. I carried enough fuel for an an ultra and then some. But the reality is that my body woudn’t be able to take in more than 90ish calories/hour anyways, so even if i spent 8 hours on the trails, i probably only needed to carry 1000 calories. I packed almost 4000 calories. 1500 calories is probably all that was necessary, since the extra doesn’t hurt in the even that i got lost somehow.
Would I do it again? Heck yeah. Once i get another Ultra in my sights, I’ll dial in my training, nutrition and prep much better.
