Ending My Vacation with the Relocated Jed Smith 50k

Last year I didn't start racing until late March. I've come to believe early extended speed work is necessary for faster times at later longer races. Although I run ultramarathon distances as training runs, without the excitement of competition and an official time, it's hard to really push it the whole time. So I thought running Jed Smith 50k the first Saturday in February would be a smart move. Never mind my brother-in-law's destination wedding near Cabo San Lucas two evenings before-- if I wasn't rested, I would deal.



Friday we got back to SFO in the evening, and in between lugging all the suitcases up too many stairs and helping put our exhausted and fussy kids down, I was able to figure out and communicate a good place to meet Pacific Association USATF Rho-Quicksilver team members Jean Pommier and Andy Benkert to carpool. (I'm now supposed to be on the team too, although I haven't yet negotiated the jersey issue, since my priority is to represent my main sponsor La Sportiva-- I'll maybe address this in a future posting.)

They live south, so I figured out a place near Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton about 12 miles east of where I live along I-680 to carpool the next morning. Surprisingly I didn't zonk out in the back seat and enjoyed chatting with Jean whom I hadn't seen in a while, and Andy, whom I'd never met in person. It was supposed to rain all morning, and rained several times on the drive up. Right before getting to the park, we had more than an hour to spare so stopped at a Raley's for a bathroom break, when it was confirmed that I might have some leftover GI issues.

The venue, and thus the course, changed this year, due to California state budget cuts. I knew the 3-mile repeating loop of past years at Gibson Ranch north of I-80 was going to be replaced with a larger 10k loop from or around William B. Pond Park (part of the American River Parkway), but beyond that, had no idea what the course would be like. (The race organizers gave updates on the web, but the internet connection at the resort sucked.)


map of old course, courtesy Jean Pommier

    new course

We were there pretty early. I used the bathroom again, brushed my teeth, mingled nervously based on the bathroom break. I got to meet my Sportiva Teammate, elite female runner Jenny Capel (who had won the women's 50k last year, but dropped from the 50 mile race this year.
Though she ran 50k+ fast, no "partial credit" at this race).



And then realized that Melissa Ownby, one of the assistant coordinators for the Oakland Marathon pace group leaders, was also with Daniel Fabun, whom I met at Headlands Hundred and SF One Day last year, and who would get his 50 mile distance PR today with 7:22, congrats!



Perhaps because of the new venue, they started the 50 mile race 12 minutes late.



As a result the 50k race would also start 12 minutes late, since they were using the same clock.

Mark Lantz (who would win the 30k) came up to me in the role of a Buffalo Chips Running Club member (thanks Buffalo Chips!), and meticulously described to me the course, mentioning in one long breath: "parking lot...trail... gravel...levee" and a bunch of other details I couldn't follow, that the bicycle pacer hadn't shown up yet, an he wasn't in shape to lead us out to guide us.



I looked at him in askance--you think I'm actually leading the way? Fortunately, one of the bicyclists showed up at the last minute and the course was well marked anyways.


The course (click for my recorded map) went through the parking lot area, then off pavement to a dirt path with plenty of unevenness in the terrain and puddles of water to avoid. Then a little more pavement. After the 1 mile (water only) aid station, 2 miles straight out on a slightly gravel levee to the mid-point (5k) aid station (fully stocked, with a chip timing mat that I missed the 2nd loop and had to backtrack to cross), before heading back on mostly single track trail, surprisingly filled with lots of slight ups and downs to keep things interesting if a little slower, back to the 5 mile (same as the 1 mile) aid station, and then mostly the same way to the start-finish. Thus, they kept the bent dumbbell shape of the course as in years past, only this year one side of the dumbbell was much larger than the other, and each loop was twice as long. (If that made no sense, just click the link for the map.)

click for the RD's photos of the course

I initially had my Forerunner set to time and current pace, noticing that I was fluctuating between 6:20 and 7:30 minute miles, until I figured out I should switch to lap pace and time. To my surprise, I was settling in at just under 7 minutes per mile, which put me on my course PR pace.

I had brought two Ultimate Direction bottles and came up with a system of dropping off an empty bottle and picking up a third to partially filled bottle. I actually needed 3 bottles to make this seamless, but was happy enough I was even that organized and environmentally correct. Thanks volunteers! I hate Gatorade but that was my main liquid. The pace was too fast to eat real food, so during the race I would consume the 4 Cliff shots with 50mg caffeine in each and a pack of Gu I'd quickly stashed in my pocket before leaving home.
Toward the very end of the 2nd loop (during which I kept the same pace as the first without feeling like I was going too fast), my lower abdomen started feeling unsettled, and the urge to dump liquid and gas hit me. I barely made it to the Portalet maybe 100 feet past the chip timing mat. For the next 90 seconds the only running I did was done by my bowels. I stepped out drenched in sweat, somewhat relieved, but still feeling bad.

So much for the 7 minute per mile pace.
I don't think it was from drinking the resort water. (Everyone drinking bottled water from those evil plastic bottles were still drinking ice cubes from tap water.) Maybe eating too many leftovers in the fridge, too much swallowed pool water, or all that open bar the last couple of days.



Loop 3 was tough. My pace slowed (7:19 for the loop), I felt stitches in the sides of my abdomen and then my chest wall. Mild nausea. Wondering if I'd have to pit-stop again.


Slowed even more for loop 4 (7:36), even as I was able to get over a lot of the cramping and didn't feel as sick as the previous. My legs felt tired. Maybe from too much running on these great trails I found in the hills inland from the resort. Those were some great runs, so I was okay with that.



(For an ultratrailrunner, running on the beach, as sexy as it sounds, gets old fast.)

What I WASN'T okay with was this: Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" kept playing over and over in my head. Despite not having heard that earworm on the radio that morning. The same thing happened to me during my McNaughton 150 mile last April, only with her "Love Story." I had briefly thought of bringing my iPod, which would have averted this, but was expecting it to rain.




Last loop it was hard to look cheerful and greet everyone I passed or saw coming the other direction on the handle of the barbell part of the course. My neck started tightening up, like when you sleep on it the wrong way. I knew this was probably from all the luggage lifting the day before--room to lobby to shuttle to airplane to shuttle to car to the 20 steps to the 2nd level of our house. I'm not the kind of guy who has valets and shuttle drivers lift everything, and during most of those transitions, it was mostly me (my wife handles the kids). It took a lot of effort to focus and try to relax so my neck wouldn't go into full spasm. I felt like I was able to kick a little at the very end, but the overall loop pace was still 7:52 minutes per mile, which is slower than my 50 mile and almost as slow as my 100k PR pace.

Overall time 3:51:06. My anti-PR for the course (compared to 3:45:28 in 2008 and 3:36:39 in 2007), but the best I could do, so not upset about it.


Given the events of the prior week (including too much food, and too much alcohol at the awesome welcome reception on Wednesday and wedding on Thursday. What do you expect? I have an open-bar drinking problem. Here is the 4-question CAGE test modified for open-bar (score 1 point for each yes answer):

1. Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking when there is open bar? --Yes, I tell myself that all the time, but...it's open bar.
2. Have people annoyed you by criticising your drinking when there is open bar? --Yes, but usually they tell me I should lighten up and have another drink. Since I don't have to pay for it, how can I refuse them? Then I am less annoyed. Okay, I am sort of lying. No one tells me I should have another drink. They usually think I've drunk more than I actually have.
3. Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking at open bar? --Yes. But I felt worse about giving my kids the chocolate drink Thursday night. I had no idea it had alcohol in it, it was so chocolatey! But maybe it was all for the better because after my 2-year-old passed out, I only had to keep track of my 4-year-old, who actually did fine, dancing the night away with his cousins.
   
4. Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover (eye-opener)? --Hell no. Now that's messed up. I never understood that champagne breakfast thing. If I'm hungover, I run instead, which is healthy so I get negative 1 point even though I'm not supposed to subtract.

But the total is 2 points, so I still have an open-bar drinking problem. (Actually, this is not the best test-- link for various alcoholism screening questionnaires. There are many, and if you take them all, you may feel the need for a drink.
Schwag-- no t-shirt (no complaints, got WAY too many of those). Plastic sippy mug with the Jed Smith Ultras motto-- "I ran far, I ran fast." Socks that get warm when wet--interesting concept, maybe I'll review these sometime. Good enough. Jean got a bag for placing. He came within 19 seconds of winning overall, but the rookie who won--get this, had a pacer for more than half the race. A pacer for a 50k?


winner Ted Archer

Even though I was 4th overall, I was 3rd in my division, so no prize schwag. Andrew from our car broke 4 hours for his personal PR, great job!


Amazingly, it never rained while we were running. So I probably could have peeled off my yellow La Sportiva jacket over a long-sleeve tech shirt. I was a times a little hot, but other times there was a cooling wind.

Nonetheless, I did start getting cold afterwards. And dizzy. We were waiting for 4th teammate Jim Magill (4:47 at age 63, didn't drive with us) to finish, and I was enjoying hanging out and talking, but maybe all the accumulated sleep deprivation caught up to me-- I started feeling really tired, so went to lie down in Jean's Corolla backseat. Probably a good move, since after sort of napping I was able to stay awake and chat for the drive home, during which it rained a few times--wow, were we lucky with the weather


Before driving home from Pleasanton, I was charged with food shopping for the family, and helped get the kids dressed before going to the annual holiday dinner party at which I amazingly held up, though by the end of my evening ED shift the next evening, I was as beaten down as the Colts.
results:
50 mile 50 km 30 km


Congrats to Michael Kanning, UC Santa Cruz freshman, winner of the 50 mile race with a PR of 6:15 (beats mine)-- kids grow up so fast!

other blogged reports

Jean Pommier