First Ultra, on a Trail

Well, I have survived my first ultra, the Hawthorn Half-Day Relay. It was on a 5k trail loop, and the objective was to see how many times you could complete a loop in 12 hours. I managed to eek out 13 loops in 11.5 hours, before the feet insisted I stop. That was good enough for second place in the Masters female category, so I got to take home a cute little trophy. Not bad for a first attempt!

The race was in Terre Haute, about an hour southwest of Indianapolis, in a very nice park (with plumbing!). There were 15-16 relay teams of six runners, a few teams of two runners, and about 80 crazy people like me who were doing the whole thing alone, including some racewalkers. At the beginning/end of the 5k loop they had us all set up in a field, so it was easy to stop and grab something, sit down a bit, whatever.

We started at 7am, thankful that the pouring rain had stopped an hour earlier. The first part of the course had a mudpit section that you had to dance around (or risk losing a shoe), but thankfully that was the only messy part. The first mile went around a small lake that was full of geese, ducks, turtles, and very loud croaking toads. An heron took off from the shore, but that was the only one I saw. The large goose family was very entertaining...about 15 children following one parent into the water, with the other parent bringing up the rear.

The humidity was 99%, and the high got up to 95, so the heat index was somewhere over 100. I've never had my shorts completely soaked and dripping water when it wasn't raining. They finally dried out around 5pm. The glasses quit fogging up sometime around noon, I think. Everyone was suffering, and we all slowed down as the day wore on. The relay teams held up pretty well -- their runners were getting some decent rest in between loops, so a lot of them were able to keep flat-out running for the full 12 hours. Very impressive.

Nutrition
Given the heat, my biggest concern was electrolytes. The race organizers provided wonderfully cold water and nicely diluted Gatorade, so I filled up my water bottle with both before starting each loop. They also had a nice variety of munchies, with bowls of nuts, dried cranberries, bananas, gummy bears, etc. I tried to grab something every time I passed through. I had a cooler of munchies too, and grabbed stuff out of there pretty regularly. I started the day with two packets of instant oatmeal with raisins and dried cranberries, and that held for two loops. Food for the rest of the day included a peanut bar, two Zone bars, peanut butter on a small slice of bread, and a protein shake, in addition to the several bananas and mass quantities of water/Gatorade.

Strategy
I tried to do two loops at a time without really stopping. I'd take a few minutes to drink more cold liquids, fill the bottle, grab a banana, and go. After every two, I took more time. Stopped by my cooler, sat down, hit the restroom, laid down on a bench, whatever. After six laps I changed my shoes. After 10 laps I changed my socks. Not that it helped much. The dogs were screaming pretty loudly for the last two loops. It hurt just as much to jog as it did to walk, so it was a bummer when the knees finally told me I was done jogging after mile 37. The last loop was a pitiful stagger, as each step was at a unique angle, so there was no finding a comfortable way to plant the foot. Blisters were minimal so all is well.

Recovery
Thankfully, minimal. Sunday was a wonderful massage over at Massage Envy (love those people!) and lots of sitting around with the feet up. Monday was a half-hour training session Monday morning, followed by a stop at the chiro's office. Am walking normally and feeling great, but no jogging/running until the sprint tri Saturday.

If you're considering trying an ultra, this is the way to do it. The only pressure is on yourself, you can rest whenever you want, and it's a very laid-back environment.

Gotta love it!