The San Francisco 50k Ultra-marathon Race Report

Results

If I look pretty proud of myself in this photo, because I was. :0)

I took 2nd in my AG and 6th overall with a time of 5:47. Going in, I absolutely wanted to finish under 6:00, and thought that a sub-5:30 shouldn’t been a problem. Had I run exactly 31 miles, I would have bagged a 5:30, but alas, my Garmin showed that I ran nearly 33 miles because of the course and missing a turn. The overall pace per mile is more important to me than the total time.

For the data geeks out there, here are the mile-by-mile details from my Garmin.

Most importantly, I felt GREAT at the finish. Yes, I was tired and cramping, but no injuries or physical issues during the race, or in the days after. I took Sunday and Monday off, did a light four miles on Tuesday, a harder six on Wednesday and turned out a solid Cross-Fit workout this AM to celebrate my birthday.

Doing Difficult Things

Tucking my son into bed on Friday night, I told him – “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to leave early and won’t be here in the morning. I’m going to do a race and I’ll see you in the afternoon.”

“I don’t want you to go. Do you have to?”

“I want to go.”

“Why do you want to do?”

“Because sometimes you have to do difficult things.”

“Why?”

“To make yourself a better person.”

“Why does it make you a better person?”

“Because when you do hard things, it makes you work really hard to see how well you can do. Next time, you guys can come with me.”

That’s probably the closet I’ve come to answering a question I get a lot – “Why do you do these races?”

Race day is an evaluation, a checkpoint. It’s the culmination of months of training and a chance to see how hard I’ve really worked compared to how hard I think I’ve work, and to see that hard work payoff – the intervals, Kettle bell swings, box jumps, Wall Balls, eating well and maintaining discipline each week.

Less than two months ago, I was hampered by hamstring problems and an overall sense of stiffness. I committed in April to fixing myself with dietary changes and taking time for my Self to visit my doctors about the state of my health. I jammed in workouts at lunch and planned long hilly runs in San Francisco, running up Hyde Street and Divisadero just because they were the steepest hills I could find.

Races test my focus and mettle – how much do I want to improve and be well. How badly do I want to finish a race to feel that sense of completion?

I guess that’s why I do these, but I still don’t really know…

“Am I really going to do this?”

Then race morning happens.

I slept horribly Friday night, tossing and turning, waking up at 3:30, thirty minutes my 4:00am alarm. Laying in bed, I asked myself – “Am I really going to do this?”

But I pulled myself out of bed.

I grabbed my gear and hopped in the car. I was barely out of my neighborhood and I thought to myself – “Am I really going to do this? Am I going to drive an hour an a half at 4:30 am just to run 30+ miles over 5500’ of hills?”

Then the song “Try Anything” played from my music list.

When the race started and I heard my Garmin beep the first mile, and I asked myself – “Am I really doing this? Am I really going to do this 30 more times over the next 5-6 hours?”

But I had already started. Just keep going.

At the mile 12 aid station preceding a five-mile climb to the turnaround point, I asked myself – “Am I really going to do this?”

Yep. Just get to the turn-around and I’ll have this course licked.

And so it goes. Moment by moment. Segment by segment. Mile by mile.

A Brush with Greatness

About fifteen minutes before the race start, I saw Dean Karnazes. The dude grabbed a racing bib. He was racing! Really cool. It’s one part of endurance racing that I love, whether it’s Ironmans or ultra-marathons, everyone races the same exact course. No one escapes the same test.

Dean was very chill with people talking with him and taking photos. Seemed like he knew of the amateur racers there. I walked up and said – “Dude. This is so cool that you’re out here.”

He said, “Well, I was in town and I figured what the heck? We’ll run some miles out there together today.”  I wanted to snag a photo but it was less than ten minutes from the race start, and I felt like he deserved a little space.

I ran near him for the first two miles until the 50k/50-mile course split and that was the last I saw him for the day. He finished the 50-miler in 10:22, a solid effort for a guy that probably hasn’t done any hard training or competitive racing in a long time. “Ho-hum. I guess I’ll knock out a 50-miler with 10,000’ of climbing today…”

The Course

It’s and out and back course, starting at Fort Cronkite in the Marin Headlands, over a long climb to Tennessee Valley, over another climb down to Pirate’s Cove and out to Muir Beach. From there, it’s a five-mile climb up Cardiac to the turnaround a few miles before Stinson Beach.

I like the out-and-back because I knew that once I reached the turnaround, the biggest climb was behind me and I knew exactly where I was on the course on the way back. Mentally, it made the second half much easier mentally and physically.

Funny Story of the Day

A few years ago after I finished 13th in a half-marathon trail run. A couple years later, I finished 5th overall in that same race. Since then, I can’t help but to pay attention to my race position. I never expect to win a race, but I know that if I’m fit and run a good race, I can finish near the top of my age group and in the top 10-15% of all racers. I think of myself as being the slowest of the fast racers, or  maybe more like being one of the fastest of the slow people.

This was a small race, about thirty racers each for the 50k and 50-mile course – so it was pretty easy to know where I was relative to the field.

I started the race bunched with a pack of 5-6 runners. Occasionally we’d run together (and miss a course turn together, adding another 3/4 mile to the course for us), then we’d break apart on the climbs when two of the guys pushed harder on the uphills. I’d see these two guys at the next aid station, heading out just as I was pulling in. I kept my stops short to reduce dead time on the clock.

Around mile 14, I saw the the lead runner heading down the mountain. By the time I hit the turnaround at mile 16.5, I only remembered counting 3-4 racers passing by me on the way back down, and I saw two faster guys from our pack still at the stop. I’d caught up to them again. I quickly refilled my nutrition, then jumped in the port-o-john then headed back down to scoot ahead of them.

I knew from an earlier stretch that I was a notch faster than both of them on the flats and gradual downhills, while they were faster on the steep descents and uphills. The next five miles were all downhill and I knew that with a push, I could build a cushion before the last two climbs where they would make up time on me.

I hammered along this stretch, dropping 7:58-7:53-8:16 in consecutive miles and feeling really, really strong. I checked back up the hill every once in a while and never got a glimpse – my strategy was working! I love it when a plan comes together.

At the bottom of the descent, I approached the next aid station which marked about 13 miles to go. By then, I felt a little thrashed from the push but excited that the last part of the race was ahead. I unscrewed my nutrition bottle and looked ahead across a pedestrian bridge leading to the next climb.

Guess who I saw? Yup.

They must have started AHEAD of me from the turnaround when I jumped in the port-a-john. F&ck. It was a little depressing at the time, and pretty funny now that I look back at it.

All in all, it was a good thing. Mentally in that stretch, I was running from ahead, which forced me to push more aggressively. Had I known they were ahead of me, I might have pulled back thinking there was no way for me to catch them. That wrong information push pushed me to work harder than I would have otherwise and test myself.

The Finish

The last 9-10 miles were a tough slog, but because I knew the course from the day and previous races, I was able to break the remaining miles into 2-3 mile chunks.

I worked back to the Tennessee Valley rest stop (~mile 25) where the station worker told me I had five miles to go. That just didn’t see right. I knew the very last aid station was two miles from the finish, and ain’t no way that station was only three miles from this point. She said she was sure, but  I still didn’t believe her.

I’m glad I didn’t. There were, in fact, seven miles to go from that aid station. I pulled into the last station only to see another racer from the early pack right on my heals. I hadn’t seen her the last ten miles and was really surprised to see her pushing. Dammit. Now I had to hammer the last two miles of rolling hills.

I did hammer, dropping back into a sub-8:00 mile pace for the last mile to make sure she didn’t pass me. I didn’t care that she was a she. I just couldn’t have someone pass me that late in any race on principle. One of my strengths is my ability to pace myself and finish strong, and having anyone sneak by me after five and half hours out there is unacceptable.

I finished the race about two minutes ahead of her, delightfully accepted by medal for my 2nd place AG finish, packed up and headed home. My race was done.

Training Regimen & Diet

The results from training continue to surprise me. I’ve been running 20-30 mile WEEKS, and finished a 33-mile DAY with 5500’ of climbing. My longest run since January was 12.5 miles two weeks ago.

I’m a devout believer in three aspects to my training:

1 – Diet & Nutrition: Mostly low carb throughout the week with one cheat day on Saturday. I dropped into a Paleo diet for four weeks in April. The week prior to the race, I upped my fat intake and have been eating fruit as a carb source these past couple of weeks.

Race morning, I ate three scrambled eggs and two bananas before the race, then only used 3fu3l nutrition throughout the race. It wasn’t until the mile 26 aid station that I ate any solid food – 3Fuel only to that point. My body’s adapted to fat-burning mode so I don’t need much food or calories during the race.

2 – Run Intervals: Nearly all of my runs include dropping into regular speed work intervals, ranging from 1-minute drops every mile to 1/4 to 1/2 mile intervals with a 1/2 to 1-meirest between. This cooks my legs and pushes my heart rate. I feel like I get as much from a 8-10 mile run with intervals as I used to get from a 15-mile long run at a steady pace. Much more efficient.

3 – Cross-Fit & Weightlifting: I’ve long subscribed to this approach, and really focused on this during last year’s Uberman training. Oddly, I’m most sore post-race in my UPPER body, which is awesome. It means that I’m recruiting all of my body to run. I’ve got a strong core and upper body (for an endurance athlete…) and I felt strong enough to drop a 7:47 mile at mile 30, and finished the last mile at a 7:30 pace.

What’s Next?

I’ve got my sights on a 100-miler this year. That was the original goal back in March, which got pushed back from injury. The Pine-to-Palm 100 looks incredibly hard.

This week, the Uberman race director pinged me to see if I’d like to join a relay team as their runner. Damn. He had to send me that email… Going back to do the Badwater course is still in my crawl. I just may need to do that.

In the mean time, I’m volunteering at the Western States 100 mile 65 aid station to experience that race first hand.