Burning River (BR)
I had not considered the idea of writing a post mortem for the BR one week ago but as I approached the Pine Hollow aid station at mile 66 my body had turned into a non stop moving cramp. I attempted to sit down in a reclining chair to get off my feet and the second I went to lay back both of my legs tightened up. I could not even operate a reclining chair at this point, so there I was awkwardly sitting when Bryce Nisly said “I think Coach is dying and I’m prepared to just see him pass away.” After some conversation about pushing on, my crew pulled out the BK Crown, placed it on the remains of a flat lander boy who found his hill to die on. After the passing on of my BR goals at Pine Hollow and somehow managing to climb into the front seat of the car Daniel Thomas reminded me that “now you know what this race is going to require and what you need to go back to work on”. Spoken like a coach. I had to wonder what race had I given this advice to DT before.
BR Post Mortem. There were a lot of positive points to take away from this race. For the most part the race had gone to plan up to 33 miles. The BR is an out and back 100 miler so Pine Hollow aid station was positioned at mile 33 and mile 66. This race can really be summed up by my first 33 miles and my last 33 miles.
The first 33 miles I had kept my pace in check, really dialing it in around 10:30 per mile. Hydration had not been a problem but I was just starting to experience a little muscle cramping in my right calf and some tightness in my right quad. Nutritionally I had stayed on top of eating granola bars, fruit snacks and cliff blocks and gels through 20 miles but my belly felt like is was always just topped off and I started to stretch out my fueling of every 40 minutes to every 60 minutes. I rolled into Oak Hill aid station at mile 22 and felt really good that most things were working. A couple things had crossed my mind, one thing was the amount of down hill running and the amount of climbing it was going to take to get back to the finish line. The other thing was that I had crashed on the trail and my right calf instantly cramped up around mile 20. I worked that cramp back out for the most part and got to mile 22 saw my crew and pressed on. From Oak Hill aid station it was 11 miles till I would see my crew again. Over the coarse of those 11 miles I had started to eat more potato chips, watermelon and other aid station food, I really couldn’t stomach granola bars, fruit snacks or gels… especially gels anymore. I began to get some tightness in my right quad along with the right calf still felling crampy. Another runner suggested an electrolyte pill which provided some relief but with that came some running burbs. By the time I reached Pine Hollow mile 33 I was in a decent place mentally, I was really enjoying the trail and still had some running legs left. Leaving Pine Hollow I ate some mashed potato’s, we put an ice bag in my pack, on my back, and dipped my hat in an ice bucket and headed out for the 50 mile mark.
From Pine Hollow I tracked to Kendal Lake aid station doing more hiking and running on any down hills which was not too bad. Kendal Lake leads to Route 8 Bike and Hike trail, which was the worst part of the whole race. The Bike and Hike trail was an open paved long straight bike path that just cooked in the sun. The Bike and Hike trail had an Aid Station 5.5 miles from the 50 mile mark. My pace had slowed considerable at this point, I took 2 more electrolyte piles thinking that would help with the leg soreness that was beginning to pile up. On to the 50 mile mark I was just struggling but assuming that having a pacer would help.
It was close to 1:15pm when I got Silver Springs 50 mile mark. This aid station was a pivotal point. I had just gone 16 miles without seeing my crew and I was not going to see them again for another 16 miles. I ate some watermelon, a pile of pizza, changed my shoes, drank 24 ounces of water, took some ibuprophen and felt relieved.
A couple mistakes followed. I chose to go on without my backpack thinking it would make me lighter and I would focus on eating aid station food. I should have kept the pack and filled it with ice to keep my core temp down during the hottest portion of the day. I took more electrolyte pills thinking that they would help with my legs cramping. As I left Silver Creek I was carrying 2 water bottles and a waist pack. Zeke was pacing me and we began to run a little I noticed for the first time that I had developed salt lining on my running shorts which were completely dry for the first time all day, as opposed to sweaty wet. I began to chaff so I soaked my shorts with one water bottle, for the most part that solved the problem but created another problem of running out of water. A couple decisions that really made the last 16 miles spiral downward.
Getting back to the Bike & Hike aid station was ok, Zeke and I ran a bit, got my water bottles filled up and I crossed my fingers that once we got off the hot pavement and we hit the trail there would be a second wind to carry me. There was a second wind for a stretch but ultimately I think I took too many electrolyte pills to make up for the cramping in my legs. When Zeke and I reached the Kendal aid station I was burping a lot. I tried to eat a freezy pop and I couldn’t, I couldn’t stomach anything. I felt like I was going to puke! The electrolyte pills had turned on me. I didn’t eat much, and I only filled 1 water bottle because ant this point even the taste of water was making me gag. I took a cup of ice chips to eat and filled my hat with ice, left the aid station on our way to Pine Hollow.
Somehow we did find portions to run on this last stretch but the final 3 miles I was out of water and for the first time it was taking me almost as much time to go down hill as it did for me to hike up. My legs were cooked. Coming into Pine Hollow was rough to say the least. To that point I had covered 6000ft of elevation gain and loss with 2000ft left to go. I was thinking a little bit about trekking poles, that maybe those would carry me to the finish but I had forgot to pack them, the day before. Sitting awkwardly in a chair dealing with cramping muscles, and dehydration it was time to lay it down and call it.
Ultimately this was an experience that DT summarized very well, “now you know what this race is going to require and what you need to go back and work on”. For sure there are some thing’s to work on.
Even though this was not the result I had hoped for I want to thank everyone who supports me on these adventures. I hope they are just as much fun for them as they are for me. With the BR adventure all finished up it’s time to focus on our next adventure.
Official Practice Begins
This week we are kicking off our first official practices of the season. It’s going to be a busy week. Double check the practice schedule on Remind for time, location of practice, picture day information, Parent meeting and meet the team night. Also we need to get all of our Final Forms information updated, physical forms and sports participation fees paid.
Next week we will announce Team Captains and update training logs.
Weekly Goals
Final Forms Paperwork, fees, physicals
Tie Dye Shirts - Tuesday Night-bring a white shirt
Team Pictures - Meet at FHS Track 6:50am
Meet the team night 4:30 at Fairbanks.