Treasure Coast Ultra Race Recap, Part 2…
In Part 1 I talked about the race itself… Part 2 is “What I Ate, and What I Learned.” Eating-wise, I focused on the four basic food groups of long distance running: calories, carbohydrates, electrolytes, and caffeine. I started off with Tailwind: The “Dauwaltermelon” flavor is named after Courtney Dauwalter, the GOAT of ultrarunning! I love the name, and I love the taste. Tailwind is a powder that you mix with water. I carried a hydration vest with two flasks. In the beginning of the race, I filled one with water and one with Tailwind. This worked great until it got hot- then I needed both flasks filled with water, one to drink, and one to pour over my head. I aimed to take in at least 200 calories per hour, and I got these from gels (the pumpkin spice Gu was good!) pretzels, potato chips (I was craving salt) and this magical elixir: Energy-wise, my fueling strategy worked, and I had no gut issues during the race. But ever since Saturday, my stomach has been really off. Well, that’s what happens when you eat total crap. It’s hard, because in the middle of a run you just have to eat something that will give you quick, easy energy. It’s not like you can sit down and eat a salad. Any suggestions on this issue will be appreciated! So, what did I learn? I’m glad I took an extra day to write this part, because my feelings have shifted a bit. As a reminder, I quit after six 4.3 mile loops. Since my longest training run for this race was only 15 miles, 25.8 miles seemed like a great distance for the day. When I handed in my chip, I asked the timing guy if I was the first one to drop out, and he said “Well… yes. But some people are still on their fifth loop.” Huh. I finished my sixth loop, and there were people still out there on their fifth. I promise you I wasn’t running fast, so this means they must have taken longer breaks between each loop. I started to wonder… if I had rested a little, cooled myself down, and had something to eat… could I have gone on to complete one more loop? ABSOLUTELY. Yes, I was hot and tired. But I wasn’t limping or crawling. I let the thought “my longest training run was only 15 miles” limit me. It gave me an out, and I took it. The problem with quitting early is, you’ll always look back and think you could have done more. I’m not beating myself up over this. If I had gone one more loop I would have run a 50K, and I wish I had done that. But I’m still happy with my day- I showed up, had an adventure, and learned something for next time: You can always go farther than you think you can. And then, you can go even farther than that. Do you have any races or situations in your life where you wish you had pushed yourself a little harder?