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?
28 Responses
To be fair to yourself, I don’t think I would have considered the take longer breaks to go further strategy either. I guess we’re too used to thinking in relation to time and also having limited time, rather than a lot of time left to run further. I don’t know whether I’m making sense now. OK, so a set trail run distance with a fairly tough cutoff, you’re battling against the cutoff to finish so you need to push it and can’t spend to much time recovering, but in this case you had plenty of time (in terms of how far would be possible for you to run) so that means you could choose approach it completely differently than normal. You’ll be all over it next time.
Yes, my mindset was still in the “hurry up” category. But given the format of this race and my goals, I definitely could have taken more time.
Ah yes, post-race regrets. I feel you.
I just did a 10k last Sunday. First, I was a very happy with the result. A day later, and I start to think I should have pushed myself a little harder.
Maybe these are natural thought processes, designed to make us push harder next time? Maybe that’s how we progress – questioning our performance?
In any case, you gave it your best on Saturday and you can be very proud of yourself. As an added bonus, now you have a goal for next time!!
Yes- It’s always so easy to look back and think you could have gone further, faster, pushed more. Maybe you’re right- that’s how we get better next time.
I totally understand the feeling. every time I cross the marathon finish line and see people vomiting, laying down to take a breath, i wonder if I haven’t pushed enough like them. but you did great considering you were out due to calf issue for so long! congrats again.
Thank you Coco! Yes- I’ve never had to vomit or lie down after a race. I wonder what it would feel like to push THAT HARD.
I think… it’s never productive to compare ourselves to others! You did what felt right in the moment. COULD you have done more, maybe? But maybe it’s also better to “finish on top” than have ended up overdoing, hurting yourself, and potentially creating another set up, right on the heels of your long calf injury that is finally doing better! I think you played it smart, while still crushing it.
oops that was supposed to say “another set BACK”, not set up! lol.
That’s the thing- you never really know. You’re right- I could have done one more loop and then regretted it bitterly.
I don’t know, Jenny, I think you did great! I’m going to side with Kae on this one – why risk another injury when you already went farther than your longest training run? I think you did amazing.
Thank you Nicole! There is definitely a valid argument for stopping when I did. Oh well… the road not taken, and all that.
I think you did great, but I do think that if you took more time to rest and cool down and fuel more between loops, you probably could have gone longer. However, sometimes the longer you sit, the more tired/stiff your legs/body become, so really it’s often a crapshoot! This is where training comes in, as I think that with more training, your legs/body aren’t quite as stiff and then you CAN afford to sit (a little bit) longer. Have you heard of Big’s Backyard Ultra? It is the same guy (Lazarus) who puts on Barkley’s, but this time it is about a 4 mile loop and you only have an hour for each loop, and if you get done early, you still wait for the hour to finish, so you can rest, and then you start another loop for another hour’s limit? I always thought that would be hard to decide whether to try to go faster, so you have more time to rest, or slower to pace yourself! However, it is the person with the most loops in the end who wins!
Yes, I have heard of that race (and all the other races in that style.). I agree- I didn’t sit down at all in between loops, because I thought it would be too hard to get started again. But I did see people sitting. And yes- the bottom line is, more training would have been helpful.
I think Nicole and Kae are right on the mark! Having fun, completing the run, and AVOIDING INJURY were the three main goals and you knocked those out of the park. I think it’s different in this case because it’s limitless loops in a time span. It doesn’t have a concrete start and finish which would always feel a bit nebulous.
I am an overthinker so would also be ruminating about things I could have done differently, I’m sure, but I think your gut instincts were right <3
Thank you Elisabeth! Yes, it’s hard with a format like this- unless you literally ran the entire 12 hours, there’s not set finish line.
It’s always easy to look back and think about how we could have done better, but I think you should be proud of yourself for going 27 miles! But you can also use this experience next time to convince yourself to keep going!
I love that flavor of Tailwind, so good! As for the food, I’ve been starting to experiment with eating more “real” food like dates, potatoes, etc. that have a lot of carbs but won’t make me feel like I’m just eating sugar all day.
I’ll definitely remember this experience for next time. And, I want to try some real foods, but I feel like they’re hard to get down. But when I get back to long runs, I’ll definitely try potatoes. Mmm, potatoes with salt. That sounds good.
I hear you, but it’s also very hard to go slow and to stop and then start running again. I think you ran the right number of loops==>a lot of miles without hurting yourself.
I feel safe in saying that I will never get into ultras or trail running but man oh man I love seeing the food! I can taste the salty chips and that coke. Nom.
Yes, if you want an excuse to eat junk food, just run a trail race!
I’m not a runner, so I’m trying to imagine your feelings, Jenny…
To me, it seems like you did TERRIFIC, and as I joined up here when Mile 3 was a big hurdle, I’m just happy, happy , happy.
I hope you get another chance to do all the loops you want next time though!
Thank you Maya! Yes, this was a good reminder… it wasn’t that long ago that I was happy for a three mile run!
I think you were wise to stop while you were in a sense ahead. You weren’t limping or crawling. It sounds really challenging (and taking a wrong turn so many times would’ve been so frustrating – I read older posts yesterday but wasn’t able to comment . . . that’ll happen today). I run, REALLY slowly, and I’ve never done a race, so I have no advice or insight. I would really struggle with the eating while running. And drinking? I guess that’s why you do a gel, but I think I’d get a cramp if I tried to drink something. You are amazing. I’m seriously in awe.
Oh thank you Ernie! I guess you have a good point- stopping BEFORE I’m limping or crawling is a good thing. And, one of the things you train for when training for a race like this is being able to eat and drink. Your stomach gets used to it.
I always feel like this.
When I had zero pain or stiffness two days after the marathon, I wondered whether or not I had given my all. Couldn’t I have walked less and run more???
Who knows? I preferred to be injury free than have a faster time and be limping.
You can say the same.. if you had gone longer, you may have a sore calf or worse.
That’s true. Who knows what might have happened if I had gone one more loop. I could be injured right now and then I’d be really mad at myself.
I think you aren’t considering that another lap could have resulted in injury which you want to avoid if at all possible! You ran a marathon+ despite struggling with injuries since your last trail race. Had you done another loop, you could have overdone it and got hurt and then you’d be regretting doing that extra loop! You did great so don’t “should all over yourself” as Carrie Bradshaw would say!
When I push my body, I often will have terrible GI issues in the following days. That did not happen with my 10 mile race luckily but I ran a fast (for me) 10k a few falls ago and I was horribly sick the rest of the day. So some of the GI issues might be unrelated to what you ate and more a reflection of what you put your body through? But I am not an ultra expert at all!
Yes Lisa, you could be right. Maybe my gut just needs time to recover like the rest of my body. And- I think it goes back to the fact that we’re more likely to regret the things we didn’t do, than the things we did. We all come to a point where we have to make a decision, and then just live with it.
I just want to echo what others are saying: You did what felt good to you in the moment and who knows what could have happened with another loop. The last thing you want is to deal with another injury! It’s so easy to get caught up in the “what ifs” once we’ve finished the thing we were trying to do.
I hope your GI issues resolve!