2025 promise land 50k++

pre-race and start

Arrived Friday evening and got camp set up. The parking area/field was already crowded and had to make compromises on the set up. Nbd but will arrive earlier if I run this again. Chill vibes and a lot of people knew Horton from previous runnings or be “required” to run for school (lol). I was up and at it by 4am and didn’t feel rushed for time. Steady rain at the start lead to last minute gear decisions, but I opted not to change anything (no rain coat, etc). My only real concern there was wind on the ridge lines, but I knew it would be warmish later so I’d be ok.

course and strategy

Doing homework on the coarse paid off and there weren’t too many surprises. One annoying thing was the mile posts at aid stations (for current mileage and next aid) were largely very wrong. Aid workers had more accurate info so idk if the signs were a joke or what. The only time I was really impacted was the second aid station was at mile 10 instead of 8 as I understood. This led to a minor hydration issue which I corrected by taking a little extra time to drink up and refill before leaving. The overall strategy was to take it (very) easy the first 12 miles. I feel like I executed it pretty well. My running economy was better than I could have imagined between 12 and 26. Certainly way better than previous 50k runs. I maintained a quick turnover and a pace pretty close to my training long run paces. Maintaining a jog on the rolling hills was fine, but I hiked anything I couldn’t see the top of. A lot of runners passed me and I knew that was fine; I ended up catching many of them later. There was some carnage… just a lot of folks completely out of gas, limping, in a bad head space. One story… there was a young guy that I was playing leap frog with. He passed me on the downs (bombing) and I’d catch him on the ups. He had very heavy steps and kind of flailed his arms and legs, totally uncontrolled running. Kind of annoying to hear him come up behind me. There was a long downhill section and I didn’t see him for probably an hour, but I knew I’d see him again. Later I came out of an aid station feeling really good and in a good headspace. I saw him up a head, locked on and reeled him. He saw me and tried to take off, but slowed to a walk after about 10 meters. I cruised by him and didn’t see him again. My only dip in mindset was mile 28-30. It was a brutal climb out of a gap with waterfalls and such. I teamed up with a runner and we silently agreed to attack it together. It was tough and I wish I had more climbing power in that moment. I thought my pace was so slow but at the top he thanked me for setting a good pace b/c otherwise he would have really struggled. I’m sure there is a lesson in there somewhere, but anyway it put some good wind in my sails for the final decent. The first mile or 2 of the decent were very steep and I went as fast as my quads could handle while keeping safe from a fall. As it started to level out I picked up the pace and realized that I could break 9 hours if I hustled. I locked in to a tight running form and went for it.

nutrition and hydration

I maintained 60+ grams of carbs. Roughly 2 gels per hour plus I few potatoes and tailwind from aid stations. I drink ~3.5 liters of water. I recognize this is a bit low, but it is more than I usually drink and can keep working on that. I took 1 salt cap per bottle of water. I’ve had trouble with sodium supplements causing nausea (specifically LMNT); I noticed this a little bit later in the race. I’m not sure 3 gels/hr is something my stomach/palate can handle at this point. Overall my energy levels were very good throughout the race, with exception of the final climb.

mindset

I feel like this was very good, again with the exception of the final climb. I genuinely had fun and kept things pretty high vibration throughout. I listened to music at times and occasionally got tingling in the base of my head. I think the last climb problems were an interesting combination of anticipation of it being hard, it actually becoming hard, slight gut problems, and general fatigue. Going into it, I was slightly below “hopeful”, but I didn’t completely reject the idea. There was some minor negative self-talk as I continued to watch my average time increase over the climb. It would be interesting to know if a different anticipation would have changed anything.

recovery

Pretty hungry and thirsty in the evening of the race. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I might be. I didn’t feel the overwhelming need to take a nap or go to bed early. My body definitely felt worked though. Sore overnight and morning after, which makes sense. My Apple Watch tracked my respiratory rate to be high over night, but temp and heart rate were normal. The following few days, legs and glutes sore and tired. Calves felt full and had tightness in ankles when I walk after sitting. The minor pre-race pain in my left calve is actually more in the shin area, I think. Seems like a posterior shin splint but higher than what might be typical. Btw before and during the race I felt this only for the first hour or so, than worked itself out. Mindset and emotional state took a dip a few days later. I’m feeling pretty blah and unmotivated. That didn't last long and I snapped out of it the next day.