My second year of Marathon class was yet again another great race. The course overall was a lot dryer, yet still had a section that was good and muddy, leaving me yet another year looking like the great swap thing. The weather almanac says 30 mins into the race the temp was already 91 degrees, and the high for the day was 95. Hydration and maintaining proper sodium intake was crucial.
Knowing that it was going to be a scorcher, on Saturday I drank a lot of fluids, alternating between sports drink and water, and even taking a couple S-Caps (electrolyte pills). In the morning, as always, I still felt dehydrated. Drank a cup of coffee, a pint of water, and downed some sports drink on my way to the race, as well as an S-Cap, and another bottle of sports drink once I got there.
The race start was relaxed, as is typical for an endurance race. There were probably about 40 riders. I started in the second row, as I wanted to keep the leaders in sight on the first climb. I wanted to go out a little harder from the start this time around.
It took me a little while to feel good and warmed up. The first climb is only a 100 or so feet, and felt just ok. I had the leaders in sight, but one guy cut a huge lead on everyone early on. About 10 riders were in front of me and I held a pace I thought i could sustain and hoped that if just a few of the guys in front couldnt hold it for four hours, then i'd take back the spots.
Lap 1 i completed in 29'30". This is a great pace, especially considering I didn't feel like I had my legs yet. Avg HR for the lap, 175.
During Lap 2 I really felt the heat. And there was no breeze. I was sucking down a lot of fluids. 32'10". HR 175.
Lap 3 I started really feeling crappy. Bad went to worse when 5 minutes into the lap I sucked the last gulp of my camelback. Wow, 70 oz of fluid, and probably about 750 calories in just over an hour. Not sure how my stomach is going to handle all of these calories. I'm thinking its probably good that I have no fluids for the lap because I may be overdoing it. Partway into the lap my calves start twitching.. very small spasms, which are always precursors to cramps. Cramps this early on will spell ruin. I fish out a couple of S-Caps and suck them down. From now until the end of the race I suck down at least one S-Cap every 30 minutes. I have a lot of sodium mixed into my sports drink, so in total i'm probably taking in around 2800mg of sodium per hour. I'm guessing I flushed my electrolytes out of my system and now im playing catchup. 35' 30", HR 164. I'm definitely slowing down, but my times are much better than I expect considering how i'm feeling.
Lap 4 Stop for a minute to replace camelbaks and it is nice to feel the cold fluid. Again not feeling strong. No cramping or twitching though. The massive doses of sodium are doing the trick. 35:55. HR 160.
Lap 5 For some reason as some point in this lap, magically, I get a wind of energy. The climbs are really steep and technical due to how steep they are. At this point in the race many, if not most, people I pass are walking the climbs. I don't want to walk any of them, so my strategy is a very slow but steady pace all the way. It pays off. While my lap times are not improving, im keeping at a pace I feel I can sustain for a while. I'm not sure at this point how many if any spots I can reclaim, but I'm definitely thinking I need to defend the position im in. 36' 41". 159 HR.
I think it was on this lap where on the first descent a race official was standing on the trail giving me the 'rider down slow down' sign. And he was gesturing hard, meaning like 'really.. bad scene, go SLOW'. There was a golf cart type vehicle taking up the entire trail. I had to dismount the bike to get around it. There was an EMT tending to a biker. I saw him laying there with what appeared to be red zig zag lines across his chest, like as if a rider skidded his tires right over him. I heard him say, "I can't feel my stomach". Down rider, if you're reading this blog, comment to let me know that you ended up ok.
Lap 6. I've gone through both 70oz camelbacks and I now fill up with just water. I figure I have had enough calories, so I pop about 3 S-Caps and leave the feed zone with just water. Forgot to clear my watch for this lap but the combined lap 6 and 7 are avg 1:11, so, probably 0:35:30. I picked up a little time, and crushed the descents. At this point I'm at about 3:28:00 into the race. The cutoff this year for a last lap is 3:45:00, not 4:00:00 like last year. There's no way i'll be able to doa lap in 00:17, so im resigned at only doing 7 laps.
Lap 7. Start cramping bad in my left thigh up the first hill. Had to get off the bike because I couldnt bend my leg without going into a full cramp. I pulled apart an S-Cap and dumped to pure powder into my mounth. I took a breath and choked on all the nasty powder. Reached for the camelback and found I only had about half a gulp of water left. Yuck. Oh well. Finished the lap strong. Ended 4:02:00. I'm feeling good knowing that had the cutoff been 4 hrs this year, I think i definitely could have made up the two minutes and gotten in an 8th lap. This was really a reach goal and I think i would have hit it. I don't know the results yet. I'll update the blog with it. My time improved a lot over last year. It was a tough field so i didnt podium, but im thinking i moved up a bunch of spots from last year.
Knowing that it was going to be a scorcher, on Saturday I drank a lot of fluids, alternating between sports drink and water, and even taking a couple S-Caps (electrolyte pills). In the morning, as always, I still felt dehydrated. Drank a cup of coffee, a pint of water, and downed some sports drink on my way to the race, as well as an S-Cap, and another bottle of sports drink once I got there.
The race start was relaxed, as is typical for an endurance race. There were probably about 40 riders. I started in the second row, as I wanted to keep the leaders in sight on the first climb. I wanted to go out a little harder from the start this time around.
It took me a little while to feel good and warmed up. The first climb is only a 100 or so feet, and felt just ok. I had the leaders in sight, but one guy cut a huge lead on everyone early on. About 10 riders were in front of me and I held a pace I thought i could sustain and hoped that if just a few of the guys in front couldnt hold it for four hours, then i'd take back the spots.
Lap 1 i completed in 29'30". This is a great pace, especially considering I didn't feel like I had my legs yet. Avg HR for the lap, 175.
During Lap 2 I really felt the heat. And there was no breeze. I was sucking down a lot of fluids. 32'10". HR 175.
Lap 3 I started really feeling crappy. Bad went to worse when 5 minutes into the lap I sucked the last gulp of my camelback. Wow, 70 oz of fluid, and probably about 750 calories in just over an hour. Not sure how my stomach is going to handle all of these calories. I'm thinking its probably good that I have no fluids for the lap because I may be overdoing it. Partway into the lap my calves start twitching.. very small spasms, which are always precursors to cramps. Cramps this early on will spell ruin. I fish out a couple of S-Caps and suck them down. From now until the end of the race I suck down at least one S-Cap every 30 minutes. I have a lot of sodium mixed into my sports drink, so in total i'm probably taking in around 2800mg of sodium per hour. I'm guessing I flushed my electrolytes out of my system and now im playing catchup. 35' 30", HR 164. I'm definitely slowing down, but my times are much better than I expect considering how i'm feeling.
Lap 4 Stop for a minute to replace camelbaks and it is nice to feel the cold fluid. Again not feeling strong. No cramping or twitching though. The massive doses of sodium are doing the trick. 35:55. HR 160.
Lap 5 For some reason as some point in this lap, magically, I get a wind of energy. The climbs are really steep and technical due to how steep they are. At this point in the race many, if not most, people I pass are walking the climbs. I don't want to walk any of them, so my strategy is a very slow but steady pace all the way. It pays off. While my lap times are not improving, im keeping at a pace I feel I can sustain for a while. I'm not sure at this point how many if any spots I can reclaim, but I'm definitely thinking I need to defend the position im in. 36' 41". 159 HR.
I think it was on this lap where on the first descent a race official was standing on the trail giving me the 'rider down slow down' sign. And he was gesturing hard, meaning like 'really.. bad scene, go SLOW'. There was a golf cart type vehicle taking up the entire trail. I had to dismount the bike to get around it. There was an EMT tending to a biker. I saw him laying there with what appeared to be red zig zag lines across his chest, like as if a rider skidded his tires right over him. I heard him say, "I can't feel my stomach". Down rider, if you're reading this blog, comment to let me know that you ended up ok.
Lap 6. I've gone through both 70oz camelbacks and I now fill up with just water. I figure I have had enough calories, so I pop about 3 S-Caps and leave the feed zone with just water. Forgot to clear my watch for this lap but the combined lap 6 and 7 are avg 1:11, so, probably 0:35:30. I picked up a little time, and crushed the descents. At this point I'm at about 3:28:00 into the race. The cutoff this year for a last lap is 3:45:00, not 4:00:00 like last year. There's no way i'll be able to doa lap in 00:17, so im resigned at only doing 7 laps.
Lap 7. Start cramping bad in my left thigh up the first hill. Had to get off the bike because I couldnt bend my leg without going into a full cramp. I pulled apart an S-Cap and dumped to pure powder into my mounth. I took a breath and choked on all the nasty powder. Reached for the camelback and found I only had about half a gulp of water left. Yuck. Oh well. Finished the lap strong. Ended 4:02:00. I'm feeling good knowing that had the cutoff been 4 hrs this year, I think i definitely could have made up the two minutes and gotten in an 8th lap. This was really a reach goal and I think i would have hit it. I don't know the results yet. I'll update the blog with it. My time improved a lot over last year. It was a tough field so i didnt podium, but im thinking i moved up a bunch of spots from last year.
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