Well it has been way to long since my last blog post so it
is high time I write about one of the most epic runs I have done to date. I
have always wondered what it would be like to run an ultra distance and decided
that this year I would give it a try and run 61K for my 61rst birthday. I
turned 61 on January 14 this of this year and ran the distance on January 18th.
You can view my Garmin Connect stats of the route here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/4319876
I planned out a relatively flat, nearly 10K course that I
could run in the city of Redlands, CA. It was pretty well lit so I would not
have to wear a headlamp. I would be able to refill my bottles with fluids with
a minimum of disruption from the run and perhaps even run a bit with a few
friend from the Redlands Runegades if I timed it right.
I was a bit apprehensive about the run but I had increased
my weekly mileage to an average of 50 a week up from about 35, and had been
doing back to back long runs on the weekends. This gave me a little more
confidence but still it was unknown territory for me and I would be running the
vast majority of the run all by myself.
I started the run a few minutes past 4am on a Saturday
morning. The weather was nice and cool which was definitely in my favor, as I
don’t do heat well. It is kind of weird running at 4am with almost no traffic
and hardly ever seeing a soul the first two hours of the run. There were a
couple of places that lighting was not all that good and I had to make sure I
lifted my feet a little higher than normal at these sections.
I had decided that I would try and bank a little time by
running the first 10K at my normal long run pace and heart rate (HR), which is
about a 140-143HR. The first lap went well averaging a little less than a 9min
pace. The next lap I decided to try and drop my HR down to about 130 but that
lasted for only the first mile as it was hard to make myself run so much slower
than I was used to and overall I was only about 3-4 beats a minute slower on
average for the second lap.
I met up with some of the Runegades on lap 3 and we ran
together for about 2 miles before they split off going a different direction.
It was nice to interact with them and it gave me a lift to my spirits even
though I was definitely not in any real distress at that point in my run. It
was a little easier by this time to run at the lower HR and slower pace and I
was feeling great the whole way. I guess I had over hydrated the day before as I
had gone to the bathroom more than I was used to on a long run by now. The
cooler weather was also making it hard for me to drink as much as I had wanted
to and most of my nutrition was in my fluids.
By mile 19 it had turned full daylight and was beginning to
warm up. I forgot to mention that there was close to a 10-degree temperature
difference from the higher portion of the route to the lower portion during the
first 3 laps. This would change somewhat as the run went on.
I did not have any trouble with loneliness as I have done
quite a lot of solo running. However after I reached the marathon distance,
even though I was not racing, I began to feel just a little lonely and it
seemed that time dragged on a little bit more from this point on. My legs were
definitely feeling a little weary by this time but I told myself that I only
had 2 more laps to go.
From this point on it was not hard at all to run at the
lower HR and even on the downhill sections of the run I was not tempted to run
too fast. The warmth was beginning to affect me a bit at this point but just
mildly. I also said hello and waved to a few of my friends just as I started my
next to last lap, which gave me a little lift to my gait.
When I got back to my truck for my last pit stop I was
joined by Robin Derdowski and Jim Glick for the last lap. It was really nice to
have them join me for this lap and I am sure that I averaged 30 seconds faster
per mile just because they were with me. I am very appreciative to them for
running this with me after they had already run about 15 miles earlier that
morning.
After we got to the top of the last uphill and turned to the
last quarter mile of the run I decided to see what I had left in my legs and
picked up the pace surprising myself with how well I actually felt. I then
broke into nearly a sprint to the end. This told me that my mind had been lying
to me about how I felt and it was just trying so save me by telling my body to
conserve my energy, as it had never gone this distance before.
Overall it was not as hard as I had imagined it would be and
I know without a doubt that I could have finished another 12 miles for a 50
miler. However that was not my intent and I had accomplished what I had set out
to do which was run my age in kilometers. My total time, with no watch stoppage,
was 7hours 23 minutes and 10 seconds. Average pace: 11:39 with an average
moving pace of 10:27. My average HR was 129 compared with my usual long run HR
of 141.
This had inspired me to sign up for the Nanny Goat 24-hour
race in Riverside, CA on May 24th. I have been trying to up my
mileage again to 50+ miles per week hoping to peak at 70 miles and doing
several back to back long runs with my longest hopefully being 20 and 31.
As I write this I presently have had a little setback with
sciatica again but feel sure I will be back at it soon. Last weekend I ran a 17
mile trail run on the PCT and followed it with a 15 mile run the next day in
the morning and a 12 mile run in the afternoon.
Follow me on my journey as I prepare to run my first ultra
marathon race on May 24 and 25.
Happy Trails,
Russ Barber
