Training Log Archive: Bash

Event: Cayuga Trails 50
 

Cayuga Trails 50 miler

I haven't figured out how to file this race away in my memory. It's the 6th trail race I've finished of 50 miles or longer so it wasn't a major milestone. It was my slowest ultra - more than 2 hours longer than my slowest 50 miler - and probably my lowest age group ranking too, 4th of 8. So in some ways, it's hard to feel excited about it.

On the other hand, it's been 9 months since I've gone over 80 km and more than a year since I've crossed an ultra finish line. In between, I've spent months working to resolve a foot problem - and just when that was going pretty well, I smashed my kneecap hard on a rock. So making it through this race without crazy joint pain was a victory of a different kind.

This must not be confused with a real victory but thanks to Spaff, I see I *was* credited with the real victory - however, only for a few minutes until someone wised up. :)



The Ontario runners gathered in the building by the starting line around 5:30 a.m. There was a breakfast buffet including maple yogurt from the Ithaca Creamery - yum.



The Amazing Dee and her twins-to-be were there to provide support.



Gil came up and said, "I think you are the Bash from Attackpoint?", which started my day with a smile and a nice chat.

Before the race, I'd decided that stopping after one of the two laps (25 miles) would be a reasonable plan since that would be my longest run of this injury-plagued year. I was prepared to stop sooner if my knee or foot hurt too much, and I would try to go farther if they didn't.

In other words, I had no race plan whatsoever. What could go wrong? :) With a forecast high of over 30C, I decided to push a little harder in the first few hours when the air was cool since I knew I'd be forced to slow down later. Besides, I probably wasn't doing 50 miles, right?

The waterfalls and gorges were spectacular. Such a beautiful race course!



There were a number of stone staircases around the gorges - hard work for my knees to go down but very interesting and pretty. There were also some steep hills - both up and down - and a river crossing that went over my knees. We did that one 4 times.



The race course is set up in two laps with each lap designed mostly as an out and back. This meant we got to see the race leaders fly by on several occasions, and we got to say hi to our friends too. This was the USATF national championship so there were some speedy runners out there.

After the near silence at UTMB, the amount of social interaction was almost overwhelming. Except for the top 3 runners, almost everyone said, "Good work" or "Nice job" when they met an oncoming runner - and that happened a lot. One of the top 5 runners said he'd like to take my poles when we saw each other on the second lap. :)

Speaking of which, other than 'Bent and me, I only saw one or two other people using poles. When 'Bent had e-mailed the RD before the race to see if it was OK, Ian had replied that poles were legal and he didn't know why more people didn't use them. We'll have them at UTMB so our decision was based more on the need to train with them than the need to use them on this particular course, although they were helpful for my gimpy knee.

I made it to the far end of the first lap - Buttermilk Aid Station - where I met Mrs. Tiny. We ran together for a little while until I had a dip in energy. She went on to run a perfectly paced first 50 miler. Good job!



It was great to see Dee, Timato and Teeny Tiny when any of us passed through Underpass Aid Station. Thanks so much for your help.

The first lap went well enough that I decided to start the 2nd one. At the 50K point, we would be at Underpass Aid Station just a few hundred meters from our car so that was another logical place to quit. But when I got there, I still felt like going on - trying to be cautious since I'm aware of the consequences of pushing your longest long run too far beyond what you've done in training.



My knee had started twinging in the first 15 minutes, and the sides of my hips (IT bands) had started hurting at 12.5 miles. Quads started hurting at 37 miles. But none of it felt too serious.



However, the Salomon gods attempted to strike me down for using Hokas to try to cushion my injured foot. Although I'd done 3-4 hour runs in them, I'd never worn them soaking wet. In particular, I'd never worn them soaking wet on steep downhill slopes. My toes slammed repeatedly into the fronts of the shoes until I had blisters under the big toenails and in a few other choice places. The shoes didn't have a nice toe protector so if I kicked a rock, my damaged toenails took the brunt of it. For about half the race, I had that charming "hamburger foot" sensation. So it's back to the drawing board - and probably back to the Speedcross.



I met 'Bent coming toward me around the 8:45 mark. He was only 13K from the end so he was headed for a great result. When I asked how he felt, he said, "Not good." He'd been stopping in aid stations with stomach issues, and he was about to put on his best performance yet - the grand finale at Underpass Aid Station. Thank you Dee and Timato for taking care of him! (He did go on to finish 6th of 23 in his age group but had been doing much better.)


(Photo taken around 'Bent's 45K mark. At this point, he said he felt "so-so".)

I ate and drank really well - one of the advantages of going slower. The President's Choice Ultra Shakes went down well. I probably averaged about 500 ml per hour of fluid.

The last quarter of the race was almost eerie. In 20K, I only saw one other runner resting on steep stone steps. There were a few places where I questioned if I'd made a wrong turn. Sadly, my Ambit died just before the final aid station so then I really was alone for the last 5K. The sun was on its way down and it was lovely to do a final run through the gorge on the way to the finish line.



'Bent, Charlotte and Chris were there, and a yummy hot dinner was available, including burgers and corn on the cob. 'Bent had a choice between a veggie burger and a grilled portobello mushroom; that's the kind of TLC that went into this event.

Our drive home was pretty awful. We had to be in Caledon before 8 a.m. so we spent the night taking turns napping and driving with frequent stops to stretch our legs. Bedtime after 3 a.m. Next time we spend the night in Ithaca! And I think there may be a next time. This would be a fun event to do again, and we liked Ithaca a lot.

This GPS track isn't my whole race - just the part before my Ambit died. I've adjusted the numbers based on 'Bent's track. For anyone who watched the live tracking, there were a number of errors. At some point, I'll try to figure out my real splits.

Timato did the Cayuga Trails 50 mile ultra last year and enjoyed the experience so much that he convinced a bunch of us to join him this year. This time he coached Mrs. Tiny (Mrs. Timato?) in preparation for her first 50 miler and he planned to support her and other runners with Teeny Tiny's help.

The five of us arrived in Ithaca on Friday evening and had a very pleasant evening at the pre-race social at the Ithaca Beer company. Good food, great company, nice ambience outdoors - oh, and growlers.



'Bent and I had a nice chat with race director Ian Golden. He looks like a guy you might meet in yoga class - or at a casting call for the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar - but he owns the Finger Lakes Running and Triathlon Company, a great local running store.



He's super nice and well organized; he'd sent us several friendly, information-packed e-mails in the weeks leading up to the race. He obviously puts a ton of time into building relationships with the community and local businesses. This event has so many nice touches and well thought out details; it is a class act.

We all did different exploring on Saturday morning then started looking for lunch places. This one looked good for the day before a race. ;)



Instead we went to the famous Moosewood Restaurant. I've had a couple of their cookbooks for years. (Timato: "I don't understand. Why would you own a cookbook?")



Teeny Tiny is so cute, smart and funny! We had a great time hanging out with her.



The food was pretty good too, including yummy chocolate desserts. "Heck, I'm running 50 miles tomorrow - I'm not going to share a dessert!"



After lunch, 'Bent and I went to the Trails in Motion International Film Festival held in the movie theatre around the corner from Ian's running store where we picked up our race kits. It was another nice touch to arrange for this to come to town.

The Ithaca Festival was going on - musicians and market vendors and people in tie dye shirts. There was way too much to do in one day. We will come back to Ithaca. Oh, and we'll go back to Wegman's. 'Bent and I bought a bunch of things we can't buy in Ontario - at least not easily - and we could have explored in there for another hour.

In the evening, all the Ontarians went for dinner. Dee, Mrs. Gally, WandAR and Virginia had arrived, as had Charlotte and Chris and some of their friends. Ang and Sharon joined us for drinks after running a lap of our race course. Great to chat with everyone. I had yummy pasta with shrimp and a big glass of red wine. This was just the kind of day I needed. No pre-race jitters at all since I wasn't feeling any pressure to achieve anything.

Mocha is pretty chipper this morning. Yesterday she was hit hard by a long general anaesthetic she had while getting scans to prepare for cancer treatment. It was scary but this morning she trotted upstairs and leapt on the bed to say hi, then went downstairs and inhaled her breakfast. So it's back to regular Lab Retriever life for now.

That means we can go to Cayuga Trails. June is not going to be fun so a bit of R&R with friends will be good. Oh, and there is that little matter of a 50 mile run in the heat on Sunday. I'm not expecting to do the full distance but I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. It's going to have to be a slooow one to manage my knee and the heat. Cut-offs may come into play before my injury. But anyway, there will be ice cream from the Ithaca Creamery so it's all good.

Cancer sucks. That is all.

Tree Hugger alumnus Logan Tacoma is back at it again! His video contest entry for last year's B.C. Bike Race was selected for the Banff Film Festival World Tour. This time he's trying to win an entry to the Mongolia Bike Challenge. :)

This was a short run in Palgrave West to remind my legs how to move. My knee twinged a little at times. I'm guessing that 50 miles and 12,000' of elevation gain this Sunday might be one of those times so I am mentally prepared to drop out part way if necessary.

I saw a man running toward me in one of the new orange Sulphur Springs shirts. I almost never meet anyone on the trails around here so I assumed it was 'Bent commuting home. I spent a few seconds wondering why he had left BazingaDog and his bike at work before I recognized Mike P. As we said hello, 'Bent rode up with BazingaDog so all was well.