Tag Archives: Wasatch 100

Running

A Painful Wasatch PR

2 Comments

I was very excited for and had very high expectations for this year’s Wasatch 100. I had been training hard and had a good Bighorn 100 (100 miler PR) and really learned and practiced things that I needed to improve on from there.

I ran the entire Wasatch course and some parts multiple times over the last few months. Also, my long runs 3 weeks out were just short of the total miles I was planning but they were from 10,000 to 14,000+ feet in Leadville, CO, and included three 14ers so I felt like they were good miles.

I also spent a lot of times with determining my splits. I took my last year’s splits and chunked off time that I thought was appropriate. I run a little different from others in that it takes me a little while to “warm up” then I stay pretty steady the entire race. I was bummed that I was going into this race and would not have Chad, my number one pacer, with me on the course due to his back injury in Leadman but knew I had great pacers and would have him there at the Aid Stations.

     Start line with Amy Blackham

The race start was a warm and we headed off from East Mountain Wilderness Park in the dark at 5a. I always find the first 40 miles quite difficult. Coming into Francis Peak (m18.76), I was about 10 min slower than my goal pace but still 20min faster than last year’s time. I continued on through the other aid stations to Big Mtn (m39.6) and came in about 20 minutes behind my goal time.

 

     Running into Big Mountain

     Getting in and out of Big Mountain Aid Station

I came into Big Mtn feeling very strong. It was great to see Chad, Anny, Emily S, and to pick up Ann to run with me through the next 13.5 miles of the journey. It was pretty hot but I was keeping ahead on my eating, drinking, electrolytes, etc. This section went really quickly as I had great company and I know this section very well. I’ve actually run the last 3 miles into the Lamb’s Aid Station about 15 times this summer and that really helped me on this section.

     Smiling coming into Lambs

    Fueling quickly at Lambs

     Heading out of Lambs – Chad informing Meghan how to keep me going

I had an absolute amazing number of friends at Lamb’s to cheer me through (thank you to Emily S, Corrie, Christian, Berkley, Mischa, Andy, Anya, Brooke, Amanda, Jenny, Kristin, Ray, and anyone else I may have missed). I had a quick stop to get some food and dry cloths and off we went. It was great to head out with Meghan Hicks as I knew she would be great for me and I was excited to hear about her recent UTMB adventures. We headed up Lamb’s and passed a number of people. We kept a great hiking and sometimes running pace up Bear Ass Pass then ran down the other side. We then fast hiked and even ran a couple times up the road to Upper Big Water (m61.68). It was one of my goals to get up to that Aid Station when it was still light out and I made that (rather than 3 miles earlier in 2011). On this section we were exactly where I wanted to be on my splits and made up time from what I had lost earlier in the race so I was super psyched.

It was just after Upper Big Water where my stomach really turned. At first it felt like somebody kicked me in the stomach and then kept getting worse when I was exerting energy. This race turned into nothing I’ve ever experienced where the uphills became very painful and the downhills were actually where I could pick up the pace and not feel quite as much pain – this is very different from my normal uphill strength even at the very late miles of big races. I also started trying everything to fix my stomach – ginger, eCaps, electrolyte Enlyten, energy Enlyten, real food, broth, coke, bars, gel, chews, etc. It was frustrating that I felt like I had these races “figured out” with what works for me but nothing was working. Meghan and I just kept the pace as fast as I possibly could without “falling off the fence”. With the fact that my stomach had never hurt as bad as it was now we had a couple serious conversations about not continuing at Brighton because I couldn’t imagine being in this much pain for another 25 miles (little did I know it would get worse). I decided that, because my legs were good and my mind was perfect, there was no reason to not keep running and hope my stomach would “reset”. I was also looking forward to running with Roch Horton and knew he would have the answer to my issues.

We got into Brighton (m75.61) at 12:32AM and Chad and Roch got some soup, Ensure, and hashbrowns into me, then Roch and I took off. About 3 minutes out of Brighton I threw up about 4 times. I was nervous about losing what I’d put into my body for fuel but Roch said it was OK, that we would replenish, and hopefully I got out of my body what was causing the issues. My stomach was a little better for a while but I still had to hold it back a little with the exertion. We were able to fly down from Point Supreme to Ant Knolls (m80.27) passing about 5 people so that was super and gave me good confidence. At Ant Knolls, I had some broth and coke and not 5 minutes later I threw that up too. It was a constant battle to put a little food in my belly and keep moving as fast as we could which was a lot slower than my planned times which was extremely frustrating. We “grinded” up the hills and ran down as fast as we could on the other sections “slaying dragons” whenever possible. We just kept plugging away at the miles while Roch pulled every trick out of his sleeve and my stomach did not respond to anything – it was so broken. We finally made it past the last climb after Pot Bottom (m93.13) and it was go time. I had made a promise not to leave anything on the trail and this was the time to push it to the limits. I know my speed wasn’t what it should have been but I gave it my all to the very best of my abilities. I only stopped to walk a couple seconds a couple times when I again felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach but when we hit the pavement there was going to be only running Homestead and sprinting to the finish line from there. It was great to see Chad, Ann, and Anya waiting for me to come off the trail and great to have Chad join Roch and I running the final stretch into the finish line. I crossed the finish line in 27:45 which was a half hour better than my last year’s time but it was still a bummer that my stomach held me back and I could not have taken more time off.

 

     Running in the last mile with the Master (Roch)

     Crossing the finish line

     Happy to be done

     Fantastic pacers

I feel good about my race and know that I ran as fast I as could given the circumstances. The frustrating part is that I’m not sure what caused my stomach to be so upset. I really felt like my fuel up to that point was correct as I was paying close attention to my eating, drinking, electrolytes and didn’t try anything “new”. A couple items that could have come into play were the high temperature, talk about some “bad water” somewhere as many others were sick. One item that I thought would do good but actually was quite the opposite is drinking a recovery drink with protein going out of Brighton that probably upset my stomach more. I’ve got some new things to try for next time and will chalk this up to a fluke experience and hope that it does not happen next time.

 

     Getting my 3rd Wasatch 100 belt buckle

Thank you to Ann, Meghan, and Roch for taking care of me and keeping me company on the course. Thank you to all of my friends and family who cheered me on in person or in spirit. Thank you to all of my friends that I train with and make running fun. My deepest gratitude goes to Chad for all of the support in training, every other aspect of my life, and crew extraordinaire.

Running

Wasatch 100 – Mission Accomplished

Leave a comment

What a race. After completing the Wasatch 100 in 2008 as my first hundred, in which I suffered immensely, I had no desire to run this race again. After my strong Leadville 100 finish last year (which marked my 2nd under 30 hour finish for a 100 mile race) and pacing a friend at Wasatch I started to reconsider. Have I gotten smarter/faster to possibly get under the 30 hour benchmark? Is that at all possible for me? I decided that there was a good chance of it and applied and got drawn in the lottery. It was now time to determine strategy and training to make sure I could meet my goal of under 30 hours.

I skied all spring specifically because we had a 3 week ski trip in the Alps planned so I didn’t really start my race training until May. I also missed my first race of the year (Pocatello 50) due to a work trip to Japan that I could not pass up. My next race was Tahoe 100 on July 16, so I started a very rigorous training schedule to get ready for that. Although I completed Tahoe, it was not within my goal time as I had a very serious lung infection during the race. This not only took a lot out of me physically but also mentally. After I recovered from that race and my lung infection (my lungs are still healing today), I had one last big training push to make sure I was ready for Wasatch (I was able to do most of this training on the Wasatch course where I made every run count). I also spent a lot of time working on splits, a race plan, studying the course (which I already knew really well), and mentally and physically preparing myself for the race.

I was as ready for Wasatch. I had a great plan, crew, and pacers ready. I also had lucky number 62 (6 is my favorite number and 2 for the 2nd time completing Wasatch). We started out at 5AM and cruised along the single track. Within 38 minutes of the start my light went from bright, to dim, to totally dead – yikes. I knew I still had about 40 minutes of darkness so I moved as quickly as I could using the light around me. This cost me time and at Francis Peak (18.76m) I was about 13 minutes behind my goal pace. I knew I had a long time to make it up so I wasn’t going to let this affect me. I came into Big Mountain (39.4m) at 2:45p and was happy to have Ann join me for the next section.

Big Mountain Pass Aid Station

As we headed up the first hill we were so happy to notice that it had clouded over making this section so much more enjoyable than it usually was (the early racers were treated to an extremely warm section). We got into Lambs (53.13m) at 6:21p and it was amazing to see so many friends there to cheer me on as I made a quick pit stop (thank you Christian, Corrie, Berkley, Mischa, Ray, Katy, Tyson, & Erin). Kristin and I headed up the Lamb’s canyon road on the way to Big Water in Mill Creek. Kristin kept me company for the next 22 miles (with a quick crew stop from Chad at Mill Creek). It was entertaining when she told me about memories that she had of me from this section in 2008 and I didn’t remember many at all. It’s crazy to think that this section took almost an hour and a half longer in 2008 than it did this year. At Brighton, Chad, Brent, and Kristin got me in and out quickly changing socks, shoes (then putting my Hokas back on after taking them off), fixing blisters, and a snack. I then headed out the door with Chad, my #1 pacer. I continued to feel strong going up Catherine’s Pass, down into Ant Knolls, and on. I was able to keep moving, drinking, eating, and just really maintaining a decent pace. I couldn’t believe that we were almost to Pot Bottom before it got light out. We climbed the last big hill coming out of Pot Bottom and then started to run. I ran all but 2 short climbs the entire way to the finish line. At that point my legs were killing me and I had been trying to keep my stomach from going south for quite a while. We hit the road and I was so incredibly happy knowing that I was almost done. We ran in with a couple from the neighborhood going out for a nice Saturday morning run. I remember them stating that they were out for a little run and I said “me too, but I started at 5a yesterday morning.” The gentleman ran on the other side of me to make sure no cars got close to me.

I crossed the finish line at 9:16a (finish time of 28:16:29). I was so happy to be done and incredibly ecstatic that I met (and blasted out of the water) my goal. I was rewarded at the finish line with many friends (thank you Jenny, Terry, Erin, Tyson, Tom, Stephanie, Ann, Anya, Amanda, Ian, Kristin, Brooke, and Jenn) to cheer on me and our friend Suzanne.

THE FINISH!

I am so happy that I was able run a strong race and that all of my mental and physical preparation paid off. I actually went from the 101st place at mile 53 to 46th place (and 5th female overall) at the finish line.

2011 Wasatch 100

Thank you so much to my awesome pacers: Chad, Kristin, and Ann. Thank you also to Chad for being there for me at every location that he possibly could and always being so incredibly supportive. Thank you also to everybody that sent me their good vibes to get me through. I could feel the strength of others as I went. I couldn’t have done it without all of my super supportive friends and family!