Dirty Girls 24 Hour Trail Run - 25/26 July 2015 - A Long Night of Running

Dirty Girls 24 Hour Trail Run - 25/26 July 2015 - Mansfield ON
120 Km (75 Miles) at 23:05:59
14/43 Overall and 3/6 M40-49
First 24 Hour Race
334.8 Miles Raced in 2015

When I was putting together my 2015 race plan, the Dirty Girls Run looked like a great opportunity to get in some long night trail running with their night 12 hour option in preparation for my first attempt at a 100 Miler on 12 Sept 15 at the Haliburton Forest 100 Miler.  After having to drop at the Laurel Highlands back in mid June, I decided to amend my race plan to use the Laura Secord 100K and the Dirty Girls 24 Hour race to get some good experience in the longer ultras.  My goals for the race were to work on night trail running, race nutrition and getting more experience on how I was going to feel after 12-16 hours of running. 

Race Plan.  Based on my experience at the Laura Secord 100K, I knew coming in that I wouldn't be fully recovered, that heat would be a factor and the my ability to continue to eat would be a major factor in the race.  I planned on aiming to run the first 4 laps averaging 14:00/mile, allowing the pace to drop off by 3-5 minutes a lap as it warmed up in the afternoon.  I also expected to be a bit slower at night on head lamp.  My nutrition plan was aim for 1 gel every 45 minutes, 10 oz of Gatorade/Heed per lap, a meal replacement shake every 4 hours and grazing from the aid stations.

Race Course.  Dirty Girl's is run on a 8 km (5 mile) loop at the Mansfield Outdoors Centre which is about 90 minutes north of Toronto.  The loop itself was a mix of forest road and single track with at least 700 feet of climbing per loop.  The course opened with a section of rolling single track before the first of two bigger climbs on a forest road.  After about a mile it transitioned back to rolling single track to the midway aid station.  The second half of the loop had more forest road including a long descent then climb on a gravel road before about a half mile of very twisty single track which led into the final descent, shorter but steep climb and final descent back to the start/finish area.  The start/finish area was in a large clearing that allowed plenty of space to have a tent for the 24 hour and night 12 hour runners.  I found the second mile of the loop in many ways the most challenging to run on as it had a number gentle climbs with plenty of roots to catch your trailing foot where my one descent face plant of the race took place.

First Big Hill

Short but steep with roots

Big Climb #2

Start/Finish

Morning.  I drove up the morning of the race arriving about 90 minutes before the 8 am gun which gave plenty of time to stake out some space for my drop bags.  I decided to put up a tent on the grounds if I didn't Murphy's Law would ensure a late night melt down requiring me to rest (when I would want the tent).  The 8 am gun saw the 6 hour, 12 hour day and 24 hours runner's get started.  I largely was able to run my planned easy pace at the start with the opening four laps at 1:09:!2, 1:07:02, 1:09:08, and 109:46.  I found I was getting around the course well, the morning was cool to start and I was getting through the aid stations well.

Home Station and Tent that I Happily Didn't Need

Afternoon.  I tried my first meal replacement shake after the fourth lap and quickly found that I needed to walk for 5-10 minutes after talking on that amount of calories for my stomach to settle (which I had been warned about).  I took the opportunity on the sixth lap to stop and grab a few pictures.  Although the morning had started out cool it was humid and by mid-afternoon the temperatures had climbed into the high 20'sC/low 80'sF and I found on lap 7 & 8 that was walking a little more often coming out of the aid stations to ensure that I wasn't overheating.  Things started to become challenging on the ninth lap which started around 6 pm.  By mid-lap I was starting to feel significantly nauseated, which led to plenty of walking on that lap and a change of the feeding plan.  In addition I had started out on a pair of North Face Hayassa's and I found after 65+ km that the heel was really rubbing.  At the end of the lap, I dealt with blister, changed socks and shoes to a North Face Ultra Trail Guide (which I had worn three weeks earlier for the Laura Secord 100K), grabbed my head lamp and settled in for the night section.  My lap times for laps 5 - 9 were: 1:20:49; 1:27:50; 1:31:45;  1:31:45; and 1:56:49 respectively.


Mid-way Aid Station - Awesome Volunteers All Day

Night and Finish.  Sunset had been just after 8:30 pm and although most of the course was tree covered I found I didn't need my head lamp until about 9:15.  I tried working with a head lamp and a lamp at my waist which I found worked relatively well and the entire loop was runnable through the night.  Based on my nausea on the ninth lap, I really cut back on using gel and shifted to more real food, particularly Raman noodles and pasta salad which allowed me to avoid bonking.  I did find that I took a little bit longer through the aid stations and was walking for at least 5-10 minutes after each aid station to let my stomach settle.  I didn't find that it really cooled off until well after midnight either.  By lap 12 I found that between the distance of the day, cumulative distance over the summer and the 700 feet of climbing (and descent) my legs were really tightening up, so I added one or two stretching breaks into lap as well however, I could still run until the last lap.  I moved steadily through the night with first light occurring just before 6 am.  After the mid-way aid station on the 15th lap, my legs had finally tightened up so much that I was really wasn't able to run anymore and walked in the last 4 km of lap.  Completing 120K at 23:06, I decided to shut it down for the day since I had achieved my race objectives, got the 120K need for the Dirty Girls 24 hour belt buckle and decided the risk of injuring of my trashed wasn't worth trying for another couple of kilometres.  My laps times for the night were: 1:35:41;1:34:39; 1:48:58; 1:43:46; 1:51:48; and 2:07:08.  Garmin Connect file.  This was the first race I had used my Garmin's 920XT Ultra Track feature and found it gave mixed results.  Ultra-track shuts down the GPS for sections and then uses the watches accelerometers to work out the distance covered.  I found that the watch was consistently long throughout the day. 

Final Thoughts.  Overall I was satisfied with my effort for the race.  Although I had only achieved my C goal, I had still got in night running, plenty of time on feet, plenty of climbing and had another opportunity to try and figure out my long ultra nutrition.  I think for warm day's I need to further reduce my gel intake (maybe 1/hour) and try more real food in the earlier sections.  Next up is the Creemore Vertical Challenge 75K on 8 August.

Shirt and the 24 Hr Buckle for Making 120K

Seaton Soaker 50K - 9 May 15 & Laurel Highlands Ultramarathon - 13 June 15 - The Ugly Ones

Seaton Soaker 50K - 9 May 2015 - Pickering ON
6:54:05
43/67 Overall and 14/26 M40-49
3rd 50K of 2015 and 7th career ulta
197.8 Miles Raced in 2015

Laurel Highlands Ultra Marathon - 13 June 2015 - Ohiopyle to Seward, PA
Drop at 46 Miles and 13:16:26

Both of the ultra's were ugly events with a bad result at the Seaton Soaker and DNF at Laurel Highland Ultra.

Seaton Soaker 50K. I had added the Seaton Soaker since it worked well to fill out three targeted high mileage weeks and it was less than a 45 minute drive from the house.  My race plan was simple, run comfortably and hopefully take advantage of a relatively flat course to go for a sub-6 hour trail 50K.  The course was two loops of a mostly out & back along with Seaton trail with only a few low climbs and a major water crossing over Duffin's Creek.  The first lap went well and I came through midway in under 3 hours feeling good.  Unfortunately it was the first really warm day of the spring and soon into the second loop the heat along with a cold and allergies caught up with me, slowing me to crawl extending the final loop to nearly four hours.  Garmin Connect File. 

Laurel Highlands Ultra Marathon.  The Laurel Highland Ultra is run along to 70.5 mile length of Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail from Ohiopyle to Seward PA in Laurel Ridge State Park.  I had signed up for the Laurel Highlands Ultra as my spring goal race in hopes of achieving a Western States Endurance Run lottery qualifier.  In the weeks prior I had lost three weeks of training following the Seaton Soaker 50K after getting sick.  Although I went into the race not having peaked as much as I had wished, I still felt decent.  I had talked with a veteran of the race at an Ontario Ultra Series event earlier in season who had told me that the course itself was not overly technical, unfortunately I didn't confirmed that their definition of technical trail matched mine.  I had travelled down on the Thursday prior with my wife and daughter who were crewing me and used Friday to scout out the crew access points.  Although I had a couple of looks at the trail during this, I didn't really think about how technical the trail really was.  My race plan was fairly simple, take it very easy on the climbs at the start onto the ridge (2600' in the first 8.5 miles) and then aim to cruise at 12:00-13:00/mile along the trail.  Race day arrived cool but very damp and humid, with the course having received some good rain overnight.  After the 5:30 am start, I was largely able to stick to my race plan until on top of the ridge when I discovered that the course which was soft but not overly muddy was also much much more rocky then I had planned on.  I found that I was rarely able to run more than about a half of each mile because of the rock nature of the trail which cost me considerable time.  Despite that I still felt fairly decent through to the Pennsylvania Turnpike crossing at 36 miles and was still harbouring some hopes of an 19:30 finish along with a Western States lottery qualifier.  I really started to lose time in the next miles and around 43 mile suffered a hard bonk.  I shambled into the Checkpoint 3 at 46 miles running already three hours behind my race plan.  I made a hard assessment at that point, well behind time, struggling for pace that still might meet the 22 hour cut-off which would mean over 8 hours on headlamp on ankle breaking rocks and decided to call it day & return to fight this course on another day.  Big thanks to my wife and daughter for their support and crewing on a challenging day.  Garmin Connect File. 

Ultra ready or so I thought

The crew checking out the falls at Ohiopyle

Ohiopyle Trailhead

LHHT - slightly better than average

Crossing the Turnpike - Bad Things Were About to Happen

Wisconsin Marathon/Kalamazoo Marathon - 2/3 May 2015 - The Mittens Challlenge

Mittens Challenge

Wisconsin Marathon - 2 May 2015 - Kenosha, WI
3:43:31 Chip
128/762 Overall and  14/62 M40-44
Third 26.2 of 2015 and 24th Career 26.2
14 US State and 30th Career Marathon/Ultra

Kalamazoo Marathon - 3 May 2015 - Kalamazoo, MI
3:56:11 Chip and 3:56:43 Gun
102/503 Overall and 17/48 M40-44
Fourth 26.2 of 2015 and 25th Career 26.2
15 US State

166.8 Miles Raced in 2015

I had seen the Mittens Challenge advertised on the Marathon Maniacs webpage back in 2014 and the Wisconsin Marathon/Kalamazoo Marathon double appealed to me.  It fit nicely into heavy block of work-up training for my spring long ultra and it was within driving distance from Toronto.

Wisconsin Marathon Pre-Race.  My key concern heading into the weekend's races was the state of my ankle after having suffered a moderate sprain in a fall at the Pick Your Poison 50K the weekend before.  Luckily for me ice, rest. compression and Motrin worked and I was off to Kenosha. I spread the drive down to Kenosha over two days, leaving Toronto right after work on Thurs, stopped over night just past Lansing MI and finished the drive for midday on Fri.  Packet pick-up was held at the Best Western in downtown Kenosha but there wasn't really an expo. 

Wisconsin Marathon Start Line

 

Wisconsin Marathon Race Day. Race morning dawned bright and a little cool. I drove to the race and found parking relatively nearby easily.  The race has an early 7am start and although it wasn't corralled the start line wasn't really packed and the start was much better then many races I've run in terms of congestion.  My plan for race day was to find a comfortable groove just under 8:30/mile pace and stick with it. The course was very flat with only 233 total feet of elevation gain for the complete course.  I found a comfortable pace for the first small loop of downtown and then headed north along Lake Michigan with a turn-around just after 8 miles when we headed south again.  The half-marathon headed for home just after we crossed the downtown again.  I found I had a bit of a lull from 11-14 miles but soon after got back in rhythm.  The south leg of the course ran through the lakefront homes of Pleasant Prairie before turning around just north of the Wisconsin/Illinois state line just after 19 miles.  The day had started to heat up soon after 9 am and the last few miles were definitely warm.  By mile 22, I was pretty confident that I'd get a sub 3:45 and eased up for a few miles to save my legs a little for Sunday before a good push for the last mile.  My ankle although a little sore was never really a negative factor in Kenosha.  After finishing, I enjoyed a nice recovery brat and beer.  Link to Garmin Connect. 

Race Done, where's the brat and beer

Transition.  After meeting a few Marathon Maniacs and 50 Sub 4 members after the race, I headed back to my hotel, showered and got on the road for Kalamazoo.  I decided to gamble on driving through downtown Chicago in hopes that on a Saturday afternoon it would proved faster than the Tri-State Toll way but I think I lost that gamble.  I finally pulled into my hotel in Kalamazoo around 7:30 pm , grabbed some dinner, got ready for Sunday's race and got to bed.

Mittens Challenge Runners
Photo - Steve Walters

Kalamazoo Marathon Race Day.  Sunday was another very bright day. The race's website had given me some concern about parking and I made sure to arrive extra early, scoring a parking spot less than 100 yards from the Start/Finish Line. I picked up my race packet at the Mittens Challenge tent and made sure to make the Mittens Picture.  The race gun was at 8am and it was a little more congested than Wisconsin but not too bad.  It took the first couple of miles before I was able to loosen up and get into a groove around 8:40-9:00/mile pace. The race started east of the city and first few miles were downhill toward the Kalamazoo river and downtown.  After crossing downtown, we hit West Michigan University where the course took on a more rolling nature for the next ten miles or so.  We dropped back into the valley after the 16 mile point for about six more miles.  The temperatures on Sunday were a little warmer than on Saturday and hit 75F (24C) by noon.  By the 16 miles some of the runner's were starting to show the effect of the heat although I was OK until around 21 miles by which time my ankle was also really starting to throb as well.  After that it was a tough grind back to the finish, with some more rolling terrain thrown in for good measure and I finished just under 4 hours.  I found the rolling Kalamazoo course ran very similar to Mississippi Blues in Jackson MS, Flying Pig in Cincinnati OH and Route 66 in Tulsa OK.  After a little bit of recovery, it was back to the hotel and the long, sore drive to Toronto.  Link to Garmin Connect. 



The last 5 miles were tough

Mittens Complete

Bling and Travel.  Bling from the Wisconsin Marathon included the normal shirt and medal, a head band and for the "mitteneers" a pair of mittens while at Kalamazoo there was a second medal for completing challenge.  I drove from Toronto to Kenosha, Kalamazoo and return which very achievable for a three day trip.  I booked my hotels late and I ended up staying Gurnee IL since many Kenosha WI hotels were full.  The Kalamazoo hotels were similarly full since the race overlapped with Western Michigan University grad. 

Final Thoughts.  I really enjoyed completing the Mittens Challenge.  It was great opportunity to meet and catch up with many Marathon Maniacs and 50 Sub 4 members including Steve W, Cade R, Glen A and Jenn H.  Now it's back to the trails again for this weekends Seaton "Soaker" 50K on the Seaton Trail in Pickering ON.

Toronto based coaching staff modeling the bling