Background
VHTRC holds back-to-back events on MLK weekend - the first MMT Training run on Saturday, the second the Waterfall (WTF) 50km on Sunday. I thought attempting both in the same weekend would be a fun challenge that would give me a great start to my 100 training and the opportunity to practice both fueling and running on tired legs.
Fueling - my achilles heel
Running is a natural strength of mine. Ultras however, have been aptly described as an eating competition with some running thrown in, something my experience has validated. So far every effort longer than 8 hours, even the successful ones, has seen me throw up at least once.
My fueling plan was to get most of my carbs from fluid with some supplemental gels:
- 60g / 500ml flask - two flasks in my vest
- sips of gel equal to about 1/3 of a PF90 per hour altogether this would net 90 carbs an hour.
During practice I estimated a “typical” swig from the flask to be about 50ml. Aiming for 500ml an hour made the math easy - one swig every 6 minutes. Modern GPS watches have a ton of features including an activity alert that you can set to go off at defined intervals so I set mine for every 6 minutes. The gel calculation wasn’t quite as straight-forward but I knew I needed about 30g/hour and since I was using PF90s that would be 1/3rd of the pouch per hour. My strategy was to take a tiny sip from the gel every other alert, or every 12 minutes.
With my strategy in place it was time to test.
The run
The first training run naturally follows most of the first 32 miles of the 100. The run starts at 6:30am. Since it is a point-to-point we met at the Signal Knob parking lot so we could shuttle down to Moreland Gap Rd. The drive from my parents house to Signal Knob is 1hr 15min so getting there by 5:45 meant a 3:30 wakeup to get fueled and out by 4:30. I had 1.5 bagels with grape jelly right when I got up (~3hours pre-run) and one Neversecond 30g gel an hour before.
It was just below freezing and snow flurries were falling as we gathered on the gravel road for a group photo before being sent on our way. Four of us (Nick, Brennan, Dan & myself) got out to a lead and settled into a nice rhythm for the 4mi climb up the road. We stayed together as we turned to cut through the woods before the first big climb up to the western ridgeline of the valley.
The light flurries made for a beautiful scene as we moved along the single track on the ridgeline. The pace was comfortable and the company was nice. We kept an easy conversational pace and before long were descending off the ridge into the first aid station at Edinburg Gap.
I started the run with Neversecond in both bottles but switched to Tailwinds because I thought filling my bottles would be easier with their single-serving packet. This did not work as well as I hoped and it took longer than I wanted to get them refilled but none of us were in a hurry so I was able to leave with the group. On the way out I grabbed a pancake to go and upon eating it immediately wished I had more - it was delicious!
As we made the second climb up Waonaze last year’s MMT winner Nick put some distance on the rest of us. I knew that Dan was also running WTF the next day and so neither of us were in a rush to chase after him. The section from the summit to Woodstock tower is one of the more runnable sections on the course and we kept a good but still relaxed pace the rest of the way to the second aid station. We stopped for a minute at one of my favorite views on the course - the Woodstock Hang Gliding Site. The North Fork of the Shenandoah river turns on itself in a seemingly endless series of bends down nearly the entire ridge and this spot provides a great birds-eye view (cover photo).
At Woodstock I refilled my bottles again and grabbed a grilled cheese to go. Dan wanted to spend more time so I headed out with Brennan a little bit behind. My fueling had been going really well and I still felt strong - so much so that I decided to run a couple of harder miles and see if I might catch up to Nick. As I clicked off the 3rd mile without catching him I decided I should start backing off and just get to the finish when I ran into Heather. She had taken a spill just before Edinburg but not wanting to end her day hitched a ride to Woodstock and continued on from there. I was glad to have company again and we shared the next six miles as we descended down to the fire roads, around the resevoir and up the last climb of the day.
As we started our last descent around 28.5mi Heather told me to go ahead. I was still feeling good and the next mile just kind of flowed by. As I looked at my watch I realized two sub 9 miles might get me to the finish in under 6 hours. A voice in the back of my head told me to conserve my legs for the next day but I couldn’t help myself. I was having a great time and so I clicked off my two quickest miles of the day.
As I rounded one of the last turns and the parking lot came into view behind the trees so did Nick. I had imagined him waiting in the lot so I was surprised to see him just ahead. Despite it being a training run - not a race - my competitive side got the better of me and I used the excuse of getting in under 6 hours to overtake him about 30 yards from the lot. In hindsight this might not have been the most polite way to end the run. He didn’t seem upset though and we chatted for a while afterward.
Chef Jeff was cooking up a storm and I had what may have been the best grilled cheese of my life - compliments to the Chef!
I waited for a few more people to finish including Dan, Brennan and Heather before making the long drive home to recover for WTF.
Many thanks to the (as usual) awesome VHTRC volunteers who made the run possible!