Here’s the promised recap on my Miwok 100K race from May 7th.
3:00am wake up was tough but had a small bowl of oatmeal, a coffee, banana and arrived at 4:15 for a 5:00am start. All went well except they had no course drink or even water there! But I found an outdoor water hose to fill up my bottle. I also put my phone down when pinning on my bib and fortunately it was in lost and found when finished. But no on course pictures from me this time (which was probably a good idea since it rained pretty hard)
Over 500 runners at the start so I stayed near the front to avoid too much crowding. It was dark and used a strong small flashlight which I prefer over a headlamp. The first 2.5 miles were very steep uphill.. lots of steps to climb and impossible to pass. So just kept it easy. At the top of the climb there was a bagpipe player to serenade the runners.. still in the dark and somewhat foggy.. it was beautiful and felt like what I would imagine it like running through the Scottish Headlands 🙂
The first 30 miles were perfect weather conditions. Cool, overcast, some fog, light winds and I made good time running almost all the uphills and picking things up nicely on the flats and downhills without overdoing it. Was averaging about 10 min pace through here even with the short aid stations stops and needing to walk some sections.
I had one issue which was a knot in my left calf. It started in the first few miles and caused some concern but I it sort of came and went in intensity and never presented a big issue.
Around mile 35 it started to rain. Not heavy at first but after 4 or 5 miles it was coming down stronger and the winds picked up. My shoes and socks were soaked.. mainly from running through the tall grass that covered the single track in places. Oh well.. at least I had put a good covering of Trail Toes gel on my feet to protect from blisters and wore wool socks (Pearl Izumi) which are really good in the rain.
Things got a bit dicey around mile 40 as I continued to feel colder, especially my hands. I stopped at one aid station and switched my hat with a polar tec beanie. I also used my l’eau-go bottle holder as a neoprene glove which helped out. The forest sections were slightly more protected from the rain and from about mile 45 on the rains lessened and I warmed up again.
Puddles had formed here and there.. most could be avoided by running to the side but the mud was getting worse and I had to run directly through a couple ankle deep puddles as there was no way around.
My nutrition plan was to start eating after 3hours or so. I had a Lara bar starting at 3.5 hours and would grab a PB&J quarter sandwich at most aid stations. Also was refilling with the course energy drink, Tailwind, which is my favorite these days. It was mixed very weak.. I could hardly taste it so probably only about 100 calories for every 20 oz bottle.
So about 600 calories from Tailwind, 4 larabars (880 cal) and 4 PB&J quarters (200 cal) for a total of 1680 calories over 11hrs. The rest of the energy was provided by keeping the HR low and burning a higher percentage of fat for fuel.
The energy stayed fairly high the entire race and had no GI issues. It got mentally tough during the final 5 miles because I actually thought I was closer and these miles just stretched out. The toughest part of the race for me was the last couple downhill miles on the dipsea section of the course. The trail was very steep switchbacks through the forest with steps at every turn. The steps were slippery from the mud/rain and my ability to ‘fast step’ on the technical stuff was not very good. I was able to pick up the pace between the steps but really concerned about slipping on the steps. So I kept it slow and steady. Unfortunately I was a little too slow and steady and was passed by someone in my age group in the last 1/2 mile! Oh well it was a successful day by all other measures. Here are some stats:
11:09:23
30th overall (288 finishers)
2nd AG (50-59 age group)
average pace 10:53
average HR 136
miles/pace/aveHR/maxHR
1 12:36 139 158
2 15:29 141 154
3 10:38 141 148
4 9:11 126 139
5 8:05 120 126
6 8:53 123 134
7 9:20 131 139
8 8:12 132 143
9 8:17 138 144
10 10:48 154 162
11 9:58 158 170
12 8:11 138 162
13 9:01 129 149
14 10:41 156 161
15 9:08 145 160
16 9:19 144 158
17 9:01 135 142
18 9:45 138 159
19 7:40 131 136
20 8:34 139 146
21 11:33 153 160
22 10:19 152 163
23 9:45 148 158
24 9:39 139 156
25 8:48 134 145
26 10:56 133 144
27 12:38 151 162
28 12:41 142 160
29 10:01 139 160
30 10:35 139 151
31 9:30 145 154
32 9:33 143 148
33 12:51 155 162
34 12:24 153 159
35 13:56 144 155
36 12:08 140 150
37 11:48 136 150
38 12:20 142 151
39 10:10 138 152
40 10:32 136 146
41 10:11 130 141
42 15:46 127 146
43 11:44 126 137
44 12:56 125 144
45 10:20 129 140
46 10:21 130 140
47 9:51 122 133
48 9:41 124 130
49 16:23 132 148
50 14:29 136 145
51 9:49 135 144
52 11:20 135 144
53 11:08 134 144
54 11:40 128 140
55 14:36 121 138
56 12:15 135 142
57 10:22 138 145
58 10:47 139 147
59 10:32 131 141
60 9:20 127 137
61 15:30 110 125
.5 11:06 113 125
averages:
10:53 136 147