Iron Legs 50 Miler
Sep 20, 2015
Preparation: I previously discussed my marathon training in my blog titled “Another Cross off the Bucket List”. After this June 7th/2015 marathon my training fell off for a few weeks due to illness and a big toe injury. This put me out for about a month. When early July came along I was highly debating continuing my training for a double that distance in the mountains. Luckily my running partners (living in Calgary) convinced me otherwise. I had three solid weekends of big runs before tapering. Dustin Fraser, Josh Bishop and I had an amazing run experience at Floe Lake, B.C, climbing Numa Pass and ditching a raft on the Vermillion River to get us back to our car after a long 30+km. And then preceding that day Dustin and I power hiked Ha Ling peak in Canmore, Alberta in just over an hour up and down. It was that day that I felt a little nervous about my readiness for Iron Legs 2015.
Again, I decided I would go forward with my training and approximately 2 weeks prior to the big day I ran just over 3 hours, 2 days in a row to practice running on tired legs. I enjoyed this with the company of wildlife between Banff and Canmore and also up Mount Rundle in the beautiful Rockies. In between these runs I enjoyed the amazing Canmore Folk Music Festival in my high school town of Canmore as well; what a wonderful way to spend a weekend, and with flawless weather. After this I tapered for approximately 2 weeks with 2 runs/week of 5-10km. I was still lethargic from my double long days 4 days prior to my event, so I rested completely and hoped for the best.
In my last blog I focused on my training schedule. Although this was important I am going to focus more on my experience through the race and my food/energy plan as I found this detrimental to my success. It was after bonking for the first time ever 21km into Floe Lake that I realized the importance of planning food/hydration for my upcoming event. Being the amateur I was, I had never ate much of anything during training and with little to no hydration. NOT SMART. I was worried so much about the planning that I definitely over-planned, but this was better than being stuck halfway without rations.
Initially we set off with our now favorite ultra-food. Boiled, oiled and salted baby potatoes!! (thank you James Dean, Josh B, and Graham for the suggestion). This was in combination with a 2L Camel pack, gels, CLIFF bars, PB & J’s, meat sandwiches and wine gums. Our initial plan compared to my actual food/ energy/ hydration plan is shown below. I used NUUN electrolyte tablets (3/day) 2days prior to my race and never used electrolyte tabs/salt pills/ Gatorade for hydration otherwise. Just plain old water and something new to me… COKE.
INITIAL MEAL PLAN/ACTUAL MEAL PLAN
Bagel and a Banana/Bagel and a Banana
1 Gel (GU) 15 min prior, 1 gel every 45 minutes/1 Gel 15 min prior, 1 gel every 30 min thereafter
1 CLIFF bar/ hour/½ a CLIFF bar TOTAL (too dry and hard to eat)
1 baby potato/ 30 min/2 baby potatoes/30min (luckily we over-planned this one)
0 COKE/250ml COKE at 6/6 AID stations
Water was not planned (I drank water as I felt I needed it and with all food)/+ 1 glass of water/ AID station
2 meat sandwiches and 2 PB & Js/1.5 PB & Js (I only ate this because I felt like it would do me good, also dry and hard to eat)- halfway and ¾ of the way
Wine gums intermittent/3 wine gums TOTAL (hard to eat in the cold weather)
As you can see there were some areas in which we over-planned but overall I think we did well for our first race. You can also see that we would normally have something (gel or potato) every ~15minutes. I shouldn’t forget to mention we also prepared a few cold beer for the end of the race!
The Race and my experience:
LEG 1: Station Flats to Powderface Aid Station (10.5km)
We woke up at 3:45 A.M for our ride to Bragg Creek. The pitch dark morning and pouring rain did not add to our excitement for race day but we realized it would be easier than running in 30deg weather. 6:00A.M was race start time and the unanticipated weather made for more decisions on layering of clothes. READY, SET, GO! We were on our way, kilometer 1/87! Our initial plan of pacing was short lived for the first section of the race as we were over excited to remain near the leaders and terrain included some decent downhill’s and mellow uphill’s. It was a good way to start the race and helped with motivation, but we knew we would have to slow down for the rest of the race. Only 5 km into the race, on a steep downhill, I took my first bail in front of 7 racers, head first, causing a decent wrist sprain and banged up knee, luckily no serious injury. Other than that this leg went really well and we were earlier than planned for our first checkpoint, once again keeping motivation high. Once we reached checkpoint one we realized we had over-planned as the majority of our supplies was also supplied at the aid stations. Lesson learned. At each aid station we stayed anywhere between 5-10min. As I experienced these aid stations I quickly learned how to better my time in future races; Carry less, and move on quickly. This is where the majority of the competition would either make ground or pass us.
LEG 2: Powderface Aid Station to Little Elbow Aid Station (23.75km)
The darkness was gone, but so were the mellow uphills. This leg took us up to the top of Powderface ridge, our first major climb. I was glad my expectation on the grade of climb was high. Having trained on Rocky Mountains in Canmore, I was pleasantly surprised by the grade of climb. Once again further motivating me toward the finish. During this leg we also ran into our first major issue. At the top of Powderface Ridge there was poor flagging, forcing us to make a decision on which way to go. After running approximately 1km we were still unable to locate flagging and were nervous about going forward in the wrong direction. We then decided to head back UP hill to the previous flag point to decide if our direction was right. We were still unable to do so and luckily a fellow racer passing this point was familiar with the course. Turns out we were on the right course in the first place and it wasn’t until almost 3-4km that we located the first flag!! Very frustrating as were we still on just the first quarter of our race. Another 10-12min lost, but another way to improve on my next race! This left for a lengthy downhill descent into our 2nd checkpoint. Early again! So early that our support team (our wives) missed us by 5 minutes! I guess we would see them at our halfway point!
LEG 3: Little Elbow Aid Station to Ford Creek Aid Station (39.5km)
This leg of the race seemed quite drawn out and was inaccessible by our support crew. It was a long 15+ km with an even amount of up and downhill. It was on this leg of the race where I realized another strategy to training I will have to work on. During this stage of the race we constantly flip-flopped our lead with our closest competitors. We would pass people consistently on the uphill’s and then get passed on our downhill’s. Maybe it was our Physical Therapist minds protecting ourselves from injury on the downhill’s, but I will definitely be doing some focused training on downhill speed in my next race. It was also on this leg of the race where my running partner started to have IT Band Syndrome (another Blog of mine you can find on our website). Downhill’s quickly became a struggle for him, but he seemed to manage well through flats and uphill’s. Over the next two stages of the race I would wait a little bit longer for him at our checkpoints as I knew he would at least be able to manage up to the top of Moose Mountain.
LEG 4: Ford Creek Aid Station to Powderface Aid Station (48.5km)
This was a fairly short leg of the race, mainly uphill to our just over half way point, and the first time we would see our support crew! I was quite motivated through this section as I knew it was short and I knew we would be on route to the other half of the course. Prior to reaching this aid station I started to have back pain radiating to my lateral foot (not completely unusual for me, but fairly debilitating in a race situation). On reaching this station I had two Advil which dulled the pain for the rest of the race. The hips were fatigued and sore at this point but much to be expected, and so far no stomach or cramping issues.
LEG 5: Powderface Aid Station to Moose Packers Aid Station (62.4km)
Another lengthy leg of the race following a mountain biking trail, mainly uphill toward Moose Packers Aid Station. I found this leg to be the hardest of the race. I found that I was so amped for Leg 6 that I was not expecting the length and uphill battle that this leg had to offer. Luckily our consistency in pace allowed us to make good ground on a number of racers in this section. It was highly necessary in this section to continue hydration and food intake as it was the closest I came to ‘bonking.’ The small section of downhill towards the next aid station was by far the most rugged in the race, further pounding my ankles into near submission.
LEG 6: Moose Packers to Moose Packers (73.6km)
The infamous Moose Mountain peak. 5.1km up and 5.1km down. Upon arriving to this station we were notified of the harsh conditions at the top of the mountain. I was then persuaded (was initially stubborn) to wear a poncho (my 4th layer!). An uphill battle from switchback to switchback led us to our destination and a pair of AMAZING race volunteers to check us in. These volunteers stood in ICE RAIN, in very windy and near hailing conditions. Shout out to them for their efforts in this race. At this point I was unbelievably cold and soaking wet with hands that no longer worked. My only motivation was the downhill ahead and the imagery of the warmer conditions below the summit. It took me the full 5.1km to warm up. Unfortunately for my sidekick, from the top of the mountain to finish was almost fully downhill so I had to finish the race alone (eventually he made it). It was at this final checkpoint that I learned that the race/terrain had caused a major setback to my other friend. He had sustained a major gr2-3 ankle sprain just 15 min into the race. He was unable to complete Moss Mountain but was still able to finish over 70km of the race!
LEG 7: Moose Packers Aid Station to FINISH at Station Flats (86.6km)
By far the best leg of my race. Mainly downhill my motivation to finish was very high. I knew I was close to my initial goal of 12hours and wanted to push the limits of that goal. I probably passed a good 4 individuals in this section and finished in under 1.5 hours. Total time ~12hr30min. With the above changes to my race plan I could have easily taken this goal and even better. I was very happy with a near top 10 finish in my first ever ultramarathon. Next stop…. IronMan?
Should you have any questions or concerns or would like to book an appointment to discuss your running injuries or needs, please contact me at our Dynamic location (780-458-8505) or visit our website at activephysioworks.com
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