Zumbro 50 Pre-race Notes

Midnight start.
~3000 feet of elevation increase per loop.
50 miles.
18 hour cutoff.

These are just some of the thoughts going through my head as race day nears. Overall, I feel as prepared as I'm going to be. I've run more miles by this point in the year than ever before. While I haven't done as much hill work as I probably should have, I think I'll be ok.

My main objective is to finish the race. Here are my goals:

1. < 15 hours
2. 15-17 hours
3. Just finish and beat the 18 hour cutoff

It's going to come down to a handful of factors:

• pacing, in terms of keeping my pace under control early in the race
• blister prevention and maintenance
• eating real food
• hydration

I am most concerned with over-doing my pace early in the race. My plan is to run easy, walk/hike the uphills and run the downhills. If I can complete the first lap around 4-4:30, I'll feel good. That will be fast enough without killing myself. I plan to fire off my garmin when the race starts and will use that to keep control of my pace as long as the watch will last...probably about 20-25 miles. After that, pace won't matter as much as just finishing. I also plan to wear my Timex Ironman watch so I have an idea of the time of day after the Garmin loses power.

After Surf the Murph 50k, I had a large blister on the tip of my left pinky toe. A few days later, an entire cap of skin fell off that toe. For this race, I plan to tape both pinky toes with special tape that has worked well and kept me blister-free during training. I also will lubricate all my toes and the bottoms of my feet.

During my previous trail races, I have had good luck keeping my stomach happy by eating real food. I know that gels don't always sit well with my stomach, so I'll plan to hit the real food - pb&j sandwiches, pretzels, ginger ale, fruit, etc and whatever else looks good.

Earlier this winter, I had thought about not using the hydration bladder in my Nathan pack. But, I think I was over-thinking things and have decided to just use it. It refills pretty easily and I will plan to top it off as frequently as I need to - probably at every other aid station. I just need to keep drinking water, taking salt sticks and adding in some Heed drink or other electrolyte replacement drink as well.

Overall, I think I have things dialed in pretty well. Now I just need to execute. I'm excited to run this race and to run it with a group of people I know. Also getting to share my first 50 miler with Stu is pretty cool.

Zumbro Update

Well, here I am, inching ever closer to the big day - the day I run my first 50 mile trail ultra. Funny thing is, as I get closer to the day, I seem to be getting less nervous. I seem to have taken on more of a "well, if I'm not prepared enough by now" approach. Truth be told, aside from having to take a recent week off to recover from a mild concussion (from a fall I took while training, of course), training has gone well. My body has adapted and running feels good.

Course Map
The Zumbro course is a 16.7 mile loop with slightly less than 3000 feet of elevation gain per loop. For comparison's sake, the course for Surf The Murph has 2000 feet of elevation gain per loop (very similar distance per loop). So, while I know Zumbro to be a hilly course, I don't feel it will be that much different from Surf The Murph...well, except for running an extra loop to get to 50 miles!

Race Day
We plan to head down to Zumbro after work on raceday (the race starts at midnight Friday - early Saturday). Race check-in opens at 10:30 and then we'll be off at midnight.

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My first 50k

Well, here I am, a little less than two weeks away from running my first 50k - on Saturday, October 24th I will be running the Surf The Murph 50k. I signed up for this race about 4 weeks ago and knew it would be a compressed training plan. That said, I got in somewhat of a routine for my normal runs and managed to fit in a 17 mile run (5 weeks out) and a 22 mile run (4 weeks out) before dropping the idea of one more long run while dealing with a head cold followed by stomach flu.

But I feel strong physically and more importantly, mentally. Just knowing I completed a trail marathon on a somewhat tougher course than what Surf the Murph will be run on, makes me feel confident.

My strategy for this race is to take it easy in the early portion, especially on the hills. After I get through the hills again on the second lap, then I can see if I want to (or even can) kick it in a little bit. But if I'm able to just run a consistent race and feel reasonably well afterward, then I will consider it a success. A key component of this strategy will be eating real food. That made such a difference while running Curnow versus chugging gels like I did during my pre-Curnow long runs. My stomach felt great the entire time.

Gear:
I went ahead and bought another pair of Hoka Mafate Speeds. I have liked this shoe despite a few others telling me that they did not. The reason I bought another pair is that some of the traction has worn away on my first pair and I feel like I may need it for the race.

I also just picked up a pair of Injinji toe socks. I seem to have the blister thing under control, except for a couple spots between my toes. So I thought I would give these socks a try and see if they help.

What's Next?

Since completing the Curnow Marathon back in July, I've been kept busy in a number of ways and have yet to run another race. And actually, have not been running as consistently as I would like. But getting two kids ready and dropped off at college as well as following another kid's lacrosse team progress will do that to you!

Now that Labor Day weekend has come and gone and we are beginning to see some signs of the beautiful fall weather that Minnesota is known for, I am more determined than ever to continue on my running program and keep my fitness levels high. One of my more recent revelations is that I am about 250 miles away from running 1000 miles for the calendar year. While this may be easily achieved by more seasoned runners, I have not come within 500 miles of this milestone in my life! So goal #1 for the remainder of the year is to run consistently and smash through that barrier.

Next on my list is to find a few local races to run during the fall months. With that in mind, I just signed up for my first 50k trail race on October 24th. It's called Surf the Murph and is held in Murphy-Hanrehan Park in Savage, MN. I have come up with a fairly compact training plan since the race is just over 5 weeks away. Thankfully it should be more of a ramping back up effort than building from scratch.

Other races I am considering in the coming months:

Frozen Otter (64 or 32 miles) -   January 2016
Trail Mix 50k - April 2016
Superior Spring Trail 50k - May 2016
Grandma's Marathon - June 2016
Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon - July 2016
Superior Fall Trail 50m - August 2016

This list is a bit aggressive and I may not be able to run them all. Time will tell. The only one of the above races I have run is the Curnow Marathon. I would like to take another shot at it and see if I can improve my time.

Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon Race Notes

On Saturday, July 11th, 2015 I ran the Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon.

I drove up to Cloquet on Friday, the 10th and got checked into my hotel. Then I headed over to The Jack to watch my friend's band rehearse for a couple hours. We grabbed dinner afterward at a local Mexican place. I tried to be careful about what I ordered and ended up getting the fish tacos. They turned out to be the perfect choice - not too heavy or greasy and tasted great!

Shortly after dinner I headed back to my hotel and took some time to organize things for the morning. At this point, I didn't really feel race jitters. I was more concerned with oversleeping and missing the race altogether! I ended up setting five alarms on my phone and one on my computer. I watched a little TV and then called it a night. It wasn't the soundest sleep, but it felt good. I woke up with my first alarm at 3:20, snoozed once and hopped out of bed. Then I made some coffee and oatmeal to help wake up my body and started getting dressed. By 4:15, I was ready to roll. Since the hotel wouldn't do a checkout later than noon, I took everything with me and headed to Carlton.

Once I found a parking spot where I wouldn't get towed, I grabbed my hydration pack and drop bag and walked over to the Munger Trail parking lot - a couple blocks away. Not sure what to expect, I was pleased to see three school buses parked and waiting for runners. I got into the first one and found a seat. Not 30 seconds later, friends Stu and Jay climbed aboard and sat immediately behind me. I spent the next 30 minutes or so catching up with the guys and gleaning any helpful tips that I could. The guy I shared my seat with had run the Curnow 12 times and told me that if I remember nothing else to "pick your feet up". That seemed reasonable.

Once we arrived at the race start next door to the Duluth Zoo, we grabbed a picnic table, signed in at the registration table and met up with the rest of our crew. It was great seeing so many friends both old and new. After sharing some bug spray and taking care of a few last minute items, we were ready to go. The trail from the start is nice and wide and brings you up to the top of Spirit Mountain in what seemed to me to be a nice, gradual ascent. The view from there was great!

After reaching the top of Spirit Mountain, we ran some rolling hills and down into a valley and out again a couple of times. My memory of this part of the course is a little fuzzy for some reason. Probably due to the time Jay and I spent catching up along the way. It's funny how much can happen in the timespan of twenty-five years! We had plenty of talking to do. I do recall that I was working hard to stay on top of my pace and felt pretty good holding tight between 12-13 minutes/mile. This might seem like a pretty slow pace, but it was intentional as I knew what was ahead. During a larger chunk of this time we were on a large loop that brought us to the Seven Bridges AS. Leading up to this point, I had grazed at the aid stations and refilled my hydration bladder at every other. As we would be heading onto the power lines soon after this AS, I made sure to fill my pack again and topped it off with ice. I also ate some salted watermelon, bananas and chips and swigged it down with PowerAid and ginger ale.

After reading as much as I could about the power lines, I ultimately was not surprised by anything I found. The first hill was quite muddy and steep, but after that the remaining ups and downs were fairly dry and I was able to keep my footing pretty well. Here's a shot of that first hill:

The power lines were tough. After climbing several more hills of varying length and grades, we headed into the woods for a bit and then hit Purgatory - a smaller section of power line with two very tough hills. After that we were brought into the Grand Portage AS where I took some time to refill the water bladder and eat some more fruit.

After refueling, I began a slow climb into Jay Cooke. I was at the tail end of a group of other runners that were hiking this section for the most part. During the uphills, I was fine hiking, but once it leveled off a bit, I decided to pass this group and continue on my way to the next aid station. While much of this section looked familiar from my training run on Father's Day, I was slightly confused as it seemed we were running the wrong direction. But I kept following the trail markers and signs and soon enough took a left and was led into Peterson's aid station. Of all the aid stations, I think this was one of my favorites. There was a group of about 30 spectators cheering each runner as they came in and the volunteers were tremendous as usual. I had decided to move through this one more efficiently so I could stay ahead of the folks I had passed. So I grabbed more salted watermelon, chips, ginger ale and coke, refilled by hydration pack and hit the trail.

Coming out of Peterson's the trail took me down into and out of Gill Creek. This was a pretty tough part of the course - not super technical, but the hills and switchbacks were draining. After that, the course went out onto the paved Munger Trail for a bit. While the smooth, level bike path was nice in some respects, it also felt hot and hard. I was glad to veer back onto dirt trail as I headed toward the Forbay AS. Coming into Forbay, I noticed a spectator with a funny grin on her face and realized that must be Jay's wife as she had 6 pb&j sandwiches in her hand. Jay had called ahead and requested these and I even asked for one for myself. So I introduced myself, grabbed a sandwich, thanked her and hit the tables. Jeff Rock was working this AS and snapping pics the whole while I was there. He also was very helpful, asking questions, recommending S-Caps (I took two) and offering general advice about what the remaining course was like. At one point during my stop at Forbay, I noticed swelling in both hands and showed Jeff my "sausage fingers". He told me to just keep clenching and unclenching my fists to keep the fluids moving.

I don't remember anything too specific about the trail leading out of Forbay, other than running across the new spillway built after the floods of 2012 destroyed the old one. It was very hot and dry running in this first portion of the trail out of the AS, but then we were back in the woods on the Carlton Trail (I believe) which led us along to the last aid station right before the famous swinging bridge.

After re-fueling and topping off my water I took off down the trail to tackle the last 3.4 miles to the finish. I snapped the picture above right before crossing the bridge. As I ran across, I realized with each step that I was making the bridge bounce slightly and it seemed to make some of the tourists uncomfortable. What can you do?

This last section of the race course was not especially hilly, but it made up for it with its rocks and roots. Normally, I might have tried running/hopping along on a trail like this, but in my fatigued state decided it would be much safer to power hike and keep my skull intact. The scenery in this section was beautiful as the trail wound along parallel to the St. Louis River. Besides the rocks and roots, there was one fun little rock ledge to cross and then some rocky steps to descend, but nothing too bad. As I left Forbay, I realized I had a shot at finishing under 7 hours, but by this point knew that wouldn't be the case. I kept chugging along and finally found some runnable trail which led me up to the Munger Trail again. At this point, I knew it wasn't far to the finish and ran into a couple runners that I had seen on the trail coming back to cheer their friends on. So I picked up the pace and was able to run in at a decent clip (decent after having run for 7 hours). It felt great to cross that finish line, have the Curnow medallion draped over my head and know that I was done.

Overall, I was really happy with how the race went. Leading up to the race, I was confident that I could run the distance, but not sure what the power lines and other hills would do to me. In the end, my plan to go easy during the early part of the race proved to be a good one. I was able to finish the race in a time that was faster than expected and I had no stomach issues whatsoever.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Eating real food was key to keeping my stomach happy. Salted watermelon (which I've never liked before), bananas and potato chips were my mainstays during the race. I also drank PowerAid, ginger ale, some coke and also water.
• At the Forbay AS, I took two S-Caps. I was a little apprehensive since I hadn't tried them before and didn't want anything to mess up my stomach, but it was so hot and I really wanted to avoid cramping. So I took them and had no problems either way.
• I ended up not using anything from my drop bag. I considered changing socks, but in the interest of time decided not to. In the end I had one small blister on one toe on my left foot. Other than that, my feet were in great shape afterwards thanks to the combo of my Hokas and SmartWool socks.

Pictures

The view from on top of Spirit Mountain

Running a ridgeline trail with dropoffs on both sides

Fond Du Lac AS with creek bed in the background

More Fond Du Lac AS

Power Lines!!!

On top of a power line trail

Going up a steep, muddy trail

Mud! I stepped in a deep hole with both feet. What can you do? I ran through the next creek that I encountered to rinse off a bit.

A long view of the power line trail.

Not sure what body of water this is. Was thinking Thomson Reservoir.

After the main power line section, you run through some woods and then...more power lines. The last two power line hills are known as Purgatory.

Game face

I was never so glad to see the swinging bridge. Can't be long now!

This last section was the rootiest, rockiest of any of the previous sections and made for slow going. I hiked most of it, ran when I felt I could do so safely and was able to run it in to the finish once the trail improved.

Ahhh, it felt good to sit down!

Finishers medallion

and, the shirt.