Promise Land 50k++ GPS Data

This is a link to my Garmin data from the race.

Promise Land 50k++ by sburn88 at Garmin Connect - Details

Promise Land 50k++ Race Report

Pre-Pre-Race Expectations and Plans

I knew little about this race other than it has a beautiful course and almost 8000' of elevation gain. The latter piece information stood out in my mind; I live in Washington, DC and my average 10 mile run in Rock Creek Park (the most "mountainous" terrain available) gains less than 1000'. Needless to say, I had no idea how my body would respond to this much climbing. 

I went into this race exactly four weeks after the National Marathon, so I felt fully healed and fit. My ultimate goal was to pace myself well and to finish in a respectable time. Basically, I didn't want to blow up 15 miles into the race.

Pre-Race

I'll admit it - I get the pre-race jitters pretty badly. The anxiety set in on Friday morning, when I felt that it was necessary to pack more running clothing than I usually wear in a week. I also packed a ton of food.

Fortunately, I did not have to make the four-hour plus trip to Promise Land on my own as I was joined by well-established ultrarunners Keith Knipling, Ragan Petrie, and Amy Lane. Keith has run Promise Land a million times and he bestowed his wisdom on the rest of us. 

We arrived at Promise Land at about 7PM on Friday night to find Dr. David Horton giving the pre-race speech. I quickly assembled my tent and hurried over to grab some pizza and listen to Dr. Horton. I got there just in time to have some schwag thrown my way including a book and a Montrail T-shirt.  

The rest of the night was somewhat awkward because I didn't know anyone. I resigned to my tent around 9:30PM and settled in for a restless night.

 My home the night before the race...

Start to AS2


My iPhone read 4:00AM. Good enough for me - I wasn't going to sleep anymore. I felt bloated and somewhat flat. What a great way to start a race! But I drank some coffee, ate a bagel, and drank some more coffee. Finally, I filled up my handheld and added 1.5 Nuun tablets. I carried a small plastic bag with a few Nuun tabs to make ward off cramping and other potential mishaps (e.g. hyponatremia).

I hate standing around, but 5:30AM came around and we were off; it happened before I even had time to think about it. I simply ran up and into the darkness. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew one thing for certain: I wasn't going to stop. I quickly "relaxed" into a pace up the hill and found myself passing those who decided to hike a bit. I felt too good to stop running, though, so I kept going.

I hit AS1 at about 30 minutes and hit the singletrack (still uphill!). I paced off of Frank Gonzalez who ended up finishing 5th, about 10 min. ahead of me. He is strong on the uphills, but man does he kill it going downhill! He made me realize that I need to work on my turnover.

Anyways, AS2 came and I grabbed some more water and a small PBJ and booked it.

AS2 to Right before Apple Orchard Falls


We really cruised for a few miles on the fire road. I love fire road now! It's so forgiving - nothing like pounding on pavement. Frank and I cruised through Sunset Fields...and then he dropped me. Apparently I need to work on my technical descents. I swear he was gone in 5 seconds. I just thought, "Hey, I don't want to die going down here. I'd rather finish the race in one piece." So, I kept a comfortable pace and just cruised the downhill, past the next AS and onto the pavement. This section was odd because my legs were feeling alright but they didn't want to go very fast - I was only able to keep about a 7:00/mile pace for the 2 road miles. Some dude was on my tail here but I dropped him as soon as we hit the trail again.

This section was nice, I just took it easy on the uphills and cruised on the downhills. Again, I need to work on my downhill skills, because I know that if I were a better downhiller, I would have taken off at least 15 minutes overall.

I felt a bit crappy going into the AS before Apple Orchard Falls, so I grabbed a bunch of food: PBJ, pretzels and something else.

Apple Orchard Falls to the Finish


The Falls were pure torture. I was trading places with this one dude (who was a really nice guy, but it's still a race) and I just tried to run as much as possible. Which wasn't much. It hurt, I'm not gonna lie.

I think I dropped that dude right before the Sunset Fields AS where I proceeded to shove as much food in my mouth as possible. At this point, I felt home free. I was stoked and just cruised the fire road and singletrack past AS1 and onto the gravel road.

There is only one thing that I have to say about the gravel road: longest 3 miles EVER.

So, I finished 6th overall in 5:18:44. I was very happy with this performance and I learned a lot about what I am capable of. (1) I'm pretty good on the uphills.
(2) I'm not quite as good on the downhills. I need to work on this.

 The start line.

 We climbed that...

The elevation profile.

Weekly Summary - 4/4 - 4/10

Mon. 4/4: 7.5 mi. Rock Creek Park Loop (1:07:12)

Tues. 4/5: 60 min. easy on treadmill - about 7.5 mi. (1:00:00)

Wed. 4/6: 6 mi. Rock Creek Park Loop. (53:04)

Thurs. 4/7: 7 miles at the track. 23 min. fartlek @ low-end threshold pace. (48:31)

Fri. 4/8: 9 mi. loop through Dumbarton Oaks, Glover Archibold Trail (1:13:44)

Sat. 4/9: 6.2 mi. easy on treadmill. (51:37)

Sun. 4/10: 2 mi. warmup + 4.97 mi. race. (see below for race report)

Summary:

Time: 6:23:02 (as recorded by Garmin Forerunner 305)
Distance: about 50 miles (+/- 3)

Rockstar 8k - Sunday April 10, 2011

I decided to run a short(er) road race last weekend as a fitness check two weeks after the National Marathon. This was a small, fun race run by Potomac River Running Co. I had never run a road 8k (or 10k, for that matter), so I didn't have a solid goal time. I figured that I could probably run at a sub-6 min/mile pace, so I decided anything under 30 minutes would be great. Initially, I hoped to hold a 5:30/mile pace, but the course was pretty hilly - about 400' of elevation gain over 5 miles.

I finished in 29:17, a 5:54/mile pace. This time was good enough for 4th place overall and 1st place in the M18-24 category. Not a bad way to begin the day.

This was taken at the finish. Looks like I'm hovering...

3rd Place M18-24 Age Group National Marathon!

So, I thought I had finished 4th in my age group, but the final results were posted this morning and I was actually 3rd! So, I get a plaque and stuff - pretty cool! Also, my "official" time was 3 seconds faster than I had previously posted - 2:52:46. Still wish I could have broken 2:50, but there's always next time!

Sun Trust National Marathon 3/26/2011 - 2:52:49

Last Saturday 3/26, I raced in the Sun Trust National Marathon. I went in with the goal of finishing in 2:50, a 6:30/mile pace. I was nervous because I'd never run further than about 8 miles at this pace. Further, I could barely sleep the night before. But I still went into the race with high spirits. 

The race started at 7AM, at the same time as the Half-Marathon, and I had to push my way through quite a few people before I felt comfortable. It didn't take me long to settle into pace, though. I couldn't believe it - I was running comfortably at a sub-6:30 pace (according to my Garmin)! In fact, I had to actively slow myself down to keep from going sub-6. 

The 10k mark was in DuPont Circle and was accompanied by the largest crowds as well as my mom and my girlfriend. I felt awesome! My mile split with the CT Ave. hill was 6:48 without (subjectively) spiking my heart rate.

Right after the 10k mark, I began running with a couple of guys with a similar goal time. We talked and the miles passed quickly. We came through the 1/2 marathon checkpoint at 1:25:12 - right on target and exactly a 6:30/mile pace. At this point, I could feel my legs beginning to get a little bit heavy but not too bad. It was great to have a couple of people to keep on pace. 

I think it was about mile 20 where I started to lose it. The mile 20 split was perfectly even, around 2:09 and still an even 6:30/mile pace. My lower back hurt like crazy and my quads were on fire from some of the earlier descents. However, I managed to keep even splits up to mile 22. I found myself dropping behind the two guys that I had been running with and felt helpless to keep up with them. This was hard to accept, but I just pushed as hard as I could. My mile times did drop by about 20 sec/mile, but I knew that I would still finish well sub-3:00 and tried to keep my spirits up. 

Miles 24-26 were a blur. My tank was empty. But I pushed an finished in 2:52:49. This was a 21 minute PR and a huge accomplishment. Of course I wish that I could have held my perfectly even pace for the last 4 miles, but I'm trying to be optimistic. This was only my 3rd marathon; I've got plenty of time to improve. I am confident that with more similar training I will be able to keep dropping my times. 

If there is one thing that running the marathon distance has taught me, it is that you can do anything that you set your mind to. Three years ago, I was overweight, lazy, and a smoker. I never EVER would have imagined myself to accomplish what I have. I would go so far as to say that running saved my life. I honestly believe that I am a better person because of it. I hope that I never forget what it has done for me and that I never lose passion for this incredibly simple sport.

****Photo courtesy of M.V. Janzen's Flickr****

It's Been A While

It's been a while since I've updated this thing. For the past month, I was very focused on preparing for the Sun Trust National Marathon, which I ran on 3/26/11 (see race report above). From about 3/7-3/12 (I think), I was in Puerto Rico. There, I logged about 70 miles and did a 22 miler at home in CT for a total of 90. The next two weeks, I tapered and focused on short marathon pace track workouts.