Silver Rush 50

My second 50 miler is in the books and overall I had a pretty good day in Leadville.  The course was beautiful and we didn’t endure any of the dramatic weather changes that are common in Leadville so I am told.  As previously noted,I sprained my ankle the previous weekend and since that time have been using the RICE technique.  I did nothing all week until hiking Powerline on Saturday to see what this section of the LT100 course is like.  The ankle was surprisingly good and when I started Sunday I wasn’t even thinking about it.  The Cliff Notes version:10:59 time,uphill walking was much better than ZG50,ran out of gas with 5 miles to go and and had to walk most of that portion.  Duncan Callahan won the race in a record time of 6:50.

Apologies for the lack of pictures….I didn’t want to tote a camera around all day.

• My Google Map / Earth map of the race here.
• Official Topo Map here.

The race literally starts with a 150 yard climb up a steep hill.  The only reason to run this is to get a bag of silver coins  –first male and first female to get to the top.  I did my own special start…. I didn’t bother to run through/under the START banner as I had seen the timing mat at the top of the hill during the bike race the preceding day (see my video).  I got to the top of the hill and there was no timing mat!  Panicked,I ran back down the hill to swipe my timing chip.  When I get back down I am told that I was fine,didn’t need to swipe,and that I would be given the gun start time of 6:00 a.m.  Crap.   I got to climb the hill twice at the start which was not what I wanted mentally.

The first 8 miles or so gradually increase in altitude and included a single aid station with water only (outbound).  Miles 8-10 in Iowa Gulch were a relatively steep climb up to 12,000 feet.  At this point I am feeling good.  I had been experimenting with different amounts of water,nutrition,and electrolytes over the past few weeks.  On this day I carried Perpetuem paste,honey,and a mix of agave/honey/molasses and consumed about an ounce of one these every 20 minutes (250-300 cals/hour).  I used only the Ultimate Direction 26 oz. hand held bottles for plain water and supplemented with salt tablets as I deemed necessary.  In hindsight,I have confirmed I still don’t know what I am doing with salt.  I was using Endurolytes (40 mg/pill) and took perhaps 6-8 all day.  This is only 240-320 mg during the entire race.

Thus while I consumed a lot of water,I was not absorbing it as was evident by some swelling in fingers and later (miles 18-20) having nasty stomach.  It was at this time,too,that Dr. Doubt &Gloom paid me a visit.  Figured it would happen but surprised so early in the race.  I also declined to eat or drink for about an hour.  While in the short term this was okay I think this contributed (along with poor salt management) to my flaming out with 5 miles to go.

The outbound portion finishes (near Ball Mountain) from ~20-25 miles in a net downhill with some very steep areas as well as switchbacks.  One thing I did well was to note the challenging portions that I would face on the return as I was outbound.  This helped my plan,mentally,for what was to come.  I arrived at the Stumptown turn-around a few minutes over 5 hours.  I was pretty pleased.  I drank some flat coke which was the first time I had tried it during a race.  Really like this and will be a repeat customer in the future.  For some reason,most of the other aid-station food supplied (candy,cookies,fruit,chips) never appeals to me. I would estimate I spent less than 5 minutes at this station including a drop bag visit to get refills of my Perpetuem,honey,and homemade concoction.  This was the longest time I spent at any aid station all day so I was happy with that aspect of the run as well.  I should mention,too,that the aid station workers were great –having someone take your bottles or pack and fill them up helps so much.  Sounds crazy but having one less thing to do or think about is great.  I opted to take 400 mg Ibuprofen at this point,too.  Trying to stave off the deeper pain that I could feel beginning.

The inbound portion began with switchbacks that I hiked.  Again,I was pretty happy with my uphill walking all day relative to my first 50 mile race.  Definitely improved but need to get better.  I am now firmly convinced that many of the top,non-elite ultra runners do well because of the hiking ability.   I was whooped on the hills by women that I would blow by running.  Like a bad penny they would show back up every time we were ascending long climb. Paul has been telling me that for 6 months –just seems to be the last thing I have time to train when I am spending so much time running + trying to balance other aspects of life.

Things went pretty well through 40 miles.  Met a man who powerhiked with me from 36-40 which made it bearable.  I was also stoked to hit Mile 40 as I knew from that point it was a net downhill run and I was feeling reinvigorated by this.  For 5 miles I ran very well.  I counted 12-15 people that I passed who had long before passed me.  Finishing strong was what had me excited and felt better that I would be 10:20-10:30 finish time.  I hit the last aid station at mile 43 but was not hungry or thirsty.  I made myself drink some powerade,took 400 mg more Ibuprofen for leg pain,and took off.  Two miles later I was suddenly exhausted and unable to will myself to run continuously.  The short of it is that I walked much the last 5 miles.

Silver Rush 50 Finish

After crossing the finish I was both pleased and bummed.  Happy with another finish,especially at this altitude.  Disappointed that I had to mail it in during the home stretch.  I chatted with Paul a bit about the day and headed for the food and beverage tent.  There was a ton of beer but little food.  I chose a big bottle of powerade and headed to the car –I wanted to shower badly.  Unfortunately,nothing settled and I expelled everything from my stomach that I had consumed over the last couple of hours.

My recovery did not go well.  After cleaning up,I plopped on the Hostel couch to watch the Tour de France.  My legs ached badly,I couldn’t eat or drink,my eyes were abnormally heavy,and I was feeling very warm.  I ended up sleeping a bit until I was awakened and reminded there is no sleeping on the Hostel couches   At this point I knew something was wrong as my eyes were slow to focus and I still had not urinated –going on 14 hours since race start.  I now believe my poor salt intake led to hydration issues and am concerned that the Ibuprofen did not agree with my system either.  I will think really hard about taking any in the future.

While perhaps not the best idea I drove myself to the…. gas station.  I had Googled dehydration symptoms and self diagnosed myself (brilliant!) so I bypassed the urgent care place (again,brilliant).  Two large bottles of Gatorade later I was cured of my ills.  The change was so rapid it was incredible.  My appetite returned and I was able to put away most of a deep dish pizza by myself.  When I awoke the next morning I felt great and was very pleased with my recovery that week.  I really wasn’t too sore the next week but was tired by 3-4 p.m. each day and spent a lot of time sleeping.

The big lessons learned on this run were to work on increased electrolyte intake on long runs,continue drinking at least 24 oz water/hour,and push the pain threshold more.

Information on Ibuprofen and Exercise:  here
Good electrolyte article:  Information here (I am going with Salt Stick this weekend)

P.S. –The Leadville Hostel is a great place to stay.  They do offer meals,too,as well as a nice variety of accommodations.  I highly recommend for clean,inexpensive place to stay.