Race Report: Nutcracker Endurance Run – 6 Hour

Race Report for Nutcracker Endurance Run – 6 hour

• When? December 9, 2017
• How far? however far you can go in 6 hours

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	< 5:20	No
B	< 5:30	Yes
C	PR (current PR 5:42:59)	Yes
Bonus	place	Yes

Training

I ran Richmond last month and wrote a race report on it, so see that for details. In brief, I had a great 8 weeks of training with a dope superweek and two weeks later another kinda super week, and then I got sick and also felt burnt out. Still have been feeling burnt since Richmond but improving. Have been doing mostly easy miles with maybe one or two short workouts after recovery After a half and a full this cycle where I was really unpleased with my performance, I wanted to salvage the cycle’s training and use my base and carry-over marathon fitness to make an attempt at dropping a solid PR. I did this race last year and knew it would be a fast course, and the 5 mile out and back (10mi per “loop”) was nice because you would often cross paths with other runners who were all spaced out, and everyone is super cheer-y.

Pre-race

Was more nervous than expected this week. Impulse-bought 1.5lbs of jelly beans because I have no self-control when filling my own bag. Freaked out about the snow that was happening on Friday night. Prepped my fuel. Woke up Saturday morning, put on race clothes (long tights, ARTC singlet and tube sock armwarmers, thin shell rainjacket, Brooks Ravenna 8s, gloves, hat), ate a bagel with sunflower seed butter, and hit the road. Hung out in my car a bit regretting all my life decisions before the race to stay warm since it was drizzling and 37F. With a few minutes to start, I finally got out. The 12 hour racers had started an hour before us and the 3 hour racers were starting an hour after us, and we had a pretty small group. After a 2 minute pre-race briefing, we were off.

Race

Miles 1 through 13 One guy took off, a man and a woman stuck together and started pulling ahead of me slowly, and I fell into a comfortable pace and tried to not start too hot. LOLyeahright. I tried not to look behind me… 6 hours is a long time to run on fear. I just wanted to run my own race, and run something I could be proud of. I was surprised by how strong I felt as I clicked off the miles with (mostly) consistent pacing. I was seeing 12 hour people coming my way once I got a few miles in, and it was neat to cheer each other on. I knew two people doing the 12 hour… and whaddya know, they had buddied up and were running together towards me!!! One of these people was u/blushingscarlet – I was cracking up to myself we crossed paths, because it was at this same exact race last year that I met the woman she was chatting with, when WE ran our first lap of Nutcracker together! Small world, huh.

Splits 9:59, 10:07, 9:52, 10:05, 10:00, 9:55, 9:56, 10:07, 10:01, 10:06, 10:13, 10:07, 10:08

Miles 14 through 21 Somewhere in here, I saw u/eabryt running along, looking as smooth as a gazelle, doing his 3 hour. We exchanged “looking goods” and a high five. I might have looked alright, but I was starting to tighten up a little. The rain was annoying. The cold was… cold. I was trying to stay on top of fueling, but my clif bars were rock solid and hard to choke down, and I tend to forget to eat/drink during cold races. Still, I did the best I could to take a bite of clif bar every so often, suck down some tailwind. Also popped a few salt tabs every hour or so. Was extremely happy with my layering – if I had worn a long-sleeve layer, my back and underarms would have overheated once I got moving, but wearing the singlet and arm warmers under a super light shell was PERFECT to keep the majority of the rain off and keep my arms warm, but allow some breathing.

Splits 10:23, 10:33, 10:30, 10:48, 10:53.

Miles 22 through 27 To be honest, I’m not really splitting these sections at a certain mileage for any real reason except for that the split times kinda match. A lot of this stuff blends together.

I kept slowing but was trying not to slow too much, and was trying to stay mentally sound. I knew I was on track for a PR, and a big one, at that, if I didn’t let the pace escape me. I was bargaining with myself about when I was “allowed” to walk, but each time I’d reach that point, I’d make a new one. Somewhere late in loop 2 (or maybe it was 3… again, it blurs together), a 12-hour racer who was a few strides ahead of me (and who I was running up on) held out his arms and forced a car to stop at the road crossing so that we didn't have to break our stride – I was SO appreciative of that. Losing momentum at the couple of road crossings would have been miserable. We chatted briefly after I thanked him profusely, he told me I was looking really solid, we introduced ourselves as I pulled away… and then I realized that it was ultrarunning superstar Ray K. Wowza.

Splits 11:06, 11:08, 11:14, 11:09, 11:06, 11:07

Miles 28 through 33 I kept chugging, refusing to walk, refusing to stop at the aid stations, focused on getting my PR. I finished my third loop to hit 30 miles, and then started on the one-mile mini loops. I knew the number 1 guy was on his way back on his fourth loop, so he wasn’t even a thought in my mind. I saw the man and woman (2 and 3) on the mini loop, and figured out that they were about 1.5mi ahead of me… and still looking strong. But I didn’t care – I was closing in on my goal and doing my own thing. Saw Ray K, who asked if I thought I had another gear in me to beast it out – he said I might not be able catch her, but maybe I could scare her a bit. I said I’d try, and I kept pushing. Finished my 1 mile loop that got me to hit the 50k distance around 5:26 (and 30.8ish miles on the watch), and took off again… and then after 3 steps I had to walk. Everything was tight. My legs were hurting. Feet were on fire. Lungs felt fabulous, which was cool. But that brief pause at the aid station to grab pedialyte from my bag and confirm that those two people were definitely a full loop and a half ahead of me was juuuuust enough to make my body realize that it was really not into the idea of running more. I walked probably half a mile before realizing that I had enough time to finish this loop and get in one more… if I ran. So, I ran. After about 30 seconds, the pain became tolerable, and then non-existent. I finished up my second mini-loop and set out for a third. I hit the turnaround and was heading home. I could see the man and woman. They were still making good time. I knew we’d be cutting it close enough when we got back that there was absolutely no way we could do another lap, but I REFUSED to let them lap me in the final mile. I found another gear in that last 0.3mi to finish strong.

Splits 11:21, 11:22, 11:11, 12:04, 14:34, 10:49

End Finished 33 miles (3 large loops plus 3 small loops) with about 3 minutes left to spare. That’s a lot of threes! Came through 50k in about 5:26, which is a 17 minute PR. Finished 4th overall, 2nd female. Got a super cool award and a finisher medal (says 12H because it was for the whole event) that we can unclip and put on a fancy snowflake hook that they gave us (not pictured, sorry) to use as an ornament. Stood by a heater drinking soup with the two men and woman who finished ahead of me – apparently the other 6hr runners called it a day and had already left, and we were the only ones still out there. The woman and man who had been running together told me that they originally only planned to do 50k for the day, but decided to keep going because there were awards and because they were afraid of me!!! ME?!?!?!? I don’t ever see myself as someone who is competitively performing in races and “worthy” of fearing, so to hear that they were keeping an eye on me through the race was pretty neat.

After talking for a while, I got into my car, cried some happy tears, changed shirts, and cheered for blushingscarlet and others for a bit before finally heading home.

Thoughts

Absolutely THRILLED with how this race went. Given the conditions, I assumed I’d have to adjust my expectations, but wanted to try going for it anyways. I’m proud of myself for not letting my mental state waver, I’m stoked to chop such a big chunk off my 50k PR (unofficially, I suppose, but still…), and I came away from this with a big boost of confidence. I’ve been feeling pretty bummed about my performances this cycle, and I really needed this. I’m going to take December to get back into strength training and do some unstructured training, and the next few months have some exciting things coming up – Dopey with some meese, two longer trail races, and then the big hundo in April! The year 2017 has had its ups and downs in running, but I’ve learned a lot and am ending it on a good note. Super excited to see what 2018 has in store.

This post was generated using the new race reportr, a tool built by /u/BBQLays for making organized, easy-to-read, and beautiful race reports.