Wakely Dam 32.6 Mile
Race
July 19, 2008
What
an unbelievable and wonderful experience my running has been!
There have been some successful races; the local scene in 06,
Nipmuck 07, Mendon Pond (where I met Pat Hamel and he told me about this
wonderful event), HAT 08, and just as many disappointments;
a DNF at Nipmuck in 06, a beating to both Ian and myself at Jay
Mountain in 06, getting lost at the Mudfest that in 07 and finishing
third, getting trounced by Sean Andrish at Rattlesnake 50K down in West
Virginia, and finally the pitiful naďve showing (and another DNF) at
Hellgate 60K in VA last winter. This
one, although bittersweet, is most definitely the most satisfying &
enjoyable race that I have done so far in this short running career of
mine.
The
race itself is everything you would want in a trail race.
It also helps that the
Adirondacks
are most likely my favorite place in the world and it is why I wanted a
good performance here in spite of being plagued by achilles tendon issues
for the span of 2008. I had
booked a house on
Lake George
for the week following the race and scheduled an arrival a couple of days
beforehand so as not to be rushing around before race day.
As a caveat my good friend and training partner Ian Schouten would
also be running. His
participating at Wakely was good news for a couple of reasons.
One – I always love running with Ian, we have become good friends
and have enjoyed some wonderful speedpacking trips and races together.
Two – Ian is no joke when it comes to trailrunning.
He has won
Laurel
Highlands
(both 70 miler & 50K), HAT a couple of times, beaten Lundblad
(something I have never done) at Highland Sky 40 miler, and won about
every other race out there that he has done.
We run very similar paces at almost every distance.
It would be a pleasure to compete with him again.
Together we could go after that course record set by Pat a couple
of years ago!
We
made good time Thursday morning driving up through PA, NJ, and finally
hitting route 87 as we headed up toward the
Adirondacks
. I had planned on meeting Ian
Friday late afternoon at the race finish.
Jamie would drop me off there, I would camp with Ian, and then she
would know how to get back to the finish the next morning.
So after settling in to the Lake George cottage Thursday afternoon
and hitting the grocery store, a restless night’s sleep in a strange
bed, and then a very hot and humid steamship ride on the
lake
Friday
morning, we were ready for the long and never ending drive out to Wakely
Dam. We almost turned around
on the gravel road heading out to the start.
It just seemed to never end and I started to think we were on the
wrong road! As we came around
the corner into the campsite I saw Ian’s truck and him reclining in a
chair chatting (of course) with a girl who was also competing in the run.
Ian
is great because he REALLY gets into the whole thing.
Not that I don’t, but he takes it to another level.
I had purchased a real nice topographic map of the course at LL
Bean while up in Maine a couple of weeks before, and I thought it was a
nice map until Ian pulled his out. Notes,
points along the course marked with goal times, motivational quotes (just
kidding I think), this map had everything.
I put mine away and didn’t bring it out again although I did take
it with me during the run just in case we got separated on the trail.
He had plotted out the course with a goal time of 4 hours and 40
minutes. Aggressive of course
but if we settled into an early, comfortable pace we could make
adjustments along the way and keep that 5 hour mark as the real goal.
We decided to run together until somebody bonked and just play the
finish out when we got there. Either
way, we hoped one of us was going under 5.
After a very sleepless night (I have only ever slept well once in a
tent and that was after trudging/jogging along in 6 inches of snow for
about 8 hours) we awoke to very comfortable temps and that wonderful,
early morning smell of the mountains.
I had that familiar race day feeling in my stomach.
It was going to be a great day.
The
bus ride was great and I chatted with a really nice guy from
Quebec
. The trailrunning cult is my
most favorite and always the friendliest.
I have tried triathlons, duathlons, road-racing, cycling, and
martial arts over the years and no group is better to hang out with than
the trailrunners. The evening
before I had bumped into a couple of guys that I always see, real friendly
guys (I think in the Army) from NY who you can tell just love the whole
thing. Ian had seen them
running Friday (a long run I might add!) and then I saw them sipping some
beers Friday night, just relaxing and enjoying the whole experience.
I sometimes wish I didn’t try to be as competitive at these
things because that sounds like fun and a perfect weekend!
If you guys read this it was good to see you.
I saved my beers for after the race.
Once at the start the
ritual of trying to go to the bathroom as much as possible started and I
must say for once I had success – it was not an issue during the race.
After the picture taking and stuff was out of the way we headed up
to the trailhead, carrying as little as possible and for those who might
be interested in the nutrition aspect of it – here it is.
At 160 lbs I try to replace somewhere in the area of 250 calories
or so per hour while running (or doing any other form of physical
exertion). I know that
physiologically it is impossible (and undesirable) to replace all calories
burned. I burn (depending on
how hard I am working) between 600 and 1000 calories per hour.
Hydration-wise I drink 3 mouthfuls of GU2O every 15 or 20 minutes.
I wore a 2 bottle waist pack with sizable storage room in between
the two bottles. In there I
had endurolyte caps (3 per hour including the 3 at the race start), 3 bars
at 250 calories each, and 8 gels (enough for 4 hours at 2 per hour for
four hours). When the race was
done I should have nothing left. Also
in there was my unused map and some pepper mace (for black bears, wild
dogs, and Ian if the need arose).
There were plenty of places to get water along the course and I had
talked to Katadyne regarding their tablets and they assured me (!) that
15-20 minutes was enough for clear water.
Nutrition has not been an issue for me for the past couple of years
using this method and even at supported ultra’s I only stop at aid
stations for water refills.
We went out at a
reasonable pace and found the trail quite runnable early on.
We got the chatting out of the way (eventually there isn’t so
much) and talked for awhile with John U, a local guy who was real nice and
had run a 2.50 marathon 3 weeks beforehand.
He kept a nice pace for awhile and then it was just Ian and I.
Ian set the pace, map in hand, and we actually hit the first couple
of checkpoints on the money. Pacing
is definitely a developed kind of thing and Ian has been racing a lot
longer than I – so I settled in behind him.
Probably too close behind him!
By the clearing after the first set of lean to’s I had already
rolled my precious and little girlie ankles twice and was getting
concerned about them holding out. My
mileage had been reduced the month leading up to this race because rather
than them just hurting after my training runs they were starting to hurt
during the runs …. Not good. Ian
was running well and even after a rolling, rooty, wet section that put us
5 minutes behind his planned pace we knew that sub 5 hour was totally
doable! Ian asked me a couple
of times if I wanted to go and I said no – lets wait for the road and
then assess how we feel. A
short time later we agreed to finish together.
I had no problem doing that. I
was feeling the affects of approaching foreign water in terms of time
spent running. My longest race
in the past 3 years had be a 4 hour 19 minute 50K so my body was
definitely slowing down. We
hit the road (the grass road before the final gravel portion) and it took
me about 3 minutes to roll my left ankle again.
Only this time I went down – hard.
As I struggled to my feet and limped a few yards my right quad and
hamstring both went into spasm.
I walked these out … and tried to pick up the pace again.
No go. “G0 get it”
I said to Ian and he headed up the trail, looking as strong as he had
been. I now focused on just
holding on to my second place position, I had gotten the impression there
might be a few guys shooting for the 5 hour mark today.
I walk/ran the remainder of the race and as I look back now –
couldn’t I have gone just a little harder to get under 5?
I didn’t realize that I would still come close.
Oh well!
It is one of many
reasons that I have already committed to coming back next year.
The combination of the people, the trail, and the bar that Ian has
now set will have me planning this one as early as possible for the trip
up next year. Ian has said he
is in for another go too. So I
have been on the bike this past week and will be next week as well –
letting the ankles regroup some. My
next planned event is in early Sept – a 50K in central PA.
If anybody has any questions about nutrition, training, or whatnot
please feel free to contact me at walexbarth@msn.com .
I own a fitness business and it is what I do for a living –
trying to get people in shape. Besides,
when I started all of this I always wanted to ask the guys who did pretty
well what they were up to from a training standpoint but never had a way
of contacting them. Please
don’t hesitate.
Thanks to all the race volunteers – it was an awesome event!
See you next year.
.
