Third Annual RI 6 Hour Ultramarathon

How not to train for an ultra:

1. Have a nagging injury
Since RTB-NH in September, my left ankle has been troublesome. The Vermont 50 the following week exasperated the problem and finally the training towards the RI 6 Hour really hurt. I took a week off of running and was able to return with shorter runs - up to 10 miles with just some arch discomfort
2. Don't do long training runs
This is basically a result of 1). The pain in my foot limited my longest training run to 15 miles on the second weekend of October. Number 3) finished me off.
3. Get sick
Getting sick is a great way to ruin your training. Having not peaked due to the pain and the onset of this head cold, the taper was epic - logging about 10 total miles in the last two weeks.

That said, I'm not making excuses - I actually had a pretty good showing despite the setbacks. I thought about not running the race full stop, but I really like this ultra and this year my wife was competing with a relay team so I really wanted to be part of the day. I matched last year's mileage and it only took me about 8 minutes longer - my average pace was 12 seconds slower.

The official results place me 12/59 with an official total mileage of 37.814 miles in 5:50:13.3.

The table below documents my miles and times (by my watch).

RI 6 Hour Ultramarathon: November 13, 2011
Lap	Mileage	Cumm. Mile.	Lap Split	Cumm. Time	Lap Pace	Avg. Pace
1	2.7	2.7	22:43.85	0:22:43.8	08:25.1	08:25.1
2	2.7	5.4	22:52.98	0:45:36.8	08:28.5	08:26.8
3	2.7	8.1	23:26.04	1:09:02.9	08:40.8	08:31.5
4	2.7	10.8	23:12.77	1:32:15.6	08:35.8	08:32.6
5	2.7	13.5	23:31.18	1:55:46.8	08:42.7	08:34.6
6	2.7	16.2	23:45.47	2:19:32.3	08:48.0	08:36.8
7	2.7	18.9	23:50.41	2:43:22.7	08:49.8	08:38.7
8	2.7	21.6	24:35.71	3:07:58.4	09:06.6	08:42.1
9	2.7	24.3	25:26.10	3:33:24.5	09:25.2	08:46.9
Marathon		26.2	--	3:52:25.0	--	08:52.3
10	2.7	27	27:03.10	4:00:27.6	10:01.1	08:54.4
11	2.7	29.7	28:07.62	4:28:35.2	10:25.0	09:02.6
50K		31.25	--	4:42:22.0	--	09:02.1
12	2.7	32.4	27:00.38	4:55:35.6	10:00.1	09:07.4
13	2.7	35.1	27:30.51	5:23:06.1	10:11.3	09:12.3
14	2.7	37.8	27:12.11	5:50:18.2	10:04.5	09:16.0
Totals:		37.8		5:50:18		09:16.0

Vermont 50: 424 Miles This Weekend ...

... and I only had to run 50. I drove to and ran the Vermont 50 50-mile race this past Sunday. Along with 550 other runners (some there for the shorter 50k version) and a ton of mountain bikers, I took off at 6:35 AM on Sunday to see the best of autumn scenery Vermont had to offer.

The run was quite manageable when compared to my Wapack experience from earlier this year. No need for a 7 installment blog series.

There were ample aid stations and only one run of 7+ miles between stations - in fairness, it was only going to be 6 miles, but course re-routing due to Hurricane Irene damage from a few weeks prior added some mileage. That said, the entire run was a bit over 50 miles, but what's a few miles between friends once you've already run 50? Right?

The day started "looking" nice - overcast, but you could feel the humidity and when the sun broke around 11 AM and temperatures reached close to the 80's, I knew it was going to be a bit uncomfortable. I kept up with the hydration and food at every chance possible - never going more than 45 minutes without eating (even if it was only a Gu packet between aid stations). I did run out of water on the 7 mile stretch between 40 and 47 miles with about a mile to go. I expected I would what with soaring temperatures just after midday and little shade on the open pastures we were running across at that point. I made it into the aid station after passing 3 runners in that last water-less mile, my thirst more of a motivator than a higher finishing spot.

Official results put me in 1 second faster than my watch at 9:15:49 at a pace of 11:06 minutes per mile. I finished 62/254 and 21/71 in my class (Male: 30 - 39).

My splits times according to my watch:

Vermont 50: September 25, 2011
Aid Station	Mileage	Split Time	Spent at Aid	Cumm. Time
Coon Club	4.2	37:22	0:41	38:03
Dart's	8.5	43:42	0:00	1:21:46
Skunk Hollow	12.3	39:04	0:54	2:01:44
Garvin Hill	19.3	1:06:25	1:50	3:10:01
Cady Brook	23.2	39:03	0:51	3:49:54
Margaritaville	27.6	52:27	2:19	4:44:42
Dugdale's	31.9	42:51	2:45	5:30:19
Fallon's	37.3	54:02	2:39	6:27:00
Goodman's	41.1	45:12	2:37	7:14:51
Johnson's	47.2	1:18:19	2:01	8:35:15
Finish	50	40:35	--	9:15:50

Reach the Beach Relay - 2011

Massakruliks - Men's Open

84/434 - 30/119

Back row from left: Bill (leg 4), Bayen (leg 8), Ward (leg 12), Gavin (leg 1), Tucker (leg 5)

Middle row from left: Emily (leg 9), Kara (leg 6), Ashley (leg 3), Jodi (leg 11), Suzi (leg 10), Randy (leg 7)

Front row: Vince [aka: Me] (leg 2), Krulik [aka: Mascot] (on my right shoulder)

			Vert
	Distance	Difficulty	Gain	Loss	Net	Time	Pace
Leg 2 *	3.33	Easy				21:25	6:26
Leg 14	7.57	Moderate	246	230	16	52:15	6:54
Leg 26	6.4	Moderate	236	260	-24	44:30	6:57
	17.3					1:58:10	6:50

* Shortened from 8.96 miles (hard) - along with legs 3, 5 and 6 due to bridge washout at Crawford Notch from Hurricane Irene.

Labor Day Run Around

The Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I ran my yearly tune-up for Reach the Beach, the Charleston Distance Run. The 15-mile course is pretty flat and fast, save for the 1000+ foot climb in a little over a mile and the subsequent 1000+ foot descent in the next mile and half. With high 70 degrees and high humidity at race start time this year, it proved to be a pretty difficult 15 miles.

Nonetheless, I ran my pace and finished quite well, in 1 hour, 53 and half minutes - good enough for 61 place overall out of 550+ runners.

I ran a consistent 7:30 minute / mile for the first 3 miles, 7:40 for the fourth mile as that started the brutal climb up Capital Punishment Hill. From there, my pace fell off a bit on the uphill as expected. I crossed 7 miles on the downhill at 54 minutes and hit 8 miles crossing the bridge into the last flat 7 miles at 1 hour, 1 minute (7:38 pace).

I ran the next few miles pretty inconsistently - a 7 minute mile followed by an 8 minute mile followed by a few 7 and change miles. The heat - now well into the 90's, made it difficult to find a comfortable pace. With 2 miles left, I dropped down to 7:05 - 7:10 pace and finished strong.

Other than the oppressive heat, it didn't cause me any issues - I stayed hydrated taking water at every aid station and ate consistently. Recovery was pretty easy too - 6 miles the next morning with no issues.

I'm certainly ready for RTB, and a week later, the Vermont 50.

The Adventures of Rich and Vince

Characters courtesy of SP Studio

The Adventures of Rich and Vince

Characters courtesy of SP Studio

Reach the Beach Relay - MA - 2011

I started running Reach the Beach Relay in New Hampshire in 2005 and when they decided to host one in Massachusetts that happened to run through my town, I had to do it. My team was more than willing to oblige, so we ran the first Massachusetts Reach the Beach Relay. As many times as I've run the original September New Hampshire edition of RTB, I still manage to learn new things. Here are some things I learned this past weekend:

• Lobster rolls and mussels are a great addition to the usual finish line meal. However, they don't replace BEER. The BEER tent was missed - Westport: take notice!
• Arm use for speed control and the turning principles of skydiving can also be applied to running downhill. However, they only work at better than 6 minute/mile pace; otherwise, you just look silly.
• Never underestimate a man in pink tiger striped spandex. That guy was dynamite on Leg 9.
• Every second counts - finishing strong through transitions, being there at transitions, not dropping the wristband at transitions - remembering the wristband at the starting line. There are 12 REALLY angry scientists who learned this the hard way finishing after us by a total of only 7 seconds over 200 miles and some 24+ hours.
• Always run with a tank top instead of short sleeves. The ladies like to see the arms.
• Finishing early is fun. Finishing late sucks. ALWAYS sandbag your pace times on runner applications!

Massakruliks - Men's Open

11/150 - 3/26

Back row from left: Dave (leg 4), Emily (leg 3), Bayen (leg 2), Ward (leg 6), Gavin (leg 12), Gabriel (leg 8)

Middle row from left: Jodi (leg 11), Bill (leg 1), Ashley (leg 7), Suzi (leg 10), Kara (leg 5)

Front row: Vince [aka: Me] (leg 9)

			Vert
	Distance	Difficulty	Gain	Loss	Net	Time	Pace
Leg 9	6.01	Hard	65	285	-220	40:15	6:42
Leg 21	6.93	Hard	17	22	-5	48:00	6:56
Leg 33	6.88	Moderate	29	39	-10	49:10	7:09
	19.82					2:17:25	6:56