Hit the Dusty Trail

Well, I failed to complete the Tahoe Rim 100 mile race today (http://www.tahoemtnmilers.org/trt50). This race took place on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe in the mountains above the lake. The race starts and ends at Spooner Lake State Park, makes its way north for roughly 26 miles, turns around and comes back to the start. If you're running the 100 mile race, you get to do two laps. With the start at 5am, we all took off in the dark, some had lights, but most of us didn't. The sky started to get light after about 15 minutes and by 5:45, it was plenty light. The first several miles are a gradual uphill to the first aid station. Spooner Lake is at 7000' and the first aid station (Hobart, 6 miles) is at roughly 7900'. On the way to Hobart, we passed Marlette Lake. This is a small lake that overlooks Tahoe. Once we left Hobart, we had 5 miles to go until the Tunnel Creek aid station. This section was uphill for the first part and downhill into the aid station. During thsi section we were treated to views of Marlette Lake and Lake Tahoe some 2000' below. Tunnel Creek aid station was the main aid station of the race as the 100 mile runners would go thru here 6 times. After going thru the Tunnel Creek aid station we had to do a loop called the Red House loop. This was a 6.3 mile loop that descended to 6800’ (the lowest point on the course) then came back up to the Tunnel Creek aid (7900’). This section was the one most people complained about due to the steep uphill/downhill portion just outside the Tunnel Creek aid station. I didn’t think it was too bad given some of the trail climbs here along the Wasatch. After leaving Tunnel Creek again, we headed north along the ridges above Lake Tahoe and behind one of the ski areas that line the lake. This section was the longest between aid stations at 9 miles. It was also one of the highest with over 8 miles above 8500’. I talked to several people who had come from sea level and they were having a difficult time with the elevation. The trail from Tunnel Creek to Mt. Rose was absolutely stunning. Most of it was along the ridges above Lake Tahoe and since the day was sunny and clear, the views were spectacular. Several times I had to stop for a moment just to take in the views. I would have fallen on my face if I had tried to do that while running. This section of trail also made for great running, nothing really difficult technically, mostly fairly smooth trail. Lots of fun. Over the final couple of miles into Mt. Rose, there were lots of hikers. Naturally we did get some strange looks, but everyone tried to encourage us as we went along. By the time I got to Mt. Rose, my pace was slowing down a little bit. To this point I had managed to maintain a sub 23 hour pace. This was encouraging since my goal was around 26 hours. I figured that I would put a little time in the bank since night time running tends to be a lot slower. However, my legs were starting to get a little tired. I spent about 10 minutes at the Mt. Rose aid station trying to recover a little bit and eventually left heading south for the start/finish 24 miles away. After a couple more hours of running, I came back into the Tunnel Creek aid station. I spent about 10 minutes there before heading out for the high point on the course, the aid station at Snow Valley Peak (9000’). The climb up to there was fairly gradual with lots of switchbacks. I was still feeling fairly good, but still slowing down. I was glad to get to Snow Valley because that meant there was a sustained 7 miles of downhill to get back to the start/finish. This is the section that started my undoing. I love running downhill, but by the time I got back to the start/finish, I was entertaining the thought of dropping out. Knowing the condition of my legs, I figured that I probably wouldn’t be able to complete another 50 mile lap. I sat at the start/finish for about 20 minutes, washed the dirt off my feet, changed socks, ate food and figure I’d go out for at least one more section and see how I felt. I made it out of the start/finish to Hobart before dark and really started to think about dropping, but I thought. I’ll give it one more section and headed out for Tunnel Creek. I had to turn on my headlamp about 1 mile out of Tunnel Creek. I ended up walking almost the entire way from Hobart to Tunnel Creek. I knew then that my race was probably over. I knew that I couldn’t walk the remaining 39 miles and make the time cutoffs and I knew that my legs weren’t in any shape to finish. I sat at Tunnel Creek for about an hour before making the decision to drop. So, what did I do wrong? Clearly not enough long runs. My longest two runs were 24 and 28 miles. These two runs should have been in the 35-40 mile range. You can’t fake a lack of training in a race like this. Overall I had the training mileage. What did I do right? I tried something a little different here. I went with an almost entirely liquid diet. Usually I will eat some solid food during the race, but this never really sounded good. Every aid station had Ensure and at 250 calories each plus liquid, these were great. They went down easy and really boosted my energy level. The other food I really like at a 100 mile race is Starbuck Frappacino’s. Talk about some rocket fuel with all that sugar and caffeine. If nothing else, this race served as a great long training run for Wasatch in Sept. On a side note, I did get to meet a couple other members of the Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing Team (www.wasatchspeedgoat.com). The winning time was about 18:51 and the top two winners actually agreed to cross the line together, thus splitting the $1000 first prize. The overall finish rate for the 100 mile race was 57%, somewhat on the low side. I’ll be back next year to redeem myself, collect the beer glass and beer, and the nifty belt buckle.