Wausau 24 hour Mountain Bike Race
Wausau, Wisconsin
July 31-Aug 1st, 2010
In the early spring of 2010 my friend Tyler sent me a message on facebook asking me if I would be back in the Wisconsin area in the summer and wanted to participate in a 24 hour mountain bike race. I said sure after about 2 seconds of thinking about it. Now, I must admit I was excited, and all in, but my friends ride bike a lot and I do not. So I definitely put my best effort into training for that and finishing my training for my 50 mile, but I didin’t really start focusing on the mountain bike till late June. Luckily my friends were gentle with my sometimes anal and senseless questions about the race and type of bike I should use. Of course they did give me a hard time about it.
We all met at the race on Friday night trickling in at different times. The race did not start until Saturday at 10 am, so we had some time to set up a few tents, the tent trailer, and the shelter. We had a nice set up. The team was going to consists of 5 of us. We each took one lap at a time until about 10 pm. Then myself and 2 other teammates did 2 laps consecutively in the darkness. The course was 11 miles long. During the day my teammates were running between 53 and 56 minutes laps and I was trudging along at about a 60 minute pace. At night things slowed down to about in the 64-69 minute range. It was a fun course, some short ups, some short downs, a few rock gardens and lots of single track. The experience included watching some ultra endurance athletes ride for 24 hours in the solo division. They are like semi trucks, not to fast, but very steady. I got to see some super fast brothers who cranked hard for 12 hours trading off one lap at a time. Of course there were some crazy fun teams as well. It was a great atmosphere, good course, and well organized event.
Overall we placed 8th in the 24 hour division and 1st in our category. The funny part about the 1st place in our category, was we went into the race just wanting to have a good time and we maintained that attitude throughout. We just happened to be the fasted group in that division.
Sitka Sunrise
Sometimes it pays to walk the dog
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Sun Mounatin 50 mile
Sun Mountain 50 Mile
June 20th, 2010
Winthrop and Twisp, WA
I haven’t run a 50 mile since my first ultra race in 2008. Since that time I have learned an enormous amount about ultrarunning. I was setting up to run a 50 mile last summer, but started graduate school. This year, I set my goal to run one 50 miler. I choose the Sun Mountain 50 because I ran the 50k last year and enjoyed the terrain. The 50 mile this year allowed a retrace of much of the 50K from 2009 plus added the twist river valley which was different yet amazing. Besides I always like to travel through the North Cascades to Winthrop and spend time in that area.
Annahootz, Anna, and I headed over to Winthrop on a Friday. We camped at the Winthrop KOA and spent Saturday hanging out. Of course we had to stop at the School House Brewery and Pub to have my usual burger and beer on Saturday night. So it was a relaxing and comfortable run up to the Sunday race. This was my first Sunday race and I enjoyed having the Saturday to prep and just relax.
The start for the 50 mile needed to be reached by catching the bus at the start finish line of the 50k and 25K. So it was an early start on the day to catch the bus. This was the first year the 50 mile had been run, so there were a few dozen of us on the bus. These would be the few that took on the challenge of the 50 miles. One of my biggest fears going into this race was the possibility of heat. Well the weather was cloudy and rainy which was a blessing for me. Living in Seattle at the time, I train in ran, I live in rain, and I prefer cool drizzly conditions and that is what we got. At one point during this race the sun did come out and when it did, it made its presence known. It got super hot and you could feel the heat. Anyways back to the 50 miles. Overall it is a really beautiful and challenging run. I would not say it is overly steep or overly technical. The only part I did not like was the few miles on the road.
As far as my run went, I reached my goal of under 10 hours. I ran a respectable 9:30something. The downside is I struggled with the last 5 miles or so, but I finished within my goal. Now I move onto other goals and other things. Next up, I will be participating 24 hour mountain bike race in Wisconsin with a team of 5 friends. Then I am moving back to Alaska!
Gear, Hydration, and Energy:
Asics running short
Headsweats running visor
REI long sleeve running shirt
Montrial Rockridge
Drank one bottle of HEED from Hammer before the race started
Ran with two ultimate direction water bottles. Started with one bottle of water and one bottle of Perpetum form Hammer for the entire race. I also took two Endurance Aminos and two Anti-Fatigue Caps before the race and one of each every hour during the race. Both are Hammer Nutrition products. Somewhere I also mixed in some Edurolytes tabs.
During the race I used Hammer gel Vanilla flavor.
After race drank one bottle of Recoverlyte from Hammer
June 20th, 2010
Winthrop and Twisp, WA
I haven’t run a 50 mile since my first ultra race in 2008. Since that time I have learned an enormous amount about ultrarunning. I was setting up to run a 50 mile last summer, but started graduate school. This year, I set my goal to run one 50 miler. I choose the Sun Mountain 50 because I ran the 50k last year and enjoyed the terrain. The 50 mile this year allowed a retrace of much of the 50K from 2009 plus added the twist river valley which was different yet amazing. Besides I always like to travel through the North Cascades to Winthrop and spend time in that area.
Annahootz, Anna, and I headed over to Winthrop on a Friday. We camped at the Winthrop KOA and spent Saturday hanging out. Of course we had to stop at the School House Brewery and Pub to have my usual burger and beer on Saturday night. So it was a relaxing and comfortable run up to the Sunday race. This was my first Sunday race and I enjoyed having the Saturday to prep and just relax.
The start for the 50 mile needed to be reached by catching the bus at the start finish line of the 50k and 25K. So it was an early start on the day to catch the bus. This was the first year the 50 mile had been run, so there were a few dozen of us on the bus. These would be the few that took on the challenge of the 50 miles. One of my biggest fears going into this race was the possibility of heat. Well the weather was cloudy and rainy which was a blessing for me. Living in Seattle at the time, I train in ran, I live in rain, and I prefer cool drizzly conditions and that is what we got. At one point during this race the sun did come out and when it did, it made its presence known. It got super hot and you could feel the heat. Anyways back to the 50 miles. Overall it is a really beautiful and challenging run. I would not say it is overly steep or overly technical. The only part I did not like was the few miles on the road.
As far as my run went, I reached my goal of under 10 hours. I ran a respectable 9:30something. The downside is I struggled with the last 5 miles or so, but I finished within my goal. Now I move onto other goals and other things. Next up, I will be participating 24 hour mountain bike race in Wisconsin with a team of 5 friends. Then I am moving back to Alaska!
Gear, Hydration, and Energy:
Asics running short
Headsweats running visor
REI long sleeve running shirt
Montrial Rockridge
Drank one bottle of HEED from Hammer before the race started
Ran with two ultimate direction water bottles. Started with one bottle of water and one bottle of Perpetum form Hammer for the entire race. I also took two Endurance Aminos and two Anti-Fatigue Caps before the race and one of each every hour during the race. Both are Hammer Nutrition products. Somewhere I also mixed in some Edurolytes tabs.
During the race I used Hammer gel Vanilla flavor.
After race drank one bottle of Recoverlyte from Hammer
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