Distance: 31.7 Miles (5,561 ft of elevation gain)
Time: 6 hours, 1 minute
Pre-Race
The FOURmidable race is happening in Auburn, CA, only two hours away from my place in Murphy’s, CA. I had the chance a few weeks back to make a scouting trip out to the course and put in a good 22 miles training run. The course was very runnable and non-technical, and while it did feature elevation gain, the climbs were sustained uphill’s as opposed to rolling terrain. My goal for this race is to keep the pace VERY easy in the first 20 miles, to be able to run the flats and downhills well over the last 10 miles. The last ultra I raced was 4 months ago, a 36 mile race on the Arnold Rim Trail, and the last 8 miles was torturous as I essentially had to hike everything, including downhills and flats. Goal set for this race.
Training leading up to the race has been a mix of making a concerted effort to spend more time on my feet in longer training runs. Working with coach Jason Pohl, in the past two months I’ve been able to put in 5 runs that are 17+ mile, as well as a few 50 mile running weeks. I’ve also done a fair amount of swimming, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding when I’m not running. This amounts to between 9-12 hours of training activity time per week, as per my Strava activity.
Race
I spend the night before the race at my Uncle Tom’s house in Roseville, only 20 minutes away from where the race starts. My alarm goes off 5:45am and I slept better than I expected the night before. It’s hard to stomach food this early for me, but I put down a bowl of oatmeal with banana and peanut butter. Before I know it, I’m saying good-bye and am on the road.
It’s a cold, bitter wind that bites at us as we stand in line to pick-up our race numbers in the early hours of the morning. After I pick-up my number, I head back to my car for 20 minutes to get warm. I eventually meander out of my car about 15 minutes before go time, working on muscle activation and some light running.
At last the race begins, and I fall into what feels like a very slow, steady run. On any uphill that sustains, I switch to hiking. It’s a quick 5 mile loop that goes back to the start, and then we start a more or less 13 mile out-and-back to make up the total 31 miles. At the end of the first 5 miles, I feel the calories I have taken in this morning needing to come out, in the form of a nature break. Not ideal, but I swerve a quarter-mile off-course to use the portable restrooms at the start line.
I realize the error of my ways too late, as I begin back on-course, I can see 100 people right in front of me, most walking on the single-trek trail that the course is on. I catch a view of another runner’s bib and I realize these are all half-marathon folks, who started 30 minutes after my start time and share the initial course with us. Well it certainly is a way to force my hand to keep the pace conservative.
The traffic jam lasts for about 15 minutes until the single-trek gives way to wider trail and I can move around people more easily. Starting to relax, I take in my surroundings. It’s a beautiful morning, as the wind has subsided and temperatures sit in the low 60’s. The American River sits on the left of me and is easily seen through the foliage of the oak groves that sit right next to the trail. I chat with a couple of folks who are keeping a similar pace, making sure my sentences and breathing are still coming easy to me.
Time passes and I figure I must be right about at the 15 mile mark. I’m purposefully not checking my GPS watch for mileage for as long as possible, trying to stay more focused on current terrain, as opposed to worrying about what is still to come and how much I have left. As I begin the major last climb of the race, I start talking to a fellow runner who is a current 5th grade school teacher with 20 years of experience He’s a colorful guy, in his early 50’s, and is full of all kinds of tidbits regarding classroom management and motivating students. I prompt him with the occasional question and he carries on most of the conversation, as we race together for what must be a solid 45 minutes.
We depart at an aid station, where I eat half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a few fistfuls of pretzels. I’ve been craving salty foods all race, quickly growing sick of the sugary foods that I took in at the beginning of the race. I’ve set an alarm on my watch to beep at me every 50 minutes, to remind me to eat. I must have already eaten 2 whole peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at aid stations, as they have gone down really easy this race.
Monotony begins to creep in, and I make a conscious decision to take a look at the distance on my watch for the first time today. It reads 21.5 miles. 10 miles left and this is where I’ll find out if my training and conservative race strategy will pay dividends.
Sure enough, even though I can feel the fatigue in my legs, they are fully functional and I continue a steady pace. We run parallel to the outskirts of the town Cool and it’s single trek trails on relatively flat terrain. I know there is also a big descent coming up right before No Hands Bridge aid station. I’ve learned from last year that not being able to fully run flat and downhill terrain is the real killer in long distance races, both from a time and psychological perspective. While I wouldn’t say I feel great at mile 25, my legs are finding gears that weren’t there last year, and I continue to hold a solid and steady pace.
As I’m beginning the last big descent, I hear two other runners behind me, and we are all running the same pace for a mile or so. All of the sudden I hear a crash, and look behind me to see one the runners face down in the dirt. I stop and hike up a bit to help him up. He struggles to his feet and when I ask what’s wrong, he tells me he is suffering from severe leg cramps. I offer to help him down but he shakes me off, saying he has poles and can make it slowly. I console with another runner and after a final check-up on him, we depart and continue the way down to the final aid station at No Hands Bridge.
After yet another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and refilling my two handheld water bottles, I’m off for the final stretch of the race. I pass a bunch of people from mile 27-30, and once I hit mile 30 I begin emptying the tank for the last 1.5 miles. It’s a tedious climb to the finish line, as I embrace a sustained hike. My legs are really feeling the hard running I’ve done these past few miles and I’d gladly welcome the finish line. I make it at last, giving a smile to the camera.
Right after I finish, Jason Pohl surprises me by greeting me at the finish line, with with an Athletic Brew in hand. Stoked and surprised to see him, we find a bench and debrief on things for a bit. He put in his own marathon this morning in a training run, and is getting ready for Canyons 100 mile in late April. I mill about a bit after Jason departs , eating a veggie burger and watching people finish. One finisher, who was playing leapfrog with me over the last 10 miles, is passed out on the grass with a space blanket over him. There is a massage tent set-up at the venue that looks to be donations only, tempting at first but I hold-off. Relax, relax, relax. Pick-up more food, drive home, and the all important sleep are what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day.
Aftermath
This 50k race was a pre-cursor to my big “A” race of the season at Lake Sonoma, my first 50 miler which is happening on April 8th (7 weeks after FOURmidable). Recovery following FOURmidable went really well. I did a light swim the day after the race on Sunday, took Monday completely off, and was back running Tuesday. As I complete this writing, 10 full days after FOURmidable, we are getting monster weather here in the Central Sierra. The snow has been epically good so I’ve snowboarded for four straight days, but am looking to get back into running with the weather clearing for a brief period of time. I have a big 3 day training block planned as my last hoorah in getting ready for Lake Sonoma on the dates of March 17th-19th, where I’ll go out to the course and put in something around 50 miles over those 3 days if all goes according to plan. Until next time!
