Sulphur Springs Post-Mortem Autopsy .. Training Update

So it has taken me a few weeks to finally decompress from Sulphur Springs. It was an incredible adventure and a major ultra learning experience for me. My hope is to take what I learned both good and bad and apply this knowledge to put up a better time at my next 100 miler. Yes there will be a next 100 miler as I plan to run 24 hours at Dirty Girls and then do the 100 at Haliburton.

Before I dissect the Sulphur race experience I would be horrible remiss if I didn't mention a couple of things about the race itself. If you want to do a 100 miler you cant go wrong with this one. The race extremely well run and organized. The race director should be commended on this because putting on a race of any kind is no small feat. The trail was well marked, I didn't get lost once and I am a directional idiot. I can get lost in my own apartment for god sake. The aid stations and volunteers were also fantastic, heck they never once mentioned how terrible I looked. I would and will run this race again (hopefully next year).

So here is some of the stuff I learned out on 100 mile trail.

The Good
My fitness level is way up there thanks to the relentless training. I worried that maybe I was not well enough trained but the program I was on prepared me well especially for the hills. I will not curse and swear at the Boston Special training route (and Roger) as much. I will still curse just not as much.

I am a decent warm weather runner ( I kind of already knew that). Even so the heat sucked the life out of me.

I can put up with a hell of a lot of pain.

I have awesome friends to crew and pace me.

Things that went wrong and need to get sorted out.
I started out to fast. Turns out that just like ever other race distance I have ever run going out to fast costs you and it appears that the longer the race the more it costs. We are not talking a little to fast either. For those that run shorter distances imagine if you started out in a 10k 30 seconds faster then your race pace, you get the picture I am sure. Usually this takes me about 3 races to figure out at any given race distance but I am vowing to get this one right next time by purposely going out too slow.

Calorie intake. This was a big problem and the one I am most concerned with. I usually have a lead stomach and until this race never had a problem eating and drinking. That said I never ran 100 miles either. Somehow I have to get better at this for next time. Not sure what I am going to add food wise as my standbys like potatoes and m&ms didn't even want to go down for me. Solid food is a must but I just could not seem to swallow sandwiches effectively. Suggestions are always welcome kids.

Both of these two problems lead to lost time in aid stations and therefore lost time overall.

Other stuff
There is no such thing as an easy 100 miler. Its a long long way.
After 50 miles the second half of the race really is a mental game.... except for all the physical parts.
You can run and almost sleep at the same time but its really dangerous.
When your crew suggests something just agree to it as long as it doesn't involve quitting. They are thinking much clearer then you are.

Training
So at this point I am also back to my normal training again. It seems like it took forever. The ankle problem I had kept me from running for 10 days after Sulphur and made me a DNS for the Kingston 6hr run and maybe thats a good thing. The 10 days off was the longest space between runs in over a year. Its been a slow build since then but I will most likely get in 100+ km this week.

Last week I did run in the Niagara 50k but it was slow and painful. I spent the previous day before the race in bed with a bad case of the flu. Shouldn't have run it but with the car rented and the race paid for I figured I would at least try. I was really slow, it was really brutal and ridiculously hot. I have no idea how I actually managed to finish the race. Great course though and would have been fun if not for the being sick thing.

Next up Creemore 50k.