Race Report for Capt’n Karl’s Reveille Ranch 60K
Last year, I finished the 30K at Reveille Ranch in 3:12, so I initially thought that 7 hours would be a good goal to have for the 60K. After hearing that Nicole Studer (current female American record holder for the 100-miler) ran it in 7 hours last year, I quickly changed my goal to 8 hours! I wanted to try to place in the top 3 for women and top 10 overall, since I had accomplished this last year.
Before I started, I checked my bladder and took a few sips to ensure it was working well. I put new batteries in a spare headlamp, turned it on to ensure that it also was functional, and threw it in the pocket of my hydration vest. I decided to run with just water in my bladder and pack the pockets with food to try to avoid stopping at the aid stations. About five minutes before the start, I ran to the bathroom and cut through some brush where I stepped into a large puddle. My right foot was soaked and I knew that I did not have enough time to change out my shoes/socks. I briefly thought about whether I would end up getting blisters early in the race, but I choose to dismiss these thoughts and focus more on what I could control and getting to the start.
Within the first few miles, I started to realize that I was having a very difficult time sucking water out of my bladder. I pulled the hose up and jiggled around my bladder, but had no success with fixing the problem. By mile 7, I tried sucking water out again and only got a few drops. Because of this issue, I only had a Stinger Waffle on the first loop, which was hard to get down without water. Around mile 10, I was feeling slightly dehydrated and did not have a hand-held to fill up at the water stops. By the time I finished loop 1, I went over to my drop bag, which had a hand-held in it with some Nuun. I ended up guzzling almost all of it down before I even left the finish line to start loop 2. I took my bladder out and tried to rearrange it. I was able to get some water out and thought it was fixed! I also had already developed some bad blisters on my toes, so I decided I would put on the toe caps. After about 2-3 minutes, I left my drop bag and headed out for my second loop.
Within a couple of miles, I discovered that I did not completely fix my bladder and still could not get water out! Again, I tried pulling up the hose in case it was kinked, but had no success. I decided that I would just need to rely on my hand-held and stop at all of the aid stations. I took a container of Nuun, as I did not feel like the electrolytes from the S-Caps were probably sufficient. Unfortunately though, every time I put a Nuun in my bottle, I would have to power walk for about 2 minutes until the tablet dissolved; otherwise it would end up leaking all over me and I would lose most of my water.
Loop 2 was the most challenging for me. Even though I ran some of the same course last year, I did not recall it being so technical and hilly (two people actually ended up going to the hospital after falling and one of my friends dropped after twisting his ankle). It seemed like 70% of the course was on these long strips of rugged granite, which seemed hard on my knees after 12+ miles! Sometimes I would trip on small rocks that would stick about three quarters of an inch out of the ground and catch myself. Unfortunately though, I fell on a cactus at some point and also ran into one, as I later found some needles in my leg. I tried to get some of the needles out of my hand while running, but they are quite small and difficult to see, especially in the dark! I found myself tripping (but catching myself) more and more near the last half of the loop. I did not realize that the batteries on my headlamp were wearing out, rather I thought I was just tired and was failing to lift my legs up high enough!
Before finishing loop 2, I had eaten half of a Lara Blueberry bar. It was difficult to eat this too, as I was finishing just about all of my water before arriving at the aid stations. I did have a few pieces of watermelon, which were very refreshing! I will mention too that it was very difficult to eat while running on the course too. I tried taking my eyes off the course to open a package and ended up tripping. It actually was dangerous to look up, as there were just so many rocks to trip on. My neck admittedly felt quite sore from keeping my head down for so many hours.
At the end of loop 2, I was going to drop my current headlamp in my drop bag and just use my backup one. For some reason unknown to me, it was not working even though I checked it before the start! I was even comparing the two headlamps, as one was 150 lumens and the other was 205. Fortunately, a friend told me I could borrow her headlamp. As I waited for her to get it, I decided to change my shoes/socks, since my blisters had gotten worse. I decided that I would leave my hydration vest too, since I was not able to get any water out of it. I probably spent about 5 minutes at my drop bag before I headed out for the last loop.
As I started the third loop, I knew that I had more fuel in my tank and could pick the pace up despite my lower back/glutes feeling unusually sore. I feel like the adrenaline and the excitement of being on the last loop had a positive effect on me, as I stopped feeling the pain after a couple of miles. I believe I was still somewhat dehydrated, as I was going through all of my water between the aid stations and guzzling down a whole bottle as soon as the volunteers would fill it up.
I had a few more bites of the left over Larabar, but I did not feel like I could finish it. I ended up passing 5 guys on the last loop. I felt fairly strong, as I kept telling myself that I have ran much farther distances. I did not trip nearly as much with the new headlamp either! I had a couple more pieces of watermelon along with two Shot Bloks. I realize I should have eaten a lot more, but I just felt like it would add to me feeling dehydrated and make me feel uncomfortable. I will mention that I was fairly good at taking salt tablets every hour, but I forgot to take them out of my hydration vest when I left it at my drop bag. I ended up remembering to take some after seeing a few at an aid station within the last 5 miles. I will mention too that I was disappointed with the aid stations this year. There were a couple of stations that ran out of food and by the last lap, there were two stations that were unmanned, and the last aid station did not even have water! I told the staff after I finished and they said that they did not have enough volunteers. I felt very concerned about the 60+ other people out there on the course.
I ended up finishing the race in 7:29, which I was happy with considering everything that went wrong and how I felt for most of the race! I placed 1st for women and 11th overall. I am admittedly disappointed that I did not make top 10, but I trying to focus more on what I learned from this race. The following are some of the lessons:
- Double check my bladder to ensure it works and possibly look into other bladders/hydration vests if I can not fix my current one.
- Figure out a different way to get electrolytes rather than using Nuun and having to wait for it dissolve (ain’t nobody got time for that!)
- Triple check my headlamps! If my friend did not have hers to let me borrow, I would have probably wasted about 10 minutes running to my car to get extra batteries, which I should have put in my drop bag, but I felt confident that two headlamps with brand new batteries would be fine!
- Work on significantly improving my nutrition- this may involve trying out some food from my book, Feed Zone Portables. I can also meet with Meredith Terranova again to see what she suggests.
- I need to do a lot more core/lower back work.
- I seem to have an unusual amount of pain in my knees after racing and especially after this specific race. I need to do some yoga and other exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knees and stabilize them more.