Potawatomi 50M Trail Run

Potawatomi 50M Trail Run
By OneBiteAtATime


“8 o’clock. If I fall asleep now I can get 1…2…3… 6 and a half hours sleep…”

“10:30… 11:15… 12:40… 1:15… 2:15…”

“2:15. Alarm’s set for 2:30… 2:15? Let’s Go!”

I leap out of bed Saturday morning, 2:15. Two hours to drive, pick up my race packet, and be ready.

“The cannon fires at 6 a.m.!! Enough clothes? Check. Heart Rate Monitor? Check. Shoes? Socks? Gu? Nuun? Hats? Gloves? Check Check Check. Today I get to run 50 miles.”

I drive to McNaughton Park in Pekin, IL (pitstop at McD’s for 2 sausage burritos – yum!). It’s dark, but the atmosphere is electric. The runners doing 150 started yesterday at Noon. Many are on their 7th or 8th 10-mile loop. There are several options at the Potawatomi Trail Runs: 50, 100, 150, (Sometimes one or two brave souls do 200.), and then a 30-mile fun run at 8 p.m. Saturday night. I’m doing 50 miles, five 10-mile loops.

The last organized race I was in was 1995. I was a freshman at Truman State. The trainers told me later that year that due to my chondromalacia, I’d never run again. That afternoon, one of my friends offered me a cigarette. And I was just pissed off enough… to turn a little thing into an 18 year smoking addiction. Fast forward to July 5, 2013 – when I gave it all up – and then to March 7, 2014 – when I found myself paying my race entry for a 50-mile ultra marathon.

6 a.m. 10… 9… 8… GO!!! The mass of of humanity (115 people for the 50 miler and 60 for the hundo) charged down the starting hill… The morning is cool, cold even. I’m watching the breath of runners in the light of their headlamps…. Reach the bottom of the hill and it opens into a flat prairie area. We make a quick right and another, and I look back at the runners behind me. It looks like a One-Way Highway with headlights bouncing all over the place. Like the road is paved in potholes and speed bumps. It doesn’t take long for the crowd to spread out. By the second loop, if you want to be alone… you can be.

The hills at Potawatomi are described as being eaten by 1,000 piranhas (as compared to a Great White) it is all up and down… very little flat. Each 10-mile loop has 1,600 ft. of ascent and descent. For 50 miles, I’m looking at 8,000 ft.

I pop into the first woodsy single track section. It’s up and down. One muddy creek crossing. At 2.5 miles, I hit the first aid station – Totem Pole. I don’t need much so I fill my water bottle and take off… I’m trying to keep my heart rate low…. My pace slow. Slow down, John, slow down. I’m shooting for even splits of 2.5 hours (15mms – which at Potawatomi isn’t that bad). My goal time is 12.5 hours.

About a mile down the hill to the first real creek crossing. COLD, top of calf deep, there’s no getting around it - gotta crash through it.

Creek Crossing 1.jpg

The next 2 miles are probably the most difficult. LOTS of up and down. A couple of long steep hills, but mostly quick short 10-12 step up and downs. Hike, Jog, Hike, Jog.

“Take it easy - you’ve got a lot of miles in front of you.”

Up the hill to the Heaven’s Gate aid station (about 5.5 miles)… good food. Bean burritos, Peanut Butter and banana burritos, pretzels, Oreos, Mountain Dew…. Good stuff. Through a passageway to some more single track woods. A couple miles to the last creek crossing (which is probably 100 yards upstream from the other one, but this one just seems colder).

Creek Crossing 2.jpg

Up the hills, through a Frisbee golf course and back through the Start/Finish….

First loop. 10 miles. 2:08. “Dang! That’s way too fast!”

EndLoop1.jpg

My buddy Derek is waiting for me. Fresh handful of GU. A couple of Nuun drinks prepared, switch out my morning cold jacket for a lighter weight jacket…. And OUT!!!!

Somewhere around mile 13, I started feeling a niggle in my left knee. “That’s strange. I’ve done 30 in training with no aches at all. Ignore it. It will pass…” Somewhere near 17, I’m feeling it in my right knee. “Compensating for the left?” Weird.

Second loop. 20 miles. 2:17 (4:26). “Dang! That’s way too fast again!!!” Switch out some more gear… And OUT!!!!

EndLoop2.jpg

The third loop featured an outstanding egg burrito from the Totem Pole aid station (a welcome break from GU) and a shot of Mountain Dew. Awesome!

By the end of the third loop the aches in my knees had turned to full blown pain when I was going down hills. I decided I must have charged down a hill too aggressively in the first loop… and now I was paying for it. I sent a text to Derek – “have some new shoes and socks." Another friend, Don was coming to do a loop with me.

Third loop. 30 miles. 2:36 (7:02) I sat down and pulled of the Vibrams and Injinjis. Dried my feet with the long-sleeved T-shirt that I was changing out of, blew them off, and checked them out. 10 toes, 10 toe nails, no blisters, no hotspots… Injinji socks are incredible!!!! Pull on a new pair of Injinjis and my Altra Superiors. By this time, I’m describing my pain to Don. He suggests maybe some Ibuprofen would be the right way to go. I protest… “That crap will kill my kidney’s right?!?!?”

EndLoop3.jpg

I stand and try to go. I Can’t. Every step on the right knee is excruciating. Try again. I can’t. I’m at an impasse. Take some meds and try to continue or take a DNF in my first attempt at an ultra.

Don is trying to do the right thing for me long term – “There’s no shame in DNF. If you’re going to do long-term damage, you should stop.”

I make the decision to take a couple ibuprofen and try. Ten steps down the first hill and I can’t go. The pain is too much. I simply cannot go down hills. I’M FINISHED.

“Have you tried backwards?”

Duh.

Backwards works. So for the next 20 miles, and 3,200 ft. of descent, I walk all the downhills backwards. I can make up time when walking forward on the uphills. I read somewhere to “walk like you’re late to work," and that’s how I trained. I pass people walking up hills… they pass me as I limp down hills. A few jokes are made about “Relentless Backward Progress.”

The fourth loop featured another egg burrito at Totem Pole and a Bean Burrito at Heaven’s Gate. The food at these aid stations was unbelievable!

Fourth loop. 40 miles. 3:03 (10:06).

EndLoop4.jpg

Don’s done, and Derek is going to get me through the last 10 miles.


I joked that the only reason I was going back out was for another egg burrito. (And they were out).

3-4 miles in, and I’m talking about the overwhelming sense of well-being that I’m feeling – despite the pain. “That’s endorphins,” Derek says.

Oh yeah. Endorphins.

I limp through the final loop. 50 miles. 50 MILES! 3:24 (13:30:58.1). An hour slower than the plan; but still a finish. No wall, no high, no exhaustion, no euphoria. Just a trail 30-miler followed by a 20-mile hike.

All in all it was a different experience than I expected. I had expected sore muscles… that didn’t really happen during the event (it did the next couple of days). I had expected exhaustion… that didn’t happen. I had anticipated the possibility of puking, diarrhea, hypothermia… none of that happened. All that happened was a joint issue; which is strange, because I had no joint pain in my training at all.

If I can get the knee right, I will definitely be doing something like this again.

POT50Finish.jpg

(Update 4/9/14) I visited with a friend who is a professional Physical Therapist last night. After some quick and easy tests, she assessed that I have no glut max. Other muscles are doing ALL of my butt’s work and pulling on my IT band the whole time. It was funny. She asked me to flex my butt, and I kept tightening my lower back. She exclaimed, “See!? You don’t even know where it is!!” She’s given me some exercises that should start the process of fixing the problem, so it doesn’t get me again in the NEXT one.
 
Nice! Congrats! I'm astounded about the walking backwards downhill. 13.5 hours is a respectable time. I always wanted to do the Potwatami when I was back in Michigan, but just never worked out. I didn't realize it had grown.

I also love that the fun run was 30 miles....
 
OHMYGOD!!
WELL DONE!!!
To not give up and find a way around a seemingly insurmountable problem? Now that's what it's all about go you good thing!!!!

Gluteus_maximus_bushman.jpg



NOW TO WORK ON DA BUTT!!!!! :)

Seriously though, I see this imbalance all the time......the body is so damn smart at figuring out how to use least possible effort its amazing some athletes have no glutes whatsoever and getting all their power from quads and hammys! Glutes are your friends, glutes are your friends, glutes are your friends............
check out this great vid to test your own
 
Gluteus_maximus_bushman.jpg


Now THAT's some butt right there! According to Born to Run, we wouldn't be able to run if we didn't have butts; we would fall on our faces, since they act as a counterweight to the gravity that pulls us forward and downward. I don't think this guy's going anywhere. :)