The bigger the challenge, the bigger the disappointment when you fail. Mt Tammany 10 was undoubtedly the biggest thing I've ever attempted. It's a little known 38 mile trail run with an elevation gain of over 12000 ft held at Mt Tammany near the Delaware Water Gap in NJ. You simply ascend and descend a steep, ROCKY hill 10 times around an almost 4 mile loop. Oh... and you get 10 hours to do it in.
Lesson learnt #1: When you sign up for a race find out what it involves before you start training.
I trained. Just not for this race. I ran gentle trails and roads. I suspended swimming and upper body workout and lost weight. I stopped cycling to tone down my quads and lost weight. I made a deliberate attempt to improve my cadence instead. In short I trained for a very different race.
Lesson learnt #2: Either go alone or go with your CREW.
I decided to make it a family affair. We stayed at a hotel the night before. My "crew" was on-board with going to bed early and waking up on time. They were really good at attending to my many needs through out the race. They provided much needed encouragement and even paced me towards the end of the race. In short they were the best crew I could ever have hoped for.
However, through out the race I wanted nothing more than to spend a little time with my FAMILY every time I saw them. Lost a lot of time lolly gagging around each time I got back to base.
Lesson learnt #3: Never give up before you really give up.
Halfway through the first ascent I realized that I hadn't trained right and made a decision to quit after 6 loops. Just a random arbitrary unnecessary decision that came back to haunt me later.
If that first ascent was tough, which it was, especially since 3 of us fell behind the main pack and lost out way; the descent was worse. It was steep, icy and threateningly rocky. Fortunately, I had the right pair of shoes this time. The aggressive lugs of my Vivo Breatho Trail made sure I wasn't slipping... as much. Thanks to Willie_G for writing such a helpful review on the shoes and to TJ for directing me to it.
Did I mention yet that the course was rocky? Mt Tammany is basically a giant rock formation. There happens to be a little dirt on it at places. I still can't fathom how there were trees on this hill. At places the trail became a giant bed of jagged rocks where we could either take low ground and avoid the sharp rocks jutting out of the surface from bruising your ankles or take high ground and skip from one sharp rock shard to another. At other places we had to climb the rocks on all fours and make sure we kicked all the ice off the surface before we put our weight on the slim ledges. On the icy part of the descent rocks jutted out of the snow as a constant reminder to what our fate may befall. Loose gravel gave way underfoot and skipped jauntily down like bouncy balls down stairways. I slipped a couple of times on icy rocks; fortunately, braking my fall with my arms instead of my coccyx.
Lesson learnt #4: Your crew is priceless.
As arbitrarily decided way too early in the race I got back to base after my 6th lap and announced to my family that I was done. Well, they'd have nothing of it. My 2 sons, 11 and 8 escorted me a fair way up the hill on my 7th loop, making sure to let me know that I was moving even slower than their grandmother, my mother in law. When I finished that loop and came back down it was my 14 year old daughter's turn to pace me half way up the hill on my 8th loop! Thanks to my dear wife who had certainly done a great job coaching my crew. My cycling buddies, Jean and Horner (who happens to be an ultra runner himself) had been providing much needed intel to my wife on how to best help me.
Finally, I couldn't end this report without mentioning Marge. Marge was certainly inspirational. Not to mention that she was the one to sucker me into signing up in the first place. Marge had tried last year and stopped after 9 loops. This year she was determined to finish. She ran the first 6 loops with me, then went ahead to finish the race, well after everyone (except the race directors) had left.
As for me I timed out. 8 loops took me 10 hours and 23 minutes to complete. I learnt valuable lessons, ate good food, took in the breath taking views and went home empty handed. Which isn't that bad considering that the trophy for completing this race is a ROCK (with your name engraved on it), like you really wanted to see another one of those at the end the day.
Lesson learnt #1: When you sign up for a race find out what it involves before you start training.
I trained. Just not for this race. I ran gentle trails and roads. I suspended swimming and upper body workout and lost weight. I stopped cycling to tone down my quads and lost weight. I made a deliberate attempt to improve my cadence instead. In short I trained for a very different race.
Lesson learnt #2: Either go alone or go with your CREW.
I decided to make it a family affair. We stayed at a hotel the night before. My "crew" was on-board with going to bed early and waking up on time. They were really good at attending to my many needs through out the race. They provided much needed encouragement and even paced me towards the end of the race. In short they were the best crew I could ever have hoped for.
However, through out the race I wanted nothing more than to spend a little time with my FAMILY every time I saw them. Lost a lot of time lolly gagging around each time I got back to base.
Lesson learnt #3: Never give up before you really give up.
Halfway through the first ascent I realized that I hadn't trained right and made a decision to quit after 6 loops. Just a random arbitrary unnecessary decision that came back to haunt me later.
If that first ascent was tough, which it was, especially since 3 of us fell behind the main pack and lost out way; the descent was worse. It was steep, icy and threateningly rocky. Fortunately, I had the right pair of shoes this time. The aggressive lugs of my Vivo Breatho Trail made sure I wasn't slipping... as much. Thanks to Willie_G for writing such a helpful review on the shoes and to TJ for directing me to it.
Did I mention yet that the course was rocky? Mt Tammany is basically a giant rock formation. There happens to be a little dirt on it at places. I still can't fathom how there were trees on this hill. At places the trail became a giant bed of jagged rocks where we could either take low ground and avoid the sharp rocks jutting out of the surface from bruising your ankles or take high ground and skip from one sharp rock shard to another. At other places we had to climb the rocks on all fours and make sure we kicked all the ice off the surface before we put our weight on the slim ledges. On the icy part of the descent rocks jutted out of the snow as a constant reminder to what our fate may befall. Loose gravel gave way underfoot and skipped jauntily down like bouncy balls down stairways. I slipped a couple of times on icy rocks; fortunately, braking my fall with my arms instead of my coccyx.
Lesson learnt #4: Your crew is priceless.
As arbitrarily decided way too early in the race I got back to base after my 6th lap and announced to my family that I was done. Well, they'd have nothing of it. My 2 sons, 11 and 8 escorted me a fair way up the hill on my 7th loop, making sure to let me know that I was moving even slower than their grandmother, my mother in law. When I finished that loop and came back down it was my 14 year old daughter's turn to pace me half way up the hill on my 8th loop! Thanks to my dear wife who had certainly done a great job coaching my crew. My cycling buddies, Jean and Horner (who happens to be an ultra runner himself) had been providing much needed intel to my wife on how to best help me.
Finally, I couldn't end this report without mentioning Marge. Marge was certainly inspirational. Not to mention that she was the one to sucker me into signing up in the first place. Marge had tried last year and stopped after 9 loops. This year she was determined to finish. She ran the first 6 loops with me, then went ahead to finish the race, well after everyone (except the race directors) had left.
As for me I timed out. 8 loops took me 10 hours and 23 minutes to complete. I learnt valuable lessons, ate good food, took in the breath taking views and went home empty handed. Which isn't that bad considering that the trophy for completing this race is a ROCK (with your name engraved on it), like you really wanted to see another one of those at the end the day.
.
