50K race report

Toda was not quite what I had in mind but it was fulfiilling nonetheless. The good news is that I completed my 5th Ultra marathon race since April 19th. The bad news is that I didn't come close to achieving my desired time.

I realized fairly quickly that today was going to be a struggle. When we arrived at the race site we were informed that the route had been changed. Part of the fun of this race is that we normally get to run to the great falls and then turn around and run back to the start of the race. Unfortunately we didn't get to run to the falls so we had to do a detour. This meant that we ran to the 20K mark, then back to the 15K mark, back to the 20K mark and then to the start of the race. If that sounds confusing to you, imagine what it did to me.(LOL)

Sometimes you just don't have "it" on a particular race day and that was the case today. I had to do more walking than I'm accustomed to which aggravated me and towards the end I could feel a "twinge" in my hamstrings. It was pretty hot today but usually I handle the warmer temperatures without too much difficulty. Today I was feeling nauseous at times. I know that I didn't take enough gels today but I doubt that my stomach could have handled it.

I have resigned myself to the fact that until I change my training program in the fall, that my speed will suffer. In addition, I have to keep reminding myself that I have done more distance races than I've done in my life and they all have been done over a short period of time. I've done a race every two weeks which hasn't allowed my body to heal. There are others who are doing the same thing so I don't want to make it sound like I'm making excuses but the fact is that I'm still learning much about my running.

I'll take my customary 24 hours to reflect on this race and then will leave it behind in my rearview mirror. I may do another race in a few weeks but that will depend on how I'm feeling after a few days off to rest.