Jen Runs With Dogs

It has been a while since I've done a race. My last ultra was the Covert 50K, a race I totally made up, and my last real one was the Palm 100 in October. It's been too long, and though I know I'm running a 50 miler in 3 weeks and a 50K the week after that, I did not have the patience to wait. The idea of doing another self-supported 50K took hold of me last week. My 100 miler training plan has me doing LOTS of 30 mile solo runs anyway, so all things came together for me to do this! I had to drop my husband off at the airport at 11am. I was home and out running by around 12:30. My plan was to run from my house to Key west, about 15 miles, and back. This covered miles 83-97ish on the Keys 100 route. I drive this all the time and have been scouting it, but running those last miles was going to be really useful. And it went great! While that distance is hard, it doesn't feel super epic for me at this point, which is good because I have to do it a lot for the next couple...

As many of you know, I run theGoldenRatio4 social media empire for our squad of golden retrievers. We do a weekly podcast that's mostly about the dogs, but we've gotten in the habit of posting bonus episodes to celebrate big runs (my ultras and any full marathons I run with my husband). If you need a little extra podcast action, here are links to some of our running-related episodes! The Covert Ultramarathon   The Palm 100   Chicago Marathon   All About Running   The Epic Weekend (on the Wildcat 100)

After pacing me at the Palm 100 , my husband was regretting not running the 50K and notching his first ultramarathon. Since there were no local races coming up, I decided to play race director and make one for us! I had a bit of a head start on this because I'd planned a solo 50K for myself in August that got abandoned in favor of emergency gallbladder surgery (goodbye gallbladder, you will not be missed). I'd designed myself a logo and everything because that kind of overdoing things is how I roll. I'd named my race the Covert Ultramarathon because it ran past CIA Headquarters (vaguely - we were on the other side of the river). I was pretty pleased with that so when the idea to make a race for the two of us popped up, the Covert Ultra was revived! The course was simple: start in Bethesda, MD, run the Capital Crescent Trail down to Fletcher's Boathouse on the C&O Canal, and follow the towpath north until we hit 15.5 miles. Then do it backwards. We parked a car...

I've been wanting to do the Palm 100 for a few years. It moved to the fall this year which worked out perfectly in my schedule so, 3 weeks after the Chicago Marathon, I headed down to Deerfield Beach, FL for the race! This was a first for me because my husband came, too. I've done all my other long ultras alone. The race is pretty straightforward. It's an out and back 50K. You can run that, go out for another 19 miles for the 50 M (my distance this time), or do it twice for the 100K. It's on sidewalks most of the way and has really nice views of the beach. Sunrise around mile 5 My husband ran the first 10 miles with me before heading back to finish the 32K. Only a couple aid stations were staffed, but there were plenty of unmanned stations with lots of goodies. It was pretty warm that day and when I came back into base after 50K, I was really tired. A bunch of people were lingering around the pavilion with that look of longing for the sweet release of death, a...

One of my favorite stories to tell over drinks is that of my first ultra, which was not really me running an ultra as much as it was me walking and crying all day to prove a point. I wrote about it for Ultrarunning Magazine and even managed to work an internet miracle and find a picture of me from that race in 2001! My First Ultra: Out of spite - https://ultrarunning.com/featured/my-first-ultra-out-of-spite/

I ran 100K! It's like this year has tried to stop me from running a longer ultra. A work trip scuttled my Keys 100 (50M) plans. Ridiculous heat made me skip the Running with the Devil 50M. Emergency gal bladder surgery on August 2 killed plans for even a 50K. But I needed a race and as I laid on the couch last month, I browsed races. I wanted something 50M - 100K. Relatively flat and close. Long time limit. No technical trails. These are hard to find, but as I scrolled, a choir of angels started singing and this race appeared. The Wildcat 100. Pensacola. 100K. 40 hour time limit! I WAS IN! The race was September 1, basically 1 month after my surgery. I ramped up my distance a bit for the 2 weeks I had to prepare, but I felt like my training had me in good shape for this race. However, I almost skipped it. The forecast for the week leading up to it remained consistent: rain rain rain. I knew that running for that long with wet feet was not going to be good. I was SO FRUS...

I was excited to see this 50K road race in Florida at a time I was nearby. I'd seen some complaints about the organization because the 2017 race was abruptly cancelled for weather, but I wanted to like this race. I did not. For a while, it was fine. Runners for all races (5M, 13.1, 26.2, and 50K) ran along the shoulder of the road. It's not the most scenic, but it's fine. I understand why races need to do this. Up to this point, the aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers were great. The volunteers remained great, but things went downhill after the half marathon runners split off. We headed on to a paved trail system which was open to the public but fine to run on. The time limit for the marathon was 7 hours, and ultra marathoners had to be at that pace up through mile 16 when we split from the marathon to do a 4.9 mile out and back to gain our extra distance. I was very much ahead of this pace, and the aid stations on the spur were fine. But when we...

Belatedly, here's my report on my first 50 at the Saint Sebastian 100 in Sebastian, FL. First, weather. It rained and rained the week before, so the organizers were smart and kind enough to move the course. Our new course was a 5 mile out-and-back. The 5 miles out was on grass that is now my enemy. The return was on the most beautiful packed sand road. The organizers are not to blame for the grass being my enemy; it's just a terrain I'd never trained on and didn't really like. That grass was a killer because it was high and thick so I had to really lift my legs to get through it. That caused a bunch of pain around my IT bands which are super sensitive. It also soaked my shoes with dew on the first loop, but I was brilliant and brought a backup pair that I changed into with fresh socks at mile 10! The course was pretty scenic. We ran along a canal with state parks all around. You can see the grassy canal view in the pic above. There was plenty of wildlife, incl...

Lucky me, I had nothing on my calendar for today so I got my weekend long run in early! I left at 11am for 16 miles in the DC summer heat; when I got home, the local weather guys told me the heat index was 105! All went well on the run, though. I prevented the chafing that my running skirt gave me last week, got a new sleeveless top that protects my shoulder blades from being rubbed raw by my camelbak (still healing from last week), and tried some new foods. The Picky Bars looked promising, but tasted off to me. Maybe the sweetener? I didn't even take it out on the trail with me. I tried the Stinger gel on the run, but it was kind of gross. Again, just a personal taste thing, but I'm sticking with chocolate Gu in the gel department. Fortunately, I had much better luck with the Grizzly Bar and ramen this week. The Grizzly Bar was delicious. I cut it into little bites and they were easy to eat along the run and they had a nice crispiness in them. Definite winner. T...

Today's long run started my experiments with new foods to see what will work for my 50 miler. I'm keeping a page with all the foods, mostly for my own reference, over here . Today: Mike's Mighty Food Vegetable Ramen - pretty tasty, but too spicy for a running food. Gu Espresso - Gu chocolate is my go to, so I decided to try this. Was not a fan of this flavor Stinger honey waffles - not bad, but they'd probably be a backup food for me GFB chocolate coconut balls - didn't like the taste of these at all. Couldn't even finish the pack despite being hungry.  Dried cranberries  - not bad, easy to eat. I'm going to try some other dried fruits to see if any really grab me. There was nothing wrong with these, but I wasn't super enthusiastic about them. Nothing made me sick, but no big winners in this group. All good data.

Once I decided to start training for a 50M, I asked around to my few friends who do ultras. One put me in touch with an old high school friend who recommended Jason Koop's " Training Essentials for Ultrarunning "  This book is amazing. All the worries I had about nutrition, especially balancing sodium and hydration, are addressed. Plus, it gets to some training techniques that I wouldn't have previously considered. I am and always have been a slow runner. My fastest marathon is 4:51 and when I run comfortably it's usually around 5:20. I'm happy with this. I have no interest in training in a way that I don't like just to get faster because I don't value being faster. That means all my runs were the same except for the distance. Koop's book convinced me that the benefits of more intense training - namely, that I could better keep food down and stay vertical in a long ultra - were worth it. So with some trepidation I made myself a plan stating...

Semi-Rad has a hilarious set of ultrarunning motivational posters.

I suppose the Rosaryville Trail 50K is my first real ultra, since my first actual ultra doesn't count .The 50K doesn't feel epic in the way I suspect the 50M will, since it's not that much farther than a marathon, and marathons are relatively easy for me these days. Still, I suffered for this and I'm proud. I came to this race on a whim. I'd run 5 marathons so far in 2017. I'm well trained and could basically pick up any day and run a marathon. I'd been looking for one in July/August that would work around my work travel schedule, but was coming up blank. There aren't many summer marathons on the east coast. Then on a Wednesday evening, I casually resumed my not-too-serious 50K search and found Rosaryville was happening on the upcoming weekend and only 30 minutes from home. It was a sign! So I signed up. We are in Washington DC and it's July. It is swampy hot. This particular weekend was in the middle of a nasty heat wave, just to make things...

This is the header image that greets you on the homepage for the Saint Sebastian 100. Telling, eh? Yesterday, I had a grilled cheese date with my husband and a friend. The friend has done ultras and ironmans (ironmen?) in the past, so I was running (heh) the idea of a 50 miler by him. We live in DC, so the JFK 50 is the obvious race. I don't like trail running*, so I had kind of talked myself out of it. He explained that only about a dozen miles were real trails and the rest was flat / easy. He convinced me, and I signed up right there at the lunch table. But then I started looking more carefully**. This year, there's no early start. There's a 13 hour limit. I'm not a fast runner. My normal marathon time is about 5:20, and when I've tried to go fast, my best is 4:51. JFK starts with a steep uphill. I am fine on hills, but when you're doing 50, saving energy is good. Maybe walk part of that and lose time? Then, I find that the AT sections are more technica...

We all find those products we love and rely on. For me, it was chocolate powergel. It was my go-to in every marathon and I'd order it by the case. A few months ago, I ran out and was having a hard time finding it. It was out of stock everywhere. Now, Powergel doesn't even list chocolate as a flavor. It's gone! I will miss you, powergel. Chocolate was the only pseudo-palatable flavor. I guess I'm switching to Gu Chocolate Outrage (which is equally pseudo-palatable, imho). RPI, Chocolate Powergel. Pouring out a Gatorade 20 for you over here.

Ok. So the purpose of this blog is basically for me, and anyone who cares because maybe you start trying this someday, to follow along my process of figuring out ultrarunning. I've been doing 8-10 a year for the last few years. I've done 2 in an 8 day stretch. I love them and I can do them with almost no recovery time or pain. That leads me to ultras. I did a 50K last weekend and, other than a rough patch pushing through the wall around mile 21, it went great. I'm now pretty committed to doing more regular 50Ks and I'm eyeing some  50 mile road races. Maybe San Francisco. Maybe Chicago Lakefront in fall 2018. Maybe another I find that's sooner, depending how this all goes. But I'm going to do this! However, I totally winged it on the nutrition in that 50K last weekend. I know exactly how to fuel in a marathon and not at all what to do once I pass 26.2 miles. I was super nauseous around mile 21 (also, it was 95 degrees with 87% humidity, which may have had ...