First Ultra Glacial Trail 50K

I was nervous the day before the race. Because the race was over 1.5 hours from my house, I decided to camp out at Mauthe Lake State Park friday night. I packed up the Henry Shire Tarptent to be used on the PCT, and the Western Mountaineering Alpinlite Down bag to be used on the same, and drove to the campground.

The colors were beautiful and the weather nice. I had arranged for my buddy Scott to save me one of the two last spots when I found out he was up there already. He stayed for a while after I arrived and then headed back to Brookfield.

I cooked a light meal, had a couple beers (for carb loading of course) and stoked a fire before kicking back to read a book. I miss the days of solo camping and this was a nice mellow night before what was surely to be one hell of a tomorrow. After a couple hours I let the fire die and crawled into my bag for the night.

I want to take a moment to talk about carb loading before a race. I believe you should run your own run so don't take this as pontification. Take it for what it is, that which works for me. When running long distances, we need to rely more and more on stored energy, rather than immediate simple sugars. Without the stored energy, we'd bonk after 10-15 miles. Stored energy comes in various forms, but complex carbs are most important for runs under 50 miles. So, yes, we must carb load before a race. When, though, becomes the question.

Previous knowledge has taught me that carb loading the night before a race is the way to go. Hence the popular pasta dinners we hear so much about the night before a marathon or other long race. I have found that this does not work for me. Because the race starts early, I do not want a big plate of pasta in my digestive tract minutes prior to the race. Even if you do manage a good "movement" that morning, I still feel heavy. It's the same with water. If you are trying to hydrate the morning of the race, it's too late. I taper the water and food off before the race, replying on the days prior to prepare my energy stores. Water I drink though out the race to replace what I'm losing.

My advice to budding long distance runners is to hydrate and carb load 2-4 days prior to the race. Have a light meal the night before, and keep drinking lots of water until the morning of the race. That morning, if the race starts at 7am like the Glacial 50K does, get up at 5am, have some coffee or tea and a light breakfast. i had pop tarts and a banana. Drink small amounts of water until one hour before the start and then taper to little or no water until the gun goes off. Now you have an empty digestive tract, empty bladder and are ready to go.

During the race, make sure to drink often and eat often. Since you are burning calories and water, you need to replenish. This will not add any weight, rather just keep you even. That's the ticket.

That's just what I did and it worked great.

Up next, the race.

50K Training

Ran a brutal 8 miles today in 80 degrees with 15000% humidity. It took a long 1:10. At that pace I should complete the ultra by early next year. Haha.

Here's the link to the Ultra if you want to come watch.


The plan is to walk all up hills and steep down hills taking care to protect the quads and calves (and ankles of course), as well keeping me from bonking. I would like to do 12-13 min miles if possible. That'd be about 7 hours...a tad faster than the elite runners doing the 50 miler that started 1 hour ahead of us. The cut-off is a generous 10 hrs.

Good stuff.

Glacial Trail 50K Ultra Prep

Here's a look at a typical flat section along the Ice Age Trail near Butler Lake upon which I will be running next Sunday. In the 50K distance, the approximate elevation change will be 15,000 feet. Doesn't sound like a Wisconsin trail does it? Think again. This is glacial territory and there are many hills, most small and steep, but hills nonetheless.

Kirsten and I hiked a 5 mile section of the race over the weekend and the leaves are just starting to turn colors up high in the Maples. Conditions should be nice for the race but they are calling for cold temps. We shall continue with style, regardless of the conditions!

Fox Cities Marathon Update

I finished with a 3:34 time, which was good for a beginner I'm told. My goal, which really had no sound basis for being, was 3:30. The plan was to follow the 3:30 pacesetter but I soon became bored with the slow pace and moved ahead....rookie mistake. At around mile 22 the 3:30 pacesetter, who was now alone instead of with the 8 people at the beginning, ran easily by me.

My quads were ruined for about 2-3 days after and when they recovered, I felt pain in my right foot just to the right of the instep. I stopped running for a few days and cross trained by road biking. The last two days I've been running again, nice and slow and not too long. It's better now.

I have, as of now, decided to not race the Colorama 10K trail run and instead focus on logging a long run on trails to prepare for the 50K ultra on Oct 14.

Next marathon I know I can do better! Boston qualify? maybe not, but I'll break the 3:30 for true with some luck!

Fox Cities Marathon map

Here's a map of the Marathon for your info:

Remaining Running Season

Writing this the day after the marathon, I'm a bit frightened that I have too full a plate with my remaining two races. The Lapham Peak Colorama 10K is up on Oct 4 and the Glacial Trail 50K is the following weekend on the 14th.

I've been training on the 10K Lapham course in order to place well in that race, but now that race has turned into a last training run before tapering for the GT 50K. The 50K is too close to the marathon but I'm going for it anyway. I'll make good use of the generous 10 hour cut-off for 50K runners on this ultra marathon.

It's sad the running season is coming to an end. I've enjoyed my first full season of running and racing. I've exceeded my expectations and am kinda bummed I won't be able to race next years due to our upcoming travels. Let it be known I'm NOT complaining however!!!!

The last race of the year, the Glacial Trail 50K, will be my first ultra trail race!

This was truly a year of firsts, and the season is in memory of Chloe, who got me out running in the first place. I owe it to her!!

1st 5K race (4 total for the season)
1st 10K trail race (pending)
1st 5K trail race
1st half marathon
1st marathon
1st ultra marathon (pending)

1st Marathon ever!

So I completed my 1st ever marathon yesterday. It was the Fox Cities Marathon up in Appleton, WI. I must say they put on a great event! Many very supportive spectators, and the volunteers were top notch.

As a rookie would, I started out of the gate too fast and really hit a wall at mile 22 or so. My goal was 3:30 but I ended up finishing 3:34:40. As I saw the 3:30 pace setter run by at mile 22 I knew I would not be able to keep the pace. I tried to keep up but my body told me in no uncertain terms that I was not up to the challenge. Next time I will force myself to start out slower and run smarter.

My results were 94 th overall out of 853, 63 of all males, and 10th in my division of 35-39 year old males. I'm happy from the result and have learned a bit about long distance running.

Hats off to all the spectators, organizers and volunteers of the Community First Fox Cities Marathon!