We had 6 Treeline Athletes out for some big events this past weekend, and 2 the weekend before that. The season is here and all that winter work is coming to fruition.
If you've raced in the last couple weeks, what have you learned?
I know one athlete learned that as great as the Topo Athletic Mountain Racer 3 is as a trail shoe, for 50+ mile efforts a little more padding under-foot is nice to have.
Ran my first event this past April, Gorge Waterfalls 50k. My first ever effort above the half marathon distance. A couple of my biggest takeaways:
Came into race with a very basic fueling plan, i.e. water in one bottle, electrolyte mix in the other, and lots of gels/blocks in my vest. Overall not the worst approach, but I did struggle later in the race with dehydration (really dry mouth making it difficult to eat solid foods, cramping around mile 21). Next race will be more dialed in and leaving less to chance/luck.
My hill efforts leading up to the race could have been improved. I mostly ran around my slightly hilly neighborhood, with my longer hillier efforts on Sundays. Gorge Waterfalls was just shy of 6k total elevation gain which my training didn't train me fully for. My next race is in late October and I've already begun incorporating more hill training.
Re-posting latest blog post here as a follow-up to this thread.
https://www.treelineendurance.com/post/may-2024-racing-and-takeaways
Just did my first 50+ mile race (Cruel Jewel 50) and Greg is right on in that I should’ve had a better shoe than the Topo Mountain Racer 3.
Few other lessons learned. First, listen to your body. I was follow a fueling plan which included Spring Awesome Sauce 🙄🤨😡 and I felt underfueled so I stepped up my intake. Made a big difference. Second, a crew is essential. It was incredible to see my family at different points along the course. Such a psychological lift. Lastly, coaches make a huge difference. No way I would have been able to do it without Greg!!
I ran an event called Hyrox this past weekend-- it's 8k of running split up 1k at a time with fitness stations in between. (rowing, sled push, burpees, etc.) I usually learn more from races but really the only thing I learned was that runs on convention center floor leads to pretty significant doms lol.
Also it says it's 8k but I think it's closer to 10k when you factor in an extended first lap (rude), and the running between stations that are typically on the opposite side of the floor from where the runs end.
In my recent 5K (when compared to a 50+ mile effort I probably shouldn't be posting as a big event 😀) I learned that pacing is a challenge.