3 Ultras, 3 Weekends

Pre-Boston Red Sox game with Clif Bar

Saturday before the marathon includes mile races looped around the finish line. This was the pro women.

It’s Saturday night in Boston, right before Marathon Monday, and I’m sat at a sushi restaurant with Brian Beckstead and Kyle Petrieri. Brian’s at his fourth Boston and has told me he’s running the Boston double, starting early on marathon day to run the course in reverse then run the race as normal. He’s done this every time he’s run Boston. He also co-founded my shoe sponsor, Altra, so he really walks the walk of a passionate ultra runner.

Despite running ultras the previous two weekends and wanting to run a hard, fast marathon, I can’t think of a good reason not to run the double with him. It’s my fifth Boston and it sounds like an interesting opportunity that will make this year stand out from the other Bostons I’ve run.

Fast forward 36 hours and my alarm goes off at 5am on Monday then I remember what I’ve agreed to do and I’m tempted to roll over and get some more sleep, a typical race morning feeling. Yet when I meet up at 5:30am with the five other runners who decided this was a great plan I feel more of a buzz than ever before about seeing the entire Boston course twice.

Those other intrepid (ultra) runners are Nicole Kalogeropoulos (Rocky Raccoon 100 record holder and three-time champ), New Yorkers Stephen England and Keila Merino plus Utah’s Alison Memmott. So we take the obligatory selfie at the Boston finish line in the dark then start running. It takes until the first turn (less than half a mile) before we’re off course, but we soon get back on it and follow the rows of barricades as a guide for the course route.

5:30am at the Boston Marathon finish before starting the double

As the sun rises I find myself running with Nicole, a little ahead of the others. The first few miles are mainly uphill, running Heartbreak Hill in reverse (which makes it harder and longer). Two minor missed turns later and we’re enjoying ourselves but have added on some extra distance and are somehow behind the other guys. Then we catch back up around the half way mark and start seeing more and more people out for the race. At first it’s a few cops then it’s volunteers setting up the aid stations every mile or so. Already tipsy students cheer us at a couple of places, some confused into thinking we’re in the official race at that point, despite no other runners being around, a slow pace and running the wrong direction.

As we approach the final miles a cavalcade of police motorbikes goes by, each representing a different police force in the local area, totaling maybe 20 in formation. Then we see a few military men and women running in full combat fatigues and boots with race numbers. They’re spread out over several miles and it seems there’s some kind of early military start. In the final uphill miles to the start (it’s a big uphill in that direction, meaning a big downhill the other way that gets lost in the adrenaline and huge crowds of runners trying to overtake each other) we see the other early start races. First the wheelchair racers fly by on a downhill, maybe going at 20-30 miles/hour. Next the hand bikes at almost the same speed on a lesser descent. Disabled runners, some with prosthetic limbs and guides, come next and the crowds cheer them on enthusiatically, as we do. These other races are something I see little of in a straight forward run at Boston.

Then the final early start is for the elite women, which we witness about half a mile from the start line, running closely in a pack of around 40. Already this is the most memorable marathon I’ve ever run and I’ve technically not even begun yet. Nicole tells me that she might just come next year to run this reverse Boston and not even bother with the standard marathon too. I know just what she means…although I don’t think I could fly over and not fit in the official event too.

Finally we arrive at the official start from the wrong direction and security guards wave a metal detecting wand over us before letting us pass with an orange wrist band. Security is much tighter since the 2013 bombings, as you’d fully expect. We pose for another group photo and split up into our respective corrals, some starting in later waves. Now I’m back to my usual Boston morning experience, except my legs are a little tired after around four hours of running. Within seconds I see the bunch of ultra runners in corral one, mainly from the Bay Area. It includes Jorge Maravilla with the goal of (soon) running a sub-2:19 marathon to qualify for the Olympics for El Salvador (how amazing would that be!?), Alex Varner, Scott Dunlap and a whole host of SF Running Company guys.

Arrival at the hot start of the Boston Marathon, around 27.5 miles into the run

A few minutes later and the US national anthem is sung, then we’re off. Things are a fair bit faster than the casual run to the start but I’m pleasantly surprised to feel good cruising around a 6:15/mile pace. As always the race has fantastic support and amazing volunteers. If you’ve never run Boston then it’s well worth working towards qualifying for it, even if you’re a die-hard trail runner. After all, all the people mentioned above are mainly trail runners, as am I.

Overall it was an extremely memorable and unique experience which I’ll definitely replicate again in the future. I paced things fairly evenly, losing a little time in the Newton Hills between miles 16 and 21 for a 2:49:42 marathon (here's the Strava data). I was mindful about Scott Jurek’s words at a Clif Bar event the day before about the importance of enjoying the race experience at Boston and taking it all in. So I kept things more relaxed, high fived the crowd a lot and just plain had fun.

Surprisingly I felt fine afterwards and less sore and wobbly than after American River 50 two weeks earlier or even Gorge Waterfalls 50k nine days earlier. My intention before these races was to use them to boost my endurance and really kick start the three month build up to Western States. It looks like it worked perfectly as I’m stronger now plus I’ve had a great time at three classic races so far in April. Two shorter races remain ahead - the Bend Half Marathon this Sunday then Bloomsday 12k the following Sunday. No need to double these distances up and a healthy dose of speed is just what my legs need.

Gorge Waterfalls 50k in Oregon, one of the most beautiful ultras in the world. Photo: Ryan Kaiser.

Congratulations to all the runners over these past three races and I can only imagine the variety of life changing experiences people have had at each. One last thing to mention is that American River was the culmination of the second season of ‘Becoming Ultra’ so I know that two runners in particular had profound days. Krystalore Stegner was coached by Liza Howard in the project to complete her first ultra as well as scoring a Boston qualifier in a build up marathon. Then my client was Janet Patkowa and she went from very little running and a half marathon or two under her belt to back-to-back long run weekends and an epic 12 hours out on the trails to complete her first ultra. Thanks so much to the two girls who put in all the hard work and shared their story publicly, as well as to Liza and the master-mind behind the project, Athlete On Fire’s Scott Jones. The podcasts are available from the whole season, plus a short video will come out soon covering the project. Season Three starts soon and we’ll be searching for candidates in the very near future.

Krystalore finishing American River 50 and showing why she won the Spirit Award for the race.

Janet and Krystalore at the start of their first ultra, pre-dawn

JFK Statfest And Comparing Different Ultra Finish Times

9 miles into the JFK 50 course on the AT

Having just got back from the 50^th annual JFK50 (see a great history of the race here), it was an honor to be part of the event, especially with course records being destroyed (see results). It got me thinking about the comparability of race times between road and trail races, plus different distances.

On a training run the day before the race it's easy to bump into half the Montrail North American team and a whole bunch of Canadian speedsters.

For interest, here’s the JFK course profile which includes around 3,000ft of ascent and a little more descent. It has roads or canal path easy trails for all but 11 miles, of which there’s a really fun 10-mile section on the Appalachian Trail which is quick and generally not technical except for maybe 3-4 miles of rockiness. I may write up a report of the race, but there are a few of those around from others who had more interesting days out on the trail. In summary, I loved the AT and jogged through that then sped up on the canal path before getting slight stomach problems (rare for me) and couldn't get motoring so just kept up the best pace I could and mainly ran solo, finishing 4th in 5:50.

Predicting finish times from one ultra to another

One stat I’d heard at the Miwok 100k in California is that if you double your time from that race you get your Western States 100 mile finish time. Although broadly true there’s a lot of variation, plus that assumes having a good day at both races. It’s glaringly obvious that there’s a large degree of individual impact on how well, say, a marathon time translates to a flat ultra and even more so to a mountainous one. But JFK brought some of the fastest runners ever to a US trail 50-miler – Trent Briney ran a 2:12 marathon and has been the US alternate for the Olympic marathon (he got 2^nd and broke the CR); Max King runs a 2:14 and took almost 6 mins off the record; Emily Harrison runs a 2:32 and smashed the women’s record, but not by as much as 2:42 marathoner Ellie Greenwood; plus there were a lot more guys with 2:2x marathons, not least David Riddle who came 3^rd and held the record from last year.

Ultras like Comrades, UROC 100k, JFK 50 and American River 50 have plenty of fast road sections (or trails that are almost as quick) so they favor a fast marathoner who also trains for ultras. But there’s a lot more that comes into it too (as anyone reading this will certainly know). A quick comparison of some of the fastest ultra courses for people who’ve run them at the front shows road speed is fairly important, but more so the shorter the race. I’m biasing this towards courses I’ve personally done so I can legitimately compare them.

Comparison of PRs* for selected runners over multiple fast ultra courses:

	Marathon (26.2)	JFK (50.2)	American River (50)	Comrades Down Run   (55.5)	UROC (60+** 2012 course)	100k Roads (62.2)	Rocky Raccoon (100)	Western States (100.2***)
Eric Clifton	?	5:46	6:23 (Age 40)	?	Not raced	?	13:16	22:13
Max King	2:14	5:34	6:01 (Bad day)	Not raced	7:57	No 100k	No 100s	DNF (injured)
Trent Briney	2:12 (2004, but ran a 2:19 in 2011)	5:37	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced
David Riddle	2:26	5:40	Not raced	Not raced	DNF (Bad day)	6:45	Not raced	16:42
Ian Sharman	2:32	5:50	6:00 (Bad day)	6:01	8:25	Not raced	12:44	15:54
Ann Trason	2:39	Not raced	6:09	5:58	Not raced	7:00	Not raced	17:37
Ellie Greenwood	2:42	6:12	6:18	6:08	9:04	7:29	Not raced	16:47
Emily Harrison	2:32	6:17	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced	Not raced
Lizzy Hawker	2:47 (2007)	Not raced	Not raced	6:48 (Up Run - slower course)	Not raced	7:29	Not raced	18:32 (Bad day)

*PRs are to the best of my knowledge, plus the help of Google

**UROC 100k 2012 had 10,000ft+ of ascent but it was largely on roads and hugely favored fast marathoners who could also run trails

***Western States 100 isn’t nearly as flat and fast as the other races but it’s the only 100 miler for some of the athletes to date

Before I get comments saying this isn’t a large enough sample or it’s not scientific enough, I’ll mention that there aren’t enough runners who’ve run around course records at several of these races to make direct comparisons plus weather conditions play a huge part, especially on trails. More runners could have been included but I’m doing this with a JFK 50 2012 slant and am trying to show the really pointy end of the field, (plus myself for comparison because it’s my blog and it gives me context).

Along the C&O Canal at JFK. Photo courtesy Ray Jackson Jr.

Also, I'll point out that a great site for comparing race finish time for the entire field from race to race is RealEndurance.com. You can get an idea of your potential finish time in a race based on what other people managed at a given event who run at your speed in races you've already done. 

What does that imply for 100 milers?

The other reason for looking at these stats is that I’m sure a lot of people are wondering what Max, Trent or Emily could run in a 100 miler. From experience the correlation between fast shorter distance times and 100s is a lot looser than between a marathon time and a race like JFK. Plus there’s a clear trade-off between how much time a runner can spend on road speed and on mountain endurance, although most would agree that these do complement to some degree. Kilian isn’t going to run a 2:10 marathon off pure mountain running and the Kenyans won’t run a 20 hour Hardrock 100 when their longest run is 2 hours and at a much higher intensity. Of that I’m certain, although it’ll never be tested (at the least they’d switch their training significantly if they went for the races at the opposite end of the spectrum to their usual).

To run an average pace of 9 min/miles at Western States means a lot more training at a slower speed than a marathoner would do. This is due to the law of specificity, meaning that your body adapts to the training stresses that are placed on it. If you want to run a fast marathon, a lot of marathon-pace or faster running is required. If you want to sail up and down mountains all day long, a large portion of training needs to simulate that.

When was the last time one of the really big, competitive 100 milers was won by a sub 2:30 marathoner? Doesn’t tend to happen at Western States (please comment if you know who the last person was to manage this was as it’s not any of the recent winners). UTMB is for pure mountain guys and many of the top runners haven’t even run a road marathon. Never mind Hardrock – a recent fast marathon time is almost (I’m exaggerating) a predictor of a bad run as it implies too much time spent on the roads and not enough in the mountains at altitude. It’s much more important to do a lot of vertical in training than to be able to run the flatter sections at a 5 min/mile.

In summary, I don’t think there’s a very strong relationship between mountain ultra success and a top end marathon time. I’m not going to dust off the old economist’s tools (my previous life) and search for a huge pile of data to find out which variables correlate to mountain ultra success. It’d cost $20k to get a bunch of economists to do that analysis so I’m going to go out on a limb and give you my non-scientific predictions of the key variables for a fast elite time (relative to a world class runner for that style of race) at a given mountain 100-miler:

1. Results at really similar 100 mile races or with similar aspects to the race in question
2. Turning up completely uninjured with a long injury-free period pre-race for consistency in training
3. Location – living close to terrain that’s similar to the race for training
4. Frequency of DNFs – the fewer, the better
5. Motivations – this’d be a hard one to model and would need truly honest answers to a questionnaire but someone who turns up with the aim of enjoying things first and competing second rather than caring more about records and winning with second place being deemed a ‘failure’

And factors that I think are somewhat correlated:

1. Past success at the race in question in the recent past, but this could also build the pressure too much to cause bad pacing
2. 100k or 50 mile mountain results
3. Marathon time
4. Age – Marco Olmo is probably the last guy around retirement to win a really major race but the peak age range is fairly wide
5. Rippling six-pack/big guns – shows the runner does more training than just running all day, which is more important in an ultra than in shorter races. You wouldn’t pick a fight with Kami Semick and she’ll probably beat you in the race too…

100 mile records

So what about a flat 100-miler on a hard surface? There really aren’t many that fit that description except on a track. Fast trail 100s like Rocky Raccoon 100 (5,400ft of ascent) or Umstead 100 (8,000ft of ascent) are still significantly slower than a flat road race of that distance. What do I think the runners listed above could run on a flat road/track 100? Well, the 100k on roads gives an indicator but only covers the ‘easy’ bit of the race.

The male World Record for 100 miles is 11:28 by Oleg Kharitanov, pretty much 3h marathon pace x4! I think Max and Trent have the pace to do that if they altered their training to include a lot more miles at a pace they’d think of as slow.

Ann Trason holds the female World Record of 13:47 which I think Ellie could run. Lizzie Hawker too.

But who’d want to run around a track all day? Well, I’ll answer that in a month after I give it a go at the Desert Solstice 24h race in Arizona.

Grand Canyon and American River 50 miler

RD and top four men at AR50.

Busy week with a few days at the Grand Canyon (nice excuse for some pretty photos) then straight to Sacramento for the prestigious American River 50 miler.

Sunrise at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I wasn't scared, honest.

Woo!

Posing at the GC.

Those are some sweet trails.

Very windy, but what a view.

Amy and I got home at midnight on Thursday from the GC then headed off to Sacramento the next day. Was great to run and hike around such a beautiful place and I've now definitely got the Rim2Rim2Rim on my radar.

Then we had a tiring night at a motel with a party in the next room for much of the time before the 6am start on a bike path. The race is basically in two halves, with a flat and road-style bike bath for most of the first 28 miles or so, then single track the rest of the way. So I ran off from the gun in the dark with Colorado-based fellow Brit Nick Clark for a few miles as Jady Palko and Jason Loutitt flew off into the distance.

Jady faded after a few miles but Jason was flying and went through the 26.5 mile time check in 2:41, ten minutes ahead of me in second then Dave Mackey another minute down. Dave had passed me around 22 miles but then dropped behind again for a few more miles of bike path. He passed me for good at about 28 miles as I had to nip into the bushes with my stomach feeling dodgy.

Apart from those first couple of miles at the start of the day as I chatted with Nick, I hadn't got into a groove at all and the pace on the bike paths had felt much harder than it should have. I wanted to race hard but it looks like the previous month of tough training for Comrades, plus the trip to the GC, had left me feeling a little tired.

So when I hit the single track, I was suffering and couldn't enjoy the fact that it was a great trail, with comfortable temperatures and great views, especially near the end of the race. Instead of jogging through and taking it all in, I was counting down the miles and couldn't wait to finish. That was compounded by a turn at 30 miles that had lost its marking so I spent a couple of minutes trying to work out where to go before a cyclist pointed me the right way. I was almost ready to drop out then but am very glad I stuck with it to avoid the DNF. From what I heard, all of the lead men lost various amounts of time here and it may have even affected the end result since Jason says he lost around seven minutes and he ended up in second with less than that deficit. But at least someone went back from the next aid station and marked it again so that everyone else would be fine.

The remaining 20 miles felt like a huge effort but I told myself that as long as I kept moving you never know what can happen in an ultra. Also, I expected Jason to struggle after such a fast first half. Instead, I kept moving along the riverside trail, up and down over the countless short, sharp rolling mini hills. The only notable event I had was a trip, tuck and roll a few miles from the end. Luckily it was just a scrape and I was straight up again without a limp.

Then the race became really interesting for the final three-mile climb. After going solo for almost the whole distance except the brief exchanges with Dave, I suddenly saw Nick "I live in the mountains and run uphill ten times before breakfast" Clark behind me. I hadn't seen him at any point behind me and knew I had 900 vertical feet to climb, while feeling pathetically slow on the uphills. Just what I'd hoped to avoid.

I held him off for about a minute and he was much faster up the steep first climbing mile. But I was still within sight and only 20-30 seconds behind as the climb eased out to a gentler angle. I wasn't going to give in without a fight, no matter how lame my legs were acting, so I started chasing and was able to close on him, even as he sped up and looked over his shoulder. For some reason I thought the hill ended about a mile from the end and that it'd be a flattish finish so I kept at it and Nick and I sped up briefly to a 5:20/mile pace with maybe a five second lead for Nick.

We saw Jason come into view and were closing on him, but couldn't tell if there'd be enough distance left. A sign showed us we were a mile from the end and we still kept up a fast pace, but then it got steeper again and I couldn't stick with Nick, even as we both slowed. So the last half mile was an interesting show for me to see whether Nick could catch Jason. I didn't have the legs or enough distance to pull them in so ended up in fourth in 6:00:29, within 30 seconds of those guys and less than five minutes behind Dave, who'd run a great race to take the lead from 38 miles.

My immediate reaction was disappointment, especially at losing a position so close to the end, but the time was still pretty respectable and it'll strengthen the legs for Comrades (where I'll have a proper taper).

The course was great and it had a quality field so I'll be back for more at future AR50s, although the day was packed with so many races to attract ultrarunners (the last day of the MdS, the Bull Run 50 and the USATF road 100k championships, to name a few).

Congrats to Ellie Greenwood and Kami Semick for their 1-2 at AR50, which was also a 7-8 overall. And to Devon Crosby-Helms for becoming the Women's US 100k champ. Oh, and to everyone else who ran an ultra today, while I'm at it - this race certainly reminded me that just finishing can be a bitch.

Full results here.

PCTR Tilden Trail 50k

Lake Anza and the reservoir, Tilden Park

SF and the Bay Bridge

Mt Diablo

SF and the GG Bridge

After dropping out of the last three PCTR ultras I've entered for various reasons on the theme of injury or lack of  recovery, I decided it'd be nice to finish one this time. And since I recently moved to the East Bay, it's convenient that the next available one was the brand new Tilden Trail 50k in Berkeley (only half an hour from home).

6,100ft of climbing on what I expected to be dry trails after a scorcher or a week with highs around 80+ degrees F. However, much of the lower trail network was shaded and the previous weeks of torrential rain had left it boggy and slippery.

That didn't make it any less fun, although I did lose both (road) shoes in one section on lap two of four (with the last loop being different) and had to walk through the mud to retrieve them. And once up to the highest section there were blue skies and perfect views of Mt Diablo as well as most of the Bay Area, with a great vista of SF.

After several months where I've been meaning to get my a@% in gear and run more trails uphill, I think I've finally got a start on the road to uphill fitness so the aim was to not walk too much. Oh, and to not pull either of my calves again. I think I managed it and probably had a running motion for maybe 4,500ft of the total ascent and a decent power walk for the rest.

As always, Sarah and Michael of PCTR put on a great event and were kind enough to leave the hardest climb to the last 400ft of ascent. I didn't ache during the race, felt recovered from last weekend's race and seem to fine the following day too. So all in all it was a 'sensible' way to train and get in a long, hilly run. Plus the 50k was fairly small with just 25 entrants so I was able to win too, in 4h19m.

Next up is American River 50 miler in a week and it looks like the elite field has thinned slightly (Chikara Omine out with a broken foot and Anton K has, I think, opted to give himself more time to get ready for the bigger, longer races of the summer). However, there's still a lot of guys who would generally win anything they turn up to, so a famous race like this will bring out the best in them. Should be fun.

I also just found out that the official rock of California is Serpentinite, which is particularly apt given my London club is Serpentine RC.