Spartan Ultra and Trifecta Weekend, Colorado Springs, June 15-16, 2024

Alternatively titled: 

6000 homeless people descended onto Fort Carson this weekend.  They wandered aimlessly through the cactus for hours, bathed in muddy water, ate all the bananas, napped in any shade they could find, and ran off with all the hardware.  

I remember the cactus and the sticky mud from a race here back in 2018. I needed an Ultra course for 2024, and this one was the right time, so why not?  Plus it wasn't a mountain course so I thought

it might be faster than usual.  Ha ha.   Jokes on me.  

Ft. Carson in the middle of June is a hot, dry desert.   There are ravines/gulches about 200 feet high, which the race director managed to turn into 6000 feet of climbing (!) over 30 miles.   How is that even possible?  

Jim declined to race here this year and that wasn't a bad decision on his part.  My Ultra started at 6 am on Saturday and by 8 am it was already hot.  I had been through the dunk wall already and was coated in a special kind of mud that doubles pretty well as sunblock, too, it's so thick.   The course was fairly runnable, if power hiking up rocky hillsides is considered running!  I managed to avoid getting any cactus spines in my hands this time, by creatively avoiding them on the barbed wire crawl.  

The special feature on this Ultra was an extra-long sand bag carry.   We picked it up, carried it for a while, drug it under barbed wire with us, carried it for a while, added it to the plate drag, then did the barbed wire again in reverse.  I think it was over a solid mile that we carried the sand bag, which for women weighed 40 pounds and I think 60 for men.  

Cactus!!!

My focus for this race was on my breathing. I've been training with Ed Harrold to breath only through my nose while exercising. There's a lot of benefits to this, including less evaporation of water, parasympathetic nervous system response, calmness, and focus. I managed to carry my nasal breathing patterns through the whole race, and that felt really good. The second half specifically felt like I was really in the flow of it, even as my body was overheating and my pace had to slow down.  Learn more here https://www.edharrold.com/

By 10 am it was 80 degrees already when I got into transition. 4 hours to do 17 miles seemed decent for the terrain (and the 1 mile sandbag carry!).   The second loop, shorter at 13 miles, would take me another 4 hours. I stuffed some bags of ice into the front and back of my bra, in my hat, my pockets and carried one in my hand. The evaporation kept me cool for a while, and the melted ice helped wash my face off after getting through the second dunk wall.  I had hope it would be cool and refreshing, but it was just muddy. When I opened my eyes after popping out of the water I couldn't see anything.   And my white leader's jersey was now brown.

My calves cramped up a little bit on some obstacles.  Definitely a failure on my part take get in extra magnesium the last few weeks...I've been distracted.    Otherwise my shoes and race plan held up well.  Final time was 8:05, good enough to get me on the elite podium for the first time in my Spartan career! 

The best part of a trifecta is that the races keep getting shorter. Significantly shorter if you start with an Ultra!  I did the Super in the morning and finished 3rd in my age group...my legs didn't really want to run much.   Then I napped in the shade, sharing a space with an 83 year old grandma who was out to see her grandson racing.   She was more agile than I was by then, lol.   At 12 I started my last Sprint race, which was just an open race with no competitive heat.  So I took my phone along and instead of doing the obstacles, I got to take pictures of other people doing the obstacles.  It was a fun switch.   When Jim picked me up after I finished it was 98 degrees.  Time to head back into the mountains and get out of the heat!   

Las Vegas Spartan Super/Sprint 16-17 Mar 2024

The weather in Las Vegas is usually not going to be cold and rainy.    The desert has been extra cold and wet this year, so surprise!   It was 43 degrees and raining at the start of the Super.  

My first Spartan of the year made me realize that my lack of rock climbing has taken a toll on my grip strength.  Especially when everything is cold, wet, and dripping with fresh raindrops.   I made it across the monkey bars by a hair, but then fell off the rings, olympus, and beater...basically all the overhead obstacles.   

The dunk wall was in the first mile of the 7 mile course on Saturday morning.  So I became cold and wet to match the weather.  I never did warm my hands up, and shivered until I got back to the hotel and a hot shower.   

I finished 2nd in my Age group, though, and came back to get my medal.  The rain was over and the day turned out almost not cold.  High praise, I know.   The rain had flooded out a little bit of the merchandise tent, too.   Outdoor events much be really annoying...I've seen Spartan deal with heat, dust, high winds, rain, and floods quite often.   They usually make it work.  

Sunday morning was a much nicer day, but still really chilly...I went out with the Elites (because why not, I qualified) in the first heat of the day.  Best news at the start gate was that the dunk wall was broken.   At mile 1 I saw for myself a half full dunk wall.   Nice.  Except when I jumped into it, the water was more shallow than I realized, and I tripped and got all wet anyway.  Oops.  An even bigger oops was that I skinned both knees and my hand on the sharp rocks under the water.  

My bloody knees were a photographers dream for the last 3 miles of the race and I could wring blood out of my socks when I finished.   Ouch.  I limped a little and just got the obstacles done before the soreness of my wrist started to set in.   Still finished second!

No photos of my race or the bloody knees...I know they are out there but...Spartan put race photos behind a paywall this year.  I didn't feel like paying $39.99 for photos of myself.   The shared photos of the course are better anyway :)  

My spring plans are a Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon in May,  a Spartan Ultra in June, and whatever else pops up on the schedule that sounds fun!      

In the meantime, I now have a nutrition office open in South Jordan, Utah, as well as zoom visits.  I use an Oligoscan and an extensive Health History to target missing micronutrietnts for better energy, health, and longevity.   Check me out at www.vigeohealth.net!

Oracle Rumble Half Marathon, Jan 27, 2024

This was not an easy race!   Lots of ups and downs and twists and turns.   Falling would have probably involved a cactus.  But mostly it was hard because Jim was on my heels the entire way.  He used to be 25% slower than I was.   I could time our races like a metronome.  Then he started getting faster.  And faster.   

Before the start I told Jim he would only be 3 1/2 minutes behind me today.    And then I had to go out there and work my bum off to make that happen.  Got a blister to prove it and everything.   In the end, he was 5 minutes slower, but he did have to stop to pee!  So I'm gonna have to work harder to stay ahead of him now.  

The race was just north of Tucson, Arizona, in Oracle State Park.   Hence the name?   Beautiful sunny day just like I expected in Arizona...hopefully it's snowing or raining at home and getting that part of winter out of the way.

Great photographers capturing this course!  

Results are here: https://www.ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=104227

The Last One Standing Ultra, Dec 8-9, 2023

 Now for something new and different.  

The Last One Standing is a 6 mile loop race.  Every 90 minutes you have to run one loop of the course.  If you can't finish by the cutoff time, your race is done.  

To make it harder, it's held in December, close to the shortest day of the year.  

If that's not bad enough, it starts at 3 pm, so for most average runners, only the first 2 laps are in daylight.  Everyone but the real beasts quit sometime between sundown and sunup.  

AND, it's probably going to be cold.  Yes, it's held in St. George, Utah, but it's winter, and it's cold.  

https://www.sgcity.org/lastonestanding/

I tried to get an extra bit of sleep the night before the race started, but that's like trying to catch water in your hands.  I spent the morning packing up a bunch of cold weather camping gear, and the food I would need.  At midday, I went down to the park to register and set up my tent.  Inside went my sleeping bag and mat, plus all the spare clothes I might need to stay warm, phone charger, snacks, flashlights, etc.   It was close enough to my house that I could then go home and rest again for a few hours.  

It was a beautiful day, and I started the first lap wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  That wouldn't last but it was nice anyway.  1st lap challenge:  50 jumping jacks before the start.  The loop was almost pancake flat with a bump after the first mile.  It was very runnable on pavement along the Virgin River.   My goal was to run the distance in under an hour and have 30 minutes to rest each time.   I ran the first loop in :53 and came in first.  Not that such things matter...it meant that I probably went out too fast!   

I crawled in my sleeping bag, changed into warmer clothes because it was already feeling cooler, and ate some rice and pork from Mo'Bettahs.    Then I rested.   That part was really nice on each lap!  

2nd lap was light enough not to need a flashlight yet.  2nd lap challenge: Wear a santa hat and beard.  It kept my head warm but the ponytail pompom made me happy not to have long hair.  :53

3rd lap was dark and I went with hat, gloves, sweater, race pack, and an emergency windbreaker.   One headlamp was enough light to see the ground but I carried a backup.  56:

4th lap get in a routine of a steady pace.  Chatted for a few minutes with Ashley,  Amber, and Sarah, who clearly COULD run faster than me but were choosing not to.  (Ashley won Badwater last year too!).  It helped pass the time.  :57

5th lap.  Challenge: Carry a raw egg the whole way around.  Mine made the journey :)   Could my headlamp batteries last 3 laps or did I need to switch them out?  These are the questions I needed to answer as I crawled in my sleeping bag.  Need to eat...went with licorice, potato chips and more rice and pork.  Carrying a small bottle and making sure I drink it on each lap  :59.  30 miles total so far.  

6th lap got a late start as I was reluctant to get out of my tent.  But that would just make my rest shorter on the next round.   Didn't catch up to anyone to chat because they were all ahead of me.  1:00

7th lap at midnight.  Made sure I got out on time this lap.  Ashley had changed into a gingerbread man costume or something...yes she had 17 changes of costume for this race!  This one looked nice and warm!  Chatting distracted me from thinking about my knee hurting a little. 1:01  

8th lap changed shoes assuming my carbon plated road shoes might be tired and a new shoe would help.  So wrong.  The new ones felt flat and yuk and I lost a minute per mile in springiness.  Plus it was getting really cold and my knees hurt and it was that time of night when you really don't want to be running.  Discovered pineapple juice in my cooler.  Yum.  1:14

9th lap not much time to rest with my slowing pace.   Changed back to my original shoes.  Handwarmers weren't really working and I was starting to get really cold but didn't have enough energy to put on a warmer pair of tights.  Not generating enough heat to stay warm either.  1:19

The branding iron to mark each lap was the warmest thing around!

10th lap gave up any hope of finishing as running was really painful but walking felt fine (I hdan't walked at all, just run and laid in my tent!).   Took a longer break, put on my biggest puffy jacket and set out to walk the whole loop.   I was still freezing the entire way and knew I would not make the time cutoff.  1:37

That gave me 60 miles and I crawled back in my tent for a minute to warm up my hands enough to pack up my gear.  Packing up was harder than running!  It was just getting light as I walked to the car.  The thermometer said 28 degrees!   No wonder I was cold.  I left my cooler open as it was colder outside than inside!  

Of the 15 hours I spent racing, I spent 11:49 running and about 3:30 resting.   Luckily my tent was right by the finish line so it was a quick switchover.  

 

I came in 22nd out of 105 runners.  15 men and 2 women survived all 17 loops to run 102 miles.  Kudos to them!  

Results are Here:  https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=100567

My nearest tent neighbor Joshua finished the whole distance!

San Luis Obispo Spartan Ultra, Nov 4, 2023

 I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the starting line of this race.  With two weeks to go, I threw my back out of alignment, and was having trouble tying my shoes much less walking or running.   With the help of my chiropractors and a liberal use of peptides, I slowly started to feel better.  

The race was close to my mother-in-law's house in CA, so we were there anyway to visit her.  With 24 hours to go, I risked a few burpees, didn't feel any pain while moving, and decided to race!  

The venue was set in the middle of a vineyard.  No water on course, no fires, and not many hills made this a very fast race.  We started in the dark, and needed a headlamp for a good 1/2 hour...I've never run an Ultra this late in the year before.  But I was grateful for the hours of cool and chill weather as temps were supposed to climb into the 80s by the afternoon.  

An Ultra Spartan usually takes me between 8-9 hours to race.  There's always 2 loops of a 13 mile course plus a little extra zinger on the first half, so I plan on 5 hours to get to transition/halfway bag, and then 4 more hours to finish.   On this course I was back in transition at 31/2 hours which meant my pace was faster than usual (and the course was a little short).  

I had a bag of ice waiting for me in transition, but it was barely hot enough to need it at 9:30 am.   I kept waiting for my back to hurt, but never even felt a twinge and I was grateful for that!   My pace did slow on the second half...I had only managed 3 runs in the previous month since my marathon and that's not quite enough.  

Only 1 woman passed me the whole day and although I kept her in sight for hours I was behind by 15 minutes at the finish.  I hoped that she wasn't in my age group, and thankfully she wasn't!   I finished in 6:45, about an hour ahead of anyone in my age group.  Yay.  

I caved to common sense and didn't race the Super and Sprint the next day.  No reason to push my luck and reinjure something.  Jim raced the Trail Half Marathon, kicked ass as usual, and finished in 2:14.   Not sure if I would run head to head with him right now, he's getting really fast.