Spartan 24 Hour Ultra World Championships, Telluride, CO Oct 10, 2021

The Stats:

1st Place Woman in Age Group (would have been 4th Elite)

56 Miles

7 Laps

140 Obstacles

15,500 feet of ascent and descent

15 Burpees (for the WHOLE race!)

140,000 steps

The Spartan 24 Hour Ultra was in the USA this year for the first time in history.   Compared to flying to Iceland or Europe, Colorado seemed like it was just down the road...I couldn't resist.  

Weather can always be an issue during long races.  We got absolutely so lucky I still can't even believe it.  Cool and then cold, but clear and dry and just a hint of wind.   When we pulled out of the parking lot the next morning (24 hours after the race finished), there was 6 inches of snow on the ground already.  THAT's how lucky we got to have amazing dry weather.  

The race started at 10 am with a 13 mile loop Beast course that they had held the day before. We got to skip a few of the obstacles at the start to let the large group of racers spread out at little, so it was really just an enjoyable run through nice scenery and groomed gravel roads and bike trails.   I stuck with a woman I recognized from my age group, we probably ran together for almost 10 miles, chatting away, and concluding that we were probably in the lead for our age group.  It turned out that we were in the lead for all the women age groups!    I gained a couple minutes lead on her in the last few miles of the first lap and stayed in the overall lead for the rest of the race.  

The weather was in the 40s and sunny when we started, and that felt pretty warm while racing.  I came around the first loop much faster than anticipated, so I missed Jim and left him a text from my phone in my resupply box.  We had parked in a parking garage down the road, and he would take the aerial tram across town to get to the transition area, where he was allowed to bring me food or anything else I needed before I went out on another lap.  

The minimum requirements for what we had to carry while racing included full waterproofs, long tights, a sweater, whistle, water, 2 flashlights, gloves, and a bivy bag.  I wore the long tights the whole race just to avoid carrying extra, but for the laps through the daytime, I was down to just my race jersey, yet staying plenty warm.   

The second and subsequent laps were shorter, only about 7 miles, but with about 1500 feet of climbing on each loop and still about 20 obstacles.  The first climb out of transition was super steep for about a mile, but the last few miles were downhill, so that always seemed to make up for it.  Jim was waiting for me as I came back down into town on the second loop, where a bunch of obstacles were stacked up all in a row, including the highest wall, the herc hoist, bender, multi-rig, rope climb, and helix.   I was pretty warm at that point, and mentioned to Jim that I could kill for an ice cold coke.   He disappeared and I finished the rest of the obstacles.  Not without a little pain, though, as the rope seemed to be slicker than normal, and my thin rubber gloves couldn't get a good grip on it.  I had to struggle for a while before finally ringing the bell.   I immediately swapped to a brand new pair of thicker rubber garden gloves and wore those for the rest of the race, much better!  

Jim was nowhere to be seen in transition, so I drank a sip of my Coke (which was warm in the sun, yuk), and swapped my water bottles for new ones.  Just as I was heading out to leave, he shows up with 20 ounces of Coke with lots of ice, and it was AMAZING.   I drank almost the whole thing in a couple of minutes and set out on my third lap.   It seems crazy, and I never drink Coke outside of racing, but cold, fizzy soda during a race always makes my stomach happy.   I didn't need to drink much that whole 3rd loop but I felt great.  

By the 4th loop darkness was falling and thoughts of needing ice cold drinks fading.    Spot was there to greet me in transition and I gave him doggy hugs as I hurried to get going again, to go as far as I could in daylight.    Namely, the spear.  Perhaps I should have gone out in the backyard and practiced the spear at night with a headlamp, but the thought had never occurred to me!  Oops.    It was just getting to be full dark at the spear, but I nailed it anyway.  

The penalties for missed obstacles were different on this Ultra than usual.   We carried a little piece of Tyvek-like paper ziptied to our packs.  Every obstacle that we completed got a punch out of it, and near the finish line was the burpee pit.  For each one of the 6 punch obstacles, it was 30 burpees if you didn't have 1 of them or 180 possible in total if you missed them all, forgot to get a punch, or (gasp) lost your paper midroute.   After 10 pm the penalties dropped to 15 per missed obstacle.   I was very happy to come around the first 4 laps with all my punches and skip the burpee pit.  

Jim met me one last time at about 8:30 pm and walked me to the start of the first big hill on the course.   From there I would be on my own for the night as the gondola would stop running and it would be torture sitting in the cold and dark of transition anyway.   As soon as he left I knew I would need to add more clothing as it was starting to get really cold.  I went with my fleece sweater against my skin, my waterproof jacket, and race jersey over everything.  Plus a beanie and buff around my neck.   That kept me warm enough for the rest of the night I never needed to change clothing again, although I did put on a warmer pair of winter biking tights about midnight.  The winter tights had a windproof section on the front of my quads that was perfect.   I changed shoes then as well, although I regretted it, they weren't as comfy as the first pair.  

It got pretty quiet out on course during the night. I always chatted with the volunteers at the obstacles, asked them if they were warm enough and doing ok.  It's harder to sit out there than to keep moving!  One of them said he had only seen 3 people the previous hour!   A lot of racers called it quits after it got dark, finishing just a couple of loops during their race.    The volunteer at the spear throw was visibly shivering, and didn't even have a flashlight the first time I came around in the dark!    Perhaps he wasn't a boy scout because he definitely wasn't prepared!  But he also might have extended his shift to do more hours than planned, who knows.  Around 11 pm I asked him if he needed anything, offered some handwarmers.   He said yes that would be great and I said I would bring some my next loop,  What went unsaid was that it might be another 3 hours before I came around again!  

But I did remember to throw a couple extra packets of hand warmers and a set of gloves in my pack when I hit transition the next time, and at about 2 in the morning he was very happy to see me digging them out of the pack.   Talking about this must have distracted me, because I missed the spear on that round for the first and only time of the race.  I realized immediately that I hadn't got the balance right in my hand, and corrected it the next time.  

So there was my 15 total Burpees for the entire race!  I never missed any other obstacle which required them, which honestly was amazing.   The twister, rings, ropes, and herc hoist were all difficult while fresh and rested, and I wasn't sure how long I would last.  They also got really cold, and I always took my gloves off for the twister and rings,  asI was afraid my gloves would slip.   It would take me a while to warm my hands back up after touching freezing metal, thank goodness for chemical hand warmers.  

That's not to say I didn't miss any obstacles.  The Olympus wall is so difficult for me that I just always skip it.  This time there was a bucket carry penalty loop, and I lovingly patted the wall as I skipped it and picked up a bucket.  There were 4 women's buckets and the first one I picked up felt like it had about 4 tiny rocks in it.  (It wasn't until the next loop that I realized 3 buckets were heavy and one was light! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize I always picked the light bucket on every loop.)   I wasn't going to complain about it, so I quickly did my penalty loop and went on to the next obstacle, which was the real bucket carry.  This one was a doozy and there was a lot more than 4 rocks in my bucket!  It was also 1/4 mile straight down and back up a ski slope.   Just thinking about this obstacle made a lot of people decide not to do another loop, I'm sure!    I hadn't rested the whole race, but at 2 in the morning, I finally had to put my bucket down halfway back up the slope.  I sat on it for a minute and just stared at the stars.   It was the only time I sat down the whole race, come to think of it.   The gondolas had stopped, and the hillside was dark and quiet, just the crunch of feet, labored breathing and the occasional crash of a bucket hitting the ground for a rest break like mine.

It was impossible to tell who anyone was at night.   Shapeless clothing and a headlamp shining out.  I took to saying hi to everyone as I passed them to see if I recognized any voices.  I did stick with my friend Aaron for a while, but mostly I was just a quiet light passing in the night.  It wasn't scary quiet, or at least I didn't let my mind go there, just a peaceful march through the darkness.  

At 3 in the morning I set out on what would turn out to be my last loop.  I brought my phone along this time, just for a little motivation and entertainment.  By this point, my left knee IT band was hurting, which made it hard to run downhill at all.  Physically, I could still run, but my knee said no.  That's something I will work on this winter.   I also was having trouble breathing deeply.    What gets overlooked in long races is that the chest muscles get tired from taking breaths as much as the legs get tired from running.  In this case, though, breathing deeply made me cough, and the cold, dry air at altitude made my lungs feel like I had bronchitis.   By later that day I was coughing up phlegm like I had just gotten over a cold.   It was painful and for most of the night I tried to breathe shallow so it wouldn't make me cough.  Perhaps a cough drop in my pack would have been nice.  

On my phone I also had live tracking of the race.  I could see that I was a lap ahead of the nearest woman behind me, who was a lap ahead of the 3rd place woman.   We could see this on screens in transition as well.   There is a difference between racing to finish and racing to win, and that painful last lap changed my mindset from finishing to winning.  Plenty of other age group racers had stopped once they knew they had won because the people behind them had stopped.  I had hoped to go 8 laps, which was 100 kilometers, and there would have been time for me to do that, but my body and lungs didn't want to.   It kept getting colder as the night went on, and frost grew on all the obstacles.   I slipped on the pads under the bender, and they were slick with frost and I promptly landed on my bum.  That would leave a mark.  

But the worst part of the race was became the walls.   We had to go up and over the 4,5,7, and 8 foot walls, plus the Stairway to Sparta, on each round.    That's 35 walls, which quickly became painful even with the extra step up that the women were allowed to use.    Carrying a pack made them even harder (I've never worn a pack in a Spartan Race), and I won't lie, I struggled to get over them.  Even worse, I always moved over them the same way, leading with my right elbow, and my right arm had layers of bruises that got very colorful even before nightfall.   By the last 8 foot wall on the last loop, I gave up and did a very short bucket carry instead.   It was so worth it.  

Jim met me in transition at 6:30 am and we strategized.   I had to start my last lap by 9 am and finish by 11:30 am.  But if I didn't finish that lap for any reason I didn't get a finish time at all.   The women behind me were at least a whole lap behind, so would have to finish two laps by 11:30 to beat me.   I was very cold, wheezing, and limping, and it was an easy choice to turn in my timing chip and be done.   If they could push through two more laps they deserved a win.  It turns out neither one of them did another lap and I won easily.   I didn't get my 100k but that's ok, it was a really tough course.  

Here's a link to the results: https://race.spartan.com/en/race/live/UWC2021?fbclid=IwAR2EdplC-DpVRiUUGGe4fLdmeAx9oYIQRamwIr-XJS3XfMqIS5nxCmScg64

Women's Overall Age Group Results

I ended up 6th overall in Age Group with the men included!

The Transition Area

Helix

Dang, those walls!

Leaving the next morning in a snowstorm

Spot waiting patiently for me to finish

Altitude Tent - Prep for the Spartan 24 Hour Ultra

All right, I've been working my way up to my biggest race of the season, which is the 24 Hour Spartan Ultra World Championships in Telluride, CO.     Watch it live here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrkf3TOWSNA at 10 am on Sunday October 10 until Monday 11:30 am Mountain Time.  

The race will be at about 10,000 feet, so when I heard that I could rent an altitude tent the week before the race, I jumped on it.  Runner's Corner in Orem, UT now rents out altitude tents, for a reasonable rate, and it turns out I was their first customer.   The unit was made by Mountain Air Cardio, and it's just a little tent that can either fit a mattress inside or sit on top of a bed.   Their claim is that the unit is quieter and less humid than other models, as it's built with a fan and an exterior control unit.   

I chose to just put in on top of my bed, and as Jim was out of town for most of the week, he didn't have to deal with it much.  It took me a couple of days to figure out how to use it, partly because I didn't have the manual right away and partly because I was too lazy to call the company and make sure I had it set up right. It interfaces with a phone app, so you can change it from inside at night.   It may have been working but until I connected the wifi I couldn't tell.  Oh well, it did in fact work fine for the last 4 nights I had it, and then I was heading to the race venue for a few more nights at elevation, so I think I had some great prep, more than usual time to acclimate.  

I did find the unit to be fairly noisy, but actually I slept really well all the nights I was in it, so I can't complain at all.  I just threw a sheet and a blanket in there and zipped myself in.  It was a little warmer than usual inside vs the room, so since it was cooling off outside I opened some windows.  

The data I have for the 4 nights shows me sleeping at about 10,000 feet for the first three.  Then I did something to the altitude knob the last night, and it jumped to 12,000 for the night even though I'd set it for 10,500.  I still slept pretty well so it worked out fine.  

Mountain Aire app -altitude tracking

The data from my Oura Ring verifies that my body thought it was sleeping at a higher elevation.   My heart rate, which is usually in the mid-50's, jumped to low 60's.  My Heart Rate Variability, usually 30-50, dropped into the 20s.  My Respiratory rate, usually about 14ish breaths per minute, crept up to 15 or 16.  And especially the last night, I awoke with a slight headache.   All good signs.  

Oura Ring readiness data

This isn't something I'd want to sleep in all the time, but for a week or two before a big event, it's amazing, and cheaper than renting a hotel room somewhere up in the mountains for sure.   Now to get all the other details right for the race and make it through the 24 hours with a smile!

Night Hike up Grandeur Peak

 It's always good to test out equipment you are going to use in a race.  Even if I'm tired, it's mind over matter, right?  I had just done Mt. Timpanogos the day before, but I wanted to get a little time on the trails at night, so Karen and I did Grandeur Peak as the sun was setting.   We brought our dogs Q and Spot for some entertainment, and to scare away anything bigger than we were.   

Grandeur is a steep and rocky little trail about 7 miles long with a couple thousand feet of vert.   We got some nice views of the fall colors on the trees and then darkness fell quickly.   We could see the trail for quite a while still, but the days are getting shorter and by 8 is was totally dark.   

I really wanted to push the quit button about halfway up, as my legs and brain were tired and wanted to go to sleep, but I knew the views from the top looking at the valley would be nice.  Plus the whole reason why I was doing this was to trail myself for a 24 hour race in a couple of weeks.  If I couldn't do 2 hikes in 2 days then I was pathetic indeed!  

The weather was perfect, the last nice warm night before a cool, windy, wet weather front came in.  We hiked up in a Tshirt, and I tested out a new pack that I would use for the big race.  It's a Nathan 12L TrailMix if anyone is curious.  

The views were spectacular and the dogs were really well behaved.  They stuck to us like glue for the most part, when the sun went down.  After the first few minutes on the trail, we never saw another soul, and it was very dark and very quiet on the descent.   Our main goal was to not stumble on a rock in the dark...even with two lights, the shadows were deceiving.   I sort of but not quite twisted my ankle, but don't worry, it's already feeling better so nothing horrible.  

The round trip took us about 3 1/2 hours, and Spot was really to go to bed when we got down about 10:30 pm.  I was headed to sleep for my first night in an Altitude tent, (more on that in a future post), and hoped being quite tired would help me fall asleep in it.  

Mt. Timpanogos, 11,752 ft., 26 Sep 2021

 

It's starting to feel like fall.   The pavement doesn't seem to want to melt the soles of my shoes anymore, and the trees in the mountains are turning gorgeous colors of yellow and orange.  Limhi and Deb both said they wanted to hike Mt. Timpanogos, so we found a day that would work for all of us at set off at 7 am sharp.  

Jim and I had done this summit as an overnight, but that's been 5 years ago now, and I can't believe I haven't been back there.   It's so much nicer than Lone Peak, and I've done that several times in the last couple of years!  The Timponeeke trail on the NE side of the summit is a really well maintained trail with at least a little water still running on a day in late summer.   It's actually nicely graded and switch-backed, so never gets as steep and rough as some other trails in the Wasatch.  

We let Limhi take the first lead, which set us on power-hiking mode, and we didn't let up, reaching the summit in about 3 hours.  I kept exclaiming, "this is so easy compared to Lone Peak!"  After a sandwich at the top, Limhi and I decided to run back down, which was fine with me.  This was my last big training hike for my 24 hour Spartan race coming up, so I could use a little running time.  

Deb decided that she would be much more sensible and enjoy the fall colors by not running down.  She took most of the photos I've added here as I didn't see much more than the rocks a step ahead of each foot I was planting.   Limhi and I managed to run all the way down in about 2 hours, picking our way through the slower rocky sections a tad more gingerly.  

It was an absolutely gorgeous day as you can see from the photos!

 

Back to Back Ultra Weekends, Crimson Canyon 50k, 18 Sep 2021

 

A week later after my last 50k, I was toeing the line again.   Jim was racing too, on the 25k course starting a few minutes later.  We had spent the last couple of months hoping not to repeat last years scorching hot weather for the race.   Sometimes hopes do come true, and it was a cooler day with a chance for rain.   With these odds I should play the lottery.  

The character of Crimson Canyon was completely different than the week before.  Set in the Red Rock country near Richfield, Utah, it started out with a very fast flat 5 miles before hitting the hills.  Psychologically, I always appreciate getting some fast miles out of the way first while my legs are fresh.  I kept about the same pace as last year on the first half, but managed to drink more to get ahead of dehydration, unlike last year.  We did get sprinkled on, but it was nothing horrible.  The women this year were a little faster tho, as I lost the lead early on and couldn't reel anyone in.  

Near halfway, we passed through the start/finish area again.  I grabbed my pack, and set off with a full can of Coke, my drink mix, and a bottle of water.  I was NOT going to do the heat exhaustion thing again.   The next 5 miles were slow and starting to get hot, so I used some of the water to dump on my head.  

BUT, and this is huge, my knee was not hurting and I was able to keep hydrated and keep running.  SO much better than last year.   The next aid station had a little two mile loop up through another canyon.  I dumped my pack and shirt by the aid ladies, and set off with ice in my bra and a bottle of water.    Soon enough I was back down to the aid station again, and filled up on more ice, soda, water, and snacks.  I amused myself by eating ice out of my hat for the next section, as the sun was shining and it was getting hot again.  

I knew I should eat something and I was tired of a bag of trail mix rattling in my pack, so I ate it.   Secretly, you know how you really want trail mix to just be all M&M's and nothing else?   This was just the opposite, I'm not sure there were any even though it said there should be.  Bummer.   

However, ominously to the west was a very dark sky and the rumbling of thunder, which turned into rolling growls.  I wouldn't need that ice anymore.  The next aid station was just 6 miles from the finish, up on a high ridge with a great view of the incoming storm.  I didn't waste time hanging around.   I did see bags of M&M's, so I made up for the trail mix' lack of chocolate by eating some!

The gust front hit just as I was leaving and the rain followed some time later.  I was running as fast as I could to beat the storm, but even in perfect conditions I had at least an hour left.   It could run faster than I could, evidently, and I put a the windbreaker to keep in some warmth.  The trails quickly went from dry; to hero dirt; to sticky dirt clinging on my shoes; to rivers of muddy water rolling off the trail.  

Inside my windbreaker I was hot, and when the rain tapered off a little I took it off again.  I now looked like a speckled red soaking straggler, but I was feeling good and my last mile was as fast as my first mile.  I made up all my time on the second half, finishing 55 minutes faster than last year in 6:49.  Ironically, I still finished in the same 5th place!  

Jim also had a really amazing race, finishing the 25k in 3:36, which was an hour and 10 minutes faster than last year!    This was his best finish to date, 18th overall out of 89.   

Here's the results:  https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81079

I do have to state, that for the second year in a row, I'm pretty sure I was beat by a man wearing a skirt, with large muscles and a very deep voice.   I'm sorry, but if you were born with an anatomy that is different from mine, changing a few things and clicking F instead of M on a registration does not make you a woman.   You, on average, have a larger heart and lungs, larger muscles, and more testosterone than the average woman.  I'm glad you are out here racing, but please don't think it's right to take a podium spot as a woman.   

Back to Back Ultra Weekends, Baby Bear 50k, 11 Sep 2021

What are the odds that I get rained on twice within a week while racing in Utah?  Pretty slim in September, but there you go.  When we drove up the day before to the start of the Baby Bear 50k, east of Preston, Idaho, it was scorching hot and dusty dry.   What a difference a day can make.  The next morning, it had cooled off nicely, and storm clouds lurked.   The forecast talked about a "chance" of showers.  The dark sky said otherwise.  

This 50k was a beast, with over 6000 feet of climbing.  Most of that came in the first third of the route.  It was a small field of 13 runners, and with no official anyone at the start line in the dark, we started off as we felt like it.  Up a steep hill that continued steeply for a long ways.    I had downloaded the route on my watch, but pushed the wrong setting so the map never showed up. The flags were very intermittent, and it took a wrong turn for me to learn that blue and white flags meant I was going the wrong way.  In fact I didn't know that I was off the route until I randomly stumbled back onto the flags by following the golden rule:  "If in doubt of the route, go uphill".  I watched the flags more carefully the rest of the race.  

The sky was more than threatening an hour later, it was downright raining.  All I had brought was a Pertex windbreaker, which I put on over my pack, and it managed to keep the worst of the weather at bay.  It wasn't cold at all, just "not hot" in the way that a summer rainstorm in the desert can be.  The showers came and went, finally going for good at about the first aid station at 11 miles.  Two brothers offered to cook me up some eggs and pancakes, but my stomach told me that just a couple of chocolate covered raisins would be plenty.  

I left the aid station for the middle third of the race, which meandered along a ridgeline west of Big Bear Lake, at about 9000 feet elevation.  The lake was too far away to see, but that didn't make the views any less nice.  The rain moved on, but left patches of fog and clouds and it was nice and cool, making running along the trail enjoyable.  

What wasn't nice at all was some IT Band pain in my knee, making it hurt to run downhill which is usually my favorite part of the day.   It was manageable for a while, but by the second aid station I wasn't terribly happy.   This one was an unmanned tent, with water and some snacks and a sign-in board.  The couple in front of me had been ahead of me a minute or two for 10 miles, but my knee wouldn't let me catch them.  

The last section of the race was a last steep uphill and then a dive back down to the finish.  At the trail junction, there was a sign warning to avoid this steep section if the trails were wet.  That was all the motivation I needed to take the ATV road back down.  I wouldn't be the only one making that choice, so it was ok.  The gravel road was longer than the trail, but all downhill.  I supposed it evened out in the end.  

All I knew was that I was limp-running the last 8 miles.  By then it was pretty hot and I rationed my water, running out with a mile or so to go.   I should have been at least 30 minutes faster, which is how much time I lost to the woman who won.  I finished 6th overall.   My award was a smoked trout which I'm sure will be very tasty!

I would then spend the next week stretching, foam rolling, strengthening, and massaging the areas that affected my IT Band.  Time would tell if that would be enough to change anything, as I had another 50k coming up the next Saturday!