I’d heard about UMC and thought it was nuts. The 10k swim sounded doable but the 260 mile bike, no frikkin way. A total of 260 miles over two days made me cringe. But, the 52.4 mile run, now that is right up my alley. I found my relay partner, Vince Denis, on Slowtwitch. He posted something about doing a relay and I jumped. Perfect solution! This was back in October so I had plenty of time to get ready.
October went by, November went by, December went by, and the maximum training I did was once a week I’d do a run or a swim. I put on 8lbs, which for someone my size is a lot. Overweight, soft and unmotivated I decided I needed a coach. For some reason I just can’t get my butt off the couch without someone cracking the whip. I hired Brian Stover and started on Jan. 1st.
Fast forward several months of rebuilding my run base, working on speed and completing a 103 day running streak. I was feeling darn good. But, I didn’t feel ready for UMC. Brian assured me I was after I sent him more than one panicked email. I needed to trust him and my training. I decided at that point I didn’t have a choice.
On Thursday, July 30th, my friend and crew member Maria and I left for Penticton. Weather predictions were to be in the high 90s to 100 all weekend. The week prior here in Seattle had done quite a bit to get me heat acclimated which would pay off on Monday. We arrive late as usual and check into the hotel. It is here I finally meet Vince face to face. Whew, he seemed normal! Email doesn’t always do a good job of reflecting true personality so it was quite a relief.
Friday morning was registration, breakfast and race briefing. There were ~30 athletes total including relay teams, of which there were 3. Jason Lester was there as was Shanna Armstrong who had won Ultraman Hawaii 5 times. Pretty BAMF crew all around. If you think Ironman athletes look lean and strong, try Ultraman athletes!
During the briefing we were told that days 2 and 3 would start at 6am instead of 7am because of the expected heat. Gulp!
Here is a pic of all the athletes. I’m in the front left in the purple t-shirt.
Saturday started with a beautiful morning. Skaha Lake was perfectly calm. For a lake that size, it was amazing to see it smooth as glass. Each athlete needed a kayaker to accompany them and Vince had brought along a friend. I was jealous. The swim start was the antithesis of an IM swim start. Steve Brown, the RD, blew a horn and everyone pretty much kept chatting then slowly got moving. I loved it. I wish all events started that relaxed! They had a long way to go so there wasn’t a hurry to get started.
Vince got out of the water in 3:43 whish was close to goal. I was pretty proud of him. 10k is a loooong way to swim.
Maria keeping Vince cool:
Day 3 arrived and it was my turn. I was feeling pretty nervous because I knew I had a long day ahead of me. I’d looked at the course profile and knew it was going to be tough. I had 12 hours to complete it. I was pretty sure I could do it in that time but until I got out there, who knew.
The horn went off at 6am and off we went. It was quite chilly to start, about 55. This was a big change from the previous days and we were all freezing. It took a while for me to warm up enough to take off my long sleeve shirt.
I started off very slowly. In retrospect, too slowly. My gait wasn’t my normal gait and it took me a really long time to get warmed up. Next time I’ll just go out at what I am comfortable with. A couple miles in I was feeling really crappy and couldn’t figure out what was going on. Well, I kinda knew that I was suffering from lack of sleep and crappy food since I’d been crewing Vince for the past 2 days. But, I was out of breath too. My stomach was bothering me which I expected but why couldn’t I catch my breath? See course profile for the first 30k below. Vince finally told me I’d been going uphill at a low grade for 15ish miles. Finally it made sense! I was really relieved. The dirt road started at mile 22 and I was happy to see it. I’d walked some of the steeper hills but that still didn’t account for my slow times. I came into the first marathon checkpoint, halfway, very far behind schedule. This got me worried. Either I needed to pick up the speed or I was in danger of cutting it close on the cutoff.
I managed to pick up some good speed after that checkpoint and made up some time. Then, the hills hit. And not baby hills but MONSTER hills. The kind I had to walk if I planned on having enough in me to finish. That totally sucked because I was feeling really good. I’d finally found my rhythm but these hills wouldn’t allow me to run.
Occasionally I would hit an awesome downhill and really pick up my pace. I am a downhill junkie. I love letting loose and having gravity do the work for me. Those who would pass me on the uphills would be passed by me on the downhills. I had been leapfrogging with several people all day.
Once again I briefly found my rhythm. But then, more hills. At one point I stopped at the bottom of one, asked my crew “are you f**king kidding me???” They smiled and Maria got out to keep me company while I whined.
The miles passed, slowly, and I finally reached mile 44, a milestone because the dirt road ended and pavement began. I knew I was headed into home. I also knew I had a viscous downhill in front of me. I decided to just let go and see how I held up. I had nothing left to lose so I let her rip. It was around mile 46ish that the pain really hit. I’d avoided all pain relievers because I knew they increased the risk of dehydration and other problems. At this point I gave in. It was just too much. Two Advil and 15 minutes later I felt much better. I kept running and only walked a tiny downhill that I was worried I’d fall on if I ran it.
The end seemed to be nowhere in sight. People were telling me multiple distances left and I couldn’t believe any of them. Vince and Maria kept telling me to listen to them but they had the farthest distance left and I didn’t want to believe it. I swear it was mile 45 for an hour.
Coming into town was a nice flat section. I could see some of the Spanish crew up ahead, draped in flags and walking with one of their athletes. I decided to chase him down. I’m not sure what possessed me but he was a good target and gave me something to think about aside from the pain. I passed him and felt a bit smug. I’d also passed all the others that I’d been leapfrogging. I felt smug about that too.
The temps ended up somewhere in the low 80s which felt cool to me. A lot of sponges and keeping up on my S!Caps prevented any overheating problems.
I crossed the finish line in 11:42 and change. A lot longer than I wanted but I can’t complain. I set a 50k PR by 10 minutes and a 50 mile PR by 55 minutes. Maria, Vince and I crossed together. It was a team effort all weekend and we had earned it.
One blister on my foot that only came up in the last 2 miles because of the friction on the steep downhills. I had changed into a larger size shoe at mile 35 and I think that is what saved me. No chafing. Ultimately, I got off very easy.
I got my nutrition right. The plan was for one Accel Gel and one diluted bottle of Accelerade and hour. That would give me ~120 calories and hour. That was perfect. Also, one S!Cap an hour. I didn’t start off too great and was running low on calories the first couple hours. We corrected that about mile 18 when they were able to get me a 2 liter of Coke. That stuff is the ultra running nectar of the gods. We also had watermelon in the car which was amazing. I ended up taking in ~1200 calories for the run and once we got me caught up on my calories I think that was just right. No more stomach problems after the first 3 hours and my energy levels were much better with the caffeine and sugar.
My recovery is going very well. I was quite sore, as expected, the first couple days but I’m fully mobile and my 15 minute run last night felt great. I think the 10 hours of sleep I got both nights this weekend helped.
If you are ever looking to step up from Ironman, Ultraman is a great way to do it. The athletes, crew and organizers are fantastic. Very supportive, fun and willing to help any way they can. I will be going back next year to crew.
That was my big event for the summer. Halloween I will be running 100k. I’m a glutton for punishment.
