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Wednesday, October 28, 2020

The Sotol Dance

Anatomy of My 2nd D.N.F.

Ultra #068 | DNF #002

It's been awhile since my last in person race (although I was lucky enough to venture to Colorado in July for a race.) I know that some of you out there have not been to an in person race for various reasons since the pandemic lockdown(s) have occurred globally, so I am not complaining, just stating my timeline. I enjoy to race a lot so July seems like a while ago already. I planned going to Hill Country out near Bandera to take on this race called Cactus Rose as it is known to be tough and you need to be self-supported. It was the type of race built for these social distancing pandemic conditions.
The beautiful (and sharp) Sotol (Dasylirion texanum)

I've been to Hill Country State Natural Area before as it is also where Tejas Trails holds the Bandera 100 race each January (which is an annual Golden Ticket race for WSER). I had ran Bandera 100 twice in 2018 and earlier this January in 2020, so I knew what to expect in terms of the terrain and the hill climbs and the basic loop.


I went to Bandera with my usual goal of just finishing the challenge of an ultra and grinding it out. I honestly didn’t have a time goal, even when others asked me I didn’t have a response to that. Maybe this was part of my issue for this particular race. My drop bags were all organized and arranged the way I wanted them. I was placing 2 large stashes out on the course at 3 of the 5 aid stations areas.

My pre-race gear packing photo shot. Everything I would need for a self-supported long adventure in Hill Country.

Lots of fatty nut mixtures with a selection of sugary snacks to contrast it. I usually do a bit of both so having choice out there is a nice thing to have for how you feel at that moment.

Got to stay hydrated too!


My 1-person tent set up. *Note: I need myself a van!

I drove out on Thursday mid morning after getting my gear packed into my car. I headed West to Hill Country. 4.5 hours later I had arrived in the park. I found my way to the group lodge and set up my tent area. Next thing was to grab my gear and get things set out for morning, so I took my car to the 2 aid stations and dropped them off accordingly picking my own little area of real estate to hold my cooler, water, and small Coyote II Victory Sportdesign drop bag. The 3rd aid station I was utilizing my gear at was at the group lodge which was the start/finish area so I did not set that out till morning during my start. I went for a small light run to shakeout the legs a little. I only went 3.11 mi (just over 5 km) to keep my #RunStreak going as well because I really do truly feel better when I am moving. I wanted to keep running and exploring the trails but it was nearing sunset and pus I still had a big day ahead of me.

My night in the tent was not the best sleep ever as the wind picked up slightly over night. Checking my Garmin stats later on it appeared I 6hr 52min of sleep, but there were periods of slight wakefulness within there so it was fragmented sleep pattern. I got up with the early birds around 06:00 even though my start window for the race wasn't until 08:00. But that gave me a good 2 hours to wake up and do my final  preparations. I hauled my chair over to the start/finish area along with my bag there where I'd have change of kit (if needed). Checked in once I saw there was no one else standing there to help keep social distancing. I got my ankle tracking bracelet and was now ready to go. The volunteers informed me we could start whenever we wanted since it is all chipped time race and starts when you cross the mat. So I mixed up some Tailwind into my Nathan bottles and was ready to rock. Got my Garmin GPS synced and was standing in the starting chute all by myself. Just after sunrise at time of 07:42 I pressed start and heading down out on the course.

Loop1 - Too Fast?

Legs were ready, my mind was ready, and all I had to do was complete 150 miles on some gnarly rocky terrain. I tried to keep my pace calm, cool, and collected for my first loop. I mentioned prior I honestly didn't have a laid out time goal/plan, but as I sent out I thought a nice even 6 hours per loop would be a nice result. I do not study my watch as I run so I run on my perceived effort as I go. This lead to a good first loop time overall. There were no issues, I did not have any hiccups and cruised around in 5:02:30 (a near perfect 5mi/hr pace). Near the end of the loop the temperature was starting to creep out as the sun was out as the clouds parted, I knew the heat of the day was coming.

Loop2 - Shit Show!

A short break between loops I grabbed my Nathan hydration pack (which I had ready to go) since I planned on being slower and also needing more fluids during the heat of the afternoon. I set off back around the loop on a slow jaunt. I can't recall how far into the loop it was but I started to take lots of walking breaks already as the temperature here in South Texas was now reaching 90f. I drank and drank but seemed to not be able to keep myself fully hydrated as I started to feel twinges in my leg muscles only 3 miles into loop2. I had salt with me, I was drinking Tailwind and getting my salts that way already, and plus I had straight water in my spare front bottles. At the 4.14 mi aid station I caught up to my TROT teammate Dena Carr. She had started before me timewise I think at 07:00, so about 45 minutes ahead. I came into the self aid here at "Ya-Ya" and saw Dena, she was complaining of cramps and the heat as well. I felt her pain, even though it was unfortunately only beginning (I wasn't fully aware of that at this point). We set off together coming out of that self aid. We caught up and chatted briefly and enjoyed the company. But like maybe 1-1.5 mile down from the aid I could not keep my pace long enough to maintain a constant job - my calf muscles were cramping. I told Dena to keep going and I'd catch back up later on. I was back to my usual solo running, but not by choice as my stupid muscles were not cooperating.

During the middle of the loop around mile 12 there is a steep up and down called Ice Cream Hill. I was still struggling at this point and the steep technical downhill was not good. I started getting spasms and my calf seized up a couple times where I'd had to flex to get it to loosen. The flat rolling terrain was not too bad, but the steep climbs and descents were not kind to me today. Right neat the bottom coming off Ice Cream Hill my right calf seized so badly that I could not flex my foot to loosen the muscle. The terrain was too steep to get my ankle planted enough to dorsiflex my foot (which is how I usually correct the full muscle lockup). I yelled out in pain and anger all at once. After a few agonizing seconds, which seems like forever when you leg muscles are locked, I finally was able to get myself positioned facing uphill and use my body weight to force my ankles to dorsiflex resulting in the muscles unlocking. I just sat there for a minute on all fours facing the hill wondering what to do next as I still had about hundred feet to get down. I attempted to turn around and instantly cramped up again. I then literally crawled backward down the remaining hundred feet of this steep hill in order to get to the flatter terrain. This was the only way to keep my feet dorsiflexed where they would lock up. Once I got down to the rolling flat portion I was able to resume walking again which is the cure all to loosen up all the muscles. it is nearly impossible to do so on steep terrain so when cramping (or worse as I just described) or even full muscle lockup occurs.

From here the remainder of the loop2 was a mix of super slow jogging, non-stop chugging of fluids, and lots of walking breaks in order to keep my legs as loose as I could. I saw Dena again right before arriving back to the end of the loop, she was already turned around and starting her loop3. Ultimately it took me 08:14:19 to get the 2nd 25 miles complete. Some of those miles were the worst cramping I have ever experienced and was not fun to deal with. Overall I had done the ~51miles in 13:28:59 thus far.

Loop3 - Recovery Night Miles

I sat down after loop2 and downed so much water. I tried to regain any hydration I could. I was drinking constantly out there but had still not peed yet since the end of loop1 nearly 9 hours ago now. I took a good 35 minutes between loops getting in extra calories and drinking as much as I could handle. It was now dark out so the next 10-11 hours was headlamp time. I felt a lot better after sitting and downing a few cups or ramen that the group lodge had available. It was the magic broth that helped bring me back to life it seemed.

When I set back out on loop3 I was again running at my nice slow 100mi pace. It felt great to be moving again faster than a brisk walk and I was thankful for that. But I knew the road was long ahead of me yet, as I was only just over a third done at this point. The thing about longs ultras is that you always have lows, and I was glad to have survived this one. I was now looking forward to a nice steady night loop and get back on track. There was really nothing exciting happening to note on my 3rd loop other than I took about 10-20 mins at each aid station to down more calories and maintain my fluid intake. I think around the first aid station where I finally was able to pee again after nearly 10 hours, and I was relieved to see a normal color which indicated to me I was back trending towards a healthy hydration/electrolyte balance again finally.

The third loop was 08:27:18 but probably 1 hour plus of that was me taking care of myself in the 4 interloop aid stations, so I was happy with this loop. This put me coming back into the start/finish at the lodge around 06:15 or so, which was about an hour prior to sunrise.

Results - DNF

I was tired my feet hurt and I was now slower than I thought (based on my made up goal time during loop1). I started doing "stupid runner math" and figuring that I was only half way done in just over 22.5 hours and still had ~77 rock kicking technical miles to go. I sat there eating and drinking trying to convince myself to get up and go. It was not working. Finally I told myself I needed to sleep on it and not make a rash decision. So I sat in my chair and closed my eyes for about 20 minutes. I woke up and had no desire to go. my legs felt refreshed, my body had no excuse to quit, but my mind was now playing tricks on me and I did give in. I walked over to the timer and took off my ankle bracelet and handed it in, I was done. 77 miles, only half way to my goal of finishing. Ultra #068 was not a success. I had just given up because my head was not in it anymore. This has now resulted in my DNF rate (DNFr) increasing to 2.94% as I have now 2 DNF in my 68 ultras I have run.

STRAVA activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/4238486845

• the GOOD: I ran 77miles. I quit on my own terms, even after a short nap to ensure my choice.

My STRAVA stats. 3 loops completed...then I quit. Still 3 remained only 50% done.

• the BAD: I quit and did not see my A-goal of finishing through when I didn’t have a physical reason not too. I lost my “why” for this run.

Ultimately my race resulted in my 2nd Did Not Finish (DNF).

Gear Used

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Thank you for following along .
This was ultramarathon #068 for me, and 18th 100 mile (or longer). Next up: 
(i) Jalapeno Hundred (07-Nov-2020) Cat Spring, TX
(ii) Brazos Bend 100 (05-Dec-2020) Needville, TX




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