Geezz. I'm not really even sure where to start this post.
I've been so unbelievably lazy with my posts lately. It's amazing how the more I have to talk about the less I actually post stuff.
About two weeks ago I ran my third 50 mile race in the past four months. The Jemez Mountain 50 miler in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I had such high hopes going into this race. I don't know if I was expecting some kind of breakthrough ultra race, but I got almost the total opposite. Once again, a hard ultra mountain race showed me whose boss.
This race was 50 miles in the heart of the Jemez mountains. We started around 7,500 ft and topped out over 10,300 ft at least three times for a total climbing amount of 12,000 ft. (Loss and Gain in 50 miles)
After my previous experience at the Zane Grey 50 where I felt like I'd pretty much hit rock bottom, I didn't think it got much worse than that. Boy was I wrong. The Zane Grey 50 took me around 12:47. (That's 12hours and 47 mins for those non ultra runners out there). The Jemez 50 took me something like 14:19. Yea. That's pretty much an average mile of 16:50 something. Borderline embarrassing for me. I trained for the Jemez race fairly hard but just got completely owned by the terrain and altitude.
I feel I made a few critical mistakes looking back now. First I took a gel that I RARELY use if ever anymore. After about 4-5 of these things I couldn't eat one more. Literally. Everytime I tried to take one I started dry heaving. I also feel that I got pretty dehydrated pretty early in the race. While it wasn't hot at the start it warmed up by mid day to around 80 degrees. I ended up dehydrated (I guess) which led to me not being able to eat a whole lot. Finally around mile 44 (I forgot to mention the last 10 miles or so are pretty much ALL downhill) I started dry heaving. I knew it was coming up. For the first time in my career of running in general I threw up. Let me tell you. It's GROSS watching brown and black gels come back up! Haha.
I pretty much walked the last 6-7 miles. Downhill. Like I said. Embarrassing.
I crossed the line, got my finishers award, hopped in the car, went straight to Sonic, went back to the hotel and fell asleep. While I was "racing" I literally felt like I was sleep walking at certain points. Again, not sure if that was the altitude or what, but I was literally exhausted.
During races like that I really question my reasons for doing those things to myself. I question my ability to do that stuff, and I question if I'm even an ultra runner.
Of course, I don't do it for the time, I don't do it for anyone but myself, and the fact that I get to see some of the most gorgeous terrain the U.S. has to offer, all on foot. Obviously I'm going to have to do some tweaking with my nutrition and be sure that I stick with my tried and true.
I've got a few more races lined up pretty soon. The Abilene 6hr Endurance run is coming up that starts at 8pm. (1 mile loop) Then in July I've got the El Scorcho 50K that starts at midnight in Fort Worth. I'm really pumped about that one. I'm not going to keep it a secret, but I'm definitely racing for the win out there. Hopefully the guy that won last year (Ran like 3:06 or smoething crazy) won't show up and I'll at least have a chance at the top 3.
**********************************************************************
In the personal life things are pretty busy! Courtney is planning away at the wedding and things are REALLY going smoothly. We now have a wedding venue and reception venue! The date is set for January 8th, 2011. It definitely couldn't come fast enough.
I'm gonna try to post more pictures and videos from now on. I'm working on updating my Picasa page, much like my facebook. You search Jacob Evans (Dallas, TX) you'll find me there!
Enjoy the video! (Not made by me)
Train hard and live harder.
_Jacob_
No comments:
Post a Comment