Scott’s Blog

Many of you have been wondering what happened at Ultracentric and why I have not posted sooner. I decided to let the dust settle a bit before posting a race report. A lot of critical comments have been posted on the Ultra list and I wanted to focus on what I have learned from my experience last weekend. All too often emotions run wild, and I feel it is best to sit back and contemplate a bit.

Upon arriving to check out the race course on Friday, I was shocked to see the amount of climbing and descending on the 1.15 mile loop. I had been told and it was posted on the website that the loop was flat and fast with nine and a half feet of gain. I decided against using my altimeter to measure the elevation gain and loss and would just accept the course as it was presented. Too late now. I had spent too much time and money, as well as extending my training and racing season to let the course derail my plans for an American record. Mental outlook is so important prior to a big performance. Plus, I had my friend and crew member Justin, telling me the hills were no big deal. I knew it wasn’t true, but the positive talk was appreciated.

On Saturday at the start it would have been easy to complain about the weather as it was 35-40 degrees with 30 mph gusts and a steady 15-20 mph wind. The temps were supposed to warm to a perfect 55-60 degrees and I felt that I could deal with the wind as it was supposed to decrease late in the day and throughout the night. I settled into a rhythm running 6:30 pace. It was a little faster than I had planned. I knew I would back off to 7:00-7:15 pace as planned. I enjoyed the company of Seth, a 2:26 marathoner from Salt Lake doing his first ultra, and Elijah an East African who was also participating in his first ultra. It was a pleasure meeting and running with both of these talented athletes.

As the miles clicked by I began to memorize all the intricate details of the course. I learned where the cambers of the pavement and the tangents met each other so as to keep a balance between running on level pavement as much as possible without losing too much of the tangent line. The hills seemed manageable, but I knew in the back of my mind that these hills would become mountains late into the race. On the back side of the course one hill was made particularly difficult because of the wind. It not only consisted of a nice climb, but 30 mph wind blowing right into my face. It became the worst stretch on the course and I tried to waltz through this section as smoothly as possible. It was too early to expend more energy than needed.

A benefit of 24-hour races is having fellow runners pass by and offer encouragement. It was a pleasure to share some quick exchanges with runners I have known for years, as well as runners I was meeting for the first time. I was impressed with the 48-hour runners as they had been on the course for over 24 hours and still had another day to go!

The volunteers and those that came to offer their support were wonderful. They gave a good Texan welcome to all the runners and I would like to thank all of those who helped out with this event.
I came through the marathon at 3:04. I was right on schedule with my splits. I was hoping for a 3:05-10 marathon split. The hills were making my splits tougher to attain, but I stuck to the plan and kept moving along. My 50K split was approximately 3:44. Unfortunately the race organizers did not have enough volunteers to give splits out on the course. The distances were marked on the course, although it was hard to remember where they were, as my crew would tell me what lap I was on and approximate distance.

Somewhere around the 40 mile mark I started to notice the effect of the hills more and more. I was holding 8:15-30 pace and well ahead of American record pace, but I began to question whether this was a course for an American record. I also was feeling the effects of my Spartathlon performance from six weeks prior. The effort I would have to put out on this hilly course would be even greater than what I did at Spartathlon. As I went by my crew I told them I was contemplating dropping from the race and saving myself for another day and another course. Of course they were tough on me, encouraging me to go on saying I couldn’t drop now as I was still on American record pace. I told myself I would continue until 50 miles and be done. I knew what would lie ahead and it was not worth risking injury for a below American record performance. At 49 miles I called it a day.

When I stopped, I felt good about my decision. It is never easy dropping from a race and I have only done this a handful of times, but in those instances it has been a wise choice. It was clearly a wise choice in this case, as I checked my altimeter to see how much elevation gain I experienced. In 49 miles I climbed and descended 1069 meters! Yes, 3,500 feet, 71 feet per mile! To break the American record of 162 miles I would have climbed over 11,500 feet! Despite being a seasoned trail and mountain runner, 24-hour with elevation gain are not desirable. In order to achieve my best possible performance and compare against the world’s best, the course needs to be flat as possible.
Despite all the negative criticism that has surrounded Ultracentric I would like to compliment Robert on his efforts to offer prize money at the 24-hour distance and encourage top athletes to go after American records. This is seldom seen in the sport of ultrarunning.

So what I have learned? The most important lesson learned for me going forward in 24-hour record attempts is to check out a course before competing. I trusted that the course would be flat and fast with nine and a half feet of elevation gain. I went off what the RD had told me in a phone discussion and the info posted on the Ultracentric website. In retrospect, I should have had someone in the Dallas area check out the course before I committed and spent the time and money. Most importantly, I only have so many great 100 mile plus performances left in my career and I need to be selective when I put my body, mind, and soul on the line.

I want to thank my crew Justin Angle and Dusty Olson for taking time to come and support me. They did a great job making sure smooth transitions were made for aid and calculations made on distance updates. Although they were bummed that I did not succeed, I am sure they were happy they didn’t have to spend a sleepless night in windy 32 degree weather…

Finally a big thank you to my sponsors Brooks Sports, Green Foods, and Pro-Tec for the generous support this season!

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.