Welcome to Episode 51 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast! Today I have a short recap for you on my recent Rodeo Valley 50k race, a beautiful and challenging course in the Marin Headlands that I ran on August 6th. It was my first ultra in over 7 years, as well as my first ultra running all by myself (instead of with my husband). It felt so good to run my own race and prove to myself that I can still do long trail stuff after having kids!
Inside Trail Racing put this event on, and they did a fantastic job. I’ve already signed up for another one of their races - Mt. Tam 50k on November 12th! Super excited, especially since this course is even harder (6800 ft of gain for Mt Tam vs 5800 ft at Rodeo Valley).
Listen to the episode for the full run down, but I’ll give you the short version here. We left Santa Cruz around 3:45am for the long drive up north. Unfortunately my stomach was feeling a bit off in the morning (which carried over into the race) - not sure why, but will investigate and tweak a few things during this next training cycle!
I ran super strong through 30k, which ends at the start/finish and then you have to run the first loop all over again to close out the 50k. Had to stop for the bathroom at most of the aid stations which was a bummer, but felt good enough that I could stick to my nutrition/hydration plan and run at a good pace. The climbs and descents were pretty brutal but it made for a great challenge, and once the fog finally cleared later in the race, the views were breathtaking.
The last 20k is when the fatigue started to set in, and my stomach started to bother me again. I tried to jump over a small hole in the middle of the trail (which I do all the time) and went down hard on my knees, scraping and bruising them badly on dirt and rocks. I immediately threw myself a pity party but I was also all alone with miles to go until the next aid station. So with blood all over my legs, I brushed myself off and kept going. The pain eventually faded (temporarily, of course), I got my pace back, and pushed myself those last ten miles to a strong finish!
Seeing Eric waiting for me as I ran down the final hill was amazing. I even placed second in my age group! I was pretty stoked about that part, well, until I found out there were only two people in my age group. That’s okay though, I still won an awesome coaster award!
Recovery has been going pretty well, and I’m easing back into low-key training after taking it super easy for a week. It’s nice to have another big goal, and I’m excited to experiment with my nutrition strategy to see if I can avoid the pitfalls of this past event!
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