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Ode de Laz Backyard Ultra

August 3, 2019 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
What a ride. There were some amazing people there, hopefully can stay in touch with at least a few.
Race itself was a TON of fun. Early loops I stayed as conservative as I could within reason. It was good there were so many people out there on the trails so I was basically forced to slow down. Eventually narrowed in and found the most comfortable, sustainable pace was 48 minutes per loop. I think that's the trick - you want to keep it as easy as possible BUT the rest is important. Since the difference between 12 minute miles and 13 minute miles isn't that huge, but the difference between 8 minutes rest and 12 minutes rest IS huge, I opted for the 12 minute pace - happy with that choice.
around loop 4 was when things started getting uncomfortable. But thankfully I was able to keep eating food and drinking loads of water/electrolyte drink which helped down the line. Discomfort would shift from feet to joints to muscles every now and then but nothing super bad. I had switched to the road running shoes at one point to save weight since the trails were dry but I went back to the trail runners since my feet were really hurting. Also a good call.
Around lap 8 was where I was sort of wanting to call it off. At that point I just wanted to get 40 miles and be done with it. I was a little concerned about my knees and feet. But again a little more break time to roll things out and stretch a little made the difference. Lap 11 was absolutely terrible. I was struggling to run, walking up the steep sections was tough and I thought that was gonna be it. Back at the aid station though Nate and a few super nice people talked me into lap 12. It was great they were offering me snacks and drinks and took care of a bunch of stuff which was nice. Somehow they got me to walk over to the starting corral and off we went. I was pretty annoyed for the first half mile - how could I let them talk me into this. But then I found the top group and hung out with them for a while and before long I was cruising. Felt amazing which was so crazy. Part of what I wanted from this race was to experience a high after a low, I've never really had that in a race before much less in an ultra. But it was a great feeling. I felt so strong. Came through the aid station signaling Nate to get my headlamp ready because I was going to go for a night loop.
Night loop was fine. Pretty tough again. The limiting factor was the joints. had some great guys to run with which passed the time but that was a mentally draining loop. High had worn off, I hadn't been eating enough the last few loops and I had already accomplished my goal (night loop). So that was it! Nate and I hung out at the start/finish for a while and met some cool dudes then headed home.
Great experience. But I'm cool being done with ultras for a while. Time for plenty of recovery then some real training.

side note, duration on this log entry is total time. Total running time would be a lot less but my watch died so I really have no idea. Avg pace was around 12 min/mile